Touch module, manufacturing method thereof and display device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9690434-B2
Application number	US-201414443298-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2014
Priority date	May 7, 2014
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

A touch module, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device are disclosed. The touch module includes peripheral leads, an insulating layer and a touch electrode layer sequentially arranged on a substrate in stacked layers. The touch electrode layer includes touch sensing electrodes and touch drive electrodes, which intersect and are insulated from each other, and connection terminal protection members. Patterns of the touch sensing electrode and the touch drive electrode cover overlapping parts of the peripheral leads electrically connected with the touch sensing electrodes and the touch drive electrodes at positions of first opening areas of the insulating layer. Patterns of the connection terminal protection members cover connection terminal parts of corresponding peripheral leads at positions of second opening areas of the insulating layer. The touch module can simplify the number of layers of the touch module, reduce the use number of masks and improve the productivity.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A touch module, comprising: peripheral leads, an insulating layer and a touch electrode layer sequentially arranged on a substrate in stacked layers, wherein
the touch electrode layer includes touch sensing electrodes and touch drive electrodes, which intersect and are insulated from each other, and connection terminal protection members;
overlapping parts electrically connected with corresponding touch sensing electrodes or touch drive electrodes are disposed at one end of the peripheral leads, and connection terminal parts in one-to-one correspondence with the connection terminal protection members are disposed at the other end thereof;
the connection terminal parts are made of a metal material, and the connection terminal protection members are made of a transparent conductive material;
a pattern of the insulating layer is provided with first opening areas at positions corresponding to the overlapping parts of the peripheral leads and provided with second opening areas at positions corresponding to the connection terminal parts of the peripheral leads;
patterns of the touch sensing electrode and the touch drive electrode cover the overlapping parts electrically connected with the touch sensing electrodes and the touch drive electrodes at the positions of the first opening areas; and
patterns of the connection terminal parts are exposed at the second opening areas, and patterns of the connection terminal protection members cover only the corresponding connection terminal parts exposed at the second opening areas.

2. The touch module according to claim 1 , wherein each touch drive electrode includes a plurality of mutually independent touch drive sub-electrodes arranged along an extension direction of the touch drive electrode, and the touch drive sub-electrodes of the touch drive electrode are electrically connected with one another in order through bridge connectors; or
each touch sensing electrode includes a plurality of mutually independent touch sensing sub-electrodes arranged along an extension direction of the touch sensing electrode, and the touch sensing sub-electrodes in the touch sensing electrode are electrically connected with one another in order through bridge connectors.

3. The touch module according to claim 2 , wherein the bridge connectors and the peripheral leads are arranged in a same layer; or the bridge connectors are disposed between the substrate and a layer provided with the peripheral leads.

4. The touch module according to claim 3 , wherein connecting parts electrically connected with corresponding touch sensing sub-electrodes or touch drive sub-electrodes are respectively disposed at both ends of the bridge connectors;
the pattern of the insulating layer is provided with third opening areas at positions corresponding to the connecting parts of the bridge connectors; and
patterns of the touch sensing sub-electrodes or the touch drive sub-electrodes cover the connecting parts electrically connected with the touch sensing sub-electrodes or the touch drive sub-electrodes at the positions of the third opening areas.

5. The touch module according to claim 2 , wherein connecting parts electrically connected with corresponding touch sensing sub-electrodes or touch drive sub-electrodes are respectively disposed at both ends of the bridge connectors;
the pattern of the insulating layer is provided with third opening areas at positions corresponding to the connecting parts of the bridge connectors; and
patterns of the touch sensing sub-electrodes or the touch drive sub-electrodes cover the connecting parts electrically connected with the touch sensing sub-electrodes or the touch drive sub-electrodes at the positions of the third opening areas.

6. The touch module according to claim 2 , further comprising a shield layer for shielding the peripheral leads.

7. The touch module according to claim 6 , wherein the shield layer is disposed between the peripheral leads and the substrate.

8. The touch module according to claim 1 , further comprising a shield layer for shielding the peripheral leads.

9. The touch module according to claim 8 , wherein the shield layer is disposed between the peripheral leads and the substrate.

10. A display device, comprising the touch module according to claim 1 .

11. A method for manufacturing a touch module, comprising:
forming patterns of peripheral leads, each of which has an overlapping part disposed at one end and a connection terminal part is disposed at the other end, on a substrate;
forming a pattern of an insulating layer, provided with first opening areas at positions corresponding to the overlapping parts of the peripheral leads and provided with second opening areas at positions corresponding to the connection terminal parts of the peripheral leads, on the pattern of the peripheral lead; and
forming patterns of touch sensing electrodes and touch drive electrodes, which intersect and are insulated from each other, and patterns of connection terminal protection members in one-to-one correspondence with the connection terminal parts on the pattern of the insulating layer at the same time,
wherein the connection terminal parts ate made of a metal material and the connection terminal protection members are made of a transparent conductive material, the patterns of the touch sensing electrodes and the touch drive electrodes cover the overlapping parts electrically connected with the touch sensing electrodes and the touch drive electrodes at the positions of the first opening areas, patterns of the connection terminal parts are exposed at the second opening areas, and the patterns of the connection terminal protection members cover only the corresponding connection terminal parts exposed at the second opening areas.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the pattern of each touch drive electrode includes patterns of a plurality of mutually independent touch drive sub-electrodes arranged along an extension direction of the touch drive electrode, and the method further comprises: forming patterns of bridge connectors for electrically connecting the touch drive sub-electrodes of the touch drive electrode; or
the pattern of each touch sensing electrode includes patterns of a plurality of mutually independent touch sensing sub-electrodes arranged along an extension direction of the touch sensing electrode, and the method further comprises: forming patterns of bridge connectors for electrically connecting the touch sensing sub-electrodes of the touch sensing electrode.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the patterns of the bridge connectors are formed at the same time when the patterns of the peripheral leads are formed; or
the patterns of the bridge connectors are formed before the patterns of the peripheral leads are formed.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein connecting parts electrically connected with corresponding touch sensing sub-electrodes or touch drive sub-electrodes are respectively disposed at both ends of the bridge connectors;
the formed pattern of the insulating layer is provided with third opening areas at positions corresponding to the connecting parts of the bridge connectors; and
the formed patterns of the touch sensing sub-electrodes or the touch drive sub-electrodes cover the connecting parts electrically connected with the touch sensing sub-electrodes or the touch drive sub-electrodes at the positions of the third opening areas.

15. The method according to claim 12 , wherein connecting parts electrically connected with corresponding touch sensing sub-electrodes or touch drive su

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd
• Hefei Xinsheng Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang Lei
• Xie Taofeng
• Wu Lingyan
• Liu Yang

Classifications

• C23C14/5873

  Removal of material · CPC title

• C23C14/34

  Sputtering · CPC title

• G06F2203/04111

  Cross over in capacitive digitiser, i.e. details of structures for connecting electrodes of the sensing pattern where the connections cross each other, e.g. bridge structures comprising an insulating layer, or vias through substrate · CPC title

• G06F2203/04103

  Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices · CPC title

• G06F3/0416

  Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers · CPC title