KR20090000845A

KR20090000845A - Fabrication method for touch screen

Info

Publication number: KR20090000845A
Application number: KR1020070064702A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 권상직
Original assignee: 경원대학교 산학협력단; 아이티엠 주식회사
Priority date: 2007-06-28
Filing date: 2007-06-28
Publication date: 2009-01-08

Abstract

A method for forming a touch panel with an inkjet method and dispensing is provided to prevent damage of a transparent electrode and minimize loss of materials by user direct patterning with the inkjet method and dispensing without using a printing method using a mask. A nozzle(22a) of an inkjet printer(20) is positioned on a position for forming a dot spacer(13) on a first transparent conductive layer(12a). Dielectric paste(23) is filled in a container(21) of the inkjet printer. The dielectric paste stored in the container is discharged through the nozzle of the inkjet header(22) by heating the container or pressing the container with a piezoelectric device. A droplet(23a) of the dielectric paste is formed on a proper position on the first transparent conductive layer without using a mask.

Description

Touch panel forming method {Fabrication method for touch screen}

1 is a schematic view of a touch panel in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a state where the touch panel of FIG. 1 is viewed from above. FIG.

3 and 4 are process drawings of a process for manufacturing a touch panel by a method of the first prior art, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an exposure step, and FIG. 4 is a view in which a dot spacer is fixed.

5 and 6 are process charts illustrating a method of manufacturing a touch panel of the present invention, and FIG. 5 shows a process of forming dot spacers, and FIG. 6 shows a process of forming electrode lines.

* Explanation of Signs of Major Parts of Drawings *

10 glass sheet 11 insulated sheet

12a, 12b: transparent conductive layer 13: dot spacer

14a, 14b, 14c: electrode layer 15: insulating layer

16a, 16b, 16c, 16d: signal line

20: inkjet printer 21: container

22: inkjet header 22a: nozzle

23: dielectric paste 23a: dielectric paste droplets

30: dispenser 32: micro nozzle

33a: Ag-containing paste

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of forming a touch panel, and in particular, by forming dot spacers and electrode lines directly without using masks necessary in conventional lithography methods or screen printing methods, to prevent damage to transparent electrodes and to minimize material loss. The present invention relates to a method of forming a touch panel having a dot spacer and an electrode line for shortening a touch screen function.

In general, a touch screen having a touch panel as a display integrated input device is an input device capable of inputting information by touching a screen with a hand or a pen without using a keyboard or a mouse on a screen of a computer or a portable information terminal.

The touch panel is mainly operated by the contact capacitive method, the pressure resistive film method, the infrared sensing method, the integral tension measurement method, the surface ultrasonic conduction method and the piezo effect method. The touch panel is formed on each of two transparent substrates so as to face the transparent electrodes having resistance components at regular intervals, and when a current is applied to the transparent electrodes, voltage is applied to each transparent electrode by the resistance components. When contacted by hand, the resistance components of the two transparent electrodes form a parallel connection of the resistors, and a change in the resistance value occurs. At this time, a voltage change occurs due to a current flowing through both transparent electrodes. This is how you know where the contact is.

Accordingly, the above-described pressure-sensitive resistive touch panel is typical of an ATM of a bank, etc., which generates a voltage or current signal corresponding to a position where a stylus pen or a finger is pressed, or a command or graphic information designated by a user. Will be entered.

1 is a structural diagram showing a structure of a touch screen. Referring to FIG. 1, the touch panel includes a glass sheet 10 and an insulating sheet 11, and first and second transparent conductive layers 12a and 12b formed on the glass sheet 10 and the insulating sheet 11, respectively. And a third transparent conductive layer 12c therebetween, and a dot spacer 13 protruding between the glass sheet 10 and the insulating sheet 11. The first electrode layer 14a is formed on the surface of the glass sheet 10, and the second electrode layer 14b is formed on the bottom surface of the insulating sheet 11.

The second electrode layer 14b is short-circuited with the first electrode layer 14a when the insulating sheet 11 is pressed by a stylus pen or finger, thereby generating a signal having a current amount or voltage level that varies depending on the pressed position.

The dot spacer is formed by printing a dielectric paste on the first transparent conductive layer 12a of the touch screen effective region. In addition, the first and second electrode layers 14a and 14b are formed by printing a paste containing silver (Ag) on the edge of the effective area of the touch screen.

