Touch screen sensor

• US 8,384,691 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2012
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Original Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Inventors: Frey, Matthew H., Zu, Lijun, Hagermoser, Edward S.
• Primary Examiner(s): GIESY, ADAM
• Application Number:
  US13/445,061
• Publication Number:
  US 20120194481A1
• Time in Patent Office: 320 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04112 Electrode mesh in capacitive digitiser: electrode for touch sensing is formed of a mesh of very fine, normally metallic, interconnected lines that are almost invisible to see. This provides a quite large but transparent electrode surface, without need for ITO or similar transparent conductive material
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/045 using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact

Abstract

A touch screen sensor includes a visible light transparent substrate and an electrically conductive micropattern disposed on or in the visible light transparent substrate. The micropattern includes a first region micropattern within a touch sensing area and a second region micropattern. The first region micropattern has a first sheet resistance value in a first direction, is visible light transparent, and has at least 90% open area. The second region micropattern has a second sheet resistance value in the first direction. The first sheet resistance value is different from the second sheet resistance value.

Claims

1. A touch screen sensor, comprising:

a visible light transparent substrate;

an electrically conductive micropattern disposed on or in the visible light transparent substrate, the micropattern having;

a conductor trace width of about X+0.5 in units of micrometers; and

an open area fraction between about [95−

X]% and 99.5%,

wherein 0≦

X≦

4.5.

2. The touch screen sensor of claim 1, wherein the visible light transparent substrate comprises glass.

3. The touch screen sensor of claim 1 having a haze value of less than 10% and greater than 75% transmission.

4. The touch screen sensor of claim 1 having a haze value of less than 5% greater than 85% transmission.

5. The touch screen sensor of claim 1, wherein the conductor trace width is less than about 6 micrometers and having a pitch of less than about 300 micrometer.

6. The touch screen sensor of claim 1, wherein the conductor trace is selected from the group consisting of gold, silver, palladium, platinum, aluminum, copper, nickel, tin, alloys thereof, indium tin oxide, and combinations thereof.

7. The touch screen sensor of claim 1, wherein the conductor trace has a thickness of less than about 500 nanometers.

8. The touch sensor of claim 1, wherein the conductor trace width is between 1 and 4 micrometers.

9. The touch sensor of claim 1, wherein the conductor trace width is between 1 and 3 micrometers.

10. The touch sensor of claim 1, wherein the conductive micropattern is a micro-contact printed conductive micropattern.

11. The touch screen sensor of claim 1, wherein the micropattern comprises a conductive mesh.

12. The touch screen sensor of claim 11, wherein the mesh has selective breaks modulating the local sheet resistance.

13. The touch sensor of claim 11, wherein the mesh comprises random cell shapes.

14. The touch sensor of claim 11, wherein the conductive mesh has a sheet resistance within the range of 1 to 500 ohms per square.

15. The touch sensor of claim 1, wherein the micropattern comprises isolated conductor deposits having an aperiodic arrangement and a minimum dimension of between 0.5 and 5 micrometers.

16. The touch sensor of claim 1, wherein the trace comprises a micro-replicated channel that is filled, or partially filled, with conductive material.

17. The touch sensor of claim 1, electrically coupled to a touch sensor drive device.

18. The touch sensor of claim 1, incorporated into a display device.

19. A touch screen sensor element, comprising:

a first patterned substrate comprising a first patterned metalized film having a plurality of first continuous regions alternating between a plurality of first discontinuous regions, each of the first continuous regions having a plurality of first traces forming a first mesh structure;

a second patterned substrate comprising a second patterned metalized film having a plurality of second continuous regions alternating between a plurality of second discontinuous regions, each of the second continuous regions having a plurality of second traces forming a second mesh structure, wherein

the first and second patterned substrates are adhered together;

the first traces and the second traces have a width between about 0.5 and 5 micrometers; and

the first mesh structure and the second mesh structure each have an open area between 90 and 99.5%.

20. The touch screen sensor element of claim 19, wherein

the first traces and the second traces each have a width of about X+0.5 in units of micrometers;

and

the first mesh structure and the second mesh structure each have an open area between about [95−

X]% and 99.5%,

wherein 0≦

X≦

4.5.

21. The touch sensor element of claim 19, wherein the first traces and the second traces each have width between 0.5 and 3 micrometers and the first mesh structure and the second mesh structure each an open area between 96% and 99.5%.

22. The touch sensor element of claim 19, wherein the first continuous regions and the second continuous regions each have sheet resistance within the range of 1 to 500 ohms per square.

23. The touch sensor element of claim 19, wherein the first continuous regions and the second continuous regions each have sheet resistance within the range of 5 to 100 ohms per square.

24. The touch sensor element of claim 19, wherein the first continuous regions and the second continuous regions each have sheet resistance within the range of 5 to 40 ohms per square.

25. The touch sensor element of claim 19, wherein the first and second patterned metalized film comprises gold, silver, palladium, platinum, aluminum, copper, nickel, tin, or alloys or combinations thereof.

26. The touch screen sensor element of claim 19, further connected to a touch sensor drive device comprising integrated circuits used to make mutual capacitance measurement of the sensor element.

27. A touch screen sensor element, comprising:

a first patterned substrate comprising a first patterned metalized film having a plurality of first continuous regions alternating between a plurality of first discontinuous regions, each of the first continuous regions having a plurality of first traces forming a first mesh structure;

a second patterned substrate comprising a second patterned metalized film having a plurality of second continuous regions alternating between a plurality of second discontinuous regions, each of the second continuous regions having a plurality of second traces forming a second mesh structure, wherein

the first and second patterned substrates are adhered together;

the first traces and the second traces have a width between about 0.5 and 5 micrometers; and

the first mesh structure and the second mesh structure each have an open area between 95 and 99.95%.

28. A touch screen sensor, comprising:

a visible light transparent substrate;

an electrically conductive pattern disposed on or in the visible light transparent substrate, the pattern including;

a visible light transparent micropattern region comprising a plurality of traces forming a mesh structure; and

a region having a larger feature that is not transparent, wherein

the traces have a width between 0.5 and 5 micrometers;

the mesh structure has an open area between 95 and 99.95%; and

the visible light transparent micropattern region and the region having the larger feature include the same metal at approximately the same thickness.

29. The touch screen sensor of claim 28, wherein the larger feature is a conductive trace that makes contact to the visible light transparent micropattern region.

30. The touch screen sensor of claim 29, wherein the conductive trace makes contact to a pad making contact with an electronic decoding, signal generation, or signal processing device.

31. The touch screen sensor of claim 28, wherein the larger feature has a width between 25 micrometers and 500 micrometers.

32. The touch sensor of claim 31, wherein the larger feature has a width between 50 micrometers and 100 micrometers.

33. The touch sensor of claim 28, wherein the mesh structure comprises random cell shapes.

34. The touch sensor of claim 28, wherein the traces have width between 1 and 4 micrometers.

35. The touch sensor of claim 28, wherein the traces have width between 1 and 3 micrometers.

36. The touch sensor of claim 28, wherein the conductive pattern is a micro-contact printed conductive pattern.

37. The touch screen sensor of claim 28, wherein the mesh structure has selective breaks modulating the local sheet resistance.

38. The touch sensor of claim 28, wherein the traces comprise micro-replicated channels that are filled, or partially filled, with conductive material.

39. The touch sensor of claim 28, incorporated into a display device.

40. The touch sensor of claim 28, wherein the micropattern comprises isolated conductor deposits having an aperiodic arrangement and a minimum dimension of between 0.5 and 5 micrometers.