Flexible Display Spacer Wire Routing for Bend Integrity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flexible displays with stretchable and compressible properties fail to protect wires connecting display elements, such as thin film transistors, from damage during bending, stretching, and compression due to insufficient structural support.
Innovation Solution
A flexible display design featuring spacers made of polyimide material between thin film transistors, with curved wires electrically connecting adjacent transistors within these spacers, allowing for wider deformation while concentrating stress on the spacers and preventing wire breakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If wires are used to connect thin film transistors in existing flexible displays, then electrical connection between transistors is achieved, but the wires are damaged by stretching, compression, and bending of the flexible display device
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces spacers as intermediary structures that house the wires connecting thin film transistors. These spacers are positioned between adjacent transistors and provide a protective environment for the wires, isolating them from the mechanical stress of bending and stretching. The spacers act as a mediator that allows electrical connection while protecting the vulnerable wire components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs flexible spacer structures that can deform with the display device while maintaining wire integrity. The spacers are designed with materials and structures that allow them to flex, stretch, and compress without damaging the embedded wires, effectively using flexible shell concepts to protect the internal wire connections from mechanical damage.
2Productivity
If thin film transistors are arranged closely to increase display density, then more display elements fit on the substrate, but the wires between adjacent transistors become more susceptible to damage during deformation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent embeds the wires within the spacer structures, creating a nested configuration where the wire is housed inside the spacer. This nesting arrangement allows the wire to be protected by the spacer while maintaining close spacing between transistors, effectively solving the conflict between high density and wire protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacers serve as intermediary protective structures between closely spaced transistors. Even when transistors are arranged densely, the spacers provide a buffer zone that protects the connecting wires from mechanical stress, enabling high display element density without compromising wire reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A flexible display is provided, including a substrate; a plurality of thin film transistors spacedly arranged apart from each other and disposed along a first direction on the substrate; a plurality of spacers spacedly arranged apart from each other and disposed along the first direction on the substrate, where each of the spacers fills an interval between two adjacent thin film transistors; and at least one wire configured to electrically connect the two adjacent thin film transistors, where the at least one wire is disposed in a corresponding spacer. The present disclosure can effectively prevent wire breakage between thin film transistors by using curved wires to electrically connect adjacent thin film transistors along the first direction in the substrate.