Pixel driving circuit for an electro luminance display device

Abstract

An organic electro luminance display device according to the present invention comprises a plurality of gate lines and data lines to define a plurality of pixels and a plurality of power line to apply signal to the pixels; a data driving unit for supplying the signal to the data line; an emitting unit at each pixel to emit; a first thin film transistor at each pixel, the first thin film transistor being turned on by the signal inputted through the gate line; a second thin film transistor at each pixel, the second thin film transistor being turned on to apply the signal to the emitting signal through the power line when the first thin film transistor is turned on; a ground terminal voltage controlling unit for controlling a first ground terminal voltage and a second ground terminal voltage to determine respectively the voltage output from the data driving unit and the voltage applied to the emitting unit according to the first ground terminal voltage and the second ground terminal voltage the, wherein the second ground terminal voltage is higher than the first ground terminal voltage to apply the voltage lower than a reference voltage to the second thin film transistor.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view showing one pixel of the related organic electro luminance display device;

FIG. 2 is a view showing an organic electro luminance display device according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a view showing a circuit of one pixel of the organic electro luminance display device according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a driving TFT and an emitting unit of organic electro luminance display device according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to an embodiment of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 2, the organic electro luminance display device includes a panel 100 having a plurality of pixels to display an image and a printed circuit board 160 having outer driving circuit to apply the signal into the driver in the panel 100.

The panel 100 of the organic electro luminance display device includes a plurality of pixels defined by a plurality of gate lines GL and data lines DL crossing each other and a driving unit such as a switching TFT T2 and a driving TFT T1 disposed at each pixel. Further, a power line PL is disposed in parallel with the data line DL in the panel 100 to supply the signal to the driving TFT T2 in the pixel. Bonding pads 140, 142, and 148 are formed at the end portion of the gate line GL, the data line DL, and the power line PL to connect of the gate line GL, the data line DL, and the power line PL with the outer driving circuit in the outer printed circuit board 160.

A number of methods that may be used for connecting the gate line GL, the data line DL, and the power line PL to the printed circuit board 160 through the pads 140, 142, and 148. For example, Tape-Automatic Bonding using a TCP (Tape Carrier Package) may be adapted in this invention.

The panel 100 and the printed circuit board 160 are connected by the TCP 150. A data driving unit 154 is mounted on the TCP 150 to apply a data signal to the data line DL in the panel through the data pad 142. Not shown in figure, a scan signal is applied to the gate line GL from an external gate driving unit through the gate pad 140. Further, a controlling unit for controlling the data driving unit 154 and the gate driving unit is mounted on the printed circuit board 160.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the one pixel and the data driving unit of the organic electro luminance display device of FIG. 2. Although the data driving unit may be connected with a plurality of pixel, we denoted only one pixel in figure for convenience.

As shown in FIG. 3, a pixel of the organic electro luminance display device may be defined by a gate line GL crossing a data line DL. Each pixel includes: a driving TFT T1 for supplying the driving current to the emitting unit OLED; a switching TFT T2 to be turned on by the gate signal GATE to apply the driving voltage, supplied through the data line DL, to the gate of the driving TFT T1; a storage capacitor Cstg to be connected to the gate of the driving TFT T1 to charge the driving voltage of the driving TFT T1; and a emitting unit OLED for emitting light by the signal applied through the power line PL when the driving TFT T1 is turned on. Further, the organic electro luminance display device includes a date driving unit 154 for supplying a data voltage to the data line DL, a ground terminal voltage controlling unit 156 for outputting a signal to the data driving unit 154 to control separately a ground terminal voltage Vss_EL provided to the driving TFT T1 and a ground terminal voltage Vss_IC to be used in the data driving unit 154 as a reference voltage.

In the illustrated organic electro luminance display device according to the present invention, when the gate signal GATE of ‘high’ is applied to the switching TFT T2 through the gate line GL, the switching TFT T2 is turned on. As a result, the data signal is applied to the driving TFT T1 through the data line DL and the switching TFT T2 from the data driving unit 154. At this time, since the amount of the current supplied to the data line DL is uniform, the amount of the current applied to all pixels is same. Thus, the voltage corresponding to the current applied to the pixel is charged to the storage capacitor Cstg.

Thereinafter, when the ‘low’ gate signal GATE is applied to the switching TFT T2 through the gate line GL, the switching TFT T2 is turned off and then the driving TFT T1 supplies a current that corresponds to the voltage charged in the storage capacitor Cstg to the emitting unit OLED to emit the light from the emitting unit OLED.

The ground terminal voltage is determined in the ground terminal voltage controlling unit 156. The data driving unit 154 outputs the data voltage Vdata to the data line DL in accordance with the first ground terminal voltage Vss_IC which is a reference voltage determined in the ground terminal voltage controlling unit 156. The voltage supplied to the emitting unit OLED in accordance with the second ground terminal voltage Vss_EL is determined in the ground terminal voltage controlling unit 156 and the brightness is determined by the data voltage Vdata.

The second ground terminal voltage Vss_EL is higher than the first ground terminal voltage Vss_IC, i.e., Vss_EL=Vss_IC+Va. Thus, the voltage Vgs between the gate and the source of the driving TFT T1, which is voltage substantially applied to the driving TFT T1, is Vgs=Vdata−Va. In other word, the illustrated organic electro luminance display device according to the present invention has a voltage Vgs, that is Va lower than the voltage of the related art organic electro luminance display device.

