CN105653081A - Touch electrode layer and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a touch electrode layer and a manufacturing method thereof, and the manufacturing method is as follows. First, an electrode material layer is provided. Then, a laser is used to etch a laser path in the electrode material layer at a constant speed and without stopping in a region to form a plurality of touch electrodes in the electrode material layer, wherein the outer contour of each touch electrode has at least two or more continuous arcs, the radius of curvature of each arc is at least greater than 100 μm, and the arcs connected to each other are in an S-shaped inflection relationship, wherein the laser etches at a first speed in the turning region and etches at a second speed in the non-turning region.

Description

Touch electrode layer and manufacturing method thereof

technical field

The present invention relates to an electrode layer and a manufacturing method thereof, and in particular to a touch electrode layer and a manufacturing method thereof.

Background technique

The development of display technology has moved towards a more humanized human-machine interface. With the rise of flat-panel displays, the use of touch panels has become the mainstream. It can replace keyboards, mice, etc. much easier. Therefore, the era of easy-to-operate touch panels is coming, and it is widely used in such as automotive touch panels (car navigation), game machines, public information systems (such as vending machines, automatic teller machines (automatictellermachine, ATM), navigation system, etc.), industrial use, small electronic products (such as personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA)), electronic book (e-book) and so on.

Generally, the transparent conductive material layer can be patterned by a laser process to form a plurality of touch electrodes in the working area of the touch panel, and at the same time remove the transparent conductive material in the peripheral area of the working area. Therefore, improving the laser manufacturing process will be beneficial to the manufacture of touch panels.

Contents of the invention

The present invention provides a touch electrode layer, wherein the outer contour of the touch electrode has at least two continuous arcs.

The invention provides a method for manufacturing a touch electrode layer, which is formed by a laser path with only one start point and one end point.

The touch electrode layer of the present invention includes at least one touch electrode, the outer contour of the touch electrode has at least two continuous arcs, the radius of curvature of each arc is at least greater than 100 μm, and the arcs connected to each other are S-shaped reflexive relationship.

The manufacturing method of the touch electrode layer of the present invention includes the following steps. Firstly, an electrode material layer is provided. Then, a laser is used to etch a laser path in the electrode material layer in a constant speed and non-stop manner in a region, so as to form a plurality of touch electrodes in the electrode material layer, and the outer contour of each touch electrode has at least More than two continuous arcs, the radius of curvature of each arc is at least greater than 100 μm, and the arcs connected to each other are in an S-shaped inflection relationship, wherein the laser is etched at the first speed in the steering area, and in the non-steering area etch at the second speed.

In order to make the above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the following specific embodiments are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

1A to 1D are schematic diagrams of a method for fabricating a touch electrode layer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a manufacturing method of a touch electrode layer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3A is an enlarged view of area C of the coaxial patterned pattern in FIG. 2 , and FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of the coaxial patterned pattern area of FIG. 3A .

4A and 4B are partial enlarged views of the touch electrode layer in FIG. 1D .

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a laser path for forming touch electrodes using a conventional linear laser.

FIGS. 6A to 6C and FIGS. 7A to 7C are electrographic diagrams of touch electrodes formed by using the arc laser of the present invention and the conventional linear laser, respectively.

100: Substrate

102: Workspace

104: Non-working area

110: electrode material layer

112: Touch electrode layer

112a, 112b, TE: touch electrodes

130: coaxial patterned graphics

140, 140a, 140b: insulating areas

A1, A2, A3, A4: arcs

D1, D2, Ds, Ds': direction

L1, L2, L3: laser path

M: turning point

P: Pitch

R1, R2, R3: Regions

P1, T: starting point

P2: end point

pa1, pa2, pa3: paths

detailed description

In order to make the object, technical solution and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with specific embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1A to 1D are schematic diagrams of a method for fabricating a touch electrode layer according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1A , firstly, a substrate 100 is provided, and the substrate 100 includes a working area 102 and a non-working area 104 . The working area 102 is, for example, a visible area, and the non-working area 104 is, for example, a non-visual area. In this embodiment, the non-working area 104 surrounds the working area 102 , for example. The material of the substrate 100 is, for example, ultra-thin flexible glass (UTFG, Ultra-ThinFlexibleGlass), polyethylene terephthalate (PET, polyethyleneterephthalate), polyimide (PI, Polyimide), or polycarbonate (PC, Polycarbonate). Next, an electrode material layer 110 is formed on the substrate 100 . The electrode material layer 110 is, for example, a transparent conductive layer, and its material may be indium tin oxide (ITO, IndiumTinOxide), zinc oxide (ZnO), silver nanowires, carbon nanotubes, graphene (Graphene), or poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene, PEDOT). The thickness of the electrode material layer 110 is, for example, 60 nm˜80 nm, but not limited thereto.

