CN101751181B - How to make a touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a touch panel, which comprises the following steps. A substrate is provided. A first transparent conductive layer is formed on a substrate, a first screen printing manufacturing process is performed, a first sacrificial pattern layer is formed on the first transparent conductive layer, and the first transparent conductive layer is patterned by the first sacrificial pattern layer to form a sensing pad pattern layer. And performing a second screen printing process to form a patterned insulating layer on the substrate. Forming a second transparent conductive layer on the substrate, performing a third screen printing process to form a second sacrificial pattern layer on the second transparent conductive layer, and patterning the second transparent conductive layer by using the second sacrificial pattern layer to form a bridge line pattern layer.

Description

How to make a touch panel

technical field

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a touch panel, in particular to a method for forming a sensing pad pattern layer, a patterned insulating layer and a bridge line pattern layer of a touch panel by using a screen printing process.

Background technique

In today's market of various consumer electronic products, portable electronic products such as mobile phones, satellite navigation systems (GPS) and digital audio-visual players have widely used touch panels as man-machine Data communication interface. Since the current design of consumer electronic products emphasizes thinness and compactness, traditional input devices such as buttons and mice are expected to save space in product design, so touch input is adopted, so touch panels have become one of the key components.

Based on the principle of touch control, current touch panels can be divided into two types: resistance/contact touch panel and capacitive touch panel. The control panel is the mainstream product on the market at present. In the existing capacitive touch panel, layers such as sensing pads, insulating layers, and bridging wires are formed by photolithography, which makes the production cost expensive and affects the popularity of the capacitive touch panel.

Contents of the invention

One of the objectives of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a touch panel, so as to save the manufacturing cost of the touch panel.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a touch panel, including the following steps. A base is provided, which includes a sensing area. Forming a first transparent conductive layer in the sensing area of the substrate, and performing a first screen printing manufacturing process, forming a first sacrificial pattern layer on the first transparent conductive layer, and using the first sacrificial pattern layer for patterning The first transparent conductive layer is used to form a sensing pad pattern layer. A first tempering manufacturing process is performed to temper the sensing pad pattern layer. A second screen printing process is performed to form a patterned insulating layer in the sensing area of the substrate, and the patterned insulating layer includes a plurality of island-shaped insulating structures. Forming a second transparent conductive layer in the sensing area of the substrate, and performing a third screen printing manufacturing process, forming a second sacrificial pattern layer on the second transparent conductive layer, and using the second sacrificial pattern layer for patterning The second transparent conductive layer is to form a bridge line pattern layer, the bridge line pattern layer includes a plurality of bridge lines, and each of the bridge lines corresponds to each of the island-shaped insulating structures.

Since the method for manufacturing a touch panel of the present invention utilizes a screen printing manufacturing process to form a sacrificial pattern layer for defining a sensing pad pattern layer and a bridging line pattern layer, compared with the existing method using a yellow light lithography manufacturing process, the present invention produces The touch panel approach offers significant cost savings.

Description of drawings

1 to 9 are schematic diagrams illustrating a method for manufacturing a touch panel according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

10 to 13 illustrate another implementation of the steps of patterning the first transparent conductive layer and patterning the second transparent conductive layer according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

14 to 20 are schematic diagrams illustrating a method for manufacturing a touch panel according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 and FIG. 22 are schematic diagrams of other two preferred embodiments of the method for manufacturing a touch panel of the present invention.

Figure number:

10 Substrate 10S Sensing area

10P Peripheral area 12 First transparent conductive layer

14 The first sacrificial pattern layer 16 The sensing pad pattern layer

161 First Sensing Pad 162 Second Sensing Pad

163 Connection wire 18 Patterned insulating layer

181 Island insulation structure 20 Second transparent conductive layer

22 Second sacrificial pattern layer 24 Bridge line pattern layer

241 Bridge wire 26 Connecting wire

27 Protective layer 28 First sacrificial pattern layer

30 Second sacrificial pattern layer 50 Substrate

50S Sensing area 50P Surrounding area

52 Second transparent conductive layer 54 Second sacrificial pattern layer

56 Bridge line pattern layer 561 Bridge line

58 Patterned insulating layer 581 Island-shaped insulating structure

60 The first transparent conductive layer 62 The first sacrificial pattern layer

64 Sensing pad pattern layer 641 The first sensing pad

642 Second sensing pad 643 Connection wire

66 Connecting wires 67 Protective layer

80 display panel

Detailed ways

In order to enable those who are familiar with the technical field of the present invention to further understand the present invention, the preferred embodiments of the present invention are listed below, together with the attached drawings, to describe in detail the composition of the present invention and the desired effects . In addition, in the following, terms such as "first", "second", "third" and "fourth" are used to distinguish different components or manufacturing processes, and do not represent a limitation on the order thereof.

