This application claims the priority benefit of China application serial no. 202111015248.1, filed on Aug. 31, 2021. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
The disclosure relates to a display panel, in particular to a display panel having repair structures.
With the development of liquid crystal display technology, liquid crystal display panels have been widely used in different fields. In the actual production process, the liquid crystal display panels often face the problem of abnormally bright and dark dots due to the manufacturing process or other factors. To reduce the impact of the bright and dark dots on the display quality, multiple repair structures are usually disposed on the pixel array substrate. The repair structures can improve the yield of liquid crystal display panels and reduce production costs. However, the capacitive coupling effect between the repair structures and the signal lines tends to affect the operating electrical properties of the pixel structures, resulting in uneven brightness of the display screen.
The disclosure is directed to a display panel in which the repair structures have a less pronounced effect on the operating electrical properties of display pixels and the repair process is simplified.
The display panel according to an embodiment of the disclosure includes a first substrate, multiple scan lines, multiple data lines, and multiple pixel structures. The scan lines and the data lines are disposed on the first substrate and intersect each other. The pixel structures are respectively disposed between the data lines and the scan lines. At least one of the pixel structures includes an active element, a pixel electrode, a capacitor electrode, a common electrode, and a repair pattern. The active element includes a source, a drain, and a gate. The gate is electrically connected to one of the scan lines. The source is electrically connected to one of the data lines. The pixel electrode is electrically connected to the drain of the active element. The capacitor electrode is electrically connected to the pixel electrode and extends from the drain. The common electrode overlaps the pixel electrode and the capacitor electrode. The repair pattern overlaps one of the scan lines as well as the common electrode, and the pixel electrode.
In the display panel according to an embodiment of the disclosure, the at least one of the multiple pixel structures includes a first pixel structure. The multiple scan lines includes a first scan line, and the repair pattern of the first pixel structure and a part of the drain overlap the first scan line.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the repair pattern, the capacitor electrode, and the drain of the active element are integral.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the repair pattern of the first pixel structure and the gate of the active element are electrically connected to the first scan line.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the common electrode includes a first extension portion, a second extension portion, and a connecting portion. The first extension portion and the second extension portion are disposed on opposite sides of the pixel electrode along a first direction and extend in a second direction. The connecting portion extends in the first direction. The connecting portion connects the first extension portion and the second extension portion. The first direction intersects the second direction. The capacitor electrode overlaps the connecting portion of the common electrode.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the capacitor electrode further overlaps one of the first extension portion and the second extension portion of the common electrode.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the multiple data lines, multiple first extension portions, and multiple second extension portions are alternately arranged along the first direction.
In the display panel according to an embodiment of the disclosure, the at least one of the multiple pixel structures further includes a second pixel structure. The first pixel structure and the second pixel structure are arranged along a first direction and are electrically connected to a first data line of the multiple data lines. The multiple scan lines further includes a second scan line. The first scan line and the second scan line are located on opposite sides of the first pixel structure and the second pixel structure along a second direction. The first direction intersects the second direction. The first pixel structure is electrically connected to the first scan line, and the second pixel structure is electrically connected to the second scan line.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the common electrode includes a connecting portion, a first extension portion, and a second extension portion.
The first extension portion and the second extension portion are disposed on opposite sides of the connecting portion along the first direction and are connected to the connecting portion. The capacitor electrode overlaps the connecting portion of the common electrode.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the first extension portion of the common electrode of the first pixel structure is connected to the first extension portion of the common electrode of the second pixel structure and defines an opening, and the opening overlaps the first data line.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the capacitor electrode further overlaps the second extension portion of the common electrode.
In the display panel according to an embodiment of the disclosure, the at least one of the multiple pixel structures includes a first pixel structure. The repair pattern of the first pixel structure and the drain of the active element respectively overlap two of the multiple scan lines.
