Display module and electronic device

Abstract

The application discloses a display module and an electronic device, and belongs to the field of electronic devices. The display module comprises a display layer, a cover plate, an optical hard layer and a protective layer. The cover plate, the optical hard layer and the protective layer are sequentially laminated on the surface of the display layer. The protective layer comprises a diamond-like film layer, and the optical hard layer comprises a silicon oxide film layer and a silicon nitride film layer which are laminated with each other.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application belongs to the field of electronic equipment technology, specifically relating to a display module and an electronic device. Background Technology

[0002] Due to the numerous conveniences they bring to users, mobile phones and other electronic devices have become indispensable components in people's work and life. The display screen is an extremely important part of electronic devices, and most of the displays in current electronic devices are touch screens. Therefore, during the use of electronic devices, the display screen will inevitably come into contact with and rub against the user's fingers or stylus, which can easily scratch the cover of the display screen, thus greatly reducing the display effect. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this application is to provide a display module and electronic device to solve the problem that the current display modules have relatively weak anti-friction capabilities, and long-term use will cause the cover plate of the display screen to be scratched, affecting the display effect.

[0004] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application disclose a display module, which includes a display layer, a cover plate, an optical hard layer, and a protective layer, wherein the cover plate, the optical hard layer, and the protective layer are sequentially stacked on the surface of the display layer, the protective layer includes a diamond-like carbon film layer, and the optical hard layer includes a silicon oxide film layer and a silicon nitride film layer stacked on top of each other.

[0005] Secondly, embodiments of this application disclose an electronic device, which includes a housing and the aforementioned display module.

[0006] This application discloses a display module comprising a display layer and a cover plate, an optical hard layer, and a protective layer sequentially stacked on the surface of the display layer. The protective layer includes a diamond-like carbon film layer, which has strong abrasion resistance and hardness. The optical hard layer comprises stacked silicon oxide and silicon nitride films, giving it strong hardness and corrosion resistance. The protective layer and optical hard layer provide the cover plate with good scratch resistance, ensuring relatively low scratch damage even after prolonged use, thus maintaining good display performance. Simultaneously, both the protective layer and the optical hard layer possess good optical properties, ensuring relatively high light transmittance from the display layer. Furthermore, by designing parameters such as the thickness of the silicon oxide and silicon nitride films, the optical hard layer can also reduce the reflectivity of the display module, further improving its display effect. Attached Figure Description

[0007] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of this application and form part of this application, illustrate exemplary embodiments and are used to explain this application, but do not constitute an undue limitation of this application. In the drawings: Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the display module disclosed in the embodiments of this application; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of another structure of the display module disclosed in the embodiments of this application; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the optical rigid layer in the display module disclosed in the embodiments of this application; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the optical flexible layer in the display module disclosed in the embodiments of this application.

[0008] Figure label: 100-Display layer, 200-Cover plate, 301-Silicon oxide film, 302-Silicon nitride film, 303-Lanium titanate film, 310-Hard optical layer, 320-Flexible optical layer, 400-Protective layer, 510-First buffer layer, 520-Second buffer layer, 600-Anti-fingerprint layer, 700-Adhesive layer. Detailed Implementation

[0009] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some, not all, of the embodiments of this application. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0010] The terms "first," "second," etc., used in the specification and claims of this application are used to distinguish similar objects and not to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such use of data can be interchanged where appropriate so that embodiments of this application can be implemented in orders other than those illustrated or described herein, and the objects distinguished by "first," "second," etc., are generally of the same class and the number of objects is not limited; for example, a first object can be one or more. Furthermore, in the specification and claims, "and / or" indicates at least one of the connected objects, and the character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0011] This application discloses a display module that can be applied to electronic devices such as mobile phones. Figure 1As shown, the display module includes a display layer 100 and a cover plate 200. The display layer 100 provides the display function, and the cover plate 200 is stacked on the surface of the display layer 100 to provide a certain degree of protection for the display layer 100. Typically, the cover plate 200 can be made of glass or plastic, which gives it deformability, thus enabling the entire display module to bend and deform, making it flexible. Additionally, the display module may also include a touch layer to enable touch functionality. However, in this case, the display module will inevitably come into frequent contact and friction with a stylus or the user's fingers. With prolonged use, the cover plate 200 is easily scratched and damaged, significantly impacting the display effect of the display module.

