Display Panel Dummy Pixels for ESD Protection and Uniform Load
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional display devices face challenges in designing shapes and increasing functions while maintaining light weight and small thickness, particularly in achieving uniform light transmittance and preventing electrostatic discharge (ESD) in non-display areas.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a display panel design that includes a substrate with a display area and non-display areas, where the non-display areas surround regions for electronic elements and contain dummy pixels that do not emit light, and signal lines are arranged to connect pixels to dummy pixels, ensuring uniform electrical load and pattern density.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If dummy pixels are added to non-display areas to ensure uniform electrical load and pattern density, then ESD prevention and display quality are improved, but device complexity and manufacturing steps increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the copying principle by creating dummy pixels that replicate the structure and electrical characteristics of functional pixels in the non-display areas. These dummy pixels are constructed with the same transistor and capacitor structures as actual display pixels, allowing them to serve as electrical load equivalents without requiring complex additional components. The dummy pixels are formed using identical fabrication processes, making them simple copies that achieve ESD prevention and uniform electrical load distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the display panel into distinct functional zones: display areas with functional pixels and non-display areas with dummy pixels. This segmentation allows different regions to serve different purposes - the display area provides visual output while the non-display area with dummy pixels provides electrical load balancing and ESD protection. The segmentation is implemented through separate pixel definition regions that are formed during the same fabrication process, enabling clear functional separation without requiring additional structural complexity.
2Stability of the object's composition
If dummy pixels with same structure as pixels are formed in non-display areas, then uniform electrical load is achieved, but manufacturing steps and process complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing dummy pixels that can serve multiple functions simultaneously: they provide electrical load balancing, maintain pattern density uniformity, and enable ESD prevention. The same transistor and capacitor structures used in functional pixels are replicated in dummy pixels, allowing a single fabrication process to create both functional and dummy pixels. This multi-functionality approach eliminates the need for separate manufacturing steps for dummy pixel creation, as they are formed during the standard pixel fabrication sequence.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by modifying the operational state of dummy pixels rather than their physical structure. Dummy pixels are configured to receive electrical signals but are designed not to emit light, effectively changing their functional parameter from light emission to electrical load only. This parameter change allows them to serve as electrical sinks while maintaining the same physical and manufacturing characteristics as functional pixels, avoiding additional manufacturing complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If non-display areas are added to surround display areas, then device functions are increased, but light weight and thinness are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the flexible shells and thin films principle by constructing all components including dummy pixels, transistors, capacitors, and interconnect structures as thin-film layers deposited on the substrate. The entire display panel, including the non-display areas with dummy pixels, is fabricated using thin-film deposition processes that minimize material thickness. This approach allows the non-display areas to be integrated within the same thin-film structure as the display area, maintaining overall panel thinness while adding functional capabilities.
Data Source
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AI summary
A display panel includes a substrate including a first region, a second region, a non-display area that surrounds the first region and the second region, and a display area that surrounds the non-display area; a plurality of pixels arranged on the display area; a plurality of dummy pixels arranged on the non-display area and emitting no light; and a plurality of signal lines configured to electrically connect the plurality of pixels to the plurality of dummy pixels. Some of the plurality of dummy pixels are arranged between the first region and the second region.