JP2004310201A - Touch panel, method for manufacturing the same, and screen input type display device therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an easy-to-operate touch panel that does not require a finger to exert force. <P>SOLUTION: The touch panel 40 comprises an upper base 11 where a transparent electrode 13 and a drawing electrode 14 are provided on the lower surface of a transparent insulating base 12, and a lower base 41 where a transparent electrode 3, drawing electrode 4, 5, and a plurality of dot spacers 48 formed on the transparent electrode 3 are provided on the upper surface of a transparent insulating substrate 2, with the upper and lower substrates 11, 41 opposed to each other with a predetermined gap between and sealed with an insulating sealant 17 circling the respective outer peripheral areas of the upper and lower substrates 11, 41. The dot spacers 48 are formed by arranging transparent, thermoplastic adhesive particles 45 one by one at predetermined intervals in the form of a dot matrix, and melting the particles under a baking process. Dimensional variations in the height and outside diameter of the dot spacers 48 are made so small that the touch panel can be operated under uniform pressure. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is arranged on a display screen such as a liquid crystal display in devices such as ATMs, car navigation systems, vending machines, copiers, and various terminals, and the user points to the information display screen according to the instructions on the fluoroscopic screen. The present invention relates to a touch panel in which data is input by directly pressing with a pen.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The resistive film type touch panel in the prior art has an upper substrate on which a transparent electrode and a routing electrode connected to the transparent electrode are formed on a lower surface of a flexible transparent insulating substrate, and a transparent electrode and the transparent electrode connected to the upper surface. A lead electrode is formed, and a lower substrate having dot spacers arranged at regular intervals on the upper surface of the transparent electrode has an arrangement structure in which the transparent electrodes face each other with a predetermined gap. The touch panel is used by being arranged on the upper surface side of a display device such as a liquid crystal display device. By pressing the touch panel located in the display portion of the display device with a finger or a pen, the upper substrate of the touch panel is bent and the transparent electrode at the pressed position comes into contact with the transparent electrode on the lower substrate. The position is detected by measuring electrical resistance and the input information is read.
[0003]
Hereinafter, a conventional example will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 is a plan view of a conventional touch panel, FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line EE in FIG. 7, FIG. 9 is a plan view of the lower substrate in FIG. 7, FIG. 10 is a plan view of the upper substrate in FIG. FIG. 12 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of the dot spacer in FIG. 9, and FIG.
[0004]
As shown in FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and 10, the touch panel 20 of the conventional example includes a lower substrate 1 having a rectangular shape and an upper substrate 11 having flexibility. The lower substrate 1 includes a transparent insulating substrate 2 made of transparent square glass having a thickness of 1.1 mm, a transparent electrode 3 formed in a square shape on the upper surface of the transparent insulating substrate 2, and a diagram of the transparent electrode 3. A pair of lead-out electrodes 4 and 5 that are connected and formed along the opposite sides of the middle and upper sides and extend to the FPC mounting part S surrounded by a dotted line frame at one end of the transparent insulating substrate 2, and in the vicinity of the FPC mounting part S The connection electrodes 6 and 7 are formed, and dot spacers 8 are arranged on the transparent electrode 3 in a matrix. The connection electrodes 6 and 7 are provided in the vicinity of the FPC attachment portion S in order to make a conductive connection to the routing electrodes 14 and 15 of the upper substrate 11 described later.
[0005]
The upper substrate 11 is formed in a rectangular shape on the lower surface of the transparent insulating substrate 12 and a transparent insulating substrate 12 made of a flexible transparent square microglass (microsheet glass) having a thickness of 0.2 mm. The transparent electrode 13 and a pair of lead-out electrodes 14 and 15 that are connected and formed along the opposite left and right sides of the transparent electrode 13 and extend in the direction of the FPC mounting portion S. .
