Touch control structure and manufacturing method thereof, and display device
10895944 ยท 2021-01-19
Assignee
- Hefei Xinsheng Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (Anhui, CN)
- Boe Technology Group Co., Ltd. (Beijing, CN)
Inventors
- Jing Wang (Beijing, CN)
- Lei Zhang (Beijing, CN)
- Zouming Xu (Beijing, CN)
- Guiyu ZHANG (Beijing, CN)
- Qitao Zheng (Beijing, CN)
- Lingyan Wu (Beijing, CN)
- Qicheng CHEN (Beijing, CN)
- Dong Li (Beijing, CN)
- Tsung Chieh Kuo (Beijing, CN)
- Xiaodong Xie (Beijing, CN)
Cpc classification
G06F2203/04102
PHYSICS
G06F3/0446
PHYSICS
G06F2203/04103
PHYSICS
G06F3/04164
PHYSICS
G06F3/0445
PHYSICS
International classification
Abstract
A touch control structure and a manufacturing method thereof, and a display device. The manufacturing method of the touch control structure includes providing a thin film substrate; providing a base substrate, and affixing the thin film substrate on the base substrate; forming a laminate structure on the thin film substrate for implementation of touch control functions; removing the thin film substrate with the laminate structure formed on top thereof from the base substrate.
Claims
1. A method for manufacturing a touch control structure, the touch control structure having a touch region and a non-touch region, the method comprising: proving a film base; providing a base substrate; forming a first conductive layer on the film base to cover the film base; attaching the film base on which the first conductive layer is formed thereon to the base substrate; forming a laminated structure on the film base, the laminated structure being configured for implementing a touch control function; and removing the film base on which the laminated structure is formed from the base substrate, wherein the forming the laminated structure comprises: performing a patterning process on the first conductive layer to form a plurality of electrode patterns, wherein the plurality of electrode patterns comprises a plurality of first touch electrodes disposed in the touch region, a plurality of second touch electrodes disposed in the touch region, and a plurality of first conductive traces disposed in the non-touch region, and each of the first touch electrodes comprises a plurality of first sub-electrodes; and forming a plurality of metal traces on the plurality of first conductive traces, the plurality of metal traces being located in the non-touch region, wherein each of plurality of first conductive traces is between the film base and one of the plurality of metal traces and is in contact with both the film base and the one of the plurality of metal traces.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: after attaching the film base to the base substrate, forming an alignment mark on the first conductive layer, the alignment mark being configured for implementing an alignment function.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of metal traces comprises an overlap electrode adjacent to an edge of the touch region, and the plurality of first touch electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes are correspondingly connected with the plurality of metal traces through a plurality of the overlap electrodes.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the forming the laminated structure further comprises: forming a first insulating layer on the film base, wherein the first insulating layer covers both the plurality of first touch electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes, and a plurality of vias are formed in the first insulating layer to expose the plurality of first sub-electrodes.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the forming the laminated structure further comprises: forming a second conductive layer on the film base by using a patterning process, wherein the second conductive layer comprises a plurality of bridge electrodes disposed in the touch region and a plurality of second conductive traces disposed in the non-touch region, each of the bridge electrodes covers two of the vias, two adjacent first sub-electrodes are connected with each other by one of the bridge electrodes, and the plurality of second conductive traces are formed on the plurality of metal traces and cover the plurality of metal traces.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the forming the laminated structure further comprises: forming a second insulating layer on the film base on which the second conductive layer is formed, wherein the second insulating layer covers an entirety of the touch region.
7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the first insulating layer further covers each of the plurality of metal traces, except for a portion of each of the plurality of metal traces in a bonding region.
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the forming the laminated structure further comprises: forming a second conductive layer on the film base by using a patterning process, wherein the second conductive layer comprises a plurality of bridge electrodes disposed in the touch region and a plurality of bonding electrodes disposed in the non-touch region, each of the bridge electrodes covers two of the vias, two adjacent first sub-electrodes are connected with each other by one of the bridge electrodes, and the plurality of bonding electrodes cover a portion of each of the plurality of metal traces located in the bonding region.
9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the forming the laminated structure further comprises: forming a second insulating layer on the film base on which the second conductive layer is formed, wherein the second insulating layer covers the film base, except the bonding region.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) In order to clearly illustrate the technical solution of the embodiments of the disclosure, the drawings of the embodiments will be briefly described in the following; it is obvious that the described drawings are only related to some embodiments of the disclosure and thus are not limitative of the disclosure.
