FLEXIBLE DISPLAY PANEL AND DISPLAY DEVICE

Abstract

A flexible display panel comprising: a first flexible substrate, a second flexible substrate, and an inorganic layer disposed between and in direct contact with the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate, respectively; wherein: the second flexible substrate is arranged on a side of the organic light-emitting device and the array substrate of the flexible display panel facing the first flexible substrate; a plurality of grooves and / or a plurality of through-holes extend through the inorganic layer in the direction of the thickness of the inorganic layer; the first flexible substrate directly contacts the second flexible substrate through the grooves and / or the through-holes; and orthographic projections of the grooves and / or the through-holes onto the first flexible substrate in the display area are configured such that they are not present in an area in which TFTs are arranged.

Description

AREA

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of display technologies and, more particularly, to a flexible display panel and a display device. GENERAL STATE OF THE ART

[0002] Currently, display technologies are widely used in televisions, mobile phones, and published information. In particular, tablet displays for displaying images have become extremely popular due to their ultra-thin thickness and power saving. Flexible displays are a display technology of the future, as portable and fashionable display devices are increasingly popular in the market. Unlike traditional organic light-emitting displays, a flexible organic light-emitting display substrate must be made of a flexible material, allowing the display to be bent and deformed.

[0003] In the prior art, the substrate of the flexible organic light-emitting display is typically structured in a plurality of stacked layers including a first organic layer, an inorganic layer, and a second organic layer. However, if the substrate of the flexible organic light-emitting display structured in a plurality of layers is repeatedly bent, there may be a risk that the organic layer tends to peel off from the inorganic layer. In view of this problem, one existing solution is to deposit hydrogenated amorphous silicon between the inorganic layer and the second organic layer to thereby improve the adhesion factor between the first organic layer and the second organic layer due to an adhesive layer made of amorphous silicon capable of strongly binding to H in the flexible organic material (e.g.,Polyimide) (see Chinese Patent No. CN 104637438 A). However, the display is manufactured by first depositing amorphous silicon on a glass substrate, then coating it with polyimide, and after performing a subsequent process of heating the substrate at high temperature for dehydration, thereby reducing the hydrogen content in the amorphous silicon and polyimide to weaken the adhesion factor between the amorphous silicon and polyimide, thus facilitating a subsequent peeling process. Consequently, the solution in which the adhesive layer is made of amorphous silicon bonded to hydrogen in the flexible organic material (e.g.Polyimide) bonded to the organic layer may not be particularly practical in that such a high-temperature dehydrogenation process is present in a low-temperature polysilicon process, which may be subject to the risk of amorphous silicon being detached from the organic layer. US 2014 / 0254112 A1 discloses an electronic display device comprising a multilayer material in which two flexible substrates are bonded to each other via a patterned inorganic layer.

[0004] In view of this, it is highly desirable for those skilled in the art to improve the adhesion factor between the organic layer and the inorganic layer in the substrate of a plurality of layers of the flexible display panel in order to reduce the risk of the organic layer being peeled off from the inorganic layer in the flexible display panel that is bent and deformed. SUMMARY

[0005] Embodiments provide a flexible display panel and a display device to avoid the prior art problem of such an adhesion factor between the organic layer and the inorganic layer in the substrate of the flexible display panel structured in a series of layers that the organic layer tends to be peeled off from the inorganic layer after the substrate is repeatedly bent and deformed.

[0006] This problem is solved by a flexible display panel having the features of claim 1.

[0007] An embodiment in accordance with the disclosure further provides a display device including the above flexible display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure. Advantageous effects of the embodiments are as follows:

