Some electronic assemblies include circuits disposed on separate circuit carriers. The carriers and/or the circuits disposed thereon can lie in different planes. For example, touch screens typically involve an ultra-thin array of sensing electrodes disposed on a glass or plastic touch substrate. The sensing electrodes can be printed or otherwise disposed directly on the touch substrate, or they can be disposed on a thin, typically flexible, intermediate carrier that, in turn, is disposed on the touch substrate. The sensing electrodes terminate at or otherwise are connected to bonding pads to enable connection of the sensing electrodes to a control circuit. The control circuit typically is located on another substrate, for example, a printed wiring board, that is attached to or otherwise associated with the touch substrate. Portions of the control circuit to be connected to the sensing electrodes also terminate at or otherwise are connected to bonding pads to enable connection of the control circuit to the sensing electrodes.
The control circuit substrate could be attached to the touch substrate adjacent the array of sensing electrodes. However, because the thickness of the control circuit substrate typically is substantially greater than the thickness of the sensing electrodes and any intermediate carrier they might be disposed on, the bonding pads connected to the sensing electrodes typically lie in a substantially different plane than do the bonding pads connected to the control circuit. As such, the respective bonding pads may lie at substantially different perpendicular distances from the surface of the touch substrate upon which they or their respective carriers/substrates are disposed. Conventional means for interconnecting bonding pads located in different planes often are difficult to realize.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds