CN111584565A

CN111584565A - Flexible array substrate and display panel

Info

Publication number: CN111584565A
Application number: CN202010392957.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李波
Original assignee: Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-11
Filing date: 2020-05-11
Publication date: 2020-08-25
Anticipated expiration: 2040-05-11
Also published as: CN111584565B

Abstract

The invention discloses a flexible array substrate and a display panel. The display panel comprises a flexible array substrate, the flexible array substrate comprises a plurality of scanning signal lines, each scanning signal line is connected with a plurality of pixel units, and at least one line changing structure is arranged between every two adjacent pixel units of each scanning signal line; the line changing structure is used for buffering the internal stress and the bending stress of the scanning signal line. The flexible screen is provided with at least one line changing structure on the scanning signal line between two adjacent pixel units, and the line changing structure is used for buffering the internal stress and the bending stress of the scanning signal line, releasing the bending stress to prevent the scanning wiring from breaking and generating open circuit, and ensuring the picture display of the flexible screen when the flexible screen is applied to the cross-folding technology.

Description

Flexible array substrate and display panel

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of display, in particular to a flexible array substrate and a display panel.

Background

In an active matrix organic light emitting display (AMOLED Panel) structure, from the previous solid state bending (SF) to the dynamic bending (DF) and then to the existing cross folding technology, the cross folding belongs to the front edge new technology, and comprises a structure of three areas formed by two times of dynamic bending, so that the active matrix organic light emitting display can be used as a flat plate when being unfolded, and can be used as a mobile phone after being dynamically bent.

However, the existing active matrix organic light emitting display has the defect of stress concentration between film layers when being dynamically bent, which causes the conductive metal layer to be broken after being bent for many times, and especially the picture display can be directly influenced by the open circuit of the scanning wiring.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a flexible array substrate and a display panel, which are used for solving the technical problems that when the conventional flexible screen is applied to a cross folding technology, a conductive metal layer is broken after being bent for multiple times, and particularly, the picture display is directly influenced by the open circuit of scanning wiring.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a flexible array substrate, which includes a plurality of scanning signal lines, each of the scanning signal lines is connected to a plurality of pixel units, and at least one line-changing structure is disposed between two adjacent pixel units of the scanning signal lines; the line changing structure is used for buffering the internal stress and the bending stress of the scanning signal line.

Further, the flexible array substrate comprises a flexible substrate, an active layer, a first insulating layer, a first metal layer, a second insulating layer, a second metal layer, an interlayer insulating layer and a third metal layer which are sequentially stacked from bottom to top; each pixel unit comprises at least one thin film transistor area; and a bending area is arranged between two adjacent thin film transistor areas, and the line changing structure is positioned in the bending area.

Furthermore, the wire changing structure comprises a first wire changing structure and a second wire changing structure which are sequentially arranged at intervals; the height of the first wire changing structure is different from that of the second wire changing structure.

Furthermore, the first metal layer located in the bending area comprises at least one first wire changing layer, and the third metal layer located in the bending area comprises at least one scanning wire layer; and two ends of the first wire changing layer are electrically connected with one scanning wiring layer through at least one first through hole respectively to form the first wire changing structure.

Further, the first via hole penetrates through the second insulating layer and the interlayer insulating layer; the first wire changing layer and the scanning wiring layer are connected through the first through hole in the overlapping area of the first wire changing layer and the scanning wiring layer.

Furthermore, the second metal layer located in the bending area comprises at least one second wire changing layer, and the third metal layer located in the bending area comprises at least one scanning wire layer; and two ends of the second wire changing layer are electrically connected with one scanning wiring layer through at least one second through hole respectively to form the second wire changing structure.

Further, the second via hole penetrates through the interlayer insulating layer; and in the projection of the flexible substrate, the second via hole is positioned in the overlapping area of the second wire changing layer and the scanning wiring layer.

Further, the first metal layer in the thin film transistor region includes at least a gate layer disposed opposite to the active layer and electrically connected to the scan signal line; the third metal layer in the thin film transistor area comprises a source drain layer, and the source drain layer is electrically connected with the active layer.

Further, the flexible substrate comprises a first substrate layer, a barrier layer, an amorphous silicon layer, a second substrate layer and a buffer layer which are sequentially stacked from bottom to top; in particular, the barrier layer is disposed on the first substrate layer; the amorphous silicon layer is arranged on the barrier layer; the second substrate layer is arranged on the amorphous silicon layer; the buffer layer is arranged on the second substrate layer.

