Patent Application
20090130413
This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 96144113, filed on Nov. 21, 2007. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate, a manufacturing process and application thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a thinned substrate used for a display panel, a manufacturing process thereof and a manufacturing process of a display panel applying the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Presently, flat panel displays (such as liquid crystal flat panel displays, organic light emitting displays (OLEDs), plasma displays etc.) have been widely applied to consumable electronic products or computer products such as medium and small portable televisions (TVs), cell phones, video cameras, notebook computers, desktop displays and projection TVs etc. However, demanding by the market, screen of the flat panel display has a general trend of big sized and light-weighted.
In a conventional technique, weight and thickness of a flat panel display may be reduced by thinning a substrate thereof. However, bending strength of the thinned substrate is also reduced, and reliability of the substrate is reduced. Accordingly, especially if the substrate is a large-sized substrate, reliability of the substrate is much lower. Therefore, during manufacturing process of the display panel, production yield may be reduced due to damage of display panel caused by external forces during transportation. Thus, how to improve the bending strength of the thinned substrate becomes a major subject to be solved in manufacturing technique of the display panel.
The present invention is directed to a thinned substrate for a display panel, in which the thinned substrate has a relatively high reliability, and is suitable for follow-up processing.
The present invention is directed to a method for fabricating a substrate of a display panel, by which the substrate with a relatively high reliability may be obtained.
The present invention is directed to a method for fabricating a display panel using the aforementioned thinned substrate, which may have a relatively high production yield.
The present invention provides a thinned substrate for a display panel. The thinned substrate includes an inorganic transparent plate and a supporting layer, wherein the supporting layer and the inorganic transparent plate are stacked to form a stacked layer. A ratio between thickness of the inorganic transparent plate and the thickness of the supporting layer is substantially less than or substantially equal to 4, and is substantially greater than 0. A total thickness of the stacked layer is substantially less than or substantially equal to 20 mm, and bending strength of the stacked layer is substantially greater than or substantially equal to 150 MPa.
The present invention provides a method for fabricating a substrate of a display panel. First, a thinned inorganic transparent plate including a plurality of display devices is provided. Next, a supporting layer is provided to the thinned inorganic transparent plate, such that the supporting layer and the thinned inorganic transparent plate may form a stacked layer. Wherein, the supporting layer and the display devices are respectively disposed at two opposite sides of the inorganic transparent plate, and a ratio between thickness of the thinned inorganic transparent plate and the thickness of the supporting layer is substantially less than or substantially equal to 4, and is substantially greater than 0. Moreover, a total thickness of the thinned inorganic transparent plate and the supporting layer is substantially less than or substantially equal to 20 mm. Bending strength of the stacked layer is substantially greater than or substantially equal to 150 MPa.
The present invention provides a method for fabricating a display panel. First, a thinned first inorganic transparent plate including a plurality of first display devices is provided. Next, a first supporting layer is provided to the thinned first inorganic transparent plate to form a first substrate. Wherein, the supporting layer and the thinned first inorganic transparent plate form a first stacked layer, and the first supporting layer and the first display devices are respectively disposed at two opposite sides of the thinned first inorganic transparent plate. Next, a second substrate is provided, and a cell process is performed to the first substrate and the second substrate to form a display panel array composed of a plurality of display panel units. Wherein, the second substrate and the first supporting layer of the first substrate are respectively disposed on the two opposite sides of the thinned first inorganic transparent plate.
The thinned substrate of the present invention includes the inorganic transparent plate and the supporting layer, wherein the supporting layer may be used for strengthening a structural strength of the whole thinned substrate, such that the structural strength of the thinned substrate may be greater than that of the inorganic transparent plate. Therefore, damage of the substrate due to poor structural strength of the substrate occurred during processing, transporting or fabricating of the thinned substrate may be mitigated, and a better production yield may be achieved.
In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, a preferred embodiment accompanied with figures is described in detail below.
