Electrically conductive articles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11449181-B2
Application number	US-201816059621-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 9, 2018
Priority date	Dec 7, 2012
Publication date	Sep 20, 2022
Grant date	Sep 20, 2022

Abstract

Articles comprising a substrate having a first major surface; an electrical conductor pattern on the first major surface of the substrate, the electrical conductor pattern comprising a plurality of separated pairs of separated first and second electrically conductive metallic traces. Optionally the articles further comprise a first electrically conductive layer. Embodiments of articles described herein are useful in, for example, displays, touch sensors, lighting elements, photovoltaic cells, electrochromic windows and displays, and electroluminescent lamps and displays.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An article comprising:
a substrate having a first major surface;
an electrical conductor pattern on the first major surface of the substrate, the electrical conductor pattern comprising:
a plurality of separated pairs of separated first and second electrically conductive metallic traces, the first and second electrically conductive metallic traces of each pair of the plurality of pairs having a length of overlap relative to each other of at least 5 times their separation distance, having a thickness in a range from 10 nanometers to 20 micrometers and a width in a range from 0.5 micrometers to no greater than 25 micrometers, and being separated from each other by up to 25 micrometers; and
an electrically conductive layer having first and second opposed major surfaces, wherein a major surface of the electrically conductive layer is in contact with at least a portion of the plurality of pairs of first and second electrically conductive metallic traces.

2. The article of claim 1 , wherein adjacent electrically conductive metallic traces of adjacent pairs within the plurality of pairs have a length of overlap relative to each other of at least 5 times their separation distance.

3. The article of claim 1 , wherein the electrical conductor pattern has an open area fraction greater than 80%.

4. The article of claim 1 , wherein each electrically conductive metallic trace of a pair is separated from each other by up to 10 micrometers; the electrically conductive metallic traces have widths not greater than 15 micrometers; and the electrically conductive metallic traces have lengths of at least 50 micrometers.

5. The article of claim 1 , wherein the first and second electrically conductive metallic traces of each pair of the plurality of pairs have a length of overlap relative to each other of at least 10 times their separation distance.

6. The article of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is transparent.

7. The article of claim 1 , wherein the first and second electrically conductive metallic traces are branched.

8. The article of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive layer is transparent and comprises at least one of metal oxide, metal nanowires, electrically conducting polymer, carbon nanotubes, or graphene.

9. The article of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive layer is patterned and comprises first and second, separated regions.

10. The article of claim 9 , further comprising a first address trace electrically connected to the first region and a second address trace electrically connected to the second region.

11. The article of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of pairs of first and second electrically conductive metallic traces generally form a pseudo-random two-dimensional network.

12. The article of claim 1 , wherein for at least a portion of the pairs of first and second electrically conductive metallic traces the traces are complementarily tapered relative to each other.

13. The article of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive layer is disposed between the substrate and the plurality of pairs of first and second electrically conductive metallic traces.

14. The article of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of pairs of first and second electrically conductive metallic traces generally form a repeating series of lines or a two-dimensional network.

15. The article of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of pairs of first and second electrically conductive metallic traces is disposed between the substrate and the electrically conductive layer.

16. The article of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive layer has an electrical sheet resistance of not greater than 5000 ohm/square.

17. The article of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive metal traces have an electrical sheet resistance of not greater than 5 ohm/square.

Assignees

• 3M Innovative Properties Co

Inventors

• Frey Matthew H
• Hable Brock A
• Herdtle Thomas

Classifications

• G06F3/0446 Primary

  using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes · CPC title

• G06F2203/04112

  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 title

• Y02E10/50

  Photovoltaic [PV] energy · CPC title

• G06F3/041

  Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means · CPC title

• H05K1/0296

  Conductive pattern lay-out details not covered by sub groups H05K1/02 - H05K1/0295 (H05K1/11 takes precedence; lay-out adapted to mounted component configuration H05K1/18) · CPC title