Systems and methods for display panels

Abstract

A display panel (65) and a method for manufacturing a display panel (65) comprising a front side and a back side, the display panel (65) comprising a substrate having a plurality of electronic components provided at the front side of the substrate and an integrated circuit connected to the plurality of electronic components, the integrated circuit being embedded in the substrate. Further, a plurality of edge contacts (54, 62) are provided along an edge of the substrate, wherein the plurality of edge contacts (54, 62) are electrically connected with the integrated circuit. A conductive layer (51, 61) covers at least a portion of the front side of the substrate and surrounds the plurality of electronic components, wherein the conductive layer (51, 61) is not in physical contact with the embedded integrated circuit and provides EMI shielding to different components of the display panel (65).

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of LED / OLED displays and tiled display walls, implemented using active matrix technology (e.g. using TFTs (Thin Film Transistors)). BACKGROUND

[0002] LED displays can be implemented using a TFT-on-glass design, which can reduce costs and enable smaller pixel sizes. The TFT-on-glass design enables the use of a reduced pixel pitch (distance between adjacent pixels). However, this technology has some challenges. For example, when tiling LED display modules next to each other into a wall-like structure, the seam between the modules needs to be reduced, e.g. the pixel pitch between adjacent pixels from two different modules. This reduces the space for a single module to place electronic components (e.g. driving electronics). Flexible cables can be bent around the electronic board to connect the front side and the back side. The connection between the front side and the back side can also be implemented using vias. To further reduce the pixel pitch and when it is difficult to implement vias, an alternative solution is needed.

[0003] It is also common to group multiple light sources into so-called "clusters", so that multiple light sources can use a common contact. If PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is used, it can be necessary to use a higher frequency, resulting in higher requirements for EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) management.

[0004] It is therefore at least one object of at least one embodiment of the present invention to overcome these drawbacks of the prior art to reduce the seam between modules and / or to provide EMI shielding due to requirements for EMC management. SUMMARY

[0005] The present invention is at least in part based on providing a display panel with an alternative matrix circuit board design, a display device using the display panel and a method of manufacturing the matrix circuit board. Advantages of certain embodiments of the present invention over the prior art are that a narrower edge area is provided by the new structural design, resulting in a lighter and thinner structure.

[0006] Another embodiment of the present invention aims to provide a display panel and a method of manufacturing the display panel that provides electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding for the display panel and its components. For example, the display panel includes a front side and a back side, wherein the display panel includes: at least one substrate including a plurality of electronic components disposed on a front side of the at least one substrate; an integrated circuit connected to the plurality of electronic components, the integrated circuit embedded in the substrate; a plurality of edge contacts disposed along an edge of the at least one substrate, the plurality of edge contacts electrically connected to the integrated circuit; and a conductive layer covering at least a portion of the front side of the at least one substrate and surrounding the plurality of electronic components, the conductive layer not in physical contact with the embedded integrated circuit and providing EMI shielding for different components of the display panel. The conductive layer can be present on either or both outward facing surfaces / sides of the display panel to provide a closed circuit with similar effect as a Faraday cage. The at least one substrate can be an insulating substrate, such as a glass substrate, with embedded TFT (thin-film technology) electronic circuits. This structure of the substrate enables the manufacturing method of different types of TFT electronic circuits to be processed in groups on the same substrate, for example, groups of different types of TFT electronic circuits for power supply, driving or control circuits, respectively, wherein the substrate with different groups of TFT electronic circuits can then be cut open and connected in different configurations to the display panel, for example, separated and connected to the back side of a main substrate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0007] These and other technical effects and advantages of embodiments of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the drawings, in which:

[0008] Figure 1 A substrate of the prior art is shown, with electronic circuits connected to flexible cables;

[0009] Figure 2A 、 Figure 2B 、 Figure 2C 、 Figure 2D An embodiment of the present invention is shown, including flexible conductors located on the back side of the display panel;

[0010] Fig. 3A, Fig. 3B, Figure 3C 、 Figure 3D An embodiment of the present invention is shown, including conductive layers located on both sides of the display panel;

[0011] Figure 4 An embodiment of the present invention is shown, with conductive layers;

[0012] Figure 5 and Figure 6 An embodiment of the present invention is shown, Figure 4 Different cross sections of the embodiment of the present invention shown;

[0013] Figure 7a top view showing another embodiment of the present invention;

[0014] Figure 8A and Figure 8B An embodiment of the present invention is shown for fabricating multiple processed TFT electronic circuits on one substrate;

[0015] Figure 9A and Figure 9B An embodiment of the present invention is shown for fabricating multiple processed TFT electronic circuits on one or two substrates. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] The present invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings but the invention is not limited thereto and is only described as a description of the invention. The described drawings are schematic and are not limiting, and various descriptions of features can be combined with any of the described embodiments.