[0006]
Then, the upper and lower substrates 11, 1 are arranged so that the routing electrodes 14, 15, 4, 5 are in a square arrangement, and the upper and lower substrates 11, 1 are provided with a gap of about 10 μm between the upper and lower substrates 11, 1 with a sealing material 17. 1 are bonded and fixed, and the outer peripheral regions of the upper and lower substrates 11 and 1 are circulated and sealed. Further, the routing electrodes 14 and 15 provided on the upper substrate 11 are connected to the connection electrodes 6 and 7 provided on the lower substrate 1 at the positions of the connection portions B and A via the conductive adhesive. Are connected and connected.
[0007]
Further, a sealing portion D is provided at the upper center in the figure, and the opening portion 17 a of the sealing material 17 is sealed with the sealing material 19.
[0008]
In addition, a polarizing plate 18 is attached to the upper surface of the upper substrate 11 and a phase difference plate 16 is attached to the lower surface of the lower substrate 1 in order to improve the antiglare property and improve the transparency and quality display. In addition, an FPC 9 is attached to the FPC attachment portion S of the lower substrate 1 so as to be electrically connected to the outside.
[0009]
Each component part of the touch panel 20 having the above structure is as follows. Transparent glass is used for the transparent insulating substrate 2 constituting the lower substrate 1. As this glass, soda glass, quartz glass, alkali glass, borosilicate glass, normal plate glass, and the like can be used, and those having a thickness that does not cause warpage or the like are used. In many cases, 0.7 to 1.1 mm is selected. Since the transparent insulating substrate 12 constituting the upper substrate 11 requires flexibility, a transparent thin glass plate or a transparent plastic film is used. In general, glass is used for equipment that requires heat resistance (for example, car navigation systems). The above conventional example uses micro glass (micro sheet glass) made of borosilicate glass having a thickness of 0.2 mm which is strong in heat resistance and impact resistance and has flexibility.
[0010]
The transparent electrode 3 constituting the lower substrate 1 and the transparent electrode 13 constituting the upper substrate 11 are tin-doped indium oxide ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) films, such as vacuum deposition, sputtering, CVD, and printing. Form. Since the transparent electrodes 3 and 13 are required to have a high resistance value, they are formed very thin in the range of 120 to 500 angstroms. This ITO film is formed on the entire surface of the substrate by removing unnecessary portions by photolithography and leaving necessary portions.
[0011]
The routing electrodes 4 and 5 constituting the lower substrate 1, the connection electrodes 6 and 7, and the routing electrodes 14 and 15 constituting the upper substrate 11 are provided for applying a voltage to the transparent electrodes 3 and 13. A highly conductive metal powder such as powder is mixed with a thermosetting epoxy resin to form an ink by a printing method such as screen printing. In view of the performance of the touch panel, the lower the resistance value of these electrodes, the better. In general, the sheet resistance value of these electrodes needs to be 1/100 or less of the sheet resistance value of the transparent electrode. It is said that. Therefore, a design has been made to reduce the resistance value by increasing the thickness of printing of these electrodes or increasing the width.
[0012]
The dot spacer 8 constituting the lower substrate 1 is provided so that the transparent electrodes in the portions other than the pressed portion do not come into contact with each other, and a transparent acrylic resin, epoxy resin, urethane resin, or other transparent resin material is screen-printed. The dot matrix is formed at regular intervals by a method such as the above, and then cured by heat or ultraviolet rays. Since the dot spacer 8 is required to be invisible, the dot spacer 8 is designed to have a diameter of 30 to 60 μm, a height of 2 to 5 μm, and a dot interval of 1 to 8 mm.
[0013]
The sealing material 17 is formed by printing a thermosetting epoxy resin adhesive or acrylic resin adhesive in which spacer balls are dispersed by a method such as screen printing. The spacer balls used here are provided in order to keep the gap between the upper substrate 11 and the lower substrate 1 at a constant gap, and an insulating plastic ball or fiber glass having a predetermined size is used. The size of this plastic ball or fiber glass varies depending on the material and thickness of the transparent insulating substrate 12 of the upper substrate 11, but when a 0.2 mm micro glass is used, one having a diameter of approximately 10 μm is selected. . After this sealant 17 is printed on either the upper substrate 11 or the lower substrate 1, the upper substrate 11 and the lower substrate 1 are aligned and bonded, subjected to heat treatment under pressure and cured, Adhesive fixing is performed. In addition, the sealing material 17 has a role of fixing the upper substrate 11 and the lower substrate 1 and also has a role of a seal for preventing moisture and dust from entering the inside.