The invention also provides a display panel which comprises the flexible array substrate.

The invention has the advantages that at least one line changing structure is arranged on the scanning signal line between two adjacent pixel units and used for buffering the internal stress and the bending stress of the scanning signal line, the bending stress is released to prevent the scanning line from being broken to cause open circuit, and the picture display of the flexible screen applied to the cross-folding technology is ensured.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the application, and that for a person skilled in the art, other drawings can be derived from them without inventive effort.

Fig. 1 is a top view of the flexible array substrate in this embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the flexible array substrate in this embodiment;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of the display panel in this embodiment.

The components in the figure are identified as follows:

1. a flexible substrate, 2, an active layer, 3, a first insulating layer, 4, a first metal layer,

5. a second insulating layer, 6, a second metal layer, 7, an interlayer insulating layer, 8, a third metal layer,

10. scanning signal lines, 20, pixel units, 30, line changing structures, 40, TFT units,

11. a first substrate layer, 12, a barrier layer, 13, an amorphous silicon layer, 14, a second substrate layer,

15. a buffer layer 21, a thin film transistor region 22, a bending region 31, a first via hole,

32. second via hole, 41, gate layer, 42, first crosswire layer, 61, second crosswire layer,

81. a source drain layer 82, a scanning wiring layer, 100, a flexible array substrate,

200. a display panel 201, a picture pixel unit area 202, a bending transition area,

203. a keyboard pixel unit area 301, a first line changing structure 302 and a second line changing structure.

Detailed Description

The following description of the various embodiments refers to the accompanying drawings that illustrate specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. Directional terms mentioned in the present invention, such as [ upper ], [ lower ], [ front ], [ rear ], [ left ], [ right ], [ inner ], [ outer ], [ side ], [ lateral ] and the like, refer to the directions of the attached drawings only. Accordingly, the directional terms used are used for explanation and understanding of the present invention, and are not used for limiting the present invention. In the drawings, elements having similar structures are denoted by the same reference numerals.

In the drawings, the thickness of layers and regions are exaggerated for clarity. For example, the thicknesses and sizes of elements in the drawings are arbitrarily shown for convenience of description, and thus, the described technical scope is not limited by the drawings.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the present invention provides a flexible array substrate 100, including a plurality of scan signal lines 10, each scan signal line 10 is connected to a plurality of pixel units 20, and at least one line-changing structure 30 is disposed between two adjacent pixel units 20 of the scan signal line 10; the line changing structure 30 is used for buffering the internal stress and the bending stress of the scanning signal line 10.

In this embodiment, at least one line changing structure 30 is disposed on the scanning signal line 10 between two adjacent pixel units 20, so as to buffer the internal stress and bending stress of the scanning signal line 10, release the bending stress to prevent the scanning line from breaking, and ensure the image display when the flexible screen is applied to the cross-folding technology.

Referring to fig. 2, in the present embodiment, the flexible array substrate 100 includes a flexible substrate 1, an active layer 2, a first insulating layer 3, a first metal layer 4, a second insulating layer 5, a second metal layer 6, an interlayer insulating layer 7, and a third metal layer 8, which are sequentially stacked from bottom to top; the first metal layer 4, the second metal layer 6 and the third metal layer 8 are made of one or a stack combination of copper, aluminum, molybdenum and titanium, the first insulating layer 3, the second insulating layer 5 and the interlayer insulating layer 7 are made of silicon oxide and/or silicon nitride, preferably, the first gate insulating layer is made of silicon oxide, and the second gate insulating layer is made of silicon nitride; specifically, the active layer 2 is disposed on the flexible substrate 1, the first insulating layer 3 is disposed on the active layer 2, the first metal layer 4 is disposed on the first insulating layer 3, the second insulating layer 5 is disposed on the first metal layer 4, the second metal layer 6 is disposed on the second insulating layer 5, the interlayer insulating layer 7 is disposed on the second metal layer 6, and the third metal layer 8 is disposed on the interlayer insulating layer 7.

