Light control panel, superposed panel, and method of manufacturing light control panel

Abstract

A light modulating panel (300), a stacked panel, and a method of manufacturing a light modulating panel (300). The light modulating panel (300) includes a common electrode layer (305), a control electrode layer (310), and a light modulating liquid crystal layer (315) arranged in a stack, and an auxiliary electrode (320). The control electrode layer (310) includes control electrodes (311) arranged in an array, and there is a spacing (313) between adjacent control electrodes (311). A positive projection of the spacing (313) onto the common electrode layer (305) at least partially coincides with a positive projection of the auxiliary electrode (320) onto the common electrode layer (305).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of liquid crystal display technology, and more particularly to a dimming panel, a stacked panel, and a method for manufacturing a dimming panel. Background Technology

[0002] Conventional liquid crystal displays (LCDs) suffer from insufficient color gamut and low contrast ratio (approximately 1000:1). Color gamut refers to the set of colors a display device can display. Contrast ratio refers to the ratio between the brightest and darkest light a display device can show.

[0003] To achieve high contrast, one approach is to use sub-millimeter-scale light-emitting diode (Mini LED) technology. Mini LED technology utilizes a large number of small LED light sources to achieve dimming in multiple backlight zones. However, due to the large number of LEDs, Mini LED technology suffers from higher power consumption, lower yield, and higher cost.

[0004] Another solution is to use stacked display technology. Stacked display technology involves two laminated panels: a display panel (also called the main cell) and a dimming panel (also called the sub-cell). The display panel primarily controls the color and pattern of the displayed image. The dimming panel includes multiple individually controlled dimming zones, enabling local backlight adjustment to improve contrast, resulting in clearer images, stronger color reproduction, and smoother color transitions. Stacked display technology can increase the contrast ratio of LCD displays from the 1000:1 level to the 1000000:1 level, while also offering lower power consumption and cost.

[0005] However, in some related stacked display panels, uneven brightness (mura) may occur between the dimming zones. For example, light leakage or dark areas may appear between the dimming zones. Moreover, the dimming panel may affect the overall transmittance of the display panel. Summary of the Invention

[0006] According to one aspect of this application, a dimming panel is provided. The dimming panel includes a common electrode layer, a control electrode layer, and a dimming liquid crystal layer stacked together, as well as auxiliary electrodes. The control electrode layer includes control electrodes arranged in an array, with spacing between adjacent control electrodes. The orthographic projection of the spacing onto the common electrode layer at least partially coincides with the orthographic projection of the auxiliary electrode onto the common electrode layer.

[0007] In some embodiments, the interval includes a first boundary, a second boundary, a weak alignment region, and a weak non-alignment region. The weak alignment region is closer to the first boundary than the weak non-alignment region, and the weak non-alignment region is closer to the second boundary than the weak alignment region. The dimming liquid crystal layer includes a first dimming liquid crystal and a second dimming liquid crystal. The orthographic projection of the first dimming liquid crystal onto the interval is located within the weak alignment region, and the orthographic projection of the second dimming liquid crystal onto the interval is located within the weak non-alignment region. The average anchoring energy of the first dimming liquid crystal is less than the average anchoring energy of the second dimming liquid crystal. The orthographic projection of the first boundary onto the auxiliary electrode is closer to the centerline of the auxiliary electrode than the orthographic projection of the second boundary onto the auxiliary electrode.

[0008] In some embodiments, the distance between the orthographic projection of the centerline of the auxiliary electrode onto the common electrode layer and the orthographic projection of the centerline of the interval onto the common electrode layer is in the range of 0.5 μm to 1.5 μm.

[0009] In some embodiments, the control electrodes arranged in the array are aligned along a first direction and a second direction, the first direction being at an angle to the second direction. The dimming panel further includes a grid line layer, wherein the grid line layer includes grid lines electrically connected to a corresponding control electrode among the control electrodes, the grid lines extending along the first direction. The auxiliary electrode includes a first auxiliary electrode extending along the first direction, the first auxiliary electrode being arranged parallel to and spaced apart from the projection of the grid lines onto the common electrode layer.

[0010] In some embodiments, the spacing between the first auxiliary electrode and any two adjacent orthographic projections of the gate line in the orthographic projection of the common electrode layer is the same.

[0011] In some embodiments, the dimming panel further includes dummy traces extending along the second direction. The auxiliary electrode further includes a second auxiliary electrode extending along the second direction, the dummy traces being parallel to and spaced apart from the orthographic projection of the second auxiliary electrode onto the common electrode layer.

[0012] In some embodiments, the gate line bends at an inflection point, and the orthographic projection of the straight line containing the dummy trace onto the gate line layer passes through the inflection point.

[0013] In some embodiments, at least two of the dummy trace, the gate line, and the auxiliary electrode are located on the same layer.

[0014] In some embodiments, the dimming panel further includes a voltage control chip, wherein the voltage control chip is configured to be connected to the gate line via an output pin and to the control electrode via the gate line to control the voltage of the control electrode, wherein each of the control electrodes is connected to an output pin with the same voltage polarity.

[0015] In some embodiments, the auxiliary electrode is electrically connected to one of the control electrodes on both sides of the interval.

[0016] In some embodiments, the common electrode layer is sandwiched between the dimming liquid crystal layer and the control electrode layer. The common electrode layer includes parallel strip electrodes, and the auxiliary electrode is located in the common electrode layer and is parallel to and electrically connected to the strip electrodes.

[0017] In some embodiments, the control electrodes arranged in an array are aligned along a first direction and a second direction, the first direction forming an angle of less than 90° with the second direction. The strip electrodes extend along the first direction.

[0018] In some embodiments, the angle between the first direction and the second direction is between 75° and 85°.

[0019] In some embodiments, the control electrode includes a first control electrode and a second control electrode adjacent to each other in the first direction. Each of the first and second control electrodes includes a first edge extending along the first direction and a second edge extending along the second direction. The first control electrode has a spaced-apart protrusion on its second edge near the second control electrode, and the second control electrode has a spaced-apart recess on its second edge near the first control electrode. The protrusions and recesses are at least partially aligned along the first direction.

[0020] In some embodiments, the width of the auxiliary electrode is 1 to 2 times the width of the interval.

[0021] According to another aspect of this application, a stacked panel is provided, including a dimming panel according to any embodiment of this application, and a display panel stacked with the dimming panel.

[0022] According to another aspect of this application, a method for manufacturing a dimming panel is provided. The method includes: providing a substrate; forming a control electrode layer on the substrate, wherein the control electrode layer includes control electrodes arranged in an array and spaced apart between adjacent control electrodes; forming auxiliary electrodes on the substrate, wherein the orthographic projection of the auxiliary electrodes on the substrate at least partially coincides with the orthographic projection of the spaced-apartment on the substrate.

[0023] In some embodiments, forming an auxiliary electrode on the substrate includes: forming a first electrode material layer on the substrate, and performing a first exposure and etching operation on the first electrode material layer to obtain the auxiliary electrode. The method further includes: forming a first insulating layer on the side of the auxiliary electrode away from the substrate. Furthermore, forming a control electrode layer on the substrate includes: forming a second electrode material layer on the side of the first insulating layer away from the substrate, and performing a second exposure and etching operation on the second electrode material layer to obtain the control electrode layer.

[0024] In some embodiments, forming a control electrode layer on the substrate includes: forming a third electrode material layer on the substrate, and performing a third exposure and etching operation on the third electrode material layer to obtain the control electrode layer. The method further includes: forming a second insulating layer on the side of the control electrode layer away from the substrate. Furthermore, forming an auxiliary electrode on the substrate includes: forming a fourth electrode material layer on the side of the second insulating layer away from the substrate, and performing a fourth exposure and etching operation on the fourth electrode material layer to obtain the auxiliary electrode. Attached Figure Description

[0025] To more clearly describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of this disclosure, the accompanying drawings used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of this disclosure. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort. In the drawings of this application:

[0026] Figure 1A and Figure 1B The light leakage and dark areas at the intervals of the control electrodes of the relevant dimming panel are schematically shown respectively;

[0027] Figure 2A and Figure 2B The relationship between the width of the light leakage area of ​​the dimming panel and the spacing width of adjacent control electrodes is schematically shown.

[0028] Figure 3A A cross-sectional view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown;

[0029] Figure 3B A cross-sectional view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown;

[0030] Figure 4 The light leakage of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is illustrated schematically;

[0031] Figure 5A top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown;

[0032] Figure 6 The diagram schematically illustrates the relationship between the alignment direction of the dimming panel and the location of the light leakage area.

[0033] Figure 7A and Figure 7B A top view and a cross-sectional view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application are shown schematically, respectively.

[0034] Figure 8 The diagram schematically illustrates the relationship between the spacing of the elongated strip structures and the distinguishability of the strip structures.

[0035] Figure 9 A top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown;

[0036] Figure 10 The diagram schematically illustrates the relationship between the bends in the grid lines of the dimming panel and the pixels of the display panel.

