Background
Along with the development of display technology, the folding screen begins to appear, requires that display panel has the flexibility, can bear a large amount of buckles, produces the crackle when avoiding buckling. In the design and production of flexible display panels, it is necessary to reduce the stress accumulated in the bending process of the display panel to ensure the bending resistance of the display panel. However, in the prior art, the touch layer in the display panel has high brittleness and insufficient flexibility, so that stress accumulated in the bending process of the display panel is released everywhere, and the bending resistance is reduced.
Disclosure of Invention
The technical problem that this application mainly solved provides a display panel, can improve display panel's resistant bending property.
In order to solve the technical problem, the application adopts a technical scheme that:
the display panel comprises a substrate, a light emitting layer and a touch layer which are sequentially stacked, wherein the touch layer comprises:
a first inorganic insulating layer;
the touch signal line is arranged on one side of the first inorganic insulating layer and comprises a first touch signal line and a second touch signal line, the extending directions of the first touch signal line and the second touch signal line are crossed, and the first touch signal line is disconnected at the crossed position of the extending directions of the first touch signal line and the second touch signal line so as to form a connecting end on two sides of the second touch signal line respectively;
the bridging signal line is arranged on the other side of the first inorganic insulating layer and is bridged between the two connecting ends of the first touch signal line;
the first inorganic insulating layer is divided into a first bridging area and a first non-bridging area, an orthographic projection of the first bridging area on the substrate covers an orthographic projection of the bridging signal line on the substrate, and the thickness of the first bridging area is larger than that of the first non-bridging area.
Wherein the first non-bridging region has a thickness of zero, and the first bridging region is a plurality of first island regions spaced apart from each other by the first non-bridging region.
The touch layer further comprises a first organic insulating layer covering the first non-bridging area.
The first organic insulating layer further covers the first bridging area and the touch signal line or the bridging signal line on the side, away from the light emitting layer, of the first bridging area.
The first organic insulating layer further covers the first bridging area, the touch signal line or the bridging signal line located on one side of the first bridging area, which is far away from the light emitting layer, is disposed on the first organic insulating layer, and the touch layer further includes an organic protective layer covering the first organic insulating layer and the touch signal line or the bridging signal line.
The touch layer further comprises a second inorganic insulating layer located between the light emitting layer and the first inorganic insulating layer, wherein the bridge signal line is disposed on a side surface of the first inorganic insulating layer facing to or away from the second inorganic insulating layer, the second inorganic insulating layer is divided into a second bridge area and a second non-bridge area, the thickness of the second bridge area is larger than that of the second non-bridge area, and an orthographic projection of the second bridge area on the substrate covers an orthographic projection of the bridge signal line on the substrate.
Wherein the second non-bridging region has a thickness of zero, and the second bridging region is a plurality of second island regions spaced apart from each other by the second non-bridging region.
Wherein orthographic projections of the first bridge region of the first inorganic insulating layer and the second bridge region of the second inorganic insulating layer on the substrate coincide.
The touch layer further comprises a second organic insulating layer positioned on the surface of one side, away from the substrate, of the light emitting layer, and the first inorganic insulating layer is arranged on one side, away from the light emitting layer, of the second organic insulating layer.
The first bridging area is provided with through holes which are respectively overlapped with the two connecting ends of the first touch signal line, and the bridging signal line is respectively and electrically connected with the two connecting ends of the first touch signal line through the through holes.
The beneficial effect of this application is: different from the prior art, the display panel provided by the application comprises a substrate, a light emitting layer and a touch layer which are sequentially stacked, wherein the touch layer comprises a first inorganic insulating layer, a touch signal line and a bridging signal line. The touch signal line is arranged on one side of the first inorganic insulating layer and comprises a first touch signal line and a second touch signal line, the extension directions of the first touch signal line and the second touch signal line are crossed, and the first touch signal line is disconnected at the crossed position of the extension directions of the first touch signal line and the second touch signal line so as to form a connecting end on two sides of the second touch signal line respectively; the bridging signal line is arranged on the other side of the first inorganic insulating layer and is bridged between the two connecting ends of the first touch signal line. The first inorganic insulating layer is divided into a first bridging area and a first non-bridging area, the projection orthographic projection of the first bridging area on the substrate covers the projection orthographic projection of the bridging signal line on the substrate, and the thickness of the first bridging area is larger than that of the first non-bridging area. It can be seen that the thickness of the first non-bridging region may be reduced relative to the thickness of the first bridging region until it is reduced to equal zero. Therefore, the distribution of the inorganic insulating material in the touch layer can be reduced, the stress accumulated in the bending process of the display panel can be released by the first non-bridging area with the relatively reduced thickness, and the bending resistance of the display panel is improved.
