Flexible Display Border Reduction via Back-Side WOA Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current display technologies face challenges in achieving ultra-narrow borders due to the unavoidable wire on array (WOA) around the active area, which increases the non-active area, making it difficult to reduce the border width, especially as resolution increases.
Innovation Solution
A display device utilizing a flexible substrate with WOA disposed on both sides, where the WOA on the back side passes through holes in the substrate to connect to the active area, allowing for improved circuit area utilization and reducing the non-active area width by using ultra-thin materials like polyimide or polyethylene terephthalate with conductive wires.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If WOA is disposed only on the front side of the substrate, then the structure is simple, but the non-active area width is large
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dimensionality change by moving part of the WOA from the front side to the back side of the substrate. The WOA on the back side passes through holes in the substrate to connect to the active area, effectively utilizing the third dimension (substrate thickness) to reduce the footprint on the front side and minimize the non-active area width.
2Measurement precision
If resolution is increased from HD to ultra-high definition, then display quality is improved, but the area required for WOA increases
Solution Approach 1:
By routing WOA through the substrate thickness dimension, the patent reduces the planar area required for WOA. This allows higher resolution displays to be achieved without proportionally increasing the non-active area, as the WOA utilizes the vertical dimension rather than consuming more horizontal space.
3Area of stationary object
If WOA width is reduced to minimize non-active area, then border width is reduced, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent shifts the manufacturing challenge from reducing WOA width in two dimensions to managing WOA routing through the third dimension (substrate thickness). While this requires precise hole formation and through-substrate wiring, it allows the non-active area width to be minimized without requiring extreme reduction of WOA trace width across the surface.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides a display device, which employs ultra-thin flexible substrate with WOA disposed on both sides of the flexible substrate, wherein the WOA on the front side is directly connected to the active area, and the WOA on the back side passes through the holes in the flexible substrate to extend to the front side to connect to the active area. As such, the circuit area utilization is improved so that the same size of substrate area can carry almost twice the circuit structure to reduce the border width of the non-active area to achieve borderless or ultra-narrow borders.