A transparent conductive film and a method for manufacturing the same

Abstract

The present invention discloses a transparent conductive film, including an optical adhesive layer, a base film and an optical adhesive layer, wherein the optical adhesive layer is arranged on the surface of the optical adhesive layer, the base film is arranged on the other side surface of the optical adhesive layer away from the optical adhesive layer, and a groove is provided on the surface of the optical adhesive layer away from the optical adhesive layer, and a conductive layer is provided in the groove. The present invention also discloses a method for making a transparent conductive film, which is used to make the above-mentioned transparent conductive film. The optical adhesive layer greatly facilitates the bonding of the transparent conductive film, and effectively solves the problem that the bonding effect of the existing transparent conductive film is poor and the bonding difficulty is great during bonding; at the same time, by making a groove and filling the groove with a conductive material to form a conductive layer, the flexibility of the transparent conductive film is ensured, while the conductivity, transmittance and anti-bending performance of the transparent conductive film are greatly improved, and its thickness and processing difficulty are reduced, thereby reducing the cost.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of conductive films, and in particular to a transparent conductive film and a manufacturing method thereof. Background Art

[0002] Existing metal mesh conductive films generally need to be processed on a substrate, which is generally glass, high molecular polyester (PET, PC, PMMA, etc.). Conductive films are prepared by embossing grooves on the substrate and then filling them with conductive materials. Conductive films are also prepared by inkjet printing conductive materials on the substrate. These conductive films almost all need to be bonded with optical glue during use. In this way, bubbles are easily formed between the conductive film and the bonded product during the bonding process, resulting in poor bonding effect and low product quality. At the same time, bonding is difficult, resulting in increased costs.

[0003] The preceding description is intended to provide general background information and does not necessarily constitute prior art. Summary of the invention

[0004] The object of the present invention is to provide a transparent conductive film which is easy to bond and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0005] The present invention provides a transparent conductive film, comprising a photoresist layer, a base film and an optical adhesive layer, wherein the photoresist layer is arranged on the surface of the optical adhesive layer, the base film is arranged on the other side surface of the optical adhesive layer away from the photoresist layer, a groove is provided on the surface of the photoresist layer away from the optical adhesive layer, and a conductive layer is provided in the groove.

[0006] In one embodiment, the groove has a width of 1 to 20 μm and a depth of 1 to 15 μm.

[0007] In one embodiment, the optical adhesive layer has a thickness of 50-250 μm, and a light transmittance of the optical adhesive layer is greater than 95%.

[0008] The present invention also provides a method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film, the method comprising:

[0009] An optical adhesive film is provided, comprising an optical adhesive layer and a base film, and an optical adhesive layer with grooves is prepared on the optical adhesive film;

[0010] A conductive material is filled in the groove to form a conductive layer.

[0011] In one embodiment, in the step of providing an optical adhesive film, a base film is pressed onto a surface of one side of the optical adhesive layer, so that the base film and the optical adhesive layer are bonded together to form the optical adhesive film.

[0012] In one of the embodiments, during the process of preparing the optical adhesive layer with grooves: a photoresist layer is coated on the surface of the optical adhesive layer away from the base film, the grooves are formed on the photoresist layer by using a mold, and the mold is demolded after curing to form the photoresist layer with grooves on the optical adhesive film.

[0013] The present invention also provides a method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film, the method comprising:

[0014] Providing a substrate, coating a photoresist layer on the substrate, and forming grooves in the photoresist layer;

[0015] removing the substrate;

[0016] Providing an optical adhesive film, comprising an optical adhesive layer and a base film, and laminating the optical adhesive film on the optical adhesive layer;

[0017] A conductive material is filled in the groove to form a conductive layer.

[0018] In one embodiment, in the step of providing an optical adhesive film, a base film is pressed onto a surface of one side of the optical adhesive layer, so that the base film and the optical adhesive layer are bonded together to form the optical adhesive film.

[0019] In one of the embodiments, the process of forming the groove is: forming the groove on the photoresist layer by using a mold to press; after pressing the optical adhesive film on the photoresist layer, before filling the conductive material in the groove to form a conductive layer, it also includes a demolding step, and the demolding step is specifically: manually separating the mold from the photoresist layer.

[0020] In one embodiment, in the step of pressing the optical adhesive film onto the optical adhesive layer, the optical adhesive layer carries the mold.