[0008] The embodiments provide a flexible display panel and a display device, and the flexible display panel includes: a first flexible substrate, a second flexible substrate, and an inorganic layer disposed between and in direct contact with the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate, respectively; wherein a plurality of grooves and / or a plurality of through-holes extend through the inorganic layer in the thickness direction; and the first flexible substrate directly contacts the second flexible substrate through the plurality of grooves and / or the through-holes.Thus, the grooves and / or the through-holes are arranged in the inorganic layer such that the first flexible substrate can contact the second flexible substrate through the grooves and / or the through-holes, thereby increasing the contact area between the second flexible substrate and the inorganic layer, improving the adhesion factor between the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate, and reducing the risk of the organic layer being peeled off from the inorganic layer in the flexible display panel that is bent and deformed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a schematic structural representation of film layers in a flexible display panel according to an embodiment of the disclosure; Fig. 2 shows the distribution of peripheral vias on a flexible display panel according to an embodiment of the disclosure; Fig. 3 shows the distribution of peripheral grooves on a flexible display panel according to an embodiment of the disclosure; Fig. 4 is a schematic structural illustration of film layers in a flexible display panel according to an embodiment of the disclosure; Fig. 5 is a schematic structural representation of film layers in a flexible display panel according to another embodiment of the disclosure; and Fig. 6 is a third particular schematic structural representation of film layers in a flexible display panel according to another embodiment of the disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0009] Specific implementations of the flexible display panel and the display device according to the embodiments of the disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0010] One embodiment provides a flexible display panel as shown in Fig. 1, which may include: a first flexible substrate 01, a second flexible substrate 02, and an inorganic layer 03 disposed between the first flexible substrate 01 and the second flexible substrate 02; an annular groove and / or a plurality of through-holes extending through the inorganic layer in the thickness direction; and the first flexible substrate 01 directly contacts the second flexible substrate 02 through the groove m and / or the through-holes n.

[0011] The above flexible display panel according to the embodiment may be a flexible organic light-emitting display panel, and as shown in Fig. 1, an array substrate 04, organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), and a package layer TFE are arranged in this order over the second flexible substrate 02. The grooves and / or the through-holes are formed in the inorganic layer between the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate. That is, the grooves and / or the through-holes are arranged in the inorganic layer such that the first flexible substrate contacts the second flexible substrate through the grooves and / or the through-holes, thus increasing the contact area between the second flexible substrate and the inorganic layer to improve the adhesion factor between the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate and reduce the risk of the organic layer being peeled off from the inorganic layer in the flexible display panel that is bent and deformed.

[0012] In one implementation, in the above flexible display panel according to the embodiments of the disclosure, as shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, the grooves m and / or the through-holes n may be arranged in a peripheral region BB and / or a central region AA of the inorganic layer, wherein the central region AA corresponds to a display region of the flexible display panel and the peripheral region BB surrounds the central region AA. As shown in Fig. 2, the through-holes n in the peripheral region BB of the inorganic layer corresponding to the flexible display panel may be configured such that the through-holes n arranged in the peripheral region BB may be evenly distributed to surround the central region AA. Alternatively, as shown in Fig. 3, the grooves m in the peripheral region BB of the inorganic layer corresponding to the flexible display panel may be configured such that the grooves m arranged in the peripheral region BB can be sequentially connected to each other to form such a frame of the grooves surrounding the central region.

[0013] In one implementation, in the above flexible display panel according to the embodiments of the disclosure, as shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, the flexible display panel further includes a plurality of metal wires L arranged in the display region, wherein orthogonal projections of the grooves m and the through-holes n arranged in the central region onto the first flexible substrate 01 lie in a region orthogonal projections of the metal wires L in the corresponding region onto the first flexible substrate 01. Since the grooves and the through-holes in the display region must be configured such that they are not present in a region in which TFTs are arranged, the grooves and the through-holes can be configured in such a region of the inorganic layer that corresponds to the metal wires. Taking the grooves m as an example, the grooves m, as shown in Fig. 4, be designed not to penetrate the inorganic layer, thereby increasing the contact area between the second flexible substrate 02 and the inorganic layer 03 to improve the adhesion factor between the second flexible substrate 02 and the inorganic layer 03; or the groove(s) m may, as shown in Fig. 5, be configured to penetrate the inorganic layer, thereby increasing the contact area between the second flexible substrate 02 and the inorganic layer 03 to improve the adhesion factor between the second flexible substrate 02 and the inorganic layer 03, as well as allowing the second flexible substrate 02 to contact the first flexible substrate 01 to further improve the adhesion factor between the second flexible substrate 02 and the inorganic layer 03. In addition, it should be noted that the flexible display panel, as shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 may further include other film layer structures, e.g., gate electrodes Gate, source and drain electrodes S / D, an active layer Si, cathodes C, anodes R, a light-emitting layer F, etc., and since the structures and functions of the respective film layers are the same as those in the prior art, a detailed description thereof is omitted here.