[0017] Furthermore, in the description and claims, the terms first, second, third, and like terms are used to distinguish between like elements but do not necessarily limit the order or chronological sequence. Such terms are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances so that the embodiments of the invention can be implemented in other sequences than described or illustrated herein. Likewise, the terms "front," "back," "top," "bottom," "over," "under," and the like in the description and the claims are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described or illustrated herein can be implemented in other orientations than described or illustrated herein.

[0018] The term "comprising", used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being restricted to the elements or steps listed thereafter; it does not exclude other elements or steps. It needs to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features, integers, steps or components as referred to, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps or components, or groups thereof. Thus, the scope of the expression "a device comprising means A and B" should not be limited to devices consisting only of components A and B. It means that with respect to the present invention, the only relevant components of the device are A and B. Similarly, it is to be understood that the use of the term "coupled" or "connected" or "linked" or the like in the description and the claims is not limited to direct coupling or wiring, but also encompasses indirect coupling or wiring by way of another device or component where another device or component can or can not be present. Thus, the scope of the expression "a device coupled to device B" should not be limited to devices or systems where device A and device B are directly coupled to each other. It means that there exists a path between the input of device A and the output of device B and the path can be a path including other devices or components.

[0019] Definitions:

[0020] Abbreviations:

[0021] COB = Chip On Board;

[0022] DDIC = Display Driver Integrated Circuit

[0023] EMC = Electromagnetic Compatibility

[0024] EMI = Electromagnetic Interference

[0025] ENIG = Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold

[0026] LED = Light Emitting Diode

[0027] OLED = Organic Light Emitting Diode

[0028] PCB = Printed Circuit Board

[0029] TFT = Thin Film Technology

[0030] An “active matrix” is an electronic circuit used in display technology for driving display pixels. The circuit is configured to individually access and control the state of each pixel. For example, LED light sources can be implemented as COBs using an insulating substrate, such as glass, with electronic components embedded using TFT technology. The electronic components are then typically configured as an active matrix.

[0031] A tiled “display wall” can comprise a plurality of smaller display units or “display panels or modules” that are tiled next to each other such that they can together create one large display. The above-mentioned “display panel” can comprise a substrate carrying display light sources and required electronic circuitry, such as electronic control or driving circuitry, and other electronic components. The above-mentioned display module can comprise a display panel and other features, such as support mechanical structures, but a display panel can also function as a display module.

[0032] An “edge contact” is an electrical contact located at a short side or edge of a substrate. The short side or edge extends in a direction that is not parallel to the front side or back side. If the front side and back side of the substrate have electronic circuitry, the edge contact can be used to connect the electronic circuitry of the front side and back side.

[0033] A "peripheral contact" is an electrical contact that is located at the edge of the front or back side of the substrate and extends parallel to the front or back side of the substrate.

[0034] Flexible conductor:

[0035] There are various ways to connect a display panel to driving and control electronics located on a PCB, and the present invention is not limited to the method described. For example, if the substrate is rigid (e.g. glass), the display panel and the PCB can be connected by flexible conductors. Figure 1 An example of a prior art design of a display panel is shown, in which a rigid substrate 10 comprises a display driving integrated circuit (DDIC) 11 connected to a printed circuit board (PCB) 13 by flexible conductors 12. Alternatively, a flexible substrate (not shown) can be used, for example a polyimide substrate, which can be connected directly to the PCB 13. Alternatively, the DDIC can be connected on a flexible conductor or on a flexible substrate.