Please refer to FIG. 1B to FIG. 1D at the same time, and then use a laser to etch a laser path in the electrode material layer 110 at a substantially constant speed in a region without stopping, so as to draw a stroke in the electrode material layer 110 A plurality of touch electrodes 112a, 112b are formed in a manner. In particular, in order to clearly show the second laser path L2, the illustration of the first laser path L1 is omitted in FIG. 1C , but FIG. 1D actually etches the first laser path L1 and the second laser path sequentially. The resulting pattern after L2. In detail, as shown in FIG. 1B , firstly, patterning is performed from the starting point P1 toward a turning point M along the first traveling direction Ds to etch a first laser path L1 . In this embodiment, the starting point P1 is, for example, located in the non-working area 104, and the starting point P1 can be any point in the non-working area 104 close to the working area 102 or any point near the outer edge of the non-working area 104, but it is not taken as a limit. The first traveling direction Ds is, for example, a continuous S-shaped direction. The first laser path L1 is, for example, formed by a plurality of arcs A1 and A2 that turn continuously. For example, the arc A1 and the arc A2 are two consecutive arcs etched successively, the end point of the arc A1 is the starting point of the arc A2, and the starting point of the arc A2 is also the turning point of the arc A1 and the arc A2 . In one embodiment, when the arc A1 has a counterclockwise etching direction, the arc A2 has a clockwise etching direction, and vice versa.

Referring to FIG. 1C , then, patterning is performed from the turning point M along the second traveling direction Ds' toward an end point P2 to etch a second laser path L2, wherein the end point P2 is adjacent to the starting point P1. The end point P2 is, for example, located in the non-working area 104 , and the end point P2 is, for example, any point in the non-working area 104 close to the working area 102 or any point in the non-working area 104 close to the outer edge, but not limited thereto. The second traveling direction Ds' is, for example, a reverse continuous S-shaped direction. The second laser path L2 is, for example, a path that is adjacent to but not repeated with the first laser path L1, and the second laser path L2 is, for example, directed from the turning point M along the direction opposite to the first laser path L1 (that is, reversely continuous S type direction D2) back to the vicinity of the starting point P1. The second laser path L2 is, for example, constituted by a plurality of arcs A3 and A4 that turn continuously. For example, the arc A3 and the arc A4 are two consecutive arcs etched successively, the end point of the arc A3 is the starting point of the arc A4, and the starting point of the arc A4 is also the intersection of the arc A3 and the arc A4. turning point. In one embodiment, when the arc A3 has a clockwise etching direction, the arc A4 has a counterclockwise etching direction, and vice versa.

As shown in FIG. 1D, the second laser path L2 and the first laser path L1 are, for example, substantially adjacent to each other and have a plurality of intersection points. The arcs A1, A2, A3, A4 and these intersecting points form a plurality of closed patterns between them to form a touch electrode layer 112 including a plurality of touch electrodes 112a, 112b. Wherein, the closed figure is, for example, a closed figure formed by two contiguous arcs, such as the closed figure formed by the arc A1 of the first laser path L1 and the arc A4 of the second laser path L2, and the closed figure formed by the arc A1 of the second laser path L2. A closed figure formed by the arc A2 of the first laser path L1 and the arc A3 of the second laser path L2. The four corners of this closed figure are all chamfered, for example. The arcs inside each closed figure form the outer contours of the touch electrodes 112a, 112b. In this embodiment, the first laser path L1 and the second laser path L2 form a plurality of touch electrodes 112a arranged in the first direction D1 and a plurality of touch electrodes 112b arranged in the second direction D2. Wherein, the touch electrodes 112b are separated from each other, and the touch electrodes 112a and the touch electrodes 112b are adjacent and electrically insulated. In this embodiment, the first direction D1 is different from the second direction D2. The touch electrodes 112b are, for example, separated from each other and electrically insulated. In this embodiment, the shape of the touch electrodes 112 a is, for example, a hexagon with a cross outline, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The shape of the touch electrodes 112b is, for example, an octagonal star, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In this embodiment, the continuous arcs also form bridge lines 114 between adjacent touch electrodes 112a, so that the touch electrodes 112a in the same column are electrically connected to each other, but not limited thereto. In this embodiment, the first direction D1 is, for example, the x direction, and the second direction D2 is, for example, the y direction, but not limited thereto. In particular, in this embodiment, "no pause" means that the laser process keeps moving between the starting point P1 and the ending point P2. Furthermore, "substantially constant speed in an area without stopping" means that the speed is the same in a part of the laser path. For example, the movement of the laser in the first area (such as the turning area) has a first speed, and Movement in a second region, such as a non-steering region, has a second speed, wherein the first speed is less than the second speed, but remains at the first speed in the first region and at the second speed in the second region.

