A display panel and a manufacturing method thereof

Abstract

The present application provides a display panel and a manufacturing method thereof, the display panel comprising: a substrate; a plurality of sub-pixels, arranged on the substrate; a pixel defining layer, arranged on the substrate, the pixel defining layer is used to define the positions of the plurality of sub-pixels, and a convex portion is provided on the pixel defining layer; an eaves structure, arranged on the pixel defining layer, the eaves structure comprising an upper structure and a lower structure formed in one piece, the upper structure extends along the direction of two adjacent sub-pixels to form an eaves portion protruding from the lower structure, the lower structure connects the cathodes of the two adjacent sub-pixels, the eaves structure is a conductive structure, a groove is provided on one side of the eaves structure facing the pixel defining layer, and the convex portion is embedded in the groove. In the above manner, the one-piece eaves structure is used to improve its width accuracy and uniformity, and the convex portion is provided to reduce the amount of metal setting therein to reduce stress and avoid substrate warping.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application mainly relates to the field of display technology, and in particular to a display panel and a manufacturing method thereof. Background Art

[0002] Organic electroluminescent display devices, such as organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, have desired characteristics, such as automatic luminescence, wide viewing angle, fast response, small thickness, high contrast, etc. Therefore, as the next generation of flat panel display devices, organic electroluminescent devices have been widely used in our display mobile phones, tablets and even computer display panels.

[0003] In the existing process of manufacturing the three primary colors of light-emitting devices, three methods are usually used: deposition using a fine metal mask, printing using an inkjet printing solution, and etching using photolithography; among them, in the process using photolithography technology, it is necessary to pre-set an eaves structure between sub-pixels to separate a series of light-emitting materials so that they can be better protected by the inorganic protective film layer. For this reason, due to reliability protection, the structure of the eaves and its molding process have special requirements and restrictions. The manufacturing method of its structure usually adopts the whole surface deposition to form a metal layer and then removes the excess part by etching. Since its wet etching is a chemical reaction between the liquid and the liquid, its reaction rate is not easy to control, and its reaction uniformity is affected by the concentration of the liquid, the replacement rate of the liquid, etc., which leads to poor accuracy and uniformity of the far-end width of the eaves structure, affecting the connection width between its conductor part and the light-emitting cathode, and ultimately affecting the brightness of the light and the life of the light-emitting device. And because the eaves structure is a metal film, stress is easily generated during the production process of the entire surface film. When the stress is large, it is easy to cause the substrate to warp and deform. In severe cases, it may cause risks such as breakage. In the subsequent production process, its deformation problem makes it impossible to perform accurate positioning, which in turn affects subsequent production and leads to problems such as production yield. Summary of the invention

[0004] The main purpose of the present application is to provide a display panel and a method for manufacturing the same to solve the problems of precision of the isolation structure due to the manufacturing process and warping of the substrate caused by the stress generated by the conductive structure arranged therein during the manufacturing process of the display panel.

[0005] To solve the above problems, the present application provides a display panel, which includes: a substrate; a plurality of sub-pixels, which are arranged on the substrate; a pixel defining layer, which is arranged on the substrate, the pixel defining layer is used to define the positions of the plurality of sub-pixels, and a protrusion is provided on the pixel defining layer; an eaves structure, which is arranged on the pixel defining layer, the eaves structure includes an upper structure and a lower structure which are integrally formed, the upper structure extends along the direction of two adjacent sub-pixels to form an eaves portion protruding from the lower structure, the lower structure connects the cathodes of the two adjacent sub-pixels, the eaves structure is a conductive structure, and a groove is provided on the side of the eaves structure facing the pixel defining layer, and the protrusion is embedded in the groove.

[0006] In one embodiment, the side surface of the lower structure is inclined to the upper surface of the pixel defining layer, and the inner angle between the side surface of the lower structure and the upper surface of the pixel defining layer is less than 90 degrees.

[0007] In one embodiment, an inner angle between the side surface of the lower structure and the upper surface of the pixel defining layer is greater than or equal to 20 degrees and less than or equal to 70 degrees.

[0008] In one embodiment, the minimum lateral distance between the end edge of the eave portion and the edge of the lower structure on the same side is greater than or equal to 0.4 μm and less than or equal to 1.2 μm.