In the display panel according to an embodiment of the disclosure, the at least one of the multiple pixel structures further includes a second pixel structure. The first pixel structure and the second pixel structure are arranged along a first direction and are electrically connected to one of the multiple data lines. The multiple scan lines includes a first scan line and a second scan line. The first scan line and the second scan line are located on opposite sides of the first pixel structure and the second pixel structure along the second direction. The first direction intersects the second direction. The first pixel structure is electrically connected to the first scan line, and the second pixel structure is electrically connected to the second scan line.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the common electrode includes a connecting portion, a first extension portion, and a second extension portion. The first extension portion and the second extension portion are disposed on opposite sides of the connecting portion along the first direction and are connected to the connecting portion. The repair pattern overlaps the second extension portion of the common electrode.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the first extension portion of the common electrode of the first pixel structure is connected to the first extension portion of the common electrode of the second pixel structure and defines an opening, and the opening overlaps one of the multiple data lines.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the capacitor electrode overlaps the connecting portion of the common electrode.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the repair pattern includes a first end portion, a second end portion, and a third end portion. The first end portion overlaps one of the multiple scan lines. The second end portion overlaps the pixel electrode. The third end portion overlaps the second extension portion of the common electrode. The second end portion is located between the first end portion and the third end portion in the second direction.
In the display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure, the gate of the active element and the repair pattern of the first pixel structure are respectively electrically connected to the first scan line and the second scan line.
In an embodiment according to the disclosure, the display panel further includes a second substrate, a first alignment layer, a second alignment layer, a liquid crystal layer, a first polarizer, and a second polarizer. The second substrate is disposed opposite to the first substrate. The first alignment layer is disposed on the first substrate and has a first alignment direction. The second alignment layer is disposed on the second substrate and has a second alignment direction.
The first alignment direction is perpendicular to the second alignment direction. The liquid crystal layer is disposed between the first alignment layer and the second alignment layer and includes multiple liquid crystal molecules. Multiple pixel electrodes of the multiple pixel structures are configured to drive the liquid crystal molecules to rotate. The first polarizer and the second polarizer are disposed on opposite sides of the liquid crystal layer and respectively including a first transmission axis and a second transmission axis. An axial direction of the first transmission axis is perpendicular to an axial direction of the second transmission axis.
In the display panel according to an embodiment of the disclosure, the at least one of the multiple pixel structures includes a first pixel structure. The pixel electrode of the first pixel structure is electrically connected to one of the scan lines through the repair pattern.
In summary, in the display panel of an embodiment of the disclosure, the pixel structure includes a repair pattern overlapping the scan line, the common electrode, and the pixel electrode, and includes a capacitor electrode extending from the drain of the active element. Through the overlap of the capacitor electrode and the common electrode, the voltage offset of the pixel electrode due to the capacitive coupling effect between the repair pattern, the scan line, and the pixel electrode can be effectively suppressed, thereby improving the brightness uniformity of the multiple pixel structures of the display panel at the same display grayscale.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of the disclosure. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, and examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whenever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. Note that the “overlap” mentioned in the following exemplary embodiments refers to the projection overlap of two objects in one direction. Unless otherwise specified, the direction may be the direction Z in the drawings.
Referring to
In this embodiment, the first alignment layer 121 has a first alignment direction AD1. The second alignment layer 122 has a second alignment direction AD2, and the first alignment direction AD1 may be perpendicular to the second alignment direction AD2. More specifically, the liquid crystal molecules LC of the liquid crystal layer 140 are driven in a manner of twisted nematic (TN) arrangement. On the other hand, a first polarizer 161 and a second polarizer 162 are further provided on opposite sides of the liquid crystal layer 140, and a first transmission axis TA1 of the first polarizer 161 is perpendicular to a second transmission axis TA2 of the second polarizer 162. The display panel 10 is operated in a normally white mode, for example. For example, when the liquid crystal layer 140 is not driven by an electric field, the light from the backlight module may directly pass through the display panel 10 to achieve a bright display effect. Conversely, when the liquid crystal layer 140 is driven by an electric field, the light from the backlight module cannot pass through the display panel 10 to achieve a dark display effect. It should be understood that the light here may also be ambient light from the display side. In other words, the display panel may also be a reflective display panel or a transflective display panel, and the multiple liquid crystal molecules LC of the liquid crystal layer 140 may also be driven in a manner of anti-parallel alignment or a vertical alignment (VA) arrangement.