For the sealing material 19 in the sealing part D, a UV curable epoxy acrylate resin or the like is used. The sealing material 19 is applied to the portion of the opening 17a of the sealing material 17, and is cured by being irradiated with ultraviolet rays in a state where the opening 17a is closed, thereby sealing. The opening 17a is subjected to a heat treatment of about 160 degrees for about 90 minutes under pressure in order to adhere and fix the upper and lower substrates 11 and 1 with the sealing material 17, but the expanded air inside the seal at that time is exposed to the outside. It is provided for escape.
[0015]
The polarizing plate 18 and the retardation plate 16 are provided in order to improve the anti-glare property and improve the transparency and display quality. Various polarizing plates 18 are used. For example, a polarizing film having a thickness of 20 μm is formed by uniaxially stretching a polyvinyl alcohol film by a conventional method, and a thickness of 80 μm is formed on both sides thereof. A polarizing plate having a thickness of 180 μm can be used by laminating the cellulose-based film. The phase difference plate 16 is made of polycarbonate and has a thickness of about 80 μm.
[0016]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
FIG. 11 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of dot spacers arranged in a dot matrix. FIG. 12 shows an enlarged sectional view of an essential part of the screen printing plate. As described above, the dot spacers are formed by the screen printing method, but considerable variations occur in the dimensions of the diameter m, the height t, and the dot pitch interval p.
[0017]
This screen printing method uses a screen printing plate 100 shown in the figure. This printing plate 100 uses a mesh (net) formed by weaving ridges 101 such as nylon wires, tetron wires, or stainless steel wires as in the fifth. The emulsion 102 is applied to the mesh and cured, and the emulsion 102 is removed from the portion where printing is desired, an opening Q having a width n is provided, and the mesh is tensioned and attached to the frame to form the printing plate 100. In the printing method, the printing plate 100 formed in this way is attached to a screen printing machine, a printing material is placed with a certain gap just below the set printing plate 100, and the printing ink placed on the upper surface of the printing plate 100 The ink is put on the upper surface of the substrate from the opening Q while scratching with a squeegee. The squeegee is scraped by moving the printing plate 100 downward with the squeegee, moving the squeegee while bending the mesh, and dropping the ink from the opening Q onto the substrate.
[0018]
Screen printing methods have limitations on printing width or diameter. In general, the printing width is required to be at least three times the diameter of the ridge 101. Recently, ridges 101 having a diameter close to 10 μm have appeared, and thin printing of about 30 μm has become possible. The printing width is determined by the width n of the opening Q. Therefore, as described above, the width n is required to be at least 30 μm or more.
[0019]
Screen printing using the above printing method has the following problems. During the long period of use, the ridge 101 expands and the mesh spreads or sags, so that the accuracy of the printing position and the printing size (width, length, etc.) are deteriorated, resulting in large variations in dimensions. In addition, the printing thickness (height) is affected by the amount of ink dropped from the opening Q by scratching the ink with a squeegee, but if the squeegee is scratched poorly, the amount of ink dropped will vary, and This leads to variations in the resin material constituting the dot spacer, and as a result appears in the height dimension of dot spacer printing.
[0020]
As described above, large dimensional variations occur in the diameter m, height t, and dot pitch interval p of the dot spacer 8. For example, even if the printing height is set at a set value of 4 μm, a variation of about ± 2 μm appears. Thus, if the variation in the height t is large, the operation cannot be performed unless the pressing force is changed, and a force load is imposed on the finger or the like.
[0021]
Also, the diameter m of the dot spacer 8 needs to be 30 μm or more due to the limitation by the printing method. A large diameter reduces the effective contact area and is not desirable. Originally, in order to increase the area of the contact portion as much as possible, it is desired to design a small size within a range that sufficiently functions as a spacer.
[0022]
As a method of forming the dot spacer, there is a method of forming a photosensitive resin using a photolithography technique or the like in addition to the above. However, this method can make the height of the dot spacers uniform, but the manufacturing cost is high.