[0036] A display wall can comprise a plurality of display modules or display panels tiled next to each other. Flexible conductors are used to connect the display panels to driving electronics and to connect the display panels to each other. The flexibility of the flexible conductors is limited, and therefore limits the minimum distance between the display panels, which affects the pixel pitch. The present invention avoids the problem of limited minimum distance and pixel pitch by placing the flexible conductors and the DDIC on the back side of each display panel. The display driver can be implemented using TFT technology and / or chip-on-board technology (e.g. chip-on-glass, chip-on-plastic or chip-on-film, in which the integrated circuit is wired to or bonded to the board).

[0037] Flexible conductor on back side:

[0038] Figures 2A-2D An embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 2A A display panel 20 is shown, comprising a substrate 21 having a plurality of electronic components, for example light sources 22, 23 and 24, for example LEDs, OLEDs and variants thereof, QD-LEDs, EL-QLEDs, AMOLEDs, etc. The display panel 20 has a front side 25, a back side 26 (the side opposite to the light sources), and short sides 27 and 28 (only two short sides are shown in the figure). Figure 2BIt is shown that the back side 26 of the display panel 20 has the DDIC 30 and the flexible conductor 31 connected thereto, for example using pin connections, soldering, etc. The substrate can be made of an insulating material, such as glass or a transparent polymer / plastic / polyimide, and comprises an embedded TFT active matrix. The light sources 22, 23, 24 located at the front side 25 of the display panel 20 are connected to the DDIC 30 and the flexible conductor 31 by, for example, via-hole conductors / connections (not shown) through the substrate and / or by electrical edge contacts connected to the via-hole conductors / connections. For example, Figure 2C It is shown that electrical edge contacts 32 are provided on the short sides of the display panel 20, wherein the edge contacts 32 electrically connect the electronic components to the DDIC 30 and the flexible conductor 31, for example using peripheral contacts and / or embedded integrated circuits. In a variant of the embodiment, as shown, Figure 2D It is shown that the display panel 40 comprises two substrates 42 and 43, each having a plurality of edge contacts, for example 47 and 48. The two substrates 42, 43 are connected to each other, wherein the edge contacts 47 and 48 are connected to each other in correspondence, for example by means of a conductive glue / adhesive or soldering. Alternatively, a non-conductive glue can be used in combination with additional side contacts (not shown) that electrically connect the two substrates. The glue / adhesive can comprise spacers (for example, spheres with a diameter of 0.1 millimeter) to enable a uniform alignment of the two substrates forming the display panel. An example of an acrylic glue with spheres is Sadechaf Uvacryl 2151 from SAD ECHA F UV BVBA (Turnhout, Belgium). Thus, the electronic components located at the front side 45 of the display panel 40 are connected to the flexible conductor 41 located at the back side 46 of the display panel 40.

[0039] Electromagnetic interference shield:

[0040] To reduce the area taken up by the electrical contacts on the display screen, the light sources can be arranged in groups with a common contact, for example laser clusters. Although this can allow a smaller pixel pitch on the display panel, it can be necessary to drive the panel at a higher frequency (for example, using pulse frequency modulation). This in turn can increase the signal distortion of the signals sent and received between the display panel and the PCB. For this reason, the present invention has been invented, as the need for an effective EMI shield increases.

[0041] Figure 3A shows another embodiment of the present application comprising a display panel substrate 50 having at least one substrate, wherein the substrate has a front side provided with a plurality of electronic components, such as light sources 53, and covered with a conductive layer 51, such as a metal film, a conductive polymer or a colloidal metal layer, the conductive layer 51 having openings 52 around the light sources 53 (and / or other electronic components). A plurality of edge contacts 54 are provided on the short sides of the substrate. A second display panel substrate 60 can also be covered with a conductive layer 61 and comprises a plurality of edge contacts 62. Then, as shown, the second substrate 60 is coupled to the first substrate 50 such that the second substrate 60 is joined to the back side of the first substrate 50 and such that the first and second substrates together form a display panel 65 as shown, wherein the conductive layers 51, 61 sandwich the display panel, e.g. the conductive layers 51, 61 are located at the front side and back side of the display panel. The two substrates can be joined to each other by a non-conductive glue and additional electrical side contacts (not shown) can be added to electrically connect the two substrates. Furthermore, a flexible conductor 66 is connected to the back side of the display panel. However, similar to the display panel shown in Figure 2A, the display panel can comprise only one substrate, the electronic components being provided at the front side and back side of the display panel and / or the substrate. Figure 3C Figure 3C Figure 2C Figure 3D It is shown that the conductive layer 61 is deposited directly to the back side of the substrate 50. The flexible conductor 66 is connected to the back side of the substrate 50, wherein the conductive layer 51 can be the uppermost layer of a TFT stack as will be discussed later. It is to be understood that the conductive layer 51 can comprise one or more sub-layers.

