The present disclosure relates to the field of display technologies, and more particularly, to an array substrate, a manufacturing method thereof, and a display panel.
With development of display technologies, bezel-free displays have become a mainstream of high-end products in current display market. The bezel-free displays have two advantages: first, they have beautiful appearances and are more fashionable, and second, displays using bezel-free techniques can better realize display splicing, such as a dual screen, a triple screen, or even a multiple screen. In addition, the bezel-free displays can bring a broader visual experience for users and eliminate restraints of original thick bezel displays.
At present, there are two methods to realize bezel-free or narrow bezels. One is a side surface bonding method, that is, shortening original peripheral bonding wirings or even shortening the original peripheral bonding wirings into a surface, printing a nano silver (Ag) glue on a side surface of an array substrate to connect the wirings, and then bonding a chip on film (COF) to the side surface of the array substrate, thereby realizing narrow bezels or bezel-free effect. Another one is a back surface bonding method, which is shortening original peripheral bonding wirings or even shortening the original peripheral bonding wirings into a surface, and using a back surface processing technique to perform a corresponding peripheral wiring design on a back surface. Then, similarly, a nano silver glue is printed on a side surface to be correspondingly connected to the wirings, correspondingly connecting the bonding wirings in a front surface to the peripheral wirings on the back surface, and at last, COF bonding is performed on the back surface, thereby realizing narrow bezels or bezel-free effect. However, both the above two bonding methods need to print the nano silver glue on the side surface of the array substrate, and limited by printing accuracy, in manufacturing processes, wirings inside the substrate often have short circuits caused by diffusion and penetration of silver ions or abnormal alignment of the nano silver glue, thereby causing a lower product yield and high cost. Therefore, bezel-free technique cannot be widely adopted and popularized.
Therefore, it is necessary to solve a lower yield problem caused by using the nano silver glue in current array substrate bonding process.
The present disclosure provides an array substrate, a manufacturing method thereof, and a display panel to solve technical problems of a lower yield caused by using a nano silver glue in current array substrate bonding process.
To solve the above problems, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides technical solutions as follows.
An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an array substrate. The array substrate is divided into a display area and a bending area positioned on one side of the display area and includes a glass substrate and a flexible substrate. Wherein, the glass substrate corresponds to the display area, and the flexible substrate corresponds to the bending area and extends from the bending area to cover an upper surface of one side of the glass substrate in the display area. Wherein, the display area further includes a buffer layer, a thin film transistor, a plurality of signal lines, and a pixel electrode. The buffer layer is disposed on the glass substrate and is in contact with the flexible substrate. The thin film transistor is disposed on the buffer layer and the flexible substrate. The plurality of signal lines are disposed on a same layer as a gate electrode of the thin film transistor. The pixel electrode is disposed on the thin film transistor and is connected to the thin film transistor. The bending area further includes a plurality of bonding wirings disposed on the flexible substrate and respectively connected to the signal lines in the display area. Wherein, the flexible substrate in the bending area is bent along the one side of the glass substrate to one surface of the glass substrate away from the thin film transistor.
In the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a material of the flexible substrate includes polyimide.
In the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a thickness of the flexible substrate ranges from 3 μm to 100 μm.
In the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, film layer thicknesses of the buffer layer and the flexible substrate are same.
In the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a structure of the thin film transistor includes a back channel etch type, an etch stopper type, and a top-gate structure type.
In the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the thin film transistor further includes an active layer and source and drain electrodes, the active layer is disposed under the gate electrode, and the source and drain electrodes are disposed at both sides of the gate electrode.
In the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a material of the active layer includes one of amorphous silicon, low temperature polysilicon, or metal oxide semiconductors.
In the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a material of the pixel electrode includes indium tin oxide.
An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a display panel, which includes the array substrate in the above embodiment and a chip on film disposed under the array substrate, wherein the chip on film is bonded to the bonding wirings.
In the display panel provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the display panel is a liquid crystal display panel further including a color filter substrate disposed opposite to the array substrate and a plurality of liquid crystal molecules disposed between the array substrate and the color filter substrate.
In the display panel provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the display panel is an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panel including a light-emitting functional layer disposed on the array substrate and an encapsulation layer disposed on the light-emitting functional layer.
An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a manufacturing method of an array substrate, which includes following steps. Step S10: providing a glass substrate divided into a display area and a bending area, manufacturing a buffer layer on one side of the glass substrate, and manufacturing a flexible substrate on another side of the glass substrate, wherein the buffer layer and a part of the flexible substrate are disposed corresponding to the display area, and another part of the flexible substrate is disposed corresponding to the bending area. Step S20: manufacturing a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode on the buffer layer and the flexible substrate in the display area, and when manufacturing the thin film transistor, manufacturing a plurality of signal lines in the display area and a plurality of bonding wirings on the flexible substrate in the bending area at a same time, wherein the signal lines are respectively connected to the bonding wirings. Step S30: removing the glass substrate corresponding to the bending area, and bending and fixing the exposed flexible substrate to one surface of the glass substrate away from the thin film transistor.
