Flexible Display Substrate Edge Coating for Narrow-Frame Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional display devices using flexible substrates face issues with impurity entry, leading to decreased display quality and reliability, as well as design and productivity limitations due to the need for wide frames to prevent moisture ingress, especially when using organic EL panels sandwiched between flexible sheets.
Innovation Solution
A display device structure incorporating a first and second substrate with a seamless high molecular material layer covering their overlapping edges, preventing impurity entry and allowing for a narrower frame, thus enhancing design flexibility and reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a wide frame is used to prevent impurity entry from substrate edges, then reliability and display quality are improved, but device area and design flexibility are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies edge coverage that extends vertically along the side surfaces of the substrates into the overlapping region, rather than only providing horizontal coverage at the substrate edges. This vertical extension into the third dimension (depth/height) allows impurity prevention without increasing the horizontal frame area, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and device area.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a flexible high molecular material layer that can conformally cover the substrate edges and extend along side surfaces. This flexible film structure provides effective edge coverage in the overlapping region while maintaining a compact form factor, preventing impurity entry without requiring a wide frame.
2Reliability
If a wide frame is used to prevent impurity entry from substrate edges, then reliability is improved, but productivity and design flexibility are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
By extending the coverage vertically along side surfaces into the overlapping region, the patent achieves effective impurity prevention without increasing horizontal frame dimensions. This allows for smaller, more compact devices that are easier and faster to manufacture, improving productivity while maintaining reliability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If flexible substrates are used to achieve device flexibility, then adaptability is improved, but susceptibility to impurity entry from edges is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible high molecular material layer that conformally covers the substrate edges and extends along side surfaces in the overlapping region. This flexible film maintains the device's overall flexibility while providing effective barrier protection against impurity entry, thus resolving the contradiction between adaptability and susceptibility to harmful factors.
Solution Approach 2:
The vertical extension of coverage along side surfaces into the overlapping region creates an additional protective dimension that prevents impurity entry pathways while preserving the flexible substrate's adaptability for various device configurations.
Data Source
AI summary
A highly reliable display device. A first flexible substrate and a second flexible substrate overlap each other with a display element positioned therebetween. Side surfaces of at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate which overlap each other are covered with a high molecular material having a light-transmitting property. The high molecular material is more flexible than the first substrate and the second substrate.