Please refer to Figure 1 to Figure 9. Fig. 1 to Fig. 9 have shown the schematic diagram of the method for making touch panel of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein in order to clearly show the feature of the present invention, Fig. 3 and Fig. 8 are top view diagrams, Fig. 1, Fig. 2. FIGS. 4 to 7 and FIG. 9 are schematic cross-sectional views along the line AA' of FIG. 3 . As shown in FIG. 1 , firstly, a substrate 10 is provided, and the substrate 10 at least includes a sensing region 10S for disposing sensing elements, and a peripheral region 10P for disposing connecting wires. Next, a first transparent conductive layer 12 is formed in the sensing region 10S of the substrate 10 . The first transparent conductive layer 12 can be made of various transparent conductive materials, and is formed by various thin film techniques such as physical vapor deposition or chemical vapor deposition. For example, in this embodiment, the first transparent conductive layer 12 is made of amorphous indium tin oxide (amorphous ITO) and formed by sputtering, but it is not limited thereto.

As shown in FIG. 2, a first screen printing manufacturing process is then performed to form a first sacrificial pattern layer 14 on the first transparent conductive layer 12, and utilize the first sacrificial pattern layer 14 to pattern the first transparent conductive layer 12, To form a sensing pad pattern layer 16 . In this embodiment, the first sacrificial pattern layer 14 includes a patterned etching barrier layer (etching resistance), so the step of patterning the first transparent conductive layer 12 includes using the patterned etching barrier layer as an etching mask to perform a first An etching process to remove the first transparent conductive layer 12 not covered by the patterned etch barrier layer to form the sensing pad pattern layer 16 . The first etching manufacturing process can be, for example, a wet etching manufacturing process using oxalic acid as an etching solution, but it is not limited thereto, and depending on the material selection of the first transparent conductive layer 12, other etching solutions can be selected, or dry etching can be used. manufacturing process. In addition, in order to prevent the sensing pad pattern layer 16 from being damaged in the subsequent etching process, after the sensing pad pattern layer 16 is formed, a modification process, such as a first tempering process, can be selectively performed, To change the type of the sensing pad pattern layer 16 . For example, the material of the sensing pad pattern layer 16 in this embodiment is originally amorphous indium tin oxide, but the material of the sensing pad pattern layer 16 can be modified to polycrystalline indium oxide through the first tempering manufacturing process Tin (poly ITO).

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 , the first sacrificial pattern layer 14 is then removed to expose the sensing pad pattern layer 16 . The sensing pad pattern layer 16 includes a plurality of sensing pads, such as a plurality of first sensing pads 161 and a plurality of second sensing pads 162, and a plurality of connection lines 163, wherein the first sensing pads 161 are along a first direction (such as the vertical direction in FIG. 3 ), and two adjacent first sensing pads 161 in the same row are connected to each other by connecting wires 163, and the second sensing pads 162 are along a second direction (such as the vertical direction in FIG. 3 ). horizontal direction), and the second sensing pads 162 in the same row are not connected to each other. In addition, in this embodiment, two adjacent sensing pads, for example, the adjacent first sensing pad 161 and the second sensing pad 162 have a gap G, and the gap G is generally between 30 microns and 500 microns between, but not limited to.

As shown in FIG. 5 , a second screen printing process is then performed to form a patterned insulating layer 18 in the sensing region 10S of the substrate 10, wherein the patterned insulating layer 18 includes a plurality of insulating island structures (insulating island) 181 generally correspond to positions between two adjacent second sensing pads 162 in the same row, and cover the corresponding connection lines 163 .

As shown in FIG. 6 , a second transparent conductive layer 20 is then formed in the sensing region 10S of the substrate 10 . The second transparent conductive layer 20 can be made of various transparent conductive materials, and is formed by various thin film techniques such as physical vapor deposition or chemical vapor deposition. For example, in this embodiment, the first transparent conductive layer 12 is made of amorphous indium tin oxide and formed by sputtering, but it is not limited thereto.