The pixel driving layer 110 includes multiple scan lines GL, multiple data lines DL, and multiple pixel structures PX. The scan lines GL intersect with the data lines DL, and define multiple pixel regions. The pixel structures PX are respectively disposed in the pixel regions between the data lines DL and the scan lines GL. For example, in this embodiment, the scan lines GL are arranged on the first substrate 101 along a direction Y and extend in a direction X. The data lines DL are arranged on the first substrate 101 along the direction X and extend along the direction Y. The direction X and the direction Y intersect. However, the disclosure is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the scan lines GL may be arranged on the first substrate 101 along the direction X, and the data lines DL may be arranged on the first substrate 101 along the direction Y. Considering conductivity, the scan line GL and the data line DL are generally made of metal materials (i.e. molybdenum, aluminum, copper, nickel, or a combination of the above), but the disclosure is not limited thereto.
The pixel structure PX includes an active element T and a pixel electrode PE. The active element T includes a gate GE, a source SE, a drain DE, and a semiconductor pattern SC. The gate GE and the source SE are respectively electrically connected to a corresponding scan line GL and a data line DL. The source SE and the drain DE are respectively electrically connected to two different regions (i.e. the source region and the drain region) of the semiconductor pattern SC. The pixel electrode PE is electrically connected to the drain DE of the active element T. In this embodiment, the active element T may be a bottom-gate thin-film-transistor. In other words, the gate GE is optionally disposed on the side of the semiconductor pattern SC away from the source SE and the drain DE, but the disclosure is not limited thereto.
In other embodiments, the gate GE of the active element T may also be disposed above the semiconductor pattern SC (that is, the side of the semiconductor pattern SC where the source SE and the drain DE are provided) to form a top-gate thin film transistor (top-gate thin-film-transistor). In this embodiment, the source SE may be a part of the data line DL, and the gate GE may be a part of the scan line GL. Since the semiconductor pattern SC of the active element T overlaps the scan line GL, a part of the drain DE overlaps the scan line GL.
The active element T may be, for example, a polysilicon thin film transistor, an amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film transistor, or a metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. Note that the gate GE, the source SE, the drain DE, the semiconductor pattern SC, and a common electrode CE may be respectively implemented by any gate, any source, any drain, any semiconductor pattern, and any common electrode of the display panel that is well known to those skilled in the art. Moreover, the gate GE, the source SE, the drain DE, the semiconductor pattern SC, and the common electrode CE may be respectively formed by any method known to those skilled in the art, so they will not be described in detail here.
On the other hand, the pixel electrode PE may be, for example, a light-transmitting electrode, and the material of the light-transmitting electrode includes metal oxide (i.e. indium tin oxide, indium zinc oxide, aluminum tin oxide, aluminum zinc oxide, or other suitable oxides, or a stacked layer of at least two of the above), but the disclosure is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the pixel electrode PE may also include a reflective electrode, and the material of the reflective electrode includes metals, alloys, nitrides of metal materials, oxides of metal materials, oxynitrides of metal materials, or other suitable materials, or stacked layers of metal materials and other conductive materials.
For example, in this embodiment, a common electrode layer (not shown) may be further provided on the second substrate 102. Further, the electric field generated between the pixel electrode PE and the common electrode layer when the pixel electrode PE is enabled may drive the multiple liquid crystal molecules LC of the liquid crystal layer 140 to rotate and form a corresponding optical axis distribution, thereby modulating the polarization state of the incident light. More specifically, the display panel 10 may individually control the voltage levels of the multiple pixel electrodes PE of the multiple pixel structures PX through multiple scan lines GL and multiple data lines DL such that the multiple pixel regions have the same or different brightness so as to achieve the displayed effect.
