Bendable Display Wiring Structure for Crack-Resistant Flexing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Bendable display devices face challenges in maintaining structural integrity and preventing damage during the bending process, particularly due to tensile stress and potential cracks in the inorganic insulating layers and conductive layers.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an inorganic protective layer covering at least a portion of the conductive layer, along with strategically designed openings in the inorganic insulating layer, helps prevent cracks and damage by allowing for flexibility and stress relief during bending, while also ensuring efficient electric signal transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If the display device is made bendable to achieve desired shape, then adaptability and shape flexibility are improved, but the integrity of conductive layers and wirings deteriorates leading to cracks and disconnections
Solution Approach 1:
The conductive layer is divided into multiple segments with insulating layers between them, allowing each segment to independently accommodate bending stress without causing cracks in the entire conductive structure. The wirings are also segmented into first and second wirings disposed at different locations to distribute mechanical stress.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the display device have different structural characteristics - the bending area has a relaxed conductive layer structure with insulating layers for flexibility, while non-bending areas maintain standard conductive structures for optimal electrical performance. This localized adaptation resolves the contradiction between bendability and conductive integrity.
2Reliability
If the conductive layer is made continuous to ensure electrical connectivity, then electrical performance is improved, but susceptibility to cracks during bending increases
Solution Approach 1:
Insulating layers are introduced as intermediary elements between conductive layer segments. These insulating layers act as stress-absorbing mediators that maintain electrical connectivity through the bending region while preventing crack propagation, thus resolving the contradiction between continuous conductivity and crack resistance.
3Ease of manufacture
If the wiring structure is simplified to reduce manufacturing complexity, then ease of manufacture is improved, but durability during bending deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The wiring is segmented into first and second wirings disposed at different locations, with each segment independently connected to the conductive layer. This segmentation simplifies the manufacturing process by allowing independent formation of each wiring segment while improving bending durability through distributed stress accommodation.
Data Source
AI summary
A display device includes a substrate having a first area, a second area, and a bending area disposed between the first area and the second area. An inner wiring is disposed in the first area. An outer wiring is disposed in the second area. An interlayer insulating layer covers the inner wiring and the outer wiring, and includes a first contact hole. A conductive layer is disposed on the interlayer insulating layer, and is connected to the inner wiring or the outer wiring through the first contact hole. An inorganic protective layer covers at least a portion of the conductive layer and includes an inorganic insulating material.