Patent Application
20250147352
The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202311467584.9, filed Nov. 7, 2023, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to the field of display technologies, and in particular to a flexible array substrate and a flexible display panel.
Flexible display panels, as a new form of flexible and stretchable products, have attracted widespread attention from consumers, because their variable display size may be applied in multiple practical scenarios. Usually, a light-emitting layer of an organic light emitting diode (OLED) is composed of thin films with RGB three light-emitting colors. In the process of preparing the light-emitting films with three colors, it is necessary to use a substrate's barrier (isolation column) for printing patterning technology. In recent years, based on display technologies such as OLED, LCD (liquid crystal display), Min LED, or the like, and by forming components such as display pixel units, connecting wires, light-emitting units and the like on a flexible substrate made of organic materials, a flexible display panel that may stretch/contract in specific directions and change to a fixed shape is formed.
For stretchable display products, the existing flexible display panel increases distances between pixels in the display area and decreases resolution when stretched, resulting in an increase in the graininess of the displayed image of the stretched flexible display panel and a decrease in the user experience.
A technical solution in the present disclosure is to provide a flexible array substrate. The flexible array substrate includes a plurality of pixel island areas, a plurality of flexible areas, and a plurality of isolation structures. The plurality of pixel island areas are sequentially arranged. Each of the plurality of flexible areas is disposed between adjacent two of the plurality of pixel island areas.
Each of the plurality of isolation structures covers a corresponding one of the plurality of flexible areas, edges of each of the plurality of isolation structures extend out of the corresponding one of the plurality of flexible areas, and an upper surface of each of the plurality of isolation structures defines a groove.
Each of the plurality of flexible areas includes an elastic packaging part.
The elastic packaging part is disposed in the groove and includes a light reflective material body.
The light reflective material body is configured for pixel compensation.
In some embodiments, each of the plurality of pixel island areas includes a driving substrate, a pixel definition layer, and a plurality of sub-pixels.
The pixel definition layer is disposed on the driving substrate, the pixel definition layer protrudes from the driving substrate to form a pixel accommodation area.
The plurality of sub-pixels are disposed in the pixel accommodation area, each of the plurality of sub-pixels includes an anode, a light-emitting layer, and a cathode stacked on each other, and two ends of the anode are at least partially wrapped by the pixel definition layer.
A part of each of the plurality of isolation structures is disposed on a side of a corresponding pixel definition layer away from a corresponding driving substrate.
In some embodiments, each of the plurality of flexible areas further includes an elastic substrate and an opaque material layer.
The elastic substrate is disposed between adjacent driving substrates.
The opaque material layer is disposed on the elastic substrate and between adjacent pixel definition layers.
A part of each of the plurality of isolation structures is disposed on a side of a corresponding opaque material layer away from a corresponding elastic substrate.
In some embodiments, a material of the opaque material layer is the same as that of the pixel definition layer.
In some embodiments, the opaque material layer is an elastic opaque material layer.
In some embodiments, each of the plurality of isolation structures includes a conductive metal layer and an isolation column sequentially stacked.
The conductive metal layer covers a corresponding one of the plurality of flexible areas, and edges of the conductive metal layer extend out of the corresponding one of the plurality of flexible areas, and the isolation column is disposed on an upper surface of the conductive metal layer.
In some embodiments, each of the edges of each of the plurality of isolation structures extending out of the corresponding one of the plurality of flexible areas is an irregular shape.
A width of the elastic packaging part accounts for 40%-60% of a width of a corresponding one of the plurality of isolation structures.
In some embodiments, the light reflective material body includes two-color electrophoretic particles.
The two-color electrophoretic particles are encapsulated in the elastic packaging part.
The two-color electrophoretic particles include a plurality of first particles and a plurality of second particles.
An upper surface of the elastic packaging part is provided with a first electrode, and a lower surface of the elastic packaging part is provided with a second electrode.
In some embodiments, colors of the plurality of first particles are the same as a color of any sub-pixel adjacent to each of the plurality of isolation structures, and colors of the plurality of second particles are black.