The touch panel is configured to supply a signal having a current amount or voltage level to an external touch controller from an X-axis electrode line formed at a horizontal edge as the first electrode layer 14a and a Y-axis electrode line formed at a vertical edge, respectively. Signal lines 16a, 16b, 16c, and 16d are also provided. Reference numeral 15 is an insulating layer.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, a process of manufacturing a dot spacer by a conventional lithography method as a first conventional technology is described. First, an organic film 400 is predetermined on a transparent conductive layer 12a on a glass substrate 10. To the thickness of the coating.

As shown in FIG. 3, the mask 500 including the light transmitting region 510 through which light is transmitted and the light blocking region 520 through which light is not transmitted is formed on the glass sheet 10 coated with the organic layer 400. Sort it. After the mask 500 is aligned, an exposure step of supplying UV light to the mask 500 is performed.

Then, the organic film 400 coated on the transparent conductive layer 12a is a kind of negative photoresist, and the UV-received portion is multiplexed.

After the exposure process, a development process is performed to remove a portion that has not received UV light. In the above development step, the dot spacer 13 shown in FIG. 4 is formed by removing the portion not multiplexed by the developer.

After the developing process, the baking process is performed in order to cure the dot spacer 13. At this time, by appropriately adjusting the heating temperature, the heating time and the like, the dot spacer 13 having a desirable profile can be formed.

However, such a dot spacer manufacturing process by lithography requires expensive equipment because of the complicated process used in the semiconductor process, and it is expensive.

Therefore, recently, a screen printing method using a screen mask is used. However, the method according to the second prior art described above has a problem that ink loss is large because the paste must be applied and pushed on the entire surface of the mask.

In addition, both the dot spacer manufacturing method different from the first conventional technology and the dot spacer manufacturing method different from the second prior art have a problem in that a mask may be used, resulting in damage to the transparent conductive layer.

The present invention is to solve the above problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to use an inkjet method and dispensing without using a printing method using a conventional mask in forming a dot spacer and an electrode line constituting a touch panel The present invention provides a method of forming a dot spacer and an electrode line using a method of directly patterning by using the method, thereby preventing a damage of the transparent electrode and minimizing material loss to implement a touch screen function.

That is, the touch panel according to the present invention includes an upper substrate on which an upper electrode line and an upper transparent conductive layer are formed; A lower substrate on which a lower electrode line and a lower transparent conductive layer are formed; A plurality of dot spacers are formed in the center portion of the touch area of the touch panel. The dot spacers are directly patterned without a mask by using ink jetting, and the electrode lines are dispensed. Dispensing method is used to pattern directly without mask.

Therefore, the touch panel according to the present invention can pattern the dot spacers and the electrode lines formed on the lower glass sheet as a direct method without using a conventional screen printing method, thereby preventing cracks or damage of the transparent conductive layer. The reliability of the screen can be increased, and the patterning is only done directly where necessary, minimizing the loss of paste material.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention in addition to the above object will be apparent from the detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of forming a touch panel, including: an upper substrate on which an upper electrode line and an upper transparent conductive layer are formed; A lower substrate on which a lower electrode line and a lower transparent conductive layer are formed; A plurality of dot spacers formed in the touch area of the touch panel; CLAIMS What is claimed is: 1. A method of forming a touch panel having X and Y electrode lines formed at edges in a touch area of the touch panel, the method comprising: directly aligning a head portion of an ink jet to a position where a dot spacer is to be formed; Spraying the dielectric paste directly in the form of dots through the head of the ink jet at a position where a spacer is to be formed without using a mask; Firing the dot spacers; It includes; All the spacers are repeated in the same manner as described above to form the spacers directly on the position where the dot spacers of the touch panel are to be formed without a mask.

Preferably, the method further includes forming X and Y electrode lines of the touch panel at the edges of the touch region and the touch region, wherein the forming of the electrode lines includes forming a micro nozzle of the dispenser. Direct alignment to the starting position to be; And spraying the electrode paste directly while continuously moving in a line form through the micro nozzle of the dispenser without using a mask. It includes, and repeats all the electrode lines constituting the X, Y in the same manner as described above is characterized in that directly forming the electrode lines of the touch panel to be formed without a mask.

More preferably, the height of the dot spacer is about 10 to 20 µm.

Hereinafter, described with reference to the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

5 and 6 are process charts illustrating a method of manufacturing a touch panel of the present invention, FIG. 5 shows a process of forming dot spacers, and FIG. 6 shows a process of forming electrode lines.

First, referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, the touch panel of the present invention is formed on the glass sheet 10 and the insulating sheet 11, and the glass sheet 10 and the insulating sheet 11, respectively. A dot spacer 13 printed between the first and second transparent conductive layers 12a and 12b and the glass sheet 10 and the insulating sheet 11 is provided.