[0042] Disconnect from EMI layer:

[0043] Without wishing to be bound by theory, the conductive layer of the display panel acts as a Faraday cage to protect the electronic components of the display panel from EMI. As discussed further herein, the electronic components / circuits that are protected are preferably not in physical contact with the conductive layer used for EMI shielding.

[0044] Figure 4 Disconnection from the EMI layer is explained by showing a display panel having a region similar to one of the openings 52 in Figure 3. In particular, Figure 4 A substrate 70 is shown comprising a conductive layer 71 having an opening 72. A plurality of electronic components, such as a plurality of light sources comprising light sources 73, 74 and 75, are placed within the opening 72. Within the opening 72, the conductive layer 71 is not present within the opening, e.g. the conductive layer 71 is disconnected from the electronic components. The light source 73 is connected to the substrate 70 and to a conductive layer 77 by a connecting member 76, such as solder or an adhesive material. The conductive layer 71 or the conductive layer 77 can comprise one or more layers. For the purpose of explanation only, Figure 4 ​​​Peripheral contacts are shown, where only peripheral contacts 79, 80 and 84 are identified. Peripheral contacts 80 and 84 are connected to light sources 73, 74 and 75 through circuitry located in the lower layer (e.g., through an active matrix including TFT layers). For example, light source 73 can be connected to peripheral contact 80 through circuitry (or Figure 6 TFT layer connections 97 and 98 as shown) respectively. Peripheral contact 79 is connected to conductive layer 71, but is not connected to light source 73. This is an explanatory illustration to illustrate how light sources are connected to an active matrix and peripheral contacts, where a display panel has many groups of light sources placed between peripheral contacts, and then the peripheral contacts are connected to edge contacts for driving and / or control electronics, such as used as data lines, scan lines, control lines, etc. Conductive layer 71 can directly contact any peripheral contact 79, such as by directly depositing peripheral contact 79 on conductive layer 71.

[0045] Figure 5 A cross-section of a display panel is shown taken along cross-section line 81 in Figure 4 For example, light source 73 is mounted to substrate 70 through connection members 76a, 76b, such as connection members 76a, 76b can include solder or adhesive material. Conductive layer 77 (e.g., copper, gold, conductive polymer) further connects light source 73 to active matrix 99. Connection members can include a protective layer 76b (e.g., ENIG) to protect conductive layer 77 from corrosion / oxidation and to promote good soldering surface conditions. Substrate 70 also includes active matrix 99 embedded in the substrate, where active matrix 99 includes at least TFT layers 97, 98 and via connections 100 and 101 that electrically connect TFT layers 97, 98 to light source 73. Conductive layer 71 can be disposed as an upper layer to active matrix 99 and includes openings 72 having a gap that prevents conductive layer 71 from physically contacting electronic components and embedded integrated circuits (e.g., light source 73 and active matrix 99), thereby enabling conductive layer 71 to provide EMI shielding to the display panel (e.g., active matrix 99 and / or electronic components). That is, conductive layer 71 does not physically contact embedded circuitry, conductive layer 71 surrounds (or immediately surrounds, such as surrounds but does not contact) electronic components. Conductive layer 71 can also be covered by electrically insulating layers 111 and 112, which can prevent conductive layer 71 from being corroded. As shown, it is understood that light source 73 is not electrically connected to peripheral contact 79, as shown along cross-section line 81. Figure 5 However, peripheral contact 79 is electrically connected to conductive layer 71, edge contacts and backside electronic components (as previously described). Further, as shown in Figure 4 cross-section 90 taken along cross-section line 82 of Figure 4 It is understood that light source 73 is not electrically connected to peripheral contact 79, as shown along cross-section line 81. Figure 6As shown, light source 73 is electrically connected to peripheral contacts 80 and 84 through active matrix 99. Peripheral contacts 80 and 84 are electrically connected to edge contacts and backside electronic components (as previously described).