[0023]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. As a means for solving the problems, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention includes an upper substrate provided with a transparent electrode and a routing electrode on the lower surface of the transparent insulating substrate, and a transparent electrode, a routing electrode and a transparent electrode on the upper surface of the transparent insulating substrate. A lower substrate provided with a plurality of dot spacers formed on the electrodes is arranged opposite to each other with a predetermined gap, and is formed by surrounding and sealing the outer peripheral area of the upper and lower substrates with an insulating sealing material. In the touch panel, the dot spacers are formed by disposing transparent thermoplastic adhesive particles one by one in a dot matrix at a predetermined interval and melting them under a baking process.
[0024]
Further, the invention according to claim 2 of the present invention is characterized in that the adhesive fine particles are diffused and added to a highly viscous organic solvent and arranged one by one in a dot matrix at predetermined intervals by screen printing. Is.
[0025]
Further, the invention of the manufacturing method according to claim 3 of the present invention includes an upper substrate provided with a transparent electrode and a routing electrode on the lower surface of the transparent insulating substrate, and a transparent electrode, a routing electrode and a transparent electrode on the upper surface of the transparent insulating substrate. And a lower substrate provided with a plurality of dot spacers formed on the surface of the touch panel, which is arranged to be opposed to each other with a predetermined gap, and is sealed around the outer peripheral area of the upper and lower substrates with an insulating sealing material. In the manufacturing method, the formation of the dot spacers includes a step of printing transparent thermoplastic adhesive fine particles and a step of performing a baking treatment.
[0026]
In the manufacturing method according to claim 4 of the present invention, the adhesive fine particles may be printed in a predetermined manner by screen printing using a metal plate obtained by diffusing and adding the adhesive fine particles to a highly viscous organic solvent. It is characterized in that one dot matrix is arranged at intervals.
[0027]
The invention according to claim 5 of the present invention is a screen input type display device having a touch panel on the upper surface of a display device such as a liquid crystal display device, or the touch panel according to claim 1 or 2, The touch panel which takes the manufacturing method of the said Claim 3 or 4 is provided.
[0028]
The dot spacers in the touch panel of the present invention are screen-printed using a metal plate in which transparent thermoplastic adhesive fine particles are formed of metal, arranged in a predetermined manner one by one in a dot matrix, and subjected to a firing process. To dissolve the adhesive fine particles. Adhesive fine particles with little variation in particle size are melted at a certain firing temperature and for a certain period of time to form dot spacers as a material for one dot spacer. A uniform product with small variations in height and diameter can be obtained. Thereby, the touch panel can be operated under a uniform pressing force. Also, the linearity of measurement is improved.
[0029]
A method of arranging adhesive fine particles one by one in a dot matrix form is screen-printed using a metal plate. The metal plate is formed using an electrohoming method or the like. If this method is used, a small hole of 5 μm or more can be formed, and very small adhesive fine particles can be arranged one by one. Further, since the metal plate is made of metal, there is almost no expansion and contraction of the plate, and the variation in the arrangement size of the dot spacers formed by printing is very small, and a dot spacer with very high positional dimensional accuracy can be obtained.
[0030]
In addition, when a touch panel according to the present invention is used for a screen input type display device having a touch panel on a display device such as a liquid crystal display device, a touch operation can be performed under a uniform pressing force.
[0031]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 is a plan view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line E-E in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a lower substrate in FIG. FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part after printing of adhesive fine particles, and FIG. 6 is a process diagram showing a manufacturing process of a metal plate. The same parts as those described in the prior art are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the description of the touch panel according to the present invention, the same components as those in the prior art will be briefly described, and details thereof will be omitted.
