CN111754870B

CN111754870B - Flexible display panel and display device

Info

Publication number: CN111754870B
Application number: CN202010572374.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 简庆宏
Original assignee: Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-22
Filing date: 2020-06-22
Publication date: 2022-05-27
Anticipated expiration: 2040-06-22
Also published as: CN111754870A

Abstract

The invention provides a flexible display panel and a display device. The flexible display panel is provided with at least one bending area and a non-bending area connected with the bending area. The flexible display panel comprises a substrate layer, a display layer, a film packaging layer, a touch layer and a light resistance layer. The display layer is disposed on the substrate layer. In the bending area, the photoresist layer is provided with at least one groove.

Description

Flexible display panel and display device

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of display equipment, in particular to a flexible display panel and a display device.

Background

Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display devices have been developed in recent years due to their excellent characteristics, such as wide color gamut, high contrast, and solid state devices, and are increasingly competitive in the display field. The innate advantages of OLEDs are solid state devices, making OLEDs inherently advantageous in the field of flexible displays. In consideration of the development of display application from a square mobile phone to a new and various forms, flexible display is receiving more and more attention and becoming a development focus.

However, in the process of attaching the existing flexible substrate and the curved glass cover plate, because the angle of the curved surface of the curved glass cover plate is too large, the TFE encapsulation film layer is easy to break due to too large bending, and then encapsulation failure is caused, the water-oxygen isolation effect is affected, and the service life of the device is affected.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a flexible display panel and a display device, and aims to solve the problem that in the prior art, a TFE packaging film layer is easy to break due to overlarge bending because a curved surface angle of a curved surface glass cover plate is overlarge, and further packaging failure is caused.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a flexible display panel having at least one bending region and a non-bending region connected to the bending region.

The flexible display panel comprises a substrate layer, a display layer, a film packaging layer, a touch layer and a light resistance layer. The display layer is disposed on the substrate layer. The film packaging layer is arranged on one surface of the display layer, which is far away from the substrate layer. The touch layer is arranged on one surface of the film packaging layer far away from the display layer. The light resistance layer is arranged on one surface of the touch layer far away from the thin film packaging layer. And at least one groove is formed in the light resistance layer, and the notch of the groove faces back to the touch layer.

Furthermore, the flexible display panel further comprises an organic protective layer, wherein the organic protective layer is arranged on one surface of the light resistance layer far away from the touch layer and corresponds to the bending area.

Furthermore, the photoresist layer further comprises two water retaining grooves which are positioned at two ends of the organic protective layer, and the two ends of the organic protective layer respectively fall into one water retaining groove. The direction of the notch of the water retaining groove is the same as that of the notch of the groove.

Further, the sum of the thicknesses of the substrate layer and the display layer is equal to the sum of the thicknesses of the touch layer, the light resistance layer and the organic protection layer.

Further, the width of the groove is smaller than that of the water retaining groove.

Further, the extending direction of the water retaining groove is parallel to the extending direction of the groove.

Furthermore, the groove and the water retaining groove are prepared by adopting a half-tone mask process.

Further, the bending area is provided with a bending central line, and the bending area is bent around the bending central line. The extending direction of the groove is parallel to the bending central line.

Furthermore, the flexible display panel further comprises a cover plate, the cover plate is arranged on one surface of the light resistance layer far away from the touch layer and is provided with at least one curved surface part, and the curved surface part corresponds to the bending area.

The invention also provides a display device comprising the flexible display panel.

The invention has the advantages that: according to the flexible display panel, the groove is formed in the bending area and used for releasing stress generated during bending, so that the film packaging layer of the panel is prevented from being broken during bending, the packaging effect is improved, and the yield of the panel is improved. And an organic protective layer is additionally arranged to adjust the thickness of the display panel, so that the thin film packaging layer is positioned at the center of the total thickness of the panel, and the breakage of the thin film packaging layer is further reduced.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a top view of a flexible display panel in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cover plate in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a layer structure of a bending region of a flexible display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The components in the figures are represented as follows:

a flexible display panel 100;

a bending zone 101; a non-inflection region 102;

a bent center line 103;

a substrate layer 10; a display layer 20;

an array substrate 21; an OLED device layer 22;

a thin film encapsulation layer 30; a touch layer 40;

a photoresist layer 50; a recess 51;

a water retaining groove 52; an organic protective layer 60;

a cover plate 70; a curved surface portion 71;

a planar portion 72.