[0046] Figure 6 A cross-section of the display panel taken along cross-section line 82 in Figure 4 is shown. Similar to the embodiment in Figure 5 , this cross-section shows light source 73 mounted on substrate 70 through connection members 76a, 76b, where conductive layer 77 connects light source 73 to active matrix 99. Active matrix 99 includes TFT layers 97 and 98 and via connections 100 and 101 that connect light source 73 to peripheral contacts 80 and 84 to control light source 73 (or other electronic components). Similar to the embodiment in Figure 5 , the conductive layer 71 is shown as a layer deposited on the substrate 70. Figure 6 includes conductive layer 71 as an upper layer of active matrix 99. However, in this embodiment, the conductive layer 71 is not in physical contact with peripheral contacts 80 and 84. Figure 6 It is further shown that conductive layer 71 also includes gaps 78 between peripheral contacts 80 and 84 and conductive layer 71, resulting in conductive layer 71 not being in physical contact with peripheral contacts 80 and 84, for example, the gaps disconnect conductive layer 71 from peripheral contacts 80 and 84.

[0047] Figure 7 A top view of another embodiment of the present invention is shown, where display panel 120 has multiple light sources, only light source 121 is identified for clarity. In this embodiment, conductive layers 122 and 124 are deposited / formed on the substrate, where multiple gaps 123 are provided between conductive layers 122 and 124. Each "strip" of conductive layer 122 is configured to be used as a power line for multiple light sources, conductive layer 122 can be connected to a conductive layer on the backside of the display panel (not shown) and / or through an active matrix, for example, through edge contacts or via connectors / connections as described above. For example, a strip of conductive layer 122 can be used to direct current to light source 121. In view of multiple gaps 123, it can be appreciated that conductive layer 124 is electrically isolated from conductive layer 122, and can be further held at a different voltage. Thus, conductive layer 124 can provide EMI shielding.

[0048] It should be appreciated that the conductive layer can be patterned into other suitable configurations, for example, a grid pattern, a hash pattern, or a mesh pattern, and still achieve EMI shielding due to the gaps between the conductive layers between different components of the display panel.

[0049] Manufacturing method:

[0050] The present invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a matrix circuit substrate and display panel as described above. In this exemplary method, the method comprises the step of forming at least one main substrate layer, wherein the at least one main substrate layer comprises an insulating material, such as glass or plastic (e.g. polyimide (PI), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), etc.), which can be a rigid substrate or a flexible substrate. Next, at least one buffer layer is provided / formed on the at least one main substrate layer to form a substrate, wherein integrated circuits (e.g. TFT circuits) are embedded in the substrate. The at least one buffer layer can be the same material as the substrate layer or a different material for the purpose of protecting the TFT circuits, improving thermal conductivity, preventing particle diffusion or other reasons. The TFT circuits can be formed from metal oxide semiconductor materials, metals and oxides thereof, organic metal powders, conductive polymers and / or polycrystalline semiconductor materials, but are not limited thereto. Then, a conductive layer is provided on top of or above the TFT circuits, e.g. as an upper layer of the TFT circuits or positioned above the TFT circuits, wherein openings are provided in the conductive layer. The openings can be provided by etching, deposition methods, masking processes, etc. Then, an electrically insulating layer and / or peripheral contacts are provided on top of the conductive layer, wherein the peripheral contacts and / or edge contacts are provided by means of plating, deposition, etching, etc. along the edges of the substrate. A plurality of electronic components are provided in the openings of the conductive layer, which are connected to the substrate and electrically connected to the integrated circuits. For example, the plurality of electronic components can be connected to the substrate by soldering or using an adhesive and by providing a conductive layer and / or a protective layer to protect the conductive layer from corrosion / oxidation and to promote good soldering surface conditions, wherein via connections are provided in the substrate for electrical connection to the integrated circuits, e.g. vias through the substrate. As described above, this manufacturing makes it so that the conductive layer does not physically contact the embedded integrated circuits and / or electronic components. It should be understood that various layers and openings can be provided using deposition methods, photoresist methods, masking processes, chemical etching processes, laser etching processes, lift-off methods, etc., such as laser annealing, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), electro-deposition, expanding thermal plasma, crystallization steps or similar methods.