A thinned substrate of the present invention may be applied to a display panel, and the display panel may be a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel such as a transmissive display panel, a semi-transmissive display panel, a reflective display panel, a color filter on array (COA) display panel, an array on color filter (AOC) display panel, a vertical alignment (VA) display panel, an in-plane-switching (IPS) display panel, a multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) display panel, a twisted nematic (TN) display panel, a super TN (STN) display panel, a patterned vertical alignment (PVA) display panel, a super PVA (S-PVA) display panel, an advanced super view (ASV) display panel, a fringe field switching (FFS) display panel, a continuous pinwheel alignment (CPA) display panel, an axially symmetric aligned micro-cell mode (ASM) display panel, an optically compensated bend (OCB) display panel, a super IPS (S-IPS) display panel, an advanced S-IPS (AS-IPS) display panel, an ultra FFS (UFFS) display panel, a polymer stable alignment display panel, a dual-view display panel, a triple-view display panel, a three-dimensional display panel, or other types of display panels, or combinations thereof. Moreover, the display panel may also be an electro-luminescence display panel such as a fluorescence electro-luminescence display panel, a phosphorescence electro-luminescence display panel, or a combination thereof, and the electro-luminescence material of the electro-luminescence display panel includes organic material, inorganic material, or a combination thereof, and molecule of the electro-luminescence material includes small molecules, polymer, or a combination thereof.
The supporting layer 120 and the inorganic transparent plate 110 are stacked to form a stacked layer S. Moreover, in a preferred situation, such as a ratio between thickness T1 of the inorganic transparent plate 110 and the thickness T2 of the supporting layer 120 is substantially less than or substantially equal to 4, and is greater than 0. A total thickness T of the stacked layer S is substantially less than or substantially equal to 20 mm. Bending strength of the stacked layer S is substantially greater than or substantially equal to 150 MPa.
In the present embodiment, material of the inorganic transparent plate 110 includes glass, quartz, or other suitable inorganic transparent materials, or combinations thereof. In a preferred situation, the thickness of the inorganic transparent material 110 is substantially range from 0.03 mm to 15 mm, but the present invention is not limited thereto, the thickness of the inorganic transparent plate 110 may also be substantially less than 0.03 mm, for example, the thickness of the inorganic transparent plate 110 is 0.028 mm, 0.025 mm, 0.022 mm, 0.02 mm, 0.015 mm, 0.01 mm, 0.009 mm, 0.008 mm, or 0.007 mm etc., and is substantially greater than 0. The thickness of the inorganic transparent material 110 may also be substantially less than 20 mm, for example, 19.5 mm, 18 mm, 17 mm, 16 mm or 15.5 mm etc. Moreover, the transmittance of the inorganic transparent plate is substantially range of 5% to 100%, and is preferably substantially range of 50% to 100%. The bending strength of the inorganic transparent plate 110, preferably, is substantially range 50 MPa to 200 MPa, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
The material of the supporting layer 120 includes organic materials, inorganic materials, or combinations thereof. Wherein, the organic material includes nylon, polymer rubber, fluoropolymer, acryl, polycarbonate ester, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyetheretherrketone (PEEK), polyether, polyketone, polyglycol, polyaldehyde, polyaromatics, polyolefin, polyacetylene, polyepoxysuccinic, polynaphthenes, or other suitable materials, or combinations thereof. The inorganic material includes metal, metal alloy, ceramic material, or other inorganic materials or combinations thereof. Since the ratio between the thickness T1 of the inorganic transparent plate 110 and the thickness T2 of the supporting layer 120 is substantially less than or substantially equal to 4 mm and is substantially greater than 0, while the thickness of the inorganic transparent plate 110 is substantially range of 0.03 mm to 15 mm, and the total thickness T of the stacked layer S is substantially less than or substantially equal to 20 mm, and therefore the thickness T2 of the supporting layer 120 is substantially range of 0.01 mm to 5 mm.