[0014] In an optional implementation, in the above flexible display panel according to the embodiments of the disclosure, as in Fig. 6, the flexible display panel further comprises: a buffer layer 05 disposed on the second flexible substrate 02, and a housing portion Bank disposed above the buffer layer 05, wherein further through-holes n are provided in a region of the buffer layer 05 corresponding to the housing portion Bank, and the housing portion Bank is connected to the second flexible substrate 02 through the further through-holes n. In some examples, the further through-holes are disposed in the region of the buffer layer 05 corresponding to the housing portion, such that the housing portion contacts the second flexible substrate through the further through-holes, thereby improving the adhesion factor between the outer housing structure of the flexible display panel and the flexible substrate.wherein the housing portion is an organic film layer, and the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate are organic layers; and the adhesion factor between the respective organic layers is improved, so that the adhesion factors between the inorganic layer between the organic layers and the adjacent upper and lower organic layers are improved, thereby reducing the risk of the inorganic layer being peeled off from the organic layer, thus improving the overall housing of the flexible display panel, which can improve the adhesion factor between the respective layers in the flexible display panel and reduce the risk of two of the layers in the flexible display panel being peeled off from each other.

[0015] In one implementation, the above flexible display panel according to the embodiments of the disclosure as shown in Fig. 6, through-holes n are provided in such a region of the inorganic layer 03 that corresponds to the housing portion Bank, and the second flexible substrate 02 is connected to the first flexible substrate 01 through the through-holes n. Optionally, the through-holes are arranged in the region of the inorganic layer corresponding to the housing portion such that the second flexible substrate contacts the first flexible substrate through the through-holes, thereby increasing the contact area between the second flexible substrate and the inorganic layer, improving the adhesion factor between the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate, and preventing a cut crack on the inorganic layer from being extended while the flexible display panel is cut (along a cut line “cut” as shown in Fig.6) to improve the resistance of the two flexible substrates to moisture and oxygen.

[0016] In one implementation, in the above flexible display panel according to the embodiments of the disclosure, a material from which the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate are made may be polyimide; and a material from which the inorganic layer is made may be metal or metal oxide.

[0017] Based on the same inventive idea, embodiments provide a display device including the above flexible display panel according to the embodiment of the disclosure. The display device can be applied to a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a television, a display, a notebook computer, a digital photo frame, a navigation device, and any other product or component capable of displaying an image. Since the display device addresses the problem according to a similar principle to the flexible display panel, implementations of the display device can be referred to the implementations of the above flexible display panel, and therefore, a repeated description thereof is omitted here.

[0018] Embodiments of the disclosure provide a flexible display panel and a display device, and the flexible display panel includes: a first flexible substrate, a second flexible substrate, and an inorganic layer disposed between the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate; wherein a plurality of grooves and / or through-holes are present in the inorganic layer; and the first flexible substrate contacts the second flexible substrate through the grooves and / or the through-holes.Thus, the grooves and / or the through-holes are arranged in the inorganic layer such that the first flexible substrate can contact the second flexible substrate through the grooves and / or the through-holes, thereby increasing the contact area between the second flexible substrate and the inorganic layer, improving the adhesion factor between the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate, and reducing the risk of the organic layer being peeled off from the inorganic layer in the flexible display panel that is bent and deformed.

Claims

[1] A flexible display panel comprising: a first flexible substrate, a second flexible substrate, and an inorganic layer disposed between and in direct contact with the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate, respectively; wherein: the second flexible substrate is arranged on a side of the organic light-emitting device and the array substrate of the flexible display panel facing the first flexible substrate; a plurality of grooves and / or a plurality of through-holes extend through the inorganic layer in the direction of the thickness of the inorganic layer; the first flexible substrate directly contacts the second flexible substrate through the grooves and / or the through-holes; and orthographic projections of the grooves and / or the through-holes onto the first flexible substrate in the display area are configured such that they are not present in an area in which TFTs are arranged. [2] The flexible display panel according to claim 1, wherein the grooves and / or the through-holes are arranged in a peripheral region of the inorganic layer surrounding the central region of the inorganic layer, and the central region corresponds to the display region of the flexible display panel. [3] The flexible display panel according to claims 1-2, further comprising a buffer layer disposed on the second flexible substrate and a housing portion disposed over the buffer layer, wherein: further through-holes are present in the buffer layer in a region corresponding to the housing section, the region being located above the inorganic layer and the housing section being connected to the second flexible substrate by the further through-holes. [4] The flexible display panel according to claim 3, wherein the through-holes are provided in the region of the inorganic layer corresponding to the housing portion, and the second flexible substrate is connected to the first flexible substrate through the through-holes. [5] The flexible display panel according to claim 1, wherein a material from which the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate are made is polyimide. [6] The flexible display panel according to claim 1, wherein a material from which the inorganic layer is made is metal or metal oxide. [7] A display device comprising the flexible display panel according to any one of claims 1 to 2 and 4-6.

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