CN213814211U - Electronic equipment and electrochromic module thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The application provides an electronic device and an electrochromic module thereof, wherein the electrochromic module comprises a first metal wire, a second metal wire, a first substrate, a first conductive layer, a color-changing material layer, a second conductive layer and a second substrate which are sequentially stacked; the first metal routing wire and the second metal routing wire are respectively connected with the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer; the first conducting layer is provided with a first wire leading-out end connected with the first metal wire and a second wire leading-out end adjacent to the first metal wire and arranged at intervals; the conductive column penetrates through the second substrate and the second conductive layer, one end of the conductive column is electrically connected with the second metal routing, and the other end of the conductive column is electrically connected with the second routing leading-out end through the conductive material. The electrochromic module has the characteristics of relatively simple and feasible structure and process, and easy realization of automatic production, and solves the problems of poor product stability and low yield in manual operation.

Description

Electronic equipment and electrochromic module thereof

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a technical field of electrochromic module structure specifically is to relate to an electronic equipment and electrochromic module thereof.

Background

The shell of the existing electronic product such as the smart phone is generally composed of a protective glass cover plate with a built-in decorative membrane or plastic and the like. The color or pattern of the shell is relatively fixed, the effect of various color changes cannot be realized, and the appearance expressive force is not ideal. And the shell has a single function, only plays a role in protecting the mobile phone, cannot realize a dynamic effect along with the change of the mobile phone, and lacks interaction with a user.

Some proposals have been made for decorative films that can change color for use on cellular phones based on electrochromic technology. But the problems of poor structural reliability, complex preparation process and low preparation efficiency exist in the application process.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

A first aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides an electrochromic module, where the electrochromic module includes a first metal trace, a second metal trace, and a first substrate, a first conductive layer, a color-changing material layer, a second conductive layer, and a second substrate that are sequentially stacked; wherein the first metal trace and the second metal trace are respectively connected with the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer;

the first conductive layer is provided with a first wire leading-out end connected with the first metal wire and a second wire leading-out end adjacent to the first metal wire and arranged at intervals;

the electrochromic module further comprises a conductive column, the conductive column penetrates through the second substrate and the second conductive layer, one end of the conductive column is electrically connected with the second metal routing wire, and the other end of the conductive column is electrically connected with the second routing wire leading-out end through a conductive material.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an electronic device, where the electronic device includes a display screen module, a control circuit board, and a housing assembly; the casing assembly comprises a casing and the electrochromic module in any one of the embodiments, the display screen module is matched with the casing to form an accommodating space, the control circuit board and the electrochromic module are arranged in the accommodating space, and the electrochromic module is attached to the inner surface of the casing; the control circuit board is coupled with the first wiring leading-out end and the second wiring leading-out end of the electrochromic module and is used for controlling the electrochromic module to change color.

According to the electrochromic module provided by the embodiment of the application, the conductive layers on the upper side and the lower side of the electrochromic module are unified to the substrate on one side (the wiring leading-out end) to be led out in a manner of punching the connecting hole on the assembling plate on one side and forming the conductive post in the connecting hole, so that the single-sided binding of the electrochromic module can be realized, and the subsequent binding process of the flexible circuit board is facilitated; in addition, the electrochromic module has the characteristics of relatively simple and feasible structure and process, and easy realization of automatic production, and solves the problems of poor product stability and low yield in manual operation.

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 described 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 without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an improved electrochromic module;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an overall structure of an embodiment of an electrochromic module according to the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of the structure at A-A in the embodiment of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a partial structural stack of one embodiment of an electrochromic module;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a partially disassembled electrochromic module of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a portion of the structure at B in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the structure at C-C in FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a portion of another embodiment of an electrochromic module according to the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic front view of another embodiment of an electrochromic module according to the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of the electrochromic module shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged schematic view of the structure at D in FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is a schematic sectional view of the structure at E-E in the embodiment of FIG. 9;

FIG. 13 is a schematic structural view of an embodiment of the housing assembly of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a schematic back side view of an embodiment of an electronic device of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the electronic device of FIG. 14 at F-F;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating the structural components of an embodiment of the electronic device of the present application;

FIG. 17 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method for fabricating an electrochromic module according to the present application;

FIG. 18 is a schematic structural view of an embodiment of punching a connection hole on the second assembly plate;

fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of punching a connecting hole on the second assembly plate.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. It is to be noted that the following examples are only illustrative of the present invention, and do not limit the scope of the present invention. Likewise, the following examples are only some but not all examples of the present invention, and all other examples obtained by those skilled in the art without any inventive step are within the scope of the present invention.

Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by one skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.

As used herein, an "electronic device" (or simply "terminal") includes, but is not limited to, an apparatus that is configured to receive/transmit communication signals via a wireline connection, such as via a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), a digital cable, a direct cable connection, and/or another data connection/network, and/or via a wireless interface (e.g., for a cellular network, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a digital television network such as a DVB-H network, a satellite network, an AM-FM broadcast transmitter, and/or another communication terminal). A communication terminal arranged to communicate over a wireless interface may be referred to as a "wireless communication terminal", "wireless terminal" or "mobile terminal". Examples of mobile terminals include, but are not limited to, satellite or cellular telephones; a Personal Communications System (PCS) terminal that may combine a cellular radiotelephone with data processing, facsimile and data communications capabilities; PDAs that may include radiotelephones, pagers, internet/intranet access, Web browsers, notepads, calendars, and/or Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers; and conventional laptop and/or palmtop receivers or other electronic devices that include a radiotelephone transceiver. A cellular phone is an electronic device equipped with a cellular communication module.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an electrochromic module before improvement, in the technical solution before improvement, a two-side staggered routing structure is generally shown in the figure, on one hand, the two-side staggered routing is a wider invalid area W (routing area and edge area are not valid color-changing area) at the edge position, on the other hand, two routing lines need to be led out respectively, that is, two FPCs are needed to be used for connecting electronic equipment, and the internal space of the electronic equipment is occupied; and bonding is required twice, the process is complicated, and the method is obviously not suitable for electronic equipment. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a first substrate, reference numeral 2 denotes a first conductive layer, reference numeral 3 denotes an electrochromic material, reference numeral 4 denotes a second conductive layer, reference numeral 5 denotes a second substrate, reference numeral 6 denotes a sealant frame, and reference numeral 7 denotes a metal trace. In view of the above technical problems, the present disclosure provides an electrochromic module structure. Referring to fig. 2 and fig. 3 together, fig. 2 is a schematic overall structure diagram of an embodiment of an electrochromic module of the present application, and fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram at a-a in the embodiment of fig. 2; it should be noted that the electronic device in the present application may include a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a wearable device, and the like. The electrochromic module 100 in this embodiment includes a first substrate 110, a first conductive layer 120, a color-changing material layer 130, a second conductive layer 140, a second substrate 150, a frame 160, and a metal trace 180. It should be noted that the terms "comprises" and "comprising," and any variations thereof, in the embodiments of the present application, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements listed, but may alternatively include other steps or elements not listed, or may alternatively include other steps or elements inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Specifically, the first substrate 110, the first conductive layer 120, the color-changing material layer 130, the second conductive layer 140, and the second substrate 150 are sequentially stacked; in this embodiment, the rubber frame 160 is disposed around the color-changing material layer 130 (where, a structure of the rubber frame is not shown in fig. 2, and is shown in fig. 3), the rubber frame 160 in this embodiment is respectively bonded to the surface of the first conductive layer 120 and the side surfaces of the second substrate 150, the second conductive layer 140, and the color-changing material layer 130, and in some other embodiments, the rubber frame 160 may also be bonded to the first substrate 110 and the second substrate 150 or a side edge circumference of the first substrate 110, the first conductive layer 120, the color-changing material layer 130, the second conductive layer 140, and the second substrate 150, which is not specifically limited herein.

Optionally, in this embodiment, the first substrate 110 and the second substrate 150 are made of a flexible transparent resin material, so that the entire structure of the electrochromic module 100 is in a flexible and bendable structural form. The first substrate 110 and the second substrate 150 function to support and protect internal structures. In some embodiments, the first substrate 110 and the second substrate 150 may be made of PET (Polyethylene terephthalate, PET or PEIT, polyester resin, or a condensation polymer of terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol), PMMA (poly (methyl methacrylate), PMMA (PMMA), or acryl, Acrylic, or organic glass), PC (Polycarbonate, PC) is a polymer containing carbonate in a molecular chain, PI (Polyimide), and the like. Further material types for the first substrate 110 and the second substrate 150 are not listed and detailed herein within the understanding of those skilled in the art. The forming method of the first conductive layer 120 and the second conductive layer 140 may be Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), specifically including vacuum evaporation, sputtering, ion plating (hollow cathode ion plating, hot cathode ion plating, arc ion plating, reactive ion plating, radio frequency ion plating, direct current discharge ion plating), and the like.

