TWI602105B - Touch panel - Google Patents

Description

Touch panel

The present invention relates to a panel, and more particularly to a touch panel.

With the rapid development of technology, most electronic products, such as notebook computers, mobile phones or portable multimedia players, use touch panels as their input interfaces. Taking a capacitive touch panel as an example, it is usually provided with a plurality of electrodes. When a conductive object (such as a finger) approaches or touches the touch panel, the capacitance between the electrodes changes. By reading the change in the capacitance value, it is possible to judge the position at which the conductive object approaches or is in contact.

In recent years, a technique of fabricating an electrode of a touch panel with a metal mesh has been developed, in which a plurality of metal thin wires intersecting each other are used to form a grid electrode. Since the grid electrode and the peripheral trace can be made of the same material, the process cost and process time of the touch panel can be reduced. However, as far as the current design is concerned, the intersection point of the metal thin wires (hereinafter referred to as a node) has a large area, which is easily seen by the user and affects the visual effect of the touch panel.

The invention provides a touch panel with good visual effects.

A touch panel of the present invention includes a first substrate and a plurality of grid electrodes. The grid electrode is located on the first substrate. Each grid electrode includes a plurality of grid cells. The grid cells are connected to each other to form a plurality of nodes, wherein each node is located at the intersection of three grid cells.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first substrate is a glass cover.

In an embodiment of the invention, the grid electrode includes a plurality of first grid electrodes and a plurality of second grid electrodes. The first grid electrode is located between the second grid electrode and the first substrate, and the second grid electrode and the first grid electrode are electrically insulated from each other and are staggered with each other.

In an embodiment of the invention, the touch panel further includes an insulating layer. The insulating layer is between the first grid electrode and the second grid electrode.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first grid electrode, the insulating layer and the second grid electrode are sequentially disposed on the first substrate.

In an embodiment of the invention, the touch panel further includes a second substrate. The second substrate is opposite to the first substrate, wherein the first grid electrode is disposed on the first substrate, and the second grid electrode is disposed on the second substrate.

In an embodiment of the invention, the width of each of the second grid electrodes is greater than the width of each of the first grid electrodes.

In an embodiment of the invention, each of the grid cells has a hexagonal shape or a quadrilateral shape.

In an embodiment of the invention, one of the above grid units The point falls on a straight line connecting two adjacent end points of another grid unit.

In an embodiment of the invention, each of the grid cells has a line width of less than or equal to 7 microns.

Based on the above, since the design of each node located at the intersection of the three grid cells can reduce the area of the node and help to reduce the visibility of the node, the touch panel of the present invention can have a good visual effect.

The above described features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.

A, B‧‧‧ area

100, 200, 300‧‧‧ touch panels

110‧‧‧First substrate

120‧‧‧ grid electrode

122, 122A‧‧‧ first grid electrode

124, 124A‧‧‧second grid electrode

130‧‧‧Insulation

140‧‧‧second substrate

C1‧‧‧First Connection

C2‧‧‧Second connection

D‧‧‧Distance

D1‧‧‧ first direction

D2‧‧‧ second direction

E1, E2‧‧‧ endpoint

LW1, LW2‧‧‧ line width

MU, U1, U2, U3, U4, U5‧‧ Grid units

MU1‧‧‧ first grid unit

MU2‧‧‧Second grid unit

N, N1, N2‧‧‧ nodes

O‧‧‧ openings

P1‧‧‧First electrode pad

P2‧‧‧Second electrode pad

S1‧‧‧ inner surface

S2‧‧‧ outer surface

S12, S13, S23‧‧‧ side

W122, W124‧‧‧ width

X‧‧‧Interlaced

1A is a partial cross-sectional view of a touch panel in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

1B is a partial top plan view of a touch panel in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

1C and 1D are respectively a first enlarged schematic view of the area A and the area B in FIG. 1B.

1E is a first partial enlarged view of the intersection X of the first grid electrode and the second grid electrode of FIG. 1B.

2 is a second partial enlarged view of the intersection X of the first grid electrode and the second grid electrode of FIG. 1B.

3A and 3B are second enlargement of area A and area B in FIG. 1B, respectively. schematic diagram.

4A and 4B are respectively a third enlarged schematic view of the area A and the area B in Fig. 1B.

5A and 5B are respectively a fourth enlarged schematic view of the area A and the area B in Fig. 1B.

6A and 6B are respectively a fifth enlarged schematic view of the area A and the area B in Fig. 1B.

FIG. 7 is a partial top plan view of a touch panel in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of a touch panel in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention.

1A is a partial cross-sectional view of a touch panel in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B is a partial top view of a touch panel according to a first embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1B omits the insulating layer of FIG. 1A. 1C and 1D are respectively a first enlarged schematic view of the area A and the area B in FIG. 1B. 1E is a first partial enlarged view of the intersection x of the first grid electrode and the second grid electrode of FIG. 1B.

Referring to FIG. 1A , the touch panel 100 includes a first substrate 110 and a plurality of grid electrodes 120 . The first substrate 110 is adapted to protect the covered component (such as the grid electrode 120). For example, the first substrate 110 can be a glass cover, but is not limited thereto.

