Disclosure of Invention
The application provides a driving circuit, a display panel and a display device, which mainly solve the problem that the thickness of the display panel cannot be reduced.
In order to solve the technical problems, the application adopts a technical scheme that the display panel comprises a driving substrate and a driving circuit layer;
the anode electrode layer is arranged on one side of the driving circuit layer and is electrically connected with the driving circuit layer;
the organic light-emitting layer is arranged on one side of the anode electrode layer, which is far away from the driving circuit layer, and comprises a plurality of light-emitting units;
the cathode electrode layer is arranged on one side of the organic light-emitting layer far away from the driving circuit layer and is electrically connected with the driving circuit layer;
the phase change structure layer is arranged between the anode electrode layer and the driving circuit layer; the phase change structure layer comprises a plurality of phase change units which are arranged corresponding to the light emitting units, and the phase change units comprise:
a phase change material having a first state and a second state;
a driving element electrically connected to the driving circuit layer for driving the phase change material in the first state or the second state;
the first light absorption layer is arranged on one side of the phase change material close to the driving circuit layer;
the phase change material can transmit light in a first state, so that the first light absorption layer absorbs ambient light from the outside; the phase change material is capable of reflecting light of the same color as the light emitted by the corresponding light emitting unit in the second state.
Wherein the phase change material is cholesteric liquid crystal; the driving element comprises a first driving electrode and a second driving electrode; the first driving electrode and the second driving electrode are respectively arranged at two opposite sides of the cholesteric liquid crystal and are used for applying driving voltage to the cholesteric liquid crystal.
Wherein the cholesteric liquid crystal is configured to be transitionable from a first state to a second state at the driving voltage and to be recoverable from the second state to the first state after the driving voltage has disappeared.
The phase change unit further comprises a packaging cavity, wherein the packaging cavity is provided with a containing cavity; the phase change material is arranged in the accommodating cavity; the first driving electrode is arranged on one side of the packaging cavity close to the driving circuit layer, and the second driving electrode is arranged on one side of the packaging cavity close to the anode electrode layer.
The packaging layer is provided with a plurality of first conductive through holes which are arranged at intervals with the accommodating cavity, and the anode electrode layer is electrically connected with the driving circuit layer through the first conductive through holes.
Wherein a plurality of the second driving electrodes of the phase change units are connected with each other and electrically connected with the cathode electrode layer; the first driving electrodes of the phase change units are respectively and electrically connected with the driving circuit layer; or (b)
A plurality of first driving electrodes of the phase change cells are connected to each other and electrically connected to the cathode electrode layer; the second driving electrodes of the phase change units are respectively and electrically connected with the driving circuit layer through second conductive through holes of the packaging layer.
The display panel further comprises a second light absorption layer which is arranged on the phase change structure layer and deviates from the driving circuit layer; the second light absorption layer comprises a plurality of light absorption units, and the light absorption units are arranged at positions corresponding to positions between two adjacent phase change units.
Wherein the anode electrode layer is a transparent electrode layer.
In order to solve the above technical problem, another technical solution adopted by the present application is to provide a driving circuit for driving any one of the display panels mentioned above, including:
the judging module is used for judging the state of the display panel;
the driving module is used for driving the phase change unit according to the judging result of the judging module;
wherein, in response to the display panel being in a non-display state, the driving module drives the phase change material to be in the first state through the driving element; in response to the display panel being in a display state, the driving module drives the phase change material to be in the second state through the driving element.
In order to solve the above technical problem, another technical solution adopted by the present application is to provide a display device, including:
a display panel including any one of the display panels described above;
a driving circuit including the driving circuit as described above.
The application provides a driving circuit, a display panel and a display device. Wherein the driving substrate comprises a driving circuit layer; the anode electrode layer is arranged on one side of the driving circuit layer and is electrically connected with the driving circuit layer; the organic light-emitting layer is arranged on one side of the anode electrode layer, which is far away from the driving circuit layer, and further comprises a plurality of light-emitting units; the cathode electrode layer is arranged on one side of the organic light-emitting layer far away from the driving circuit layer and is electrically connected with the driving circuit layer; the phase change structure layer is arranged between the anode electrode layer and the driving circuit layer; the phase change structure layer comprises a plurality of phase change units which are arranged corresponding to the plurality of light emitting units, wherein the phase change units comprise phase change materials with a first state and a second state, a first light absorption layer arranged on one side of the phase change materials close to the driving circuit layer, and a driving element electrically connected with the driving circuit layer; the driving element is used for driving the phase change material to be in a first state or a second state. The display panel is characterized in that a phase change structure layer comprising a phase change material and a driving element is arranged, so that the phase change material transmits light in a first state, the first light absorption layer absorbs ambient light from the outside, and light with the same color as the light emitted by a corresponding light emitting unit can be reflected in a second state; the arrangement reduces the influence of the ambient light on the display panel, enhances the light emitted by the organic light-emitting layer, and improves the light-emitting efficiency and contrast of the display panel; simultaneously, compared with the prior art, the display panel absorbs external environment light through the polaroid, and the display panel adopts the phase change structure layer with smaller thickness, so that the polaroid with larger thickness is omitted, and the thickness of the display panel can be effectively reduced.
