This application claims the priority to a Chinese patent application No. CN202010743667.6 filed Jul. 29, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to the field of display apparatus and, in particular, to an OLED display panel.
In recent years, OLED display panels have gradually become the mainstream of display screen of mobile communication terminals. An OLED display panel includes a plurality of sub-pixels arranged in an array, where each sub-pixel includes a pixel driving circuit and a light-emitting element electrically connected to the pixel driving circuit.
As the resolution of a display panel increases, the dimensions of a sub-pixel and its light-emitting element have come to micrometer ranges. Due to manufacture process limitations, critical dimensions which represents minimum feature after processing, are unable to be scaled down as the shrinkage of the sub-pixel dimensions. As consequences, the light intensity per unit area from the display panel decreases with the shrinkage of the subpixel dimensions. In terms of lifetime of organic light emitting elements, it has been known that organic light emitting material in different colors usually have different attenuation rates during continuous operation, resulting in color shift on a display panel. It becomes the primary objectives of this disclosure to mitigate or overcome these drawbacks in an OLED display panel.
A display panel is provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure to avoid the problem of color shift of a display panel and improve the display effect of the display panel.
A display panel is provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure and includes a substrate and a pixel array.
The pixel array is disposed on the substrate and the pixel array includes a plurality of pixels. Each of the plurality of pixels includes a plurality of sub-pixels, and each of the plurality of sub-pixels includes a driving circuit layer, an uneven surface layer, and a light-emitting layer stacked in sequence.
The uneven surface layer includes a plurality of concave-convex structures.
At least two sub-pixels in each of the plurality of pixels emit in different color, and possess different numbers of concave-convex structures. The sub-pixels with a same color in the pixel array possess a same number of concave-convex structures.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the concave-convex structures are configured in uneven surface layers of sub-pixels in different colors, so that the light-emitting area of the display panel is increased, and the brightness of the light-emitting layer is enhanced. Moreover, different numbers of concave-convex structures are configured in the uneven surface layers of sub-pixels in different colors, so that the problem of color shift of the display panel due to different attenuation rates of light-emitting layer in sub-pixels of different colors or different transmittance of different color filter layers in sub-pixels of different colors may be avoided.
Hereinafter the present disclosure is further described in detail in conjunction with the drawings and embodiments. It is to be understood that the embodiments set forth below are intended to illustrate and not to limit the present disclosure. Additionally, it is to be noted that for ease of description, only part, not all, of the structures related to the present disclosure are illustrated in the drawings.
As shown in
As shown in
According to the display panel provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of sub-pixels of different colors includes the driving circuit layer, the uneven surface layer, and the light-emitting layer stacked in sequence, the uneven surface layer includes the plurality of concave-convex structures, and at least two sub-pixels possess different numbers of concave-convex structures. By configuring concave-convex structures in the uneven surface layer of the plurality of sub-pixels of different colors, the light-emitting area of the display panel is increased, and the brightness of the light-emitting layers is enhanced.
For the sub-pixels of different colors, since different light-emitting materials of sub-pixels have different life time, the attenuation rates of the light-emitting layers in the sub-pixels of different colors are different. When the light-emitting layer 40 is manufactured by using materials having different light-emitting colors, the light intensities of sub-pixels of different colors decay in time at different rates. For example, the blue sub-pixel has a faster attenuation under the same current density. Therefore, in order to achieve a certain brightness, the effective light-emitting area of the blue sub-pixel 120B is increased, so that the current density can be reduced with the total current remains unchanged, and the life time is increased to match with long-life light-emitting materials of other colors. That is, it may be configured that the greater the attenuation rate of the light-emitting layer 40 in a sub-pixel, the larger the number of concave-convex structures 310 in the sub-pixel.
For another example, as shown in
The human vision system has different sensitivity to different colors, for example, it is most sensitive to green and least sensitive to blue. Therefore, it is sometimes desirable, for the purpose of white balance, to adjust the relative brightness of green tone in an image by making less concave-convex structures in the green sub-pixel, or vice versa, making more concave-convex structures in the blue sub-pixel.
According to the structure of human retina, the spatial resolution is mainly determined by green and red pixels. In order to provide higher resolution for the display panel, the number of blue sub-pixels may be reduced and the number of green sub-pixels may be increased. That is, the number of blue sub-pixels is smaller than that of green sub-pixels in the display panel. However, if sub-pixels of all colors emit the same number of photons, the blue sub-pixel may have a very low brightness due to the fact that the number of blue sub-pixels is small. Therefore, it may be configured that the smaller the number of sub-pixels, the larger the number of concave-convex structures in the sub-pixel.