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REFERENCE NUMBER
(23) 10touch control structure; 100film base; 200first conductive layer; 300other laminated structure; 400laminated structure; 500alignment mark; 600base substrate; 101touch region; 102non-touch region; 210first touch electrode; 211first sub-electrode; 220second touch electrode; 230first conductive trace; 310metal trace; 315overlap electrode; 410first insulating layer; 420second insulating layer; 411via; 511bridge electrode; 512second conductive trace; 515bonding electrode; 700roller
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
(24) In order to make objects, technical details and advantages of the embodiments of the disclosure apparent, the technical solutions of the embodiments will be described in a clearly and fully understandable way in connection with the drawings related to the embodiments of the disclosure. Apparently, the described embodiments are just a part but not all of the embodiments of the disclosure. Based on the described embodiments herein, those skilled in the art can obtain other embodiment(s), without any inventive work, which should be within the scope of the disclosure.
(25) Unless otherwise defined, all the technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. The terms first, second, etc., which are used in the description and the claims of the present application for disclosure, are not intended to indicate any sequence, amount or importance, but distinguish various components. Also, the terms such as a, an, etc., are not intended to limit the amount, but indicate the existence of at least one. The terms comprise, comprising, include, including, etc., are intended to specify that the elements or the objects stated before these terms encompass the elements or the objects and equivalents thereof listed after these terms, but do not preclude the other elements or objects. The phrases connect, connected, etc., are not intended to define a physical connection or mechanical connection, but may include an electrical connection, directly or indirectly. On, under, right, left and the like are only used to indicate relative position relationship, and when the position of the object which is described is changed, the relative position relationship may be changed accordingly.
(26) At least one embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for manufacturing a touch control structure, and the method includes: providing a film base; providing a base substrate, and attaching the film base to the base substrate; forming a laminated structure on the film base, the laminated structure being configured for implementing a touch control function; and removing the film base on which the laminate structure is formed from the base substrate. At least one embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a touch control structure corresponding to the above-mentioned method for manufacturing a touch control structure and a display device corresponding to the above-mentioned method for manufacturing a touch control structure.
(27) The method for manufacturing the touch control structure can make functional layers of the touch control structure be disposed on the same side of the film base, and the functional layers are subjected to the same stress when being bent, thereby reducing a risk of fracture, and the method can further increase alignment accuracy.
(28) In embodiments of the present disclosure, a patterning process may be a photolithography patterning process, which includes, for example, coating photoresist on a structural layer that needs to be patterned, the photoresist may be coated by spin coating, knife coating or roller coating; then exposing the photoresist layer by using a mask, and developing the exposed photoresist layer to obtain a photoresist pattern; then etching the structural layer using the photoresist pattern to form a desired pattern structure; finally, the photoresist pattern is optionally removed.
(29) The embodiments and examples of the present disclosure are described in detail in the following with reference to the accompany drawings.
(30) An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a touch control structure, as illustrated in
(31) For example, as illustrated in
(32) For example, the film base 100 employs a film material having a high light transmittance, particularly a film material having flexibility and a high light transmittance. For example, the film base 100 may be a cyclic olefin polymer (COP) film, a polyimide (PI) film or the like. For another example, when the touch control structure is used for a flexible product, the film base may be a polyimide film having a good tensile strength.
(33) For example, the alignment marks 500 may be disposed at four corners on the periphery of the first conductive layer, the alignment marks 500 are used for alignment with other processes, such as alignment for an exposure process, and the alignment marks 500 can increase alignment accuracy. It should be noted that, the alignment marks 500 are only used for alignment in the process of manufacturing the touch control structure. After the touch control structure is manufactured, the portion where the alignment marks 500 are located can be cut off, that is, the final product may not include the alignment marks 500. In addition, the shape of the alignment mark 500 as illustrated in
(34) For example, an intermediate layer such as an Index-Matching Layer (IML) may be disposed between the film base and the first conductive layer, and the refractive index of the IML is similar to the refractive index of the first conductive layer, thereby achieving an effect of the shadow reduction.
(35) For example, as illustrated in
(36) It should be noted that, for the purpose of clarity, only some of first touch electrodes 210 and some of second touch electrodes 220 are exemplarily illustrated in
(37) In addition, each of the first touch electrodes 210 in
(38) It is easy to understand that, the first touch electrode may also be provided as a continuous electrode pattern, the second touch electrodes may be provided as several discontinuous electrode patterns, which is not limited in the present disclosure, and the following embodiments are the same in this aspect.
(39) For example, as illustrated in
(40) For example, a material of the metal traces 310 is selected from the group consisting of copper, copper alloy, aluminum, aluminum alloy, gold, gold alloy, silver, silver alloy and combination thereof, or the like. Providing the metal traces 310 and using a metal material with good ductility (such as copper or copper alloy) can effectively reduce a channel impedance and increase the ductility of the metal trace in the bent region, thereby ensuring the function of an edge bend region of the touch control structure.