[0037] Figure 11 A top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown;

[0038] Figure 12 A cross-sectional view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown;

[0039] Figure 13 The diagram schematically illustrates the relationship between the polarity of adjacent control electrodes in a dimming panel and the light leakage between the control electrodes.

[0040] Figure 14 A top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown;

[0041] Figures 15A and 15B schematically show the cross-sectional view and top view of the relevant dimming panel, respectively;

[0042] Figure 16 The diagram schematically illustrates the dark areas between adjacent control electrodes in a dimming panel;

[0043] Figure 17A and Figure 17B Cross-sectional and top views of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application are shown schematically, respectively.

[0044] Figure 18 The diagram schematically illustrates the dark areas between adjacent control electrodes in a dimming panel equipped with auxiliary electrodes.

[0045] Figure 19A and Figure 19BThe white display effect of the dimming panel is schematically shown with and without the auxiliary electrode;

[0046] Figure 20A and Figure 20B The grayscale display effects of the dimming panel with and without an auxiliary electrode are schematically shown respectively.

[0047] Figure 21 The dark area of ​​the dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown;

[0048] Figure 22 A top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown;

[0049] Figure 23 A top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown;

[0050] Figure 24 The diagram schematically illustrates the dark area of ​​the dimming panel when the second edge of the control electrode has a protrusion and a recess.

[0051] Figure 25 The diagram schematically illustrates the dark area conditions corresponding to auxiliary electrodes of different widths;

[0052] Figure 26 A cross-sectional view of a stacked panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown; and

[0053] Figure 27 A flowchart illustrating a method for manufacturing a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is shown schematically. Detailed Implementation

[0054] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this disclosure, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this disclosure without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this disclosure.

[0055] In related stacked display technologies, one approach involves using high-resolution dimming panels, whose resolution can reach half or even higher than that of the display panel. For example, if the display panel has a 4K resolution, the dimming panel could have a 2K resolution. High-resolution dimming panels have up to a million dimming zones and typically employ active driving, meaning each zone has a separate switching element, such as a thin-film transistor (TFT). This reduces the transmittance of the dimming panel, and the excessive number of zones also increases the burden on the system's computing power. It should also be noted that if both the display panel and the dimming panel have high resolutions, it means that the pixel and dimming zone sizes are very small, but the precision of existing panel bonding technologies may not be sufficient to support the alignment of such small pixels and dimming zones.

[0056] Another approach is to use a dimming panel with a low number of zones. This type of panel typically has fewer than three thousand zones and can employ passive driving, meaning it does not contain a TFT structure. The control electrodes of each zone are directly electrically connected to a voltage control chip, which helps improve transmittance. In other words, high transmittance is the primary goal of dimming panels with a low number of zones. Furthermore, each zone is relatively large, reaching millimeter-level dimensions, which reduces the requirements for pixel and dimming zone alignment accuracy.

[0057] The inventors discovered that, due to limitations in manufacturing precision, the spacing between the control electrodes in dimming panels with a low number of zones is relatively large. This creates an edge effect in the electric field at these intervals, potentially leading to light leakage or dark areas, severely degrading image quality. The edge effect refers to the repulsion of like charges on the electrodes, causing the charge to concentrate at the electrodes' edges. This results in an uneven electric field at these edges, with electric field lines spreading outwards. Consequently, the deflection of the liquid crystal at the edges of the control electrodes changes.

[0058] Figure 1A and Figure 1B The light leakage and dark areas at the control electrode spacing of the relevant dimming panel are schematically shown respectively. Figure 1A The diagram shows elongated bright areas appearing at the intervals of the control electrodes 105 arranged in an array. Figure 1B A dark area is shown between the two longitudinally arranged control electrodes 110. Figure 1B In the diagram, the outline of the control electrode 110 is schematically shown using dashed lines. Figure 1B Two control electrodes 110 are arranged longitudinally. The control electrodes are block electrodes with longitudinal slits 111. Figure 1B As shown, there is a dark area between adjacent control electrodes 110. This light leakage or dark area phenomenon will seriously hinder the promotion of stacked screen display technology.

[0059] In related technologies, a dimming panel includes an array substrate containing control electrodes and a counter substrate disposed opposite the array substrate to the liquid crystal layer. To address the bright area problem between adjacent control electrodes, one approach is to provide a black matrix in the counter substrate and align the position of the black matrix with the spacing between the control electrodes to block the bright area at the spacing. However, the inventors noted that in actual production, the alignment precision of the array substrate and the counter substrate is low, making it impossible for the black matrix on the counter substrate to be accurately aligned with the spacing of the control electrodes, resulting in an unsatisfactory light-blocking effect.

[0060] The inventors also discovered that the width of the light leakage and dark areas is larger than the width of the spacing between adjacent control electrodes, reaching up to three times the width of the control electrode spacing. The shapes of the light leakage and dark areas, as well as the spacing between the control electrodes, can be considered as elongated strips. In the context of this application, the term "width" refers to the dimension of this strip shape in the direction perpendicular to its extension direction. Figure 2A and Figure 2B An exemplary illustration shows the relationship between the width of the light leakage region and the width of the spacing 215 between adjacent control electrodes 210 in the related art. Figure 2A In the example, a light-shielding element equal to the width of the gap is provided within the interval between adjacent control electrodes. However, as... Figure 2A As shown, the light-blocking material between adjacent control electrodes does not completely block the light leakage. Figure 2B The light leakage corresponding to light-blocking materials of different widths is shown. In this example, the width of the gap between the control electrodes is 3.5 μm. Figure 2B As shown, when the width of the light-blocking object is 6.5μm, 7μm, 7.5μm, 8μm, 8.5μm, and 9μm, some degree of light leakage still exists. Only when the width of the light-blocking object increases to 9.5μm or 10μm does the light leakage become less noticeable.

[0061] Figure 3A A cross-sectional view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown. Figure 3A As shown, the dimming panel 300 includes a common electrode layer 305, a control electrode layer 310, and a dimming liquid crystal layer 315 arranged in a stacked manner. The term "layer" refers to a structure in which, in one of its three mutually perpendicular dimensions, the length of the structure is significantly smaller than the lengths of the other two dimensions. The term "stacked arrangement" indicates that multiple layer structures are arranged along the direction of the aforementioned dimension with the significantly smaller length, but it does not necessarily require that the layer structures be adjacent or in contact. Furthermore, the surface of a layer structure is not excluded from being necessarily flat. Protrusions or depressions along the aforementioned dimension with the significantly smaller length may also appear on its surface. The term "stacked arrangement" does not exclude the possibility that a protrusion of one layer structure is embedded within a depression of another layer structure.

[0062] It should be noted that the term "stacked arrangement" does not limit the order in which the layers are arranged. For example, in the context of "a common electrode layer 305, a control electrode layer 310, and a dimming liquid crystal layer 315 stacked together," the order of the layers is not required to be determined according to the order of the words; that is, the control electrode layer 310 is not required to be located between the common electrode layer 305 and the dimming liquid crystal layer 315. In some embodiments, the dimming liquid crystal layer 315 is located between the common electrode layer 305 and the control electrode layer 310. In other embodiments, the common electrode layer 305 is located between the dimming liquid crystal layer 315 and the control electrode layer 310.

[0063] exist Figure 3A In this example, the dimming liquid crystal layer 315 is located between the common electrode layer 305 and the control electrode layer 310. The dimming panel 300 also includes a first substrate 301 and a second substrate 302. The control electrode layer 310 includes control electrodes 311 arranged in an array. Figure 3A As shown, there is a gap 313 between adjacent control electrodes 311. In the dimming panel 300, each control electrode 311 defines a partition of the dimming panel.

[0064] In some embodiments, the dimming panel 300 further includes an auxiliary electrode 320. The auxiliary electrode 320 may be made of metal. Figure 3A As shown, the orthographic projection of the interval 313 on the common electrode layer 305 at least partially coincides with the orthographic projection of the auxiliary electrode 320 on the common electrode layer 305. The term "at least partially coincident" includes the case where one projection completely falls within the other projection, the case where the boundaries of the two projections completely coincide, and the case where a portion of one projection coincides with a portion of another projection, but the remaining portions of the two projections do not coincide. The at least partial coincidence of the orthographic projection of the interval 313 on the common electrode layer 305 and the orthographic projection of the auxiliary electrode 320 on the common electrode layer 305 can be understood as follows: when viewing the dimming panel 300 in a direction perpendicular to the common electrode layer 305, the auxiliary electrode 320 appears at least partially within the interval 313 of the control electrode 311. This positional relationship can be simply described as the auxiliary electrode 320 corresponding to the interval 313.

