Patent Application
20220157075
The present disclosure relates to the field of display technologies, and more particularly, relates to a touch screen and a display device.
Touch screens have been widely used in many devices, such as mobile phones, personal computers, and time attendance machines, due to merits of fast response times, high positioning accuracy, capability of supporting multi-touch, and long service life.
Fingerprint recognition technologies have been widely used due to good security and ease of use, but most current fingerprint recognition devices work individually.
The fingerprint recognition technologies are the most used in mobile phones. Nowadays, fingerprint recognition modules in the mobile phones include following types:
1. An individual button at a front side: such design makes the mobile phones easy to operate for users, but reduces a screen-to-body ratio of the mobile phones.
2. An individual button at a backside: such design makes a position of the button hidden from users' sight, so the users need to search for the button at the backside of the mobile phones with their fingers, which affects user experience.
3. A fingerprint recognition under a screen: such design has been on the rise in recent years; however, current under-screen fingerprint recognition technologies in market are realized by attaching an optical fingerprint module or an ultrasonic fingerprint module to a bottom side of the screen. As shown in
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide a touch screen and a display device to solve a following problem: a touch screen of conventional under-screen fingerprint recognition modules is thick, which not only affects a design of an entire structure, but also increases manufacturing costs of products.
To achieve the above goal, the present disclosure provides a touch screen, including a fingerprint area and a touch control area. The fingerprint area is provided with a fingerprint recognition module, the touch control area is provided with a touch control module, and the fingerprint recognition module and the touch control module are disposed on a same layer.
Furthermore, the touch screen includes a metal layer, an insulating layer, and a transparent conductive layer. The metal layer is distributed in the fingerprint area and the touch control area and includes a plurality of first metal lines and a plurality of second metal lines perpendicular to the first metal lines. The insulating layer is disposed on the metal layer in the fingerprint area and the touch control area. The transparent conductive layer disposed on the insulating layer and includes a plurality of first transparent electrodes and a plurality of second transparent electrodes perpendicular to the first transparent electrode.
In the fingerprint area, the first transparent electrodes are a plurality of fingerprint sensing electrodes of the fingerprint recognition module, the second transparent electrodes are a plurality of fingerprint driving electrodes of the fingerprint recognition module, and the fingerprint driving electrodes pass through the insulating layer to connect to the metal layer.
In the touch control area, the first metal lines are a plurality of touch control sensing electrodes of the touch control module, the second metal lines are a plurality of touch control driving electrodes of the touch control module, and the touch control driving electrodes pass through the insulating layer to connect to the transparent conductive layer.
Furthermore, the fingerprint area includes: a plurality of first through-holes defined at a plurality of positions on the insulating layer corresponding to the first metal lines; a plurality of second through-holes defined at a plurality of positions on the insulating layer corresponding to the second metal lines; and a plurality of third through-holes and a plurality of fourth-through holes defined at a plurality of positions on the transparent conductive layer corresponding to the second metal lines. The fingerprint driving electrodes are filled in the first through-holes and the second through-holes and cover the insulating layer between the first through-holes and the second through-holes.
Furthermore, the touch control area includes: a plurality of fifth through-holes and a plurality of sixth through-holes defined at a plurality of positions on the insulating layer corresponding to the first metal lines; and a plurality of virtual units disposed at a plurality of positions on the transparent conductive layer corresponding to the first metal lines. The transparent conductive layer is filled in the fifth through-holes and the sixth through-holes and covers the insulating layer between the fifth through-holes and the sixth through-holes.
Furthermore, the transparent conductive layer includes: a plurality of fingerprint sensing electrode areas; a plurality of first connecting areas, wherein two adjacent fingerprint sensing electrode areas are connected to each other by the first connecting areas; a plurality of fingerprint driving electrode areas defined on a same layer as the fingerprint sensing electrode areas; and a plurality of second connecting areas alternately arranged with the first connecting areas, wherein two adjacent fingerprint driving electrode areas are connected to each other by the second connecting areas.
Furthermore, the metal layer includes: a plurality of touch control sensing electrode areas; a plurality of third connecting areas, wherein two adjacent touch control sensing electrode areas are connected to each other by the third connecting areas; a plurality of touch control driving electrode areas defined on a same layer as the touch control sensing electrode areas; and a plurality of fourth connecting areas alternately arranged with the third connecting areas, wherein two adjacent touch control driving electrode areas are connected to each other by the fourth connecting areas.