The first electrode is a transparent electrode, and the second electrode is a light-absorbing electrode, the first electrode and the second electrode are elastic electrodes.
Electrical properties of the plurality of first particles are opposite to those of the plurality of second particles; an electrical property of the first electrode is opposite to that of the second electrode.
In some embodiments, the elastic packaging part has a first state, a second state, a third state, and a fourth state.
The first state is a non-display state, the first electrode has a negative electrical property, and the second electrode has a positive electrical property; and in the first state, the plurality of first particles gather towards the lower surface of the elastic packaging part, and the plurality of second particles gather towards the upper surface of the elastic packaging part.
The second state is a display state, the first electrode has a positive electrical property, and the second electrode has a negative electrical property; and in the second state, the plurality of first particles gather towards the upper surface of the elastic packaging part, and the plurality of second particles gather towards the lower surface of the elastic packaging part.
The third state is to stretch the flexible array substrate on the basis of the first state, and the elastic packaging part, the first electrode, and the second electrode are stretched; and in the third state, the plurality of first particles gather towards a position where the second electrode is located, and the plurality of second particles gather towards a position where the first electrode is located, so that the plurality of first particles cover a surface of the second electrode, and the plurality of second particles cover a surface of the first electrode.
The fourth state is to stretch the flexible array substrate on the basis of the second state, and the elastic packaging part, the first electrode, and the second electrode are stretched; and in the fourth state, the plurality of first particles gather towards the position where the first electrode is located, and the plurality of second particles gather towards the position where the second electrode is located, so that the plurality of first particles cover the surface of the first electrode, and the plurality of second particles cover the surface of the second electrode.
In some embodiments, the light reflective material body includes a plurality of cholesteric microcapsules.
The plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals are encapsulated in each of the plurality of cholesteric microcapsules, and the plurality of cholesteric microcapsules are of the same type or are divided into two different types.
An upper surface of the elastic packaging part is provided with a first electrode, and a lower surface of the elastic packaging part is provided with a second electrode, and colors of the plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals encapsulated in each of the plurality of cholesteric microcapsules are the same as a color of an adjacent sub-pixel.
In some embodiments, the first electrode is a transparent electrode, the second electrode is a light-absorbing electrode, and the first electrode and the second electrode are elastic electrodes.
The plurality of cholesteric microcapsules with two different types and located in the elastic packaging part share the same second electrode, and an electrical property of the first electrode is opposite to that of the second electrode.
In some embodiments, the elastic packaging part has a fifth state, a sixth state, and a seventh state.
The fifth state is a non-display state, the first electrode and the second electrode do not provide a voltage; and in the fifth state, ambient light that reaches the plurality of cholesteric microcapsules from the light-emitting layer is absorbed by the plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals and is not reflected.
The sixth state is a display state, the first electrode and the second electrode respectively provide the voltage to the plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals; and in the sixth state, the ambient light that reaches the plurality of cholesteric microcapsules under the action of an electric field is reflected by the plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals, thereby resulting in color development.
The seventh state is to stretch the flexible array substrate on the basis of the sixth state, and the elastic packaging part, the first electrode, and the second electrode are stretched; and in the seventh state, the plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals gather towards a position where the first electrode is located, so that the plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals cover surfaces of the plurality of cholesteric microcapsules towards the first electrode.
Another technical solution in the present disclosure is to provide a flexible display panel. The flexible display panel includes the flexible array substrate, a light sensor, a light supplement component, and a controller.
The flexible array substrate is any flexible array substrate of above embodiments.
The light sensor is configured to detect intensity of light.
The light supplement component is connected to the flexible array substrate and configured for supplementing light to the flexible array substrate.
The controller is configured for controlling the light sensor and the light compensation component.
In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in some embodiments of the present disclosure, hereinafter, a brief introduction will be given to the accompanying drawings that are used in the description of some embodiments. Obviously, the accompanying drawings in the description below are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other accompanying drawings may be obtained based on these accompanying drawings without any creative efforts.