Detailed Description
The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments that can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without making any inventive step based on the embodiments in the present application belong to the protection scope of the present application.
Referring to fig. 1 to 3, fig. 1 is a schematic top view structure diagram of an embodiment of a display panel of the present application, fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of the display panel of fig. 1 along a line a-a, and fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of the display panel of fig. 1 along a line B-B. This display panel includesbase plate 11,luminescent layer 12 and the touch-control layer 13 of range upon range of setting in proper order, and wherein, touch-control layer 13 includes: a firstinorganic insulating layer 131, atouch signal line 132, and abridge signal line 133. Thelight emitting layer 12 specifically includes a cathode layer, a pixel defining layer, a pixel unit, an anode layer, and the like, and has the same structure as the light emitting layer in the OLED display panel in the related art, and will not be described in detail here.
The bending of thebridging signal line 133 in fig. 1 is to trace the gap of the pixel unit in the light-emittinglayer 12, and the specific bending manner needs to be designed according to the arrangement of the pixel unit, which is not limited in this application. When thebridging signal line 133 is made of a transparent conductive line or when the influence of the signal line on other functions such as light emission is not considered, the additional arrangement of the bending routing manner is not required. Moreover, when thebridging signal line 133 is bent and routed, a portion of thebridging signal line 133 coincides with the orthographic projection of thetouch signal line 132, and the a-a section line selected in fig. 2 is exactly the position where thebridging signal line 133 coincides with the orthographic projection of thetouch signal line 132. In addition, in order to schematically illustrate a cross-section of the completebridge signal line 133 in fig. 3, the two cross-sections B-B1 and B-B2 in fig. 1 are integrated to obtain the cross-sectional view shown in fig. 3.
Thetouch signal line 132 is disposed on one side of the first inorganic insulating layer 131 (the side of the firstinorganic insulating layer 131 facing upward in fig. 2 and 3), thetouch signal line 132 includes a firsttouch signal line 1321 and a secondtouch signal line 1322 whose extending directions cross each other, and the firsttouch signal line 1321 is disconnected at a crossing position of the extending directions of the firsttouch signal line 1321 and the secondtouch signal line 1322, so as to form a connection end L on each of two sides of the secondtouch signal line 1322. That is, each of the firsttouch signal lines 1321 is formed with two connection terminals L. One of the firsttouch signal line 1321 and the secondtouch signal line 1322 serves as a touch transmitting electrode of the display panel of the present application, and the other serves as a touch receiving electrode. Thetouch signal line 132 may be made of one or a combination of titanium (Ti), aluminum (Al), molybdenum (Mo), niobium (Nb), and copper (Cu), preferably a combination of Ti/Al/Ti, Mo/Al/Mo, Mo/Nb/Cu, and Mo/Cu, or may be a transparent conductive line, such as ITO. Specifically, the entire touch signal layer may be formed first, and then a portion of the touch signal layer is selectively etched away to form thetouch signal line 132.
Thebridging signal line 133 is disposed on the other side of the first inorganic insulating layer 131 (the downward side of the firstinorganic insulating layer 131 in fig. 2 and 3), and is bridged between the two connection ends L of the firsttouch signal line 1321. Thebridge signal line 133 is made of a material and formed in a similar manner to thetouch signal line 132. The material of the firstinorganic insulating layer 131 may be silicon nitride, silicon oxide, or the like.