Moreover, in a preferred situation, the bending strength of the supporting layer 120 is substantially range of 50 MPa to 1000 MPa, and if the material of the supporting layer 120 is organic materials, the bending strength thereof is substantially range of 50 MPa to 170 MPa. In addition, to avoid scratch on the inorganic transparent plate 110, Vicker's hardness of the supporting layer 120, preferably, is substantially less than or substantially equal to 600 kg/mm2, but the present invention is not limited thereto, such factor and/or such value may also not be taken into consideration. Moreover, a ratio between area of the supporting layer 120 and area of the inorganic transparent plate 110 is substantially greater or substantially equal to 1, or substantially less than or equal to 1. In a preferred situation, the ratio between the area of the supporting layer 120 and the area of the inorganic transparent plate 110 is substantially range of 0.1 to 1.5. Wherein, if the above ratio is substantially greater than 1, the supporting layer 120 may further cover a side surface (i.e. a side surface adjacent to the surface 112 of the inorganic transparent plate 110 covered by the supporting layer 120, namely, the supporting layer may extend along a direction of the thickness T1, or further extend to the surface 114) of the inorganic transparent plate 110. Moreover, Since the supporting layer 120 may improve the whole structural strength of the thinned substrate 100, a bending strength formula of the stack layer S formed by the supporting layer 120 and the inorganic transparent plate 110 is described in detail as below. The bending strength formula 1 of the stacked layer S is as follows:
Pc=[(Σfi·Pi)]*(T/T1)2 (formula 1)
Wherein Pc is the bending strength of the stacked layer S (unit: MPa), fi is a volume ratio of an i-th layer, Pi is the bending strength of the i-th layer (unit: MPa), T1 is the thickness of the substrate (i.e. the inorganic transparent plate 110) of the stacked layer S (unit: mm), and T is a total thickness of the stacked layer S (unit: mm).
In the present embodiment, assuming the thickness T1 of the inorganic transparent plate 110 and the thickness T2 of the supporting layer 120 are 0.4 mm, and the bending strengths of the inorganic transparent plate 110 and the supporting layer 120 are respectively 135 MPa and 125 MPa. If the above parameters are input to the formula 1, a calculation result is then as follow:
If f1=0.4/(0.4+0.4)=0.5, f2=0.4/(0.4+0.4)=0.5, and T1/T2 or T2/T1=1.0, then, Pc=[(0.5·135 MPa)+(0.5·125 MPa)]*((0.4+0.4)/0.4)2=520 MPa (formula 2)
According to the formula 2, the bending strength (520 MPa) of the stacked layer S formed by the supporting layer 120 and the inorganic transparent plate 110 is greater than the bending strength (135 MPa) of the inorganic transparent plate 110. In other words, by applying the supporting layer 120, reliability of the thinned substrate 100 may be improved, and accordingly production yield of display panels applying the thinned substrate 100 may be improved. If the thickness T1 of the inorganic transparent plate 110 and the thickness T2 of the supporting layer 120 are all 10 mm, and the bending strengths of the inorganic transparent plate 110 and the supporting layer 120 are respectively 50 MPa and 50 MPa, these parameters may input to the formula 1, and the calculation result is then as follow:
If f1=10/(10+10)=0.5, f2=10/(10+10)=0.5, and T1/T2 or T2/T1=1.0, then, Pc=[(0.5·50 MPa)+(0.5·50 MPa)]*((10+10)10)2=200 MPa (formula 3)
According to the formula 3, it is obvious that the bending strength (200 MPa) of the stacked layer S formed by the supporting layer 120 and the inorganic transparent plate 110 is greater than the bending strength (50 MPa) of the inorganic transparent plate 110.
On the other hand, to further improve a buffer effect of the supporting layer under a function of external forces, a buffer pattern may further be formed on the supporting layer. Next, the plurality of different buffer patterns formed on the supporting layer is described with reference of
Referring to
In addition, referring to
In addition, the composite material layer may also be a layer complex-layer 910 (as shown in
Moreover, the supporting layer 120 may be removed according to an actual requirement. For example, the supporting layer 120 may be removed when fabrication of elements on the thinned substrate 100 is completed, or when cell process or cutting process of the display panel (not shown) of the thinned substrate 100 is completed.