[0065] Figure 3AThe dimming liquid crystal layer 315 shown, located between the common electrode layer 305 and the control electrode layer 310, is typically a normally-on panel. When the dimming liquid crystal is not driven by an electric field, it allows light emitted from the backlight module to pass through. At interval 313, there is no control electrode 311, therefore no electric field formed by the common electrode layer 305 and the control electrode 311 exists. This allows light emitted from the backlight module to pass through, resulting in light leakage. Furthermore, at interval 313, the edge of the control electrode 311 causes the formation of an edge electric field, which further exacerbates light leakage and increases the width of the leakage area. By providing an auxiliary electrode 320 at the position corresponding to interval 313, the auxiliary electrode can both form an electric field with the common electrode layer 305 at interval 313, allowing the deflection of the dimming liquid crystal at interval 313 in the dimming liquid crystal layer 315 to be controlled by the auxiliary electrode 320, and also shield the edge electric field of the control electrode 311. This alters the light transmission at interval 313, overcoming the aforementioned light leakage problem and improving the display effect. Moreover, in this embodiment, the auxiliary electrode 320 and the control electrode 311 are both located on the first substrate 301, that is, they are two film layers located on the same substrate. This makes the alignment accuracy of the two higher and the positional relationship between the auxiliary electrode and the control electrode more precise. Therefore, the electric field generated by the auxiliary electrode can be more accurately targeted at the liquid crystal at the light leakage point. Figure 4 The diagram schematically illustrates light leakage in a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application. For example... Figure 4 As shown in Figure 2, the light leakage phenomenon between the control electrodes is significantly reduced or even almost completely eliminated, resulting in higher image quality.

[0066] In some embodiments, such as Figure 3A As shown, the auxiliary electrode 320 is electrically connected to one of the control electrodes 311 on both sides of the interval 313. This means that there is no need to provide a dedicated power supply component for the auxiliary electrode 320. Moreover, when the auxiliary electrode 320 is electrically connected to the control electrode 311, the voltage of the auxiliary electrode 320 is essentially the same as the voltage of the control electrode 311. Therefore, the voltage difference between the auxiliary electrode 320 and the common electrode layer 305 is essentially the same as the voltage difference between the control electrode 311 and the common electrode layer 305. Consequently, the electric field of the dimming liquid crystal corresponding to the interval 313 is essentially the same as the electric field of the dimming liquid crystal corresponding to the control electrode 311, and the degree of liquid crystal deflection is also essentially the same. Thus, when observing the dimming panel 300, the brightness at the interval 313 is essentially the same as the brightness at the control electrode 311, and there will be no situation where the interval is brighter or darker.

[0067] In some embodiments, such as Figure 3AAs shown, an insulating layer 325 exists between the control electrode layer 310 and the auxiliary electrode 320. The insulating layer 325 covers the auxiliary electrode 320. A via 330 is present in the insulating layer 325, and the auxiliary electrode 320 is electrically connected to the control electrode 310 through a conductive material within the via 330. In some embodiments, the orthographic projection of the auxiliary electrode 320 onto the common electrode layer 305 overlaps with the orthographic projection of the control electrode 311 onto the common electrode layer 305. The via 330 can be positioned such that the orthographic projection of the via 330 onto the common electrode layer 305 lies within this overlapping region. The electrical connection between the auxiliary electrode 320 and the control electrode 311 can be formed by first providing the insulating layer 325 on the auxiliary electrode 320, and then etching the insulating layer 325 to form the via 330 therein. The via 330 should reach the auxiliary electrode 320. To ensure effective electrical connection, the insulating layer 325 can be over-etched. That is, during the formation of the via 330, the surface of the auxiliary electrode 320 within the via 330 is also etched to a certain extent to ensure that no insulating material remains on the surface of the auxiliary electrode 320 within the via. Then, control electrode material is deposited on the insulating layer. A portion of the control electrode material enters the via 330 and reaches the auxiliary electrode 320, serving a conductive function. Then, the control electrode material is etched to obtain the control electrode 311. Through this operation, the control electrode 311 is electrically connected to the auxiliary electrode 320 via the control electrode material.

[0068] Figure 3B A cross-sectional view of a dimming panel according to another embodiment of this application is schematically shown. The auxiliary electrode 320 itself is not absolutely transparent, and may even be opaque (e.g., when the material of the auxiliary electrode is metal). Therefore, as long as the auxiliary electrode is arranged at the intervals of the control electrodes, the auxiliary electrode can achieve a certain light-shielding effect, thereby reducing the aforementioned light leakage problem. In some embodiments, such as Figure 3B As shown, the auxiliary electrode 320 is not electrically connected to other components within the dimming panel; that is, the auxiliary electrode 320 may not be powered. In this case, a certain light-shielding effect can be achieved without requiring a corresponding power supply circuit for the auxiliary electrode 320. This is advantageous for simplifying the structure of the dimming panel and reducing the complexity of its manufacturing process. It should be understood that in other embodiments of this application below, unless explicitly described, the auxiliary electrode 320 may be configured to be electrically connected to or not electrically connected to other components within the dimming panel.

[0069] Figure 5 A schematic top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is shown, specifically illustrating the positional relationship of the components within the dimming panel 300 when viewed from a direction perpendicular to the common electrode layer 305. For example... Figure 5As shown, the orthographic projection of the control electrode 311 partially coincides with the orthographic projection of the auxiliary electrode 320. The orthographic projection of the via 330 is located at the point where the orthographic projections of the control electrode 311 and the auxiliary electrode 320 coincide. It should be understood that if the aforementioned auxiliary electrode is not electrically connected to other components within the dimming panel, it is not necessary to provide a via 330 for the auxiliary electrode 320.

[0070] As mentioned earlier, high transmittance is the primary goal for dimming panels with a low number of zones, thus minimizing the impact of auxiliary electrodes on transmittance is crucial. The inventors discovered through experiments that light leakage between control electrodes tends to occur in areas of weak alignment in the liquid crystal. This weak alignment occurs because, in the actual manufacturing process of liquid crystal panels, the components on the surface of the array substrate differ, and their heights also vary. For example, since the auxiliary electrodes have a certain thickness and are positioned at the intervals between the control electrodes, the height at these intervals may be higher than the height at the control electrodes themselves. Consequently, the alignment layer is not flatly coated on the surface of the array substrate but exhibits a stepped effect. When the alignment layer is rubbed using a friction roller, the roller experiences uphill and downhill processes. For instance, the roller experiences an uphill motion when reaching the intervals between the control electrodes and a downhill motion when leaving them. During the downhill motion, the contact between the roller and the alignment layer is weaker, resulting in weak alignment force and thus forming weak alignment regions. Liquid crystals in the weak alignment region have weaker anchoring energy and are more susceptible to electric field disturbances and alignment disorder, resulting in more severe light leakage in the weak alignment region.

[0071] Figure 6 The relationship between the alignment direction and the location of the light leakage region is schematically shown. Figure 6 The LCD panel is aligned in the direction of the arrows in the diagram (from bottom to top). Figure 6 In the direction shown, the light leakage area is biased towards the upper part of the control electrode spacing 605 in the figure, because when the roller passes through this point, it is leaving the spacing 605 between the control electrode 610 and the control electrode 615 and moving towards the control electrode 610, which means it is going downhill.

[0072] In some embodiments of this application, the auxiliary electrode is positioned closer to the side where the alignment weakness region is located. Compared to a centrally symmetrical arrangement of the auxiliary electrode and the control electrode, the auxiliary electrode requires a narrower width to achieve the same light-blocking effect, which is advantageous for the panel's transmittance. In other words, this embodiment achieves a better light-blocking effect with a narrower width.

[0073] Figure 7A and Figure 7B A top view and a cross-sectional view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application are schematically shown. Figure 7A and Figure 7BAs shown, the spacing 713 between the control electrodes 711 includes a first boundary 741, a second boundary 742, a weak alignment region 743, and a weak non-alignment region 744. The weak alignment region 743 is closer to the first boundary 741 than the weak non-alignment region 744. The weak non-alignment region 744 is closer to the second boundary 742 than the weak alignment region 743. The dimming liquid crystal layer includes a first dimming liquid crystal and a second dimming liquid crystal. The orthographic projection of the first dimming liquid crystal onto the spacing lies within the weak alignment region. That is, the position of the first dimming liquid crystal corresponds to the weak alignment region. The orthographic projection of the second dimming liquid crystal onto the spacing lies within the weak non-alignment region. That is, the position of the second dimming liquid crystal corresponds to the weak non-alignment region. Therefore, the average anchoring energy of the first dimming liquid crystal is less than the average anchoring energy of the second dimming liquid crystal. The term "average anchoring energy of the first dimming liquid crystal" should be understood as the average value of the anchoring energies of each liquid crystal molecule whose position corresponds to the weak alignment region. The term "average anchoring energy of the second dimming liquid crystal" should be understood as the average anchoring energy of each liquid crystal molecule whose position corresponds to the weakly aligned region.

