High resistivity metal fan out

• US 9,495,048 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2014
• Issued: 11/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Grunthaner, Martin Paul, Huang, Lili
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia, Prabodh M
• Application Number:
  US14/163,899
• Publication Number:
  US 20140139763A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,026 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-184, 178 1801- 1806, 349/149, 349/150, 361/784, 361/803
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04102 Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04103 Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04107 Shielding in digitiser, i.e. guard or shielding arrangements, mostly for capacitive touchscreens, e.g. driven shields, driven grounds
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04113 Peripheral electrode pattern in resistive digitisers, i.e. electrodes at the periphery of the resistive sheet are shaped in patterns enhancing linearity of induced field
• 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: H05K 1/0289 having a matrix lay-out, i.e. having selectively interconnectable sets of X-conductors and Y-conductors in different planes
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/0108 Transparent
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/24 Reinforcing the conductive pattern by solder coating H05K3/3457

Abstract

The formation of metal traces in the border areas of a touch sensor panel to provide improved reliability, better noise rejection, and lower manufacturing costs is disclosed. The metal traces can be coupled to rows on the touch sensor panel in an interleaved manner, so that any two successive rows can be coupled to metal traces in border areas on opposite sides of the touch sensor panel. In addition, by utilizing the full width available in the border areas in some embodiments, the metal traces can be formed from higher resistivity metal, which can reduce manufacturing costs and improve trace reliability. The wider traces can also provide better noise immunity from noise sources such as an LCD by providing a larger fixed-potential surface area and by more effectively coupling the drive lines to the fixed potential.

Claims

1. A touch sensor panel comprising:

a substrate;

a first layer of a first conductive material supported on a first side of the substrate to form one or more rows;

a second layer of the first conductive material supported on a second side of the substrate to form one or more columns; and

a stackup of a second conductive material disposed on a portion of the first side of the substrate and on a portion of the one or more rows in one or more border areas of the touch sensor panel to form one or more conductive traces for off-panel connections, wherein at least one trace has segments of varying width along the length of the trace, respective trace widths within each segment are constant, and respective trace widths in areas between segments along the length of the trace are non-constant,

further wherein the one or more rows and the one or more columns form a plurality of capacitive sensing nodes.

2. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, further comprising a passivation layer disposed on at least one of the first and second side of the substrate.

3. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the second conductive material has a resistivity greater than about 0.4 ohms per square.

4. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the stackup is comprised from Molybdenum/Niobium (Mo/Nb).

5. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the stackup is comprised from Molybdenum/Niobium (Mo/Nb), Aluminum Neodymium (Al/Nd) and Mo/Nb.

6. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the one or more traces are configured to occupy substantially a full width of the border area.

7. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the traces are coupled to every other row in an interleaved manner such that at least one trace is present along a full length of the border area.

8. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the one or more traces in any particular portion of the border area alongside a row have substantially the same width.

9. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, further comprising a computing system that incorporates the touch sensor panel.

10. The touch sensor panel of claim 9, further comprising a mobile telephone that incorporates the computing system.

11. The touch sensor panel of claim 9, further comprising a digital audio player that incorporates the computing system.

12. A touch sensor panel comprising:

a first layer of a first conductive material supported on a first substrate to form one or more rows;

a second layer of the first conductive material supported on a second substrate to form one or more columns; and

a stackup of a second conductive material disposed on a portion of the first substrate and on a portion of the one or more rows in one or more border areas of the touch sensor panel to form one or more conductive traces for off-panel connections, wherein at least one trace has segments of varying width along the length of the trace, respective trace widths within each segment are constant, and respective trace widths in areas between segments along the length of the trace are non-constant,

further wherein the one or more rows and the one or more columns form a plurality of capacitive sensing nodes.

13. The touch sensor panel of claim 12, further comprising a passivation layer disposed on at least one of the first and second side of the substrate.

14. The touch sensor panel of claim 13, further comprising a computing system that incorporates the touch sensor panel.

15. The touch sensor panel of claim 14, further comprising a mobile telephone that incorporates the computing system.

16. The touch sensor panel of claim 14, further comprising a digital audio player that incorporates the computing system.