Patterned Transparent Conductors With Low-Visibility Conductive Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing transparent conductor technologies, such as ITO coatings, face challenges including high cost, process complexity, energy-intensive methods, and visibility issues due to patterning techniques, which hinder productivity and suitability for applications like touch screens.
Innovation Solution
A patterned transparent conductor is developed with additives embedded into a substrate or coating in a controlled pattern, creating higher and lower sheet conductance portions, allowing for improved electrical conductivity and low visibility, achieved through surface embedding techniques that reduce material usage and topological disorder.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If ITO coatings are formed through physical vapor deposition or chemical vapor deposition, then electrical conductivity is improved, but manufacturing cost and process complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex physical vapor deposition or chemical vapor deposition processes with a simpler solution: applying a transparent conductor composition containing conductive additives (such as metal nanowires, carbon nanotubes, or graphene) through conventional coating techniques. This substitution eliminates the need for specialized deposition equipment and complex process controls while achieving comparable or superior electrical conductivity through the percolating network formed by the conductive additives in the matrix material.
2Manufacturing precision
If photolithography and etching processes are used to pattern ITO coatings, then conductive traces are formed, but productivity decreases and energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the patterning function from the coating formation process itself. Instead of forming a continuous ITO coating and then removing material through photolithography and etching, the conductive additives are applied in a patterned manner directly. The patterned application of conductive additives within the transparent conductor composition allows conductive traces to be formed during the coating process, eliminating the need for subsequent photolithography and etching steps, thereby improving productivity and reducing energy consumption.
3Manufacturing precision
If conventional patterning techniques are used for ITO coatings, then conductive traces are formed, but visibility of the patterned conductor increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by using a matrix material with specific optical properties (high transparency and low haze) to embed the conductive additives. The matrix material is selected to have superior optical characteristics compared to conventional ITO coatings, allowing the conductive traces to be formed with the required patterning while the overall structure maintains low visibility. The conductive additives themselves (such as thin nanowires or nanotubes) have minimal optical impact when dispersed in the transparent matrix, achieving both patterning capability and aesthetic appearance.
4Reliability
If doped metal oxide coatings are applied to achieve transparency and conductivity, then electrical conductivity is improved, but material cost and equipment investment increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs composite materials by combining conductive additives (metal nanowires, carbon nanotubes, or graphene) with a transparent matrix material (polymer, glass, or ceramic). This composite structure achieves electrical conductivity through the conductive network formed by the additives while maintaining transparency through the transparent matrix. The use of conventional coating techniques to apply this composite material reduces equipment investment, and the ability to use less expensive conductive additives compared to doped metal oxides reduces material costs.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 2C
AI summary
A method for patterning a transparent conductor, wherein additives are embedded into a surface of a substrate or a coating disposed over at least one side of the substrate to form lower sheet conductance portions and higher sheet conductance portions laterally adjacent to the lower sheet conductance portions, shall enable the higher sheet conductance portions to be largely or substantially indistinguishable from the lower conductance portions. To that end, an embedding depth offset is implemented across a horizontal or laterally extending direction along the transparent conductor, wherein the lower conductance portions are formed with additives deeply embedded into the surface or remaining on the surface, and higher conductance portions are formed with additives partially embedded into the surface.