[0074] The orthographic projection of the first boundary 741 onto the auxiliary electrode 720 is closer to the centerline 745 of the auxiliary electrode than the orthographic projection of the second boundary onto the auxiliary electrode 720. This can be understood as the centerline of the auxiliary electrode 720 being closer to the first boundary 741. This indicates that the auxiliary electrode 720 is closer to the first boundary 741. The weak alignment region 743 is closer to the first boundary 741 than the unaligned weak region 744, indicating that the side where the first boundary 741 is located is the weak alignment side of the spacing 713. The anchoring energy of the liquid crystal on this side is weaker, and light leakage mainly occurs on this side. By setting the auxiliary electrode 720 closer to the weak alignment side, the auxiliary electrode 720 can more effectively control the liquid crystal molecules in the weak alignment region, making the control of light leakage more targeted. Moreover, under the premise of achieving the same light-blocking effect, compared with the scheme of centrally aligning the spacing between the auxiliary electrode and the control electrode, this allows the auxiliary electrode to require a narrower width, which is beneficial to the transmittance of the dimming panel.

[0075] In some embodiments, the distance between the projection of the centerline 745 of the auxiliary electrode 720 onto the common electrode layer 705 and the projection of the centerline 747 of the spacing 713 between the control electrode 711 onto the common electrode layer is in the range of 0.5 μm to 1.5 μm. An auxiliary electrode positioned to meet this requirement generates an electric field closer to the location of the light leakage region, effectively reducing light leakage and decreasing the required width. For example, when the spacing between the auxiliary electrode and the control electrode is centrally aligned, a width of 11 μm is required to completely block light leakage, while when the auxiliary electrode is closer to the weaker alignment side of the spacing, only a width of 9 μm is needed. Experiments have shown that the latter has 15% to 20% higher transmittance than the former.

[0076] The inventors also recognized that in dimming panels with a low number of zones, the spacing between auxiliary electrodes is relatively large due to the larger size of each zone. The design of a dimming panel requires comprehensive consideration of factors such as the number of zones and the resolution of the display panel. Taking a 15.6-inch diagonal stacked panel as an example, if the required resolution of the display panel (i.e., the main screen) is 3840×2160, the corresponding pixel size is 90μm×90μm. If the number of zones in the dimming panel (i.e., the secondary screen) is chosen to be around 1200, then the number of zones within the dimming panel can be set to 48×27 (a total of 1296 zones). In this case, each zone contains 80×80 pixels (a total of 6400 pixels), and the zone size is approximately 7.2mm×7.2mm. The auxiliary electrodes are arranged within the intervals of the control electrodes, meaning the spacing between adjacent auxiliary electrodes is the width of one zone, i.e., 7.2mm. When the spacing between adjacent auxiliary electrodes is so large, the auxiliary electrodes are still discernible to the human eye.

[0077] Figure 8 The relationship between the pitch of slender strip structures and their discriminability is shown. Specifically, Figure 8 The diagram schematically illustrates the viewing effect on the human eye when a 6μm wide strip structure has spacing of 250μm, 500μm, 750μm, 3000μm, and 5000μm. For example... Figure 8 As shown, when the spacing is wide (e.g., 750μm, 3000μm, or 5000μm), even if the strip structure is only 6μm wide, it can still be distinguished by the human eye. When the spacing is less than 500μm, it becomes more difficult for the human eye to distinguish it. When the spacing is reduced to 250μm, the human eye cannot distinguish the dark lines.

[0078] It should also be noted that the human eye's resolving power is related to the distance between the eye and the display device. Table 1 below shows the relationship between different viewing distances and the spacing of the bar structures.

[0079] laptop desktop computer television Viewing distance (cm) 30~50 50~70 300~350 Spacing between strip structures (μm) <250~280 <450~550 <5000

[0080] Table 1: Relationship between different viewing distances and the spacing of strip structures.

[0081] As shown in Table 1, when the viewing distance is between 30cm and 50cm (such as in a laptop computer scenario), the minimum pixel pitch that the human eye can distinguish is between 250μm and 280μm. That is, when the pixel pitch of the strip structure is less than 250μm, it cannot be distinguished by the human eye. Similarly, when the viewing distance is between 50cm and 70cm (such as in a desktop computer scenario), the minimum pixel pitch that the human eye can distinguish is between 450μm and 550μm. When the viewing distance is between 300cm and 350cm (such as in a television scenario), when the pixel pitch of the strip structure is less than 5000μm, it cannot be distinguished by the human eye. It is evident that as the viewing distance increases, the permissible pixel pitch of the strip structure can also increase. Different products can choose different pixel pitches to achieve high-quality display effects.

[0082] In summary, in dimming panels with a low number of zones, the auxiliary electrodes positioned between the control electrodes may be discernible to the human eye. This can affect the display performance of stacked panels.

[0083] However, the inventors noted that dimming panels with a low number of zones can employ a passive driving method, in which each control electrode is connected to a corresponding grid line. The grid line connects the control electrode and the voltage control chip to transmit control signals from the voltage control chip to the control electrode. Specifically, when N zones are arranged in a column (N being a natural number), N grid lines are arranged parallel and spaced apart along the column direction within that column of zones, with each grid line electrically connected to a corresponding control electrode. The distance between the grid lines is very close, and due to the limited resolution of the human eye, they are imperceptible. Therefore, in some embodiments, the grid lines can be arranged parallel and spaced apart from the auxiliary electrodes. The auxiliary electrodes and grid lines can have similar widths, and the parallel and spaced auxiliary electrodes and grid lines can visually blend together, with the distance between them less than the minimum distance the human eye can distinguish. In this case, neither the control electrode nor the grid line can be distinguished by the human eye.

[0084] Figure 9 A top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is shown schematically. Figure 9As shown, in a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application, control electrodes 911 arranged in an array are aligned along a first direction and a second direction. The first direction is at an angle to the second direction. For example, the first direction and the second direction may be perpendicular. The dimming panel also includes a gate line layer. The gate line layer includes gate lines 950. The gate line 950 is electrically connected to a corresponding control electrode 911 among the control electrodes. For example, the gate line 950 can be electrically connected to the corresponding control electrode 911 through a conductive material within a via 951. The gate line 950 extends along the first direction. It should be noted that the term "extends along a certain direction" is considered in terms of the overall extension direction. Minor fluctuations in directions other than the overall direction do not affect the determination of the extension direction. For example, as Figure 9 As shown, although the grid line 950 has bends, these bends are reciprocating. The range of the bends (e.g., the distance traveled in the second direction) is much smaller than its distance traveled in the first direction. Therefore, the grid line 950 can be considered to extend along the first direction as a whole. The bends in the grid line are there to improve the moiré pattern that appears when the dimming panel and the display panel are combined. Figure 10 The diagram schematically illustrates the relationship between the bends of the grid lines in a dimming panel and the pixels of a display panel. In the display panel, a pixel may include a red sub-pixel R, a green sub-pixel G, and a blue sub-pixel B. Based on simulation and experimental results, the grid lines can be configured to bend after crossing four pixels in a first direction and two pixels in a second direction (e.g., ...). Figure 10 As shown in the left figure), it can also be configured to bend whenever it crosses three pixels in the first direction and two pixels in the second direction (as shown in the left figure). Figure 10 As shown in the middle image), it can also be configured to bend whenever it crosses two pixels in the first direction and two pixels in the second direction (as shown in the middle image). Figure 10 (As shown in the right figure). This setting can significantly reduce moiré patterns.

[0085] In some embodiments, the auxiliary electrode includes a first auxiliary electrode 921 extending along the first direction. The first auxiliary electrode 921 is arranged parallel to and spaced apart from the projection of the gate line 950 on the common electrode layer. By arranging the gate line 950 and the first auxiliary electrode 921 in this manner, the gate line 950 and the first auxiliary electrode 921 are integrated together. The distance between the first auxiliary electrode 921 and the nearest gate line 950 can be small enough to be indistinguishable to the human eye. When the dimming panel is viewed by the human eye, no black line defects along the first direction will be visible.

[0086] For example, in the aforementioned 15.6-inch stacked panel, each column of control electrodes contains 27 columns of grid lines. The width of the control electrodes is approximately 7.2 μm, therefore, the spacing between the grid lines is approximately 257 μm. The first auxiliary electrode 921 and the grid lines 950 are integrated together. The distance between the first auxiliary electrode 921 and the nearest grid line 950 is also on the order of 250 μm, which is below the minimum distance that the human eye can distinguish, and therefore will not be perceptible to the human eye.

[0087] In some embodiments, the spacing between the first auxiliary electrode and any two adjacent orthographic projections of the gate line in the common electrode layer is the same. In this case, the blending of the first auxiliary electrode and the gate line is uniform. The distance between the first auxiliary electrode and its adjacent gate line is the same as the spacing between any two adjacent gate lines. This makes the first auxiliary electrode less noticeable.

[0088] The grid lines extend along a first direction, therefore, the first auxiliary electrode extending along the first direction can be unobserved. However, the auxiliary electrode also includes a second auxiliary electrode extending along a second direction. The spacing between adjacent second auxiliary electrodes is the size of the control electrode in the second direction, which is relatively large, and there are no grid lines in this direction. When observing the dimming panel, especially when the panel displays white, black lines extending along the second direction may appear. Therefore, in some embodiments, the traces extending along the second direction can be increased so that the density of the traces and the second auxiliary electrodes exceeds the range of human visual perception.