[0051] In another embodiment of the present invention, the manufacturing method further comprises forming the driving and power electronic circuits by implementing the TFT circuits on the same substrate as the display panel. This is advantageous in that multiplexers and current mirrors can be added within the driving electronic circuits, such that the number of contacts to the driving electronic components on the PCB can be greatly reduced. Furthermore, the driving and power electronic circuits can comprise a functional design by means of TFTs to reduce the driving effort required to light up the display panel. In this way, the aforementioned DDIC can no longer be necessary in certain embodiments of the present invention.

[0052] For example, Figure 8A A snapshot of the manufacturing process of a substrate for a display panel is shown. The substrate 140 with embedded integrated circuits, such as TFT electronics, can be divided into sections 141, 142 and 143, wherein each section comprises TFT electronics for different purposes. This design is advantageous because it enables the processing of electronic circuits for multiple purposes on the same substrate at the same time. For example, the display section 141 can have TFT electronics for driving the light sources. The flanking sections 142 and 143 can be used for distributing power to the display and have a line selection function (e.g. by scanning the display to access each line separately). The section 144 can be used for processing level shifting, such as converting a driving level to a TFT voltage level. The section 144 can also comprise a current mirroring function, such as multiplying one current source into multiple current sources. The corner sections 145 and 146 can be arranged or used for, for example, test circuits. In practice, the available space on the existing etching mask can be used for any section. The present invention does not limit the specific setup and function of the flanking sections, but provides the above setup and function as an example.

[0053] The substrate sections 143, 144 and 142 can then be separated from the display section 141 and placed back-to-back on the display panel, for example by using conductive adhesive or soldering. Figure 8B The back side 147 of the substrate is shown, with the separated sections 142, 143 and 144 attached to the substrate. It should be understood that the size of the separated sections and the corresponding electronic circuits can be adapted to fit on the back side 147.

[0054] A further advantage of the present invention is that it can provide perfect alignment between the electrical conductors on the display panel and the electrical conductors controlling or driving the panel, because they can be drawn continuously on the different sections as one whole before being cut, see example line 148. Another advantage of this display panel is that it does not require an area on the front side of the display for distributing power and driving circuits. If this display panel is used for a tiled display wall, providing this display panel can significantly reduce the distance between the pixels on two adjacent display panels.

[0055] Figure 9A and 9B Another embodiment of the present invention is shown, wherein the front side and the back side of the display panel are processed on two separate substrates. Figure 9A A first substrate 150 is shown, comprising processed electronic circuits 151 for the display section. Figure 9BA second substrate 160 is shown, which comprises power supply and drive electronics 162, 163 and 164, and a display section backside 161. Then, the substrates 150 and 160 can be connected back-to-back and fixed to each other, for example using conductive glue or fusion welding.

[0056] Alternatively, it should be understood that the power supply and drive electronics 162, 163 and 164 can be directly processed to the backside of the first substrate 150, if a double-sided TFT processing is available. A compact design is thereby obtained with only one substrate or display panel thickness. Another plus is that the monolithic stack reduces assembly time.

[0057] Figures 8A-8B Embodiments of Figures 9A-9B comprise means for electronic connection between the frontside and the backside, for example using via connections or peripheral or edge contacts as described above. As described above, embodiments can also comprise a conductive layer on the backside 147 or 161 to achieve EMI shielding.

[0058] The foregoing is illustrative rather than limiting of the application. Any equivalent variations or modifications of the present application are possible in light of the above teachings without departing from the scope of the application. Accordingly, the application is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations which fall within the scope of this application.

