Brick Layout and Stackup for a Touch Screen

• US 20090314621A1
• Filed: 04/25/2008
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: HOTELLING, Steve Porter
• Granted Patent: US 8,576,193 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 200/600
• 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 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes

Abstract

A touch sensor panel is disclosed having an array of co-planar single-layer touch sensors fabricated on a single side of a substrate. The sense (or drive) lines can be fabricated in a single strip as columnar or zig-zag patterns in a first orientation, and the drive (or sense) lines can be fabricated as rows of polygonal (e.g. brick-shaped or pentagonal) conductive areas in a second orientation. Each sense (or drive) line in the first orientation can be coupled to a separate metal trace in the border area of the touch sensor panel, and each polygonal area in the second orientation can also be coupled to a metal trace in the border area of the touch sensor panel. The metal traces can allow both the row and column lines to be routed to the same edge of the substrate for flex circuit attachment.

Claims

1. A touch sensor panel, comprising:

a plurality of first lines formed on a single layer and supported on one side of a substrate;

a plurality of polygonal areas formed on the same layer as the plurality of first lines; and

a plurality of connecting traces routed adjacent to the polygonal areas and formed on the same layer as the plurality of first lines, each connecting trace coupled to a different polygonal area;

wherein the plurality of first lines and the plurality of polygonal areas form an array of capacitive sensors.

2. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the connecting traces coupled to successive polygonal areas are alternatingly routed along both sides of the polygonal areas.

3. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of connecting traces are routed along only one side of the polygonal areas.

4. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of bus lines formed along at least one edge of the substrate on the same side of the substrate as the plurality of first lines, each connecting trace coupled to one of the bus lines.

5. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of first lines are zig-zag-shaped.

6. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein a majority of the plurality of polygonal areas are pentagonal.

7. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, the plurality of connecting traces routed between the polygonal areas.

8. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of polygonal areas are brick-shaped.

9. The touch sensor panel of claim 4, the plurality of lines representing a plurality of sense lines and the plurality of polygonal areas representing a plurality of drive lines.

10. The touch sensor panel of claim 9, the plurality of polygonal areas formed adjacent to the sense lines, each polygonal area and adjacent sense line forming a sensor of the touch sensor panel.

11. The touch sensor panel of claim 9, each polygonal area in any drive line coupled to the same bus line.

12. The touch sensor panel of claim 9, wherein each bus line coupled to a connecting trace is additionally coupled to polygonal areas in at least two different drive lines to substantially equalize a capacitance seen on the bus lines.

13. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, further comprising a reference ground plane formed on a different layer from the plurality of sense lines and polygonal areas, the reference ground, sense lines and polygonal areas forming a self-capacitance touch sensor panel.

14. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, the touch sensor panel integrated within a computing system.

15. The touch sensor panel of claim 14, the computing system integrated within a mobile telephone.

16. The touch sensor panel of claim 14, the computing system integrated within a media player.

17. A method for fabricating a touch sensor panel, comprising:

forming a plurality of first lines and second lines on a single layer on one side of a substrate, each first line formed as a single continuous strip, and each second line formed as a plurality of discrete polygonal areas; and

coupling each of the first lines and discrete polygonal areas to a plurality of bus lines via connecting traces, the bus lines formed along at least one edge of the substrate on the same side of the substrate as the plurality of first lines, and the connecting traces routed adjacent to the polygonal areas and formed on the same layer as the plurality of first lines;

wherein the plurality of first lines and the plurality of second lines form an array of capacitive sensors on the touch sensor panel.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising routing the connecting traces coupled to successive second lines along alternating sides of the polygonal areas.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising routing the plurality of connecting traces along only one side of the polygonal areas.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising forming each of the plurality of first lines in a zig-zag shape.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising forming a majority of the plurality of polygonal areas in a pentagonal shape.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising routing the plurality of connecting traces between the polygonal areas.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising forming the plurality of polygonal areas into brick-shaped areas.

24. The method of claim 17, the plurality of first lines representing a plurality of sense lines and the plurality of polygonal areas representing a plurality of drive lines.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising forming the plurality of polygonal areas adjacent to the sense lines, each polygonal area and adjacent sense line forming a sensor of the touch sensor panel.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising coupling each polygonal area in any drive line to the same bus line.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising additionally coupling each bus line coupled to a connecting trace to polygonal areas in at least two different drive lines to substantially equalize a capacitance seen on the bus lines.

28. The method of claim 17, further comprising forming a reference ground plane on a different layer from the plurality of sense lines and polygonal areas, the reference ground, sense lines and polygonal areas forming a self-capacitance touch sensor panel.

29. A handheld electronic device including a touch sensor panel, the touch sensor panel comprising:

a plurality of first lines formed on a single layer and supported on one side of a substrate;

a plurality of polygonal areas formed on the same layer as the plurality of first lines; and

a plurality of connecting traces routed adjacent to the polygonal areas and formed on the same layer as the plurality of first lines, each connecting trace coupled to a different polygonal area;

wherein the plurality of first lines and the plurality of polygonal areas form an array of capacitive sensors.