Optionally, as shown in
It is to be noted that each pixel 110 in the pixel array 100 in the display panel may include the red sub-pixel 120R, the green sub-pixel 120G, and the blue sub-pixel 120B, or include the red sub-pixel 120R, the green sub-pixel 120G, the blue sub-pixel 120B, and the white sub-pixel 120W.
Furthermore,
Optionally, still referring to
According to the retina structure of the human vision system, the human vision system has different sensitivity to different colors, and is most sensitive to green. When sub-pixels of different colors in the pixel 110 are configured to possess the same number of concave-convex structures 310, the number of photons emitted from the sub-pixels of different colors emit is the same. Since the spatial resolution of the display panel observed by the human vision system is mainly determined by green sub-pixels and red sub-pixels and the human vision system is most sensitive to green, the abnormal display problem will occur in the display panel. In order to solve this problem, the light-emitting brightness of the green sub-pixel 120G can be reduced by setting the green sub-pixel 120G to have the smallest number of concave-convex structures 310, so that the problem of brightness difference between sub-pixels of different colors caused the sensitivity of the human vision system may be avoided.
Still referring to
As shown in
Optionally, white sub-pixel has the most concave-convex structures 310.
When the pixel 110 of the display panel includes the red sub-pixel 120R, the green sub-pixel 120G, the blue sub-pixel 120B and the white sub-pixel 120W, the white sub-pixel may be configured to have the most concave-convex structures 310, thereby improving the brightness of the display panel. The white sub-pixel is to improve the brightness of the display panel, but may reduce color saturation and the space of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) sub-pixels. Therefore, if a certain brightness can be maintained and the space occupied by the white sub-pixel 120W is reduced, the area of R, G, and B sub-pixels can be appropriately increased. Therefore, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the white sub-pixel 120W is configured to have the most concave-convex structures 310, so that the space occupied by the white sub-pixel is reduced, improving the brightness of the display panel, and ensuring the color saturation of the display panel.
Optionally, the driving voltage of a light-emitting layer in a sub-pixel is inversely proportional to the number of concave-convex structures 310 underneath the light-emitting layer 40.
The driving circuit of the pixel in the display panel includes at least one driving transistor connected in series with the light-emitting layer. The equivalent series resistance of the driving transistor is changed by adjusting the gate of the driving transistor, so that a voltage consumed across the driving transistor is changed. For an applied voltage of a same magnitude, a voltage applied across the light-emitting layer 40 may be changed. The driving voltage of the light-emitting layer 40 in a sub-pixel is inversely proportional to the number of concave-convex structures 310 underneath the light-emitting layer 40, thereby ensuring that sub-pixels of different colors emit the same number of photons and improving the display effect of the display panel. Therefore, when there are more concave-convex structures 310 in the region where the sub-pixel is located, the driving voltage of the light-emitting layer 40 of the sub-pixel may be configured to be lower to ensure that the number of photons emitted from the sub-pixels of different colors remains unchanged.
It is to be noted that a relationship between a gate voltage of the driving transistor and the driving voltage of the light-emitting layer may be adjusted according to whether the driving circuit of the pixel adopts an NMOS or a PMOS and polarity of VDD.
Furthermore, on the premise that the light-emitting layer 40 of the sub-pixels emit the same number of photons, the light-emitting layer 40 with more concave-convex structures 310 may have the slightly lower driving voltage due to a larger effective light-emitting area. Although the photon amount per unit area decreases due to a decrease in the driving voltage, an increase in the light-emitting area can compensate for the decrease in the driving voltage, thereby ensuring that the number of photons emitted from the sub-pixels of different colors remains unchanged. A conventional approach to change photon number emitted from a sub-pixel, is to adjust the driving voltage and perhaps the sub-pixel dimension. The present disclosure provides another approach of changing brightness of sub-pixels of different colors by varying the number of concave-convex structures in the sub-pixels of the different colors, which increases color gamut of a display picture.
Optionally, as shown in
Optionally, as shown in
In addition, to enhance the color gamut or to further make tuning in light spectral, a color filter layer 50 can be disposed on the light-emitting layer 40 which emits light in different colors.
In a white light plus color filter combination, since different color filter structures 510 have different transmittances for the white light, sub-pixel brightness after color filter may not be in a desirable level. As illustrated in
As shown in
Optionally, still referring to
The surface topology of the light-emitting element depends on manufacture process as well. In manufacturing an OLED display panel according to present disclosure, where the OLED film is deposited on the uneven surface layer through thermal evaporation, the applicant found that the protrusion height of the uneven OLED light-emitting surface is preferred to be larger than the OLED film thickness so to gain a significant boost in display brightness. Assume the surface protrusion height is denoted by h, the light-emitting layer thickness is denoted by d, it is therefore preferred to realize h≥d after OLED film evaporation.