[0021] The method for manufacturing the transparent conductive film provided by the present invention greatly facilitates the bonding of the transparent conductive film through the optical adhesive layer, and effectively solves the problem that the existing transparent conductive film has poor bonding effect and great bonding difficulty when being bonded to the touch screen; at the same time, by making a groove and filling the groove with a conductive material to form a conductive layer, the flexibility of the transparent conductive film is ensured, while the conductivity, transmittance and anti-bending performance of the transparent conductive film are greatly improved, and the thickness of the transparent conductive film and the difficulty of the processing technology are reduced, thereby reducing the cost. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of the transparent conductive film of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 2 is a flowchart of the steps of a method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film in a first embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 3 is a process flow chart of a method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 4 FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the steps of a method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film according to a second embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The specific implementation of the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and examples. The following examples are used to illustrate the present invention, but are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

[0027] Please refer to Figure 1 The transparent conductive film provided by the present invention comprises a photoresist layer 3, a base film 1 and an optical adhesive layer 2, wherein the photoresist layer 3 is arranged on the surface of the optical adhesive layer 2, and the base film 1 is arranged on the other side of the optical adhesive layer 2 away from the photoresist layer 3. A groove 31 is provided on the surface of the photoresist layer 3 away from the optical adhesive layer 2, and a conductive layer 4 is arranged in the groove 31.

[0028] The base film 1 is a release film 1, and its material is PET (Polyethylene terephthalate). The release film 1 can be physically separated from the optical adhesive layer 2, and does not bubble when the conductive material in the conductive layer 4 is cured at low temperature. By designing the release film 1, the use and storage of the transparent conductive film are convenient.

[0029] Optical adhesive is the best adhesive for bonding conductive film to touch screen. It is required to be colorless and transparent, with a light transmittance of more than 90%, good bonding strength, curable at room temperature or medium temperature, and with small curing shrinkage. Therefore, the optical adhesive layer is usually made of acrylic or silicone.

[0030] In this embodiment, the optical adhesive layer 2 is made of OCA (Optically Clear Adhesive) optical adhesive; OCA optical adhesive is a double-sided adhesive tape without a matrix material. The thickness of the optical adhesive layer 2 is 50-250 μm, and its light transmittance is above 95%.

[0031] The material of the optical adhesive layer 3 is UV optical adhesive, and the optical adhesive layer 3 is obtained by ultraviolet light curing.

[0032] The groove 31 has a width of 1 to 20 μm and a depth of 1 to 15 μm.

[0033] The conductive layer 4 is made of silver, copper, graphene or any other conductive material. It should be noted that the conductive material forming the conductive layer 4 can be cured at low temperature, and the curing temperature must be lower than the upper temperature limit of the optical adhesive.

[0034] First embodiment

[0035] Please refer to Figures 2 to 3 The method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film provided in the first embodiment of the present invention is used to manufacture the transparent conductive film, and the method comprises:

[0036] S1: providing a substrate 5, coating a layer of photoresist on the substrate 5, and forming a groove 31 on the photoresist layer 3;

[0037] S2: clearing the substrate 5;

[0038] S3: providing an optical adhesive film, including an optical adhesive layer 2 and a base film 1, and laminating the optical adhesive film on the optical adhesive layer 3;

[0039] S5: Filling the groove 31 with a conductive material to form a conductive layer 4 .

[0040] In this method, the optical glue is UV optical glue.

[0041] In step S1 : a mold 6 is used to press on the optical adhesive, so that the mold 6 and the optical adhesive are adhered together. After UV light curing, an optical adhesive layer 3 with a groove 31 is formed.

[0042] In step S2 : the substrate 5 is separated from the photoresist layer 3 manually. During this process, the mold 6 is always bonded to the photoresist layer 3 .

[0043] In practical applications, the optical adhesive film needs to be processed. In step S3, the optical adhesive film is pressed onto the surface of the substrate 5 with the optical adhesive layer having the mold 6 removed by pressing, so that the base film 1 and the optical adhesive layer 2 are attached together to form the optical adhesive film. At the same time, the optical adhesive film needs to be laser cut to meet the shape and size of the required conductive film.

[0044] After step S3, a demoulding step S4 is further included. Since the optical adhesive has a high viscosity, the viscosity between the optical adhesive layer 2 and the optical adhesive layer 3 is greater than the viscosity between the optical adhesive layer 3 and the mold 6. Therefore, the demoulding step S4 specifically includes: manually separating the mold 6 from the optical adhesive layer 3.

[0045] Second embodiment

[0046] The difference between the transparent conductive film method provided by the second embodiment of the present invention and the first embodiment is that in this embodiment, the optical adhesive is directly coated on the optical adhesive film.

