Patent Grant
10768737
This application is a Section 371 National Stage Application of International Application No. PCT/CN2017/072847, filed Feb. 3, 2017, which has not yet published, and claims the priority of Chinese Patent Application 201610391187.1 filed on Jun. 3, 2016 in the State Intellectual Property Office of China, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The present disclosure relates to a field of the display technology, especially to a display panel, a method for manufacturing the same and a display device.
Pressure sensing technology refers to a technology for detecting externally applied forces, which was once applied to technical fields such as engineering control, medical treatment. Currently, in the field of the display technology, especially in the field of the mobile-phone and the tablet computer, the pressure sensing is achieved by incorporating an additional mechanism into a backlight portion of a liquid crystal display panel or an intermediate frame of a mobile-phone, which requires a modification to a structural design of the liquid crystal display panel or the mobile-phone; besides, due to a relatively large assembly tolerance, an detection accuracy is also limited.
Therefore, it is a problem to be solved by those skilled in the art how to implement a pressure sensing with a relatively high accuracy while a modification to hardware is relatively limited.
In light of aforementioned prior art, the embodiment of the present disclosure provides a display panel, a method for manufacturing the same and a display device, so as to implement a pressure sensing with a relatively high accuracy in the display panel.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a display panel in embodiments thereof, comprising: a substrate; a plurality of pixel units provided on the substrate and arranged in an array; and a force sensing array provided above, below or within the plurality of pixel units,
the force sensing array comprises a plurality of lower leads, a plurality of lower sensing electrodes, a piezoelectric layer, a plurality of upper sensing electrodes and a plurality of upper leads which are laminated sequentially,
the plurality of lower sensing electrodes and the plurality of upper sensing electrodes are aligned with each other one by one respectively, and arranged in an array respectively, and each of the plurality of lower sensing electrodes and each of the plurality of upper sensing electrodes form a force sensing unit with the piezoelectric layer sandwiched therebetween; and
each of the plurality of lower leads and each column of the force sensing units are aligned with each other one by one, and each of the plurality of upper leads and each row of the force sensing units are also aligned with each other one by one; or, each of the plurality of lower leads and each row of the force sensing unit are aligned with each other one by one, and each of the plurality of upper leads and each column of the force sensing units are also aligned with each other one by one.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the plurality of lower sensing electrodes and the plurality of upper sensing electrodes respectively form a pattern of grid in which opening areas of the plurality of pixel units are aligned with meshes thereof, in case that force sensing array is provided on a display side of the plurality of pixel units; or the plurality of lower sensing electrodes and the plurality of upper sensing electrodes respectively form a pattern of blocks, in case that the plurality of lower sensing electrodes and the plurality of upper sensing electrodes are made of a transparent conductive material.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the piezoelectric layer forms a pattern of grid in which opening areas of the plurality of pixel units are aligned with meshes thereof, and a grid line width of the grid structure of the piezoelectric layer is larger than that of the grid structure of the lower sensing electrodes.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the piezoelectric layer is made of a transparent piezoelectric ceramic and is of an integral layer construction.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the plurality of lower sensing electrodes and the plurality of upper sensing electrodes respectively form a pattern of blocks and the piezoelectric layer is of an integral layer construction, in case that the force sensing array is provided on a side of the plurality of pixel units opposite to the display side thereof.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, an elastic spacer layer and a flexible film covering the elastic spacer layer are provided between the force sensing array and the plurality of pixel units, in case that the force sensing array is provided below the plurality of pixel units.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the lower sensing electrodes and the upper sensing electrodes are made of an organic conductive material.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the lower sensing electrodes and the upper sensing electrodes are made of polyethylene dioxythiophene (PEDOT).
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the lower leads and the upper leads are made of an inorganic conductive material.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the lower leads and the upper leads are made of silver or ITO (Indium tin oxide).
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the piezoelectric layer is made of lead zirconate titanate piezoelectric ceramics.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the display panel is a flexible display panel.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the force sensing array is at least provided in a frame area of the flexible display panel.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the display panel is one of a liquid crystal display panel, an electroluminescent display panel, a plasma display panel and an electronic paper.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the force sensing array is provided above the plurality of pixel units and specifically provided on an encapsulation film of the plurality of pixel units, in case that the display panel is the electroluminescent display panel.
According to an embodiment, in above display panel provided in embodiments thereof, the force sensing array is provided within the plurality of pixel units and specifically provided on films between light emitting components and pixel circuits of the plurality of pixel units, in case that the display panel is the electroluminescent display panel.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is further provided a display device, comprising above display panel provided in embodiments thereof.