Referring to fig. 2, in the present embodiment, the flexible substrate 1 includes a first substrate layer 11, a barrier layer 12, an amorphous silicon layer 13, a second substrate layer 14, and a buffer layer 15, which are sequentially stacked from bottom to top; in particular, the barrier layer 12 is provided on the first substrate layer 11; the amorphous silicon layer 13 is arranged on the barrier layer 12; the second substrate layer 14 is arranged on the amorphous silicon layer 13; the buffer layer 15 is arranged on the second substrate layer 14; the active layer 2 is disposed on the buffer layer 15. The materials of the first substrate layer 11 and the second substrate layer 14 comprise polyimide; the material of the buffer layer 15 comprises silicon oxide and/or silicon nitride; the material of the amorphous silicon layer 13 includes a-Si.

Referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2, in the present embodiment, each pixel unit 20 includes at least one thin film transistor region 21; a bending region 22 is disposed between two adjacent tft regions 21, and the line changing structure 30 is located in the bending region 22. When bending, the line changing structure 30 is used to release bending stress to prevent the scanning signal line 10 from breaking, thereby effectively avoiding the breakage of the trace caused by stress concentration. And the provision of the line replacement structure 30 helps to reduce the length of the scanning signal line 10, thereby reducing its own internal stress. The internal stress of the scanning signal line with the existing length is between 70MPa and 90MPa, and the specific measurement values are 68.661MPa, 70.727MPa, 87.840MPa and 80.578MPa, while the internal stress of the sectional scanning signal line 10 adopting the embodiment is between 50MPa and 60MPa, and the specific measurement values are 53.484MPa, 59.360MPa and 59.390 MPa. Therefore, the arrangement of the line changing structure 30 is helpful to reduce the internal stress of the scanning signal line 10, is helpful to avoid the broken scanning line, and ensures the picture display when the flexible screen is applied to the cross-folding technology.

Referring to fig. 2, in the present embodiment, the first metal layer 4 in the tft area 21 includes at least one gate layer 41, and the gate layer 41 is disposed opposite to the active layer 2 and electrically connected to the scan signal line 10; the third metal layer 8 in the tft area 21 includes a source/drain layer 81, and the source/drain layer 81 is electrically connected to the active layer 2. That is, in the thin film transistor region 21, the active layer 2, the first gate insulating layer, the first metal layer 4, the second gate insulating layer, the second metal layer 6, the interlayer insulating layer 7, and the third metal layer 8 constitute a TFT unit 40, wherein the gate layer 41 of the first metal layer 4 serves as a gate, the second metal layer 6 is used to form a capacitor with the first metal layer 4, and the third metal layer 8 is connected to the two end doped regions of the active layer 2 in a segmented manner to form the source/drain layer 81.

Referring to fig. 2, in the present embodiment, the line changing structure 30 includes a first line changing structure 301 and a second line changing structure 302 that are sequentially disposed at intervals; the first wire replacement structure 301 has a different height from the second wire replacement structure 302. The staggered arrangement mode of one high and one low can reduce the extrusion stress between the adjacent wire changing structures 30, is beneficial to reducing the bending stress, particularly the stress between the structures on the same layer is uniformly distributed, and the broken circuit caused by the breakage of the scanning wires due to the stress concentration can be avoided.

In this embodiment, the first metal layer 4 in the bending region 22 includes at least one first wire-changing layer 42, and the third metal layer 8 in the bending region 22 includes at least one scanning wire layer 82; two ends of the first wire changing layer 42 are electrically connected to one of the scanning wiring layers 82 through at least one first via hole 31, respectively, to form the first wire changing structure 301. The number of the first via holes 31 may be one or more, which can ensure that when a connection failure occurs at a position of a certain first via hole 31, a short circuit condition is not caused, and the fault tolerance rate is improved.

In this embodiment, the first via hole 31 penetrates the second insulating layer 5 and the interlayer insulating layer 7; the first wire-changing layer 42 and the scanning wire layer 82 are connected by the first via 31 in the overlapping area, that is, in the projection of the flexible substrate 1, the first via 31 is located in the overlapping area of the first wire-changing layer 42 and the scanning wire layer 82.

In this embodiment, the second metal layer 6 in the bending region 22 includes at least one second wire-changing layer 61, and the third metal layer 8 in the bending region 22 includes at least one scanning wire layer 82; two ends of the second wire changing layer 61 are electrically connected to one of the scanning wiring layers 82 through at least one second via hole 32, respectively, to form the second wire changing structure 302. The number of the second via holes 32 may be one or more, which can ensure that when a connection failure occurs at a certain position of the second via hole 32, a short circuit condition is not caused, and the fault tolerance rate is improved.

