Capacitive touch-sensitive device and method of making the same

Abstract

A capacitive touch-sensitive device includes a transparent substrate unit and at least one patterned transparent electrically-conductive film. The patterned transparent electrically-conductive film is formed on the transparent substrate unit and has a transparent insulating layer and a plurality of mutually and electrically isolated sensor lines that are substantially disposed in the transparent insulating layer. Each of the sensor lines is substantially made of a plurality of non-transparent nano-conductors.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for making a capacitive touch-sensitive device, comprising:
 applying at least one transparent paste layer onto a transparent substrate unit, the transparent paste layer having a plurality of non-transparent nano-conductors;   defining a plurality of to-be-etched zones that are mutually spaced apart;   curing the transparent paste layer to form at least one transparent insulating layer; and   etching physically or chemically the to-be-etched zones to remove the non-transparent nano-conductors in the to-be-etched zones, such that the non-transparent nano-conductors remained in the transparent insulating layer are defined into a plurality of sensor lines, so as to form at least one patterned transparent electrically-conductive film.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing an electric or magnetic field to arrange the non-transparent nano-conductors in the transparent paste layer into multiple rows, in which the non-transparent nano-conductors contact each other and are arranged along a line direction of the sensor lines. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the non-transparent nano-conductors are configured as spheres, wires or discs. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the non-transparent nano-conductors are configured as silver nano-wires, and the transparent paste layer has a predetermined thickness sufficient to allow the non-transparent nano-conductors to be partially exposed from the transparent paste layer after providing the electric field. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the physical etching is laser ablation, and the chemical etching is selective wet-etching. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the Step of etching is conducted by laser ablation to gasify the non-transparent nano-conductors in the to-be-etched zones and to form a plurality of nano-scale channels in the to-be-etched zones. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the laser ablation is conducted at a laser power ranging from 5 W to 8 W.