KR20160085138A - Conductive structure, Touch panel and method for manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a conductive structure and a manufacturing method thereof. Especially, the conductive structure according to an embodiment of the present invention may include: a base material; a conductive layer formed using a copper as a material; and a blackened layer including a copper oxynitride. By the conductive structure and the manufacturing method according to the embodiment of the present invention, since the method can manufacture the conductive structure including the conductive layer capable of replacing a prior ITO electrode, the method can manufacture the conductive structure with lower costs and lower resistance than ITO, and especially, can improve concealment of the conductive layer since the conductive structure includes the blackened layer.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a conductive structure and a manufacturing method thereof,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conductive structure and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a conductive structure capable of improving concealability of a conductive layer and a method of manufacturing the same.

Transparent electrodes are widely used for various display electrodes, photoelectric conversion elements such as solar cells, and touch panels, and they are manufactured by forming a transparent conductive thin film on a transparent substrate such as a glass or a transparent film. Indium tin oxide (ITO) doped with tin (Sn) is used as the transparent conductive material mainly used at present. It has excellent transparency and low resistivity (1 × 10 -4 to 1 × 10 -4 Ωcm) .

Methods for producing the transparent conductive thin film include a vacuum deposition method such as sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), ion beam deposition, and pulsed laser deposition, and a vacuum deposition method such as spray coating and wet methods such as spin coating, dip coating, and the like. Among these methods, a vacuum deposition method such as sputtering is more preferred, and since a vacuum deposition method uses a plasma, a film having a high particle energy can be grown, and a high quality film having a higher density than other methods can be obtained. It also has the advantage of being able to grow high-quality thin films even at low temperatures without additional heat treatment.

Recently, the demand for ITO is rapidly increasing due to the increase in the flat panel display market. However, because of the high price of indium, due to unstable supply and demand and harmful to the human body, development of low-cost transparent conductive material capable of replacing ITO is required It is true.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2010-0007605 (Jan. 22, 2010)

The present application is intended to provide a conductive structure capable of improving the hiding property of a conductive layer and a method of manufacturing the same.

A conductive structure according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a substrate; A conductive layer formed on the upper surface of the substrate and formed using copper as a material; And a blackening layer formed on the upper surface of the conductive layer and including copper oxynitride.

The blackening layer may include copper oxynitride satisfying CuO x N y (1.1 ≦ x ≦ 1.5, 0.01 ≦ y ≦ 0.02), and the blackening layer has a total reflectance of 0% or more and 10% or less, -15? A * < 0, -25? B * < 0. The blackening layer may have a thickness of 15 nm or more and 50 nm or less.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a conductive structure comprising: a substrate; An upper conductive layer formed of copper on the upper surface of the substrate; An upper blackening layer formed on the upper conductive layer to include copper oxynitride; A lower conductive layer formed of copper on the lower surface of the substrate; And a lower blackening layer formed of copper oxynitride on the lower conductive layer. Here, the upper blackening layer and the lower blackening layer may include copper oxynitride which satisfies CuO x N y (1.1 ≦ x ≦ 1.5, 0.01 ≦ y ≦ 0.02).

A method of manufacturing a conductive structure according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: forming a conductive layer made of copper on a substrate; And forming a blackening layer including copper oxynitride on the conductive layer which satisfies CuO x N y (1.1 ≦ x ≦ 1.5, 0.01 ≦ y ≦ 0.02).

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a conductive structure, comprising: forming an upper conductive layer of copper on an upper surface of a substrate; Forming an upper blackening layer on the upper conductive layer, the upper blackening layer comprising copper oxynitride satisfying CuOxNy (1.1? X? 1.5, 0.01? Y? 0.02); Forming a lower conductive layer of copper on the lower surface of the substrate; And a lower blackening layer including the copper oxynitride on the lower conductive layer.

Meanwhile, according to an embodiment of the present invention, there may be a touch screen panel, a display device, or the like including the above-described conductive structure.

In addition, the means for solving the above-mentioned problems are not all enumerating the features of the present invention. The various features of the present invention and the advantages and effects thereof will be more fully understood by reference to the following specific embodiments.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a conductive structure including a conductive layer that can replace the conventional ITO electrode can be manufactured. Accordingly, it is possible to manufacture a conductive structure with a low resistance and a low cost as compared with ITO. In particular, since it includes a blackening layer, the concealing ability of the conductive layer can be improved.

1 is a schematic view showing a conductive structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a schematic view showing a conductive structure according to another embodiment of the present invention.
3 and 4 are flowcharts illustrating a method of manufacturing a conductive structure according to an embodiment of the present invention and another embodiment.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in order that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear. In the drawings, like reference numerals are used throughout the drawings.