[0009] In one embodiment, the thickness of the eave structure is greater than or equal to 1 μm and less than or equal to 3 μm; the thickness of the eave portion is greater than or equal to 0.1 μm and less than or equal to 1 μm.

[0010] In one embodiment, the width of the protrusion is greater than or equal to 1 / 3 of the width of the lower structure and less than or equal to 2 / 3 of the width of the lower structure.

[0011] To solve the above problems, the present application also provides a method for manufacturing a display panel, which includes: providing a substrate; forming an anode layer and a pixel defining layer on the substrate, wherein a protrusion is provided on the pixel defining layer; forming an eaves layer on the protrusion and the pixel defining layer, so that a groove is formed on the side of the eaves layer facing the pixel defining layer, and the protrusion is embedded in the groove; etching the eaves layer to form an eaves structure; wherein the eaves structure includes an upper structure and a lower structure, the upper structure extends along the direction of two adjacent sub-pixels to form an eaves portion protruding from the lower structure, and the eaves structure is a conductive structure; a light-emitting layer and a cathode layer are sequentially formed on the anode layer, and the cathode layer is connected to the lower structure.

[0012] In one embodiment, an eaves layer is formed on the protrusion and the pixel defining layer so that a groove is formed on the side of the eaves layer facing the pixel defining layer, and the protrusion is embedded in the groove, including: forming a photolithography layer on the protrusion and the pixel defining layer; patterning the photolithography layer to form an opening structure on the photolithography layer to expose the protrusion and part of the pixel defining layer; and forming an eaves layer on the protrusion, the pixel defining layer and the photolithography layer.

[0013] In one embodiment, after patterning the photolithography layer to form an opening structure on the photolithography layer to expose the protrusion and part of the pixel defining layer, the method further includes: processing the photolithography layer to form an arc structure at two corners of the opening structure away from the pixel defining layer.

[0014] To solve the above problems, the present application also provides a display device, which includes a display panel and a power supply, wherein the display panel is a display panel including any one of the display panels described above or a display panel manufactured using any of the manufacturing methods described above, and the power supply is used to supply energy to the display panel to provide a stable picture output to the display device through the display panel.

[0015] Through the above-mentioned method, an eaves structure is set in the display panel to separate the light-emitting material, and the upper structure and the lower structure of the eaves structure are formed in an integrated manner to improve the width accuracy and uniformity of the structure and further improve the display brightness and service life, as well as the reliability of the overlap with the electrode, and the manufacturing method of the panel can optimize the process flow to reduce the process flow and save costs; at the same time, a protrusion is set in the area where the eaves structure is deposited, so that a groove is formed to cover the protrusion to reduce the deposition amount of the structure, thereby reducing problems such as substrate warping caused by stress. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work. Among them:

[0017] Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a display panel provided by the present application;

[0018] Figure 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a second embodiment of a display panel provided by the present application;

[0019] Figure 3a to Figure 3i It is a schematic diagram of the process structure of an embodiment of a method for manufacturing a display panel provided by the present application;

[0020] Figure 4It is a schematic diagram of the steps of an embodiment of a method for manufacturing a display panel provided by the present application;

[0021] Figure 5 yes Figure 4 Schematic diagram of sub-steps of step S30;

[0022] Figure 6 It is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of a display device provided in the present application.

[0023] Figure numerals: 300, display device; 200, power supply; 100, display panel; 10, substrate; 20, sub-pixel; 21, anode layer; 22, light-emitting layer; 23, cathode layer; 30, pixel defining layer; 30a, protrusion; 40, eaves structure; 40a, eaves layer; 41, upper structure; 42, lower structure; a, photolithography layer; b, second photolithography layer; A, eaves portion; 50, encapsulation protection layer. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. It will be appreciated that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present application, rather than to limit the present application. It should also be noted that, for ease of description, only some but not all structures related to the present application are shown in the drawings. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in the art without making creative work are within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0025] The terms "first", "second", etc. in this application are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but optionally includes steps or units that are not listed, or optionally includes other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0026] Reference to "embodiments" herein means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in conjunction with the embodiments may be included in at least one embodiment of the present application. The appearance of the phrase in various locations in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor is it an independent or alternative embodiment that is mutually exclusive with other embodiments. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.