[0012] To address the above issues, the display module disclosed in this application further includes a protective layer 400, which is disposed on the surface of the cover plate 200 facing away from the display layer 100, thereby protecting the cover plate 200. To ensure high wear resistance and hardness, in this application embodiment, the protective layer 400 includes a diamond-like carbon (DLC) film layer. This DLC film layer is formed from a diamond-like carbon material, specifically through magnetron sputtering to form a thin film, i.e., a diamond-like carbon film. This structure exhibits high hardness and resistivity, as well as good optical properties and excellent tribological characteristics. More specifically, in this application embodiment, the thickness of the protective layer 400 is between 5 and 20 nm.

[0013] Diamond-like carbon (DLC) is an amorphous carbon material, a metastable form of amorphous carbon formed by the hybridization of carbon atoms through sp2 and sp3 bonds. The sp2 hybridization of carbon atoms refers to the recombination of one 1s orbital and two 2p orbitals into three new isoenergetic orbitals, i.e., sp2 hybrid orbitals. These three orbitals are arranged in a planar triangle in space and form σ bonds with adjacent carbon atoms. In addition, each carbon atom has one unhybridized 2p orbital with one unpaired electron, which can form π bonds with unpaired electrons of adjacent carbon atoms.

[0014] The sp3 hybridization of a carbon atom refers to the recombination of one 1s orbital and three 2p orbitals to form four new isoenergetic orbitals, namely sp3 hybrid orbitals. These four orbitals are arranged in a tetrahedral pattern in space, each containing one electron and pointing towards four adjacent atoms, thus forming stable covalent bonds.

[0015] In diamond-like carbon materials, the high hardness and stability are mainly attributed to the tetrahedral structure formed by SP3 hybridization. This structure allows each carbon atom to be closely connected to the four surrounding carbon atoms, forming a very stable three-dimensional network structure.

[0016] Furthermore, in diamond-like carbon materials, carbon atoms exhibit both SP2 and SP3 hybridization, forming a mixed hybrid structure. This structure allows diamond-like carbon films to possess both the high hardness and high wear resistance of diamond and the good lubricity and conductivity of graphite.

[0017] In the embodiments of this application, the carbon atoms in the diamond-like carbon film are mainly sp3 hybridized, but also include a certain proportion of sp2 hybridized carbon atoms. More specifically, by adjusting the ratio of sp2 and sp3 hybridized carbon atoms and the growth mechanism of the diamond-like carbon film, the total content of sp3 hybridized carbon atoms in the diamond-like carbon film can be made to be above 70%, which makes the Mohs hardness of the diamond-like carbon film relatively high, reaching above 7, thereby greatly improving the surface scratch resistance of the cover plate 200.

[0018] To further enhance the scratch resistance and transmittance of the display module, the display module disclosed in this application also includes an optical hard layer 310, which is sandwiched between the cover plate 200 and the protective layer 400. That is, in this embodiment, the protective layer 400, the optical hard layer 310, and the cover plate 200 are sequentially stacked on the surface of the display layer 100. The optical hard layer 310 includes a silicon oxide film layer 301 and a silicon nitride film layer 302, which are stacked together. The silicon oxide film layer 301 is formed of silicon dioxide, and the silicon nitride film layer 302 is formed of silicon nitride. Both the silicon oxide film layer 301 and the silicon nitride film layer 302 can be formed by vapor deposition. More specifically, the thickness of the optical hard layer 310 is between 400 and 1000 nm to ensure good optical performance without significantly affecting the overall thickness of the display module.

[0019] Both silicon oxide and silicon nitride possess excellent optical properties, along with relatively high hardness and corrosion resistance. Furthermore, the films formed from silicon oxide and silicon nitride exhibit relatively high density and good self-lubricating properties, further enhancing the scratch resistance of the cover plate 200. During the processing of the optical hard layer 310, parameters such as the thickness of the silicon oxide film 301 and the silicon nitride film 302 can be controlled. Based on the interference effect, in-phase interference is enhanced, and out-of-phase interference is eliminated. This results in multi-beam interference in the optical hard layer 310, with destructive interference on the surface of the optical hard layer 310 away from the cover plate 200 and constructive interference on the surface of the optical hard layer 310 closer to the cover plate 200. This ensures that the formed optical hard layer 310 has relatively higher transmittance and lower reflectivity.