In this embodiment, the outer contours of the touch electrodes 112a and 112b have at least two or more radii of curvature greater than 100 μm, and the arcs that meet each other are in an S-shaped inflection relationship. In this embodiment, all the touch electrodes 112a, 112b are etched by continuous laser paths (namely, the first laser path L1 and the second laser path L2 connected to each other), although in the drawing the etching is done at one time. 25 touch electrodes 112a, 112b are taken as an example, but in fact, any number of touch electrodes 112a, 112b can be etched at one time, such as thousands or even hundreds. In other words, in this embodiment, through the combination of the arc design and the laser, and the way of going up and down, a complete pattern of multiple required touch electrodes can be completed through a single laser path.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a manufacturing method of a touch electrode layer according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the illustration of the touch electrode layer 112 is omitted. FIG. 3A is an enlarged view of the area C of the coaxial patterned pattern in FIG. 2 to illustrate the method for forming the coaxial patterned pattern 130 of this embodiment. FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of the coaxial patterned pattern in FIG. 3A. Referring to FIG. 2 , in this embodiment, in addition to completing the fabrication of the touch electrodes 112a and 112b in the aforementioned manner, a laser may be used to further remove the electrode material layer 110 on the non-working area 104 to form an insulating area. In detail, as shown in FIG. 3A , first, patterning may be performed from the starting point T along the third laser path L3 to remove part of the electrode material layer 110 in the non-working area 104 . In this embodiment, the starting point T is, for example, the aforementioned end point P2, that is, the second laser path L2 is substantially connected to the third laser path L3, and the touch control of the working area 102 can be completed through a continuous and non-stop laser path. The fabrication of the electrodes 112a, 112b and the fabrication of the insulating area of the non-working area 104, but not limited thereto. That is to say, in other embodiments, the third laser path L3 may also start from another location. The starting point T is, for example, located in the non-working area 104 , which can be any point in the non-working area 104 close to the working area 102 or any point in the non-working area 104 close to the outer edge, but not limited thereto.

Next, patterning is performed in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction along the outer edge of the non-working area 104 from the starting point T. Referring to FIG. To simplify the description, the clockwise direction is taken as an example in this embodiment, but it is not limited thereto. When the patterning returns to the starting point T in the clockwise direction, it will approach the outer edge of the non-working area 104 in a non-repeating path, and at the parallel distance P from the line segment formed by the starting point T, continue along the clockwise or counterclockwise direction. Patterning is carried out in the clockwise direction to form a plurality of coaxial patterned figures 130 in sequence. For example, patterning starts from the starting point T, then returns to the starting point T along the path pa1 in a clockwise direction, then approaches the outer edge of the non-working area 104 along the path pa2, and then follows the path pa3 in a clockwise direction. clockwise.

Please refer to FIG. 3B, the coaxial patterned pattern 130 of the present embodiment is, for example, composed of continuous line segments having a width W, and the width W is, for example, greater than the pitch P of the coaxial patterned pattern 130, so that adjacent coaxial patterns There is an overlapping area D between the H patterns 130 . The partially overlapping coaxial patterned patterns 130 are used to etch the electrode material layer 110 on the non-working area 104 to form an insulating area 140 . For example, the insulating region 140 is composed of the insulating region 140a and the insulating region 140b. In this embodiment, the insulating region 140a is formed according to the patterned pattern path pa1 in FIG. 3A, and the insulating region 140b is formed according to the patterned pattern path pa3 in FIG. 3A, for example, but not limited thereto. . In this embodiment, the width W is, for example, 10 um to 40 um, and the pitch P is, for example, 15 um to 20 um, but it is not limited thereto. The resistance value in the insulating region 140 is, for example, at least greater than 20 MOhm. In one embodiment, the residual thickness of the transparent conductive layer in the insulating region 140 is, for example, 0-20 nm, but not limited thereto.