As shown in FIG. 7, a third screen printing manufacturing process is then performed to form a second sacrificial pattern layer 22 on the second transparent conductive layer 20, and use the second sacrificial pattern layer 22 to pattern the second transparent conductive layer 20, To form a bridge line pattern layer 24 . In this embodiment, the second sacrificial pattern layer 22 includes a patterned etching barrier layer, so the step of patterning the second transparent conductive layer 20 includes performing a second etching process using the patterned etching barrier layer as an etching mask , to remove the second transparent conductive layer 20 not covered by the patterned etch barrier layer to form the bridging line pattern layer 24 . It is worth noting that since the material of the sensing pad pattern layer 16 of this embodiment has undergone the first tempering manufacturing process, its material has been transformed into polycrystalline indium tin oxide, so the second etching manufacturing process will only target The second transparent conductive layer 20 made of indium tin oxide is etched without etching the first transparent conductive layer 16 made of polycrystalline indium tin oxide, so it can effectively prevent the first transparent conductive layer 16 from being produced during the second etching process. Damaged during the process.

As shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 , the second sacrificial pattern layer 22 is then removed to expose the bridge line pattern layer 24, wherein the bridge line pattern layer 24 includes a plurality of bridge lines 241 corresponding to each island-shaped insulating structure 181 and It protrudes from the island-shaped insulating structure 181 to contact with two adjacent second sensing pads 162 , so that the two adjacent second sensing pads 162 can be electrically connected through the bridge line 241 . In this embodiment, the line width of each bridging line 241 is generally between 50 microns and 500 microns, but not limited thereto. In addition, the distance D between the side of each island-shaped insulating structure 181 and the corresponding side of the corresponding bridge line 241 is generally between 50 microns and 500 microns, but not limited thereto. In addition, after forming the bridge line pattern layer 24, a second tempering process can be optionally performed to change the type of the bridge line pattern layer 24, for example, the material of the bridge line pattern layer 24 is changed from amorphous indium tin oxide Modified to polycrystalline indium tin oxide. Subsequently, a fourth screen printing manufacturing process is carried out to form a plurality of connecting wires 26 electrically connected to the sensing pad pattern layer 16 in the peripheral region 10P of the substrate 10, so as to sense the sensing pad pattern layer 16. The received input signal is transmitted to the sensing circuit (not shown). In this embodiment, the connecting wire 26 can be, for example, a silver wire, and the width of the connecting wire 26 is generally between 10 microns and 300 microns, and the thickness is generally between 1 micron and 10 microns, but not This is the limit. The connecting wire 26 can also be a single-layer or composite-layer wire made of other conductive materials, and its width and thickness can also be appropriately adjusted. After that, a protection layer 27 (not shown in FIG. 7 ) is formed on the substrate 10 .

In the method for manufacturing a touch panel of the present invention, the steps of patterning the first transparent conductive layer 12 and patterning the second transparent conductive layer 20 are not limited to using a patterned etching barrier layer, and there are other implementations. Please refer to FIG. 10 to FIG. 13 , and please also refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. 9 . 10 to 13 illustrate another implementation of the steps of patterning the first transparent conductive layer and patterning the second transparent conductive layer according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. The manufacturing process of patterning the first transparent conductive layer can be performed according to the following steps. As shown in FIG. 10 , after the first transparent conductive layer 12 is formed, a first screen printing process is performed to form a first sacrificial pattern layer 28 on the first transparent conductive layer 12 . Different from the first sacrificial pattern layer 14 in FIG. 2 , the first sacrificial pattern layer 28 of this embodiment is a patterned etching paste layer. As shown in FIG. 11 , the first transparent conductive layer 12 located under the patterned etching slurry layer is then etched with the patterned etching slurry layer to define the first sensing pad 161, the second sensing pad 162 and the connection lines. 163. Then the first sacrificial pattern layer 28 is removed. In addition, the manufacturing process of patterning the second transparent conductive layer can be performed according to the following steps. As shown in FIG. 12 , after forming the second transparent conductive layer 20 , a third screen printing process is performed to form a second sacrificial pattern layer 30 on the second transparent conductive layer 20 . Different from the second sacrificial pattern layer 22 in FIG. 7 , the second sacrificial pattern layer 30 of this embodiment is a patterned etching slurry layer. As shown in FIG. 13 , the second transparent conductive layer 20 located under the patterned etching slurry layer is then etched by using the patterned etching slurry layer to define the bridging line pattern layer 24 . Then the second sacrificial pattern layer 30 is removed.

