This Non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 109144349 filed in Taiwan, Republic of China on Dec. 15, 2020, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a sub-pixel circuit and, in particular, to a micro light-emitting diode (LED) display device and a sub-pixel circuit thereof.
When the world is paying attention to future display technologies, the micro LED is one of the most promising technologies. In brief, the micro LED is a technology combining miniaturizing and re-arranging of LEDs, thereby placing millions or even tens of millions of dies, which are smaller than 100 microns and thinner than a hair, on a substrate. Compared with the current OLED (organic LED) display technology, the micro LED is also self-luminous, but it does not have the most deadly “screen burn-in” problem of OLED due to the different materials used. In addition, the micro LED further has the advantages of low power consumption, high contrast, wide color gamut, high brightness, small size, thin, light weight, energy saving, etc. Therefore, major manufacturers around the world are scrambling to invest in the research and development of micro LED technology.
In the micro LED display device, since the micro LEDs of each sub-pixel have very small dimensions, the driving circuits thereof are correspondingly very fine. When the micro LEDs of some sub-pixels are abnormal (damaged or malfunctioned) to affect the brightness, the conventional repair technology is to modify the circuits of the abnormal sub-pixels in the post-process, such as the process of cutting the redundant circuits by laser, or the process of establishing new connection after an insulation step. However, for all of the conventional post-processes, the repairing of the sub-pixel circuits of the micro LED display device is very difficult, and it is not beneficial to the mass production.
In view of the foregoing, this disclosure is to provide a micro LED display device and a sub-pixel circuit thereof, which can repair the micro LEDs of the abnormal sub-pixels without utilizing the convention post-process to modify the sub-pixel circuits.
To achieve the above, a sub-pixel circuit of a micro LED display device of this disclosure comprises a switch unit, a selection driving unit, and a light-emitting unit. The switch unit receives a data signal. The selection driving unit is electrically connected to the switch unit, and the selection driving unit is further electrically connected to a first voltage. The light-emitting unit comprises two micro LEDs. The two micro LEDs are electrically connected to the selection driving unit individually. Each LED comprises a first end and a second end. The first ends of the micro LEDs are electrically connected to the selection driving unit, and the second ends of the micro LEDs are electrically connected to a second voltage. The selection driving unit selects one of the micro LEDs to emit light according to the data signal transmitted through the switch unit.
To achieve the above, a micro LED display device of this disclosure comprises a display panel, and the display panel comprises a plurality of sub-pixels. The sub-pixels are arranged in an array including rows and columns, and each of the sub-pixels comprises a sub-pixel circuit. The sub-pixel circuit comprises a switch unit, a selection driving unit and a light-emitting unit. The switch unit receives a data signal. The selection driving unit is electrically connected to the switch unit, and the selection driving unit is further electrically connected to a first voltage. The light-emitting unit comprising two micro LEDs, which are electrically connected to the selection driving unit individually. Each of the LEDs comprises a first end and a second end. The first ends of the micro LEDs are electrically connected to the selection driving unit, and the second ends of the micro LEDs are electrically connected to a second voltage. The selection driving unit selects one of the micro LEDs to emit light according to the data signal transmitted through the switch unit.
In one embodiment, the selection driving unit comprises two driving transistors, which are disposed corresponding to and connected to the micro LEDs, respectively. The selection driving unit selects to conduct one of the driving transistor according to the data signal so as to drive the micro LED connected to the conducted driving transistor to emit light.
In one embodiment, the two driving transistors of the selection driving unit comprises a P-type transistor and an N-type transistor.
In one embodiment, each of the driving transistors comprises a control end, a first end and a second end. The control ends of the driving transistors are connected to each other and electrically connected to the switch unit, the first ends of the driving transistors are electrically connected to the first voltage, and the second ends of the driving transistors are electrically connected to the first ends of the micro LEDs, respectively.
In one embodiment, the switch unit comprises a switch transistor, wherein a control end of the switch transistor is connected to a scan line for receiving a scan signal, a first end of the switch transistor is connected to a data line for receiving the data signal, and a second end of the switch transistor is connected to the control ends of the driving transistors.