In addition, the inorganic transparent plate 110 includes a plurality of display devices 130 disposed on the surface 114. In the present embodiment, the inorganic transparent plate 110 may function as a substrate of color filters, and the display devices 130 on the inorganic transparent plate 110 may be the color filters. In another embodiment, the inorganic transparent plate 110 may function as an active devices array substrate, and therefore the display devices on the inorganic transparent plate may be active devices such as thin film transistors etc. Moreover, the display devices may also be combinations of the thin film transistors and the color filters, so as to form a color filter on array (COA) substrate or an array on color filter (AOC) substrate.
Base on the aforementioned embodiments, a method of manufacturing the thinned substrate 100 is provided. Referring to
In addition, based on the aforementioned embodiment, a method of fabricating a display panel applying the aforementioned thinned substrate 100 is further provided. It should be noted that in the present embodiment, a method of fabricating a liquid crystal display panel is taken as an example, however, the present invention is not limited thereto.
Next, a supporting layer 120 is provided to the surface 112 of the thinned inorganic transparent plate 110 adapted to stack with the thinned inorganic transparent plate 110 to form a stacked layer S. Wherein, the supporting layer 120 and the display devices 130 are respectively disposed at two opposite sides of the inorganic transparent plate 110. Moreover, the supporting layer 120 and the thinned inorganic transparent plate 110 may be connected via an adhesive layer 140 disposed there between. Material of the adhesive layer 140 may be light-cured adhesive, thermal-cured adhesive, or other suitable adhesives, or combinations thereof. Alternatively, the supporting layer 120 and the thinned inorganic transparent plate 110 may be connected via static electricity. Until now, fabrication of the substrate 1010 of the display panel is basically completed.
Next, referring to
In the present embodiment, a display media layer 1030 such as a liquid crystal layer, an electro-luminescence device layer, or combinations thereof may be formed between the substrate 1010 and the substrate 1020. Now, fabrication of the display panel 1000 of the present invention is basically completed. Moreover, the inorganic transparent plate 110 may have a plurality of pre-cutting lines L, so as to confine the plurality of the display panel units U. The display panel array A may be cut along the pre-cutting lines L between the substrates 1010 and 1020 before or after the display media layer 1030 is formed, so as to obtain the plurality of display panel units U.
Referring to
It should be noted that the substrate 1010 is similar to the substrate 1020, and the difference there between is that the substrate 1010 may function as the color filters, and the display devices 130 on the inorganic transparent plate 110 may be the color filter units. Now, the substrate 1020 may function as the active devices array substrate, and the display devices 130a may be the thin film transistors. In another embodiment, the substrate 1010 may be the COA substrate or the AOC substrate, the display devices 130 may be combinations of the color filter units and the thin film transistors, and the display devices 130a on the substrate 1020 may be a common electrode. Moreover, in the aforementioned fabrication method, the substrates 1010 and 1020 having the plurality of the display units U are taken as an example, and the substrates 1010 and 1020 are referred to as mother substrates. A plurality independent display panels may be formed by cutting the mother substrates, and the display panels on the mother substrates may be referred to as half-finished or unfinished panels, and the independent display panels are referred to as finished panels. In other words, the supporting layers 120 and 120a may be applied to the half-finished panels, the unfinished panels, or the finished panels.
In summary, the thinned substrate of the present invention includes an inorganic transparent plate and a supporting layer. The supporting layer avails improvement of the whole structural strength of the thinned substrate, so as to improve the reliability of the thinned substrate. Therefore, the thinned substrate of the present invention may bear more impact of external forces occurred during transporting, processing, or fabricating of the thinned substrate, and therefore production yield of the display panels applying the thinned substrate of the present invention may be improved.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 96144113 | Nov 2007 | TW | national |