[0027] With the gradual development of existing display panel technology, in the production process of existing display panels, a photolithography technology is usually used to produce the display panel. In the process of using photolithography technology, it is necessary to pre-set an isolation structure between sub-pixels to isolate a series of light-emitting materials so that they can be better protected by the inorganic protective film layer. For this reason, due to reliability protection, the isolation structure and its molding process have special requirements and restrictions. The production method of its structure usually adopts full-surface deposition to form a metal layer and then removes the excess part by etching. Since its wet etching is a chemical reaction between the liquid and the liquid, its reaction rate is not easy to control, and its reaction uniformity is affected by the concentration of the liquid, the replacement rate of the liquid, etc., which leads to poor accuracy and uniformity of the far-end width of the eaves structure, affecting the connection width between its conductor part and the light-emitting cathode, and finally affecting the brightness of the light and the life of the light-emitting device. And because the eaves structure is a metal film, it is easy to generate stress during the whole-surface film-forming process. When the stress is large, it is easy to cause the base substrate to warp and deform. In severe cases, it may cause risk situations such as breakage. In the subsequent production process, due to its deformation problem, it is impossible to accurately position it, which in turn affects the subsequent production and leads to problems such as production yield. Therefore, the present application proposes a display panel and its manufacturing method to solve the problems of width accuracy and uniformity of its far end and substrate warping caused by stress in the overall evaporation of the conductor part during the production of the eaves structure.

[0028] See also Figure 1 As shown, Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of a display panel provided by the present application; the display panel includes: a substrate 10, sub-pixels 20, a pixel defining layer 30, and an eaves structure 40; specifically, the positions and structural relationships corresponding to the above structures are: a plurality of sub-pixels 20 are arranged on the substrate 10; the pixel defining layer 30 is arranged on the substrate 10, the pixel defining layer 30 is used to define the positions of the plurality of sub-pixels 20, and a protrusion 30a is provided on the pixel defining layer 30; the eaves structure 40 is arranged on the pixel defining layer 30, the eaves structure 40 includes an integrally formed upper structure 41 and a lower structure 42, the upper structure 41 extends along the direction of two adjacent sub-pixels 20 to form an eaves portion A protruding from the lower structure 42, the lower structure 42 connects the cathodes of the two adjacent sub-pixels 20, the eaves structure 40 is a conductive structure, and a groove is provided on the side of the eaves structure 40 facing the pixel defining layer 30, and the protrusion 30a is embedded in the groove.

[0029] The substrate 10 plays a role in supporting the entire panel in the display panel 100. The material of the packaging substrate 10 may include a hard packaging substrate and a flexible packaging substrate. The material selection includes but is not limited to BT material, ABF material, MIS material, PI (polyimide) and PE (polyester) resin materials or their combinations.

[0030] The sub-pixels 20 further include an anode layer 21, a light-emitting layer 22 and a cathode layer 23 stacked in sequence, wherein the cathode layer 23 is connected to the lower structure 42 of the eaves structure 40 to achieve conduction; specifically, the multiple sub-pixels 20 include corresponding red, green and blue (RGB) primary colors, that is, each color in each pixel is called a sub-pixel 20, and each sub-pixel 20 emits light of different colors, for example, red light, blue light or green light, through the light-emitting layer 22 therein when powered on.

[0031] Among them, the anode material of the anode layer 21 is mainly used as the anode of the device, and its work function is required to be as high as possible to improve the hole injection efficiency. The selection of anode materials includes but is not limited to chromium, titanium, gold, silver, copper, aluminum, ITO, their combination or other suitable conductive materials.

[0032] The cathode material of the cathode layer 23 is mainly used as the cathode of the device. The lower the metal work function of the cathode material, the easier it is to inject electrons, the higher the luminous efficiency, the less Joule heat will be generated during operation, and the device life will be greatly improved. The selection of the cathode layer 23 material includes but is not limited to chromium, titanium, gold, silver, copper, aluminum, ITO, a combination thereof or other suitable conductive materials; the cathode layer 23 material and the anode layer 21 material can be the same material or different materials, which are set according to actual needs.