[0047] Specifically, please refer to Figure 4 The transparent conductive film method provided in the second embodiment of the present invention is used to manufacture the transparent conductive film, and the method comprises:

[0048] S7: providing an optical adhesive film, including an optical adhesive layer and a base film, and preparing an optical adhesive layer with grooves on the optical adhesive film;

[0049] S8: filling the groove with a conductive material to form a conductive layer;

[0050] In step S7: first, a layer of optical glue is coated on the surface of the optical glue layer away from the base film by coating to form an optical glue layer. Then, a mold is used to emboss the optical glue layer, and after curing, the mold is manually demolded to form a groove on the optical glue layer. The optical glue is UV optical glue.

[0051] In other embodiments, the grooves may be formed on the photoresist layer by etching.

[0052] In the accompanying drawings, the sizes and relative sizes of layers and regions are exaggerated for clarity. It should be understood that when an element, such as a layer, region, or substrate, is referred to as being "formed on," "disposed on," or "located on" another element, the element may be disposed directly on the other element, or there may be intervening elements. Conversely, when an element is referred to as being "formed directly on" or "disposed directly on" another element, there are no intervening elements.

[0053] In this document, the directions or positional relationships indicated by terms such as "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "vertical", and "horizontal" are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings and are only for the clarity of expressing the technical solutions and the convenience of description, and therefore should not be understood as limitations of the present invention.

[0054] The technical features of the above-described embodiments may be arbitrarily combined. To make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-described embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

[0055] In this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion of elements other than those listed and may also include additional elements not expressly listed.

[0056] The above is only a specific embodiment of the present invention, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention, which should be included in the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A transparent conductive film, characterized in that: It includes an optical adhesive layer, a base film and an optical adhesive layer, wherein the optical adhesive layer is arranged on the surface of the optical adhesive layer, the base film is arranged on the other side of the optical adhesive layer away from the optical adhesive layer, a groove is opened on the surface of the optical adhesive layer away from the optical adhesive layer, a conductive layer is arranged in the groove, the optical adhesive layer is made of OCA optical adhesive, and the OCA optical adhesive is a double-sided bonding tape.

2. The transparent conductive film according to claim 1, wherein: The groove has a width of 1 to 20 μm and a depth of 1 to 15 μm.

3. The transparent conductive film according to claim 1, wherein The thickness of the optical adhesive layer is 50-250 μm, and the light transmittance of the optical adhesive layer is above 95%.

4. A method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film, characterized in that: The method includes: An optical adhesive film is provided, comprising an optical adhesive layer and a base film, and an optical adhesive layer with grooves is prepared on the optical adhesive film; Filling the groove with a conductive material to form a conductive layer; The optical adhesive layer is made of OCA optical adhesive, and the OCA optical adhesive is a double-sided adhesive tape.

5. The method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film according to claim 4, wherein: In the step of providing an optical adhesive film, a base film is pressed onto a surface of one side of the optical adhesive layer, so that the base film and the optical adhesive layer are bonded together to form the optical adhesive film.

6. The method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film according to claim 4, wherein: In the process of preparing the optical adhesive layer with grooves: a photoresist layer is coated on the surface of the optical adhesive layer away from the base film, the grooves are formed on the photoresist layer by using a mold, and the mold is demolded after curing to form the photoresist layer with grooves on the optical adhesive film.

7. A method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film, characterized in that: The method includes: Providing a substrate, coating a photoresist layer on the substrate, and forming grooves in the photoresist layer; removing the substrate; Providing an optical adhesive film, comprising an optical adhesive layer and a base film, and laminating the optical adhesive film on the optical adhesive layer; Filling the groove with a conductive material to form a conductive layer, The optical adhesive layer is made of OCA optical adhesive, and the OCA optical adhesive is a double-sided adhesive tape.

8. The method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film according to claim 7, wherein: In the step of providing an optical adhesive film, a base film is pressed onto a surface of one side of the optical adhesive layer, so that the base film and the optical adhesive layer are bonded together to form the optical adhesive film.

9. The method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film according to claim 7, wherein: The process of forming the groove is as follows: The groove is formed on the photoresist layer by using a mold embossing; after the optical adhesive film is pressed on the photoresist layer and before the conductive material is filled in the groove to form a conductive layer, a demolding step is also included, and the demolding step is specifically: manually separating the mold from the photoresist layer.

10. The method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film according to claim 9, wherein: In the step of pressing the optical adhesive film onto the optical adhesive layer, the optical adhesive layer carries the mold.

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