In this embodiment, the second via hole 32 penetrates through the interlayer insulating layer 7; in the projection of the flexible substrate 1, the second via hole 32 is located in the overlapping area of the second wire-changing layer 61 and the scanning wire-layer 82.

The invention further provides a display panel 200 comprising the flexible array substrate 100. The display panel 200 in this embodiment may be: any product or component with a display function, such as wearable equipment, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a television, a display, a notebook computer, an electronic book, electronic newspaper, a digital photo frame, a navigator and the like. The wearable device comprises a smart bracelet, a smart watch, a VR (Virtual Reality) and other devices.

As shown in fig. 3, which is a schematic structural diagram of the display panel 200, the display panel 200 includes a picture pixel unit area 201, an excessive bending area 202 and a keyboard pixel unit area 203, the picture pixel unit area 201 is used for displaying a picture, the keyboard pixel unit area 203 is used for displaying a keyboard, the excessive bending area 202 is used for forming a bending angle of the picture pixel unit area 201 relative to the keyboard pixel unit area 203, and the bending angle is between 90 ° and 150 °. The area of the over-bent region 202 is smaller than the area of the keyboard pixel unit region 203, and the area of the keyboard pixel unit region 203 is smaller than the area of the picture pixel unit region 201.

In order to save the manufacturing cost, it may be preferable to adopt the structure of the flexible array substrate 100 only in the bending transition region 202.

The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. The flexible array substrate is characterized by comprising a plurality of scanning signal lines, wherein each scanning signal line is connected with a plurality of pixel units, and at least one line changing structure is arranged between every two adjacent pixel units on each scanning signal line; the line changing structure is used for buffering the internal stress and the bending stress of the scanning signal line.

2. The flexible array substrate of claim 1,

the flexible array substrate comprises a flexible substrate, an active layer, a first insulating layer, a first metal layer, a second insulating layer, a second metal layer, an interlayer insulating layer and a third metal layer which are sequentially stacked from bottom to top;

each pixel unit comprises at least one thin film transistor area; and a bending area is arranged between two adjacent thin film transistor areas, and the line changing structure is positioned in the bending area.

3. The flexible array substrate of claim 2, wherein the line changing structure comprises a first line changing structure and a second line changing structure which are sequentially arranged at intervals; the height of the first wire changing structure is different from that of the second wire changing structure.

4. The flexible array substrate of claim 3,

the first metal layer positioned in the bending area comprises at least one first wire changing layer, and the third metal layer positioned in the bending area comprises at least one scanning wiring layer; and two ends of the first wire changing layer are electrically connected with one scanning wiring layer through at least one first through hole respectively to form the first wire changing structure.

5. The flexible array substrate of claim 4, wherein the first via hole penetrates through the second insulating layer and the interlayer insulating layer; the first wire changing layer and the scanning wiring layer are connected through the first through hole in the overlapping area of the first wire changing layer and the scanning wiring layer.

6. The flexible array substrate of claim 3,

the second metal layer positioned in the bending area comprises at least one second wire changing layer, and the third metal layer positioned in the bending area comprises at least one scanning wiring layer; and two ends of the second wire changing layer are electrically connected with one scanning wiring layer through at least one second through hole respectively to form the second wire changing structure.

7. The flexible array substrate of claim 6, wherein the second via hole penetrates through the interlayer insulating layer; and in the projection of the flexible substrate, the second via hole is positioned in the overlapping area of the second wire changing layer and the scanning wiring layer.

8. The flexible array substrate of claim 2, wherein the first metal layer in the thin film transistor region comprises at least a gate layer disposed opposite to the active layer and electrically connected to the scan signal line; the third metal layer in the thin film transistor area comprises a source drain layer, and the source drain layer is electrically connected with the active layer.

9. The flexible array substrate of claim 2, wherein the flexible base comprises:

a first substrate layer;

the barrier layer is arranged on the first substrate layer;

the amorphous silicon layer is arranged on the barrier layer;

the second substrate layer is arranged on the amorphous silicon layer; and

and the buffer layer is arranged on the second substrate layer.

10. A display panel comprising the flexible array substrate according to any one of claims 1 to 9.