According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is further provided a method for manufacturing above display panel, comprising following steps:
forming patterns of the plurality of lower leads, the plurality of lower sensing electrodes, the piezoelectric layer, the plurality of upper sensing electrodes and the plurality of upper leads sequentially by a solution process (sol-gel process), before, after or during by forming the plurality of pixel units arranged in an array on the substrate.
According to an embodiment, in above method provided in embodiments thereof, the step of forming patterns of the plurality of lower leads, the plurality of lower sensing electrodes, the piezoelectric layer, the plurality of upper sensing electrodes and the plurality of upper leads sequentially by a solution process (sol-gel process) specifically comprises:
forming patterns of the plurality of lower leads, the plurality of lower sensing electrodes, the piezoelectric layer, the plurality of upper sensing electrodes and the plurality of upper leads sequentially by ink-jet printing or screen printing.
In order to clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure or the prior art, the following drawings, which are to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art, will be briefly described. It will be apparent that the drawings in the following description are merely a number of embodiments of the present disclosure, and other drawings may be readily conceivable to those ordinary skilled people in the art from these drawings:
The technical solution the present disclosure will now be further described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments in the present disclosure. In the specification, same or similar reference numbers refer to same or similar components. Referring to attached drawings, the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure as follows is intended to interpret a general inventive concept of the present disclosure rather than to restrict the present disclosure.
According to a general concept of the present disclosure, a display panel is provided, comprising: a substrate; a plurality of pixel units provided on the substrate and arranged in an array; and a force sensing array provided above, below or within the plurality of pixel units. The force sensing array comprises a plurality of lower leads, a plurality of lower sensing electrodes, a piezoelectric layer, a plurality of upper sensing electrodes and a plurality of upper leads which are laminated sequentially. The plurality of lower sensing electrodes and the plurality of upper sensing electrodes are aligned with each other one by one respectively, and arranged in an array respectively, and each of the plurality of lower sensing electrodes and each of the plurality of upper sensing electrodes form a force sensing unit with the piezoelectric layer sandwiched therebetween. Each of the plurality of lower leads and each column of the force sensing units are aligned with each other one by one, and each of the plurality of upper leads and each row of the force sensing units are also aligned with each other one by one; or, each of the plurality of lower leads and each row of the force sensing unit are aligned with each other one by one, and each of the plurality of upper leads and each column of the force sensing units are also aligned with each other one by one.
Specific embodiments of the display panel, the method for manufacturing the same and the display device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure are to be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
The shape and size of various components shown in the drawings do not reflect practical proportion of the display panel, just intended to show the contents of the present disclosure.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Upon specific implementation, directions in which the lower leads 301 and the upper leads 305 are arranged are exchangeable. The lower leads 301 may function as scanning signal lines while the upper leads 305 may function as signal output lines; or the upper leads 305 may function as scanning signal lines and the lower leads 301 may function as signal output lines, without any specific limitation thereto.
In above display panel provided in embodiments of the present disclosure, the force sensing units 400 in the force sensing array 300 integrated above, below or within the plurality of pixel units 200 which work on basis of a piezoelectric effect may function as touch detection components for sensing a pressure applied to a surface of the display panel, and for outputting corresponding electrical signals by cooperation of the upper leads 305 with the lower leads 301. By a detection to the change of the electrical signals, the corresponding pressing location and a level of the pressure on the surface of the display panel may be determined, and then a corresponding command is executed corresponding to the determined touch location and the level of a touch force. In case that the display panel is a flexible display panel, the force sensing units 400 in the force sensing array 300 which are integrated above or below the plurality of pixel units 200 may also sense a tensile force applied on corresponding locations of the display panel once the display panel is bent, so as to control the display panel to execute a corresponding command according to the determined bent location and a level of the tensile force.
Specifically, in above display panel provided in embodiments of the present disclosure, in order that forces produced by pressing on each of the lower sensing electrodes 302 and each of the upper sensing electrodes 304 contained in a corresponding one of the force sensing units 400 may suffer a relatively smaller loss, enhancing sensitivities of the force sensing units 400 to detect the force. Upon specific implementation, an organic conductive material may be used to manufacture the lower sensing electrodes 302 and the upper sensing electrodes 304. Furthermore, the organic conductive materials are generally flexible and thus are beneficial to integrate the manufactured force sensing units 400 into the flexible display panel. Optionally, PEDOT may be chosen as the material of the lower sensing electrodes 302 and the upper sensing electrodes 304. Moreover, PEDOT is optionally used to form patterns of the lower sensing electrodes 302 or the upper sensing electrodes 304 by an ink-jet printing process or a screen printing process of a sol-gel, and thus is beneficial to be integrated into the flexible display panel which can withstand temperatures less than 80° C. Or, the upper sensing electrodes 304 and the lower sensing electrodes 302 of a non-flexible display panel may be made of ITO, without any specific limitation thereto.