Please refer to Figure 14 to Figure 20. 14 to 20 are schematic diagrams illustrating a method for manufacturing a touch panel according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. In order to simplify the description, the same parts of the second embodiment and the first embodiment will not be repeated, and in order to clearly show the features of the present invention, Fig. 15 and Fig. 19 are schematic top views, Fig. 14, Fig. 16 to Fig. 18 , and FIG. 20 is a schematic cross-sectional view drawn along the section line BB' in FIG. 15 . As shown in FIG. 14 , firstly, a substrate 50 is provided, and the substrate 50 at least includes a sensing area 50S for disposing sensing elements, and a peripheral area 50P for disposing connecting wires. Next, a second transparent conductive layer 52 is formed in the sensing region 50S of the substrate 50 . Subsequently, a third screen printing process is performed to form a second sacrificial pattern layer 54 on the second transparent conductive layer 52, and use the second sacrificial pattern layer 54 to pattern the second transparent conductive layer 52 to form a bridging line Pattern layer 56 . In this embodiment, the second sacrificial pattern layer 54 is a patterned etching barrier layer, and a second etching process is performed using the patterned etching barrier layer as an etching mask to remove the unpatterned etching barrier layer. Covering the second transparent conductive layer 52 to form a bridge line pattern layer 56 . However, the second sacrificial pattern layer 54 is not limited to use a patterned etching barrier layer, and a patterned etching slurry layer can also be used.

As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16 , the second sacrificial pattern layer 54 is then removed to expose the bridge line pattern layer 56 , wherein the bridge line pattern layer 56 includes a plurality of bridge lines 561 . In addition, after forming the bridging line pattern layer 56, a second tempering process can be optionally performed. Subsequently, a second screen printing manufacturing process is performed to form a patterned insulating layer 58 in the sensing region 50S of the substrate 50, wherein the patterned insulating layer 58 includes a plurality of island-shaped insulating structures 581, generally corresponding to each The bridge line 561 , and the length of the island-shaped insulating structure 581 is shorter than the length of the bridge line 561 , so both ends of the bridge line 561 are exposed outside the island-shaped insulating structure 581 .

As shown in FIG. 17 , a first transparent conductive layer 60 is then formed in the sensing region 50S of the substrate 50 . As shown in FIG. 18 , a first screen printing process is then performed to form a first sacrificial pattern layer 62 on the first transparent conductive layer 60 , and use the first sacrificial pattern layer 62 to pattern the first transparent conductive layer 60 . In this embodiment, the first sacrificial pattern layer 62 is a patterned etching barrier layer, and a first etching process is performed using the patterned etching barrier layer as an etching mask to remove the unpatterned etching barrier layer. The sensing pad pattern layer 64 is formed by covering the first transparent conductive layer 60 . The first sacrificial pattern layer 62 is not limited to a patterned etching barrier layer, and a patterned etching slurry layer can also be used.

As shown in FIGS. 19 and 20 , the first sacrificial pattern layer 62 is then removed to expose a sensing pad pattern layer 64 . The sensing pad pattern layer 64 includes a plurality of sensing pads, such as a plurality of first sensing pads 641 and a plurality of second sensing pads 642, and a plurality of connecting lines 643, wherein the first sensing pads 641 are along a first sensing pad. One direction (such as the vertical direction of FIG. 19 ) is arranged, and two adjacent first sensing pads 641 in the same row are connected to each other by connecting lines 643, and the second sensing pads 642 are along a second direction (such as FIG. 19 ), and two adjacent second sensing pads 642 in the same column are connected to each other through corresponding bridge lines 561 . The bridge lines 561 are completely covered by the sensing pad pattern layer 64 , thereby preventing the bridge lines 561 from being etched when the sensing pad pattern layer 64 is etched. In addition, after the sensing pad pattern layer 64 is formed, a first tempering process can be optionally performed. Subsequently, a fourth screen printing process is performed to form a plurality of connecting wires 66 electrically connected to the sensing pad pattern layer 64 in the peripheral region 50P of the substrate 50 . Afterwards, a protection layer 67 (not shown in FIG. 17 ) is formed on the substrate 50 .

The substrate used in the method of manufacturing the touch panel of the present invention can be various soft substrates, or hard substrates such as glass substrates, plastic substrates or quartz substrates. In addition, the method for manufacturing a touch panel of the present invention can also be integrated with a display panel to manufacture a touch display panel. Please refer to Figure 21 and Figure 22. FIG. 21 and FIG. 22 are schematic diagrams of other two preferred embodiments of the method for manufacturing a touch panel of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 21 , the base material 50 of the touch panel can be an auxiliary substrate, and is attached to a display panel 80 (such as a liquid crystal display panel) after the touch panel is fabricated. In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 22, the touch panel can share the same substrate (substrate) with the display panel 80, that is, the substrate 50 of the touch panel is the substrate of the display panel 80, such as a color Filter glass substrate. After the touch panel is manufactured, the glass substrate and other components are assembled into a touch display panel.