In one embodiment, the sub-pixel circuit further comprises a reset unit, which comprises at least a reset transistor. A first end of the reset transistor is connected to the control ends of the driving transistors, and a second end of the reset transistor is electrically connected to a reset voltage.
In one embodiment, the sub-pixel circuit further comprises an enable unit, which comprises a first enable transistor and a second enable transistor. Each of the first enable transistor and the second enable transistor comprises a control end, a first end and a second end. The control ends of the first enable transistor and the second enable transistor are connected to each other and receive an enable signal. The first end of the first enable transistor is electrically connected to the first voltage, and the second end of the first enable transistor is connected to the first ends of the driving transistors. The first end of the second enable transistor is connected to the second ends of the micro LEDs, and the second end of the second enable transistor is electrically connected to the second voltage.
In one embodiment, when the enable signal conducts the first enable transistor and the second enable transistor, the micro LED connected to the conducted driving transistor emits light.
As mentioned above, in the micro LED display device and the sub-pixel circuit thereof of this disclosure, the selection driving unit is electrically connected to the first voltage, the first ends of two micro LEDs of the light-emitting unit are connected to the selection driving unit, the second ends of the micro LEDs are electrically connected to the second voltage, and the selection driving unit selects one of the micro LEDs to emit light according to the data signal transmitted through the switch unit. Based on the circuit design of this disclosure, the micro LEDs of the abnormal sub-pixels can be repaired without utilizing the convention post-process to modify the sub-pixel circuits.
The disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description and accompanying drawings, which are given for illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present disclosure, and wherein:
The present disclosure will be apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same references relate to the same elements.
To be noted, if the micro LED display device is a monochromatic display device, each “sub-pixel circuit” of this disclosure can be one “pixel circuit”; if the micro LED display device is a color display device, three or more “sub-pixel circuits” of this disclosure can be together form one “pixel circuit”.
The display panel 11 is a micro LED display panel. When the micro LEDs of the display panel 11 are driven or turned on, the display panel 11 can display an image. The display panel 11 comprises a plurality of sub-pixels P11˜Pmn, which are arranged in an array (rows and columns). In this embodiment, each of the sub-pixels P11˜Pmn comprises a sub-pixel circuit (see
The data driving circuit 12 is disposed adjacent to the display panel 11 and is electrically connected to the display panel 11. In this embodiment, the micro LED display device 1 further comprises a plurality of data lines D1˜Dn, and the data driving circuit 12 is electrically connected to the display panel 11 through the data lines D1˜Dn. Accordingly, the data driving circuit 12 can output a data signal to the sub-pixels P11˜Pmn of the display panel 11 through the data lines D1˜Dn. In addition, the data driving circuit 12 can further output a first voltage VDD and a second voltage VEE (see
In addition, the micro LED display device 1 can further comprise a plurality of scan lines S1˜Sm, which are disposed adjacent to the display panel 11. The scan driving circuit 13 is electrically connected to the display panel 11 through the scan lines S1˜Sm. Accordingly, the scan driving circuit 13 can sequentially output a scan signal to rows of the sub-pixels through the scan lines S1˜Sm.
In the micro LED display device 1 of this embodiment, when the scan driving circuit 13 outputs the scan signal through the scan lines S1˜Sm to sequentially conduct the rows of sub-pixels, the data driving circuit 12 can transmit the corresponding data signals to the sub-pixels P11˜Pmn through the data lines D1˜Dn. In addition, the data driving circuit 12 can also output the first voltage VDD and the second voltage VEE to the sub-pixels P11˜Pmn of the display panel 11, thereby driving or turning on the micro LEDs of the sub-pixels P11˜Pmn so as to enable the display device 1 to display an image.
The process for repairing the micro LED of the abnormal sub-pixel in the micro LED display device of the above embodiment will be described in detail with reference to
To be noted, the reference numbers S1, S2 and S3 shown in
As shown in
The switch unit 21 can be controlled and conducted by a scan signal Si for receiving a data signal Dj. In this embodiment, the switch unit 21 comprises a switch transistor 211, wherein a control end of the switch transistor 211 is connected to a scan line for receiving a scan signal Si, a first end of the switch transistor 211 is connected to a data line for receiving the data signal Dj, and a second end of the switch transistor 211 is electrically connected to the selection driving unit 22. In this embodiment, the switch transistor 211 is an P-type transistor, such as, for example but not limited to, a MOSFET. Those skilled in the art should understand that the switch transistor 211 can also be a N-type transistor.