In addition, in the entire specification, when a part is referred to as being 'connected' to another part, it may be referred to as 'indirectly connected' not only with 'directly connected' . Also, to "include" an element means that it may include other elements, rather than excluding other elements, unless specifically stated otherwise.

In this specification, a display device refers to a television, a computer monitor, or the like, and may include a display device that forms an image and a case that supports the display device.

Examples of the display device include a plasma display panel (PDP), a liquid crystal display (LCD), an electrophoretic display, a cathode-ray tube (CRT), and an OLED display . The display element may be provided with an RGB pixel pattern for image implementation and an additional optical filter.

Meanwhile, as the spread of smart phones, tablet PCs, IPTV, and the like is accelerated with respect to display devices, there is a growing need for a touch function in which a human hand becomes a direct input device without a separate input device such as a keyboard or a remote control . In addition, there is a growing demand for multi-touch functionality as well as specific point recognition.

Most commercially available TSPs (Touch Screen Panels) are based on transparent conductive ITO thin films. However, due to the relatively high sheet resistance (150 Ω / □) of ITO transparent electrodes when a large area touch screen panel is used The speed of the touch recognition is slowed down due to the RC delay, and an additional compensation chip is required to overcome the problem. In order to solve this problem, the transparent ITO thin film can be replaced with a metal thin film. However, when a metal thin film is used, a fine pattern of a metal thin film may be recognized by human eyes due to high reflectivity. Also, since the metal thin film has high reflectivity and haze value against external light, glare may occur.

Therefore, in one embodiment of the present invention, a touch screen panel can be distinguished from a touch screen panel using a conventional ITO-based transparent conductive thin film layer, and the shielding property of a metal thin film electrode and the reflection / To provide a conductive structure that can be applied to a semiconductor device.

1 is a schematic view showing a conductive structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conductive structure according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a substrate 100, a conductive layer 200, and a blackening layer 300.

Hereinafter, a conductive structure according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The substrate 100 is generally used to form a conductive structure, and the material of the substrate 100 may be appropriately selected depending on the field to which the conductive structure is to be applied. For example, the substrate 100 may be a glass or inorganic substrate, a plastic substrate, a film, or the like, and may be a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, a polycarbonate film, or the like. Here, the substrate 100 may have a thickness of 25 to 188 탆.

The conductive layer 200 may be formed on the surface of the substrate 100 and the conductive layer 200 may be replaced with a conventional transparent electrode such as ITO. Here, the conductive layer 200 may be formed using a material selected from a variety of metals and alloys thereof. In this embodiment, the conductive layer 200 may be a single layer or a multilayer including copper Explain. Although the thickness of the conductive layer 200 is not particularly limited, it is preferable that the conductive layer 200 is formed to have a thickness of 50 nm or more and 200 nm or less in terms of the conductivity of the conductive pattern formed on the conductive layer 200, have. The line width of the conductive pattern may be 10 탆 or less.

Meanwhile, a predetermined pattern may be formed on the conductive layer 200. The pattern may be formed using an etching resist pattern. The etching resist pattern may be formed by a printing method, a photolithography method, a photolithography method, a method using a mask, or a laser transfer method such as thermal transfer imaging And can be formed using various methods.

1, a blackening layer 300 may be formed on the conductive layer 200. The blackening layer 300 may be used to lower the reflectivity of the conductive layer 200 and improve the light absorbing property have. For example, in the embodiment including the conductive layer 200 on the effective screen portion of the touch panel, the reflection of light in the conductive layer 200 may have a major influence on the visibility of the conductive layer 200 have. That is, when the conductive layer 200 is formed of a metal such as copper instead of ITO as in the conductive layer 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention, the conductive layer 200 may be formed by the high- Or the user may be glazed due to reflection on the copper. Accordingly, in an embodiment of the present invention, a blackening layer 300 may be provided on a surface corresponding to the conductive layer 200 in order to lower the reflectivity of the conductive layer 200 and improve the absorbance characteristic.

Specifically, when the blackening layer 300 is combined with a layer having a high reflectivity as the conductive layer 200, extinction interference and self-absorbing property can be obtained under a specific thickness condition. That is, the amount of light reflected by the blackening layer 300 and the amount of light reflected by the conductive layer 200 through the blackening layer 300 are adjusted to be similar to each other, and the mutual extinction interference The effect of lowering the reflectivity of the conductive layer 200 can be realized.

The blackening layer 300 may have a total reflectance of 10% or less as measured on the surface of the blackening layer 300. The blackening layer 300 may include a patterned region made of the blackening layer 300 and the conductive layer 200, The color range of the color coordinates can be selected to be included in L <40, -15? A * <0, -25? B * <0 based on the CIE Lab color coordinate.

Here, the total reflectance is a value obtained by measuring only the reflectance of the surface to be measured after making the reflectance on the opposite side of the surface to be measured with black paste or tape, The incoming light source can then select a diffuse light source that most closely matches the ambient light conditions. Also, the measurement position at which the reflectance is measured may be based on a position that is inclined by about 7 degrees from the vertical line of the integral half circle.

The blackening layer 300 may be formed using a deposition method such as a sputtering method, a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method, a thermal evaporation method, an electron beam (e-beam) . Here, the blackening layer 300 may be patterned simultaneously with or separately from the conductive layer 200, but it is preferably formed at the same time so that the conductive layer 200 and the blackening layer 300 are accurately aligned.

The blackening layer 300 may be composed of a single layer or a plurality of layers of two or more layers, and the color of the blackening layer 300 may be close to a dark cyan color. However, it is not always necessary to have a color close to dark cyan, and even if it has achromatic color or color, it can be introduced if it has low reflectance. In this case, the hue of the achromatic series means a color which appears when light incident on (incident on) the object is not selectively absorbed but is reflected and absorbed evenly with respect to the wavelength (wavelength) of each component.

On the other hand, the material of the blackening layer 300 is not particularly limited as long as it is a material composed of a metal, a metal oxide, a metal nitride or a metal oxynitride having the physical properties described above as a light absorbing material. However, in the present embodiment, when the conductive layer 200 is copper, the blackening layer 300 may include CuO x N y, which is copper oxynitride. In this case, 1.1 ≦ x ≦ 1.5, and 0.01 ≦ y ≦ 0.02 The real numbers x and y can be selected respectively.

As described above, when the blackening layer 300 is formed, it is possible to prevent the incident light from being reflected by having a total reflectance of at least 10% or less, and to prevent reflection of light with L <40, -15? A * < , -25 < b * &lt; 0, so that it is necessary to have a dark color range so that people can not easily perceive it. Here, the characteristics of the blackening layer 300 such as the reflectance and the color range can be determined according to the ratio of oxygen and nitrogen contained in the copper oxynitride forming the blackening layer 300. Therefore, in the formula CuOxNy for the copper oxynitride, x and y values can be adjusted to obtain x and y values satisfying all of the above characteristics. Concretely, if the real numbers x and y satisfying 1.1 ≦ x ≦ 1.5 and 0.01 ≦ y ≦ 0.02 are selected, the blackening layer 300 satisfying all of the above requirements for the total reflectance and hue can be obtained.

2, the conductive structure according to another embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate 100, an upper conductive layer 210, an upper blackening layer 310, a lower conductive layer 220, and a lower blackening layer (not shown) 320). That is, there are differences in that the conductive layers 210 and 220 and the blackening layers 310 and 320 are included on both sides of the substrate 100, as compared with the conductive structure of FIG.

When the conductive structure is used for a touch screen panel or the like, the upper conductive layer 210 may be used as the transmitter Tx and the lower conductive layer 220 may be used as the receiver Rx. Conventionally, two conductive structures are manufactured, and the two conductive structures are distinguished as a transmission section and a reception section, respectively, and then the input of a user applied through the transmission section and the reception section is sensed. In this case, it is necessary to align the positions of the transmitter and the receiver so that the positions of the transmitter and the receiver match with each other in order to accurately detect the user's input.

However, as shown in FIG. 2, in the case of the conductive structure according to the present embodiment, the conductive layers 210 and 220 and the blackening layers 310 and 320 may be formed on both sides of the substrate 100, The upper conductive layer 210 and the upper blackening layer 310 located on the upper surface of the substrate 100 may be referred to as a transmitting portion and the lower conductive layer 220 and the lower blackening layer 320 located on the lower surface of the substrate 100 And can be set as a receiving unit. In this case, since the positions of the transmitter and the receiver are fixed to one substrate 100, there is no need to separately align the transmitter and the receiver, and there is no fear of dimensional error.

Further, when a transmitter and a receiver are formed on a separate conductive structure as in the prior art, a bonding process of fixing each of the transmitter and the receiver is further required. Further, the substrate 100 for producing each conductive structure There is a problem that the manufacturing cost of the touch panel is increased. On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, both the transmitting part and the receiving part can be realized with one substrate 100, and a separate bonding process can be omitted, thus making it possible to save manufacturing cost and shorten the manufacturing time. Furthermore, since both the transmitting part and the receiving part can be formed on one substrate 100, it is also possible to reduce the thickness of the touch screen panel.