The firstinorganic insulating layer 131 is divided into a first bridging area and a first non-bridging area, an orthogonal projection of the first bridging area on thesubstrate 11 covers an orthogonal projection of thebridging signal line 133 on thesubstrate 11, and a thickness of the first bridging area is greater than a thickness of the first non-bridging area. The thickness of the first non-bridging region may be greater than zero but less than the thickness of the first bridging region, or may be equal to zero. That is, after the entire first inorganic insulating layer is formed, the inorganic insulating material in the first non-bridging region is selectively etched to a predetermined thickness, so that the thickness of the first non-bridging region is smaller than that of the first bridging region. The arrangement can reduce the distribution of the inorganic insulating material in thetouch layer 13, so that the first non-bridging area with relatively reduced thickness can release the stress accumulated in the bending process of the display panel.
Fig. 1 schematically shows a preferred case where the thickness of the first non-bridge region is equal to zero, that is, the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 is patterned, the first bridge region is the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 which is not etched away, the first non-bridge regions are a plurality of first island regions which are separated from each other by the first non-bridge regions, and thelight emitting layer 12 corresponding to the first non-bridge regions is exposed. A step exists at a boundary between the first bridging region and the first non-bridging region, and the firsttouch signal line 1321 and the secondtouch signal line 1322 are distributed along the step at the step, and it can be seen from fig. 3 that the firsttouch signal line 1321 is distributed along the step.
Since the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 covers thebridging signal line 133, thebridging signal line 133 and the firsttouch signal line 1321 electrically connected thereto are respectively located at two sides of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131, the first bridging area is provided with a through hole H respectively overlapping with two connecting ends L of the firsttouch signal line 1321, and thebridging signal line 133 is respectively electrically connected to the two connecting ends L of the firsttouch signal line 1321 through the through hole H.
In this embodiment, thebridging signal line 133 is located on the side of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 facing the light-emittinglayer 12, and thetouch signal line 132 is located on the side of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 away from the light-emittinglayer 12. In other embodiments, the positions of thebridge signal line 133 and thetouch signal line 132 may be interchanged. That is to say, thebridging signal line 133 is located on a side of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 away from the light-emittinglayer 12, and thetouch signal line 132 is located on a side of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 facing the light-emittinglayer 12, which can be specifically referred to with reference to fig. 1-3 and fig. 4-5, fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional structure view of another embodiment of the display panel along a line a-a in fig. 1, and fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional structure view of another embodiment of the display panel along a line B-B in fig. 1. In the following embodiments, when thebridging signal line 133 is located on the side of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 facing the light-emittinglayer 12 and thetouch signal line 132 is located on the side of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 away from the light-emittinglayer 12, the positions of thebridging signal line 133 and thetouch signal line 132 in the following embodiments are interchanged, and the technical solutions are also within the scope of the present application.
In addition, fig. 1 schematically illustrates a case where a first bridge region (i.e., a first island region) covers fourbridge signal lines 133 and four secondtouch signal lines 1322 are disposed between two through holes H. In other embodiments, one first bridging area may cover another number of bridging signal lines, for example, one, three, six, and preferably three to six bridging signal lines, and another number of second touch signal lines, for example, one, five, eight, and preferably four to eight bridging signal lines, may be disposed between the two through holes H.
For clarity, only the light-emittinglayer 12, the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131, the firsttouch signal line 1321, the secondtouch signal line 1322, and thebridge signal line 133 are schematically illustrated in fig. 1, and the substrate, the first organic insulating layer, the second organic insulating layer, the organic protective layer, and the second inorganic insulating layer which are present in each embodiment in this specification are not illustrated in fig. 1.
In this embodiment, the first bridge region included in the first inorganic insulating layer is a plurality of first island regions separated from each other by the first non-bridge region, so that on one hand, the insulating isolation between the bridge signal line and the second touch signal line can be realized, and on the other hand, the distribution of the inorganic insulating material in the touch layer is reduced, so that the stress accumulated in the bending process of the display panel can be released through the first non-bridge region, thereby improving the bending resistance of the display panel without affecting the electrical performance of the display panel.