In summary, the method for manufacturing a touch panel of the present invention uses a screen printing manufacturing process to form a sacrificial pattern layer for defining a sensing pad pattern layer and a bridge line pattern layer, so compared with the existing method using a yellow light lithography manufacturing process , The method for manufacturing the touch panel of the present invention can greatly save costs.

The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made according to the claims of the present invention shall fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (18)

1. a method of making contact panel is characterized in that, described method comprises:

One ground is provided, and described ground comprises a sensing area;

In the described sensing area of described ground, form one first transparency conducting layer;

Carry out one first wire mark manufacturing process, on described first transparency conducting layer, form one first sacrificial pattern layer, and utilize described first transparency conducting layer of the described first sacrificial pattern patterned, to form a sensor pad patterned layer;

Carry out one first tempering manufacturing process, described sensor pad patterned layer is carried out tempering;

Carry out one second wire mark manufacturing process, in the described sensing area of described ground, form a patterned insulation layer, described patterned insulation layer comprises a plurality of island insulation systems;

In the described sensing area of described ground, form one second transparency conducting layer; And

Carry out one the 3rd wire mark manufacturing process; On described second transparency conducting layer, form one second sacrificial pattern layer; And utilize described second transparency conducting layer of the described second sacrificial pattern patterned; To form a bridging line patterned layer, described bridging line patterned layer comprises a plurality of bridging lines, and respectively corresponding each the described island insulation system of each described bridging line.

2. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1; It is characterized in that; The wherein said first sacrificial pattern layer comprises a pattern etched barrier layer; And the step of described first transparency conducting layer of patterning comprises carries out one first etching manufacturing process, removes described first transparency conducting layer that is not covered by described pattern etched barrier layer.

3. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1; It is characterized in that; The wherein said first sacrificial pattern layer comprises a pattern etched pulp layer, and the step of described first transparency conducting layer of patterning comprises described first transparency conducting layer that utilizes described pattern etched pulp layer to remove to be positioned at described pattern etched pulp layer below.

4. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1; It is characterized in that; The wherein said second sacrificial pattern layer comprises a pattern etched barrier layer; And the step of described second transparency conducting layer of patterning comprises carries out one second etching manufacturing process, removes described second transparency conducting layer that is not covered by described pattern etched barrier layer.

5. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1; It is characterized in that; The wherein said second sacrificial pattern layer comprises a pattern etched pulp layer, and the step of described second transparency conducting layer of patterning comprises described second transparency conducting layer that utilizes described pattern etched pulp layer to remove to be positioned at described pattern etched pulp layer below.

6. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, wherein said sensor pad patterned layer comprises a plurality of first sensor pads, a plurality of second sensor pad and a plurality of connecting line.

7. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, the material of wherein said sensor pad patterned layer comprises the polycrystalline tin indium oxide.

8. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described method is included in addition and forms after the described bridging line patterned layer, carries out one second tempering manufacturing process.

9. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, wherein said sensor pad patterned layer comprises a plurality of sensor pads, and two adjacent sensor pads have a gap, and described gap is substantially between 30 microns and 500 microns.

10. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, wherein a live width of each described bridging line is substantially between 50 microns and 500 microns.

11. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1; It is characterized in that; Wherein each described island insulation system has a side; And each described bridging line has a side, and a distance of the corresponding described side of the described side of each described island insulation system and corresponding described bridging line is substantially between 50 microns and 500 microns.

12. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1; It is characterized in that; Wherein said ground comprises a surrounding zone in addition; And described method comprises in addition carries out one the 4th wire mark manufacturing process, in the described surrounding zone of described ground, to form a plurality of and the lead that is connected of described sensor pad patterned layer electric connection.

13. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 12; It is characterized in that; Wherein a live width of each described connection lead is substantially between 10 microns and 300 microns, and a thickness of each described connection lead is substantially between 1 micron and 10 microns.

14. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, wherein said ground comprises an assisting base plate.

15. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 14 is characterized in that, described method comprises in addition described assisting base plate is pasted on the display panel.

16. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, wherein said ground comprises a display panel.

17. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, wherein said ground comprises a glass substrate.

18. the method for making contact panel as claimed in claim 17 is characterized in that, described method comprises in addition described glass substrate is assembled into a touch-control display panel.

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