The present application claims priority from Japanese application JP 2013-156170, filed on Jul. 26, 2013, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive circuit for light emitting elements, and a display device having the drive circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, the light emitting elements such as an organic EL element (OLED) are used for image display. The drive circuit that conducts light emission driving of the light emitting elements with a circuit configuration small in the number of circuit elements is desirable.
The drive circuit in the related art illustrated in
JP 2007-310311 A discloses a drive method for the drive circuit (refer to
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a drive circuit for light emitting elements small in the number of components, which can correct a threshold voltage of a drive transistor.
(1) According to the present invention, there is provided a drive circuit, including: a first power line and a second power line that two different reference voltages are applied to, respectively; a light emitting element that is disposed between the first power line and the second power line, and allows a current to flow therein to emit a light; a drive transistor that is disposed between the first power line and the second power line, and controls the amount of current flowing into the light emitting element; a first capacitor that is electrically connected between a gate and one of a source and a drain of the drive transistor; a second capacitor that is electrically connected between the gate and the other of the source and the drain of the drive transistor; a first switching element that is electrically connected to the gate of the drive transistor, and turns on during a signal writing period to supply a signal voltage to the gate of the drive transistor; and a second switching element that is disposed between the first power line and the second power line, wherein the drive transistor, the second switching element, and the light emitting element are connected in series.
(2) In the drive circuit according to the above item (1), the second switching element may be in an on-state when the signal writing period starts, turn off a given time after the signal writing period starts, and again turn on in a light emitting period.
(3) In the drive circuit according to the above item (1) or (2), a difference between the first capacitor and the second capacitor may fall within ±10% of the second capacitor.
(4) In the drive circuit according to any one of the above items (1) to (3), the first switching element may be configured by a thin film transistor having a plurality of gate electrodes.
(5) In the drive circuit according to any one of the above items (1) to (4), the drive transistor, the first switching element, and the second switching element have a common polarity.
(6) A display device including the drive circuit according to any one of the above items (1) to (5).
(7) According to the present invention, there is provided a method of driving a drive circuit including: a first line and a second line that two different reference voltages are applied to, respectively; a light emitting element that is disposed between the first power line and the second power line, and allows a current to flow therein to emit a light; a drive transistor that is disposed between the first power line and the second power line, and controls the amount of current flowing into the light emitting element; a first capacitor that is electrically connected between a gate and one of a source and a drain of the drive transistor; a second capacitor that is electrically connected between the gate and the other of the source and the drain of the drive transistor; a first switching element that is electrically connected between the gate of the drive transistor and a signal line; and a second switching element that is disposed between the first power line and the second power line, wherein the drive transistor , the second switching element, and the light emitting element are connected in series, wherein the second switching element is in an on-state when the signal writing period starts, wherein the first switching element turns on, and applies a signal voltage to be applied to the signal line to the gate of the drive transistor during the signal writing period, wherein the second switching element turns off a given time after the signal writing period starts, and wherein the first switching element turns off, and the second switching element turns on in response to a light emitting period.
According to the present invention, there is provided a drive circuit for light emitting elements small in the number of components which can correct a threshold voltage of a drive transistor.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described specifically and in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In all of the drawings for describing the embodiments, members having the same function are denoted by identical symbols, and a repetitive description will be omitted. Also, the drawings described below illustrate the embodiments, and sizes in the drawings do not always match scale sizes described in this embodiment.
SIG and the first control lines φ1 (second control lines φ2), a signal line drive circuit XDV, and a scanning line driver circuit YDV. The signal lines SIG are connected to the signal line drive circuit XDV at upper ends thereof. The first control lines φ1 and the second control lines φ2 are connected to the scanning line driver circuit YDV. The plurality of pixel circuits PC configure a display area DP. The signal line drive circuit XDV and the scanning line driver circuit YDV drive the respective pixel circuits PC in conjunction with each other.
A voltage source PS supplies a first reference voltage VD to a first power line connected to the voltage source PS, and the first power line is connected to the respective pixel circuits PC. Also, a second power line connected to a ground voltage GND is maintained at a second reference voltage VS, and the second power line is connected to the respective pixel circuits PC. That is, in the first embodiment, the second reference voltage VS is the ground voltage, and the first reference voltage VD is higher than the ground voltage. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. Also,
A gate of the transistor NT3 is connected to the second control lines φ2.
