This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201710335959.4, filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on May 12, 2017 and titled “OLED Display Substrate and Display Device,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to the field of display devices, and more particularly to an OLED display substrate and a display device.
Currently, the common display devices are passive light-emitting display devices and active light-emitting display devices. Compared to passive light-emitting display devices, active light-emitting display devices have advantages of small thickness, low power consumption, and fast response speed, etc., since no backlight is needed. Thus, active light-emitting display devices have greater market competitiveness. Among the active light-emitting display devices, Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display devices are the hot spot of research today for the strong points of wide viewing angle, high contrast and the like.
In an OLED display device, each pixel unit includes three sub-pixel units that emit light of different colors (for example, red, yellow and blue) respectively. The luminous brightness of the three sub-pixel units in the same pixel unit may be controlled such that the pixel unit displays different colors.
The present disclosure provides an OLED display substrate and a display device. The technical solutions are as follows:
In an aspect, there is provided an OLED display substrate in the present disclosure. The OLED display substrate comprises a plurality of pixel units arranged in an array. Each of the pixel units includes a plurality of sub-pixel units. Each of the sub-pixel units includes two light-emitting units arranged in a laminated mode and at most one of the two light-emitting units in the same sub-pixel unit emits light at one moment.
In some embodiments, the two light-emitting units in any of the sub-pixel units are configured to emit light of different colors.
In some embodiments, any of the pixel units includes at least two light-emitting units configured to emit blue light.
In some embodiments, two of the at least two light-emitting units configured to emit blue light in any of the pixel units belong to the same sub-pixel unit.
In some embodiments, the two light-emitting units include a first light-emitting unit and a second light-emitting unit. The first light-emitting unit includes a first anode, a first light-emitting layer and a first cathode, and the second light-emitting unit includes a second anode, a second light-emitting layer and a second cathode. The first cathode and the second anode are formed by laminating two conductive layers of different materials, or the first cathode and the second anode are a common electrode.
In some embodiments, in any of the sub-pixel units, the second anode and the first cathode are connected to the same thin film transistor, and the first anode and the second cathode are connected to the same signal line.
In some embodiments, the signal line is configured to input an alternate current signal with a frequency no less than 30 Hz.
In some embodiments, the second anode is made of Ag and the first cathode is made of Au.
In some embodiments, the thickness of the second anode is 2˜5 nm.
In some embodiments, the thickness of the first cathode is 5˜10 nm.
In some embodiments, the common electrode is made of Ca-IZO.
In some embodiments, the thickness of the common electrode is 80˜100 nm.
In some embodiments, each of the pixel units includes three sub-pixel units.
In another aspect, there is further provided an OLED display device in the present disclosure. The OLED display device includes the OLED display substrate described above.
To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure more clearly, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description show merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may still derive other drawings from these accompanying drawings without creative efforts.
Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in further detail with reference to the enclosed drawings, to clearly present the objects, technique solutions, and advantages of the present disclosure.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, each sub-pixel unit is provided with two light-emitting units. The problem of short service life can be solved by providing two light-emitting units. When more light emitting units are provided, the thickness of the light-emitting units will be big, resulting in an excessive overall thickness of the OLED display device.
The light-emitting units (including the first light-emitting unit 211 and the second light-emitting unit 212 of the first sub-pixel unit 210, the first light-emitting unit 211 and the second light-emitting unit 212 of the second sub-pixel unit 220, and the first light-emitting unit 211 and the second light-emitting unit 212 of the third sub-pixel unit 230) are all arranged on a substrate 100 and two light-emitting units of the same sub-pixel unit are laminated in a direction perpendicular to the substrate 100.
The substrate 100 may be a basal substrate (may be made of glass, polymer, metal foil, etc.) or an array substrate including a basal substrate and a plurality of thin film transistor (TFT) disposed on the basal substrate in an array. Each sub-pixel unit includes one TFT to control the light-emitting units in the sub-pixel unit to emit light.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, each pixel unit in the OLED display substrate includes a plurality of sub-pixel units and each sub-pixel unit includes two light-emitting unis arranged in a laminated mode. Only one of the two light-emitting units in the same sub-pixel unit is made to emit light at one moment such that the other one is in a light non-emitting state when one light-emitting unit is in a light emitting state. Therefore, the two light-emitting units may be controlled to operate alternately to reduce the time during which each light-emitting unit is continuously on, such that each light-emitting unit has enough time to dissipate heat. Thus, the light-emitting units may be effectively protected and the ageing of the components may be delayed, thereby lengthening the service life of the display device.
In one implementation of the present disclosure, the two light-emitting units in any sub-pixel unit are configured to emit light of different colors. The implementation will be illustrated in detail with reference to
It should be noted that in other embodiments, the up-down position of the light-emitting units in one, two or all of the three sub-pixel units may be exchanged. For example, in any sub-pixel unit, the first light-emitting unit may be arranged on the second light-emitting unit.