The technical solutions in some embodiments of the present disclosure may be clearly and completely described in conjunction with accompanying drawings in some embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort are within the scope of the present disclosure.
In the following description, specific details such as specific system structures, interfaces, technologies, etc. are proposed for the purpose of illustration rather than limitation, so as to fully understand the present disclosure.
The terms “first”, “second”, and “third” in the present disclosure are only configured to describe purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicit indicating the quantity of technical features indicated. Therefore, features limited to “first”, “second”, and “third” may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of these features. In the description of the present disclosure, “multiple” means at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise expressly and specifically qualified. All directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, rear, or the like) in some embodiments of the present disclosure are only configured to explain a relative position relationship between components in a specific posture (as shown in the accompanying drawings), a motion situation between the components in the specific posture (as shown in the accompanying drawings), or the like. If the specific posture is changed, the directional indication is also changed accordingly. In addition, the terms “including”, “comprising”, and “having”, as well as any variations of the terms “including”, “comprising”, and “having”, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a series of operations or units is not limited to the listed operations or units, but optionally includes operations or units that are not listed, or optionally includes other operations or units that are inherent to these processes, methods, products, or devices.
The reference to “embodiment” in the present disclosure means that, specific features, structures, or characteristics described in conjunction with some embodiments may be included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. The phrase appearing in various positions in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor is it an independent or alternative embodiment that is mutually exclusive with other embodiments. Those of ordinary skill in the art explicitly and implicitly understand that the embodiments described in the present disclosure may be combined with other embodiments.
The present disclosure may be explained in detail by combining the accompanying drawings and some embodiments.
The present disclosure provides a flexible array substrate and a flexible display panel, mainly configured to solve technical problems of the existing flexible array substrate being stretched, resulting in a decrease in resolution, an increase in the graininess of the displayed image, and a deterioration of the user experience.
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In some embodiments, a width of the elastic packaging part 20 accounts for 40%-60% of a width of the isolation structure 10. That is, the width of a part of the isolation structure 10 in each pixel island area accounts for 20%-30% of the width of entire isolation structure 10. The elastic packaging part 20, including the light reflective material body, may achieve pixel compensation effect during stretching. In theory, the wider the width of the elastic packaging part 20, the better. However, the isolation structure 10 in each pixel island area also needs to have tensile strength, thus the isolation structure 10 in each pixel island area should also have a certain width.
In some embodiments, the pixel island area further includes a driving substrate 30, a pixel definition layer 40, and a plurality of sub-pixels 50. The driving substrate 30 is configured to drive the sub-pixels 50 for emitting light. The pixel definition layer 40 is disposed on the driving substrate 30. The pixel definition layer 40 protrudes from the driving substrate 30, so as to form a pixel accommodating area (not shown in the figures). The sub-pixels 50 are disposed in the pixel accommodating area. A part of the isolation structure 10 is disposed on a side of the pixel definition layer 40 away from the driving substrate 30.
In some embodiments, the pixel definition layer 40 is an insulation layer. The pixel definition layer 40 may be a single-layer structure composed of one insulating material or a single-layer structure composed of two or more insulating materials. The pixel definition layer 40 may also be a multi-layer structure composed of two or more inorganic insulation materials, which is not limited in the present disclosure.
In some embodiments, each sub-pixel 50 includes an anode 51, a light-emitting layer 52, and a cathode 53 that are stacked on each other. At least part of two ends of the anode 51 are wrapped by the pixel definition layer 40. The light-emitting layer 52 is located on a side of the anode 51 away from the driving substrate 30. The cathode 53 is located on a side of the light-emitting layer 52 away from the driving substrate 30, and is in contact with and conductive to a part of the isolation structure 10. The anode 51 and the cathode 53 are configured to control the light-emitting layer 52 of each sub-pixel 50 for emitting light. The plurality of sub-pixels 50 are multiple, and each of the plurality of sub-pixels 50 is one pixel corresponding to one kind of color. The pixel accommodating areas are multiple, and a single pixel accommodating area is configured for accommodating at least one sub-pixel 50. Arrangement of the sub-pixels 50 is not limited in the present disclosure. In following embodiments of the present disclosure, two adjacent sub-pixels 50 are mainly taken as an example for explanation. In some embodiments, one pixel accommodating area is configured to accommodate one sub-pixel 50.