The process of forming the dot spacer 13 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 5, the nozzle 22a of the inkjet printer 20 is directly above the position where the dot spacer 13 on the first transparent conductive layer 12a is to be formed. To be located. The dielectric paste 23 is filled in the container 21 of the inkjet printer 20. Thus, droplets of the dielectric paste are caused by the paste 23 in the container 21 being discharged through the nozzle 22a of the inkjet header 22 by heating the container or applying pressure using a piezoelectric element as in a known manner. 23a is formed at an appropriate position on the first transparent conductive layer 12a without a separate mask.

Thereafter, the step of firing the dot spacers 13 by heating or the like is additionally performed as in the general dot spacer forming process.

On the other hand, after the dot spacer 13 is formed as described above, as shown in FIG. 6, the electrode layer 14a should be formed.

This is because the micro nozzle 32 of the dispenser 30 as shown in FIG. 6 is located at the edge of the glass sheet 10 and contains silver (Ag) from the micro nozzle 32 of the dispenser 30. The paste 33a is directly formed by a dispensing method without a separate mask, and the electrode paste is directly sprayed while continuously moving in a line form through the micro nozzle of the dispenser.

Accordingly, the first electrode layer 14a is formed on the surface of the glass sheet 10, and the second electrode layer 14b facing the first electrode layer 14a is formed on the bottom surface of the insulating sheet 11. The second electrode layer 14b is shorted with the first electrode layer 14a when the insulating sheet 11 is pressed by a stylus pen or a finger to generate a signal having a current amount or voltage level that varies depending on the pressed position. . In this case, the dot spacer is formed by printing a dielectric paste on the transparent conductive layer 12a of the touch screen effective area. In addition, the first and second electrode layers 14a and 14b are formed by printing a paste containing silver (Ag) on the edge of the effective area of the touch screen. The touch panel includes a signal line 16a for supplying a signal having a current amount or voltage level to an external touch controller from an X-axis electrode line 12a formed at a horizontal edge and a Y-axis electrode line 12b formed at a vertical edge. 16b, 16c, and 16d).

That is, the touch panel according to the present invention includes an upper substrate on which an upper electrode line and an upper transparent conductive layer are formed; A lower substrate on which a lower electrode line and a lower transparent conductive layer are formed; A plurality of dot spacers formed in the touch area of the touch panel; X and Y electrode lines are formed at edges of the touch area of the touch panel.

For example, the height of the said dot spacer is about 10-20 micrometers.

As a result, the method of forming a dot spacer of a touch panel according to the present invention is formed by directly jetting to a position to be formed without using a mask by an inkjetting method using a dielectric ink. The method for forming the X, Y and electrode lines of the touch panel according to the present invention is formed by directly dispensing along the X and Y lines by a dispenser having a fine micro nozzle using an electrode dielectric.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings in connection with specific embodiments, these are merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent embodiments thereof are possible. . Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined only by the appended claims.

As described above, the touch panel according to the present invention directly patterns a plurality of dot spacers formed on the effective area on the lower glass sheet by inkjetting, and displays the X and Y electrode lines formed along the edge of the touch area. Forming directly by fencing can prevent damage to the transparent conductive layer and minimize the loss of material usage. In addition, the present invention can minimize the process step and the process time in forming the dot spacer and electrode lines of the touch panel.

Claims

An upper substrate on which an upper electrode line and an upper transparent conductive layer are formed; A lower substrate on which a lower electrode line and a lower transparent conductive layer are formed; A plurality of dot spacers formed in the touch area of the touch panel; A method of forming a touch panel having X and Y electrode lines formed at edges of a touch area of the touch panel,

Directly aligning the head portion of the ink jet to a position where a dot spacer is to be formed;

Spraying the dielectric paste directly in the form of a dot through the head of the ink jet at a position where a spacer is to be formed without using a mask; And

Firing the dot spacers; Including;

And repeating the above-mentioned spacers in the same manner as above to directly form the dot spacers of the touch panel without a mask.

The method of claim 1,

The method may further include forming X and Y electrode lines of the touch panel at the edges of the touch area and the touch area.

The process of forming the electrode line,

Directly aligning the micronozzle of the dispenser with the starting position at which the electrode line is to be formed; And

Directly spraying electrode paste continuously through a micro nozzle of the dispenser in a line form without using a mask; It includes;

Repeating the electrode lines constituting the X, Y in the same manner as described above to form directly in the position where the electrode lines of the touch panel to be formed without a mask.

The method according to claim 1 or 2,

The height of the dot spacer is a method of forming a touch panel, characterized in that about 10 to 20㎛.