NT3 is maintained in an on-state. Also, the node N1 is maintained at a voltage Vap before writing, and the node N2 is maintained at a voltage V1p. At the time t3 when the signal writing period starts, the voltage of the first control lines φ1 changes from the low voltage VL to the high voltage VH which is the on-state voltage. With this change, the transistor NT2 turns on. At the time t3, the transistor NT3 is in the on-state. Also, at the time t3, the signal voltage Va corresponding to the display data which is displayed by the organic EL element OLED in a subsequent light emitting period is applied to the signal line SIG. Hence, the gate of the transistor NT1 (node N1) is connected to the signal line SIG maintained at the signal voltage Va through the transistor NT2 which is in the on-state. The two capacitors C1 and C2 are charged or discharged, and the node N1 changes from the voltage Vap to the signal voltage Va. That is, the signal voltage Va to be applied to the signal line SIG is applied to the gate of the transistor NT1. Since the second control line φ2 is maintained at the high voltage VH, the transistor NT3 is maintained in the on-state, and the node N2 is maintained at the voltage V. In this situation, if the voltage of the source of the transistor NT1 (node N2) is higher than a diode threshold voltage of the organic EL element OLED, a current that flows in the transistor NT1 also flows into the organic EL element OLED in correspondence with the voltage (signal voltage Va) of the node N1 to emit a light.
At a time is which is a time between the time t3 and the time t4, that is, a time after a given time elapses from the time t3, the voltage of the second control lines φ2 changes from the high voltage VH (on-state voltage) to the low voltage V (off-state voltage), the transistor NT3 turns off, and a current supply to the organic EL element OLED stops. Then, the two capacitors C1 and C2 are charged or discharged, the voltage at the node N2 rises from the voltage V1p to a voltage (Va-Vth), and the transistor NT1 turns off.
At the time t4 when the light emitting period starts, the voltage of the first control lines (pi changes from the high voltage VH (on-state voltage) to the low voltage VL (off-state voltage), and the voltage of the second control lines φ2 changes from the low voltage VL (off-state voltage) to the high voltage VH (on-state voltage). With those changes, the transistor NT2 turns off, and the transistor NT3 turns on. When the transistor NT2 becomes in the off-state, the node N1 becomes a floating node, and the node N2 is connected to an anode (node N3) of the organic EL element OLED. In this situation, if the voltage at the node N2 is higher than the diode threshold voltage of the organic EL element OLED, a current flows into the organic EL element OLED, and the voltage at the node N2 drops to a voltage V1. In this situation, with a change in the voltage at the node N2, the voltage at the node N1 changes through the capacitor C2. When it is assumed that the changed voltage at the node N1 is Va1, the voltage Va1 is applied to the gate of the transistor NT1 in the light emitting period. Since a current corresponding to the voltage Va1 flows in the transistor NT1, and the current flows in the organic EL element OLED, the organic EL element OLED emits the light of a light emission quantity corresponding to the amount of current, for displaying. In this example, a timing at which the first control lines φ1 change from the high voltage VH to the low voltage VL, and a timing at which the second control lines φ2 change from the low voltage VL to the high voltage VH are equal to each other, and set to the time t4. However, the present invention is not limited to the above configuration. If it takes time to stably change the transistor NT2 from the on-state to the off-state, the first control lines φ1 change from the high voltage VH to the low voltage VL, and the transistor NT2 sufficiently becomes in the off-state. Thereafter, the second control lines φ2 may change from the low voltage VL to the high voltage VH. When the transistor NT3 becomes in the on-state, a current flows into the organic EL element OLED to start the light emitting period. Also, in the drive for allowing the organic EL elements OLED of the plural pixel circuits PC provided in the display area DP to start the light emission at the same time, the plurality of second control lines φ2 may change from the low voltage VL to the high voltage VH at the same time.
The advantages obtained by the drive circuit according to the first embodiment will be described below. In this example, the voltage Va1 at the node N1 is represented by an Equation 1 described below.
V
a1
−V
a−(Va−Vth)×{C2/(C1+C2)}
Equation 1 is rearranged into Equation 2 described below.