The third laser path L3 is, for example, the coaxial patterned pattern 130 , which is formed by a plurality of patterned patterns with the same pitch and the same axis, and surrounds the working area 102 at the same time, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In other words, in other embodiments, the spacing between the coaxial patterned figures 130 may also be different. In this embodiment, the insulating regions formed by each adjacent coaxial patterned pattern 130 are, for example, partially overlapped with each other.

In this embodiment, it is taken as an example that the insulating region 140 completely covers the non-working region 104 , that is, the electrode material layer 110 on the non-working region 104 is completely removed, but it is not limited thereto. That is to say, the insulating region 140 can selectively completely cover or partially cover the non-working region 104 . For example, the electrode material layer 110 located on the outer edge of the non-working area 104 can be left unpatterned, and the remaining part of the electrode material layer 110 can be used as peripheral wires and other components. The range of the electrode material layer 110 can be adjusted by those skilled in the art according to requirements. Furthermore, those skilled in the art can easily design the third laser path L3 so that the aforementioned peripheral wires can be connected to the touch electrodes 112a, 112b, and details are not repeated here.

In this embodiment, following the processes of FIG. 1A to FIG. 1D , the same laser process can be used to create a continuous and non-stop laser path to complete the fabrication of the entire touch electrode layer 112 in the working area 102 and the non-working area. The insulating region 140 of 104 is fabricated, and peripheral wires can be further fabricated. In this way, the manufacturing time of the touch panel can be shortened.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are partially enlarged views of the touch electrode layer in FIG. 1D , that is, schematic diagrams of the laser path for forming the touch electrodes by using the arc laser of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a laser path for forming touch electrodes using a conventional linear laser. As shown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, in this embodiment, a single touch electrode 112a, 112b is only composed of four winding lines (represented by dotted lines, dashed lines, thin solid lines and thick solid lines respectively), and the The four winding lines are actually the same winding line, that is, the same line that has been walked successively. On the contrary, as shown in FIG. 5 , in the conventional linear laser process, for example, dozens of linear segments such as 22 need to be used for a single touch electrode TE, and there are 21 line ends.

FIGS. 6A to 6C and FIGS. 7A to 7C are the electrographic diagrams of the touch electrodes formed by using the arc laser of this case and the existing linear laser, respectively, which correspond to the bridge regions R1 and R1 in FIGS. 4A and 5 respectively. The cross region R2, the region R3 between the bridge region R1 and the cross region R2. As shown in FIGS. 6A to 6C , in this embodiment, the complete pattern of all touch electrodes is etched by a single laser path at a substantially constant speed in a region without pause, so there is only one laser starting point ( Also known as thread head), and the laser start point and laser end point are located in the non-working area, so there will be no laser take-off and landing in the touch area, so there is no visible laser blackhead. On the contrary, as shown in FIG. 7A to FIG. 7C , the conventional linear laser draws thousands or even hundreds of straight line segments in stages to complete the fabrication of all touch electrodes. In the conventional linear laser process, there is a laser starting point (also known as a line head) in each straight line segment, and each laser starting point is likely to cause visible laser blackheads.

Compared with the laser straight line segment of the existing linear laser path design, the numerous laser start points and laser end points will result in many visible appearance deformations and burnt black. The arc laser path design of this embodiment has only one starting point and one ending point, so the above-mentioned poor quality can be eliminated, so as to improve the optical quality of the touch sensor, thereby increasing the market economic value of the touch module. In addition, compared to the edge of the patterned electrode formed by the conventional yellow light process, which is likely to have black edges due to incomplete etching (etching is not clean), the touch electrode formed by the arc laser path in this embodiment is This phenomenon does not exist, in other words, the touch electrodes of this embodiment do not have black borders. As mentioned above, the touch electrodes formed by the arc laser path in this embodiment have a good appearance, so they can be distinguished from the touch electrodes formed by the conventional linear laser method or yellow light process in appearance,

To sum up, the present invention uses a laser to etch a laser path in the electrode material layer in a substantially constant speed and non-stop manner in a region, so as to form a plurality of contacts in the electrode material layer in one stroke. control electrode. That is to say, through arc design, multiple touch electrodes arranged in different directions (such as x direction and y direction) are simultaneously formed by continuous laser, and the touch electrodes are electrically insulated from each other. In addition, the arc laser path design of an embodiment of the present invention has only one starting point and one ending point, and the starting point and the ending point are located in the non-display area, so it can avoid the problem of too many laser starting points located in the prior art. The poor display quality caused by the display area is used to improve the optical quality of the touch sensor and the market economic value of the touch module.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above with the embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person skilled in the art may make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, this The protection scope of the invention shall be determined by the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (25)

1. a touch control electrode layer, comprising:

At least one touch control electrode, its outline has the continuous camber line of at least two or more, and respectively the radius-of-curvature of this continuous camber line is at least greater than 100 ��m, and the S-type anti-folding relation of the continuous camber line of the described two or more connected each other.

