CN106405948B

CN106405948B - Display panel

Info

Publication number: CN106405948B
Application number: CN201510491590.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈俊宇; 卢永信
Original assignee: Innolux Corp
Current assignee: Innolux Corp
Priority date: 2015-08-12
Filing date: 2015-08-12
Publication date: 2020-09-22
Anticipated expiration: 2035-08-12
Also published as: CN106405948A

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention provides a display panel, including: the first substrate is provided with a first pixel unit, a second pixel unit and a third pixel unit, the first pixel unit, the second pixel unit and the third pixel unit are arranged side by side, the first pixel unit and the second pixel unit are adjacent and are pixel units of different colors, and the second pixel unit and the third pixel unit are adjacent and are pixel units of the same color; and a plurality of electrodes disposed on the first substrate and including: the pixel structure comprises a first electrode, a second electrode and a third electrode, wherein the first electrode is arranged in a first pixel unit, the second electrode is arranged in a second pixel unit, and the third electrode is arranged in a third pixel unit; the width of a first interval between the first electrode and the second electrode is larger than the width of a second interval between the second electrode and the third electrode.

Description

Display panel

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a display panel, and more particularly, to a display panel having adjacent same-color pixel electrodes.

Background

As display technologies have been advanced, all devices have been developed to be small, thin and light, and thus, the conventional cathode ray tube has been developed into a liquid crystal display device. In particular, liquid crystal display devices are used in a wide variety of fields, and most of display devices used in daily life, such as mobile phones, notebook computers, video cameras, music players, mobile navigation devices, and televisions, use liquid crystal display panels.

In particular, the demand for the fineness of the display panel screen in the market is increasing, so that each manufacturer is actively developing a higher-order display panel. With the advent of 4K2K panels and the pursuit of higher PPI (pixel per inch) resolution for handheld display devices (e.g., cell phones, tablet computers, etc.), the need to accommodate more pixels per unit area has become a future trend in the panel industry.

However, in a high-resolution display panel, the area occupied by the unit pixel is reduced, which tends to cause a problem of insufficient aperture ratio, resulting in a decrease in light transmittance of the entire display panel. In view of the above, it is one of the development directions of researchers in this field to develop a display panel that can improve the aperture ratio of the pixel unit to increase the light transmittance.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a display panel, which can improve the light transmittance of pixel units by adjusting the electrode spacing between adjacent pixel units.

The display panel of an embodiment of the present invention includes: a first substrate having a first pixel unit, a second pixel unit and a third pixel unit, wherein the first pixel unit, the second pixel unit and the third pixel unit are arranged side by side, the first pixel unit and the second pixel unit are adjacent and are pixel units of different colors, and the second pixel unit and the third pixel unit are adjacent and are pixel units of the same color; and a plurality of electrodes disposed on the first substrate and including: a first electrode, a second electrode and a third electrode, wherein the first electrode is arranged in the first pixel unit, the second electrode is arranged in the second pixel unit, and the third electrode is arranged in the third pixel unit; the first electrode and the second electrode are separated by a first distance, the second electrode and the third electrode are separated by a second distance, and the width of the first distance is larger than that of the second distance.

In addition, the display panel may further include a second substrate disposed opposite to the first substrate, wherein the second substrate is provided with a black matrix layer, the black matrix layer is a patterned black matrix layer, and the black matrix layer is not disposed above the second gap between the two electrodes and the third electrode. More specifically, the black matrix layer has a first opening and a second opening, the first opening exposes the first electrode, and the second opening simultaneously exposes the second electrode and the third electrode.

In addition, in the display panel, a plurality of data lines are arranged on the first substrate, and the data lines are arranged side by side and respectively arranged between the first electrode and the second electrode and between the second electrode and the third electrode. Wherein the black matrix layer is not disposed above the data line between the second electrode and the third electrode.