Detailed Description

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are included to demonstrate that the invention can be practiced, and to provide those skilled in the art with a complete description of the invention so that the technical content thereof will be more clear and readily understood. The present invention may be embodied in many different forms of embodiments and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

In the drawings, structurally identical elements are represented by like reference numerals, and structurally or functionally similar elements are represented by like reference numerals throughout the several views. The size and thickness of each component shown in the drawings are arbitrarily illustrated, and the present invention is not limited to the size and thickness of each component. The thickness of the components may be exaggerated where appropriate in the figures to improve clarity.

Furthermore, the following description of the various embodiments of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings that illustrate specific embodiments of the invention, by which the invention may be practiced. Directional phrases used in this disclosure, such as, for example, "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "inner," "outer," "side," and the like, refer only to the orientation of the appended drawings and are, therefore, used herein for better and clearer illustration and understanding of the invention, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element so referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and are therefore not to be considered limiting of the invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," "third," and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

When certain components are described as being "on" another component, the components can be directly on the other component; there may also be an intermediate member disposed on the intermediate member and the intermediate member disposed on the other member. When an element is referred to as being "mounted to" or "connected to" another element, they may be directly "mounted to" or "connected to" the other element or indirectly "mounted to" or "connected to" the other element through an intermediate element.

The embodiment of the invention provides a display device, which is an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) display device and can realize flexible curved surface display. The display device has a flexible display panel 100, and the flexible display panel 100 is used for providing a display picture for the display device. The display device can be any product or component with a display function, such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer and the like.

As shown in fig. 1, the flexible display panel 100 has two bending regions 101 and a non-bending region 102 located between the two bending regions 101 and connecting the two bending regions 101, the flexible display panel 100 in the bending regions 101 can implement curved bending display, and the flexible display panel 100 in the non-bending region 102 is planar display. Each bending region 101 has a bending center line 103, and the bending region 101 bends around the bending center line 103.

The flexible display panel 100 includes a substrate layer 10, a display layer 20, a film encapsulation layer 30, a touch layer 40, and a photoresist layer 50.

The substrate layer 10 covers the bending region 101 and the non-bending region 102, and is a flexible substrate layer 10, the material of the flexible substrate layer comprises polyimide, and the bending region 101 of the flexible display panel 100 realizes curved surface bending through the substrate layer 10.

The display layer 20 is disposed on the substrate layer 10, and has an array substrate 21 and an OLED device layer 22. The array substrate 21 is arranged on one surface of the substrate layer 10, and the OLED device layer 22 is arranged on one surface of the array substrate 21 far away from the substrate layer 10. A plurality of TFTs (Thin Film transistors) are arranged in the array substrate 21, and the TFTs are used for controlling the on and off of the OLED device. The array substrate 21 and the OLED device layer 22 are combined to form the display layer 20, and the display layer 20 is a main display device of the flexible display panel 100 and is used for providing a display light source and forming a display picture.

The thin film encapsulation layer 30 is disposed on a surface of the display layer 20 away from the substrate layer 10, that is, on a surface of the OLED device layer 22 away from the array substrate 21. The thin Film encapsulation layer 30 is prepared by a tfe (thin Film encapsulation) process, and is generally a multi-layer cross-laminated structure of organic material layers and inorganic material layers. The organic material layer can improve the toughness of the film packaging layer 30, and the inorganic material layer can improve the water and oxygen blocking effect of the film packaging layer 30, so that the film packaging layer 30 has a better water and oxygen blocking packaging effect compared with the existing single-layer packaging structure.

The touch layer 40 is disposed on a surface of the thin film encapsulation layer 30 away from the display layer 20, and is used for implementing touch control of the flexible display panel 100. The final process of the touch layer 40 includes a photoresist layer 50. The photoresist layer 50 is prepared on a surface of the touch layer 40 away from the thin film encapsulation layer 30, and the material of the photoresist layer includes an organic material, which is used for protecting the touch layer 40.

The flexible display panel 100 further has a cover plate 70, and the cover plate 70 is disposed on a surface of the photoresist layer 50 away from the touch layer 40. As shown in fig. 2, the cover plate 70 has two curved surface portions 71 and a flat surface portion 72 connecting the two curved surface portions 71. The two curved surface portions 71 correspond to a bending region 101, and the flat surface portion 72 corresponds to the non-bending region 102. The cover plate 70 is used to protect the surface of the flexible display panel 100.