The first substrate 110 has an inner surface S1 and an outer surface S2 opposite to the inner surface S1. The inner surface S1 can be a component carrying surface that is adapted to carry the grid electrode 120. The outer surface S2 can be a touch operation surface. Further, a conductive object such as a finger can approach or touch the outer surface S2 of the touch panel to perform a touch operation.

The grid electrode 120 is located on the first substrate 110, and the grid electrode 120 can be a double-layer touch sensing structure or a single-layer touch sensing structure. Taking the double-layer touch sensing structure as an example, the grid electrode 120 may include a plurality of first grid electrodes 122 and a plurality of second grid electrodes 124, wherein the second grid electrodes 124 and the first grid electrodes 122 are mutually Electrical insulation. Further, the first grid electrode 122 can be disposed between the second grid electrode 124 and the first substrate 110, and the touch panel 100 can further include the first grid electrode 122 and the second grid electrode 124. The insulating layer 130 is spaced apart to structurally separate the first grid electrode 122 from the second grid electrode 124. The insulating layer 130 may cover the first grid electrode 122 and the first substrate 110 exposed by the first grid electrode 122, but is not limited thereto.

Referring to FIG. 1B, the second grid electrode 124 and the first grid electrode 122 are staggered with each other, wherein the first grid electrode 122 is arranged along the first direction D1, and the second grid electrode 124 is arranged along the second direction D2. The first direction D1 and the second direction D2 intersect each other and are, for example, perpendicular to each other, but are not limited thereto. In this embodiment, the width W124 of each of the second grid electrodes 124 may be greater than the width W122 of each of the first grid electrodes 122, but is not limited thereto.

It should be noted that, in FIG. 1B, each grid electrode 120 (including the first grid electrode 122 and the second grid electrode 124) is a strip electrode, but each grid electrode 120 is It is formed by a plurality of mesh units MU connected to each other. Referring to FIG. 1C and FIG. 1D, each grid electrode 120 includes a plurality of grid cells MU connected to each other. Each grid unit MU is formed by a plurality of line segments connected to each other to form a closed pattern having a single opening O.

The grid cells MU are connected to each other to form a plurality of nodes N (Fig. 1C and Fig. 1D respectively indicate a node N), wherein each node N is located at the intersection of the three grid cells MU. Illustrated by the node N1 of FIG. 1C, the node N1 is located at the intersection of the grid units U1, U2, U3, wherein the grid unit U1 shares the side S12 with the grid unit U2, and the grid unit U2 shares the side with the grid unit U3. In the side S23, the mesh unit U1 shares the side S13 with the mesh unit U3, and the node N1 is located at the intersection of the sides S12, S23, and S13.

The node N is located at the intersection of the four grid cells MU (that is, the node N is formed by four sides), and the embodiment is formed by the intersection of the three grid cells MU by the nodes N. The design can reduce the area of the node N, and helps to reduce the visibility of the node N, so the touch panel 100 can have a good visual effect.

In this embodiment, each of the first grid electrodes 122 includes a plurality of first grid cells MU1 connected to each other, and each of the second grid electrodes 124 includes a plurality of second grid cells MU2 connected to each other, wherein the first The shape, line width, size, and stacking pattern of the first grid unit MU1 and the second grid unit MU2 of the grid unit MU1 and the second grid unit MU2 may be changed according to different design requirements.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1C to FIG. 1E, the shape of each mesh unit MU may be a hexagon. The line width of each grid unit MU (including the line width LW1 of each first grid unit MU1 and the line width LW2 of each second grid unit MU2) may be less than or equal to 7 microns. The size of each grid unit MU can be the same. In addition, at the intersection X of the first grid electrode 122 and the second grid electrode 124 (shown in FIG. 1B ), the second grid unit MU2 can translate the distance D relative to the first grid unit MU1, but not Limited. In another embodiment, the second grid unit MU2 and the first grid unit MU1 may completely overlap.

Other embodiments of the first mesh unit MU1 and the second mesh unit MU2 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6B. 2 is a second partial enlarged view of the intersection of the first grid electrode and the second grid electrode of FIG. 1B. 3A and 3B are respectively a second enlarged schematic view of the area A and the area B in Fig. 1B. 4A and 4B are respectively a third enlarged schematic view of the area A and the area B in Fig. 1B. 5A and 5B are respectively a fourth enlarged schematic view of the area A and the area B in Fig. 1B. 6A and 6B are respectively a fifth enlarged schematic view of the area A and the area B in Fig. 1B.

Referring to FIG. 2, the second mesh unit MU2 may be rotated by an angle with respect to the first mesh unit MU1 such that the sides of the second mesh unit MU2 are not parallel and are not perpendicular to the sides of the first mesh unit MU1. In this way, in addition to reducing the visibility of the node N, it also contributes to the improvement of the Moire effect.

