Touch screen sensor and patterned substrate having overlaid micropatterns with low visibility

Abstract

Presently described are articles such as antennas, EMI shields, and touch screen sensors as well as patterned substrates having overlaid micropatterns with low visibility. Also described are methods of determining the visibility of a patterned substrate. In one embodiment, a patterned substrate is described comprising a visible light transparent substrate; and at least two overlaid electrically conductive mesh micropatterns, wherein each mesh has a repeating cell geometry and the combination of overlaid micropatterns has a spatial contrast threshold at a distance of 30000 units of greater than −35 decibels.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A touch screen sensor, comprising:
 a first conductive mesh comprising a plurality of first conductive traces forming an array of first cells including open areas, the first cells having a first cell geometry; and   a second conductive mesh overlaid on and electrically isolated from the first conductive mesh, and comprising a plurality of second conductive traces forming an array of second cells including open areas, the second cells having a second cell geometry different from the first cell geometry.   
     
     
         2 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 1  wherein at least portions of the first and second cells have different dimensions. 
     
     
         3 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 1  wherein at least portions of the first and second conductive traces are non-parallel to one another. 
     
     
         4 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 1  wherein the first conductive mesh has more open areas than the second conductive mesh. 
     
     
         5 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the first conductive mesh has a first translational symmetry and the second conductive mesh has a different second translational symmetry. 
     
     
         6 . The touch sensor of  claim 5  wherein at least one of the first conductive mesh and the second conductive mesh comprises a repeating cell geometry that comprises two or more different cell geometries, wherein a repeat segment is present that can be translated in at least one direction. 
     
     
         7 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second conductive traces comprises wavy traces. 
     
     
         8 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 1  wherein the first and second conductive meshes each comprise a regular cell geometry. 
     
     
         9 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 1  wherein the first conductive mesh comprises a row and the second conductive mesh comprises a column. 
     
     
         10 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 1  wherein a combination of the first and second conductive meshes has a contrast threshold at a distance of 30000 foveal detection model distance units of greater than −35 decibels. 
     
     
         11 . A touch screen sensor, comprising:
 a first conductive mesh having a first cell dimension;   a second conductive mesh overlaid on and electrically isolated from the first conductive mesh, and having a second cell dimension different from the first cell dimension.   
     
     
         12 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 11  wherein the first and second conductive meshes each comprise a regular cell geometry. 
     
     
         13 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 11  wherein the second conductive mesh is oriented at a bias angle ranging from about 15 degrees to about 40 degrees relative to the first conductive mesh. 
     
     
         14 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 11  wherein the first and second conductive meshes differ in cell dimension by a ratio up to 1:6. 
     
     
         15 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 11  wherein the first and second conductive meshes have the same cell geometry, at least a portion of the second conductive mesh is non-parallel to the first conductive mesh, and there is a bias angle between the first conductive mesh and second conductive mesh of between about 0.1 and about 0.9 times the repeat angle. 
     
     
         16 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 11  comprising a plurality of electrically conductive rows and a plurality of electrically conductive columns, wherein each row comprises the first conductive mesh and each column comprises the second conductive mesh. 
     
     
         17 . The touch screen sensor of  claim 11  wherein a combination of the first and second conductive meshes has a contrast threshold at a distance of 30000 foveal detection model distance units of greater than −35 decibels. 
     
     
         18 . A touch screen sensor, comprising:
 a first conductive mesh comprising a plurality of first cells, each first cell formed by a plurality of first conductive traces;   a second conductive mesh overlaid on the first conductive mesh and comprising a plurality of second cells, each second cell formed by a plurality of second conductive traces, such that for at least one first cell and one second cell, each first conductive trace of the first cell is non-parallel to each second conductive trace of the second cell.   
     
     
         19 . An article comprising a first conductive mesh having a first geometry overlaid on a second conductive mesh having a different second geometry, the first mesh oriented relative to the second mesh to minimize a visibility of the article. 
     
     
         20 . The article of  claim 19 , wherein the first mesh is oriented relative to the second mesh by rotating one of the first and second meshes relative to the other.