Detailed Description
The following description of the embodiments of the present application will be made clearly and fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is evident that the embodiments described are only some, but not all embodiments of the application. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the application without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the application.
In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as the particular system architecture, interfaces, techniques, etc., in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present application.
The terms "first," "second," "third," and the like in this disclosure are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first", "a second", and "a third" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "plurality" means at least two, for example, two, three, etc., unless specifically defined otherwise. All directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back … …) in embodiments of the present application are merely used to explain the relative positional relationship, movement, etc. between the components in a particular gesture (as shown in the drawings), and if the particular gesture changes, the directional indication changes accordingly. Furthermore, the terms "comprise" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those listed steps or elements but may include other steps or elements not listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.
Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearances of such phrases in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Those of skill in the art will explicitly and implicitly appreciate that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.
An OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) display device in the prior art is a self-luminous structure. When the OLED emits light, the external natural light irradiates the OLED display panel, and the light is reflected from the metal cathode after penetrating through the packaging layer, so that the reflected light from the cathode can cause great imaging interference, display contrast is reduced, interference of a user during reading is caused, and the dark state is not dark, and therefore the OLED display device needs to adopt a circular polarizer to solve the problem. The circular polarizer is an assembly formed by combining a linear polarizer and a 1/4 wave plate, and external natural light sequentially becomes linear polarized light and circular polarized light through a linear polarizing film and a 1/4 phase delay plate; after being reflected by the OLED metal cathode, the light becomes circularly polarized light with opposite rotation directions; then the light passes through a 1/4 phase delay film to become linearly polarized light with the vibration direction perpendicular to the polarization direction of the linearly polarized film; the linearly polarized light cannot pass through, so that the reflection interference of the external environment light is restrained.
However, the thickness of the circularly polarizing plate is large (usually about 100 um), and thus the thickness of the display panel cannot be reduced.
The application provides a driving circuit, a display panel and a display device. According to the display panel, the phase change structure layer comprising the phase change material, the driving element and the first light absorption layer is arranged, the phase change material can transmit light in the first state, so that the first light absorption layer absorbs ambient light from the outside, and the influence of the ambient light on the display panel is reduced; in the second state, light of the same color as the emitted light of the corresponding light emitting unit can be reflected; the arrangement reduces the influence of the ambient light on the display panel, enhances the light emitted by the organic light-emitting layer, and improves the light-emitting efficiency and contrast of the display panel; meanwhile, compared with the prior art, the display panel absorbs external environment light through the polaroid, and the phase change structure layer with smaller thickness is adopted by the display panel, so that the polaroid with larger thickness is omitted, and the thicknesses of the display panel and the display device can be effectively reduced.
The present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples.
Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a display panel according to an embodiment of the application. In this embodiment, the present application provides a display panel 100, the display panel 100 including a driving substrate 1, an anode electrode layer 2, an organic light emitting layer 3, a cathode electrode layer 4, and a phase change structure layer 5.
Wherein the drive substrate 1 comprises a drive circuit layer 10. The anode electrode layer 2 is disposed on one side of the driving circuit layer 10 and is electrically connected to the driving circuit layer 10. An anode electrode layer 2 is disposed between the organic light emitting layer 3 and the phase change structure layer 5, and the anode electrode layer 2 is electrically connected to the driving circuit layer 10 through the first conductive via a. The drive substrate 1 further comprises a substrate 11, such as a PI flex substrate, provided with a drive circuit layer 10. The driving circuit layer 10 includes a Thin Film Transistor (TFT), a data line, a power line, and the like.
Specifically, the anode electrode layer 2 is a transparent electrode layer or a semitransparent electrode layer, so that light can at least partially pass through the anode electrode layer 2. Preferably, in a specific embodiment, the anode electrode layer 2 is a ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) layer or other transparent conductive material layer. And the anode electrode layer 2 can adopt a transparent conductive material layer without having a reflecting function, so that a conductive material containing Ag is not needed, and the preparation cost can be effectively reduced.