Referring to
In this embodiment, the pixel structure PX further includes a capacitor electrode CSE and a repair pattern RP. Note in particular that the capacitor electrode CSE extends from the drain DE of the active element T, and overlaps the connecting portion CEs3 of the common electrode CE. The repair pattern RP extends from the capacitor electrode CSE, and overlaps one scan line GL and the pixel electrode PE. In other words, the drain DE, the capacitor electrode CSE, and the repair pattern RP in this embodiment may be optionally integral, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, in this embodiment, the drain DE of the active element T is electrically connected to the pixel electrode PE via the capacitor electrode CSE. The pixel electrode PE is electrically connected to the capacitor electrode CSE through a contact hole 112h of the insulating layer (not shown).
In particular, the repair pattern RP is configured to repair the pixel structure PX. For example, when PX-X, one of the pixel structures of the display panel 10, cannot be enabled and is detected as abnormal, a laser welding procedure may be performed to weld the repair pattern RP and the corresponding scan line GL to each other to be electrically connected. Therefore, after the laser welding step is completed, the insulating layer or the flat layer between the repair pattern RP and the scan line GL will form a melt-through hole 114h. The pixel electrode PE of the repaired pixel structure PX-X is electrically connected to the scan line GL via the capacitor electrode CSE and the repair pattern RP. Therefore, regardless of whether the scan line GL electrically connected to the pixel structure PX-X receives a gate driving signal, the pixel electrode PE of the abnormal pixel structure PX-X always has a higher voltage level. In other words, when the display panel 10 is operated in a normally white mode, the pixel region of the display screen corresponding to the abnormal pixel structure PX-X always maintains a dark state, so as to avoid the degradation of display quality.
On the other hand, through the overlap of the capacitor electrode CSE and the common electrode CE, the voltage offset of the pixel electrode PE due to the capacitive coupling effect between the repair pattern RP, the scan line GL, and the pixel electrode PE can be further suppressed, thereby improving the brightness uniformity of the multiple pixel structures PX of the display panel 10 at the same display grayscale. Moreover, in this embodiment, the repair procedure of the abnormal pixel structure PX-X only includes one laser welding step. Therefore, through the configuration of the capacitor electrode CSE and the repair pattern RP, the effect of simplifying the repair process can be further achieved.
Other embodiments will be listed below to describe the disclosure in detail, in which the same components will be indicated with the same symbols, and the description of the same technical content will be omitted. Please refer to the foregoing embodiments for the omitted parts, which will not be repeated hereafter.
Two adjacent first pixel structures PX1 and second pixel structures PX2 in each pixel row are electrically connected to the same data line DL, and are respectively electrically connected to the first scan line GL1 and the second scan line GL2.
On the other hand, similar to the common electrode CE of
In this embodiment, since the first pixel structure PX1 and the second pixel structure PX2 that are electrically connected to the same data line DL and are adjacent to each other are electrically connected to different scan lines (i.e. the first scan line GL1 and the second scan line GL2), the repair patterns RP of the two pixel structures PX-B also respectively overlap the two scan lines. More specifically, the repair pattern RP of the first pixel structure PX1 extends from a capacitor electrode CSE-B of the first pixel structure PX1, and overlaps the first scan line GL1. The repair pattern RP of the second pixel structure PX2 extends from the capacitor electrode CSE-B of the second pixel structure PX2, and overlaps the second scan line GL2.
When one of the pixel structures PX-B of the display panel 20, such as the first pixel structure PX1, cannot be enabled and is detected as an abnormal pixel structure PX-X, a laser welding procedure may be performed to weld the repair pattern RP and the corresponding first scan line GL1 to each other to be electrically connected. Therefore, when the display panel 20 is operated in a normally white mode, the pixel region of the display screen corresponding to the abnormal pixel structure PX-X always maintains a dark state, so as to avoid the degradation of display quality.
