Flexible Display Panel Electrode Grooves for Narrow-Bezel Bending
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing display panels face issues with uncontrollable radius of curvature during bending, leading to potential breakage of metal traces and reduced reliability, which hinders the achievement of a high screen-to-body ratio and narrow bezel.
Innovation Solution
A display panel design featuring a substrate with a source drain electrode layer that includes grooves in the bending region filled with conductive material, and a pad plate with conductive bridges to connect metal traces, reducing the need for stress equilibrium and enhancing connectivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the display panel is bent to achieve narrow bezel and high screen-to-body ratio, then the visual experience is improved, but the radius of curvature becomes uncontrollable and metal traces may breakage
Solution Approach 1:
The source drain electrode layer is divided into multiple segments by introducing grooves that penetrate through the layer. These grooves segment the metal traces into discrete sections, allowing independent stress management for each segment during bending, thereby preventing continuous stress propagation that would cause trace breakage
Solution Approach 2:
The grooves are strategically positioned at specific locations where metal traces exist in the bending region. This local modification creates stress relief zones precisely where needed, without affecting the overall electrode functionality. The conductive material filling the grooves provides localized stress accommodation while maintaining electrical connectivity
2Reliability
If grooves are introduced in the source drain electrode layer to improve bending reliability, then metal trace breakage is prevented, but the device structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The groove formation process is integrated with existing manufacturing steps. The grooves are created using standard etching techniques and filled with conductive material that can be applied through existing deposition or printing processes. This merging of steps adds minimal complexity while achieving the reliability improvement
Solution Approach 2:
The conductive material filling the grooves serves as an intermediary element that bridges the segmented metal traces. It maintains electrical connectivity between trace segments while providing stress relief, thus solving both the reliability issue and minimizing structural complexity
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a display panel. In an aspect, a source drain electrode layer in a bending region is provided with grooves at positions corresponding to metal traces and the grooves are filled with a conductive material. By using the conductive material to connect to the metal traces, it does not have to consider stress equilibrium for the metal traces in the bending region, thereby reducing a radius of curvature of the bending and a bezel width and increasing a screen-to-body ratio. In another aspect, a pad plate is provided and the pad plate is provided with conductive bridges arranged at intervals at positions corresponding to the grooves. It can be better connected to the metal traces by the conductive bridges, preventing the conductive material from unable to connect to the metal traces.