[0033] The light-emitting layer 22 may include one or more of: HIL (Hole Injection Layer), HTL (Hole Transfer Layer), EML (Emitting Layer) and ETL (Electron Transfer Layer). Among them, the organic light-emitting materials in the light-emitting layer 22 are generally divided into two categories: high molecular polymers, small molecule organic substances and complex light-emitting materials; high molecular polymers are usually conductive conjugated polymers or semiconductor conjugated polymers, which can be formed into films by spin coating, are simple to make and low in cost, but their purity is not easy to improve, and they are inferior to small molecule organic compounds in terms of durability, brightness and color. Organic small molecule light-emitting materials are mainly organic dyes, which have the advantages of strong chemical modification, wide selection range, easy purification, high quantum efficiency, and can produce various color emission peaks such as red, green, blue, and yellow, but most of them have concentration quenching problems in the solid state. Complex light-emitting materials are between organic and inorganic substances, with both high fluorescence quantum efficiency of organic substances and high stability of inorganic substances, and are regarded as a type of light-emitting material with great application prospects.

[0034] The pixel defining layer 30 is used to define the opening of the sub-pixel 20 in the display panel to prevent the colors therein from interfering with each other; the material of the pixel defining layer 30 can be an organic material, an organic material with an inorganic coating disposed thereon, or an inorganic material. The organic material of the pixel defining layer 30 includes, but is not limited to, polyimide. The inorganic material of the pixel defining layer 30 includes, but is not limited to, silicon oxide (SiO2), silicon nitride (Si3N4), silicon oxynitride (Si2N2O), magnesium fluoride (MgF2), or a combination thereof.

[0035] Optionally, in one embodiment, the width of the protrusion 30 a is greater than or equal to 1 / 3 of the width of the lower structure 42 , and less than or equal to 2 / 3 of the width of the lower structure 42 . Specifically, a protrusion 30a is also provided on the above-mentioned pixel defining layer 30. The protrusion 30a may be a part of the pixel defining layer 30 and may be integrally formed with the pixel defining layer 30 or may be formed on the pixel defining layer 30 by another separate structural material in some embodiments. The width of the lower end surface of the protrusion 30a is smaller than the width of the upper surface of the pixel defining layer 30. The eaves structure 40 completely covers the corresponding protrusion 30a. In order to ensure that the lower structure 42 of the eaves structure 40 can be directly contacted and connected with the upper surface of the pixel defining layer 30 and to meet the stability of the contact connection, the size limitation requirement is required; and the size of the contact between the corresponding lower structure 42 and the upper surface of the pixel defining layer 30 needs to be at least greater than 3 μm to ensure the stability of the contact connection therein; in another embodiment, the setting height of the protrusion 30a is a size parameter between 40% and 80% of the overall height of the eaves structure 40.

[0036] The eaves structure 40, such as Figure 1 As shown, the overall eaves structure 40 includes an upper structure 41 and a lower structure 42, wherein the upper structure 41 and the lower structure 42 are integrally formed, the upper structure 41 extends along the direction of two adjacent sub-pixels 20 to form an eaves portion A protruding from the lower structure 42, and the lower structure 42 is overlapped and connected with the cathode in the display panel to achieve a conductive connection of the entire display panel; specifically, the material of the eaves structure 40 is a conductive metal or other metal oxide with a low resistivity. For example, the material of the eaves structure 40 can include but is not limited to: aluminum (Al), magnesium (Mg), copper (Cu), silver (Ag), indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IGZO) and other conductive metals or other metal oxides or their combinations, that is, it only needs to meet the use conditions of the implementation scheme, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0037] Optionally, in one embodiment, if Figure 1 As shown, the side surface of the lower structure 42 is inclined to the upper surface of the pixel defining layer 30, and the inner angle between the side surface of the lower structure 42 and the upper surface of the pixel defining layer 30 is less than 90 degrees.

[0038] Optionally, in one embodiment, an inner angle between the side surface of the lower structure 42 and the upper surface of the pixel defining layer 30 is greater than or equal to 20 degrees and less than or equal to 70 degrees.

