Display Substrate Grooves Embedding Touch Structures for Flexibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Integrating a touch structure in a flexible display substrate increases its thickness, compromising the thinness and lightness of display products and affecting yield due to stress concentration, leading to encapsulation failure during bending.
Innovation Solution
A display substrate with a pixel defining layer having grooves that accommodate the touch structure, reducing thickness by embedding touch electrodes and connecting lines within these grooves, and ensuring light-transmitting areas for sub-pixels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a touch structure is integrated in a flexible display substrate, then the touch function is provided, but the thickness of the display substrate increases
Solution Approach 1:
The touch structure is nested within the groove of the pixel defining layer, with touch electrodes and connecting lines embedded inside the groove space. This nesting arrangement allows the touch structure to be accommodated within the existing layer structure without adding significant thickness to the display substrate.
Solution Approach 2:
The touch structure is positioned in the vertical dimension within the groove rather than adding a separate horizontal layer. By utilizing the depth dimension of the groove (from the first surface to the second surface of the pixel defining layer), the touch function is integrated without increasing the overall footprint or apparent thickness of the display substrate.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a touch structure is integrated in a flexible display substrate, then the touch function is provided, but stress concentration occurs leading to encapsulation failure
Solution Approach 1:
The touch structure is nested within the groove of the pixel defining layer, which provides structural support and distributes stress. The groove acts as a stress-relief feature that prevents stress concentration at the touch structure interfaces, thereby maintaining encapsulation integrity during bending operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The pixel defining layer with its groove structure provides localized structural characteristics that differ from the surrounding areas. The groove creates a stress-distributing geometry that locally manages mechanical stress, preventing stress concentration that would lead to encapsulation failure while maintaining overall substrate flexibility.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the touch structure is placed on the surface of the display substrate, then the touch function is provided, but the aesthetics are compromised due to increased thickness
Solution Approach 1:
The touch structure is nested within the groove rather than being placed on the outer surface. This nesting ensures that the first surface of the pixel defining layer remains flat and flush with the display substrate surface, maintaining aesthetic appearance while housing the touch electrodes and connecting lines within the groove depth.
Solution Approach 2:
The touch structure is moved from the external surface dimension to the internal groove dimension. By positioning touch electrodes and connecting lines within the groove space (between the first and second surfaces), the external surface maintains its flat, aesthetic appearance while the touch function is preserved internally.
Data Source
AI summary
A display substrate is provided. The display substrate includes: a base substrate; a pixel defining layer disposed on the base substrate, wherein the pixel defining layer comprises a plurality of barriers and defines a plurality of sub-pixel areas, some or all of the barriers have grooves therein; and a touch structure disposed in the groove, wherein the touch structure is configured to provide a touch function.