[0089] Figure 11 A top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is shown schematically. Figure 11 As shown, the dimming panel also includes dummy traces 1155. The dummy traces 1155 extend along the second direction. The auxiliary electrode also includes a second auxiliary electrode 1122 extending along the second direction. The dummy traces 1155 and the second auxiliary electrode 1122 are arranged parallel to and spaced apart from each other on the orthographic projection of the common electrode layer. By adding dummy traces 1155 within the dimming zone, the second auxiliary electrode 1122 can be integrated with the dummy traces 1155, making it impossible for the human eye to distinguish between a single second auxiliary electrode 1122 and the dummy traces 1155. That is, the human eye cannot perceive the light-blocking effect of the second auxiliary electrode 1122 and the dummy traces 1155. Therefore, by increasing the number of dummy traces 1155 extending along the second direction and controlling their density, the light leakage phenomenon between the control electrodes 1111 arranged along the first direction can be effectively improved.

[0090] In some embodiments, the gate line 1150 bends at an inflection point, and the orthogonal projection of the straight line containing the dummy trace 1155 onto the gate line layer passes through the inflection point. Figure 10As can be seen from the example depicting the relationship between the gate lines and pixels, the inflection points of the gate lines generally appear at the pixel intervals. In a display panel, black matrices are generally provided at the pixel intervals. Therefore, by setting the position of the dummy trace 1155 so that the orthographic projection of its line onto the gate line layer passes through the inflection point, the dummy trace 1155 may at least partially overlap with the black matrix of the display panel, so that the presence of the dummy trace 1155 does not affect the display function of the pixels of the display panel, and does not significantly reduce the overall transmittance of the laminated panel.

[0091] It should be noted that both the gate lines and the auxiliary electrodes are powered. Dummy traces are located between adjacent gate lines and between the gate line and the first auxiliary electrode. Therefore, dummy traces are segmented and should not short-circuit to adjacent gate lines or between the gate line and the first auxiliary electrode.

[0092] In some embodiments, at least two of the dummy trace, the gate line, and the auxiliary electrode are located on the same layer. Figure 12 A cross-sectional view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is shown schematically. Figure 12 It is along Figure 11 A partial view of the cross-section along the AA direction. For example... Figure 12 As shown, the auxiliary electrode 1220, dummy trace 1255, and gate line 1250 can be arranged on the same layer. In this case, by selecting the same material for all three, such as metal, they can be formed in the same step. For example, the metal material layer can be etched using only one mask to simultaneously form the patterns of the auxiliary electrode 1220, dummy trace 1255, and gate line 1250 in a single exposure and etching process. This reduces the number of process steps and requires only one mask, thus saving costs.

[0093] The inventors also discovered that by setting the polarity of adjacent control electrodes to the same voltage polarity, for example, by making both control voltages positive or negative, the width of the light leakage region can be reduced. When the voltage polarities of adjacent control electrodes are opposite, the voltage difference between adjacent control electrodes is large, which leads to a larger light leakage region. Figure 13 The diagram schematically illustrates the relationship between the polarity of adjacent control electrodes in a dimming panel and the light leakage caused by the spacing between the control electrodes. Figure 13 In the experiment, the width of the gap between adjacent control electrodes was 3.5 μm. Figure 13 The left side shows the light leakage when the voltage polarities of adjacent control electrodes are opposite. It can be seen that light leakage is significant in this case. Experimental results show that the light leakage width can reach 10 μm. Figure 13 The right side shows the light leakage when the voltage polarities of adjacent control electrodes are the same. It can be seen that the light leakage is significantly less in this case. The experimental results show that the light leakage width is within 6 μm.

[0094] In the dimming panel, the voltage of the control electrode is controlled by a voltage control chip. Figure 14 A top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown. In some embodiments, the dimming panel further includes a voltage control chip 1460. The voltage control chip 1460 includes an output pin 1461. The voltage control chip 1460 is configured to be connected to the gate line 1450 via the output pin 1461, and to the control electrode 1411 via the gate line 1450, to control the voltage of the control electrode 1411. Figure 14 As shown, each control electrode 1411 is connected to an output pin 1461 with the same voltage polarity. For example, in Figure 14 In the dimming panel shown, each control electrode 1411 is connected to an output pin 1461 with a positive voltage polarity via a grid line 1450. This arrangement ensures that all control electrodes 1411 within the dimming panel have the same polarity. This reduces the voltage difference between the control electrodes and decreases the influence range of the edge electric field. Consequently, the width of the light leakage area is reduced, improving the display effect. Furthermore, the range of the electric field required from the auxiliary electrode is reduced, thus allowing for a smaller auxiliary electrode width, which is beneficial for the panel's transmittance.

[0095] Sometimes, the selection of the voltage control chip is already determined when designing a dimming panel. The output pins of the voltage control chip can be pre-configured so that adjacent pins have different voltage polarities, such as... Figure 14 As shown. In some embodiments, to ensure that the control electrodes have the same polarity, the gate lines and output pins can be selectively connected. For example, the gate lines can be connected to either all positive or all negative pins. Although this leaves output pins of opposite polarity unused, resulting in some waste, it eliminates the need to reselect the voltage control chip, which is beneficial for process consistency.

[0096] As mentioned earlier, in some embodiments, the dimming liquid crystal layer 315 is located between the common electrode layer 305 and the control electrode layer 310. In other embodiments of this application, the common electrode layer may be located between the dimming liquid crystal layer and the control electrode layer. These embodiments are described below.

[0097] Figures 15A and 15B schematically illustrate a cross-sectional view and a top view of the relevant dimming panel. As shown in Figure 15A, the dimming panel includes a first substrate 1501 and a second substrate 1502. The dimming panel also includes a common electrode layer 1505, a control electrode layer 1510, and a dimming liquid crystal layer 1515. An insulating layer exists between the first substrate 1501 and the common electrode layer 1505. The control electrode layer 1510 is sandwiched between the dimming liquid crystal layer 1515 and the common electrode layer 1505. In other words, the common electrode layer 1505 and the control electrode layer 1510 are located on the same side of the dimming liquid crystal layer 1515. In this structure, the common electrode layer 1505 and the control electrode layer 1510 form a horizontal electric field in the dimming liquid crystal layer 1515 to drive the liquid crystal deflection. The control electrode layer 1510 includes a control electrode 1511. An edge electric field is generated at the edge of the control electrode 1511.

[0098] A dimming panel where the common electrode layer 1505 and the control electrode layer 1510 are located on the same side of the dimming liquid crystal layer 1515 is generally a long dark panel. When the dimming liquid crystal is not driven by an electric field, it blocks the light from the backlight module from passing through. As shown in Figure 15B, to make the electric field lines emanate from the control electrode 1511, which is closer to the dimming liquid crystal layer 1515, they first extend towards the dimming liquid crystal layer 1515, and then extend in the opposite direction to reach the common electrode layer 1505, which is farther from the dimming liquid crystal layer 1515. A slit 1512 is formed in the control electrode 1511. It can also be understood that the control electrode 1511 includes multiple first component electrodes 1551 extending along a first direction and second component electrodes 1552 extending along a second direction. The first direction and the second direction are at an angle. In this application, unless explicitly described, the first direction and the second direction can be perpendicular or not perpendicular. The direction of the electric field formed by the second component electrode 1552 and the common electrode layer 1505 is parallel to the direction of the liquid crystal (e.g., the direction of the long axis of the liquid crystal molecules), making it impossible to drive nearby liquid crystals. Therefore, liquid crystal molecules near the interval between two adjacent control electrodes 1511 along the first direction will not deflect, resulting in a dark area in that region. This application's... Figure 1B A dark area at the interval between two adjacent control electrodes along a first direction has been schematically shown in the relevant dimming panel. The width of the control electrode interval of the dimming panel is 3.5 μm, while the width of the dark area can reach 15 μm.

[0099] It should be understood that the orientation of the long axis of liquid crystal molecules is determined by the alignment films on both sides of the liquid crystal layer. In this dimming panel, the orientation of the long axis of the liquid crystal molecules is the first orientation.

[0100] The direction of the electric field formed by the first component electrode 1551 and the common electrode layer 1505 is perpendicular to the direction of the liquid crystal, which can drive the nearby liquid crystal. However, due to the edge effect, there is still a dark area at the interval between two adjacent control electrodes 1511 in the second direction. Figure 16 The dark area between two adjacent control electrodes of the dimming panel in the second direction is schematically shown.

[0101] Figure 17A A cross-sectional view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is shown schematically. Figure 17B A schematic top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is shown. As shown in FIG17, a common electrode layer 1705 is sandwiched between the dimming liquid crystal layer 1715 and the control electrode layer 1710. That is, the common electrode layer 1705 and the control electrode layer 1710 are located on the same side of the dimming liquid crystal layer 1715, and the common electrode layer 1705 is closer to the dimming liquid crystal layer 1715 than the control electrode layer 1710.