The thicknesses of the first conductive layer 120 and the second conductive layer 140 may be between 100nm and 300nm, and specifically, may be 100nm, 120nm, 150nm, 200nm, 280nm, 300nm, and the like. The first conductive layer 120 and the second conductive layer 140 are made of transparent conductive materials. The transparent conductive material can be Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), zinc aluminum oxide (AZO), tin oxide doped with Fluorine (FTO), graphene film or the like.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a partial structure stacking diagram of an embodiment of an electrochromic module, wherein the color-changing material layer 130 further includes a sub-layer structure, and as shown in fig. 4, the color-changing material layer 130 includes an electrochromic layer (i.e., EC layer) 131, a dielectric layer 132, and an ion storage layer (i.e., IC layer) 133 sandwiched between the first conductive layer 120 and the second conductive layer 140 and sequentially stacked. Alternatively, the material of the electrochromic layer 131 may be selected from organic polymers (including polyaniline, polythiophene, etc.), inorganic materials (prussian blue, transition metal oxides such as tungsten trioxide), and organic small molecules (viologen), etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the electrochromic layer 131 is exemplified as an organic polymer, and the electrochromic layer 131 may be a solid or gel material. Alternatively, the ion storage layer 133 and the dielectric layer 132 may be formed on the conductive layer by blade coating, and the electrochromic layer 131 (wherein the electrochromic layer 131 is the organic polymer or the inorganic material as described above) may be formed by blade coating or drip irrigation, and the detailed technical features thereof will not be described in detail herein within the understanding of those skilled in the art.

Optionally, referring to fig. 3, the metal trace 180 specifically includes a first metal trace 181 and a second metal trace 182; the first metal trace 181 is connected to the first conductive layer 120, and the second metal trace 182 is connected to the second conductive layer 140. The metal trace 180 includes but is not limited to a multi-layer trace structure such as a silver paste line, a copper plated layer, an aluminum plated layer, or a molybdenum aluminum molybdenum layer. Optionally, referring to fig. 2, in the present embodiment, the first metal trace 181 is disposed along an edge position close to the surface of the first conductive layer 120, and the second metal trace 182 is disposed along an edge position close to the surface of the second conductive layer 140. The specific structure of the trace has a plurality of design forms, such as a ring shape in the illustrated embodiment, and in some other embodiments, the trace may also be an L-shaped trace, and the like, which is not limited herein.

In order to make the electrochromic module have a faster color change speed, the sheet resistance of the first conductive layer 120 and the second conductive layer 140 is set to be 10-150 ohms, such as 10 ohms, 20 ohms, 40 ohms, 50 ohms, 80 ohms, 100 ohms, 120 ohms, 150 ohms, and so on; the sheet resistance of the first metal trace 181 and the second metal trace 182 may be 0.05-2 ohms, and may specifically be 0.05 ohms, 0.06 ohms, 0.1 ohms, 1.2 ohms, 1.5 ohms, 2 ohms, and the like, which is not limited herein. The coloring speed of the electrochromic module can be between 3-20s, the fading speed between 3-15s, or faster. In the embodiment of the present invention, the first substrate 110, the first conductive layer 120 disposed on the first substrate 110, and the first metal trace 181 disposed on the first conductive layer 120 and electrically connected to the first conductive layer 120 together form a first assembly board structure; the second substrate 150, the second conductive layer 140 disposed on the second substrate 150, and the second metal trace 182 disposed on the second conductive layer 140 and electrically connected to the second conductive layer 140 form a second assembly board structure; in addition, the sub-laminated structure of the color-changing material layer 130 may also be divided into the structures of the first assembly plate and the second assembly plate, and is not particularly limited herein. It should be noted that the terms "first", "second" and "third" in the embodiments of the present application are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first," "second," or "third" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless specifically limited otherwise.

Optionally, with reference to fig. 2, the electrochromic module 100 in the embodiment further includes a flexible circuit board 183, and the flexible circuit board 183 is connected to the first metal trace 181 and the second metal trace 182, respectively. The first metal trace 181 and the second metal trace 182 are connected to an external driving circuit (specifically, a control circuit board of an electronic device or a self-contained chip structure, not shown, but not limited thereto) through a flexible circuit board 183, and the external driving circuit provides a power source for the electrochromic module and drives the electrochromic material to change color.