Furthermore, although the organic conductive material has aforementioned advantages, it has a relatively poor electrical conductivity. Therefore, in order to facilitate transmitting electrical signals to the upper sensing electrodes 304 and the lower sensing electrodes 302, the lower leads 301 and the upper leads 305 are generally made of an inorganic conductive material. Optionally, an inorganic material having a relatively good electrical conductivity, such as silver or ITO, may be chosen as the material of the lower leads 301 and the upper leads 305.
Specifically, in above display panel provided in embodiments of the present disclosure, the piezoelectric layer 303 in the force sensing array 300 may be made of various piezoelectric ceramics materials presenting the piezoelectric effect, optionally lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric ceramics. Further, the PZT is optionally used to form patterns of the piezoelectric layer 303 by an ink-jet printing process or a screen printing process of a sol-gel, and thus is beneficial to be integrated into the flexible display panel which can withstand temperatures less than 80° C. Upon specific implementation, a thickness of the piezoelectric layer is optionally controlled in a range of 2˜4 μm.
Specifically, above display panel provided in embodiments of the present disclosure may be a flexible display panel, or a non-flexible one. In case that a flexible display panel is adopted, the force sensing array 300 integrated herein may not only detect a three-dimensional touch pressure but also detect a bending of the flexible display panel; and by a bending location and a bending angle thus determined, a control to the flexible display panel by different commands such as zooming in, zooming out, screen splitting, moving leftwards, rightwards, upwards and downwards, may be realized.
In addition, in above display panel provided in embodiments of the present disclosure, the force sensing array 300 may be provided at different regions of the display panel depending on different effects of the force sensing array 300: upon a three-dimensional detection to a touch action, the force sensing array 300 may just be integrated into an active display area (AA) of the display panel, or may be integrated in both the active display area (AA) and a frame area of the display panel. In case that only a bending of a flexible display panel is detected, as shown in
Furthermore, above display panel provided in embodiments of the present disclosure may be a liquid crystal display panel, an electroluminescent display panel, a plasma display panel, an electronic paper and the like, without any specific limitation thereto.
Taking above display panel provided in embodiments of the present disclosure which is an electroluminescent display panel for example hereinafter, i.e., the pixel units 200 are light emitting components, influences of a specific level location at which the force sensing array 300 is integrated on patterns of different components forming the force sensing array 300 may be set forth.
Upon specific implementation, in the display panel provided in embodiments of the present disclosure, the force sensing array 300 may be provided above the pixel units 200, or be provided below the pixel units 200, or alternatively within the pixel units 200. A display panel of a top-emitting type is taken for example hereinafter, in which a display face thereof is provided above the pixel units 200. Certainly, upon specific implementation, the display face of the display panel may be provided below the pixel units 200, i.e., the display panel is of a bottom-emitting type, without any specific limitation thereto.
In the display panel provided in embodiments of the present disclosure, the force sensing array 300 is provided on a side of the display panel opposite to the display side of the pixel units 200, as shown in
At that time, in order to ensure that the force sensing units 400 are provided independently from one another, as shown in
Specifically, depending on a pitch of the upper sensing electrodes 304, a gap between adjacent upper leads 305 may be optionally set within a range of 3˜5 mm; and depending on a pitch of the lower sensing electrodes 302, a gap between adjacent lower leads 301 may also be optionally set within a range of 3˜5 mm.
Furthermore, in case that the force sensing array 300 is provided below the pixel units 200, in order to decrease weakening effect on the pressing force due to the pixel units 200 provided above the force sensing array 300, upon specific implementation, as shown in
In the display panel provided in embodiments of the present disclosure, the force sensing array 300 is provided on a display side of the plurality of pixel units 200, i.e., the force sensing array 300 is provided above the plurality of pixel units 200.