As shown in fig. 3, in the bending region 101, the photoresist layer 50 has five grooves 51, the notches of the grooves 51 face the cover plate 70, the extending direction of the grooves 51 is parallel to the bending center line 103, and the distance between two adjacent grooves 51 is the same. The grooves 51 may be formed by etching on the photoresist layer 50 using a half-tone mask process. When the cover plate 70 is attached to the flexible display panel 100, the bending region 101 of the flexible display panel 100 is bent according to the curvature of the curved surface portion 71 of the cover plate 70 to form a curved screen. Bending stress can be generated when the bending area 101 is bent, the film packaging layer 30 in the bending area is easily torn under the action of the bending stress, so that packaging failure is caused, the groove 51 is used for releasing and relieving the bending stress, the film packaging layer 30 is prevented from being packaged and failed, and the yield and the service life of the flexible display panel 100 are improved.

Further, an organic protection layer 60 is respectively disposed in the two bending regions 101, as shown in fig. 3, the organic protection layer 60 is disposed between the photoresist layer 50 and the cover plate 70, and covers and fills the groove 51. The organic protective layer 60 is used to protect the bending region 101. Meanwhile, the organic protection layer 60 is also used to adjust the panel thickness, so that the panel thicknesses on both sides of the film encapsulation layer 30 in the bending region 101 are the same, even if the sum of the thicknesses of the substrate layer 10 and the display layer 20 is equal to the sum of the thicknesses of the touch layer 40, the photoresist layer 50 and the organic protection layer 60, thereby further reducing the cracking of the film encapsulation layer 30 caused by stretching when bending.

The organic protection layer 60 is prepared on the photoresist layer 50 by an inkjet printing method, so that two water retaining grooves 52 are further formed in the photoresist layer 50 in the bending region 101, and the water retaining grooves 52 are located on two sides of the organic protection layer 60 and are used for preventing ink materials of the organic protection layer 60 from flowing out of the bending region 101 before curing, and affecting the quality of the panel. Meanwhile, the water blocking groove 52 also has a stress releasing function. The extending direction of the water retaining groove 52 is parallel to the extending direction of the groove 51. Further, in order to improve the ink blocking effect, the wider the width of the water blocking groove 52, the better, and therefore the width of the water blocking groove 52 is greater than the width of the groove 51. The water-blocking groove 52 may be prepared simultaneously with the recess 51 through a half-tone mask process.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the flexible display panel 100 in the display device is provided with the groove 51 in the bending region 101 for releasing stress generated during bending, so as to prevent the film encapsulation layer 30 from cracking during bending of the panel, improve the encapsulation effect, and improve the yield of the panel. Meanwhile, the organic protection layer 60 can further protect the flexible display panel 100, and the thickness of the display panel is adjusted to reduce the bending stress borne by the thin film encapsulation layer 30, thereby reducing the cracking.

Although the invention herein has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applications of the present invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerous modifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. It should be understood that features described in different dependent claims and herein may be combined in ways different from those described in the original claims. It is also to be understood that features described in connection with individual embodiments may be used in other described embodiments.

Claims

1. A flexible display panel is characterized in that the flexible display panel is provided with at least one bending area and a non-bending area connected with the bending area; the flexible display panel includes:

a substrate layer;

the display layer is arranged on the substrate layer;

the thin film packaging layer is arranged on one surface of the display layer, which is far away from the substrate layer;

the touch layer is arranged on one surface of the thin film packaging layer, which is far away from the display layer;

the light resistance layer is arranged on one surface of the touch layer away from the thin film packaging layer;

the groove is arranged on the light resistance layer and positioned in the bending area, and the notch of the groove faces back to the touch layer;

the organic protective layer is arranged on one surface of the light resistance layer, which is far away from the touch layer, and corresponds to the bending area; the organic protective layer is prepared on the light resistance layer in an ink-jet printing mode;

the photoresist layer also comprises two water retaining grooves which are positioned at two ends of the organic protective layer, and the two ends of the organic protective layer respectively fall into one water retaining groove; the direction of the notch of the water retaining groove is the same as that of the notch of the groove; the water retaining groove is used for preventing the ink material of the organic protective layer from flowing out of the bending area before curing;

the thickness sum of the substrate layer and the display layer is equal to the thickness sum of the touch layer, the light resistance layer and the organic protection layer.

2. The flexible display panel of claim 1, wherein a width of the groove is less than a width of the water-retaining groove.

3. The flexible display panel of claim 1, wherein the water-blocking groove extends in a direction parallel to the groove.

4. The flexible display panel of claim 1, wherein the recess and the water-stop groove are formed by a half-tone mask process.

5. The flexible display panel of claim 1, wherein the bending region has a bending centerline, and the bending region bends around the bending centerline; the extending direction of the groove is parallel to the bending central line.

6. The flexible display panel of claim 1, further comprising a cover plate disposed on a surface of the photoresist layer away from the touch layer and having at least one curved surface portion corresponding to the bending region.

7. A display device comprising the flexible display panel according to any one of claims 1 to 6.