Referring to fig. 5 and fig. 6 together, fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a partial structure of the electrochromic module shown in fig. 2, and fig. 6 is an enlarged schematic diagram illustrating a partial structure at B in fig. 2; in this embodiment, the first conductive layer 120 is provided with a first trace leading-out terminal 1811 connected to the first metal trace 181, and the first trace leading-out terminal 1811 in this embodiment may be an integral structure with the first metal trace 181 (the integral structure is mutually connected and may be formed by the same layer or the same molding process), and is disposed on the first conductive layer 120.

Further, a second trace leading-out terminal 1812 is disposed on the first conductive layer 120 and adjacent to and insulated from the first metal trace 181. The electrochromic module further includes a conductive pillar 184, wherein the number of the conductive pillar 184 may be multiple. Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the structure at C-C in fig. 2, the conductive pillar 184 penetrates through the second substrate 150 and the second conductive layer 140, one end of the conductive pillar 184 is electrically connected to the second metal trace 182, and the other end of the conductive pillar 184 is electrically connected to the second trace lead-out end 1812 through a conductive material 185. Optionally, the number of the conductive pillars 184 may be multiple, and the diameter of each conductive pillar 184 ranges from 0.1mm to 2mm, and specifically may be 0.1mm, 0.5mm, 0.8mm, 1mm, 2mm, and the like. The conductive post 184 may be made of metal such as silver and copper. The conductive material 185 may include any one of silver, copper, and conductive paste. And is not particularly limited herein.

In the present embodiment, the second metal trace 182 is electrically connected to the second trace leading-out end 1812 on the other substrate side (the first conductive layer 120 side on the first substrate 110) through the conductive pillar 184 and the conductive material 185. The flexible circuit board 183 is connected to the second trace leading-out terminal 1812 and the first trace leading-out terminal 1811 on the same side (the first substrate side) of the electrochromic module, so that the purpose of binding the metal traces on the two sides with the flexible circuit board from the substrate on one side (single-side binding) can be achieved. The structure is simple in binding process, and the area of the color-unchangeable area of the edge position can be reduced to the maximum extent.

Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a partial structure of another embodiment of an electrochromic module in the present application, which is different from the structure in the embodiment in fig. 7, in that the conductive studs 184 in the embodiment penetrate through the second substrate 150, the second conductive layer 140, and the second metal traces 182 and are electrically connected to the second metal traces 182. In view of the formation of the conductive pillars 184 (as will be described in detail in the following method), through the through holes (instead of the blind holes), the conductive material can be silk-screened or poured into the through holes from two sides (the second substrate 150 side and the second metal trace 182 side) to form the structure of the conductive pillars 184.

Optionally, with continued reference to fig. 8, the conductive post 184 may be made of silver paste. The silver paste material has flexibility, ductility and good conductivity. However, the silver paste is likely to swell with the discoloring material layer 130, and further affects the discoloring effect of the discoloring material layer 130 and the performance of the reinforcing layer 184, in this embodiment of the application, a protection layer 186 is disposed on the surface of the conductive pillar 184 close to one end of the discoloring material layer 130 (i.e., the surface of the end exposed out of the second metal trace 182), and the protection layer 186 may be an insulating material such as an insulating oil layer (insulating varnish) or a resin material layer.

The protective layer is arranged on the surface of one end, exposed out of the second metal routing, of the conductive column, so that the conductive column 184 can be prevented from contacting with the color-changing material layer, the swelling phenomenon is prevented, the performance of the color-changing material layer cannot be affected, and the reliability of the electrochromic module is improved.

Referring to fig. 9 to 11 together, fig. 9 is a schematic structural front view of another embodiment of the electrochromic module of the present application, fig. 10 is a schematic structural split view of the electrochromic module in the embodiment of fig. 9, fig. 11 is an enlarged schematic structural view of a position D in fig. 9, a second trace leading-out terminal 1812 which is adjacent to the first metal trace 181 and is arranged in an insulating manner is further disposed on the first conductive layer 120, the second trace leading-out terminal 1812 is disposed on an island structure 1201 formed on the first conductive layer 120 at a position corresponding to the second trace leading-out terminal 1812 by a laser scribing process or a yellow etching process, the second trace leading-out terminal 1812 is separated from the first conductive layer 120 in other areas of the first substrate 110 by a separation area 1202, that is, so that the island structure 1201 and the other areas of the first conductive layer 120 form an isolated state (non-conducting state).