Furthermore, in the display panel, the first electrode, the second electrode and the third electrode respectively comprise a plurality of strip electrodes, and the length direction of the strip electrodes is the same as the substantial extending direction of the data line. The sum of the width of the strip electrode included in the first electrode and the width of the gap between two adjacent strip electrodes is not equal to the sum of the width of the strip electrode included in the second electrode or the third electrode and the width of the gap between two adjacent strip electrodes; preferably, the sum of the width of the stripe electrode included in the first electrode and the width of the gap between two adjacent stripe electrodes is smaller than the sum of the width of the stripe electrode included in the second electrode or the third electrode and the width of the gap between two adjacent stripe electrodes. In more detail, the width of the strip-shaped electrodes included in the first electrode may be less than or equal to the width of the strip-shaped electrodes included in the second electrode or the third electrode; and/or the width of the gap between two adjacent strip electrodes in the first electrode is less than or equal to the width of the gap between two adjacent strip electrodes in the second electrode or the third electrode.

Therefore, in the display panel provided by the invention, the distance between the second electrode and the third electrode of the adjacent same-color pixel unit is designed to be smaller than the distance between the first electrode and the second electrode of the adjacent different-color pixel unit, so that the light transmittance at the junction of the two adjacent same-color pixel units can be improved; the effect of improving the light transmittance is more remarkable in a high-resolution panel. In addition, the width of the strip-shaped electrode included by the second electrode or the third electrode and the width of the gap between two adjacent strip-shaped electrodes are respectively designed to be larger than or equal to the width of the strip-shaped electrode included by the first electrode and the width of the gap between two adjacent strip-shaped electrodes, so that the light transmittance at the junction of two adjacent same-color pixel units can be further improved.

Drawings

To further illustrate the technical content of the present invention, the following detailed description is provided in conjunction with the embodiments and the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a display device according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a display panel according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a top view of a first substrate of a display panel according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a top view of the first substrate and the black matrix layer thereon of the display panel according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5 is a top view of a first substrate of a display panel according to a comparative example of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a top view of the first substrate and the black matrix layer thereon of the display panel according to the comparative example of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the display panel taken along line A-A' in FIG. 3 and showing the result of the light transmission simulation.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the display panel of the comparative example of the present invention along the line A-A' in FIG. 5 and the simulation result of light transmittance.

Fig. 9 and fig. 10 are schematic views illustrating pixel electrode configurations of a display panel according to another preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 11A to 12 are schematic diagrams illustrating color arrangement of pixel units of a display panel according to another preferred embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

The following description is provided for illustrative purposes only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. The invention is capable of other and different embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways, and its several details are capable of modification in various respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Furthermore, the use of ordinal numbers in the specification and claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any preceding ordinal number of the claim element, nor is the order in which a claimed element is sequenced from one another or a method of manufacture, but are used merely to distinguish one claimed element having a certain name from another element having a same name.

Examples

Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a display device according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. Wherein, the display device of this embodiment includes: a backlight module 1, on which a first polarizer 2, a display panel 3 and a second polarizer 4 are sequentially disposed. Among them, the display panel 3 of the present embodiment includes: a thin film transistor substrate 31; a pair of side substrates 33; and a display medium 32 between the thin film transistor substrate 31 and the opposite substrate 33. In the present embodiment, the tft substrate 31 includes tft units (not shown) as pixel switches; the opposite substrate 33 includes a color filter layer (not shown), and is a color filter substrate. However, in other embodiments of the present invention, a color filter layer (not shown) may also be included in the tft substrate 31, in which case the tft substrate 31 is a color filter on array (COA) integrated tft substrate. In addition, in the present embodiment, the display medium 32 may be a liquid crystal layer; in other embodiments of the present invention, the display medium may be an organic light emitting diode layer.

Fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a display panel according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. The thin film transistor substrate 31 of the present embodiment includes: a first substrate 311 is sequentially disposed thereon a thin film transistor layer 312, a common electrode layer 313, a first insulating layer 314, a pixel electrode layer 315 and a first alignment layer 316. The thin film transistor layer 312 includes a plurality of thin film transistor units (not shown) as pixel switches, and the pixel electrode layer 315 includes a plurality of pixel electrodes (not shown). Further, the counter substrate 33 of the present embodiment includes: a black matrix layer 332, a color filter layer 333 and a second alignment layer 334 are sequentially disposed on the second substrate 331. Furthermore, the display medium 32 of the present embodiment is disposed between the first alignment layer 316 and the second alignment layer 334. Here, the first substrate 311 and the second substrate 331 can be made of a base material such as glass, plastic, flexible material, etc.; the common electrode layer 313 and the pixel electrode layer 315 can be made of a transparent conductive electrode material (e.g., ITO, IZO, or ITZO); the first insulating layer 314 can be made of an insulating layer material such as an oxide, a nitride, or an oxynitride; the first alignment layer 316 and the second alignment layer 334 may also be made of alignment layer materials, such as Polyimide (PI), and may be aligned by a rubbing alignment process or a photo-alignment process.

Here, it should be particularly noted that, in fig. 2, the common electrode layer 313 is disposed below the pixel electrode layer 315; however, in other embodiments of the present invention, the pixel electrode layer 315 may also be disposed below the common electrode layer 313. Next, the structural design of the electrode layer (in the present embodiment, the pixel electrode layer 315) on the thin film transistor substrate 31 closest to the display medium 32 in fig. 1 and 2 and the relative relationship with the black matrix layer 332 on the opposite substrate 33 will be described in detail.

Fig. 3 is a top view of the first substrate of the display panel according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein the first substrate 311 of the display panel of the present embodiment has: a plurality of first conductive lines 3121 disposed substantially in parallel and serving as gate lines; a plurality of second conductive lines 3122 disposed substantially in parallel and intersecting the first conductive lines 3121, respectively, and serving as data lines; and a plurality of pixel switches 3123, which are formed by the first conductive wire 3121, the second conductive wire 3122 and a semiconductor layer (not shown).

In addition, in the display panel of the embodiment, the first substrate 311 has a first pixel unit 311a, a second pixel unit 311b, a third pixel unit 311c and a fourth pixel unit 311d respectively disposed on the first conductive line 3121 and the second conductive line 3122, wherein the first pixel unit 311a, the second pixel unit 311b, the third pixel unit 311c and the fourth pixel unit 311d are disposed side by side, the first pixel unit 311a and the second pixel unit 311b are adjacent and are different color pixel units, the second pixel unit 311b and the third pixel unit 311c are adjacent and are same color pixel units, and the third pixel unit 311c and the fourth pixel unit 311d are adjacent and are different color pixel units.

Furthermore, in the display panel of the embodiment, the first substrate 311 is further provided with a first electrode 3151, a second electrode 3152, a third electrode 3153 and a fourth electrode 3154, which are pixel electrodes and are electrically connected to the pixel switch 3123, respectively, wherein the first electrode 3151 is disposed in the first pixel unit 311a, the second electrode 3152 is disposed in the second pixel unit 311b, the third electrode 3153 is disposed in the third pixel unit 311c, and the fourth electrode 3154 is disposed in the fourth pixel unit 311 d. The second wires 3122 disposed on the first substrate 311 are disposed beside each other or disposed between the first electrode 3151 and the second electrode 3152, between the second electrode 3152 and the third electrode 3153, and between the third electrode 3153 and the fourth electrode 3154.

As shown in fig. 3, in the display panel of the embodiment, a first gap G1 is formed between the first electrode 3151 and the second electrode 3152, a first gap G1 is formed between the third electrode 3153 and the fourth electrode 3154, a second gap G2 is formed between the second electrode 3152 and the third electrode 3153, and the width of the first gap G1 is greater than the width of the second gap G2. More specifically, in two adjacent pixel units of different colors (i.e., the first pixel unit 311a and the second pixel unit 311b, and the third pixel unit 311c and the fourth pixel unit 311d), the distance between two adjacent electrodes (i.e., the first electrode 3151 and the second electrode 3152, and the third electrode 3153 and the fourth electrode 3154) is greater than the distance between two adjacent electrodes (i.e., the second electrode 3152 and the third electrode 3153) in two adjacent pixel units of the same color (i.e., the second pixel unit 311b and the third pixel unit 311 c).