The selection driving unit 22 is electrically connected to the switch unit 21, and the selection driving unit 22 is further electrically connected to the first voltage VDD. In this embodiment, the selection driving unit 22 comprises two driving transistors 221 and 222, which are electrically connected to the switch unit 21 individually, and are further electrically connected to the first voltage VDD. The driving transistor 221 or 222 is functioned as the driving element of the light-emitting unit 23, and each of the driving transistors 221 and 222 has a control end, a first end and a second end. The control ends of the driving transistors 221 and 222 are connected to each other, and connected to the second end of the switch transistor 211. The control ends of the driving transistors 221 and 222 are connected to the first voltage VDD through the capacitor C0, the first ends of the driving transistors 221 and 222 are electrically connected to the first voltage VDD, and the second ends of the driving transistors 221 and 222 are connected to the corresponding light-emitting units 23. In this embodiment, the driving transistor 221 is a P-type transistor, and the driving transistor 222 is an N-type transistor. Of course, in other embodiments, the driving transistor 221 can be an N-type transistor, and the driving transistor 222 can be a P-type transistor. Since the control ends of the P-type driving transistor 221 and the N-type driving transistor 222 are both connected to the second end of the switch transistor 211, and only one of the driving transistors 221, 222 will be turned on by data signal Dj. It means that the N-type driving transistor 222 will be not turned on when the P-type driving transistor 221 is conducted due to negative bias of the data signal Dj. Otherwise, the P-type driving transistor 221 will be not turned on when the P-type driving transistor 222 is conducted due to positive bias of the data signal Dj.
The light-emitting unit 23 comprises two micro LEDs 231 and 232, and each of the micro LEDs 231 and 232 is electrically connected to the selection driving unit 22. In this embodiment, the driving transistors 221 and 222 of the selection driving unit 22 are disposed corresponding to the micro LEDs 231 and 232, respectively. Each of the micro LEDs 231 and 232 has a first end and a second end. The first ends of the micro LEDs 231 and 232 are disposed corresponding to and connected to the driving transistors 221 and 222 of the selection driving unit 22, respectively, and the second ends thereof are electrically connected to the second voltage VEE. Specifically, the first end of the micro LED 231 is connected to the second end of the driving transistor 221, and the first end of the micro LED 232 is connected to the second end of the driving transistor 222. Accordingly, the selection driving unit 22 can control one of the micro LEDs 231 and 232 to emit light according to the data signal Dj transmitted through the switch unit 21. In other words, the selection driving unit 22 can select to conduct one of the driving transistors 221 and 222 according to the data signal Dj transmitted through the switch unit 21, thereby enabling the micro LED 231 or 232, which is connected to the conducted driving transistor, to emit light.
In more detailed, in this embodiment, when the switch transistor 211 is conducted based on the scan signal Si transmitted through the scan line, the data signal Dj can be transmitted to the control ends of the driving transistors 221 and 222 of the selection driving unit 22 through the data line and the switch transistor 211. Then, either the driving transistor 221 or the driving transistor 222 can be conducted based on the data signal Dj. For example, when the data signal Dj is in the low level (0, or negative bias), the driving transistor 221 can be conducted, so that the first voltage VDD can be transmitted to the corresponding connected micro LED 231 through the driving transistor 221, thereby forming the voltage difference between two ends of the micro LED 231 so as to drive the micro LED 231 to emit. Meanwhile, the micro LED 232 is not turned on. In addition, when the data signal is Dj is in the high level (1, or positive bias), the driving transistor 222 can be conducted, so that the first voltage VDD can be transmitted to the corresponding connected micro LED 232 through the driving transistor 222, thereby forming the voltage difference between two ends of the micro LED 232 so as to drive the micro LED 232. Meanwhile, the micro LED 231 is not turned on.