Different from the foregoing embodiment, the second conductive layer 140 in this embodiment is provided with a trace connection end 1821 connected to the second metal trace 182 (wherein, the specific shape of the trace connection end 1821 may not be limited to the shape shown in the figure of this embodiment); the trace connection end 1821 may be integrated with the second metal trace 182 and disposed on the second conductive layer 140. Referring to fig. 12, fig. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the structure at the position E-E in the embodiment of fig. 9, in the embodiment, the conductive pillar 184 penetrates through the second substrate 150 and the second conductive layer 140, one end of the conductive pillar 184 is electrically connected to the trace connection end 1821, and the other end is electrically connected to the second trace lead-out end 1812 through a conductive material 185.

Optionally, referring to fig. 12, the conductive studs 184 penetrate through the second substrate 150, the second conductive layer 140 and the trace connection terminals 1821 and are electrically connected to the trace connection terminals 1821. The specific materials and other structural features of the conductive posts 184, the conductive material 185 may be similar to those in the foregoing embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

The electrochromic module in this embodiment, through the structure of a line link of design, the rethread is led away line lead-out end electrical property turn-on connection with the second of another base plate side through leading electrical pillar and conducting material, can avoid directly punching on the metal walking line, prevents to punch or walk the destruction of line to the metal, has improved the holistic reliability of device. In addition, compared with a structure that the routing connecting end needs to be manually lifted in the conventional technology, the technical scheme in the embodiment of the application has the characteristics that the structure and the process are relatively simple and feasible, and the automatic production is more easily realized, and the problems of poor product stability and low yield in manual operation are solved.

In addition, a housing assembly is further provided in the present embodiment, please refer to fig. 13, fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of the housing assembly in the present embodiment, and the housing assembly 10 in the present embodiment includes an electrochromic module 100 and a housing 200. The housing 200 is attached to the first substrate 110 of the electrochromic module 100, and may be specifically bonded by an optical adhesive layer (not shown). The housing 200 may be made of a transparent material such as glass or resin. The housing 200 in the embodiment of the present application generally refers to a rear cover, i.e., a battery cover, of the electronic device. It should be noted that the structure of the electrochromic module 100 in this embodiment may be any one of the foregoing embodiments, and only one structure is illustrated in fig. 13.

Optionally, the electrochromic module 100 may further include a water and oxygen barrier layer 170, wherein the water and oxygen barrier layer 170 in this embodiment is disposed between the second substrate 150 and the second conductive layer 140, and in some other embodiments, the water and oxygen barrier layer 170 may also be disposed between the first substrate 110 and the first conductive layer 120, or both of them may be disposed with the water and oxygen barrier layer 170. The positional variations of the water oxygen barrier layer 170 are not illustrated and described in detail herein. The shell 200 and the water and oxygen barrier layer 170 are respectively subjected to water vapor barrier from two side surfaces of the color-changing material layer 130, and the water vapor barrier is performed around the side surfaces through the rubber frame 160.

The material of the water-oxygen barrier layer 170 is selected from any one of a dense metal oxide layer, an inorganic non-metal layer, or a composite layer formed by stacking materials and inorganic materials. Such as alumina, silicon oxide, titanium oxide, a synthetic resin material, or a laminated composite structure of a plurality of materials, or the like. The water and oxygen barrier layer 170 may be formed on the surface of the second substrate 150 by spraying, screen printing, physical vapor deposition, and the like, and then the second conductive layer 140 is formed on the surface of the water and oxygen barrier layer 170. The water oxygen barrier layer 170 is used to isolate external water vapor and air, and since the electrochromic material in the electrochromic module is sensitive to water oxygen and is easily ineffective, it needs to be protected by the water oxygen barrier layer. The water-oxygen barrier layer 170 in this embodiment has a water vapor transmission rate WVTR of less than 0.02 g/m/day. The water vapor permeation direction of the water oxygen barrier layer 170 in the embodiment of the present application is a physical characteristic that the water oxygen barrier layer 170 permeates from one side surface of the water oxygen barrier layer 170 in the thickness direction to the opposite side surface. The test conditions were ambient temperature 20 ℃ and relative humidity 100%.