It is worth mentioning that through the overlap of the capacitor electrode CSE-B and the common electrode CE-A, the voltage offset of the pixel electrode PE due to the capacitive coupling effect between the repair pattern RP, the first scan line GL1 (or the second scan line GL2), and the pixel electrode PE, can be suppressed thereby improving the brightness uniformity of the multiple pixel structures PX-B of the display panel 20 at same display grayscale. Moreover, in this embodiment, the repair pattern RP of the pixel structure PX-B extends from the capacitor electrode CSE-B and overlaps the first scan line GL1 or the second scan line GL2, and the repair procedure of the abnormal pixel structure PX-X only includes one laser welding step, thereby achieving the effect of simplifying the repair process.
The overlap of the capacitor electrode CSE-B and the common electrode CE-A in this embodiment is similar to the overlap of the capacitor electrode CSE and the common electrode CE in
Note in particular that the repair pattern RP-A overlaps the second extension portion CEs2A of the common electrode CE-A, and includes a first end portion RPe 1, a second end portion RPe2, and a third end portion RPe3. The first end portion RPe1 overlaps one scan line. The second end portion RPe2 overlaps the pixel electrode PE. The third end portion RPe3 overlaps the second extension portion CEs2A of the common electrode CE-A. The second end portion RPe2 of the repair pattern RP-A is located between the first end portion RPel and the third end portion RPe3 in the direction Y.
When one of the pixel structures PX-D of the display panel 30, such as the first pixel structure PX1, cannot be enabled and is detected as an abnormal pixel structure PX-X, one laser welding step may be performed to weld the repair pattern RP-A and the corresponding second scan line GL2 to each other to be electrically connected. Since the repair pattern RP-A of the pixel structure PX-D of this embodiment is electrically independent of a capacitor electrode CSE-D and the active element T, another laser welding step is required to weld the second end portion RPe2 of the repair pattern RP-A and the overlapping pixel electrode PE to each other to be electrically connected. Therefore, after the two laser welding steps are completed, the insulating layer or the flat layer between the repair pattern RP-A and the second scan line GL2 will respectively form two melt-through holes 114h1 and 114h2.
The pixel electrode PE of the repaired pixel structure PX-X may further be electrically connected to the second scan line GL2 through the repair pattern RP-A. Therefore, regardless of whether the first scan line GL1 electrically connected to the pixel structure PX-X receives a gate driving signal, the pixel electrode PE of the abnormal pixel structure PX-X always has a higher voltage level. In other words, when the display panel 30 is operated in a normally white mode, the pixel region of the display screen corresponding to the abnormal pixel structure PX-X always maintains a dark state to avoid the degradation of display quality. On the other hand, through the overlap between the capacitor electrode CSE and the common electrode CE, the voltage offset of the pixel electrode PE due to the capacitive coupling effect between the repair pattern RP-A, the scan line, and the pixel electrode PE can be further suppressed, thereby improving the brightness uniformity of the multiple pixel structures PX-D of the display panel 30 at the same display grayscale.
In summary, in the display panel of an embodiment of the disclosure, the pixel structure includes a repair pattern overlapping the scan line, the common electrode, and the pixel electrode, and includes a capacitor electrode extending from the drain of the active element. Through the overlap of the capacitor electrode and the common electrode, the voltage offset of the pixel electrode due to the capacitive coupling effect between the repair pattern, the scan line, and the pixel electrode can be effectively suppressed, thereby improving the brightness uniformity of the multiple pixel structures of the display panel at the same display grayscale.
Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only configured to illustrate the technical solution of the disclosure, but not limited thereto. Although the disclosure is described in detail with reference to the above-mentioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that the technical solutions described in the above-mentioned embodiments may still be modified, and some or all of the technical features may be replaced equivalently; such modifications or replacements do not depart from the scope of the technical solutions described by the embodiments of the disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202111015248.1 | Aug 2021 | CN | national |