In addition, in the present embodiment, the first electrode 3151, the second electrode 3152, the third electrode 3153, and the fourth electrode 3154 respectively include a plurality of stripe electrodes, and the length direction of the stripe electrodes is the same as the substantial extending direction of the second wire 3122. Here, in the first electrode 3151 and the fourth electrode 3154, the stripe electrodes have a width W1, and a gap width S1 is provided between two adjacent stripe electrodes; in the second electrode 3152 and the third electrode 3153, the stripe electrodes have a width W2, and a gap width S2 is formed between two adjacent stripe electrodes.

The sum (W1+ S1) of the width W1 of any one of the stripe electrodes included in the first electrode 3151 or the fourth electrode 3154 and the width S1 of the gap between two adjacent stripe electrodes is not equal to, and is preferably smaller than the sum (W2+ S2) of the width W1 of any one of the stripe electrodes included in the second electrode 3152 or the third electrode 3153 and the width S2 of the gap between two adjacent stripe electrodes. In addition, the width W1 of any stripe electrode included in the first electrode 3151 or the fourth electrode 3154 is smaller than the width W2 of any stripe electrode included in the second electrode 3152 or the third electrode 3153. Moreover, the gap width S1 between two adjacent stripe electrodes in the first electrode 3151 or the fourth electrode 3154 is smaller than the gap width S2 between two adjacent stripe electrodes in the second electrode 3152 or the third electrode 3153.

However, in other embodiments of the invention, the width W1 of any stripe electrode included in the first electrode 3151 or the fourth electrode 3154 may be less than or equal to the width W2 of any stripe electrode included in the second electrode 3152 or the third electrode 3153; the gap width S1 between two adjacent stripe electrodes in the first electrode 3151 or the fourth electrode 3154 may be smaller than or equal to the gap width S2 between two adjacent stripe electrodes in the second electrode 3152 or the third electrode 3153; the widths W1, W2 and the gap widths S1, S2 can be adjusted according to the color and arrangement of the panel pixel units, as long as the widths W1, W2 and the gap widths S1, S2 are related to each other such that the widths W1+ S1 are not equal to but preferably smaller than W2+ S2, and the width of the first gap G1 is larger than the width of the second gap G2.

Fig. 4 is a top view of the first substrate and the black matrix layer thereon of the display panel according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. As shown in fig. 2 and 4, in the display panel of the embodiment, a black matrix layer 332 is disposed on the second substrate 331, wherein the black matrix layer 332 is a patterned black matrix layer having a first opening 3321 and a second opening 3322, wherein the first opening 3321 respectively exposes a portion of the first electrode 3151 and the fourth electrode 3154, and the second opening 3322 simultaneously exposes a portion of the second electrode 3152 and the third electrode 3153. In other words, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the black matrix layer 332 is not disposed above the second gap G2 between the second electrode 3152 and the third electrode 3153, i.e., the black matrix layer 332 is not disposed above the second conductive line 3122 between the second electrode 3152 and the third electrode 3153. More specifically, in two adjacent pixel units of different colors (i.e., the first pixel unit 311a and the second pixel unit 311b, and the third pixel unit 311c and the fourth pixel unit 311d), the black matrix layer 332 is disposed above a space (i.e., where the second conductive line 3122 is disposed) between two adjacent electrodes (i.e., the first electrode 3151 and the second electrode 3152, and the third electrode 3153 and the fourth electrode 3154); the black matrix layer 332 is not disposed above a gap (i.e., where the second conductive line 3122 is disposed) between two adjacent electrodes (i.e., the second electrode 3152 and the third electrode 3153) in two adjacent pixel units of the same color (i.e., the second pixel unit 311b and the third pixel unit 311 c).

