Electrically-conductive articles with electrically-conductive metallic connectors

摘要

Electrically-conductive articles are prepared to have electrically-conductive metallic grids and electrically-conductive metallic connectors (BUS lines) on one or both supporting sides of a transparent substrate. The electrically-conductive metallic connectors are designed with one metallic main wire that comprises two or more adjacent metallic micro-wires in bundled patterns. These bundled patterns and metallic micro-wires are designed with specific dimensions and configurations to provide optimal fidelity (or correspondence) to the mask image used to provide such patterns. The electrically-conductive articles can be prepared using various manufacturing technologies and can be used as parts of various electronic devices including touch screen devices. The electrically-conductive metallic grids and connectors can be prepared and designed using various technologies that are amenable to obtaining very fine lines in predetermined patterns.

主权项

1. An electrically-conductive article comprising a transparent substrate having a first supporting side and an opposing second supporting side, and comprising on the first supporting side:
(a) an electrically-conductive metallic grid, (b) an electrically-conductive metallic connector that is electrically connected to the electrically-conductive metallic grid,
wherein:(i) the electrically-conductive metallic connector comprises at least one metallic main wire that comprises two or more metallic micro-wires that are electrically connected to a metallic end wire at an end of the at least one metallic main wire, the two or more metallic micro-wires and the metallic end wire in the at least one metallic main wire forming a bundled pattern;(ii) the average length of each metallic micro-wire is at least 1 mm; and(iii) the electrically-conductive metallic connector has an integrated transmittance of less than 68%,and optionally, (c) transparent regions outside of both the electrically-conductive metallic grid and the electrically-conductive metallic connector.