In the manufacturing method of the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a material of the flexible substrate includes polyimide.
In the manufacturing method of the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a thickness of the flexible substrate ranges from 3 μm to 100 μm.
In the manufacturing method of the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, film layer thicknesses of the buffer layer and the flexible substrate are same.
In the manufacturing method of the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a structure of the thin film transistor includes a back channel etch type, an etch stopper type, and a top-gate structure type.
In the manufacturing method of the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the thin film transistor further includes an active layer and source and drain electrodes, the active layer is disposed under a gate electrode, and the source and drain electrodes are disposed at both sides of the gate electrode.
In the manufacturing method of the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a material of the active layer includes one of amorphous silicon, low temperature polysilicon, or metal oxide semiconductors.
In the manufacturing method of the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, in the step S30, a method of removing the glass substrate corresponding to the bending area includes at least one of substrate thinning technique, cutting, or laser ablation.
In the manufacturing method of the array substrate provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, in the step S30, a fixing material for fixing the exposed flexible substrate includes at least one of double-sided tapes or glues.
Beneficial effects of the present disclosure are that in the array substrate, the manufacturing method thereof, and the display panel provided by the present disclosure, the flexible substrate is manufactured on one side of the glass substrate of the array substrate, and when the thin film transistor is manufactured on the glass substrate, the bonding wirings are manufactured on the flexible substrate at a same time. After finishing array processes of the array substrate, the glass substrate corresponding to the bending area is removed, and the flexible substrate manufactured with the bonding wirings is bent to a back surface of the glass substrate to perform COF bonding, thereby realizing a bezel-free design and preventing using nano silver glues in a bonding process. Therefore, a lower yield problem caused by using the nano silver glues in the bonding process for current array substrates to realize narrow bezels or bezel-free is solved.
The accompanying figures to be used in the description of embodiments of the present disclosure or prior art will be described in brief to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments or the prior art. The accompanying figures described below are only part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, from which figures those skilled in the art can derive further figures without making any inventive efforts.
The specific embodiments described with reference to the attached drawings are all exemplary and are intended to illustrate and interpret the present disclosure. In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that terms such as “upper”, “lower”, “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, “inside”, “outside”, “side”, as well as derivative thereof should be construed to refer to the orientation as described or as shown in the drawings under discussion. Therefore, the directional terms used are to illustrate and understand the present disclosure, not to limit the present disclosure. The identical or similar reference numerals constantly denote the identical or similar elements or elements having the identical or similar functions in the drawings. In the drawings, the sizes and thicknesses of some components are exaggerated for understanding and ease of description.
Referring to
Specifically, a structure of the thin film transistor includes a back channel etch (BCE) type, an etch stopper (etch stop layer, ESL) type, and a top-gate structure type.
Specifically, the thin film transistor 40 shown in
Specifically, the active layer 41 may use amorphous silicon (a-Si), low temperature polysilicon (LTPS), or metal oxide semiconductors such as indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO).
Specifically, referring to
Further, a partial schematic structural top view of connections between the signal lines 30 and the bonding wirings 70 is shown in
Specifically, the signal lines include gate electrode lines and data lines, and the signal lines shown in
Further, the array substrate 100 also includes the pixel electrode 50 disposed on the thin film transistor 40. The pixel electrode 50 may be connected to the source electrode 431 or the drain electrode 432 through a through-hole.
Specifically, a material of the pixel electrode includes transparent conductive electrode materials, such as indium tin oxide (ITO).
Specifically, the buffer layer 20 in the display area AA is disposed on the glass substrate 10 and on a same layer as the flexible substrate 60, and upper surfaces of the buffer layer 20 and the flexible substrate 60 are on a same horizontal plane, that is, film layer thicknesses of the two are same. As such, height differences between the bonding wirings 70 and the signal lines 30 can be well balanced, thereby preventing step differences. Of course, the film layer thicknesses of the buffer layer and the flexible substrate may also be different according to actual process requirements.
Further, a material of the flexible substrate 60 in the bending area BA includes bendable flexible materials, such as polyimide (PI).
Further, a thickness of the flexible substrate 60 may be set according to actual process requirements and ranges from 3 μm to 100 μm.
Further, the flexible substrate 60 may be bent to a back surface of the glass substrate 10 and be fixed onto the back surface of the glass substrate 10 by fixing methods such as a double-sided tape or a glue to conveniently perform COF bonding.