Furthermore, the touch screen further includes: a substrate; a thin-film transistor (TFT) layer disposed on the substrate; a luminescent layer disposed on the TFT layer; and a thin-film encapsulation layer disposed on the luminescent layer. The metal layer is disposed on the thin-film encapsulation layer.
Furthermore, the luminescent layer is provided with a plurality of sub-pixels, and one of the virtual units covers one of the sub-pixels in the touch control area.
Furthermore, the metal layer includes a composite structure including a Ti layer and an Al layer which are stacked, and the transparent conductive layer includes a composite structure including an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer and an Ag layer which are stacked.
To achieve the above goal, the present disclosure further provides a display device including the above-mentioned touch screen.
Regarding the beneficial effects: the present disclosure provides a touch screen and a display device. By disposing a touch control module and a fingerprint recognition module on a same layer, a fingerprint recognition function and a touch control function can be integrally realized. Compared with conventional fingerprint recognition devices, the present disclosure omits a process of attaching the fingerprint recognition module. Therefore, manufacturing costs of products are reduced, thicknesses of the products are reduced, and quality and function of the products are effectively improved.
Moreover, a transparent conductive layer and a metal layer are connected to each other in a fingerprint area, so that signals thereof can be connected. A portion of the metal layer becomes a bridge structure to connect adjacent transparent electrodes, thereby forming multiple fingerprint driving electrodes arranged along a direction. A special structural design of the metal layer combined with the transparent conductive layer can effectively reduce electrical resistance in a channel and boost a sensing signal strength. By disposing multiple virtual units in a touch control area, structures of the touch control area and the fingerprint area can be consistent, and optical properties of the touch control area and the fingerprint area can be consistent as well. As a result, each position of the touch screen can have same optical effects, and an optical effect of the entire touch screen can be ensured.
Technical solutions and beneficial effects of the present disclosure are illustrated below in detail in conjunction with drawings and specific embodiments.
A preferred embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated below with reference to accompanying drawings to prove that the present disclosure can be implemented. The embodiment is used to fully describe technical solutions of the present disclosure so that those skilled in the art may clearly and easily understand the technical solutions. The present disclosure may be realized by many different types of embodiments; therefore, the scope of protection of the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiment mentioned in the specification.
An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a display device, including a touch screen. The display device may be a mobile phone, a computer, a television, or a smart wearable device, but is not limited thereto in the present embodiment.
As shown in
As shown in
The substrate 1 is a typical glass substrate. The TFT layer 2 includes a plurality of TFTs configured to drive the touch screen 110 to work. The luminescent layer 3 includes a luminescent material and is used to emit light to make the touch screen 110 able to display. The thin-film encapsulation layer 4 is used to protect the luminescent layer 3, thereby preventing ambient moisture and oxygen from entering the touch screen 110 and damaging a luminescence driving circuit.
The metal layer 5 is distributed in the fingerprint area 111 and the touch control area 112, and is patterned. The metal layer 5 includes a plurality of first metal lines 51 and a plurality of second metal lines 52 perpendicular to the first metal lines 51. The metal layer 5 includes a composite structure including a Ti layer and an Al layer which are stacked, so that it has improved conductivity.
The insulating layer 6 is patterned and is disposed on the metal layer 5 in the fingerprint area 111 and the touch control area 112.
The transparent conductive layer 7 is disposed on the insulating layer 6 and includes a plurality of first transparent electrodes 71 arranged along a first direction and a plurality of second transparent electrodes 72 along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The transparent conductive layer 7 includes a composite structure including an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer and an Ag layer which are stacked.
As shown in
Specifically, the fingerprint area 111 includes a plurality of first through-holes 1101, a plurality of second through-holes 1102, a plurality of third through-holes 1103, and a plurality of fourth through-holes 1104.
The first through-holes 1101 are defined on a plurality of positions on the insulating layer 6 corresponding to the first metal lines 51. The second through-holes 1102 are defined on a plurality of positions on the insulating layer 6 corresponding to the second metal lines 52. The fingerprint driving electrodes are filled in the first through-holes 1101 and the second through-holes 1102 and cover the insulating layer between the first through-holes 1101 and the second through-holes 1102.