In some embodiments, the flexible area further includes an elastic substrate 60 and an opaque material layer 70. The elastic substrate 60 is disposed between adjacent driving substrates 30, and may be used as a stretching compensation during stretching the flexible array substrate 100, resulting in better stretchability of the flexible array substrate 100. The opaque material layer 70 is disposed on the elastic substrate 60 and is located between two adjacent pixel definition layers 40. In some embodiments, a material of the opaque material layer 70 may be the same as that of the pixel definition layer 40, and/or, the opaque material layer 70 is an elastic opaque material layer 70. The opaque material layer 70 may be made of the same material as the pixel definition layer 40, that is, the opaque material layer 70 in the flexible area is the pixel definition layer 40. The opaque material layer 70 may further be the elastic opaque material layer 70, and the elastic opaque material layer 70 may further also serve as the stretching compensation during stretching the flexible array substrate 100, making the stretchability of the flexible array substrate 100 better. The opaque material layer 70 is opaque and may not cause color mixing. In some embodiments, the opaque material layer 70 being the elastic opaque material layer 70 is mainly taken as an example. In some embodiments, the elastic substrate 60 may be made of polyimide (PI) or other flexible materials, and a thickness of the elastic substrate 60 is the same as that of the driving substrate 30.
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The elastic packaging part 20 includes the two-color electrophoretic particles 21 composed of the plurality of first particles 21A and the plurality of second particles 21B. The plurality of first particles 21A and the plurality of second particles 21B are two types of nanoscale spherical particles with different electrical properties. In some embodiments, during stretching the flexible array substrate 100, the first electrode 22 and the second electrode 23 may extend and be restored to their original state along with the elastic packaging part 20. Because the upper surface of the elastic packaging part 20 needs to maintain a function of light transmission, the first electrode 22 is the transparent electrode. The lower surface of the elastic packaging part 20 needs to prevent color mixing between the sub-pixels 50, thus, the second electrode 23 is the light-absorbing electrode. In some embodiments, the second electrode 23 is a black light-absorbing electrode.
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The third state is a state and a simple representation after stretching in the first state, and the fourth state is a state and a simple representation after stretching in the second state. The third state and the fourth state do not change the electric field applied in the original state of the first state, and do not change the electric field applied in the original state of the second state. The third state and the fourth state are only intended to illustrate that in response to the flexible array substrate 100 in some embodiments of the present disclosure being in the maximum stretching state, the plurality of first particles 21A and the plurality of second particles 21B may cover entire surface of the first electrode 22 close to the elastic packaging part 20 and cover entire surface of the second electrode 23 close to the elastic packaging part 20, so as to achieve the pixel compensation.
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In some embodiments, an area and a shape of each cholesteric microcapsule 24 may be adjusted when viewed from above. Each cholesteric microcapsule 24 may be encapsulated and fixed using organic materials, and entire cholesteric microcapsule 24 is in a film form. A plurality of connection holes are defined between different cholesteric microcapsules by using a laser. In some embodiments, by changing magnitude of a voltage applied to the first electrode 22 and second electrode 23 of the elastic packaging part 20, the plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals D may exhibit a characteristic of reflecting the red light. In response to the plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals D are required to not reflect the red light, the incident light may be absorbed by the bottom of each cholesteric microcapsule 24. The plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals D inside each cholesteric microcapsule 24 may achieve the pixel compensation during stretching the flexible array substrate 100, thereby improving the resolution of the flexible array substrate 100 and achieving better display effects, providing the users with a better product experience. Furthermore, because the elastic packaging part 20 has the elasticity, the elastic packaging part 20 may further increases the stretchability of the flexible array substrate 100.