Accordingly, after the inspection-process of the finished micro LED display device 1 (e.g. the micro LED 232) and finding out the abnormal micro LED(s) of one (or some) of the sub-pixels (cannot be turned on), the micro LED display device 1 can be repaired by switching to turn on the other LED(s) of one (or some) of the sub-pixels. For example, when the micro LED 232, which is connected to the driving transistor 222 of the selection driving unit 22, is not turned on, the data signal Dj transmitted to this sub-pixel is used to select to conduct the other driving transistor (e.g. the driving transistor 221), thereby turning on the other micro LED (e.g. the micro LED 231) connected to the currently conducted driving transistor (e.g. the driving transistor 221). As a result, the micro LED display device 1 of this disclosure can achieve the repairing of the micro LED of the abnormal sub-pixel(s) without the post-process of modifying the sub-pixel (sub-pixel circuit).
For example, as shown in
However, as shown in
In addition, when the scan signal S2 transmitted from the scan line conducts the switch transistors 211 of the second row of sub-pixels P21, P22, P23, the data signals D1, D2, D3 transmitted from the data lines are changed to a high level (1), a high level (1), and a low level (0), thereby correspondingly conducting the N-type transistor (the driving transistor 222) of the sub-pixel P21, the N-type transistor (the driving transistor 222) of the sub-pixel P22, and the P-type transistor (the driving transistor 221) of the sub-pixel P23. Accordingly, the micro LED 232 of the sub-pixel P21, the micro LED 232 of the sub-pixel P22, and the micro LED 231 of the sub-pixel P23 are turned on, thereby repairing the abnormal sub-pixel P23.
Moreover, when the scan signal S3 transmitted from the scan line conducts the switch transistors 211 of the third row of sub-pixels P31, P32, P33, the data signals D1, D2, D3 transmitted from the data lines are changed to a high level (1), a high level (1), and a low level (0), thereby correspondingly conducting the N-type transistor (the driving transistor 222) of the sub-pixel P31, the N-type transistor (the driving transistor 222) of the sub-pixel P32, and the P-type transistor (the driving transistor 221) of the sub-pixel P33. Accordingly, the micro LED 232 of the sub-pixel P31, the micro LED 232 of the sub-pixel P32, and the micro LED 231 of the sub-pixel P33 are turned on, thereby repairing the abnormal sub-pixel P33.
As mentioned above, this disclosure does not utilize the conventional post-process to modify the sub-pixel circuit of the abnormal sub-pixel for repairing, but provides the proper data signals to the abnormal sub-pixel for controlling the selection driving unit 22 to select so as to repair the abnormal sub-pixel of the micro LED display device.
As shown in
The reset unit 24 comprises at least one reset transistor 241. The first end of the reset transistor 241 is connected to the control ends of the driving transistors 221 and 222, and the second end of the reset transistor 241 is electrically connected to a reset voltage Vint. The control end of the reset transistor 241 is connected to a previous scan signal Si-1, so that the reset transistor 241 can be controlled by the scan signal Si-1. In this embodiment, the reset voltage Vint can be, for example but not limited to, a ground voltage (0V). In addition, the reset transistor 241 of this embodiment is, for example, an N-type transistor, but this disclosure is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the reset transistor 241 can be a P-type transistor. In some embodiments, the sub-pixel Pij′ may comprise two reset transistors 241, which can be two N-type transistors, two P-type transistors, or one N-type transistor and one P-type transistor, and this disclosure is not limited.
As shown in
Referring to
As shown in
To be noted, the other technical contents of the sub-pixel Pij′ can be referred to the same components of the above-mentioned sub-pixel Pij, so the detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.
As shown in
To be noted, the other technical contents of the sub-pixel Pij″ can be referred to the same components of the above-mentioned sub-pixel Pij or Pij′, so the detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.
In summary, in the micro LED display device and the sub-pixel circuit thereof of this disclosure, the selection driving unit is electrically connected to the first voltage, the first ends of two micro LEDs of the light-emitting unit are connected to the selection driving unit, the second ends of the micro LEDs are electrically connected to the second voltage, and the selection driving unit selects one of the micro LEDs to emit light according to the data signal transmitted through the switch unit. Based on the circuit design of this disclosure, the micro LEDs of the abnormal sub-pixels can be repaired without utilizing the convention post-process to modify the sub-pixel circuits.
Although the disclosure has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover all modifications that fall within the true scope of the disclosure.
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109144349 | Dec 2020 | TW | national |
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