In some embodiments, any pixel unit 200 includes at least two light-emitting units configured to emit blue light. The pixel unit 200 shown in
In one implementation, in any pixel unit, two of the at least two light-emitting units configured to emit blue light belong to the same sub-pixel unit. As shown in
The sub-pixel unit including two light-emitting units configured to emit blue light may be any sub-pixel unit in the pixel unit. For example, the two light-emitting units in the first sub-pixel unit 210 may emit blue light, or the two light-emitting units in the second sub-pixel unit 220 may emit blue light, or the two light-emitting units in the third sub-pixel unit 230 may emit blue light.
In another implementation of the present disclosure, in the same pixel unit, each sub-pixel unit includes at least one light-emitting unit configured to emit blue light. That is, each sub-pixel unit includes one or two light-emitting units configured to emit blue light. As shown in
In some embodiments, the first light-emitting unit 211 and the second light-emitting unit 212 may emit light of the same color or different colors. For example, the first light-emitting unit 211 and the second light-emitting unit 212 may be enabled to emit light of the same color or different colors based on the needs of different display devices.
In some embodiments, as shown in
In some embodiments, the material of the first light-emitting layer 211c of the first light-emitting unit 211 may be the same as or different from the material of the second light-emitting layer 212c of the second light-emitting unit 212. For example, the material of the first light-emitting layer 211c or the material of the second light-emitting layer 212c may be any of the following materials: Alq3, Almq3 and TBADN.
In some embodiments, the thickness of the first light-emitting layer 211c may be 1000-1500 Å, and the thickness of the second light-emitting layer 212c may be 1000-1500 Å.
The material of the hole injection layer 211a and the hole injection layer 212a may be either of the following materials: m-MTDATA and 2-TNATA. The material of the hole transport layer 211b and the hole transport layer 212b may be any of the following materials: PVK, Spiro-TPD and Spiro-NPB. The material of the electron transport layer 211d and the electron transport layer 212d may be either of the following materials: Alq3 and Almq3. The material of the electron injection layer 211e and the electron injection layer 212e may be either of the following materials: LiF and MgF2.
When the first light-emitting unit 211 is manufactured, all of the hole injection layer 211a, the hole transport layer 211b, the first light-emitting layer 211c, the electron transport layer 211d and the electron injection layer 211e may be formed layer by layer by way of evaporation. The first anode 2111 may be provided with a mask and be formed on the substrate by way of sputtering or evaporation. For example, the first anode 2111 may be formed on the basal substrate by way of sputtering or evaporation. Then, the hole injection layer 211a, the hole transport layer 211b, the first light-emitting layer 211c, the electron transport layer 211d and the electron injection layer 211e may be sequentially formed on the first anode 211 by way of evaporation and patterning, or printing or the like. The common electrode 2131 may be formed on the electron injection layer 211e by way of sputtering or evaporation. The second light-emitting unit 212 may be manufactured in the same way of manufacturing the first light-emitting unit 211. Various layer structures of the second light-emitting unit 212 are formed sequentially on the common electrode 2131 to complete the manufacture of the sub-pixel unit.
In some embodiments, when one side of the second cathode 2121 of the sub-pixel unit is a light emergent side, the common electrode 2131 and the second cathode 2121 are transparent electrodes and the first anode 2111 may be a non-transparent electrode or a transparent electrode. When one side of the first anode 2111 of the sub-pixel unit is a light emergent side, the common electrode 2131 and the first anode 2111 are transparent electrodes and the second cathode 2121 may be a non-transparent electrode or a transparent electrode.
For example, the transparent electrode may be a metal, an alloy of several metals, or an oxide with good conductivity, such as Al, Mg, Ca, Yb, Mg:Ag, Yb:Ag, ITO, IZO and the like. The non-transparent electrode may be a metal, an alloy of several metals, or an oxide with good conductivity, such as Ag, Au, Pd, Pt, Ag:Au, Ag:Pd, Ag:Pt, Al:Au, Al:Pd, Al:Pt, Ag:Au, Au/Ag, Pd/Ag, Pt/Ag and the like. Here, Ag:Au refers to an alloy of Ag and Au. Au/Ag refers to an Au layer and an Ag layer which are laminated. The method for expressing the alloy and laminating structure of other materials is the same as the one here.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first anode 2111 is a non-transparent electrode and the thickness of the first anode 2111 may be 50˜100 nm. The second cathode 2121 is a transparent electrode. When the second cathode 2121 is made of a metal material, the thickness of the second cathode 2121 may be 10˜20 nm, such that the second cathode 2121 has sufficient transmissivity. When the second cathode 2121 is made of a transparent material, such as ITO and IZO, the thickness of the second cathode 2121 may be 80˜100 nm.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the common electrode 2131 may be made of Ca-IZO. Ca-IZO has relatively high transmissivity, which may reduce the absorption of light. In some embodiments, the thickness of the common electrode is 80˜100 nm.