[0039] Optionally, in one embodiment, the minimum lateral distance between the end edge of the eave portion A and the edge of the lower structure 42 on the same side is greater than or equal to 0.4 μm and less than or equal to 1.2 μm.

[0040] Optionally, in one embodiment, the thickness of the eaves structure 40 is greater than or equal to 1 μm and less than or equal to 3 μm; the thickness of the eaves portion A is greater than or equal to 0.1 μm and less than or equal to 1 μm.

[0041] Optionally, in one embodiment, the connection between the protruding eaves portion A of the upper structure 41 and the side surface of the lower structure 42 is an arc angle, see Figure 2 As shown, Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the second embodiment of the display panel provided by the present application. Specifically, in order to avoid the angle between the upper structure 41 and the lower structure 42 of the eaves structure 40 being too small so that the evaporated packaging film layer is not easy to adhere to the protective film layer, the angle between them is designed to be a smooth arc structure, such as Figure 2 In the middle T area; the radius and angle of the arc can be limited and designed according to actual conditions, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0042] Through the above-mentioned method, an eaves structure 40 is set in the display panel to separate the light-emitting material, and the upper structure 41 and the lower structure 42 of the eaves structure 40 are formed in an integrated manner to improve the width accuracy and uniformity of the structure and further improve the display brightness and service life, as well as the reliability of the overlap with the electrode, and the manufacturing method of the panel can optimize the process flow to reduce the process flow and save costs; at the same time, a protrusion 30a is set in the area where the eaves structure 40 is deposited, so that a groove is formed to cover the protrusion 30a to reduce the deposition amount of the structure, thereby reducing the problem of warping of the substrate 10 caused by stress.

[0043] The present application also proposes a method for manufacturing a display panel, see Figure 3a to Figure 3i and Figure 4 As shown, Figure 3a to Figure 3i It is a schematic diagram of the process structure of an embodiment of a method for manufacturing a display panel provided by the present application; Figure 4 1 is a schematic diagram of a step flow chart of an embodiment of a method for manufacturing a display panel provided by the present application; the method for manufacturing a display panel specifically comprises the following steps:

[0044] Step S10: providing a substrate.

[0045] like Figure 3aAs shown, the substrate 10 plays a role in supporting the entire display panel. The material thereof may include but is not limited to transparent media such as plastic, glass or metal foil, and a common one is a quartz glass substrate 10 .

[0046] Step S20: forming an anode layer and a pixel defining layer on the substrate, wherein the pixel defining layer is provided with a protrusion 30 a.

[0047] like Figure 3a As shown, the anode layer 21 and the pixel defining layer 30 are usually formed by sequentially stacking them on the substrate 10 through magnetron sputtering (Sputter, or physical vapor deposition PVD) and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD).

[0048] Etching and other operations are also performed on the film layer formed in each step to retain the corresponding required structure and remove the redundant parts. The etching includes: wet etching or dry etching. Dry etching includes laser etching or plasma etching; wet etching includes chemical etching.

[0049] In one embodiment, if Figure 3a As shown, the above-mentioned pixel defining layer 30 and the raised portion 30a can be obtained by sequentially depositing and then masking through a half-tone mask and then developing; wherein, the above-mentioned pixel defining layer 30 and the raised portion 30a can be made of the same material as a whole, both of which can be photoresist materials, and the raised structure is retained on the original pixel defining layer 30 by adopting development, photolithography or etching.

[0050] Step S30: forming an eaves layer on the protrusion 30a and the pixel defining layer, so that a groove is formed on the side of the eaves layer facing the pixel defining layer, and the protrusion 30a is embedded in the groove.

[0051] It can be understood that the eaves layer 40a is deposited on the protrusion 30a and the pixel defining layer 30. Due to the presence of the protrusion 30a, the eaves layer 40a will also bulge upward at its relative position, and then form a groove-like structure at its lower part to complete the coating of the protrusion 30a. As a result, the eaves layer 40a deposited at this location has a changed deposition amount due to the replacement of the protrusion 30a, and the amount of change is determined by the size of the protrusion 30a. Further, due to the presence of the protrusion 30a, the amount of the eaves layer 40a set in the subsequent steps is reduced, thereby reducing the stress therein, avoiding the possibility of warping and deformation of the substrate 10 due to excessive stress when the film layer is deposited here.