2. touch control electrode layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein this at least one touch control electrode comprise be arranged in first party to multiple first touch control electrode.

3. touch control electrode layer as claimed in claim 2, also comprise at least one connecting strap, between adjacent the plurality of first touch control electrode, the camber line of outline forming this connecting strap is connected with the camber line of adjacent the plurality of first touch control electrode so that the plurality of first touch control electrode is electrically connected to each other.

4. touch control electrode layer as claimed in claim 2, wherein this at least one touch control electrode also comprises multiple 2nd touch control electrode being arranged in second direction, and the plurality of first touch control electrode and the plurality of 2nd touch control electrode are adjacent one another are and be electrically insulated.

5. touch control electrode layer as claimed in claim 4, wherein the plurality of 2nd touch control electrode is separated from one another, and is electrically connected to each other via the multiple connecting straps between adjacent the plurality of 2nd touch control electrode.

6. touch control electrode layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shape of this touch control electrode is outline is ten hexagons.

7. touch control electrode layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shape of this touch control electrode is anistree star.

8. a making method for touch control electrode layer, comprising:

Electrode material layer is provided; And

Laser is used to etch laser path by constant speed in a region and in the way of not stopping in this electrode material layer, to form multiple touch control electrode in this electrode material layer, respectively the outline of this touch control electrode has the continuous camber line of at least two or more, respectively the radius-of-curvature of this continuous camber line is at least greater than 100 ��m, and the S-type anti-folding relation of the continuous camber line of the described two or more connected each other, wherein laser etches with the first speed in turn-around zone, and etches with the 2nd speed in non-turn-around zone.

9. the making method of touch control electrode layer as claimed in claim 8, comprising:

Laser straight is carried out to arriving turning point along the first traveling direction, to form the first laser path by the first starting point; And

Carrying out laser straight to arriving First terminal point by this turning point along the 2nd traveling direction, to form dual-laser path, wherein this first traveling direction is contrary with the 2nd traveling direction.

10. the making method of touch control electrode layer as claimed in claim 9, wherein this first starting point and this First terminal point are same point.

The making method of 11. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 9, wherein one of this first traveling direction and the 2nd traveling direction are along to continuous S type direction, another one is reverse continuous S type direction.

The making method of 12. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 9, wherein this dual-laser path and this first laser path are adjacent but do not repeat.

The making method of 13. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 12, wherein this first laser path and this dual-laser path have multiple cross-point, to form multiple closed figure between the two.

The making method of 14. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 13, wherein each closed figure comprises multiple chamfering.

The making method of 15. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 9, wherein this electrode material layer comprises workspace and nonclient area, and wherein this first starting point and this First terminal point are positioned at this nonclient area, and this turning point is positioned at this workspace.

The making method of 16. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 15, wherein this workspace is visible area, and this nonclient area is non-visible area.

The making method of 17. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 15, also comprises and uses laser to remove this electrode material layer being positioned at this nonclient area.

The making method of 18. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 17, the step wherein removing this electrode material layer being positioned at this nonclient area comprises:

Laser straight is carried out to arriving one the 2nd terminal along the 3rd traveling direction in this nonclient area, to form one the 3rd laser path by one the 2nd starting point being positioned at this nonclient area.

The making method of 19. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 18, wherein the 2nd starting point and this First terminal point are same point.

The making method of 20. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 18, wherein etches multiple coaxial patterned graph adjacent one another are via the 3rd laser path.

The making method of 21. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 20, wherein two adjacent coaxial patterned graphs overlap at least partly.

The making method of 22. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 18, the 3rd traveling direction is clockwise or inverse clock direction.

The making method of 23. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 8, wherein this first speed is less than the 2nd speed.

The making method of 24. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 8, wherein this laser to form the plurality of touch control electrode in this electrode material layer in the way of a stroke is not paused.

The making method of 25. touch control electrode layers as claimed in claim 8, one of them in the continuous camber line of this two or more wherein connected each other etches in a clockwise direction, and another is with counterclockwise etching.