CN102156561B - Touch panel structure and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a touch panel structure and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the touch panel is provided with a light-transmitting substrate, and the lower surface of the light-transmitting substrate is provided with a plurality of lower transparent conductive structures which are arranged at intervals; the upper surface of the light-transmitting substrate is provided with a plurality of metal structures and upper transparent conductive structures which are arranged at intervals, filling structures are arranged among the metal structures, the thickness difference between the filling structures and the metal structures is within +/-30%, the upper transparent conductive structures cover the metal structures, the metal structures are protected by the upper transparent conductive structures, the metal structures can be prevented from being oxidized or scratched due to exposure, and the circuit can be prevented from short circuit.

Description

Touch panel structure and manufacturing method thereof

technical field

The present invention relates to a touch panel structure and a manufacturing method thereof, and aims to provide a touch panel structure and a manufacturing method thereof that can protect metal structures from oxidation or scratches and ensure that circuits are not short-circuited.

Background technique

Touch panels are usually used in front of the display screens of electronic products such as mobile phones, cameras, PDAs, etc., in order to improve the convenience of machine control and signal input; among various types of touch panels, capacitive touch panels The control board has the advantages of stable performance and long service life, so it is gradually widely used in communication products (Communication), computer products (Computer) and consumer electronics products (Consumer); as you know, the conventional capacitive touch The capacitive sensing structure of the control panel roughly includes an X-axis sensing layer and a Y-axis sensing layer, so that the X-axis and Y-axis sensing layers are insulated to be set inside the touch panel body, and the X-axis and Y-axis sensing layers are respectively grounded and Connected to a control circuit, during operation, a capacitive effect is generated when the user's finger or conductor is touched, so the position of the finger or conductor can be determined by the change of capacitance value; since the capacitive touch panel can be controlled by fingers Input has the convenience of input operation, and its input operation does not need to go through touch pressure, which will not cause the panel to suffer repeated stress and deformation to cause damage, so the product performance is stable and the service life is long.

As shown in Figure 1 is a schematic structural view of a conventional touch panel, the touch panel 1 is provided with a light-transmitting substrate 11, the upper surface of the light-transmitting substrate 11 is provided with a plurality of upper transparent conductive structures 12 arranged at intervals, as The X-axis sensing layer, and the lower surface of the light-transmitting substrate 11 is provided with a plurality of lower transparent conductive structures 13 arranged at intervals as the Y-axis sensing layer, and each upper transparent conductive structure 12 is covered with a metal structure 14, and each metal structure 14 is exposed outside, which is easy to be oxidized or scratched, so that the circuit cannot be transmitted normally and a short circuit is formed, thereby affecting the conduction result of the entire touch panel.

Therefore another kind of conventional structure appears, as shown in Figure 2, is further covered with transparent photoresist 15 on each metal structure 14, although this transparent photoresist 15 covers on each metal structure 14 can form protective effect, can prevent oxidation and The situation of scratches; however, the step of making transparent photoresist is after making the upper transparent conductive structure, and making transparent photoresist requires a higher temperature (for example, 150 ° C ~ 250 ° C), this manufacturing temperature will affect the upper transparent conductive structure characteristics, it is easy to produce defects, and then affect the characteristics of the entire touch panel.

Contents of the invention

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a touch panel structure and its manufacturing method that can protect the metal structure from oxidation or scratches and ensure that the circuit will not be short-circuited.

To achieve the above purpose, the touch panel of the present invention is provided with a light-transmitting substrate, and the lower surface of the light-transmitting substrate is provided with a plurality of lower transparent conductive structures arranged at intervals; wherein, the upper surface of the light-transmitting substrate is provided with a plurality of metal structures arranged at intervals structure and the upper transparent conductive structure, each metal structure is provided with a filling structure, the thickness difference between the filling structure and the metal structure is within ±30%, and the upper transparent conductive structure covers each metal structure, through the upper transparent conductive structure to protect the metal structure, which can prevent the metal structure from being oxidized or scratched due to exposure, so as to ensure that the circuit will not be short-circuited.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a conventional touch panel;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of another conventional touch panel;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural view of a touch panel in the present invention;

4A-E are schematic diagrams of the manufacturing process of the touch panel in the present invention.

【Description of figure number】

Touch panel 1 Translucent substrate 11

Upper transparent conductive structure 12 Lower transparent conductive structure 13

Metal structure 14 Transparent photoresist 15

Touch panel 2 Translucent substrate 21

Upper surface 211 Lower surface 212

Lower transparent conductive structure 22 Metal structure 23

Upper transparent conductive structure 24 Opening 25

Filling structure 26 Filling surface 27

Photosensitive area 271 Non-photosensitive area 272

Detailed ways

The touch panel 2 of the present invention is provided with a light-transmitting substrate 21. As shown in FIG. A transparent conductive structure 22, the lower transparent conductive structure 22 can be indium tin oxide (Indium Tin Oxide, ITO), the upper surface 211 of the light-transmitting substrate is provided with a plurality of metal structures 23 arranged at intervals and an upper transparent conductive structure 24, each metal Openings 25 are provided between the structures 23, and each opening 25 is provided with a filling structure 26 (which may be a transparent photoresist). The thickness difference between the filling structure 26 and the metal structure 23 is within ±30%, as shown in the embodiment shown in the figure Among them, the thickness of the filling structure 26 is the same as that of the metal structure 23, and the upper transparent conductive structure 24 covers each metal structure 23, and the upper transparent conductive structure 24 can be Indium Tin Oxide (Indium TinOxide, ITO) .