(41) For example, as illustrated in
(42) The overlap electrodes 315 are provided to facilitate the electrical connection between the first touch electrode 210 and the metal trace 310 and the electrical connection between the second touch electrode 220 and the metal trace 310. It should be noted that, the overlap electrodes 315 as illustrated in
(43) In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first conductive trace 230 may serve as a buffer layer of the metal trace 310 formed thereon, such that the adhesion of the metal trace 310 to the film base 100 can be increased, thereby ensuring the function of the edge bend region of the touch control structure.
(44) For example, as illustrated in
(45) For example, as illustrated in
(46) For example, as illustrated in
(47) For example, as illustrated in
(48) In the present embodiment, the second conductive trace 512 may be used as a protective layer of the metal trace 310 to prevent the metal trace 310 from being directly exposed to the air, thereby avoiding an oxidation problem of the metal trace 310.
(49) For example, as illustrated in
(50) Another embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a touch control structure. The difference between the present embodiment and the previous embodiment is that the arrangements of the first insulating layer, the second conductive layer, and the second insulating layer.
(51) For example, as illustrated in
(52) In the present embodiment, the first insulating layer 410 may be used as a protective layer of the metal traces 310 (excluding the metal traces 310 in the bonding region 105), so as to prevent the metal traces 310 from being directly exposed to the air, thereby avoiding the oxidation problem of the metal traces 310.
(53) For example, as illustrated in
(54) For example, as illustrated in
(55) In the present embodiment, the bonding electrodes 515 covers the metal traces 310 located in the bonding region 105, which can prevent the portion of the metal traces 310 from being directly exposed to the air, thereby avoiding the oxidation problem of the metal traces 310.
(56) For example, as illustrated in
(57) It should be noted that, because the metal traces 310 in the bonding region 105 are to be electrically connected with other structures (for example, the metal traces 310 are electrically connected with a touch detection chip), the second insulating layer 420 does not cover the metal traces 310 in the bonding region 105.
(58) In the touch control structure provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the functional layer of the touch control structure, that is, the first conductive layer is disposed on the same side of the film base, and the first conductive layer is subjected to the same stress when being bent, thereby reducing a risk of fracture.
(59) In the touch control structure provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first conductive trace serves as a buffer layer of the metal trace formed thereon, and an adhesion of the metal trace can be increased, thereby ensuring the function of the edge bend region of the touch control structure.
(60) In the touch control structure provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the second conductive trace or the first insulating layer serves as a protective layer of the metal trace to prevent the metal trace from being directly exposed to the air, thereby avoiding the oxidation problem of metal trace.
(61) In the touch control structure provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the second insulating layer serves as a protective layer of the bridge electrodes to protect the bridge electrodes.
(62) In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a material of the first conductive layer may be a transparent conductive material. For example, the material of the first conductive layer may be ITO (indium-tin oxide), SnO.sub.2 (tin oxide), etc., and for another example, the material of the first conductive layer may also be IZO (indium-zinc oxide). The embodiments of the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, the examples, and the following embodiments are the same in this aspect.
(63) Similarly, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, a material of the second conductive layer may be a transparent conductive material. For example, the material of the second conductive layer may be ITO (indium-tin oxide), SnO.sub.2 (tin oxide), etc., and for another example, the material of the second conductive layer may also be IZO (indium-zinc oxide). The embodiments of the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, the examples, and the following embodiments are the same in this aspect.
(64) The embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a display device including any one of the touch control structures provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure.
(65) The display device provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure may further include a display screen. It should be noted that, the embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit the mode in which the touch control structure and the display screen being combined.
(66) For example, the display screen includes an array substrate and an opposed substrate (for example, a color filter substrate) opposed to the array substrate.
(67) For example, the touch control structure may be disposed on a protective cover, the protective cover is used to cover the display screen to protect the display screen, and a side of the protective cover formed with the touch control structure faces the display screen. That is, the touch control structure and the display screen are combined in an OGS (One Glass Solution) mode.
(68) For another example, the touch control structure may be disposed at a side of the opposed substrate away from the array substrate, and a side of the touch control structure away from the opposed substrate may further be provided with a polarizer. That is, the touch control structure and the display screen are combined in an On-Cell (external) mode.
(69) For another example, the touch control structure may also be disposed at a side of the opposed substrate facing the array substrate. That is, the touch control structure and the display screen are combined in an In-Cell (embedded) mode.
