TWI404474B - Arrangement Method and Structure of Bridge Electrode - Google Patents

Abstract

A layout method of a bridging electrode and the structure thereof are disclosed. Layout method of a bridging electrode comprises steps of providing a substrate; forming a transparent conductive layer on the substrate, wherein the transparent conductive layer has a plurality of pattern blocks set adjacent to each other; forming a alignment film layer on the substrate, wherein the alignment film layer has a plurality of bridging trenches for crossing among the pattern blocks; forming a conductive layer on the substrate, wherein the conductive layer has a plurality of electric leads set respectively corresponding to the bridging trenches, and the electric leads of the conductive layer is formed by an optical compensating mask co-operating with at least one of excess exposure and excess development; and forming a protective layer on the substrate for increasing optical transparency and protecting the substrate, the transparent conductive layer, the alignment film layer and the conductive layer.

Description

Bridge electrode arrangement method and structure thereof

The invention relates to a method for laying an electrode and a structure thereof, in particular to forming a bridge groove by using a special reticle in an insulating unit, so that the wire disposed on the bridge groove is not easy to be bridged by the subsequent process. The method of laying the electrodes and its structure.

In the process of the capacitive touch panel, two different axial electrodes are formed on the substrate, and an insulating layer is formed on one of the axial electrodes to provide another axial direction. The electrodes are electrically connected through the metal wires provided on the insulating layer.

However, since the metal wire conventionally disposed on the insulating layer may cause damage to the metal wire in a subsequent process, the conductive wire may not be turned on, thereby causing a decrease in the yield of the capacitive touch panel.

In addition, in the general design of the reticle, the pattern line width of the production mask is the same as the pattern line width of the desired forming line, and the problem caused by the above is not effectively overcome, and after development, the photoresist residue is severe, Incomplete development and over-development may occur at the same time. After etching, it is easy to cause poor appearance (serious or wavy lines on the edge of the line) or poor electrical properties (unusual reliability test).

Therefore, it is necessary to provide a new structure for efficiently improving the yield of the capacitive touch panel.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for laying a bridge electrode by using a photomask having a halftone dot pattern to form a bridge groove for achieving a pair of bridge grooves formed during the manufacturing process. Destruction of the upper wire.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a bridge type electrode structure having a bridge type insulation unit for electrical connection between electrodes, and for causing a wire connecting the electrodes to be disposed at a lower level than the bridge insulation unit. In the groove.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a bridge electrode structure that can interact with the optically compensated reticle by adjusting the light energy for exposure and/or in conjunction with an optically compensated reticle. To compensate for the electrical conductors, for example, to compensate for critical dimension losses (Critical Dimension Loss).

To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides a method for arranging a bridge electrode, the method comprising the steps of: forming a transparent conductive layer on the substrate, wherein the transparent conductive layer has a plurality of pattern blocks adjacent to each other Providing an alignment film layer on the substrate, and the alignment film layer has one of a plurality of bridged trenches bridging the insulating unit for spanning between the pattern blocks; forming a conductive layer on the substrate And the conductive layer has a plurality of electrical wires respectively disposed on the bridged trenches, and the electrical wires of the conductive layer are optically compensated Forming a cover with at least one of overexposure and overexposure; and forming a protective layer on the substrate for increasing optical transmittance, and protecting the substrate, the transparent conductive layer, the alignment film layer and the conductive Floor.

To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides a bridge type electrode structure for a capacitive touch panel comprising a substrate, a plurality of first electrode blocks, a plurality of second electrode blocks, and a bridge insulation. unit. The first electrode blocks are disposed on the substrate and are electrically connected in series through a first wire. The second electrode blocks are disposed on the substrate and the second electrode blocks are respectively disposed on opposite sides of the first wire. The bridge insulation unit is vertically disposed on the first wire, and the bridge insulation unit has a bridge groove. The second electrode blocks are electrically connected in series by a second wire through the bridge groove.

To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides a bridge electrode structure comprising a substrate layer, a transparent conductive layer, an alignment film layer, and a conductive layer. The transparent conductive layer is disposed on at least one side of the substrate. The alignment film layer is disposed on one side of the substrate layer and the transparent conductive layer. The conductive layer is disposed adjacent to one side of the alignment film layer. In addition, the bridge electrode structure further includes a protective layer disposed on at least one side of the bridge electrode structure, wherein the protective layer is an organic layer, a photoresist layer, an anti-reflective layer, an anti-glare layer or a combination thereof.