Therefore, as shown in fig. 3 and 4, in the display panel of the present embodiment, the color arrangement of the pixel units is replaced to make the specific adjacent pixel units show the same color, and at this time, there is no color mixing problem between the adjacent pixel units of the same color, so that a black matrix layer does not need to be disposed above the gap between two adjacent electrodes in the adjacent pixel units of the same color, and the aperture ratio and the transmittance of the panel can be further improved because the black matrix layer has a reduced area. In addition, in the display panel of the embodiment, by adjusting the width and the gap width of the strip electrodes in the adjacent same-color pixel units, the distance between two adjacent electrodes in the adjacent same-color pixel units is designed to be smaller than the distance between two adjacent electrodes in the adjacent different-color pixel units, so as to avoid the occurrence of dark stripes at the positions adjacent to the second wires (data lines) when no black matrix is arranged above the gap between two adjacent electrodes in the adjacent same-color pixel units, and further improve the light transmittance of the adjacent same-color pixel units.

Comparative example

Fig. 5 and 6 are a top view of the first substrate of the display panel of the present comparative example and a top view of the first substrate and the black matrix layer thereon, respectively. Here, the display panel of the present comparative example is the same as the previous embodiment except for the following points.

First, a first gap G1 is formed between the first electrode 3151 and the second electrode 3152, between the second electrode 3152 and the third electrode 3153, and between the third electrode 3153 and the fourth electrode 3154. Next, any one of the stripe electrodes included in the first electrode 3151, the second electrode 3152, the third electrode 3153, and the fourth electrode 31544 has the same width W1, and a gap width S1 is formed between two adjacent stripe electrodes.

Test examples

Here, light transmittance simulations were performed using the display panels of the examples and comparative examples of fig. 3 and 5; the combined light transmittance simulation results of the cross-sectional views along the line A-A' in FIGS. 3 and 5 are shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, wherein the curve T is a light transmittance simulation curve, respectively.

As shown in fig. 7 and 8, compared to the display panel according to the comparative example (as shown in fig. 8), the simulation results of the display panel according to the embodiment of the invention (as shown in fig. 7) show that the height of the transmittance curve T in the regions R1 and R2 adjacent to the second conductive line 3122 is significantly higher than that of the display panel according to the comparative example; the results show that when the spacing between the electrodes in the adjacent same-color pixel units, the electrode width of the strip-shaped electrodes and the gap width between the adjacent strip-shaped electrodes are adjusted, the light transmittance of the adjacent same-color pixel units can be improved.

Here, the display panels of the embodiment and the comparative example are provided, and the simulation results of the first pitch G1, the second pitch G2, the widths W1, W2 and the gap widths S1, S2 in two adjacent same-color pixel units have different values are shown in table 1 below.

TABLE 1

	W1(μm)	S1(μm)	G1(μm)	Light transmittance (%)
					Comparative example	2.05	2.65	9	100
	W2(μm)	S2(μm)	G2(μm)
					Example 1	2.05	3.65	7	103.46
Example 2	2.05	3.55	7.2	103.47
					Example 3	2.25	3.15	7.2	103.73

Note: examples 1-3 refer to the panels shown in the previous examples, simulated with the parameters shown in table 1.

Here, the transmittance of the display panel of the comparative example is set to 100%, and the transmittance of examples 1 to 3 is calculated based on the comparative example. The results in table 1 show that when the width (W2) and/or the gap width (S2) of the stripe electrodes in the adjacent same-color pixel cells are adjusted to shorten the distance (G2) between the two adjacent electrodes, the overall transmittance of the two adjacent same-color pixel cells is increased (-4%); and in the regions R1, R2 adjacent to the second conductive wire 3122 as in fig. 7 and 8, the transmittance is improved even up to about 70%.

Here, the "light transmittance" refers to the average transmittance or liquid crystal efficiency in the opening area (i.e., the light transmission area); the term "liquid crystal efficiency" refers to the luminous intensity per unit area.

In the present invention, the pixel electrodes of the display panel are not limited to the shape and arrangement shown in fig. 3, and may have other arrangements, as shown in fig. 9 and 10, wherein the area enclosed by the dotted line is each pixel unit area, and is only represented by the strip-shaped electrodes included in the pixel electrodes, and the actual pixel electrode design is still determined by the display panel design.