Since the voltage Vgs of the organic electro luminance display device of FIG. 3 is Va lower than that of the related art organic electro luminance display device, the negative voltage is applied to the driving TFT T1 using the data voltage Vdata is lower than the voltage Va. Thus, both a positive voltage and the negative voltage may applied to the gate of the driving TFT T1 in the organic electro luminance display device according to the current invention, while only a positive voltage is applied to the gate of the driving TFT in the related organic electro luminance display device

In the related art, since the first ground terminal voltage Vss_IC is same as the second ground terminal voltage Vss_EL are, the data voltage applied to the gate of the driving TFT T1 is not OV when the black signal is applied to the data line DL from the data driving unit 154. In this invention, however, since the voltage corresponding to the grey 0 can be lower than that of the related art by the data modulation, the voltage lower than the reference voltage is applied to the driving TFT T1 and as a result it is possible to obtain the effect such that OV voltage is applied to the driving TFT T1.

In this invention, that is, the voltage to the gate of the driving TFT T1 cannot be precisely controlled in OV. However, since the ground terminal voltage controlling unit 156 controls the second ground terminal voltage Vss_EL to control the gate-source voltage Vgs of the driving TFT T1, it is possible to obtain the effect such that OV voltage is applied to the driving TFT T1.

As described above, in this invention the negative voltage may be applied to the gate of the driving TFT T1 so that the stress of the driving TFT T1 can be decreased. Further, the data voltage is rapidly discharged at the storage capacitor Cstg because the negative voltage is applied to the storage capacitor Cstg.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an emitting unit of an organic electro luminance display device according to the present invention. We illustrate the driving TFT T1 in the figure for convenience.

As shown in FIG. 4, a semiconductor layer 123 formed on a transparent substrate 121 such as a glass and impurity doped semiconductor 125 layers formed at each of two sides of the semiconductor layer 123. Over the substrate 121, a gate insulating layer 122 is formed to cover the semiconductor layer 123 and the impurity semiconductors 125. A gate electrode 127 is formed in the region of the semiconductor layer 123 on the gate insulating layer 122 and an interlayer insulating layer 129 is formed over the whole area of the substrate 121. Source/drain electrodes 130 are formed on the interlayer insulating layer 129 and connected electrically to the impurity semiconductors 125 through contact holes in the gate insulating layer 122 and the interlayer insulating layer 129.

A passivation layer 132 is formed on the interlayer insulating layer 129 and the emitting unit OLED is formed on the passivation layer 132. The emitting unit OLED is connected to the source/drain electrodes 130 through the contact hole in the passivation layer 132.

The emitting unit OLED includes an anode 134 connected to the source/drain electrodes 130 on the passivation layer 132, an emitting layer 136 on the anode 134 to emit the light when the voltage is applied, and a cathode on the emitting layer 136 to apply the voltage to the emitting layer 136. The anode 134 is made of a metal having low work function such as indium tin oxide and the cathode 138 is made of the metal having high work function.

In the organic electro luminance display device according to the present invention, when a voltage is applied to the gate electrode 127 to supply the excitation signal to the anode 134 and the cathode 138 through the source/drain electrodes 130, holes and electrons are respectively injected to the emitting layer 136 from the anode 134 and the cathode 138 to generate an exciton within the emitting layer 136. The excition is annihilated in the emitting layer 136 to emit light corresponding to the energy difference between a lowest unoccupied molecular orbital and a highest occupied molecular orbital.

Since the reference voltages determining the voltage applied to the data line and the emitting unit, i.e., the first ground terminal voltage Vss_IC and the second ground terminal voltage Vss_EL are set to different values, the voltage applied to the gate of the driving TFT T1 can be controlled. Accordingly, the stress to the driving TFT can be decreased and the ghosting is prevented.

Although N-MOS TFT is described as the switching TFT and driving TFT in description, this invention is adapted to the various TFT, not limited this TFT

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variation can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An organic electro luminance display device comprising: a plurality of gate lines and data lines that cross to define a plurality of pixels and a plurality of power lines to apply signal to the pixels;a data driving unit for supplying a data signal to the data line;an emitting unit at each pixel that emits light;a first thin film transistor at each pixel, the first thin film transistor being turned on by a signal on one of the gate lines;a second thin film transistor at each pixel, the second thin film transistor being turned on to apply the signal to the emitting unit from one of the power lines when the first thin film transistor is turned on; anda ground terminal voltage controlling unit for controlling a first ground terminal voltage and a second ground terminal voltage to determine respectively the voltage output from the data driving unit and the voltage applied to the emitting unit of each pixel according to the first ground terminal voltage and the second ground terminal voltage,wherein the second ground terminal voltage is higher than the first ground terminal voltage to apply a voltage lower than a reference voltage to each second thin film transistor.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the ground terminal voltage controlling unit controls a first ground terminal voltage and a second ground terminal voltage to control the gate to source voltage of each second thin film transistor.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising: a storage capacitor connected between a gate electrode and a drain electrode of the second thin film transistor in each pixel.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second thin film transistors includes an N-MOS thin film transistor.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein each second thin film transistor includes: a substrate;a semiconductor layer on the substrate;a gate insulating layer on the semiconductor layer;a gate electrode on the semiconductor layer;an interlayer insulating layer on the gate electrode; andsource and drain electrodes on the interlayer insulating layer.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein each second thin film transistor further includes a passivation layer over the substrate that covers the second thin film transistor.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the emitting unit includes: an anode on the passivation layer;an emitting layer on the anode; anda cathode on the emitting layer.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the anode is connected to the source/drain electrodes of each second thin film transistor through a contact hole in the passivation layer.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the anode is made of indium tin oxide.

10. The device of claim 7, wherein the cathode is made of a metal having lower work function than the anode.