Compared with the prior art, the bridge electrode assembly method of the present invention and the structure thereof are formed on the bridge insulation unit by a photomask having a halftone dot pattern. The bridge-type groove is such that when the electrodes are connected to each other, in addition to being provided on a substrate while the electrodes having two directions are insulated from each other and electrically connected separately, the bridged trench is lower than The structure of the height of the bridge insulation unit can effectively improve the process yield, wherein the light energy and the optical compensation mask can be made, in particular, by adjusting the light energy for exposure and/or matching the optical compensation mask. Interactions are made with each other to compensate for the electrical conductors.

In order to fully understand the objects, features and advantages of the present invention, the present invention will be described in detail by the following specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

Referring to Figures 1 to 5, a flow chart of a method for laying a bridge electrode in an embodiment of the present invention is shown. In FIG. 1 , the step of the method of disposing the bridge electrode starts from step S1 to provide the substrate; then, in step S2, a transparent conductive layer is formed on the substrate, and the transparent conductive layer has a plurality of pattern blocks facing each other. And adjacent to step S3, forming an alignment film layer on the substrate, and the alignment film layer has one of a plurality of bridged trenches for bridging the insulation unit to span between the pattern blocks; Next, in step S4, a conductive layer is formed on the substrate, and the conductive layer has a plurality of electrical wires respectively disposed on the bridged trenches, and the electrical wires of the conductive layer are optically compensated a cover, in combination with at least one of overexposure and overexposure; and in a further step S5, forming a protective layer on the substrate for increasing optical transmittance, and protecting the substrate, the transparent conductive layer, the alignment a film layer and the conductive layer.

Furthermore, the second figure is a more detailed step of the above step S2, so the step of forming the transparent conductive layer comprises, starting from step S2-1, sputtering a conductive film (ITO) on the substrate; then step S2- 2, coating a photoresist on the substrate; then, in step S2-3, providing a mask having a pattern corresponding to the pattern block, and exposing the pattern block to the photoresist through the mask; Then, in step S2-4, the pattern blocks are developed, etched and stripped to form the pattern blocks adjacent to each other.

Figure 3 is a more detailed step of the above step S3, so the step of forming the alignment film layer comprises, starting from step S3-1, applying a photoresist to the substrate; then step S3-2, providing half a half tone mask of the half tone pattern, and the mask is used to expose the halftone dot pattern to the photoresist; and then step S3-3, developing the halftone dot pattern on the photoresist And forming the bridged trenches between the pattern blocks; and then step S3-4, baking the photoresist. In addition, the halftone dot pattern forming step of the mask comprises providing a line diameter of an opaque region of the mask surface larger than a line diameter of the halftone dot pattern (as shown in FIG. 6a) or forming a plurality of holes. (for example, the holes may be circular, rectangular or of any shape) and are disposed evenly on the surface of the reticle (as shown in Figures 6b, 6c), and the light rays caused by exposure to the halftone dot pattern The interference and the diffraction effect are such that the photoresist of the bridged trench is lower than the height of the bridge insulating unit after development (as shown in Fig. 7d).

Figure 4 is a more detailed step of the above step S4, so that the conductive layer is formed The step includes, starting from step S4-1, sputtering a conductive material on the substrate; then, step S4-2, applying a photoresist to the substrate; and then following step S4-3, providing the optical compensation a mask, and overexpressing an electrical lead pattern corresponding to one of the isoelectric wires over the photoresist through the optical compensation mask; and then, in step S4-4, developing the electrical lead pattern to form adjacent to each other The pattern blocks are generated by overexposure and overexposure. In addition, the step of forming the conductive layer may further comprise adjusting a light energy for exposure, and matching the optical compensation type mask, so that the light energy and the optical compensation type mask interact with each other to compensate The critical dimension loss of the electrical wires, for example, the pattern produced by the optically compensated reticle can be as shown in the electrical traces of the thick black lines in Figures 7a and 7b, wherein Figure 7a shows the An optically compensated reticle produces an electrical conductor having an equal-diameter width; and Figure 7b shows that the optically-compensated reticle produces an electrical conductor having a non-equal diameter and, in particular, has a wider width at both ends of the electrical conductor Wire diameter.

Figure 5 is a more detailed step of the above step S5, so the step of forming the protective layer comprises, starting from step S5-1, applying at least one of a photoresist and an organic substance to the substrate; and then step S5 -2, baking the photoresist or the organic material to form a hard protective film. In addition, in another embodiment, if the protective layer is not used for the entire area of the substrate, then a step S5-1 may be followed by providing a reticle with a protective area pattern, and passing through the reticle. Exposing the protected area pattern to the photoresist or the organic material, and developing the protective area pattern on the photoresist or the organic material; then, in step S5-2, baking the photoresist or the organic substance, To form a hard protective film.