In addition, in the present invention, the pixel units of the display panel can be pixel units capable of emitting three colors, and the arrangement of the colors of the pixel units is as shown in fig. 11A and 11B; or pixel units capable of emitting four colors, wherein the arrangement of the colors of the pixel units is shown in fig. 12. Wherein R represents a red pixel cell, G represents a green pixel cell, B represents a blue pixel cell, and W represents a white pixel cell. However, the pixel cell color arrangement of the present invention is not limited thereto. Under the adjacent pixels of the same color, the relationship among the first pitch G1, the second pitch G2, the widths W1, W2 and the gap widths S1, S2 according to the foregoing embodiment of the invention is met, so that the transmittance of the display panel can be improved.

In the foregoing embodiments of the present invention, the display panel with a horizontal alignment is taken as an example; however, in other embodiments of the present invention, the display panel is a vertically aligned liquid crystal display panel.

Furthermore, the display panel manufactured by the foregoing embodiments of the invention can also be used in combination with a touch panel known in the art as a touch display device. Meanwhile, the display panel or the touch display device manufactured in the foregoing embodiment of the invention may be applied to any electronic device that needs a display screen and is known in the art, such as a display, a mobile phone, a notebook computer, a video camera, a music player, a mobile navigation device, a television, and the like.

The above-described embodiments are merely exemplary for convenience of description, and the scope of the claims of the present invention should be determined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description.

Claims

1. A display panel, comprising:

a first substrate having a first pixel unit, a second pixel unit and a third pixel unit, wherein the first pixel unit, the second pixel unit and the third pixel unit are arranged side by side, the first pixel unit and the second pixel unit are adjacent and are pixel units of different colors, and the second pixel unit and the third pixel unit are adjacent and are pixel units of the same color;

a plurality of electrodes disposed on the first substrate and including: a first electrode, a second electrode and a third electrode, wherein the first electrode is arranged in the first pixel unit, the second electrode is arranged in the second pixel unit, and the third electrode is arranged in the third pixel unit; and

a plurality of data lines disposed on the first substrate;

the first electrode and the second electrode are separated by a first space, the second electrode and the third electrode are separated by a second space, and the width of the first space is greater than that of the second space;

wherein, in the normal direction of the first substrate, the data line is not overlapped with the second electrode or the third electrode;

the first electrode, the second electrode and the third electrode respectively comprise a plurality of strip electrodes, the length direction of each strip electrode is the same as the extension direction of the data line, the width of each strip electrode included in the first electrode is smaller than that of each strip electrode included in the second electrode or the third electrode, and the width of a gap between two adjacent strip electrodes in the first electrode is smaller than that between two adjacent strip electrodes in the second electrode or the third electrode.

2. The display panel of claim 1, further comprising a second substrate disposed opposite the first substrate, wherein the second substrate has a black matrix layer disposed thereon, the black matrix layer being a patterned black matrix layer, wherein the black matrix layer is not disposed over the second gap between the second electrode and the third electrode.

3. The display panel of claim 1, further comprising a second substrate disposed opposite to the first substrate, wherein the second substrate has a black matrix layer thereon, the black matrix layer has a first opening and a second opening, the first opening exposes the first electrode, and the second opening simultaneously exposes the second electrode and the third electrode.

4. The display panel of claim 1, wherein the data lines are disposed side by side and respectively disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, and between the second electrode and the third electrode.

5. The display panel of claim 4, further comprising a second substrate disposed opposite the first substrate, wherein the second substrate has a black matrix layer disposed thereon, the black matrix layer being a patterned black matrix layer, wherein the black matrix layer is not disposed over the data lines disposed between the second electrodes and the third electrodes.

6. The display panel of claim 1, wherein a sum of a width of a stripe electrode included in the first electrode and a width of a gap between two adjacent stripe electrodes is not equal to a sum of a width of a stripe electrode included in the second electrode or the third electrode and a width of a gap between two adjacent stripe electrodes.

7. The display panel of claim 6, wherein the sum of the width of the stripe electrode included in the first electrode and the width of the gap between two adjacent stripe electrodes is smaller than the sum of the width of the stripe electrode included in the second electrode or the third electrode and the width of the gap between two adjacent stripe electrodes.