Referring to FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B , the shape of each grid unit MU may also be a quadrilateral, such as a rectangle, but is not limited thereto. Referring to FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, the shape of each grid unit MU may also be a parallelogram. In the architecture of FIG. 3A to FIG. 4B, one node N of each grid unit MU falls on a straight line connecting two adjacent end points of another grid unit MU. As shown in FIG. 3A, the node N2 of the mesh unit U4 falls on a straight line connecting the two adjacent end points E1, E2 of the mesh unit U5. Please refer to Figure 5A And FIG. 5B, the first mesh unit MU1 and the second mesh unit MU2 may have similar shapes, and the sizes of the first mesh unit MU1 and the second mesh unit MU2 may be different. Alternatively, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the shapes of the first mesh unit MU1 and the second mesh unit MU2 may be different. In the architecture of FIG. 3A to FIG. 6B, at the intersection X of the first grid electrode 122 and the second grid electrode 124 (shown in FIG. 1B), the first grid unit MU1 and the second grid unit MU2 may Full overlap, relative translation distance D (as shown in Figure 1E) or relative rotation at an angle (as shown in Figure 2).

FIG. 7 is a partial top plan view of a touch panel in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 7 , the touch panel 200 is similar to the touch panel 100 of FIG. 1B , and the same or similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals and will not be described again. The main difference between the touch panel 200 and the touch panel 100 is that each of the first grid electrodes 122A includes a plurality of first electrode pads P1 and a plurality of first connecting portions C1, and each of the first connecting portions C1 will be adjacent to each other. An electrode pad P1 is connected in series in the first direction D1. On the other hand, each of the second grid electrodes 124A includes a plurality of second electrode pads P2 and a plurality of second connecting portions C2, and each of the second connecting portions C2 links the adjacent two second electrode pads P2 along the second direction D2. Pick up. Each of the first electrode pads P1 and each of the first connecting portions C1 may be respectively formed by a plurality of first mesh units MU1 being connected to each other, and each of the second electrode pads P2 and each of the second connecting portions C2 may be respectively formed by a plurality of second nets. The cell units MU2 are connected to each other. For the types of stacking of the first mesh unit MU1 and each of the second mesh unit MU2, refer to the foregoing, and details are not described herein again.

In addition, the touch panel 200 may further include the insulating layer 130 of FIG. 1A, wherein the insulating layer 130 is located between the first grid electrode 122A and the second grid electrode 124A. Therefore, the first grid electrode 122A and the second grid electrode 124A are structurally separated to achieve an electrical insulation effect.

FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of a touch panel in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 8 , the touch panel 300 is similar to the touch panel 100 of FIG. 1A , and the same or similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals and will not be described again. The main difference between the touch panel 300 and the touch panel 100 is that, in the touch panel 100, the first grid electrode 122, the insulating layer 130, and the second grid electrode 124 are sequentially disposed on the first substrate 110, and In the touch panel 300, the touch panel 300 further includes a second substrate 140 opposite to the first substrate 110, wherein the first grid electrode 122 is disposed on the first substrate 110, and the second grid electrode 124 is disposed at On the second substrate 140. Under the architecture of FIG. 8, the insulating layer 130 may have a viscosity to bond the first grid electrode 122 and the second grid electrode 124.

In summary, since the design of each node being shared by the common sides of the three grid cells can reduce the area of the nodes, which helps to reduce the visibility of the nodes, the touch panel of the present invention can have good performance. Visual effect.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and any one of ordinary skill in the art can make some changes and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

A‧‧‧ area

120‧‧‧ grid electrode

122‧‧‧First grid electrode

LW1‧‧‧ line width

MU, U1, U2, U3‧‧‧ grid unit

MU1‧‧‧ first grid unit

N, N1‧‧‧ nodes

O‧‧‧ openings

S12, S13, S23‧‧‧ side

Claims (9)

A touch panel includes: a first substrate; and a plurality of grid electrodes on the first substrate, each of the grid electrodes includes a plurality of grid cells, and the grid cells are connected to each other to form a plurality of nodes Each of the nodes is located at an intersection of three grid cells, and one of the nodes of the grid cells falls on a straight line connecting two adjacent endpoints of another grid cell. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the first substrate is a glass cover. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the grid electrodes comprise a plurality of first grid electrodes and a plurality of second grid electrodes, wherein the first grid electrodes are located in the second grids Between the grid electrode and the first substrate, the second grid electrodes and the first grid electrodes are electrically insulated from each other and staggered with each other. The touch panel of claim 3, further comprising: an insulating layer between the first grid electrode and the second grid electrodes. The touch panel of claim 4, wherein the first grid electrode, the insulating layer and the second grid electrodes are sequentially disposed on the first substrate. The touch panel of claim 4, further comprising: a second substrate opposite to the first substrate, wherein the first grid electrodes are disposed on the first substrate, and the second A grid electrode is disposed on the second substrate. The touch panel of claim 3, wherein a width of each of the second grid electrodes is greater than a width of each of the first grid electrodes. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein each of the grid cells has a quadrangular shape. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein a line width of each of the grid cells is less than or equal to 7 micrometers.