[0020] This application discloses a display module, which includes a display layer 100 and a cover plate 200, an optical hard layer 310, and a protective layer 400 sequentially stacked on the surface of the display layer 100. The protective layer 400 includes a diamond-like carbon film layer, which has strong anti-friction ability and hardness. Meanwhile, the optical hard layer 310 includes a silicon oxide film layer 301 and a silicon nitride film layer 302 stacked on each other, which makes the optical hard layer 310 also have strong hardness and corrosion resistance. Thus, the protective layer 400 and the optical hard layer 310 can provide good scratch resistance for the cover plate 200, and even after long-term use, the degree of scratches on the cover plate 200 can be kept relatively low, so as to ensure that the display module still has a good display effect. Meanwhile, both the protective layer 400 and the optical hard layer 310 have good optical performance, thus ensuring that the light emitted by the display layer 100 has a relatively high transmittance. Furthermore, by designing parameters such as the thickness of the silicon oxide film layer 301 and the silicon nitride film layer 302, the optical hard layer 310 can also reduce the reflectivity of the display module, thereby further improving the display effect of the display module.

[0021] To further improve the display effect of the display module, optionally, such as Figure 2 and Figure 4 As shown, the display module also includes an optical flexible layer 320, which is sandwiched between the cover plate 200 and the display layer 100 to provide optical effects from the other side of the cover plate 200, further enhancing the display effect of the display layer 100. The optical flexible layer 320 includes a silicon oxide film layer 301, which, as described above, has good optical performance and hardness. Therefore, the optical flexible layer 320 can also provide protection for the display layer 100 to a certain extent. More specifically, the thickness of the optical flexible layer 320 can be between 400 and 1000 nm.

[0022] Meanwhile, since the optical flexible layer 320 is located inside the cover plate 200, in order to reduce costs and prevent damage to the display layer 100 during the processing of the optical flexible layer 320, in this embodiment, unlike the optical hard layer 310, the optical flexible layer 320 also includes a lanthanum titanate film layer 303, which is stacked with the silicon oxide film layer 301. The lanthanum titanate film layer 303 is formed of lanthanum titanate and can be formed by vapor deposition. It should be noted that in the display module disclosed in this embodiment, the optical hard layer 310 and the optical flexible layer 320 are relative concepts, that is, relatively speaking, the hardness of the optical hard layer 310 is greater than that of the optical flexible layer 320.

[0023] Lanthanum titanate, similar to silicon nitride, has good optical performance and a relatively high refractive index. However, unlike silicon nitride, lanthanum titanate has a relatively low cost and a relatively low hardness. This makes the entire optical flexible layer 320 relatively softer than the optical hard layer 310, resulting in a relatively high processing yield for the optical flexible layer 320. Furthermore, the optical flexible layer 320 can absorb the internal stress generated during the assembly of the cover plate 200 and the display layer 100 to a certain extent.

[0024] As described above, compared to the silicon oxide film layer 301, the lanthanum titanate film layer 303 has a relatively strong refractive index. Therefore, in order to maximize the utilization of the light emitted by the display layer 100, in this embodiment, the film layers in the optical flexible layer 320 near the cover plate 200 and the display layer 100 can all be silicon oxide film layers 301.

[0025] Furthermore, in one specific embodiment of this application, in order to improve the overall optical performance of the optical flexible layer 320 and reduce the processing difficulty of the optical flexible layer 320, the thickness of each silicon oxide film layer 301 and each lanthanum titanate film layer 303 can be relatively small to reduce the processing difficulty of the entire optical flexible layer 320. At the same time, by making the number of silicon oxide film layers 301 and lanthanum titanate film layers 303 at least 2, the optical flexible layer 320 can be further reduced in reflectivity and increased in transmittance by correspondingly controlling parameters such as the thickness of each silicon oxide film layer 301 and lanthanum titanate film layer 303.

[0026] In one specific embodiment of this application, the optical flexible layer 320 may include four silicon oxide film layers 301 and three lanthanum titanate film layers 303, with the silicon oxide film layers 301 and lanthanum titanate film layers 303 alternately stacked. Meanwhile, in the optical flexible layer 320, the thickness range of the four silicon oxide film layers 301 gradually moving away from the cover plate 200 can be sequentially 60~90nm, 5~15nm, 5~12nm, and 15~25nm; correspondingly, the thickness range of the three lanthanum titanate film layers 303 gradually moving away from the cover plate 200 can be sequentially 45~75nm, 20~30nm, and 12~25nm.