2 is used as a transmitter and a receiver of a touch screen panel. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. In many cases, the conductive structure of FIG. 2 can be utilized.

3 is a flowchart showing a method of manufacturing a conductive structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, a method of fabricating a conductive structure according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a conductive layer forming step (S10) and a blackening layer forming step (S20).

Hereinafter, a method for manufacturing a conductive structure according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In the conductive layer forming step (S10), a conductive layer can be formed on a substrate. The substrate may be a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, a polycarbonate film, or the like, and may have a thickness of 25 to 188 μm. The conductive layer formed on the substrate replaces the conventional ITO, and can be selected from various kinds of metals and alloys thereof. Here, when copper is used as the material, the conductive layer may be formed to a thickness of 50 to 200 nm and may have a sheet resistance of 0.2? /? And less than 0.5? / ?. The conductive layer may include a predetermined pattern, and a regular pattern such as a mesh pattern or an irregular pattern may be formed.

In the blackening layer forming step (S20), a blackening layer containing copper oxynitride can be formed on the conductive layer. When the conductive layer is formed of a metal such as copper instead of the conventional ITO, there may arise a problem that the conductive layer is visible to the user or glare due to the high reflectivity and haze value of the metal. In order to solve this problem, by forming a blackening layer on the conductive layer in the blackening layer forming step (S20), the reflectivity of the conductive layer can be lowered and the absorbance characteristics can be improved.

Therefore, when the blackening layer is formed in the blackening layer forming step (S20), the incident light is prevented from being reflected by having a total reflectance of at least 10% or less, and L < 15 ≦ a * <0, and -25 ≦ b * <0, so that a dark color range that people can not easily recognize can be obtained.

However, the characteristics of the blackening layer described above can be determined according to the ratio of oxygen and nitrogen contained in the copper oxynitride forming the blackening layer. Therefore, in the formula CuOxNy for the copper oxynitride, x and y values can be adjusted to obtain x and y values satisfying all of the above characteristics. Concretely, if the real numbers x and y satisfying 1.1 ≦ x ≦ 1.5 and 0.01 ≦ y ≦ 0.02 are selected, a blackening layer satisfying all of the conditions for the total reflectance and hue can be obtained.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of manufacturing a conductive structure according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a method of fabricating a conductive structure according to another embodiment of the present invention includes forming an upper conductive layer (S100), an upper blackening layer forming step (S200), a lower conductive layer forming step (S300) Layer forming step S400.

Hereinafter, a method for manufacturing a conductive structure according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In the upper conductive layer forming step S100, an upper conductive layer formed of copper may be formed on the upper surface of the substrate. After the upper conductive layer is formed, the upper conductive layer may be formed through the upper blackening layer forming step (S200) A blackening layer containing copper oxynitride can be formed on the layer.

Then, in the lower conductive layer forming step (S300), a lower conductive layer formed of copper may be formed on the lower surface of the substrate. When the lower conductive layer is formed, a lower blackening layer forming step (S400) A blackening layer containing copper oxynitride can be formed on the lower conductive layer.

In detail, a method of manufacturing a conductive structure according to an embodiment of the present invention includes applying a continuous process to a surface of a substrate through a roll-to-roll sputter to form an upper conductive layer and an upper conductive layer When the formation of the upper blackening layer and the upper conductive layer is completed, the lower conductive layer and the lower blackening layer can be sequentially formed on the lower surface of the substrate by changing the direction of the roll have.

Meanwhile, according to an embodiment of the present invention, there may be a touch screen panel including the above-described conductive structure. Here, the touch screen panel may be a capacitive touch screen panel, and the conductive structure according to an embodiment of the present invention may be used as a touch sensitive electrode substrate.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is a display device including the touch screen panel.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Examples, Comparative Examples and Experimental Examples. However, the following Examples, Comparative Examples and Experimental Examples are provided for illustrating the present invention, and thus the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

&Lt; Examples and Comparative Examples &

In the case of forming the conductive layer and the blackening layer only on one side of the substrate, the conductive layer and the blackening layer are formed by a continuous process through a roll-to-roll sputter on a PET film having a thickness of 25 to 188 탆, . At this time, the blackening layer was formed to be 15 to 50 탆 and the conductive layer was formed to be 50 to 200 nm, and the ratio of oxygen to nitrogen contained in the copper oxynitride was varied at the time of forming the blackening layer, Conductive structures of Examples 1 and 2 were prepared.