(70) It should be noted that the display device in the embodiment of the present disclosure may be a liquid crystal panel, a liquid crystal television, a display, an OLED panel, an OLED television, an electronic paper, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a digital photo frame, a navigator and other products or components having display function.
(71) The technical effects of the display device provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure may be referenced to the corresponding descriptions in the above-mentioned embodiments, and details are not described here again.
(72) The embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a method for manufacturing a touch control structure. As illustrated in
(73) Step S10: providing a film base 100;
(74) Step S20: providing a base substrate 600, and attaching the film base 100 to the base substrate 600;
(75) Step S30: forming a laminated structure 400 on the film base 100, the laminated structure 400 being configured for implementing a touch control function; and
(76) Step S40: removing the film base 100 on which the laminated structure 400 is formed from the base substrate 600.
(77) In step S10 and step S20, for example, as illustrated by the numeral 1A in
(78) For example, the film base 100 may be a cyclic olefin polymer (COP) film, and for another example, the film base 100 may also be a polyimide (PI) film. For example, the base substrate 600 may be a glass substrate. The present disclosure does not limit to this.
(79) In step S30, for example, as illustrated by the numerals 1B and 1C in
(80) Step S310: forming a first conductive layer 200 on the film base 100 to cover the film base 100;
(81) Step S320: forming one or a plurality of alignment marks 500 on the first conductive layer 200, the one or plurality of alignment marks are configured for implementing an alignment function; and
(82) Step S330: forming other laminated structure 300 on the first conductive layer 200.
(83) In step S310, for example, as illustrated by the numeral 1B in
(84) In step S320, for example, as illustrated by the numeral 1B in
(85) It should be noted that, the alignment marks 500 are only used for alignment in the process of manufacturing the touch control structure. After the touch control structure is manufactured, the portion where the alignment marks 500 are located may be cut off, that is, the final product may not include the alignment marks 500. In addition, the shape of the alignment mark 500 as illustrated by the numeral 1B in
(86) In step S330, for example, as illustrated by the numeral 1C in
(87) In step S40, for example, as illustrated by the numeral 1D in
(88) The base substrate 600 (for example, a glass substrate) may be recycled after the above-described film adhering process and film peeling process, so loss can be reduced.
(89) Another embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a method for manufacturing a touch control structure, as illustrated in
(90) For example, as illustrated by the numeral 2A in
(91) For example, as illustrated by the numeral 2B in
(92) The method provided in the present embodiment further includes the following operations: forming one or a plurality of alignment marks 500 on the first conductive layer 200 (as illustrated by the numeral 2B in
(93) It should be noted that, an intermediate layer such as an Index-Matching Layer (IML) may be formed between the film base 100 and the first conductive layer 200, and the refractive index of the IML is similar to the refractive index of the first conductive layer, thereby achieving an effect of the shadow reduction.
(94) In the method for manufacturing the touch control structure, the functional layer of the touch control structure, that is, the first conductive layer is disposed on the same side of the film base, and the first conductive layer is subjected to the same stress when being bent, thereby reducing a risk of fracture.
(95) In addition, after the film base is attached to the surface of the base substrate, other processing operations are performed on the film base to form the touch control structure. In this way, the base substrate may be used to maintain a flatness of the surface of the film base, which can achieve high-precision processes, for example, a photolithography precision can be increased. The following operations describe the manufacturing steps of the laminated structure in the above-described method for manufacturing the touch control structure by two examples.
(96) For example, in an example for forming the laminated structure, as illustrated in
(97) An example of forming the laminated structure may include the following operations.
(98) Step S301: performing a patterning process on the first conductive layer to form a plurality of electrode patterns;
(99) Step S302: forming a plurality of metal traces on the plurality of first conductive traces.
(100) In step S301, for example, as illustrated in
(101) For example, the patterning process may be a photolithography process including coating photoresist, exposure, development, etching, lift-off, and the like.
(102) In step S302, for example, as illustrated in
(103) It should be noted that, the first conductive traces 230 cannot be seen from
(104) For example, as illustrated in
(105) The overlap electrodes 315 are provided to facilitate the electrical connection between the first touch electrode 210 and the metal trace 310 and the electrical connection between the second touch electrode 220 and the metal trace 310. It should be noted that, the overlap electrodes 315 as illustrated in
(106) In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first conductive trace 230 may serve as a buffer layer of the metal trace 310 formed thereon, such that the adhesion of the metal trace 310 to the film base 100 can be increased, thereby ensuring the function of the edge bend region of the touch control structure.
(107) For example, as illustrated in
(108) Step S303: forming a first insulating layer 410 on the film base 100.