Referring to Figures 7c through 7d, there are shown schematic views of a bridged electrode structure in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 7c, the present invention provides a bridge type electrode structure for a capacitive touch panel comprising a substrate 10, a plurality of first electrode blocks 12, a plurality of second electrode blocks 14 and a bridge Insulation unit 16. The material of the substrate 10 may be a glass material, that is, a glass substrate. The first electrode blocks 12 are disposed on the substrate 10 and electrically connected in series through a first wire 18. The second electrode blocks 14 are disposed on the substrate 10 and the second electrode blocks 14 are respectively disposed on opposite sides of the first wire 18. The bridge insulating unit 16 is vertically disposed on the first wire 18, and the bridge insulating unit 16 has a bridge groove 20 as shown in Fig. 7d. The second electrode blocks 14 are electrically connected in series by the second wire 22 through the bridge insulating unit 16. The first electrode block 12, the second electrode block 14, the first wire 18 and the second wire 22 are selected from transparent or non-transparent conductive materials such as ITO (Indium tin oxide). Furthermore, the first wire 18 and the second wire 22 are molybdenum (MO)-aluminum (AL)-molybdenum (MO). In addition, the bridge electrode structure further includes at least one protective layer disposed on one side, the other side or both sides of the bridge electrode structure, which is not shown, and the protective layer is formed by an organic substance or a photoresist. For example, the material of the photoresist is cerium oxide (SiO2).

Referring to Figures 8a through 8b, there is shown a vertical cross-sectional view of a bridge electrode structure in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the bridge electrode structure is used for a capacitive touch panel, which comprises a substrate layer SL and a transparent conductive layer. ECL, alignment film layer PI and conductive layer CL. The transparent conductive layer ECL is disposed on at least one side of the substrate layer SL. The alignment film layer PI is provided on one side of the substrate layer SL and the transparent conductive layer ECL. The conductive layer CL is disposed adjacent to one side of the alignment film layer PI, and the conductive layer CL may be a structure of molybdenum (MO)-aluminum (AL)-molybdenum (MO). In addition, a protective layer PL is disposed on at least one side of the bridge electrode structure, and the protective layer PL may be an organic layer, a photoresist layer, an anti-reflection layer (AR), and an anti-glare layer (anti -glare; AG) or a combination of the above. Those skilled in the art should be able to understand that the protective layer PL can also be ignored, and the ordering process of each layer can also be changed as needed.

Compared with the prior art, the method for laying the bridge electrode of the present invention and the structure thereof are formed by bridging grooves formed in the bridge insulating unit by a photomask having a halftone dot pattern, so that the electrodes are connected to each other. In addition, the electrodes which are provided on one substrate and have two directions are insulated from each other and can be electrically connected respectively, and the bridged trench is lower than the height of the bridge insulating unit, thereby effectively improving Process yield.

The invention has been described above in terms of the preferred embodiments, and it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. It should be noted that variations and permutations equivalent to those of the embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the following claims.

10‧‧‧Substrate

12‧‧‧First electrode block

14‧‧‧Second electrode block

16‧‧‧Bridge insulation unit

18‧‧‧First wire

20‧‧‧Bridged trench

22‧‧‧second wire

PL‧‧‧ protective layer

ECL‧‧‧transparent conductive layer

SL‧‧‧ substrate layer

PI‧‧‧ alignment film

CL‧‧‧ Conductive layer

1 to 5 are schematic flow charts showing a method of arranging bridge electrodes in an embodiment; FIGS. 6a to 6c are schematic diagrams of patterns on an optical compensation type reticle; and FIGS. 7a to 7d are bridge types in an embodiment; A schematic diagram of an electrode structure; and Figures 8a through 8b are schematic vertical cross-sectional views of a bridge electrode structure in an embodiment.

S1~S5‧‧‧ method steps

Claims (21)