[0032]
As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the touch panel 40 of the present invention includes a lower substrate 41 having a square shape and an upper substrate 11 having flexibility. The lower substrate 41 includes a transparent insulating substrate 2 made of transparent rectangular glass having a thickness of 1.1 mm, a transparent electrode 3 formed in a square shape on the upper surface of the transparent insulating substrate 2, and a diagram of the transparent electrode 3. A pair of lead-out electrodes 4 and 5 that are connected and formed along the opposite sides of the middle and upper sides and extend to the FPC mounting portion S surrounded by a dotted frame at one end of the transparent insulating substrate 2, and in the vicinity of the FPC mounting portion S The connection electrodes 6 and 7 are formed, and dot spacers 48 arranged in a matrix on the transparent electrode 3. The connection electrodes 6 and 7 are provided in the vicinity of the FPC attachment portion S in order to make a conductive connection to the routing electrodes 14 and 15 of the upper substrate 11 described later.
[0033]
The upper substrate 11 is the same as the upper substrate 11 described in the prior art (see FIG. 10), and is a transparent insulating substrate made of a flexible transparent square micro glass (micro sheet glass) having a thickness of 0.2 mm. 12, a transparent electrode 13 formed in a rectangular shape on the lower surface of the transparent insulating substrate 12, and a connection formed along both the left and right opposing sides of the transparent electrode 13 and extending toward the FPC attachment portion S direction. And a pair of routing electrodes 14, 15.
[0034]
Then, the routing electrodes 14, 15, 4, and 5 of the upper and lower substrates 11 and 41 are arranged to face each other in a square arrangement, and the sealing material 17 is provided with a gap of 8 μm between the upper and lower substrates 11 and 41 in this embodiment. The upper and lower substrates 11 and 41 are bonded and fixed, and the outer peripheral areas of the upper and lower substrates 11 and 41 are circulated and sealed. Further, the routing electrodes 14 and 15 provided on the upper substrate 11 are connected to the connection electrodes 6 and 7 provided on the lower substrate 41 via the conductive adhesive at the locations of the connection portions B and A, and the conduction is reduced. It has been.
[0035]
Moreover, it has the sealing part D which sealed the opening part 17a of the sealing material 17 with the sealing material 19 in the upper center in the figure.
[0036]
In addition, a polarizing plate 18 is attached to the upper surface of the upper substrate 11 and a phase difference plate 16 is attached to the lower surface of the lower substrate 1 in order to improve the antiglare property and improve the transparency and quality display. In addition, an FPC 9 is attached to the FPC attachment portion S of the lower substrate 1 so as to be electrically connected to the outside.
[0037]
FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of the dot spacer 48. The dot spacers 48 are formed in a matrix at a constant pitch p. The dot spacers 48 are formed by disposing transparent thermoplastic adhesive fine particles 45 at a constant pitch p by a screen printing method and performing a baking process to melt the adhesive fine particles 45.
[0038]
FIG. 5 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of the transparent adhesive fine particles 45 arranged by screen printing. Adhesive fine particles 45 are arranged on the upper surface of the transparent electrode 3 formed on the transparent insulating substrate 2 by a screen printing method at a constant pitch p. The adhesive fine particles 45 are dispersed in the solvent 43 and printed. The solvent 43 may be water, alcohol, or the like, but an organic solvent having a large surface tension, that is, a high viscosity is preferable. Examples of the organic solvent having a large surface tension include 3-hexanediol, 1-octanol, 2-octanol, 4-pentanediol, glycerin, and diethylene glycol. Adhesive fine particles diffused and added to these organic solvents are in a state of a dot matrix formed on the screen printing plate because the organic solvent with high viscosity is attached to the outer periphery when screen printing is performed with a metal plate. Are arranged in the shape of the transparent insulating substrate 2 without collapse. Since these solvents 43 do not evaporate when heated to 80 to 120 ° C., only the adhesive fine particles remain after heating and baking, and further heating to 150 to 200 ° C. allows the transparent insulating substrate 2 to be heated. Adhesive fine particles melted in the film are formed as dot spacers. A printing plate used for screen printing is a metal plate that can arrange adhesive particles one by one at a constant pitch p interval.