And the manufacturing method of the touch panel structure of the present invention at least includes the following steps:

Step A, providing a transparent substrate 21, as shown in FIG. 4A;

Step B, forming a plurality of metal structures 23, forming a plurality of metal structures 23 on a surface 211 of the light-transmitting substrate 21 by sputtering, and forming openings 25 between each metal structure 23. Form a metal film on the surface of the optical substrate, and then use the yellow light process to form a complex metal structure;

Step C, forming the filling structure 26, the filling structure 26 is formed at the opening 25 between each metal structure 23, wherein, the surface 211 of the metal structure 23 is provided before the light-transmitting substrate 21, and the filling surface layer 27 (which can be transparent light Resistor), as shown in FIG. 4B, the filling surface layer 27 fills the opening 25 and covers the surface of the metal structure 23; and then performs back exposure, and exposes on the other side surface 212 of the light-transmitting substrate 21, as shown in FIG. 4C, and by Each metal structure 23 is used as a photomask, and the filling surface layer 27 is formed with a plurality of photosensitive regions 271 and non-photosensitive regions 272; finally, each non-photosensitive region 272 can be removed by developing, and each photosensitive region forms a filling structure 26 , as shown in FIG. 4D, and in the embodiment shown in the figure, the filling structure 26 can be higher than the metal structure 23, and the thickness difference between the filling structure 26 and the metal structure 23 is within ±30%, the metal The thickness of the structure 23 and the filling structure 26 can be 1000A to 5000A, and the fabrication temperature for forming the filling structure can be controlled at 150°C to 250°C (preferably 230°C), and the fabrication time can be 30 to 60 minutes (30 minutes or less). preferred);

Step D, forming an upper transparent conductive structure 24, as shown in FIG. 4E, each metal structure 23 is covered with an upper transparent conductive structure 24;

Step E, forming the lower transparent conductive structure 22 , forming a plurality of lower transparent conductive structures 22 arranged at intervals on the other surface 212 of the transparent substrate, as shown in FIG. 3 .

The present invention uses the upper transparent conductive structure 24 to cover and protect the metal structure 23, which can prevent the metal structure 23 from being oxidized or scratched due to exposure, and ensure that the circuit will not be short-circuited, thereby ensuring the conduction of the touch panel. Moreover, the manufacturing step of the filling structure (transparent photoresist) of the present invention is before manufacturing the upper transparent conductive structure, so the characteristics of the upper transparent conductive structure will not be affected, and of course defects are not easy to occur, and the characteristics of the entire touch panel will not be affected.

Claims (14)

1. A touch panel structure, the touch panel is provided with a light-transmitting substrate, and the lower surface of the light-transmitting substrate is provided with a plurality of lower transparent conductive structures arranged at intervals; it is characterized in that: The upper surface of the light-transmitting substrate is provided with a plurality of metal structures arranged at intervals and an upper transparent conductive structure, and a filling structure is arranged between each metal structure, while the upper transparent conductive structure only directly covers each metal structure, and does not cover the metal structures. on the filling structure; Wherein, the filling structure is a transparent photoresist. 2. The touch panel structure according to claim 1, wherein the upper and lower transparent conductive structures are indium tin oxide. 3. The touch panel structure according to claim 1, wherein the filling structure is exposed on the other side of the light-transmitting substrate through back exposure, and is formed on each metal structure by using each metal structure as a photomask between. 4. The touch panel structure according to claim 1, wherein the filling structure has the same thickness as the metal structure. 5 . The touch panel structure according to claim 1 , wherein the thickness difference between the filling structure and the metal structure is within ±30%. 6. A method for manufacturing a touch panel structure, characterized in that it at least comprises the following steps: A. Provide a transparent substrate; B. Forming a plurality of metal structures, forming a plurality of metal structures on one surface of the light-transmitting substrate, and forming openings between each metal structure; C. A filling structure is formed, and a filling structure is formed at the openings between the metal structures; D. Forming an upper transparent conductive structure, covering each metal structure with an upper transparent conductive structure; E. Forming a lower transparent conductive structure, forming a plurality of lower transparent conductive structures arranged at intervals on the other surface of the light-transmitting substrate. 7. The manufacturing method of the touch panel structure according to claim 6, characterized in that the step C further comprises the following steps: C1. A filling surface layer is provided on the surface of the metal structure on the light-transmitting substrate, and the filling surface layer fills the opening and covers the surface of the metal structure; C2. Carry out back exposure, and perform exposure on the other side surface of the light-transmitting substrate, and use each metal structure as a photomask, and form a plurality of photosensitive areas and non-photosensitive areas on the filled surface layer; C3. Removing each non-photosensitive area, and forming a filling structure in each photosensitive area. 8 . The manufacturing method of the touch panel structure according to claim 7 , wherein in the step C3 , the unsensitized area is removed by developing. 9. The manufacturing method of the touch panel structure according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that in step B, a metal film is first formed on the surface of the light-transmitting substrate by sputtering, and then a plurality of metal films are formed by yellow light process structure. 10 . The manufacturing method of the touch panel structure according to claim 6 or 7 , wherein the thickness of the metal structure and the filling structure is 1000A˜5000A. 11 . 11. The manufacturing method of the touch panel structure according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that, in the step C, the manufacturing temperature for forming the filling structure is controlled at 150° C.-250° C., and the manufacturing time is 30-60 minutes. 12 . The manufacturing method of the touch panel structure according to claim 11 , wherein the manufacturing temperature is 230° C. 13. The manufacturing method of the touch panel structure according to claim 11, wherein the manufacturing time is 30 minutes. 14. The manufacturing method of the touch panel structure according to claim 6 or 7, wherein in the step C, the thickness difference between the filling structure and the metal structure is within ±30%.

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