During implementation, in any sub-pixel unit, the common electrode 2131 is connected to a thin film transistor such that the sub-pixel unit may be controlled to operate or not. The first anode 2111 and the second cathode 2121 are connected to the same signal line such that the sub-pixel unit may be controlled to emit light through the thin film transistor and the signal line.
Here, the signal line is configured to input an alternate current signal with a frequency no less than 30 Hz. It may realize that the two light-emitting units in the same sub-pixel unit emit light alternately by inputting the alternate current signal. Meanwhile, the frequency of the alternate current signal is set to be no less than 30 Hz such that users may not observe the flicker of the light-emitting units with eyes. For example, the frequency of the alternate current signal may be 50-60 Hz.
When the electric potential of the first anode 2111 and the second cathode 2121 is higher than that of the common electrode 2131, current is injected from the first anode 2111 and flows out from the common electrode 2131 and the first light-emitting unit 211 emits light. When the electric potential of the first anode 2111 and the second cathode 2121 is lower than that of the common electrode 2131, current is injected from the common electrode 2131 and flows out from the second cathode 2121 and the second light-emitting unit 212 emits light. For this, one-path alternate current signal may be input to the first anode 2111 and the second cathode 2121 such that the two light-emitting units may work alternately. In addition, the alternate current signal may be set to be with a relatively high frequency such that users may not observe the flicker of the light-emitting units with eyes. Since the frequency is relatively high, even though the first light-emitting unit and the second light-emitting do not actually emit light at the same time, users may observe that the two light-emitting units emit light at the same time. Therefore, different colors are displayed.
It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the alternate current signal is a signal that provides a positive voltage and a negative voltage alternately. In addition, the alternate frequency and amplitude between the positive voltage and the negative voltage, as well as the duration of the positive voltage and the negative voltage may be set based on actual needs. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, both the positive voltage and the negative voltage may be equal to 0. By adopting the alternate current signal to drive the light-emitting units to emit light, the positive voltage and the negative voltage may be applied to the same light-emitting unit alternately, such that the accumulated charge in the light-emitting layer of the light-emitting units may be reduced, thereby lengthening the service life of the light-emitting units.
During implementation, in any of the sub-pixel units, the second anode 1013 and the first cathode 1012 are connected to the same thin film transistor, and the first anode 1101 and the second cathode 1014 are connected to the same signal line, such that the sub-pixel unit may be controlled to emit light through the thin film transistor and the signal line.
The signal line is configured to input an alternate current signal with a frequency no less than 30 Hz. By inputting the alternate current signal, it may realize that the two light-emitting units in the same sub-pixel unit emit light alternately. Meanwhile, the frequency of the alternate current signal is set to be no less than 30 Hz, such that users may not observe the flicker of the light-emitting units with eyes. For example, the frequency of the alternate current signal may be 50-60 Hz.
The second anode 1013 is made of Ag and the first cathode 1012 is made of Au. The relatively thin Au layer may be used as a wetting layer. Therefore, it may be guaranteed that the second anode may be formed by a film made of Ag on the Au layer and with a relatively low thickness. In this case, the thickness of the second anode 1013 may be 2˜5 nm and the thickness of the first cathode 1012 may be 5˜10 nm.
Further, the sum of the thickness of the first anode 1012 and the thickness of the second anode 1013 does not exceed 20 nm, such that first anode 1012 and the second anode 1013 have sufficient transmissivity to reduce the absorption of light.
In some embodiments, the first sub-pixel unit 210, the second sub-pixel unit 220 and the third sub-pixel unit 230 may be rectangular, regular hexagonal, fan-shaped or the like. For different display devices, the sub-pixel unit may be set to be in different shapes to meet different design requirements.
During implementation, all of the first sub-pixel unit 210, the second sub-pixel unit 220 and the third sub-pixel unit 230 may be provided with the sub-pixel structure shown in
The embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a display device. The display device includes the OLED display substrate shown in
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, each pixel unit in the OLED display substrate includes a plurality of sub-pixel units and each sub-pixel unit includes two light-emitting unis arranged in a laminated mode. Only one of the two light-emitting units in the same sub-pixel unit is made to emit light at one moment such that the other one is in a light non-emitting state when one light-emitting unit is in a light emitting state. Therefore, the two light-emitting units may be controlled to operate alternately to reduce the time during which each light-emitting unit is continuously on, such that each light-emitting unit has enough time to dissipate heat. Thus, the light-emitting units may be effectively protected and the ageing of the components may be delayed, thereby lengthening the service life of the display device.
The foregoing are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Within the spirit and principles of the disclosure, any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., are within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201710335959.4 | May 2017 | CN | national |