Claims

1. A display panel having a front side and a back side, the display panel comprising: at least one substrate comprising a plurality of electronic components disposed on a front side of the at least one substrate; an integrated circuit connected to the plurality of electronic components, the integrated circuit embedded in the at least one substrate; a plurality of edge contacts disposed along an edge of the at least one substrate, the plurality of edge contacts electrically connected to the integrated circuit, wherein the edge is disposed between the front side and the back side of the at least one substrate; a conductive layer covering at least a portion of the front side of the at least one substrate and surrounding the plurality of electronic components, and a plurality of peripheral contacts disposed on at least one of the front side and the back side of the at least one substrate and extending parallel to the at least one of the front side and the back side, the plurality of peripheral contacts located entirely within an outer perimeter of the at least one substrate, wherein the plurality of peripheral contacts are connected to the plurality of edge contacts, wherein the at least one substrate is configured such that the conductive layer is not in physical contact with the embedded integrated circuit.

2. The display panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of electronic components comprise a plurality of light sources.

3. The display panel of claim 1, wherein the conductive layer provides an opening for the plurality of electronic components, wherein the plurality of electronic components are positioned within the opening such that the conductive layer surrounding the plurality of electronic components is not in physical contact with the plurality of electronic components.

4. The display panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of electronic components are electrically connected to the at least one substrate by a connecting member.

5. The display panel of claim 1, wherein the integrated circuit is provided as an active matrix comprising a thin film transistor (TFT) layer, wherein the conductive layer is disposed above the TFT layer.

6. The display panel of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein an electrically insulating layer is disposed above the conductive layer.

7. The display panel of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the conductive layer comprises a first portion and a second portion separated by a gap, the first portion configured as a power line for the plurality of electronic components, wherein the first portion and the second portion are electrically insulated from each other.

8. The display panel of claim 7, wherein the first portion of the conductive layer is held at a different voltage than the second portion of the conductive layer.

9. The display panel of any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising at least one second substrate, wherein the second substrate comprises a second conductive layer and a plurality of second edge contacts, wherein the at least one second substrate is connected to the at least one substrate to form the display panel.

10. The display panel of claim 9, wherein the second conductive layer covers the back side.

11. The display panel of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the at least one substrate comprises an insulating material.

12. The display panel of claim 11, wherein the insulating material is glass.

13. The display panel of claim 1, wherein, The conductive layer covers at least a portion of the front side or at least a portion of the back side of the at least one substrate.

14. A method of forming a display panel, comprising the steps of: forming at least one substrate, wherein an integrated circuit is embedded in the at least one substrate; providing a conductive layer on at least a front surface of the at least one substrate; providing an opening in the conductive layer; connecting a plurality of electronic components to the at least one substrate through the opening in the conductive layer, the plurality of electronic components being electrically connected to the integrated circuit, wherein the at least one substrate is configured such that the conductive layer is not in physical contact with the embedded integrated circuit; and providing a plurality of peripheral contacts on at least one of a front side and a back side of the at least one substrate, the plurality of peripheral contacts extending parallel to the at least one of the front side and the back side and the plurality of peripheral contacts being entirely located within an outer periphery of the at least one substrate, wherein the plurality of peripheral contacts are connected to a plurality of edge contacts.

15. The method of forming a display panel of claim 14, wherein, the integrated circuit is a thin film transistor circuit, the method further comprising the steps of: dividing the at least one substrate into at least two sections; and forming the display panel, wherein one of the at least two sections is provided on a front side of the display panel and another of the at least two sections is provided on a back side of the display panel.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least two sections comprise at least two of: a driving electronic circuit, a power supply electronic circuit, a circuit to drive the plurality of electronic components, a current mirror circuit, a level shifting circuit, a circuit to distribute power to a display panel, and a line selection capability.

17. The method of forming a display panel of any of claims 14 to 16, further comprising the steps of: forming at least one second substrate comprising a thin film transistor circuit, wherein the at least one substrate comprises the plurality of electronic components for display and the at least one second substrate comprises a power supply and driving electronic circuit; combining the at least one substrate with the at least one second substrate, wherein the at least one substrate forms a front side of the display panel and the at least one second substrate forms a back side of the display panel.

18. The method of forming a display panel of any of claims 14 to 16, wherein forming the at least one substrate comprises forming the at least one substrate as at least one double sided substrate comprising a thin film transistor circuit, wherein a first side of the double sided substrate comprises the plurality of electronic components for display and a second side of the double sided substrate comprises a power supply and driving electronic circuit, wherein the first side forms a front side of the display panel and the second side forms a back side of the display panel.

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