[0052] See also Figure 5 As shown, Figure 5 yes Figure 4Schematic diagram of sub-steps of step S30; specifically, the sub-steps include the following steps:

[0053] Step S31: forming a photoresist layer on the protrusion and the pixel defining layer.

[0054] like Figure 3b As shown, the photolithography layer a uses photoresist, which is also called photoresist, and refers to a thin film material whose solubility changes through irradiation or radiation of ultraviolet light, electron beam, ion beam, X-ray, etc. It is a light-sensitive mixed liquid composed of three main components: photosensitive resin, sensitizer and solvent. It is used as an anti-corrosion coating material during the photolithography process. Specifically, photoresists are classified into two categories: positive and negative according to the image they form; during the photoresist process, after the coating is exposed and developed, the exposed part is dissolved and the unexposed part remains, and the coating material is a positive photoresist. If the exposed part is retained and the unexposed part is dissolved, the coating material is a negative photoresist.

[0055] Step S32: patterning the photoresist layer to form an opening structure on the photoresist layer to expose the protrusion and a portion of the pixel defining layer.

[0056] The patterning is a pattern transfer technology that transfers the pattern on the mask to an object coated with photoresist (or photoresist) to retain the specific structure required on the surface film and remove the excess part. Figure 3c As shown, the imaged photoresist layer a is etched to expose the protrusion 30a and a portion of the pixel defining layer 30. In one embodiment, the photoresist is formed into a pattern similar to a trapezoidal opening by using a photolithography and development technology.

[0057] Step S33: forming an eaves layer on the protrusion, the pixel defining layer and the photolithography layer.

[0058] like Figure 3d As shown, the eaves layer 40a is formed by the deposition method described above, or in one embodiment, a metal or metal oxide with conductive properties of a certain thickness is formed by a printing process; wherein the material of the eaves layer 40a can include but is not limited to: aluminum (Al), magnesium (Mg), copper (Cu), silver (Ag), indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IGZO) and other conductive metals or other metal oxides or their combinations, that is, the conditions for use of the implementation scheme are met, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0059] Step S40: etching the eaves layer to form an eaves structure; wherein the eaves structure includes an upper structure and a lower structure, the upper structure extends along the direction of two adjacent sub-pixels to form an eaves portion protruding from the lower structure, and the eaves structure is a conductive structure.

[0060] Specifically, Figure 3e , a second photoresist layer b is coated on the eaves layer 40a. In one embodiment, the photoresist layer is a positive photoresist, that is, it is deformed after being irradiated with light, and then easily reacts with a developing solution, thereby removing the photoresist in the area irradiated with light to form a pattern; Figure 3e and Figure 3f As shown, part of the photoresist is removed by photolithography and development technology, and a part of the photoresist pattern is retained above the eaves layer 40a to complete the subsequent production of the eaves structure 40. Figure 3h The exposed excess eaves layer 40a is removed by etching to obtain the corresponding eaves structure 40, wherein the etching method can be the wet etching or dry etching described above; in one embodiment, in order to obtain a more accurate structure and size, the eaves layer 40a is etched by dry etching to obtain the corresponding eaves structure 40. Finally, the eaves layer 40a is soaked in a liquid medicine so that the liquid medicine reacts with the material of the photolithography layer therein to remove the photolithography layer structure.

[0061] Step S50: forming a light-emitting layer and a cathode layer in sequence on the anode layer, and the cathode layer is connected to the lower structure.

[0062] The formation method of the light-emitting layer 22 and the cathode layer 23 is the same as that of the anode layer 21 and the eaves layer 40a described above, and is formed by evaporation deposition or other film formation methods, which will not be described in detail here. In the evaporation formation process of the light-emitting layer 22 and the cathode layer 23, due to the eaves structure 40, part of the light-emitting layer and the cathode layer 23 will be deposited above the eaves structure 40 during the evaporation process, resulting in a fault below it, such as Figure 3i As shown, the cathode layer 23 and the light-emitting layer 22 can be overlapped and connected with the lower structure 42 of the eaves structure 40 by changing the evaporation angle, thereby isolating adjacent sub-pixels 20 and achieving cathode conduction between the sub-pixels 20.