Optionally, the housing assembly further includes an appearance film layer 190, wherein the appearance film layer 190 is disposed on a side surface of the electrochromic module 100 facing away from the housing 200. Specifically, the optical adhesive layer 1509 may be bonded to the outer side of the second substrate 150 of the electrochromic module 100. The appearance film layer 190 may include a carrier plate, and at least one of an ink layer, an optical coating layer, and a texture layer stacked on the carrier plate. In some other embodiments, the appearance film layer 190 may also be a plating structure that does not include a carrier plate, but is plated on the outer surface of the second substrate 150, which is not limited herein. The housing assembly 10 can display the effect of the appearance film layer 190 and the electrochromic module 100. In addition, when the appearance film layer 190 has a gradual change effect, the appearance film layer can have a richer appearance effect after being overlapped with the electrochromic module 100.

In some other embodiments, it may be a composite structure of both a water oxygen barrier layer and an appearance film layer. Namely, the water oxygen barrier layer and the appearance film layer share a unified base material, and the water oxygen barrier layer and the appearance film layer are respectively formed on the base material. The detailed structural features of this section are not described herein again.

Further, an electronic device is provided in an embodiment of the present application, please refer to fig. 14 and fig. 15 together, where fig. 14 is a back structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of the electronic device of the present application, fig. 15 is a sectional structural schematic diagram of the electronic device at a position F-F in the embodiment of fig. 14, and the electronic device in the embodiment includes a display screen module 30, a housing assembly 10, a control circuit board 20, and a camera module (decoration) 40; the housing assembly 10 may include an electrochromic module 100, a transparent housing 200, and a middle frame 300. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the electronic device is only described in a structure that the electronic device includes the middle frame, and in other embodiments, the electronic device may not include the middle frame structure, that is, a structure that a rear cover plate (the housing 200) of the housing assembly directly cooperates with the display screen module 30, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, the display screen module 30, the electrochromic module 100 of the housing assembly 10, and the transparent housing 200 are respectively disposed on two opposite sides of the middle frame 300. The display screen module 300 and the transparent shell 200 are matched to form an accommodating space 1000, the control circuit board 20 and the electrochromic module 100 are arranged in the accommodating space 1000, and the electrochromic module 100 is attached to the inner surface of the transparent shell 200. The camera module (decoration) 40 is disposed corresponding to or protruding from the transparent case 200. The control circuit board 20 is coupled to the metal trace 180 (please refer to fig. 2) of the electrochromic module 100 through the flexible circuit board 183, and the control circuit board 20 is used for controlling the electrochromic module 100 to change color. The detailed technical features of other parts of the electronic device are within the understanding of those skilled in the art, and are not described herein.

Referring to fig. 16, fig. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a structural composition of an embodiment of an electronic device according to the present application, where the electronic device may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a wearable device, and the like, and the embodiment illustrates a mobile phone as an example. The electronic device may include an RF circuit 910, a memory 920, an input unit 930, a display unit 940 (i.e., the display module 30 in the above embodiment), a sensor 950, an audio circuit 960, a wifi module 970, a processor 980 (which may be the control circuit board 20 in the above embodiment), a power supply 990, and the like. Wherein the RF circuit 910, the memory 920, the input unit 930, the display unit 940, the sensor 950, the audio circuit 960, and the wifi module 970 are respectively connected with the processor 980; power supply 990 is operable to provide power to the entire electronic device 10.

Specifically, the RF circuit 910 is used for transmitting and receiving signals; the memory 920 is used for storing data instruction information; the input unit 930 is used for inputting information, and may specifically include a touch panel 931 and other input devices 932 such as operation keys; the display unit 940 may include a display panel 941; the sensor 950 includes an infrared sensor, a laser sensor, etc. for detecting a user approach signal, a distance signal, etc.; a speaker 961 and a microphone 962 are connected to the processor 980 through the audio circuit 960 for emitting and receiving sound signals; the wifi module 970 is used for receiving and transmitting wifi signals, and the processor 980 is used for processing data information of the electronic device. For specific structural features of the electronic device, please refer to the related description of the above embodiments, and detailed descriptions thereof will not be provided herein.