[0102] like Figure 17B As shown, the common electrode layer 1705 includes parallel strip electrodes 1706. The auxiliary electrode 1720 is located in the common electrode layer 1705 and is parallel to and electrically connected to the strip electrodes 1706. Since the auxiliary electrode 1720 is located in the common electrode layer 1705, the auxiliary electrode and the strip electrodes of the common electrode layer can be formed simultaneously in one process step using a single photomask. This reduces the number of processes and saves costs. The auxiliary electrode 1720 and the strip electrodes 1706 can be electrically connected in a suitable manner, such as... Figure 17B As shown by the dashed lines in the diagram. For example, at a location that does not overlap with the control electrode 1711, a wire is provided between the auxiliary electrode 1720 and the strip electrode 1706, such that the wire can form an electrical connection between the auxiliary electrode 1720 and the strip electrode 1706 without creating an electric field with the control electrode 1711 that would affect the deflection of the dimming liquid crystal. It should be understood that the potentials of the strip electrodes 1706 within the common electrode layer 1705 are the same; therefore, in some embodiments, the strip electrodes 1706 are also electrically connected to each other, such as... Figure 17B As shown by the dashed lines in the figure. In a further embodiment, the strip electrode 1706 and the auxiliary electrode 1720 can be obtained by removing a plurality of parallel slits in the conductive material layer. In such an embodiment, the top and bottom ends of these strip electrodes 1706 and auxiliary electrodes 1720 are connected by a conductive material, that is, an electrical connection is achieved between the strip electrodes 1706 and the auxiliary electrodes 1720.

[0103] The orthographic projection of the spacing between the control electrodes 1711 onto the common electrode layer 1705 at least partially coincides with the orthographic projection of the auxiliary electrode 1720 onto the common electrode layer 1705; that is, the auxiliary electrode 1720 is arranged corresponding to the edge of the control electrodes 1711. Since the auxiliary electrode 1720 is electrically connected to the strip electrode 1706, it can act as a shield, mitigating edge effects. Figure 18 It shows in Figure 16 After providing auxiliary electrodes at positions corresponding to the control electrode spacing on the dimming panel, a dark area is created between two adjacent control electrodes in the second direction. For example... Figure 18 As shown, compared to Figure 16 The situation in the dark area has greatly improved.

[0104] Figure 19A and Figure 19B The white display effect of the dimming panel is shown with and without an auxiliary electrode. Figure 19A As shown, without auxiliary electrodes for shielding, dark areas exist at the intervals between adjacent control electrodes. Figure 19B As shown, when an auxiliary electrode is provided for shielding, the dark area at the interval between adjacent control electrodes can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, in grayscale display, by providing an auxiliary electrode for shielding, the dimming panel can also achieve better display performance. Figure 20A and Figure 20B The grayscale display effects of the dimming panel are shown with and without an auxiliary electrode. Figure 20A As shown, without auxiliary electrodes for shielding, dark areas exist at the intervals between adjacent control electrodes. Figure 20B As shown, when an auxiliary electrode is provided for shielding, there is no significant difference in brightness between the intervals of the control electrodes and other locations.

[0105] In addition, the arrangement of the position and shape of the common electrode layer and the control electrode in the dimming panel according to the embodiments of this application also helps to reduce dark areas. In the embodiments of this application, the common electrode layer includes parallel strip electrodes, while the control electrodes are arranged in an array. In order to make the electric field lines start from the electrode layer closer to the dimming liquid crystal layer, reach the dimming liquid crystal layer first, and then extend back to the electrode layer farther away from the dimming liquid crystal layer, the common electrode layer with parallel strip electrodes is set closer to the dimming liquid crystal layer, while the control electrode layer is set farther away from the dimming liquid crystal layer. Figure 17B As shown, the control electrode 1711 is a slitless planar structure that does not include the second component electrode extending along the second direction, while the common electrode layer consists of strip-shaped electrodes 1706 extending along the first direction. Therefore, the control electrode 1711 and the common electrode layer do not generate an electric field along the first direction. Since the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules is the first direction, there will be no situation where the direction of the electric field generated by the control electrode layer and the common electrode layer is parallel to the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules, thus preventing the liquid crystal molecules from being controlled by the electric field generated by the control electrode layer and the common electrode layer. Figure 21 The diagram schematically illustrates the dark area of ​​a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application, wherein the outline of the electrodes is shown in dashed lines for clarity. Figure 21 As shown, with Figure 1BIn comparison, the situation in the dark area is greatly alleviated.

[0106] In some embodiments, the control electrodes 1711 arranged in an array are aligned along a first direction and a second direction. The first direction forms an angle of less than 90° with the second direction. The strip electrode 1706 extends along the first direction. Firstly, with this arrangement, the extending direction of the strip electrode 1706 is the same as the extending direction of the edge of the control electrode. Thus, at the intervals corresponding to this edge, the electric field will only include an electric field component perpendicular to the direction of the liquid crystal molecules, and no electric field component parallel to the direction of the liquid crystal molecules. This reduces the possibility of dark areas appearing because the liquid crystal molecules cannot be driven by the electric field when the electric field direction is parallel to the direction of the liquid crystal molecules.

[0107] Furthermore, the first direction forms an angle of less than 90° with the second direction, meaning they are not perpendicular. Typically, in a display panel, pixels are arranged in a matrix along two mutually perpendicular directions. In a dimming panel, when the first and second directions are not perpendicular, the extension directions of the strip electrodes of the auxiliary and common electrodes differ from the pixel arrangement direction of the display panel. This helps reduce moiré patterns.

[0108] In some embodiments, the angle between the first direction and the second direction is between 75° and 85°. When the angle between the first direction and the second direction is between 75° and 85°, the effect of reducing moiré patterns is better. Figure 22 A schematic top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is shown. As shown in FIG20, the first direction and the second direction are not perpendicular. In the display panel cooperating with this dimming panel, pixels are arranged in the second direction and another direction perpendicular to the second direction. By making the first direction and the second direction of the dimming panel not perpendicular, moiré patterns can be effectively reduced, and a better effect can be achieved when the angle between the first direction and the second direction is between 75° and 85°.

[0109] Figure 23 A top view of a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is shown schematically. Figure 23As shown, in some embodiments, the control electrode includes a first control electrode 2351 and a second control electrode 2352 adjacent to each other in the first direction. The first and second control electrodes each include a first edge extending along the first direction and a second edge extending along the second direction. The first control electrode 2351 has spaced-apart protrusions 2353 on its second edge near the second control electrode 2352, and the second control electrode 2352 has spaced-apart recesses 2354 on its second edge near the first control electrode 2351. The protrusions 2353 and the recesses 2354 are at least partially aligned along the first direction. This alignment of the protrusions and recesses along the first direction can be understood as the protrusions and recesses at least partially overlapping in a direction perpendicular to the first direction. It should be understood that protrusion and recess are relative concepts. Figure 23 From this perspective, adjacent protrusions 2353 can be understood as a recess, while adjacent recesses 2354 can be understood as a protrusion. Therefore, this embodiment can also be understood as follows: the second edge of the first control electrode near the second control electrode includes spaced protrusions, and the second edge of the second control electrode near the first control electrode also includes spaced protrusions. The protrusions of the first and second control electrodes are arranged alternately; that is, in the second direction, the projection of the protrusion of the first control electrode along the first direction is located at the intervals of the protrusions of the second control electrode, and the projection of the protrusion of the second control electrode along the first direction is located at the intervals of the protrusions of the first control electrode.

[0110] Although the common electrode layer is configured as a strip electrode, because the first direction is not perpendicular to the second direction, the electric field formed by the second edge of the control electrode and the common electrode still has an electric field component parallel to the liquid crystal direction. This causes some liquid crystal at the edge to be unable to be driven by the electric field, resulting in dark areas. By configuring the second edge with protrusions and recesses, the component of the electric field parallel to the liquid crystal direction can be reduced, thereby reducing dark areas.

[0111] Figure 24 The diagram schematically illustrates the dark areas of the dimming panel when the second edge has both protrusions and recesses, with the control electrodes outlined in dashed lines for clarity. To further distinguish between the presence and absence of protrusions and recesses, the second edge within the dashed frame has both protrusions and recesses, while the second edge outside the dashed frame does not. Figure 24 As can be seen, the width and visibility of the dark area within the dashed frame are weaker than those outside the dashed frame. This indicates that the dark area can be improved by adding protrusions and recesses at the second edge.

[0112] In some embodiments, the width of the auxiliary electrode is 1 to 2 times the width of the interval. The inventors experimentally verified the shielding effect of auxiliary electrodes of different widths. Figure 25 The diagram schematically illustrates the dark areas corresponding to auxiliary electrodes of different widths, showing the dark areas at the control electrode spacing when the display is white and grayscale. In this experiment, the spacing width of the control electrodes was 3.5 μm. The experiment verified five cases: no auxiliary electrode, auxiliary electrode widths of 2 μm, 3 μm, 5 μm, and 7 μm. As shown in Figure 20, when the auxiliary electrode width is 5 μm, the dark area is the least noticeable in both white and grayscale displays.