(109) For example, as illustrated in
(110) For example, the first insulating layer 410 covers the entire touch region 101, and the first insulating layer 410 insulates the first touch electrode 210 from the second touch electrode 220 adjacent to the first touch electrode 210. The via 411 is arranged such that a subsequently formed bridge electrode may electrically connect two adjacent first sub-electrodes 211 to each other through the via 411.
(111) For example, as illustrated in
(112) Step S304: forming a second conductive layer on the film base 100 by using a patterning process.
(113) For example, as illustrated in
(114) For example, an example of forming the second conductive layer may include processes of sputtering a film, coating photoresist, exposure, development, etching, lift-off and the like.
(115) For example, as illustrated in
(116) For example, as illustrated in
(117) The second conductive trace 512 may be used as a protective layer of the metal traces 310 to prevent the metal trace 310 from being directly exposed to the air, thereby avoiding an oxidation problem of the metal trace 310.
(118) For example, as illustrated in
(119) Step S305: forming a second insulating layer 420 on the film base 100 on which the second conductive layer is formed.
(120) For example, as illustrated in
(121) For example, a material of the second insulating layer 420 may be a photoresist material, and an example of forming the second insulating layer 420 may include processes of coating photoresist, exposure, development, and the like.
(122) For example, another example of forming the laminated structure is provided, and the present example is different from the previous example in that the steps of manufacturing the first insulating layer, the second conductive layer, and the second insulating layer are different.
(123) In the present example, forming the laminated structure includes the following operation in addition to the steps S310 and S320.
(124) Step S303: forming a first insulating layer 410 on the film base 100.
(125) For example, as illustrated in
(126) In the present example, the first insulating layer 410 may be used as a protective layer of the metal traces 310 (excluding the metal traces in the bonding region), so as to prevent the metal traces 310 from being directly exposed to the air, thereby avoiding the oxidation problem of the metal traces 310.
(127) For example, the method for manufacturing the laminated structure provided by the example further includes the following operation.
(128) Step S304: forming a second conductive layer on the film base 100 by using a patterning process.
(129) For example, as illustrated in
(130) For example, as illustrated in
(131) In the present example, the bonding electrodes 515 covers the metal traces 310 located in the bonding region 105, which can prevent the portion of the metal traces from being directly exposed to the air, thereby avoiding the oxidation problem of the metal traces 310.
(132) For example, the method for manufacturing the laminated structure provided by the example further includes the following operation.
(133) Step S305: forming a second insulating layer 420 on the film base 100 on which the second conductive layer is formed.
(134) For example, as illustrated in
(135) It should be noted that, because the metal traces 310 in the bonding region 105 are to be electrically connected with other structures (for example, the metal traces 310 are electrically connected with a touch detection chip), the second insulating layer 420 does not cover the metal traces in the bonding region 105.
(136) In summary, the touch control structure, the display device and the method for manufacturing the touch control structure provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure have at least one of the following beneficial effects.
(137) (1) In at least one embodiment, the functional layers of the touch control structure are disposed on the same side of the film base, and the functional layers are subjected to the same stress when being bent, thereby reducing a risk of fracture.
(138) (2) In at least one embodiment, after the film base is attached to the surface of the base substrate, other processing operations are performed on the film base to form the touch control structure. In this way, the base substrate may be used to maintain a flatness of the surface of the film base which can achieve high-precision processes.
(139) (3) In at least one embodiment, the first conductive trace serves as a buffer layer of the metal trace formed thereon, and an adhesion of the metal trace to the film base can be increased, thereby ensuring the function of the edge bend region of the touch control structure.
(140) (4) In at least one embodiment, the second conductive trace is used as a protective layer of the metal trace to prevent the metal trace from being directly exposed to the air, thereby avoiding an oxidation problem of the metal trace.
(141) (5) In at least one embodiment, the first insulating layer is used as a protective layer of the metal traces (excluding the metal traces in the bonding region), so as to prevent the metal traces from being directly exposed to the air, thereby avoiding the oxidation problem of the metal traces.
(142) (6) In at least one embodiment, the second insulating layer serves as a protective layer of the bridge electrodes to protect the bridge electrodes.
(143) (7) In at least one embodiment, the bonding electrodes covers the metal traces located in the bonding region, which can prevent the portion of the metal traces from being directly exposed to the air, thereby avoiding the oxidation problem of the metal traces.
(144) (8) In at least one embodiment, the base substrate (for example, a glass substrate) can be recycled after the film adhering process and film peeling process, so loss can be reduced.
(145) What is described above are specific implementations of the disclosure, but the scopes of the disclosure are not limited to the above-mentioned implementations, and the scopes of the disclosure are defined by the accompanying claims.