Cutting Display Panels to Expose Contacts for Flexible Circuit Board Connection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional display devices have short product life cycles and varied size requirements, leading to inventory burdens and environmental issues due to undiversified sizes.
Innovation Solution
A display device and manufacturing method that allows for size adjustment by cutting a display panel to expose contacts, forming conductive patterns, and connecting a flexible circuit board, enabling the creation of display devices of desired sizes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If display panels are manufactured in fixed sizes, then manufacturing process is simplified, but inventory burden increases and adaptability to different size requirements decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The display panel is divided into multiple smaller display devices by cutting along scribe lines. The panel contains multiple pixel arrays that can be segmented into different sized groups, allowing a single large panel to be converted into multiple smaller displays of various sizes without requiring completely different manufacturing processes for each size.
Solution Approach 2:
A single display panel design serves multiple functions by being capable of producing different sized display devices. The same panel structure, pixel array, and conductive layer configuration can be used to create various size displays through selective cutting and contact exposure, eliminating the need for separate manufacturing lines for different sizes.
2Adaptability or versatility
If display panels are cut into smaller sizes, then adaptability to different size requirements is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase due to contact exposure and reconnection
Solution Approach 1:
The conductive layers and contacts are formed and positioned with high precision during the initial manufacturing process before any cutting occurs. The gate contacts and source contacts are pre-configured in specific locations that will remain exposed after cutting, ensuring that when the panel is divided, the electrical connections are already in place and require minimal additional precision work.
Solution Approach 2:
Conductive patterns are formed as intermediary elements that connect the pre-existing contacts to the flexible circuit board. These conductive patterns serve as a buffer that accommodates minor positioning variations and ensures reliable electrical connection without requiring extremely precise alignment during the cutting and reconnection process.
3Adaptability or versatility
If contacts are exposed after cutting, then size customization is enabled, but additional manufacturing steps are required increasing process complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The contacts are positioned and configured during the initial manufacturing process before cutting, so that when the panel is cut to create smaller displays, the necessary contacts are already exposed and accessible. This preliminary positioning eliminates the need for complex post-cutting contact creation processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting process itself serves to expose the contacts that were already positioned in the conductive layers. By designing the contact locations to extend to the panel edges or be positioned near scribe lines, the act of cutting automatically exposes the contacts without requiring separate exposure steps, allowing the process to serve multiple functions simultaneously.
Data Source
AI summary
A display device includes a first substrate and a flexible circuit board. Data lines, scan lines, thin film transistors, gate contacts, and source contacts are disposed on the first substrate. The scan lines are intersected with the data lines. The thin film transistors are respectively connected to the data lines and the scan lines. The gate contacts are connected to the scan lines. The source contacts are connected to the data lines. The display device further includes first conductive patterns disposed on a side of the first substrate, and the first conductive patterns are connected to at least some of the gate contacts on the side of the first substrate. First pads of the flexible circuit board are connected to the first conductive patterns.