A method for laying a bridge electrode, comprising: providing a substrate; forming a transparent conductive layer on the substrate, wherein the transparent conductive layer has a plurality of pattern blocks disposed adjacent to each other; forming an alignment film layer on the substrate And the alignment film layer has one of a plurality of bridged trenches for bridging the insulating unit to span between the pattern blocks; forming a conductive layer on the substrate, and the conductive layer has a plurality of electrical wires Correspondingly disposed on the bridged trenches, wherein the electrical conductors of the conductive layer are formed by at least one of an over-exposure and over-exposure by an optical compensation mask; and forming a protective layer The substrate is configured to increase optical transmittance and protect the substrate, the transparent conductive layer, the alignment film layer and the conductive layer. The method for fabricating the transparent conductive layer according to the method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming the transparent conductive layer comprises: sputtering a conductive film on the substrate; coating a photoresist on the substrate; providing a pattern region corresponding thereto a mask of a pattern of the block, through which the pattern blocks are exposed to be formed on the photoresist; and developing, etching and stripping the pattern blocks to form adjacent ones of the patterns Pattern block. The method according to claim 2, wherein the step of forming the alignment film layer comprises: coating a photoresist on the substrate; providing a mask having a half tone dot pattern, and borrowing Using the reticle to expose the halftone dot pattern to the photoresist; developing the halftone dot pattern on the photoresist to form the bridge type across the pattern blocks a trench; and baking the photoresist. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of forming the conductive layer comprises: sputtering a conductive material on the substrate; applying a photoresist to the substrate; providing the optical compensation mask And exposing an electrical lead pattern corresponding to one of the isoelectric wires to the photoresist through the optically compensated reticle; and developing the electrical lead pattern to form the pattern blocks adjacent to each other, and The electrical lead pattern is produced by overdevelopment. The method of fabricating the protective layer according to claim 4, wherein the step of forming the protective layer comprises: coating a photoresist and at least one of the organic substances on the substrate; and baking the photoresist or the organic substance to A hard protective film is formed. The protective layer as described in claim 5, wherein the protective layer Forming the step of: providing a mask having a pattern of a protected area, and exposing the pattern of the protected area to the photoresist or the organic substance through the mask; and developing the protected area on the photoresist or the organic substance pattern. The method according to claim 3, wherein the halftone dot pattern forming step of the mask comprises: providing a line diameter of an opaque region of the mask surface larger than a line diameter of the halftone dot pattern . The method of arranging the halftone dot pattern of the reticle, wherein the halftone dot pattern forming step comprises: forming a plurality of holes and arranging on the surface of the reticle on average. The method of claim 3, wherein the halftone dot pattern forming step of the mask comprises: interfering and diffracting the light through the exposure light to the halftone dot pattern, so that the bridge type After the photoresist of the trench is developed, the bridge trench is lower than the height of the bridge insulating unit. The method of fabricating the fourth aspect of the invention, wherein the step of forming the conductive layer further comprises: adjusting a light energy for exposure, and matching the optical compensation mask to make the light energy and the optical compensation light The hoods interact with one another to compensate for the critical dimension loss of the electrical conductors (Critical Dimension Loss). A bridge type electrode structure is used for a capacitive touch panel, comprising: a substrate; a plurality of first electrode blocks disposed on the substrate and electrically connected in series through a first wire; a plurality of second An electrode block is disposed on the substrate and the second electrode blocks are respectively disposed on two sides of the first wire; and a bridge insulation unit is vertically disposed on the first wire, and the bridge is The insulating unit has a bridge type trench; wherein the second electrode blocks are electrically connected in series by the bridge insulating unit having a second wire. The bridge electrode structure of claim 11, wherein the first electrode block, the second electrode block, the first wire and the second wire are selected from transparent or non-transparent conductive materials. . The bridge electrode structure of claim 12, wherein the substrate is a glass substrate. The bridge electrode structure of claim 11, wherein the first wire and the second wire are molybdenum (MO)-aluminum (AL)-molybdenum (MO). The bridge electrode structure of claim 11, further comprising: at least one protective layer disposed on one side of the bridge electrode structure. The bridge electrode structure as described in claim 15 of the patent application, Including: at least one of the protective layers is disposed on the other side of the bridge electrode structure. The bridge electrode structure of claim 15 or 16, wherein the protective layer is formed of an organic substance or a photoresist. The bridge electrode structure according to claim 17, wherein the material of the photoresist is cerium oxide (SiO ₂ ). A bridge type electrode structure is used for a capacitive touch panel, comprising: a substrate layer; a transparent conductive layer disposed on at least one side of the substrate layer, the transparent conductive layer having a plurality of pattern blocks Adjacently disposed; an alignment film layer disposed on one side of the substrate layer and the transparent conductive layer, the alignment film layer having a plurality of bridge grooves for spanning between the pattern blocks; and a The conductive layer is disposed adjacent to one side of the alignment film layer, and the conductive layer has a plurality of electrical wires respectively disposed on the plurality of bridged trenches, and the plurality of electrical wires of the conductive layer are passed through an optical A compensating reticle is formed in combination with at least one of overexposure or overexposure. The bridge electrode structure of claim 19, further comprising a protective layer disposed on at least one side of the bridge electrode structure. The bridge electrode structure of claim 20, wherein the protective layer is an organic layer, a photoresist layer, an anti-reflective layer (AR), an anti-glare layer (AG), or a combination thereof.