In another embodiment, please refer to fig. 6 and 7 in combination with fig. 1, in which fig. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional structure of the display panel of fig. 1 along a line a-a in another embodiment, and fig. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional structure of the display panel of fig. 1 along a line B-B in another embodiment. The structure of the display panel is similar to the above-mentioned embodiment shown in fig. 2-3, except that in this embodiment, thetouch layer 13 further includes a first organic insulatinglayer 134 covering the first non-bridging area, and preferably flush with the upper surface of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131. There is no step at the boundary between the first bridging region and the first non-bridging region, and the firsttouch signal line 1321 and the secondtouch signal line 1322 corresponding to the first non-bridging region are distributed on the surface of the first organic insulatinglayer 134, so that the yield of the formation process of the firsttouch signal line 1321 and the secondtouch signal line 1322 is higher. The material of the first organic insulatinglayer 134 may be optically transparent organic glue, which, on one hand, can protect the light-emittinglayer 12 exposed by the first non-bridging region, and on the other hand, the organic glue is more flexible, and the stress accumulated in the bending process of the display panel can be released through the first organic insulatinglayer 134 in the first non-bridging region, thereby improving the bending resistance of the display panel.
In another embodiment, please refer to fig. 8 and 9 in conjunction with fig. 1, in which fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional structure of the display panel of fig. 1 along a line a-a in another embodiment, and fig. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional structure of the display panel of fig. 1 along a line B-B in another embodiment. The structure of the display panel is similar to that of the embodiment shown in fig. 2 and 3, and the portions of the firsttouch signal lines 1321 and the secondtouch signal lines 1322 corresponding to the first non-bridging area are distributed on the surface of the exposed light-emittinglayer 12, except that in this embodiment, thetouch layer 13 further includes a first organic insulatinglayer 134a, and the first organic insulatinglayer 134a further covers the first bridging area and thetouch signal lines 132 located on the side of the first bridging area away from the light-emittinglayer 12 in addition to the first non-bridging area.
That is, when the touchline signal line 132 is located on the side of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 away from the light-emittinglayer 12, the first organic insulatinglayer 134a covers the first non-bridging area, and also covers the firsttouch signal line 1321 and the secondtouch signal line 1322 located in the first bridging area, that is, the first organic insulatinglayer 134a covers the entire upper surface of the display panel, so as to protect the display panel, release stress, and improve the bending resistance of the display panel. Of course, as mentioned above, when thebridging signal line 133 is located on the side of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 away from the light-emittinglayer 12, the first organic insulatinglayer 134a covers thebridging signal line 133 located in the first bridging region in addition to the first non-bridging region.
In another embodiment, please refer to fig. 10 and 11 in combination with fig. 1, in which fig. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional structure of the display panel of fig. 1 along a line a-a in another embodiment, and fig. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional structure of the display panel of fig. 1 along a line B-B in another embodiment. This embodiment is similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 4 and 5, except that in this embodiment, thetouch layer 13 further includes a first organic insulatinglayer 134b, the first organic insulatinglayer 134b further covers the first bridging region in addition to the first non-bridging region, thetouch signal line 132 or thebridging signal line 133 located at a side of the first bridging region away from the light emitting layer is disposed on the first organic insulatinglayer 134b, and thetouch layer 13 further includes an organicprotective layer 135 covering the first organic insulatinglayer 134b and thetouch signal line 132 or thebridging signal line 133.
In this embodiment, thebridge signal line 133 is located on the side of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 facing the light-emittinglayer 12, but in other embodiments, thetouch signal line 132 may be provided on the side of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 facing the light-emittinglayer 12. That is, in the present embodiment, thebridge signal line 133 is formed first, then the patterned first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 is formed to cover thebridge signal line 133, the first organic insulatinglayer 134b is filled in the first non-bridge region and covers the first bridge region, the touch signal line 132 (the firsttouch signal line 1321 and the second touch signal line 1322) is formed on the surface of the first organic insulatinglayer 134b, and finally theorganic passivation layer 135 is formed to cover the entire upper surface of the display panel. This organicprotective layer 135's material can be optical transparent organic glue, can play the guard action to touch-control signal line 132 or bridgingsignal line 133 on the one hand, and on the other hand, organic glue is flexible great, can release display panel and buckle the stress of in-process accumulation, improves display panel's resistant bending performance.