V
a1
−V
a
×{C1/(C1+C2)}+Vth×{C2/(C1+C2)}
Equation 2 obtains two advantages described below by the drive circuit according to the first embodiment. A first advantage resides in that the signal voltage Va is compressed to {C1/(C1+C2)} times. When the display device is subjected to higher definition, and an area that can be occupied by each of the pixel circuits is reduced, an element size of the transistor NT1 which is the drive transistor has to be reduced (a channel length 1 has to be shortened) . In this case, since a current efficiency for a voltage change rises, an available signal voltage range is reduced. With this reduction, when the range of the signal voltage supplied from the external (signal line drive circuit XDV) is reduced, since gradation voltages corresponding to the number of gradations are allocated to the range, a difference in voltage between the adjacent gradation values is reduced, and a gradation expression becomes difficult. However, in the present invention, a significance that the range of the signal voltage applied from the external can increase is created. For example, when two capacitors are equal to each other (C1=C2), an effective gate voltage of the transistor NT1 is a half (½ times) of the signal voltage Va.
A second advantage resides in that the threshold voltage Vth is corrected by a ratio of {C2/(C1+C2)}. In the drive circuit according to the first embodiment, the threshold voltage Vth cannot be completely corrected. However, the threshold voltage Vth can be corrected at a given ratio, unlike the drive circuit in the related art illustrated in
The two capacitors C1 and C2 can be determined from the viewpoints of the first advantage and the second advantage. That is, when an increase in the range of the signal voltage, which is the first advantage, is prioritized, the capacitor C1 may be set to be larger than the capacitor C2. Also, when a correction to the threshold voltage Vth, which is the second advantage, is prioritized, the capacitor C2 may be set to be larger than the capacitor C1. In fact, it is desirable that both of the first advantage and the second advantage are obtained with a good balance, and it is desirable that the capacitor C1 is substantially equal to the capacitor C2. In the present specification, “substantially equal” means that a difference between the capacitor C1 and the capacitor C2 falls within ±10% of the capacitor C2 (or the capacitor C1), and it is more desirable that the capacitor C1 is equal to the capacitor C2.
A display device according to a second embodiment of the present invention is identical in structure with the display device of the first embodiment except for a difference in the configuration of the drive circuit of the light emitting element. Also, the same is applied to the drive method for the light emitting element.
In a light emitting period, the transistor NT2 is in the off-state, and the node N1 represents a floating node. On the other hand, since the voltage to be applied to the signal lines SIG changes according to the display data of the corresponding pixel circuit PC, a leakage current has the potential to flow into the transistor NT2. When the leakage current flows in the transistor NT2, since a voltage at the node N1 (the gate of the transistor NT1) changes, a display quality is degraded. In particular, when the transistor NT2 is formed of a low-temperature polysilicon TFT, the leakage current is problematic. In the drive circuit according to the second embodiment, the first switching element is configured by the transistor having the double-gate structure, to thereby suppress the leakage current during the light emitting period. As a result, the stabilization of the gate voltage of the transistor NT1 can be realized, and an image failure such as smear can be reduced.
The drive circuit, the display device, and the drive method according to the embodiment of the present invention have been described above. In this embodiment, three transistors provided in the drive circuit are each configured by the n-type MOS-TFT (having a common polarity) , but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, a part or all of the three transistors provided in the drive circuit may be configured by a p-type MOS-TFT, or may be configured by another element.
When the drive transistors are each configured by the p-type MOS-TFT, the drain and the source of the drive transistor are located on the second reference voltage VS side and the first reference voltage VD side, respectively. Hence, the arrangement of the first capacitor and the second capacitor is also turned upside down with the arrangement illustrated in
Also, when the first switching element (second switching element) is configured by the p-type MOS-TFT, the on-state voltage becomes the low voltage VL, and the off-state voltage becomes the high voltage VH. Hence, the voltage applied to the first control line φ1 (the second control line φ2) is opposite in phase to the voltage illustrated in
In the embodiments, the organic EL element OLED has been described as an example of the light emitting element. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, but the drive circuit can be extensively applied to the drive circuit for the light emitting element having the light emission quantity controlled according to the amount of current flowing therein. The drive circuit according to the present invention is provided in the display device, to thereby realize the downsized display device meeting the high definition. However, the drive circuit according to the present invention can be applied to other devices without being limited to the display devices.
While there have been described what are at present considered to be certain embodiments of the invention, it will be understood that various modifications may be made thereto, and it is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2013-156170 | Jul 2013 | JP | national |