[0027] More specifically, in one embodiment of this application, the thicknesses of the four silicon oxide film layers 301 that gradually move away from the cover plate 200 are 75nm, 10nm, 8nm and 20nm, respectively. Correspondingly, the thicknesses of the three silicon nitride film layers 302 that gradually move away from the cover plate 200 can be 60nm, 25nm and 17nm, respectively. This ensures that the optical flexible layer 320 has both high transmittance and low reflectance, and the processing difficulty is relatively low.

[0028] As described above, the optical hard layer 310 includes a silicon oxide film layer 301 and a silicon nitride film layer 302 stacked on top of each other. Relatively speaking, the refractive index of the silicon oxide film layer 301 is relatively low, while the refractive index of the silicon nitride film layer 302 is relatively high. Therefore, in order to maximize the utilization of light in the display layer 100, in this embodiment, such as... Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown, the film layers in the optical hard layer 310 near the cover plate 200 and the protective layer 400 can all be silicon oxide film layers 301. That is, the outermost film layers in the optical hard layer 310 are all silicon oxide film layers 301, and of the two silicon oxide film layers 301, one can be bonded to the cover plate 200 and the other can be bonded to the protective layer 400. This allows the light emitted from the display layer 100 to continue to be incident on the silicon nitride film layer 302 as much as possible after passing through the cover plate 200 and incident on the silicon oxide film layer 301 in the optical hard layer 310 near the cover plate 200.

[0029] In order to minimize the processing difficulty of the optical hard layer 310 while ensuring relatively good optical performance and scratch resistance, in a specific embodiment of this application, the thickness of each silicon oxide film layer 301 and each silicon nitride film layer 302 can be relatively small to reduce the processing difficulty of the entire optical hard layer 310. At the same time, by making the number of silicon oxide film layers 301 and silicon nitride film layers 302 at least 2, the reflectivity of the formed optical hard layer 310 can be further reduced and its transmittance improved by correspondingly controlling parameters such as the thickness of each silicon oxide film layer 301 and silicon nitride film layer 302.

[0030] In one specific embodiment of this application, the optical hard layer 310 may include four silicon oxide film layers 301 and three silicon nitride film layers 302, and the silicon oxide film layers 301 and silicon nitride film layers 302 are alternately stacked. Meanwhile, in the optical hard layer 310, the thickness range of the four silicon oxide film layers 301 gradually moving away from the protective layer 400 can be successively 10~20nm, 45~55nm, 20~30nm, and 90~120nm; correspondingly, the thickness range of the three silicon nitride film layers 302 gradually moving away from the protective layer 400 can be successively 15~20nm, 40~60nm, and 45~60nm.

[0031] More specifically, in one embodiment of this application, the thicknesses of the four silicon oxide film layers 301 that gradually move away from the protective layer 400 are 15nm, 49nm, 25nm and 103nm, respectively. Correspondingly, the thicknesses of the three silicon nitride film layers 302 that gradually move away from the protective layer 400 can be 17nm, 50nm and 52nm, respectively. This ensures that the optical hard layer 310 has good scratch resistance and also has the characteristics of high transmittance and low reflectance.

[0032] As described above, the optical hard layer 310 is a rigid structure, and it is typically formed using methods such as magnetron sputtering during its fabrication. Consequently, the fabrication process of the optical hard layer 310 results in relatively high stress on the cover plate 200, which can easily cause deformation of the cover plate 200 under stress, thus significantly impacting the yield of the display module. Therefore, the display module disclosed in this embodiment further includes a first buffer layer 510. The first buffer layer 510 is a resin structural component, which is generally flexible and soft, thereby buffering the stress generated during the formation of the optical hard layer 310. Of course, including the first buffer layer 510 in the display module also provides a buffering effect to some extent during the fabrication of the protective layer 400, thereby reducing the stress on the cover plate 200 and improving the yield of the display module. More specifically, the thickness of the first buffer layer 510 can be between 1 and 2 μm to ensure that the first buffer layer 510 has relatively good buffering and stress-relieving capabilities.

[0033] More specifically, the first buffer layer 510 is made of silicone material, which is transparent and invisible. At the same time, it is smooth, flat and bright, and will not produce rainbow patterns when light is reflected. It can enhance the stress resistance of the cover plate 200 and prevent the internal stress generated during the processing of the optical hard layer 310 and the protective layer 400 from damaging the cover plate 200.

