Capacitive sensor element and method for the production thereof

• US 10,642,424 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2015
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG (Leonhard KURZ Stiftung & Company KG)
• Original Assignee: PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG (Leonhard KURZ Stiftung & Company KG)
• Inventors: Ullmann, Andreas, Fix, Walter, Walter, Manfred
• Primary Examiner(s): Tzeng, Fred
• Application Number:
  US15/109,306
• Publication Number:
  US 20160328048A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,945 Days
• Field of Search: 345174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04103 Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04164 Connections between sensors and controllers, e.g. routing lines between electrodes and connection pads
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes

Abstract

The invention relates to a capacitive sensor element with a plurality of sensor fields, as they correspond for example to the arrangement on a touch screen. This capacitive sensor element comprises at least one multilayer body made up of two structured electrically conductive layers and an insulating layer in between. The invention provides a layout with redundant conductive strips for an arrangement of crossing conductive strips, through which the requirement for register accuracy in the two-layer lamination of layer electrodes is reduced, in particular with respect to connecting the connections to the plugs in the edge area of a module using a corresponding sensor element.

Claims

1. A capacitive sensor element comprising at least one multilayer body, the multilayer body comprising:

a first structured electrically conductive layer having first conductive strips galvanically separated from each other, first conductive strip connections electrically connected to respective first conductive strips, conductive pads and conductive pad connections electrically connected to respective conductive pads, the first conductive strips, the first conductive strip connections, the conductive pads and the conductive pad connections being disposed in a common first plane;

a second structured electrically conductive layer comprising a plurality of stripe electrodes galvanically separated from each other, said plurality of stripe electrodes including at least one stripe electrode electrically coupled to a respective conductive pad of the first electrically conductive layer and at least one stripe electrode not electrically coupled to a conductive pad of the first electrically conductive layer, whereby not every stripe electrode is electrically coupled to a conductive pad of the first electrically conductive layer; and

an insulating layer disposed between the first and second electrically conductive layers, the insulating layer covering the first conductive strips and at least a portion of the first conductive strip connections, but leaving the conductive pads of the first structured electrically conductive layer exposed to the second structured electrically conductive layer,

whereby the at least one of said plurality of stripe electrodes electrically coupled to a respective conductive pad of the first electrically conductive layer of the second structured electrically conductive layer remains in electrical contact with the respective conductive pad of the first structured electrically conductive layer despite a shift in alignment of the first structured electrically conductive layer with respect to the second structured electrically conductive layer to eliminate possible errors in register accuracy between the first structured electrically conductive layer and the second structured electrically conductive layer.

2. A sensor element according to claim 1, wherein conductive strips of the stripe electrodes are alternately connected and not connected to a connection.

3. A sensor element according to claim 2, wherein a distance between two adjacent conductive strips of the stripe electrodes predetermines the periodicity at which conductive strips connected and not connected to connections lie next to each other on an electrically conductive layer.

4. A sensor element according to claim 1, wherein the conductive strips of the stripe electrodes are present periodically spaced apart from each other in a regular pattern.

5. A sensor element according to claim 1, wherein the first and/or second electrically conductive layer has a layer thickness between 20 nm and 1 μ

m.

6. A sensor element according to claim 1, wherein the connections lie in the first, electrically conductive, layer plane with the wider conductive strips, the bar electrodes.

7. A sensor element according to claim 1, wherein the conductive strips which do not lie in a plane with the connections that lead to plugs are connected making contact with the connections via conductive pads.

8. A sensor element according to claim 1, further comprising an area which is formed transparent.

9. A sensor element according to claim 1, wherein at least one conductive pad is provided, which lies inside the transparent area of the sensor element.

10. A sensor element according to claim 1, wherein a conductive pad is provided, which lies outside the transparent area of the sensor element.

11. A sensor element according to claim 1, further comprising at least one layer which can be produced by printing of a support band.

12. A sensor element according to claim 1, further comprising at least one layer which can be produced by printing in the continuous process.

13. A sensor element according to claim 1, further comprising at least one layer, which can be produced in a roll-to-roll process.

14. A sensor element according to claim 13, which can be produced by laminating a second electrically conductive layer onto a first electrically conductive layer by means of an insulating adhesive layer applied in a structured manner.

15. A sensor element according to claim 1, which can be produced by lamination of several layers.

16. A sensor element according to claim 15, which can be produced by laminating a second electrically conductive layer onto a first electrically conductive layer by means of an electrically insulating adhesive layer applied in a structured manner over the electrodes on the first conductive layer and the connections and by means of an electrically conductive adhesive applied over the conductive pads in a structured manner.

17. A sensor element according to claim 1, which can be produced by laminating a second electrically conductive layer onto a first electrically conductive layer by means of an insulating adhesive layer.

18. A sensor element according to claim 1, in which the first conductive strips in the area of the crossover points with the second conductive strips have gaps, which are not conductive areas.

19. A sensor element according to claim 1, wherein the gaps are adapted to the dimensions at the conductive pads.

20. A method for the production of a layer of a sensor element according to claim 1 by printing in the continuous process.

21. A method according to claim 20, wherein the printing takes place in the roll-to-roll process.

22. A method for the production of a sensor element according to claim 1 by laminating at least two electrically conductive layers one on top of the other with an insulating layer in between.

23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the insulating layer is an adhesive layer.

24. A method according to claim 22, wherein areas of the electrically conductive layers which are not covered with an insulating adhesive layer are connected by application of electrically conductive adhesive.

25. A sensor element according to claim 1, wherein the insulating layer further covers at least a portion of the conductive pad connections of the first structured electrically conductive layer.