[0113] In summary, the dimming panel according to the embodiments of this application provides an auxiliary electrode at a position corresponding to the interval between the control electrodes, thereby improving the electric field near the interval, adjusting the deflection direction of the liquid crystal, and thus improving light leakage and dark areas. Furthermore, by arranging the auxiliary electrode near the weak alignment region, this application makes the electric field of the auxiliary electrode more targeted and narrower, improving the transmittance of the dimming panel. Additionally, this application further improves display quality by using grid lines and dummy traces to make the auxiliary electrode invisible to the human eye.

[0114] According to another aspect of this application, a stacked panel is provided. The stacked panel includes a dimming panel according to any embodiment of this application, and a display panel. The display panel and the dimming panel are stacked together. Figure 26 A cross-sectional view of a stacked panel according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown. Figure 26 As shown, display panel 2610 and dimming panel 2605 are stacked together. Display panel 2610 and dimming panel 2605 can be connected by an optical adhesive layer 2615 between them. The dimming panel includes a first substrate 2601, a second substrate 2602, and a dimming liquid crystal layer 2620 sandwiched between them. The dimming liquid crystal layer 2620 includes a first alignment layer 2621 and a second alignment layer 2622 on both sides. An auxiliary electrode 2630 and a gate line 2631 are disposed on the first substrate 2601. A first insulating layer 2640 is disposed above the auxiliary electrode 2630 and the gate line 2631. A control electrode layer 2650 is disposed on the first insulating layer 2640, which includes control electrodes disposed in an array. A common electrode layer 2651 is disposed on the second substrate 2602. It should be understood that... Figure 26The structure of the dimming panel 2605 is shown only schematically, and elements that do not affect the understanding of this application are not shown. The dimming panel 2605 may also include the elements and structures described in any of the embodiments described above. The display panel 2610 may be a display panel commonly used in the art. The display panel 2610 includes a third substrate 2661 and a fourth substrate 2662, and a liquid crystal layer 2665 sandwiched between them. The liquid crystal layer 2665 also includes alignment layers on both sides. Figure 26 (The text has been omitted). A color filter layer 2670 is disposed on one side of the liquid crystal layer 2665, including a red filter layer, a green filter layer, a blue filter layer, and a black matrix 2671. The red filter layer, green filter layer, and blue filter layer together define the pixels of the display panel, while the black matrix 2671 separates the pixels. A control layer 2674 is disposed on the third substrate 2661, which may include structures such as control electrodes, gate lines, and insulating layers. A common electrode layer 2675 is disposed on the fourth substrate 2662. It should be understood that although in Figure 26 In this embodiment, the control layer 2674 and the common electrode layer 2675 are arranged on both sides of the display liquid crystal layer 2665. However, in other embodiments, depending on the specific form of the common electrode and the control electrode, the control layer 2674 and the common electrode layer 2675 may be arranged on the same side of the display liquid crystal layer 2665.

[0115] The display panel should be compatible with the dimming panel according to the embodiments of this application. For example, the number, size, and arrangement of pixels of the display panel should be compatible with the partitions of the dimming panel; for instance, the length and width of the partitions of the dimming panel should be integer multiples of the length and width of the pixels of the display panel. Furthermore, after the display panel and the dimming panel are assembled together, the spacing of the control electrodes of the dimming panel can be aligned with the spacing of the pixels of the display panel. For example, the orthographic projection of the black matrix 2671 of the display panel on the first substrate 2601 and the orthographic projection of the spacing between the control electrodes of the dimming panel on the first substrate 2601 at least partially overlap. Also, as mentioned above, the inflection points of the grid lines of the dimming panel can appear at the pixel spacing of the display panel, and so on. The stacked panel according to the embodiments of this application has all the advantages and effects of the dimming panel according to the embodiments of this application, which will not be repeated here.

[0116] According to another aspect of this application, a method for manufacturing a dimming panel is provided. Figure 27 A flowchart illustrating a method for manufacturing a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application is shown schematically. Figure 27The method includes: in step S2705, providing a substrate; in step S2710, forming a control electrode layer on the substrate, wherein the control electrode layer includes control electrodes arranged in an array and there is a spacing between adjacent control electrodes; and in step S2715, forming an auxiliary electrode on the substrate, wherein the orthographic projection of the auxiliary electrode on the substrate at least partially coincides with the orthographic projection of the spacing on the substrate layer. It should be noted that steps S2710 and S2715 are not required to be in any particular order. Depending on the structural design of the dimming panel to be manufactured, the auxiliary electrode can be formed first, followed by the control electrode, or vice versa. The statement "the orthographic projection of the auxiliary electrode on the substrate at least partially coincides with the orthographic projection of the spacing on the substrate layer" should not be interpreted as the auxiliary electrode needing to be formed after the control electrode; rather, it should be understood that regardless of whether the auxiliary electrode or the control electrode is formed first, the resulting dimming panel structure should satisfy the condition that the orthographic projection of the auxiliary electrode on the substrate at least partially coincides with the orthographic projection of the spacing on the substrate layer. The method is described in detail below.

[0117] First, a substrate is provided. This substrate can be any suitable substrate, such as a glass substrate or other transparent material substrate with load-bearing function.

[0118] Then, a control electrode layer and an auxiliary electrode are formed on the substrate. The control electrode layer can be made of a transparent conductive material, such as indium tin oxide (ITO). The control electrode layer can be formed by depositing a control electrode material, coating a photoresist layer on the control electrode material, exposing and developing the photoresist layer, etching the control electrode material with an etchant to obtain the control electrode, and then removing the photoresist. The auxiliary electrode can be made of transparent conductive material ITO or an opaque conductive material, such as metal. The auxiliary electrode can be formed in a similar manner, for example, by depositing an auxiliary electrode material, coating with photoresist, exposing and developing, etching the auxiliary electrode material, and removing the photoresist. Because both the control electrode layer and the auxiliary electrode are formed on the substrate, their alignment accuracy is high, and the positional relationship between the auxiliary electrode and the control electrode is more precise, allowing the electric field generated by the auxiliary electrode to more accurately target light leakage at the gaps. The meanings and specific operational procedures of steps such as depositing electrode materials, coating photoresist, exposure and development, etching electrode materials, and removing photoresist are clear in this field and will not be elaborated here. These steps, when combined, can be collectively referred to as "exposure and etching operations".

[0119] As mentioned earlier, depending on the structural design of the dimming panel to be manufactured, the auxiliary electrodes or the control electrodes can be formed first. These two scenarios will be discussed separately below.

[0120] In some embodiments, step S2715 may include: forming a first electrode material layer on the substrate, and performing a first exposure and etching operation on the first electrode material layer to obtain the auxiliary electrode. After obtaining the auxiliary electrode, the method for fabricating a dimming panel according to embodiments of this application further includes: forming a first insulating layer on the side of the auxiliary electrode away from the substrate. Then, step S2710 may include: forming a second electrode material layer on the side of the first insulating layer away from the substrate, and performing a second exposure and etching operation on the second electrode material layer to obtain the control electrode layer. In the dimming panel formed by the above steps, the control electrode layer is farther from the substrate than the auxiliary electrode. In this case, the auxiliary electrode can be formed in the same step as the gate lines of the dimming panel. For example, a metal layer can be deposited on the substrate surface, and after exposure and etching, a pattern of gate lines and auxiliary electrodes can be formed. Then, an insulating layer can be deposited on the gate lines and auxiliary electrodes. The material of the insulating layer can be, for example, a silicon nitride. Then, a first via for connecting the auxiliary electrode and the control electrode, and a second via for connecting the gate line and the control electrode, can be formed in the insulating layer through exposure and etching operations. Next, material for the control electrode can be deposited or sputtered on the insulating layer, and the control electrode can be formed through exposure and etching processes. The material for the control electrode can enter the aforementioned vias, allowing the control electrode to be electrically connected to both the gate line and the auxiliary electrode. After the auxiliary electrode is formed, the position of the control electrode to be formed is essentially determined. Therefore, when etching the control electrode, the position to be etched should be aligned with the position of the auxiliary electrode. Through the above process, an array substrate for a dimming panel can be obtained.

[0121] In a further embodiment, the method forms the common electrode of the dimming panel in a counter substrate opposite the array substrate. The process of forming the counter substrate may include, for example, providing a second substrate, coating the second substrate with a black matrix layer material, and subjecting it to exposure and development to form markings for alignment with the array substrate. Then, a common electrode material layer is formed by deposition or sputtering to obtain a single, continuous common electrode layer. In some embodiments, spacer material may also be coated onto the common electrode layer, and after exposure and development, an in-cell support may be obtained. Through the above processes, the counter substrate of the dimming panel can be obtained.

[0122] Finally, by dispensing liquid crystal and assembling the array substrate and the opposing substrate, a dimming panel according to an embodiment of this application can be obtained.