The electronic device in this embodiment has an appearance effect of variable color. The electrochromic module in the shell assembly structure is characterized in that the conductive layers on the upper side and the lower side of the electrochromic module are unified to the substrate on one side (the wiring leading-out end) to be led out in a manner of punching a connecting hole on the assembling plate on one side and forming a conductive post in the connecting hole, so that the single-sided binding of the electrochromic module can be realized, and the subsequent binding process of a flexible circuit board is facilitated; in addition, the electrochromic module has the characteristics of relatively simple and feasible structure and process, and easy realization of automatic production, and solves the problems of poor product stability and low yield in manual operation.

Further, the embodiment of the present application further provides a manufacturing method of an electrochromic module, which mainly introduces a binding process of metal traces on upper and lower sides. Referring to fig. 17, fig. 17 is a schematic flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method for fabricating an electrochromic module according to the present application, where the method in the embodiment includes, but is not limited to, the following steps.

Step S101, providing a first assembly plate.

In this step, the first assembly plate includes a first substrate and a first conductive layer which are stacked; the first conducting layer is provided with a first metal wire, a first wire leading-out end connected with the first metal wire and a second wire leading-out end adjacent to the first metal wire and arranged at intervals. For the detailed structure of the first assembly plate, refer to the related description of the foregoing embodiments.

Step S102, providing a second assembly plate.

In step S102, the second assembly board includes a second substrate and a second conductive layer stacked together; and a second metal routing is arranged on the second conductive layer.

And step S103, punching a connecting hole on the second assembly plate.

The connecting hole penetrates through the second substrate, the second conductive layer and the second metal routing. Referring to fig. 18, fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of punching a connection hole on a second assembly board. It should be noted that in the structure shown in the figure of this embodiment, the connection hole 1840 penetrates through the second substrate, the second conductive layer and the second metal trace, in some other embodiments, the connection hole 1840 may penetrate through the second substrate and the second conductive layer and communicate with the second metal trace, please refer to fig. 19, and fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of punching a connection hole on the second assembly board.

In addition, as in the embodiment described in the foregoing structural embodiment, one side of the second assembly board may further be provided with a trace connection end (please refer to fig. 10 to 12), the connection hole 1840 may be correspondingly punched at a position of the trace connection end, and the connection hole may be in a structural form that penetrates through the second substrate, the second conductive layer and the trace connection end (one end of the conductive post formed in this method is exposed to the second substrate and is electrically connected to the second trace lead-out end through a conductive material), or the connection hole penetrates through the second substrate and the second conductive layer and is communicated with the trace connection end (one end of the conductive post formed in this method is electrically connected to the trace connection end, and the other end of the conductive post is electrically connected to the second trace lead-out end through a conductive material). The detailed procedures for this section are not described in detail here.

Step S104, filling the connecting hole with a conductive material and curing to form a conductive column.

In this step, as shown in the connection hole position in fig. 18, conductive materials are respectively filled in one end of the connection hole 1840 located on the second substrate 150 and one end located on the second metal trace 182, and a conductive pillar structure is formed after the conductive materials are solidified. The conductive material may be silver paste. To ensure that the conductive material substantially fills the connection hole 1840 and to achieve sufficient conduction on both sides. Specifically, the conductive material may be filled by printing conductive silver paste (or other liquid conductive paste with fluidity) on both sides (one end of the second substrate 150 and one end of the second metal trace 182), and the purpose of the double-sided screen printing is to fully fill the conductive silver paste into the connection hole 1840, so as to achieve reliable conduction. Since the single-sided silk-screened silver paste, although also flowing into the holes, still has a certain risk of insufficient filling.

Optionally, after the step of S104, when the conductive pillars are made of silver paste, in order to prevent the silver paste and the color-changing material layer from swelling, in the embodiment of the method, a step of coating a protective layer on a surface of one end of the conductive pillar close to the color-changing material layer (i.e., a surface exposed at one end of the second metal trace (or the trace connection end)) may also be included. The protective layer can avoid leading electrical pillar and the contact of discolour material layer, prevents the emergence of swelling phenomenon, and then can not exert an influence to the performance of discolour material layer, improves electrochromic module's reliability. The protective layer may be an insulating material such as an insulating oil layer (insulating varnish) or a resin material layer.

Step S105, a color-changing material layer is formed between the first assembly plate and the second assembly plate.