[0063] In one embodiment, there is a packaging protection layer 50 between the individual sub-pixels 20. Figure 3i As shown, the encapsulation protection layer 50 is mainly used to protect and isolate each sub-pixel 20, protect its structure and prevent crosstalk, and isolate it from the external environment to prevent impurities, oxygen, moisture and other substances in the air from polluting and corroding the display panel 100, and to prevent it from being damaged by external forces. The encapsulation methods used include but are not limited to chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition technology (ALD) and mixed barrier layer methods.

[0064] Optionally, in one embodiment, after the above-mentioned step S32 patterns the photolithography layer to form an opening structure on the photolithography layer to expose the protrusion 30a and part of the pixel defining layer 30, the method further includes: processing the photolithography layer so that the opening structure forms an arc structure at two corners away from the pixel defining layer 30. Specifically, the connection between the protruding eaves portion A of the upper structure 41 and the side surface of the lower structure 42 is an arc corner, see Figure 2 and Figure 3c Specifically, in order to avoid the angle between the upper structure 41 and the lower structure 42 of the eaves structure 40 being too small so that the evaporated packaging film layer is not easy to adhere to the protective film layer, the angle between them is designed to be a smooth arc structure, and the two corners of the opening structure are designed to be arc angles (by Figure 3c The shape design process in Figure 2 The structure is shown in FIG. 1 ); the radius and angle of the arc can be limited and designed according to the actual situation, and no specific limitation is made here. Figure 2 As shown in FIG. 1 , it can be seen that the adhesion ratio of the encapsulation protection layer 50 at the angle T region between the upper structure 41 and the lower structure 42 of the eaves structure 40 is Figure 1 The smaller angle in the film is more conducive to film adhesion.

[0065] Among them, the traditional OLED packaging technology is to encapsulate the electrodes and various organic functional layers on the rigid substrate 10. Generally, a cover plate is added to the device, and a desiccant is attached, and then the substrate 10 and the cover plate are combined by a sealant such as epoxy resin; while thin film packaging is the mainstream packaging technology at present. Thin film packaging materials are mainly divided into inorganic packaging materials, organic packaging materials and inorganic-organic composite packaging materials. Among them, inorganic-organic composite packaging materials have the advantages of good water and oxygen barrier properties of inorganic packaging materials and good film forming properties of organic packaging materials, and are the mainstream choice of OLED packaging materials. The key core material of OLED devices is an ultra-thin organic electroluminescent layer, which is extremely sensitive to water, oxygen and heat, which is also the reason for its poor stability. Oxygen will quench triplet excitons, directly leading to a significant decrease in the luminescence quantum efficiency. It will also oxidize the organic materials of the hole transport layer and the light-emitting layer 22, causing the unsaturated double bonds to be opened, and the device luminescence efficiency and electron hole transport capacity to decrease. Water vapor easily causes the organic semiconductor in the light-emitting layer 22 to undergo hydrolysis reaction. The metal used in the electrode is very active, and it is easy to be oxidized and easily react with the water vapor that penetrates and hydrolyze. Due to the special nature of the substrate material, the water and oxygen barrier ability of flexible devices is worse than that of rigid materials, and the packaging requirements are higher. Strict packaging of OLED devices is a necessary condition to extend the life of the device and improve the stability of the device, and it is the only way to achieve mass production of OLED devices.

[0066] To solve the above problems, the present application also provides a display device, see Figure 6 As shown, Figure 6 1 is a schematic diagram of a structure of an embodiment of a display device provided by the present application. The display device 300 includes a display panel 100 and a power supply 200, wherein the display panel is any display panel 100 described in the above embodiments or a display panel 100 manufactured by the above manufacturing method, and the power supply 200 supplies energy to the display panel to provide a stable picture output to the display device 300 through the display panel 100.

[0067] Through the above-mentioned method, an eaves structure 40 is set in the display panel to separate the light-emitting material, and the upper structure 41 and the lower structure 42 of the eaves structure 40 are formed in an integrated manner to improve the width accuracy and uniformity of the structure and further improve the display brightness and service life, as well as the reliability of the overlap with the electrode, and the manufacturing method of the panel can optimize the process flow to reduce the process flow and save costs; at the same time, a protrusion 30a is set in the area where the eaves structure 40 is deposited, so that a groove is formed to cover the protrusion 30a to reduce the deposition amount of the structure, so as to reduce the problem of warping of the substrate 10 caused by stress.