The organic light emitting layer 3 is disposed on a side of the anode electrode layer 2 away from the driving circuit layer 10, and the organic light emitting layer 3 further includes a plurality of light emitting units 30. In a specific embodiment, the plurality of light emitting units 30 includes a red light emitting unit, a green light emitting unit, and a blue light emitting unit. In this embodiment, the organic light emitting layer 3 includes a Hole Injection Layer (HIL), a Hole Transport Layer (HTL), an Emitting Material Layer (EML), an Electron Transport Layer (ETL), and an Electron Injection Layer (EIL) stacked in this order.
The cathode electrode layer 4 is disposed on a side of the organic light emitting layer 3 away from the driving circuit layer 10 and electrically connected to the driving circuit layer 10. Specifically, the cathode electrode layer 4 is electrically connected to the driving circuit layer 10 through the edge of the display panel 100. The cathode electrode layer 4 may be a whole layer, or may be provided corresponding to each of the plurality of light emitting units 30.
With continued reference to fig. 1, the phase change structure layer 5 is disposed between the anode electrode layer 2 and the driving circuit layer 10; the phase change structure layer 5 includes a plurality of phase change cells 50 disposed corresponding to the plurality of light emitting cells 30. The phase change cell 50 includes a phase change material 51 having a first state and a second state, a driving element 52 electrically connected to the driving circuit layer 10, and a first light absorbing layer 6 disposed on a side of the phase change material 51 adjacent to the driving circuit layer 10. In an implementation, the driving element 52 is configured to drive the phase change material 51 to be in the first state or the second state. The specific material of the phase change material 51 is not limited as long as it can be switched between the first state and the second state, and may be, for example, liquid crystal. The structure of the driving element 52 is not limited as long as it can drive the phase change material 51 to switch between the first state and the second state. The manner in which the phase change material 51 is driven by the driving element 52 to switch between the first state and the second state may be an electric field, a magnetic field, heating, illumination, etc. In a specific embodiment, the first light absorbing layer 6 is a black material light absorbing layer.
Referring to fig. 1, fig. 2 and fig. 3, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a display panel according to the present application for absorbing ambient light in a first state. Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the display panel provided by the application reflecting ambient light in a second state. Wherein, the phase change material 51 is capable of transmitting light in the first state, such that the first light absorbing layer 6 absorbs the ambient light from the outside, so as to reduce the influence of the ambient light on the display panel 100; the phase change material 51 is capable of reflecting light of the same color as the light emitted from the corresponding light emitting unit 30 (including the ambient light from the outside and the light emitted from the light emitting unit 30 to the phase change material 51 side) in the second state to further enhance the light emitted from the plurality of light emitting units 30 of the organic light emitting layer 3, thereby improving the light emitting efficiency and contrast of the display panel 100. For example, the phase change element 50 corresponds to the light emitting element 30 that emits red light, and the phase change material 51 reflects red light in the second state; the phase change element 50 corresponds to the light emitting element 30 which emits green light, and the phase change material 51 reflects green light in the second state. Specifically, the plurality of phase change cells 50 includes a phase change cell 50 for reflecting red light, a phase change cell 50 for reflecting green light, and a phase change cell 50 for reflecting blue light, corresponding to the red light emitting cell, the green light emitting cell, and the blue light emitting cell, respectively.
Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a phase change structure layer according to an embodiment of the application. The phase change material 51 is cholesteric liquid crystal in this embodiment. The driving element 52 includes a first driving electrode 52a and a second driving electrode 52b; the first driving electrode 52a and the second driving electrode 52b are disposed on opposite sides of the cholesteric liquid crystal, respectively, for applying a driving voltage to the cholesteric liquid crystal. The first driving electrode 52a is disposed on a side of the phase change material 51 close to the driving circuit layer 10, and the second driving electrode 52b is disposed on a side of the phase change material 51 close to the anode electrode layer 2, that is, the first driving electrode 52a and the second driving electrode 52b are respectively disposed on two sides of the phase change material 51 perpendicular to the phase change structure layer 5. In a specific embodiment, the cholesteric liquid crystal material may be a thermochromic material or a liquid crystal material. It will be appreciated that in other embodiments, the first driving electrode 52a and the second driving electrode 52b may be disposed on two sides of the phase change material 51 parallel to the phase change structure layer 5, respectively, according to the liquid crystal material used for the phase change material 51. Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a phase change structure layer according to another embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment, the first driving electrode 52a and the second driving electrode 52b are disposed at intervals on the same side of the phase change material 51 away from the driving circuit layer 10, and are disposed at positions away from the phase change material 51. In this way, the cholesteric liquid crystals emitting different light can share the same first driving electrode 52a or share the same second driving electrode 52b, so that the structure of the phase change structure layer 5 is simpler, besides, the driving element 52 arranged in this way does not need to use transparent materials, and light emitted by the light emitting unit 30 can be prevented from being blocked.