In this embodiment, a substrate of the array substrate uses a method of combining the glass substrate and the flexible substrate to manufacture the bonding wirings on the flexible substrate. The flexible substrate manufactured with the bonding wirings can be bent to the back surface of the glass substrate to perform the COF bonding, thereby realizing a bezel-free design and preventing a lower yield problem caused by using nano silver glues.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a manufacturing method of an array substrate is further provided, as shown in
Step S10: providing a glass substrate divided into a display area and a bending area, manufacturing a buffer layer on one side of the glass substrate, and manufacturing a flexible substrate on another side of the glass substrate. Wherein, the buffer layer and a part of the flexible substrate are disposed corresponding to the display area, and another part of the flexible substrate is disposed corresponding to the bending area.
Specifically, according to actual process requirements, an inorganic film layer is deposited on one side of the glass substrate 10 as the buffer layer 20, and a flexible film layer is deposited on another side of the glass substrate 10 as the flexible substrate 60 by deposition processes, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The flexible substrate 60 extends from the bending area BA to the display area AA and is in contact with the buffer layer 20, as shown in
Further, a material of the flexible substrate 60 includes bendable flexible materials, such as polyimide.
Further, a thickness of the flexible substrate 60 may be set according to actual process requirements and ranges from 3 μm to 100 μm.
Specifically, the buffer layer 20 in the display area AA is disposed on the glass substrate 10 and on a same layer as the flexible substrate 60, so height differences between a plurality of bonding wirings and a plurality of signal lines can be well balanced, thereby preventing step differences.
Step S20: manufacturing a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode on the buffer layer and the flexible substrate in the display area, and when manufacturing the thin film transistor, manufacturing the plurality of signal lines in the display area and the plurality of bonding wirings on the flexible substrate in the bending area at a same time, wherein the signal lines are respectively connected to the bonding wirings.
Specifically, as shown in
Specifically, as shown in
Specifically, the active layer 41 may use amorphous silicon (a-Si), low temperature polysilicon (LTPS), or metal oxide semiconductors such as indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO).
Further, when manufacturing the thin film transistor 40 on the buffer layer 20 and the part of the flexible substrate 60, the plurality of signal lines 30 are manufactured in the display area AA, and the plurality of bonding wirings 70 are manufactured on the flexible substrate 60 in the bending area BA. An insulating layer 80 is further disposed between the bonding wirings 70 and the flexible substrate 60, and the signal lines 30 are respectively connected to the bonding wirings 70, as shown in
Further, the pixel electrode 50 is connected to the source electrode or the drain electrode through a through-hole. Of course, the array substrate also includes a plurality of the insulating layers disposed between each film layer of the thin film transistor and the pixel electrode, which will not be repeated here.
Specifically, a material of the pixel electrode includes transparent conductive electrode materials, such as indium tin oxide (ITO).
Step S30: removing the glass substrate corresponding to the bending area, and bending and fixing the exposed flexible substrate to one surface of the glass substrate away from the thin film transistor.
Specifically, the glass substrate 10 corresponding to the bending area BA is removed by using at least one process of substrate thinning technique, cutting, or laser ablation to form a structure shown in
Further, as shown in
Further, the flexible substrate bent to the back surface of the glass substrate is fixed onto the glass substrate by a double-sided tape, a glue, or other fixing methods.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a display panel is further provided, which includes the array substrate in the above embodiments and a chip on film disposed under the array substrate. Wherein, the chip on film is bonded to the bonding wirings.
Specifically, the display panel is a liquid crystal display panel shown in
Specifically, the display panel is an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panel shown in
It should be noted that the present disclosure uses a method of combining the glass substrate and the flexible substrate to manufacture the bonding wirings on the flexible substrate. Then, the flexible substrate manufactured with the bonding wirings is bent to the back surface of the glass substrate to perform the chip on film (COF) bonding. A method to realize the bezel-free design is not limited to the array substrate provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure. This bezel-free design method is also applicable to a gate driver on array (GOA) substrate or a color filter on array (COA) substrate, which is not repeated herein.
It can be known according to the above embodiments:
the present disclosure provides the array substrate, the manufacturing method thereof, and the display panel. The flexible substrate is manufactured on one side of the glass substrate of the array substrate, and when the thin film transistor is manufactured on the glass substrate, the bonding wirings are manufactured on the flexible substrate at a same time. After finishing array processes of the array substrate, the glass substrate under the flexible substrate is removed, and the flexible substrate is bent to the back surface of the glass substrate to perform COF bonding, thereby realizing the bezel-free design and preventing using nano silver glues in the bonding process. Therefore, a lower yield problem caused by using the nano silver glues in the bonding process for current array substrates to realize narrow bezels or bezel-free is solved.
The present disclosure has been described with a preferred embodiment thereof. The preferred embodiment is not intended to limit the present disclosure, and it is understood that many changes and modifications to the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the disclosure that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202010932535.8 | Sep 2020 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2020/122191 | 10/20/2020 | WO |