Display Substrate Insulating Layer Thickness Variation for Etching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional display substrates face defects due to under-etching of conductive material layers, particularly in narrow areas, leading to residues of conductive material remaining after the etching process, which results in substrate defects.
Innovation Solution
A display substrate design featuring a base substrate with an insulating layer and an electrode layer, where the insulating layer has varying thicknesses in different regions to ensure proper etchant permeation, including a protrusion in the inter-electrode block region and a recess in the electrode block region, allowing for effective etching without residue formation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a uniform insulating layer is used across the substrate, then the manufacturing process is simple, but etchant cannot properly permeate narrow areas leading to under-etching and conductive material residues
Solution Approach 1:
The insulating layer is designed with different thicknesses in different regions: a first thickness in the electrode block region and a second thickness (greater than the first) in the inter-electrode block region. This local variation ensures proper etchant permeation in narrow areas while maintaining manufacturing precision, resolving the contradiction between etching quality and structural complexity.
2Reliability
If the insulating layer thickness is increased in inter-electrode block regions to prevent residue formation, then etching completeness improves, but the device structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The insulating layer implements local quality differentiation by having a greater thickness specifically in the inter-electrode block region where residue formation is problematic, while maintaining a thinner profile in electrode block regions. This targeted approach improves reliability by preventing conductive material residues without unnecessarily complicating the overall device structure.
3Manufacturing precision
If the insulating layer is made thicker overall to ensure complete etching, then residue formation is prevented, but manufacturing complexity and process difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than uniformly increasing insulating layer thickness across the entire substrate, the invention applies local quality principles by selectively increasing thickness only in the inter-electrode block region. This approach ensures etching completeness and prevents residue formation while maintaining ease of manufacture, as the insulating layer can still be fabricated using standard processes with region-specific thickness control.
Data Source
AI summary
The present application discloses display substrate having a base substrate; an insulating layer on the base substrate; and an electrode layer on a side of the insulating layer distal to the base substrate and having a plurality of electrode blocks. The insulating layer has a first side distal to the base substrate and a second side opposite to the first side and proximal to the base substrate. Each of the plurality of electrode blocks has a third side distal to the base substrate and a fourth side opposite to the third side and proximal to the base substrate. The first side of the insulating layer in the inter-electrode block region has a first height relative to a surface of the base substrate greater than a second height of the fourth side of an adjacent electrode of the plurality of electrode blocks relative to the surface of the base substrate.