The color-changing material layer can be formed by coating, drip irrigation, etc., and can be roll-to-roll process, i.e., IC, EC layer coating, and electrolyte dripping and curing are performed according to the normal electrochromic device process, and the detailed process for forming the color-changing material layer is not described in detail herein.

And S106, electrically connecting one end of the conductive column, which is far away from the second metal wire, with a second wire leading-out end on one side of the first assembly board by using a conductive material.

In this step, a laser cutting may be used to cut the second substrate and the second conductive layer to form an avoiding groove (not shown) for performing a silver paste (or conductive paste, etc.) to overlap. Specifically, the position where the second metal trace and the second trace leading-out end overlap may be, or the position of the trace connection end in the embodiment of fig. 11 and 12 may be removed by laser from the excess upper ITO/PET conductive layer (the second substrate and the second conductive layer), so as to form an avoiding groove for dropping silver paste to perform vertical lapping. The electrochromic material and electrolyte under the overlap area are then erased. After the metal surface of the lower surface is cleaned, conductive adhesive, silver paste or ACF adhesive is dripped, the second metal wiring is lapped on a second wiring leading-out end on the substrate on the other side through conductive materials (positioned in a lapping groove on the outer side surface and a side avoiding groove of the second substrate), and finally, FPC is bonded on the single surface of the lower substrate, so that the upper substrate and the lower substrate can be conducted.

In addition, the method embodiment may further include steps of forming a frame, forming a water-oxygen barrier layer, forming an appearance film layer, and the like, and regarding these processes, those skilled in the art may implement the steps based on the foregoing structural embodiment, and details are not described herein.

The manufacturing method of the electrochromic module in the embodiment of the application has the characteristics that the process is relatively simple and feasible, and the automatic production is easier to realize, and the problems of poor product stability and low yield in manual operation are solved.

The above description is only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and all equivalent devices or equivalent processes performed by the present invention through the contents of the specification and the drawings, or directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields, are included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims (12)

1. The electrochromic module is characterized by comprising a first metal wire, a second metal wire, a first substrate, a first conducting layer, a color-changing material layer, a second conducting layer and a second substrate which are sequentially stacked; wherein the first metal trace and the second metal trace are respectively connected with the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer;

the first conductive layer is provided with a first wire leading-out end connected with the first metal wire and a second wire leading-out end adjacent to the first metal wire and arranged at intervals;

the electrochromic module further comprises a conductive column, the conductive column penetrates through the second substrate and the second conductive layer, one end of the conductive column is electrically connected with the second metal routing wire, and the other end of the conductive column is electrically connected with the second routing wire leading-out end through a conductive material.

2. The electrochromic module of claim 1, wherein the conductive pillars further extend through the second metal traces and are electrically connected to the second metal traces.

3. The electrochromic module of claim 2, wherein the number of the conductive pillars is plural, and a diameter of each conductive pillar is in a range of 0.1-2 mm.

4. The electrochromic module of claim 2, wherein the conductive posts are made of silver.

5. The electrochromic module of claim 4, wherein a protective layer is disposed on a surface of the conductive post near one end of the color-changing material layer.

6. Electrochromic module according to claim 5, characterized in that the protective layer comprises an insulating oil layer or a layer of resin material.

7. The electrochromic module of claim 1, wherein the second conductive layer is provided with a trace connection end connected to the second metal trace; one end of the conductive column is electrically connected with the routing connecting end, and the other end of the conductive column is electrically connected with the second routing leading-out end through a conductive material.

8. The electrochromic module of claim 7, wherein the conductive posts further extend through and are electrically connected to the trace connection terminals.

9. The electrochromic module of claim 1, wherein the conductive material comprises any one of silver, copper, and conductive paste.

10. The electrochromic module of any of claims 1-9, further comprising a water-oxygen barrier layer disposed between the first substrate and the first conductive layer or between the second substrate and the second conductive layer.

11. The electronic equipment is characterized by comprising a display screen module, a control circuit board and a shell assembly; the shell assembly comprises a shell and the electrochromic module set as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10, the display screen module set and the shell are matched to form an accommodating space, the control circuit board and the electrochromic module set are arranged in the accommodating space, and the electrochromic module set is attached to the inner surface of the shell; the control circuit board is coupled with the first wiring leading-out end and the second wiring leading-out end of the electrochromic module and is used for controlling the electrochromic module to change color.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, further comprising an appearance film layer disposed on a side surface of the electrochromic module facing away from the housing.

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