In some embodiments, the first electrode 22 is the transparent electrode, and the second electrode 23 is the light-absorbing electrode. The first electrode 22 and the second electrode 23 are both elastic electrodes. Because the upper surface of the elastic packaging part 20 needs to maintain the function of light transmission, the first electrode 22 is the transparent electrode. The lower surface of the elastic packaging part 20 needs to prevent color mixing between the sub-pixels 50, thus, the second electrode 23 is the light-absorbing electrode. In some embodiments, the second electrode 23 is the black light-absorbing electrode. In some embodiments, the first electrode 22 and the second electrode 23 may extend and be restored to their original state along with the elastic packaging part 20 during stretching the flexible array substrate 100. The electrical property of the first electrode 22 is opposite to that of the second electrode 23.
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Due to the fact that the plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals D encapsulated in the elastic packaging part 20 reflects light with fixed wavelength and color under different electric fields, the elastic packaging part 20 may have three states under the action of the electric field, namely, a fifth state, a sixth state, and a seventh state.
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During stretching the elastic packaging part 20 in the non-display state, the plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals D of the elastic packaging part 20 do not need the color development in the non-display state. Thus, the first electrode 22 and the second electrode 23 do not provide the voltage. Like the fifth state, the ambient light that reaches the cholesteric microcapsules 24 from the light-emitting layer 52 may also be absorbed by the plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals D and is not reflected.
The seventh state is a state and a simple representation after stretching in the sixth state, and does not change the electric field applied in the original state of the sixth state. The seventh state is only intended to illustrate that in response to the flexible array substrate 100 in some embodiments of the present embodiment being in the maximum stretching state, the plurality of cholesteric liquid crystals D may cover entire surface of the cholesteric microcapsule 24 towards the first electrode 22, so as to achieve the pixel compensation.
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The flexible display panel 1000 may adjust the light intensity of the elastic packaging part 20 according to the intensity of external ambient light, thereby achieving better pixel compensation. Furthermore, the flexible display panel 1000 includes the flexible array substrate 100, thus the elastic packaging part 20 including the light reflective material body may achieve the pixel compensation during stretching the flexible display panel 1000, thereby improving the resolution of the flexible display panel 1000 and achieving better display effects, and providing the users with a better product experience. In addition, the elastic packaging part 20 has the elasticity, thus the elastic packaging part 20 further increases the stretchability of the flexible display panel 1000.
The present disclosure provides a flexible array substrate and a flexible display panel. The flexible array substrate includes a plurality of pixel island areas sequentially arranged, a plurality of flexible areas, and a plurality of isolation structures. Each of the plurality of flexible areas is disposed between adjacent two of the plurality of pixel island areas. Each of the plurality of isolation structures covers a corresponding one of the plurality of flexible areas, edges of each of the plurality of isolation structures extend out of the corresponding one of the plurality of flexible areas, and an upper surface of each of the plurality of isolation structures defines a groove. Each of the plurality of flexible areas includes an elastic packaging part disposed in the groove and including a light reflective material body. The light reflective material body is configured for pixel compensation. The flexible array substrate is provided with the elastic packaging part including the light reflective material body in the groove on the surface of the isolation structure, so that the elastic packaging part including the light reflective material body may achieve pixel compensation during stretching the flexible array substrate, thereby improving resolution of the flexible array substrate and making the flexible array substrate have better display effects, providing users with a better product experience. Furthermore, because the elastic packaging part has elasticity, the elastic packaging part further increases stretchability of the flexible array substrate.
It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the details of the exemplary embodiments mentioned above, and may be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or basic features of the present disclosure. Thus, from any perspective, the embodiments should be regarded as exemplary and non-restrictive. The scope of the present disclosure is limited by the accompanying claims rather than the above description. Thus, it is intended to encompass all variations in the meaning and scope of the same elements of the claims in the present disclosure. Any drawing labels in the claims should not be regarded as limiting the claims involved.
The above descriptions are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Any equivalent structure or equivalent flow transformation made by using the contents of the specification and accompanying drawings of the present disclosure, or directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields, is included in the scope of the patent protection of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202311467584.9 | Nov 2023 | CN | national |