[0123] In some other embodiments, the control electrode can be formed first. In this case, step S2710 may include: forming a third electrode material layer on the substrate, and performing a third exposure and etching operation on the third electrode material layer to obtain the control electrode layer. In these embodiments, the method further includes: forming a second insulating layer on the side of the control electrode layer away from the substrate. And, step S2715 may include: forming a fourth electrode material layer on the side of the second insulating layer away from the substrate, and performing a fourth exposure and etching operation on the fourth electrode material layer to obtain the auxiliary electrode. In the dimming panel formed by the above steps, the control electrode layer is closer to the substrate than the auxiliary electrode. In this case, the common electrode of the dimming panel can also be disposed on the substrate, and the auxiliary electrode and the common electrode can be formed in the same step. For example, after the control electrode layer and the second insulating layer have been formed, when performing the fourth exposure and etching operation on the fourth electrode material layer, the patterns of the auxiliary electrode and the common electrode can be formed simultaneously, and then the common electrode and the auxiliary electrode can be obtained through exposure and etching processes. The patterns of the auxiliary electrodes and the common electrode can also be configured to electrically connect the common electrode and the auxiliary electrode. After the control electrodes are formed, the position of the spacing between the control electrodes is determined, and the position of the auxiliary electrode to be formed is also essentially determined. Therefore, when etching the fourth control electrode material layer, the material to be left should be aligned with the spacing position. Through the above process, an array substrate for a dimming panel can be obtained.

[0124] In the above embodiments, the common electrode is also formed on the array substrate. Therefore, the process of forming the opposing substrate may only include steps such as providing a third substrate, forming a mark for alignment with the array substrate, and forming an internal support, which will not be described in detail here. Then, similarly, after dispensing liquid crystal and aligning the array substrate and the opposing substrate in a cell, a dimming panel according to the embodiments of this application can be obtained.

[0125] The dimming panel obtained by the above method provides an auxiliary electrode at a position corresponding to the interval of the control electrode, thereby improving the electric field near the interval, adjusting the deflection direction of the liquid crystal, and thus improving the phenomena of light leakage and dark areas.

[0126] As those skilled in the art will understand, although the steps of the methods in the embodiments of this disclosure are described in a specific order in the accompanying drawings, this does not require or imply that the steps must be performed in that specific order unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Additional or alternatively, multiple steps may be combined into a single step, and / or a single step may be broken down into multiple steps. Furthermore, other method steps may be inserted between steps. Inserted steps may represent improvements to the method as described herein, or may be unrelated to the method. Moreover, a given step may not be fully completed before the next step begins.

[0127] In the description of the embodiments of this disclosure, the terms "upper," "lower," "left," "right," etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing the embodiments of this disclosure and are not intended to require the embodiments of this disclosure to be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure.

[0128] In the description of this specification, references to terms such as "one embodiment," "another embodiment," etc., indicate that a specific feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of this disclosure. In this specification, the illustrative expressions of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples. Moreover, those skilled in the art can combine different embodiments or examples described in this specification, as well as features of different embodiments or examples, without contradiction. Additionally, it should be noted that in this specification, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of indicated technical features.

[0129] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this disclosure, but the scope of protection of this disclosure is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this disclosure should be included within the scope of protection of this disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of this disclosure should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A dimming panel, comprising: A common electrode layer, a control electrode layer, and a dimming liquid crystal layer are stacked together. Auxiliary electrode, The control electrode layer includes control electrodes arranged in an array, with spacing between adjacent control electrodes. Wherein, the orthographic projection of the spacer on the common electrode layer at least partially coincides with the orthographic projection of the auxiliary electrode on the common electrode layer. The interval includes a first boundary and a second boundary, and the orthographic projection of the first boundary on the auxiliary electrode is closer to the centerline of the auxiliary electrode than the orthographic projection of the second boundary on the auxiliary electrode.

2. The dimming panel as described in claim 1, wherein, The interval also includes a weak alignment region and a non-weak alignment region, wherein the weak alignment region is closer to the first boundary than the non-weak alignment region, and the non-weak alignment region is closer to the second boundary than the weak alignment region. The dimming liquid crystal layer includes a first dimming liquid crystal and a second dimming liquid crystal. The orthographic projection of the first dimming liquid crystal onto the interval is located within the alignment weak region, and the orthographic projection of the second dimming liquid crystal onto the interval is located within the non-alignment weak region. The average anchoring energy of the first dimming liquid crystal is less than the average anchoring energy of the second dimming liquid crystal.

3. The dimming panel as described in claim 1, wherein, The distance between the orthographic projection of the centerline of the auxiliary electrode onto the common electrode layer and the orthographic projection of the centerline of the interval onto the common electrode layer is in the range of 0.5 μm to 1.5 μm.

4. The dimming panel as described in claim 1, wherein, The control electrodes arranged in the array are aligned along a first direction and a second direction, wherein the first direction is at an angle to the second direction. The dimming panel further includes a grid line layer, wherein the grid line layer includes grid lines, the grid lines are electrically connected to a corresponding control electrode among the control electrodes, and the grid lines extend along the first direction. The auxiliary electrode includes a first auxiliary electrode extending along the first direction, the first auxiliary electrode being arranged parallel to and spaced apart from the projection of the gate line on the common electrode layer.

5. The dimming panel as described in claim 4, wherein, The spacing between any two adjacent orthographic projections of the first auxiliary electrode and the gate line in the orthographic projection of the common electrode layer is the same.

6. The dimming panel as described in claim 4, further comprising a dummy trace extending along the second direction. The auxiliary electrode further includes a second auxiliary electrode extending along the second direction, and the dummy traces are arranged parallel to and spaced apart from the orthogonal projection of the second auxiliary electrode on the common electrode layer.

7. The dimming panel as claimed in claim 6, wherein, The grid line bends at the inflection point, and the orthogonal projection of the straight line containing the dummy trace on the grid line layer passes through the inflection point.

8. The dimming panel as claimed in claim 6, wherein, At least two of the dummy trace, the gate line, and the auxiliary electrode are located on the same layer.

9. The dimming panel of claim 4, further comprising a voltage control chip, wherein the voltage control chip is configured to be connected to the gate line via an output pin and to the control electrode via the gate line to control the voltage of the control electrode, wherein each of the control electrodes is connected to an output pin with the same voltage polarity.

10. The dimming panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The auxiliary electrode is electrically connected to one of the control electrodes on both sides of the interval.

11. The dimming panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The common electrode layer is sandwiched between the dimming liquid crystal layer and the control electrode layer. The common electrode layer includes parallel strip electrodes, and the auxiliary electrode is located in the common electrode layer and is parallel to and electrically connected to the strip electrodes.

12. The dimming panel as claimed in claim 11, wherein, The control electrodes arranged in the array are aligned along a first direction and a second direction, the first direction forming an angle of less than 90° with the second direction. The strip electrode extends along the first direction.

13. The dimming panel as claimed in claim 12, wherein, The angle between the first direction and the second direction is between 75° and 85°.

14. The dimming panel as claimed in claim 12, wherein, The control electrode includes a first control electrode and a second control electrode adjacent to each other in the first direction. Each of the first control electrode and the second control electrode includes a first edge extending along the first direction and a second edge extending along the second direction. The first control electrode has a second edge near the second control electrode with spaced protrusions, and the second control electrode has a second edge near the first control electrode with spaced recesses. The protrusions and the recesses are at least partially aligned along the first direction.

15. The dimming panel as claimed in claim 11, wherein, The width of the auxiliary electrode is 1 to 2 times the width of the interval.

16. A stacked panel, comprising: The dimming panel as described in any one of claims 1-15, and A display panel stacked on top of the dimming panel.

17. A method for manufacturing a dimming panel, comprising: Provide substrate, A control electrode layer is formed on the substrate, wherein the control electrode layer includes control electrodes arranged in an array, and there is a spacing between adjacent control electrodes. An auxiliary electrode is formed on the substrate, wherein the orthographic projection of the auxiliary electrode on the substrate at least partially coincides with the orthographic projection of the electrode spaced on the substrate. The interval includes a first boundary and a second boundary, and the orthographic projection of the first boundary on the auxiliary electrode is closer to the centerline of the auxiliary electrode than the orthographic projection of the second boundary on the auxiliary electrode.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein, Forming auxiliary electrodes on the substrate includes: A first electrode material layer is formed on the substrate, and The first electrode material layer is subjected to a first exposure and etching operation to obtain the auxiliary electrode; The method further includes: forming a first insulating layer on the side of the auxiliary electrode away from the substrate; Furthermore, forming a control electrode layer on the substrate includes: A second electrode material layer is formed on the side of the first insulating layer away from the substrate, and The second electrode material layer is subjected to a second exposure and etching operation to obtain the control electrode layer.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein, Forming a control electrode layer on the substrate includes: A third electrode material layer is formed on the substrate, and The third electrode material layer is subjected to a third exposure and etching operation to obtain the control electrode layer; The method further includes: forming a second insulating layer on the side of the control electrode layer away from the substrate; Furthermore, forming auxiliary electrodes on the substrate includes: A fourth electrode material layer is formed on the side of the second insulating layer away from the substrate, and The fourth electrode material layer is subjected to a fourth exposure and etching operation to obtain the auxiliary electrode.

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