Table 1 below shows L, a * and b * values according to the reflectance and color difference of the conductive structures of Examples 1, 2 and 3 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2, respectively.

Blackening layer CuOxNy Total reflectance (%) L a * b * Example 1 1: 1.1: 0.02 5.64 28.49 -3.86 -24.64 Example 2 1: 1.5: 0.01 5.32 27.64 -4.31 -23.95 Example 3 1: 1.2: 0.01 5.47 28.18 -3.94 -24.12 Comparative Example 1 1: 0.8: 0.03 41.91 70.81 6.83 6.2 Comparative Example 2 1: 1.7: 0.01 8.32 34.65 5.38 -24.29

According to Example 1, the ratio of copper, oxygen and nitrogen in the copper oxynitride forming the blackening layer can be 1: 1.1: 0.02. In this case, since the total reflectance is 5.64%, L = 28.49, a * = -3.86, and b * = -24.64, all the physical conditions of the blackening layer described above can be satisfied.

According to Example 2, the ratio of copper, oxygen and nitrogen in the copper oxynitride forming the blackening layer may be 1: 1.5: 0.01, and the total reflectance is 5.32%, L = 27.64, a * = -4.31, b * = -23.95, the physical conditions of the blackening layer described above can all be satisfied.

According to Example 3, the ratio of copper, oxygen and nitrogen in the copper oxynitride forming the blackening layer may be 1: 1.2: 0.01 and the total reflectance is 5.47%, L = 28.18, a * = -3.94, b * = -24.12, the physical conditions of the blackening layer described above can all be satisfied.

On the other hand, in Comparative Example 1, the ratio of copper, oxygen and nitrogen in the copper oxynitride is 1: 0.8: 0.03, which is out of the ratio of copper, oxygen and nitrogen of the copper oxynitride proposed in the present invention. In this case, since the total reflection ratio is 41.91%, the L value is 70.81, the a * value is 6.83, and the b * value is 6.2, the reflectance in the conductive layer and the high brightness and saturation of the blackening layer There is a problem that the visibility of the user is increased.

In Comparative Example 2, the ratio of copper, oxygen, and nitrogen in the copper oxynitride is 1: 1.7: 0.01, which is outside the ratio of copper, oxygen, and nitrogen contained in the copper oxynitride proposed in the present invention. Here, the total reflectance is good at 8.32%, and the L value b * is also good, but a * is 5.83, which is out of the standard. Therefore, red or green series may strongly appear in the blackening layer, thereby increasing the visibility of the blackening layer.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

100: substrate 200: conductive layer
210: upper conductive layer 220: lower conductive layer
300: blackening layer 310: upper blackening layer
320: Lower blackening layer
S10: conductive layer formation step
S20: Blackening layer formation step
S100: upper conductive layer forming step
S200: upper blackening layer forming step
S300: Lower conductive layer forming step
S400: Lower blackening layer forming step

Claims (10)

materials;
A conductive layer formed on the upper surface of the substrate and formed using copper as a material; And
And a blackening layer formed on an upper surface of the conductive layer, the blackening layer including copper oxynitride.
The method of claim 1, wherein the blackening layer
CuOxNy (1.1? X? 1.5, 0.01? Y? 0.02).
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the blackening layer
Wherein the total reflectance is 0% or more and 10% or less, and the color difference measured at the top of the blackening layer satisfies L < 40, -15 < a * < 0, -25 &
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the blackening layer
A conductive structure having a thickness of 15 nm or more and 50 nm or less.
materials;
An upper conductive layer formed of copper on the upper surface of the substrate;
An upper blackening layer formed on the upper conductive layer to include copper oxynitride;
A lower conductive layer formed of copper on the lower surface of the substrate; And
And a lower blackening layer formed by including copper oxynitride on the lower conductive layer.
The method of claim 5, wherein the upper blackening layer and the lower blackening layer
CuOxNy (1.1? X? 1.5, 0.01? Y? 0.02).
Forming a conductive layer made of copper on the substrate; And
Forming a blackening layer on the conductive layer, the blackening layer including copper oxynitride satisfying CuOxNy (1.1? X? 1.5, 0.01? Y? 0.02).
Forming an upper conductive layer of copper on the upper surface of the substrate;
Forming an upper blackening layer on the upper conductive layer, the upper blackening layer comprising copper oxynitride satisfying CuOxNy (1.1? X? 1.5, 0.01? Y? 0.02);
Forming a lower conductive layer of copper on the lower surface of the substrate;
And a lower blackening layer comprising the copper oxynitride on the lower conductive layer.
A touch screen panel comprising the conductive structure of any one of claims 1 to 6.
A display device comprising the conductive structure according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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