In the present embodiment, the first transparent electrodes 71 pass through the second through holes 1102 to connect to the second metal lines 52, thereby forming a plurality of first electrical bridges and connecting signals of the first metal line 5 and the transparent conductive layer 7. In other words, two adjacent first transparent electrodes 71 are connected to each other by a bridge structure formed from the second metal lines 52, thereby forming the first electrical bridges. The first electrical bridges constitute the fingerprint driving electrodes arranged along the second direction in the fingerprint area 111, thereby transmitting signals in the fingerprint area 111. Therefore, electrical resistance of the fingerprint driving electrodes in the second direction is effectively reduced, an amount of voltage loss is reduced, and a sensing signal strength is improved. Wherein, the second metal lines 52 are bridge structures of the first electrical bridges.
The third through-hole 1103 and the fourth through-hole 1104 are defined at positions on the transparent conductive layer 7 corresponding to the second metal lines 52, thereby dividing into the first transparent electrodes 71 and the second transparent electrodes 72. Specifically, in practical processes, the transparent conductive layer 7 is patterned to form the first transparent electrodes 71 and the second transparent electrodes 72. The third through-holes 1103 and the fourth through-holes 1104 are defined at two sides of the second transparent electrodes 72, thereby insulating the first transparent electrodes 71 from the second transparent electrodes 72.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The transparent conductive layer 7 is filled in the fifth through-holes 1105 and the sixth through-holes 1106 and covers the insulating layer 6 between the fifth through-holes 1105 and the sixth through-holes 1106, thereby forming a plurality of second electrical bridges. In other words, the transparent conductive layer 7 covering the insulating layer 6 between the fifth through-holes 1105 and the six through-holes 1106 is a bridge structure that connects two adjacent touch control driving electrodes to each other to form the second electrical bridges. The second electrical bridges are connected to each other to constitute the touch control driving electrodes arranged along the first direction in the touch control area 112, thereby transmitting signals in the touch control area 112.
As shown in
The touch control sensing electrode areas 511 and the touch control driving electrode areas 521 are defined on a same layer, and two adjacent touch control sensing electrode areas 511 are connected to each other by the third connecting areas 512. The fourth connecting areas 522 and the third connecting areas 512 are alternately disposed, and two adjacent touch control driving electrode areas 521 are electrically connected to each other by the fourth connecting areas 522.
As shown in
In the touch control area 112, a plurality of isolated virtual units 73 are disposed at a plurality of positions on the transparent conductive layer 7 corresponding to the first metal lines 51. Adjacent virtual units 73 are not electrically connected to each other, as shown in
In the present embodiment, a top view of the touch screen 110 shows a metal grid structure which is formed of a plurality of tiny grids arranged in an array manner. An opening size of each of the sub-pixels 31 is less than a size of each of the grids, thereby ensuring consistency of light emitted from the sub-pixels 31, luminescent effects of the sub-pixels, and an entire display effect of the touch screen. In the fingerprint area 111, the transparent conductive layer 7 completely covers each of the tiny grids, and the sub-pixels 31 corresponding to the grids are covered by the transparent conductive layer 7, as shown in
The present embodiment provides a touch screen and a display device. By disposing a touch control module and a fingerprint recognition module on a same layer, a fingerprint recognition function and a touch control function can be integrally realized. Compared with conventional fingerprint recognition devices, the present disclosure omits a process of attaching the fingerprint recognition module. Therefore, manufacturing costs of products are reduced, thicknesses of the products are reduced, and quality and function of the products are effectively improved.
Moreover, a transparent conductive layer and a metal layer are connected to each other in a fingerprint area, so that signals thereof can be connected. A portion of the metal layer becomes a bridge structure to connect adjacent transparent electrodes, thereby forming multiple fingerprint driving electrodes arranged along a direction. A special structural design of the metal layer combined with the transparent conductive layer can effectively reduce electrical resistance in a channel and boost a sensing signal strength. By disposing multiple virtual units in a touch control area, structures of the touch control area and the fingerprint area can be consistent, and optical properties of the touch control area and the fingerprint area can be consistent as well. As a result, each position of the touch screen can have same optical effects, and an optical effect of the entire touch screen can be ensured.
The above is merely a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. It is understood that many changes and modifications to the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the disclosure that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202010372469.3 | May 2020 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2020/097813 | 6/23/2020 | WO | 00 |