[0068] The embodiments of the present application are introduced in detail above. Specific examples are used in this article to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of the present application. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method and core idea of ​​the present application. At the same time, for technical personnel in this field, according to the idea of ​​the present application, there will be changes in the specific implementation method and application scope. In summary, the content of this specification should not be understood as a limitation on the present application.

Claims

1. A display panel, characterized in that: The display panel comprises: substrate; A plurality of sub-pixels are disposed on the substrate; A pixel defining layer, disposed on the substrate, the pixel defining layer is used to define positions of a plurality of the sub-pixels, and a convex portion is provided on the pixel defining layer; An eaves structure is arranged on the pixel defining layer, and the eaves structure includes an upper structure and a lower structure that are integrally formed. The upper structure extends along the direction of two adjacent sub-pixels to form an eaves portion protruding from the lower structure, and the lower structure connects the cathodes of two adjacent sub-pixels. The eaves structure is a conductive structure, and a groove is provided on the side of the eaves structure facing the pixel defining layer, and the protrusion is embedded in the groove.

2. The display panel according to claim 1, characterized in that: The side surface of the lower structure is inclined to the upper surface of the pixel defining layer, and the inner angle between the side surface of the lower structure and the upper surface of the pixel defining layer is less than 90 degrees.

3. The display panel according to claim 2, characterized in that: An inner angle between a side surface of the lower structure and an upper surface of the pixel defining layer is greater than or equal to 20 degrees and less than or equal to 70 degrees.

4. The display panel according to claim 1, characterized in that: The minimum lateral distance between the end edge of the eave portion and the edge of the lower structure on the same side is greater than or equal to 0.4 μm and less than or equal to 1.2 μm.

5. The display panel according to claim 1, characterized in that: The thickness of the eaves structure is greater than or equal to 1 μm and less than or equal to 3 μm; The thickness of the eaves portion is greater than or equal to 0.1 μm and less than or equal to 1 μm.

6. The display panel according to claim 1, characterized in that: The width of the protrusion is greater than or equal to 1 / 3 of the width of the lower structure, and less than or equal to 2 / 3 of the width of the lower structure.

7. A method for manufacturing a display panel, characterized in that: The manufacturing method of the display panel includes: providing a substrate; forming an anode layer and a pixel defining layer on the substrate, wherein the pixel defining layer is provided with a protrusion; forming an eaves layer on the protrusion and the pixel defining layer, so that a groove is formed on the side of the eaves layer facing the pixel defining layer, and the protrusion is embedded in the groove; The eaves layer is etched to form an eaves structure; wherein the eaves structure comprises an upper structure and a lower structure, the upper structure is extended along the direction of two adjacent sub-pixels to form an eaves portion protruding from the lower structure, and the eaves structure is a conductive structure; A light emitting layer and a cathode layer are sequentially formed on the anode layer, and the cathode layer is connected to the lower structure.

8. The method for manufacturing a display panel according to claim 7, characterized in that: The step of forming an eaves layer on the protrusion and the pixel defining layer so that a groove is formed on the side of the eaves layer facing the pixel defining layer, and the protrusion is embedded in the groove, comprising: forming a photolithography layer on the protrusion and the pixel defining layer; Patterning the photolithography layer to form an opening structure on the photolithography layer to expose the protrusion and a portion of the pixel defining layer; An eaves layer is formed on the protrusion, the pixel defining layer, and the photolithography layer.

9. The method for manufacturing a display panel according to claim 8, characterized in that: After patterning the photolithography layer to form an opening structure on the photolithography layer to expose the protrusion and part of the pixel defining layer, the method further includes: The photolithography layer is processed so that the opening structure forms an arc structure at two corners away from the pixel defining layer.

10. A display device, characterized in that: The display device includes a display panel and a power supply for supplying power to the display panel, wherein the display panel is the display panel as described in any one of claims 1-6, or includes a display panel manufactured by the method for manufacturing a display panel as described in any one of claims 7-9.

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