As shown in
The surface shapes of the concave-convex structure can be in various curvatures, subject to both mask design and photolithograph process. To balance the performance and the reliability of the OLED light-emitting element, periodically repeated trapezoidal shape and sine wave shape are among the most preferred options. As shown in
Optionally, still referring to
As shown in
The function in formula (1) is derived to obtain an inclination angle θm of a maximum slope of the surface profile of the concave-convex structures 310 which satisfies:
Here h still, represents the protrusion height in the sine waveform surface profile, and L still, represents the horizontal distance between two adjacent protrusions in the sine waveform surface profile.
When the inclination angle θm is selected as 75°, the height-to-width ratio is calculated as 1.19 according to the formula (2). The applicant has found that when the height-to-width ratio ranges from 0.3 to 2.0, and therefore the inclination angle θm ranges between 43° and 81°, the effective light-emitting area of the light-emitting layer 40 increases significantly while risks of cracking in the light-emitting layer 40 is negligible. It is therefore preferred to make the height-to-width ratio in the range from 0.3 to 2.0.
Though the above preference in making surface topology of the concave-concave structure 310 is concluded from a sine wave surface profile, it is perhaps applicable to other surface profiles as well.
Optionally, a minimum radius of curvature ρ of the concave-convex structures in the uneven surface layer 30 satisfies that:
d denotes the thickness of the light-emitting layer 40.
In an example, when the surface profile of the concave-convex structures 310 manifests in the sine wave shape and satisfies the formula (1), an expression of a radius of curvature at a peak position (i.e., the protrusion of the concave-convex structure) of the surface of the concave-convex structure 310 can be solved and satisfies that:
Since the radius of curvature at the protrusion of the concave-convex structure 310 is the smallest, the light-emitting layer 40 evaporated on the concave-convex structure 310 is subject to the largest internal strain, and cracking may easily occur in the concave-convex structure 310. To avoid the cracking of the light-emitting layer 40 caused by the internal strain of the light-emitting layer 40, the minimum radius of curvature ρ of the concave-convex structure 310 and the light-emitting layer thickness d are configured to satisfy that
that is,
For example, when the light-emitting layer thickness d is configured to 100 nm, and the horizontal distance L between adjacent protrusions of concave-convex structures 310 is configured to 1000 nm, a value range of h can be obtained according to
and then the concave-convex structure in the uneven surface layer is determined.
Furthermore, it is derived from formulas (1) to (3) that an increase ratio of the effective light-emitting area, hereafter denoted by RP, after adding the uneven surface layer 30 can be described by a formula:
Computation of RP value for a parameter of the height-to-width ratio is performed, and the results are plotted in
It is to be noted that the above embodiments are described by taking the surface profile of the concave-convex structures 310 which manifests in the sine wave shape as an example. However, in practical product production, due to manufacture process differences and other reasons, the beneficial effects of the present disclosure can be achieved within a certain size error range. For example, when the surface profile of the concave-convex structures 310 is approximately in the sine wave shape or approximates to the sine wave shape. Therefore, a concave-convex curved surface which is approximately in the sine wave shape or approximates to the sine wave shape is within the scope of the present disclosure.
Optionally, the plurality of concave-convex structures 310 are arranged in a first direction X and a second direction Y, the first direction X and the second direction Y are intersect each other in 90 degree or in 60 degree. The first direction X is perpendicular to the second direction Y, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
It is to be noted that
It is to be noted that
It is to be noted that the above are merely several preferred embodiments conceived by the inventor according to the disclosed concept when filing the present application. Those skilled in the art can make various apparent modifications, adaptations, combinations, or substitutions without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, while the present disclosure has been described in detail through the above embodiments, the present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiments and may further include more other equivalent embodiments without departing from the concept and idea of the present disclosure as set forth in the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202010743667.6 | Jul 2020 | CN | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20080024402 | Nishikawa | Jan 2008 | A1 |
20170062769 | Kim | Mar 2017 | A1 |
20170324063 | Ohara | Nov 2017 | A1 |
20190181382 | Guo | Jun 2019 | A1 |
20200185655 | Jo | Jun 2020 | A1 |
20200235178 | Shin | Jul 2020 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20220037426 A1 | Feb 2022 | US |