[0039]
FIG. 6 shows a process chart of the process of manufacturing the metal plate. A resist film 122 is formed on the flat stainless steel plate 121. (A) FIG. Next, a negative pattern film 123 having a shape to be printed is placed on the resist film 122, and ultraviolet rays are emitted. The ultraviolet rays pass through the transparent portion 123a of the negative pattern film 13, enter the resist film 122, and the portion is cured. (B) FIG. Next, with a resist film solution, the soft part of the resist film 122 is removed at a part other than the hardened part of the resist film 122a to form a part 122b without the resist film 122. (C) FIG. Next, a conductive release agent 124 is applied on the stainless plate 121 in the portion 122b where the resist film 122 is not present. (D) Figure. Next, a metal plating such as nickel is thickly applied to the portion 122b without the resist film on the application surface of the release agent 124 to form an electroformed plating film 125a. (E) Figure. Next, the remaining resist film 122a is stripped with a stripping solution to form an electroformed plating film 125a in which small holes 125b are formed. (F) Figure. Finally, the electroformed plating film 125a is peeled off from the stainless steel plate 121 to make a metal plate 125. (G) Figure. If such a manufacturing method is adopted, even a small hole having a diameter of about 5 μm can be formed.
[0040]
The metal plate 125 may be formed by selecting a metal such as cobalt, chromium, molybdenum, nickel / cobalt alloy, nickel / chromium alloy in addition to nickel metal. Further, in order to arrange the adhesive fine particles 45 one by one, it is necessary to set the inner diameter of the small hole 125 b to a size 1.5 to 1.8 times the particle diameter of the adhesive fine particles 45. For example, when the adhesive fine particles 45 having a particle diameter of 10 μm are used, the inner diameter of the small hole 125b is set within a range of 15 to 18 μm. With such a small hole diameter, the adhesive fine particles 45 can be arranged one by one. Further, it is preferable that the periphery of the upper surface of the small hole 125b has a gentle taper because the adhesive fine particles 45 easily enter the small hole 125b. In the present invention, the point is to arrange the adhesive fine particles 45 one by one by scratching the squeegee at the time of screen printing, and the thickness of the metal plate is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the adhesive fine particles 45, that is, 12 to A range of 15 μm is preferred.
[0041]
If the adhesive fine particles 45 dispersed in the solvent 43 are screen-printed using the metal plate 125, the adhesive fine particles 45 can be arranged one by one at a constant pitch p interval. When the adhering fine particles 45 arranged one by one are baked, the organic solvent evaporates first at 80 to 120 ° C. as described above, and when further heated, the adhering fine particles melt and adhere to the transparent electrode 3, as shown in the figure. A dot spacer 48 having a shape is obtained.
[0042]
Typical examples of the thermoplastic adhesive fine particles 45 include nylon balls, but there are many commercially available (meth) acrylic adhesive resins, and there is no particular limitation. The firing temperature of the adhesive fine particles 45 is higher than the softening point temperature of the adhesive fine particles 45. It is desirable that the firing temperature and firing time be appropriately set according to the material of the adhesive fine particles 45 to be used and the size of the dot spacer 48 to be obtained (outer shape m1, height t).
[0043]
When 0.2 mm thick micro glass is used for the transparent insulating substrate 12 of the upper substrate 11, the gap between the upper and lower substrates 11 and 41 is set to about 10 μm. Further, the height t of the dot spacer at that time is set within a range of 3 to 5 μm. The outer diameter m1 of the dot spacer is set in a range of about 30 to 50 μm. The particle size of the adhesive fine particles 45 satisfying these ranges can be selected from 18 to 30 μm. The particle diameter of the adhesive fine particles 45 is preferably set as appropriate according to the outer diameter m1 and height t of the dot spacer to be obtained.
[0044]
As can be seen from the above description, the manufacturing method of the dot spacer 48 includes a step of printing the transparent thermoplastic adhesive fine particles 45 and a baking treatment step of baking the printed adhesive fine particles 45. Printing is performed by screen printing using the metal plate formed by electroforming plating as described above. The baking treatment is performed for a time set to be equal to or higher than the softening point temperature of the adhesive fine particles 45 and to obtain a required size. With such a manufacturing method, the height t and the outer diameter m1 of the dot spacer 48 have very small dimensional variations, and a dot spacer having a uniform size can be obtained.