In another embodiment, please refer to fig. 12 and 13 in conjunction with fig. 1, in which fig. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the display panel of fig. 1 taken along a line a-a in another embodiment, and fig. 13 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the display panel of fig. 1 taken along a line B-B in another embodiment. This embodiment is similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 2 and 3, except that in this embodiment, thetouch layer 13 further includes an organicprotective layer 135a and a second inorganic insulatinglayer 136. The second inorganic insulatinglayer 136 is located between the light-emittinglayer 12 and the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131, thebridging signal line 133 is disposed on a side surface of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 facing the second inorganic insulatinglayer 136, the second inorganic insulatinglayer 136 is divided into a second bridging region and a second non-bridging region, a thickness of the second bridging region is greater than that of the second non-bridging region, and an orthographic projection of the second bridging region on thesubstrate 11 covers an orthographic projection of thebridging signal line 133 on thesubstrate 11. The second inorganic insulatinglayer 136 may be made of silicon nitride, silicon oxide, or the like. The organicprotective layer 135a covers the entire upper surface of the display panel to protect the display panel.
In other embodiments, thebridging signal line 133 may be disposed on a side surface of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 facing away from the second inorganic insulatinglayer 136, and thetouch signal line 132 is disposed on a side surface of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 facing the second inorganic insulatinglayer 136.
Similar to the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131, in this embodiment, the thickness of the second non-bridging region of the second inorganic insulatinglayer 136 may be greater than zero but less than the thickness of the second bridging region, or equal to zero. That is, after the entire second inorganic insulating layer is formed, the inorganic insulating material in the second non-bridging region is selectively etched to a predetermined thickness, so that the thickness of the second non-bridging region is smaller than that of the first bridging region. The arrangement can reduce the distribution of the inorganic insulating material in thetouch layer 13, so that the second non-bridging area with relatively reduced thickness can release the stress accumulated in the bending process of the display panel.
Fig. 12 and 13 schematically illustrate a preferred case where the thickness of the second non-bridging region is equal to zero, that is, the second inorganic insulatinglayer 136 is patterned, the second bridging region is the second inorganic insulatinglayer 136 that is not etched away, the second bridging region is a plurality of second island regions spaced from each other by the second non-bridging region, and thelight emitting layer 12 corresponding to the second non-bridging region is exposed. A step exists at a boundary between the second bridging region and the second non-bridging region, and the firsttouch signal line 1321 and the secondtouch signal line 1322 are distributed along the step at the step, and it can be seen from fig. 13 that the firsttouch signal line 1321 is distributed along the step.
In this embodiment, thebridging signal line 133 is wrapped by the first island-shaped structure and the second island-shaped structure, and is electrically connected to the two connection ends L at the disconnection point of the firsttouch signal line 1321 only through the two through holes H. The shapes and sizes of the first island-shaped structure and the second island-shaped structure are not limited as long as thebridging signal line 133 can be wrapped. For process convenience, it is preferable that the orthographic projections of the first bridge region of the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 and the second bridge region of the second inorganic insulatinglayer 136 on thesubstrate 11 coincide, that is, the shapes, sizes and positions of the first island-like structure and the second island-like structure are the same.
In this embodiment, the first inorganic insulating layer and the second inorganic insulating layer may be only located at positions covering the bridging signal line, so that on one hand, the insulating isolation between the bridging signal line and the second touch signal line can be achieved, and on the other hand, the distribution of the inorganic insulating material in the touch layer is reduced, so that the stress accumulated in the bending process of the display panel can be released through the second non-bridging area, and the bending resistance of the display panel is improved without affecting the electrical performance of the display panel.
In another embodiment, the patterned second inorganic insulatinglayer 136 in the above-mentioned embodiments shown in fig. 12 and 13 is replaced by a whole layer of second organic insulating layer, that is, thetouch layer 13 further includes a second organic insulating layer on the surface of the light-emittinglayer 12 facing away from thesubstrate 11, and the first inorganic insulatinglayer 131 is disposed on the side of the second organic insulatinglayer 136 facing away from the light-emitting layer. That is, the second organic insulating layer covers thelight emitting layer 12 on the front surface. According to the embodiment, the distribution of the organic insulating material in the touch layer is increased, the distribution of the inorganic insulating material is reduced, and the bending resistance of the display panel can be improved.
In addition, in the embodiments shown in fig. 12 and 13, the first organic insulating layer may be added according to each of the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 11, and the obtained display panel is also within the protection scope of the present application.
The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating embodiments of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application, and all modifications of equivalent structures and equivalent processes, which are made by the contents of the specification and the drawings of the present application or are directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields, are also included in the scope of the present application.