[0034] As described above, although the hardness of the optical flexible layer 320 is lower than that of the optical hard layer 310, the hardness of its silicon oxide film layer 301 is still relatively high. Therefore, the optical flexible layer 320 also has a certain degree of hardness. To further reduce the internal stress of the cover plate 200, the display module disclosed in this application embodiment also includes a second buffer layer 520. The second buffer layer 520 is a resin structural component, which is flexible and soft overall. This can further buffer the stress exerted on the cover plate 200 by the optical hard layer 310 and the protective layer 400. More specifically, the thickness of the second buffer layer 520 can be between 1 and 2 μm to ensure that the second buffer layer 520 has relatively good buffering and stress relief capabilities. More specifically, similar to the first buffer layer 510, the second buffer layer 520 can also be formed using an organosilicon material.

[0035] Of course, during the processing of the display module, the display layer 100 and the optical flexible layer 320 can be bonded together with optical adhesive, forming an adhesive layer 700, so as to ensure that the optical flexible layer 320 can form a good assembly relationship with the cover plate 200.

[0036] Furthermore, to enhance the fingerprint resistance of the display module, an anti-fingerprint layer 600 can be provided outside the protective layer 400, specifically on the side of the protective layer 400 facing away from the display layer 100. This anti-fingerprint layer 600 is formed of a fluorine-containing material and has excellent hydrophobic and oleophobic properties, thereby reducing the adhesion of stains to the outer surface of the display module and making the display module easier to clean. Specifically, the thickness of the anti-fingerprint layer 600 can be between 10 and 20 nm.

[0037] Based on the display module disclosed in any of the above embodiments, this application also discloses an electronic device, which includes a housing and any of the above display modules. The display module is mounted on the housing. Of course, the electronic device may also include other devices such as batteries. For the sake of brevity, they will not be described in detail here.

[0038] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes that element. Furthermore, it should be noted that the scope of the methods and apparatuses in the embodiments of this application is not limited to performing functions in the order shown or discussed, but may also include performing functions substantially simultaneously or in the reverse order, depending on the functions involved. For example, the described methods may be performed in a different order than described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Additionally, features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

[0039] The embodiments of this application have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this application is not limited to the specific embodiments described above. The specific embodiments described above are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Those skilled in the art can make many other forms under the guidance of this application without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims, and all of these forms are within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A display module, characterized in that, The system includes a display layer (100), a cover plate (200), an optical hard layer (310), an optical flexible layer (320), a protective layer (400), a first buffer layer (510), and a second buffer layer (520). The cover plate (200), the optical hard layer (310), and the protective layer (400) are sequentially stacked on the surface of the display layer (100). The protective layer (400) includes a diamond-like carbon film. The optical hard layer (310) includes a silicon oxide film (301) and a silicon nitride film (302) stacked on top of each other. The optical hard layer is magnetically coupled. The optical flexible layer (320) is formed by controlled sputtering. The first buffer layer (510) is sandwiched between the optical hard layer (310) and the cover plate (200). The optical flexible layer (320) is sandwiched between the cover plate (200) and the display layer (100). The optical flexible layer (320) includes a silicon oxide film layer (301) and a lanthanum titanate film layer (303) stacked on each other. The second buffer layer (520) is sandwiched between the optical flexible layer (320) and the cover plate (200). Both the first buffer layer (510) and the second buffer layer (520) are resin structural components.

2. The display module according to claim 1, characterized in that, The film layers in the optical flexible layer (320) near the cover plate (200) and the display layer (100) are all silicon oxide film layers (301).

3. The display module according to claim 2, characterized in that, The film layers in the optical hard layer (310) near the cover plate (200) and the protective layer (400) are all silicon oxide film layers (301).

4. The display module according to claim 3, characterized in that, In the optical hard layer (310), the number of both the silicon oxide film layer (301) and the silicon nitride film layer (302) is at least 2; In the optical flexible layer (320), the number of both the silicon oxide film layer (301) and the lanthanum titanate film layer (303) is at least 2.

5. The display module according to claim 1, characterized in that, The protective layer (400) also has an anti-fingerprint layer (600) on the side of its surface facing away from the display layer (100).

6. The display module according to claim 5, characterized in that, The thickness of the optical hard layer (310) and the optical flexible layer (320) is between 400-1000 nm; the thickness of the protective layer (400) is between 5-20 nm; and the thickness of the anti-fingerprint layer (600) is between 10-20 nm.

7. An electronic device, characterized in that, It includes a housing and a display module as described in any one of claims 1-6.

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