Specifically, in case that the display panel is an electroluminescent display panel, and the force sensing array 300 is provided above the plurality of pixel units 200, as shown in
In order to ensure that the force sensing units provided on the display face may not influence the luminance during normal display, upon specific implementation, as shown in
Or, upon specific implementation, a transparent conductive material may be chosen as the material of the lower sensing electrodes 302 and the upper sensing electrodes 304. For example, in case the transparent conductive material is applied to a flexible display panel, PEDOT may be optionally chosen as the transparent conductive material; and in case that the transparent conductive material is applied to a non-flexible display panel, ITO or PEDOT may be optionally chosen as the transparent conductive material. At that time, as shown in
Similarly, in order to ensure that the force sensing units provided on the display face may not influence the luminance during normal display, upon specific implementation, as shown in
Or, upon specific implementation, a transparent piezoelectric ceramic material may be chosen as the material of the piezoelectric layer 303. At that time, as shown in
Similarly, in order to ensure that the force sensing units provided on the display face may not influence the luminance during normal display, upon specific implementation, as shown in
Furthermore, in application in liquid crystal display panel, a material of the upper leads 305 and the lower leads 301 may optionally be an electrically conductive material having a relatively small resistance without any specific limitation thereto while in application in an electroluminescent display panel, considering that the light emitting layer may withstand relatively low temperatures, the nano-silver may be chosen as the material of the upper leads 305 and the lower leads 301, so as to manufacture the patterns thereon with a sol-gel process.
Furthermore, depending on a pitch of the upper sensing electrodes 304, a gap between adjacent upper leads 305 may be optionally set within a range of 3˜5 mm; and depending on a pitch of the lower sensing electrodes 302, a gap between adjacent lower leads 301 may also be optionally set within a range of 3˜5 mm. Optionally, a center of each of the force sensing units 400 may be provided in a vertically overlapping area of the corresponding upper lead wire 305 and the corresponding lower lead wire 301.
In the display panel provided in embodiments of the present disclosure, the force sensing array 300 is provided within the plurality of pixel units 200, i.e., the force sensing array 300 is provided between certain two films of the plurality of pixel units 200.
For example, as shown in
On a basis of the same inventive concept, a display device is further provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, comprising a display panel provided in embodiments of the present disclosure, the display device may be any product or component which has a display function, such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a television, a display, a laptop, a digital photo frame, a navigator. Embodiments of the display device may refer to above embodiments of the display panel, without repeating herein.
On a basis of the same inventive concept, a method for manufacturing above display panel may be provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, comprising:
Forming patterns of the plurality of lower leads 301, the plurality of lower sensing electrodes 302, the piezoelectric layer, the plurality of upper sensing electrodes and the plurality of upper leads sequentially by a sol-gel process, before, after or during forming the plurality of pixel units which are arranged in an array on the substrate.
Specifically, patterns of the plurality of lower leads 301, the plurality of lower sensing electrodes 302, the piezoelectric layer, the plurality of upper sensing electrodes and the plurality of upper leads may be formed sequentially by ink-jet printing or screen printing.
The force sensing array is formed by a sol-gel process in above method for manufacturing as provided in embodiments of the present disclosure, facilitating an integration of a force sensing functionality into a display panel which may withstand relatively lower temperatures, e.g., an electroluminescent display device so as to realize a detection of a three-dimensional touch.
In above display panel, the method for manufacturing the same, and the display device provided by embodiments of the present disclosure, a force sensing array may be integrated into the display panel, which force sensing array is formed by lower leads, lower sensing electrodes, a piezoelectric layer, upper sensing electrodes and upper leads which are laminated sequentially. The plurality of lower sensing electrodes and the plurality of upper sensing electrodes are aligned with each other one by one, so as to be arranged in an array and each of the plurality of lower sensing electrodes and each of the plurality of upper sensing electrodes form a force sensing unit with the piezoelectric layer sandwiched therebetween. Each force sensing units which works on basis of a piezoelectric effect may function as a touch detection components for sensing a pressure applied to a surface of the display panel, and for outputting corresponding electrical signals by cooperation of the upper leads with the lower leads. By a detection to the change of the electrical signals, the corresponding pressing location and a level of the pressure on the surface of the display panel may be determined, and then a corresponding command is executed corresponding to the determined touch location and the level of a touch force. In case that the display panel is a flexible display panel, the force sensing units in the force sensing array which are integrated above or below the plurality of pixel units may also sense a tensile force applied on corresponding locations of the display panel once the display panel is bent, so as to control the display panel to execute a corresponding command according to the determined bent location and a level of the tensile force.
Above described are only some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, although the protect scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Those skilled in the art will readily conceive modifications or alternative within the technical scope in this disclosure. Accordingly, the protection scope of the present disclosure should be defined by the claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 1 0391187 | Jun 2016 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2017/072847 | 2/3/2017 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2017/206536 | 12/7/2017 | WO | A |
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| 20180321783 A1 | Nov 2018 | US |
