Apple Inc.

Prithu Sharma

David Sheldon Schultz

Sudirukkuge T Jinasundera

Stephen Robert McClure

Bryan W Posner

Derek William Wright

Wei Lin

Simon R Lancaster-Larocque

Nathan K Gupta

James E Pedder

Soyoung Kim

Tingjun Xu

Abhijit Ashok Kangude

Xiaonan Wen

Michael Vosgueritchian

Karan Bir

Weibo Cheng

Elmar Gehlen

Helia Rahmani

Zachary M Gaubert

Trace transfer techniques can be used to couple touch electrodes to touch sensing circuitry with a reduced border region around a touch sensor panel. Touch electrodes on a first side of the substrate can be routed to a bond pad region on the second side of the substrate via a trace transfer technique to enable single-sided bonding of a double-sided touch sensor panel. Trace transfer techniques can also be used to couple conductive traces on a first side of the substrate to a flex circuit oriented perpendicular to or otherwise not parallel to the first side of the substrate. Orienting the flex circuit in this way can allow the flex circuit to connect to touch circuitry with reduced bending as compared with the amount of bending of the flex circuit when oriented substantially parallel to the substrate.

Trace transfer techniques for touch sensor panels with flex circuits

The disclosure relates to a touch screen including a first electrode layer, a second electrode layer, and a third electrode layer. The touch screen can include shield-sensor vias connecting the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer and shield-shield vias connecting the first electrode layer and the third electrode layer, for example. The shield-sensor vias can be placed in a bond pad region of the touch screen, which can further include connections between one or more routing traces connected to one or more touch electrodes and touch or other circuitry further included in the electronic device. The shield-shield vias can be placed in an outer region located around an inner region of the touch screen. In some examples, one or more routing traces can include diverted portions to maintain a threshold distance between the routing traces and the one or more shield-shield vias.

Multi-via structures for touchscreens

A hybrid laser modulation and acid etch process for the creation of a patterned substrate. According to some embodiments, a hole is formed in a glass substrate by first modulating a portion of the substrate in the desired shape. A mask is coated on the glass substrate and is patterned to expose the modulated portion. The glass substrate is then acid etched to remove the modulated portion. Once the modulated portion has been etched, the desired shape may be removed from the glass substrate and the mask may be stripped.

Hybrid substrate processing

An electronic device may have layers of glass for forming components such as a display. A display cover glass layer may overlap an array of pixels. A touch sensor may be formed under the display cover glass layer. Conductive structures such as transparent conductive electrodes or other conductive layers of material may be formed on the outer surface of the display cover glass layer. The electrodes on the outer surface of the display cover glass layer may be coupled to metal contacts and other circuitry on the inner surface of the display cover glass layer using conductive vias. Vias may be provided with barrier layers, opaque coatings, tapers, and other structures and may be formed using techniques that enhance compatibility with chemical strengthening processes.

Electronic device display vias

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Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Prithu Sharma