[0045]
This enables an operation with a uniform pressing force and produces an effect of reducing the burden of force on the finger.
[0046]
The dot spacer forming method of the present invention is formed by two steps of a printing step and a firing step. This is almost the same as the number of conventional processes, and does not change greatly in terms of manufacturing cost. Further, since the adhesive fine particles having a uniform particle diameter are used, the shape and size of the dot spacer obtained are very accurate. Compared with dot spacers formed by the prior art, dot spacers with significantly improved quality can be obtained.
[0047]
If the touch panel of the present invention is provided on the upper surface of the display device provided in the screen input type display device, the operation can be performed under a uniform pressing force, so that an easy operation without burdening the finger can be performed. . This also increases the operation speed, and has the effect of shortening the processing time of the touch panel. By providing the touch panel of the present invention in FAX, car navigation, ATM, vending machine, copying machine, and other various terminal devices, the processing time can be reduced under an easy operation.
[0048]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the operation can be performed under a uniform pressing force, so that an easy operation without burdening the finger or the like can be performed. This also increases the operation speed, and has the effect of shortening the processing time of the touch panel. Moreover, in the screen input type display device provided with the touch panel of the present invention, smooth processing can be performed under an easy operation.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line EE in FIG.
3 is a plan view of the lower substrate in FIG. 1. FIG.
4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of the dot spacer in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part after printing of adhesive fine particles.
FIG. 6 is a process diagram showing a metal plate manufacturing process.
FIG. 7 is a plan view of a touch panel in the prior art.
8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line EE in FIG.
9 is a plan view of the lower substrate in FIG. 7. FIG.
10 is a plan view of the upper substrate in FIG. 7. FIG.
11 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of the dot spacer in FIG. 9;
FIG. 12 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of the screen printing plate.
[Explanation of symbols]
1, 41 Lower substrate 2, 12 Transparent insulating substrate 3, 13 Transparent electrode 4, 5, 14, 15 Lead-out electrode 6, 7 Connection electrode 8, 48 Dot spacer 11 Upper substrate 16 Phase difference plate 17 Sealing material 17a Opening 18 Polarization Plate 19 Sealing material 20, 40 Touch panel 43 Solvent 45 Adhesive fine particle D Sealing part

Claims (5)

An upper substrate provided with a transparent electrode and a routing electrode on the lower surface of the transparent insulating substrate;
A lower substrate provided with a transparent electrode, a routing electrode, and a plurality of dot spacers formed on the transparent electrode on the upper surface of the transparent insulating substrate;
In a touch panel that is formed to be opposed to each other with a predetermined gap and sealed around the outer peripheral area of the upper and lower substrates with an insulating sealing material,
The touch panel is characterized in that the dot spacers are formed by disposing transparent thermoplastic adhesive fine particles one by one in a dot matrix at predetermined intervals and melting them under a baking process. 2. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive fine particles are diffused and added to a highly viscous organic solvent, and are arranged one by one in a dot matrix at predetermined intervals by screen printing. An upper substrate provided with a transparent electrode and a routing electrode on the lower surface of the transparent insulating substrate;
A lower substrate provided with a transparent electrode, a routing electrode, and a plurality of dot spacers formed on the transparent electrode on the upper surface of the transparent insulating substrate;
In the manufacturing method of the touch panel, which is formed by facing and providing a predetermined gap around the outer peripheral area of the upper and lower substrates with an insulating sealing material and sealing it,
The method of manufacturing a touch panel, characterized in that the formation of the dot spacers includes a step of printing transparent thermoplastic adhesive fine particles in a state of being diffused and added to a highly viscous organic solvent, and a step of performing a baking process. . 4. The touch panel according to claim 3, wherein the adhesive fine particles are printed in a dot matrix at a predetermined interval by screen printing using a metal plate and formed in a molten state under a firing process. Manufacturing method. . A screen input type display device having a touch panel on an upper surface of a display device such as a liquid crystal display device, wherein the touch panel according to claim 1 or 2 or the touch panel adopting the manufacturing method according to claim 3 or 4 is provided. A screen input type display device comprising:

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