With continued reference to fig. 4, the cholesteric liquid crystal is configured to be capable of transitioning from a first state to a second state at a drive voltage and to be capable of returning from the second state to the first state after the drive voltage has disappeared. It can be understood that when the display panel 100 does not develop color, the first driving electrode 52a and the second driving electrode 52b on both sides of the cholesteric liquid crystal do not provide voltage, and at this time, the cholesteric liquid crystal is in the first state, the ambient light reaching the cholesteric liquid crystal via the organic light emitting layer 3 can penetrate the cholesteric liquid crystal, and further the ambient light is absorbed by the first light absorbing layer 6, so as to reduce the influence of the external ambient light on the display panel 100, and simultaneously make the display panel 100 have a better black state when not displaying; further, the display panel 100 is generally in the non-display state for a longer period of time, and no voltage is applied to the cholesteric liquid crystal in the non-display state, thereby saving energy and power. When the display panel 100 needs to develop color during use, the first driving electrode 52a and the second driving electrode 52b on both sides of the cholesteric liquid crystal provide voltages, and at this time, the cholesteric liquid crystal is in the second state, ambient light reaching the cholesteric liquid crystal through the organic light emitting layer 3 or light emitted from the organic light emitting layer 3 to the phase change material 51 side is reflected by the cholesteric liquid crystal, and the reflected light passes through the organic light emitting layer 3, so as to enhance the light of the organic light emitting layer 3, thereby improving the light emitting efficiency and contrast of the display panel 100.
Referring further to fig. 4, the phase change cell 50 of the present embodiment further includes an encapsulation cavity 53. The package cavity 53 has a housing cavity 53a; cholesteric liquid crystal is disposed in the accommodation chamber 53 a. Specifically, the packaging cavity 53 is a micro-cup, and the height of the micro-cup is 20um-50um; the area of the accommodating cavity 53a is larger than or equal to the opening area of the anode pixel (not shown), which is beneficial to ensuring the pixel opening and preventing the pixel opening from being affected.
Referring further to fig. 1 and 4, the first driving electrode 52a is disposed on a surface of a side of the encapsulation cavity 53 close to the driving circuit layer 10, the second driving electrode 52b is disposed on a surface of a side of the encapsulation cavity 53 close to the anode electrode layer 2, and an insulating layer (not shown) is disposed between the second driving electrode 52b and the anode electrode layer 2 to ensure insulation between the second driving electrode 52b and the anode electrode layer 2. The plurality of packaging cavities 53 of the plurality of phase change units 50 are connected with each other to form a packaging layer B, the packaging layer B has a plurality of first conductive through holes a spaced from the accommodating cavity 53a, and the above-mentioned anode electrode layer 2 is electrically connected with the driving circuit layer 10 through the first conductive through holes a, so as to realize electric signal transmission. It will be appreciated that in a specific embodiment, the specific first conductive via a position and the number of first conductive vias a may be designed according to the design of the display panel 100, which is not limited herein, so long as the electrical connection is ensured.
Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a display panel according to another embodiment of the application. The display panel 100 provided in this embodiment is substantially the same as the display panel 100 provided in fig. 1, except that the display panel 100 of this embodiment further includes a second light absorption layer 7 disposed on the phase change structure layer 5 facing away from the driving circuit layer 10. The second light absorbing layer 7 includes a plurality of light absorbing units 70, and the light absorbing units 70 are disposed corresponding to positions between two adjacent phase change units 50, and are configured to absorb different color lights reflected from the phase change units 50, so as to avoid color mixing between the phase change units 50. Specifically, the second light absorbing layer 7 may be located between the electrode layer where the second driving electrode 52b is located and the anode electrode layer 2, and may also be provided in the same layer as the second driving electrode 52 b.
Referring to fig. 6 and 7, fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an electrode connection according to an embodiment of the application. The plurality of second driving electrodes 52b of the plurality of phase change cells 50 are connected to each other. Specifically, the plurality of second driving electrodes 52b may be connected in a mesh shape, or may be a continuous one-layer structure, so long as the plurality of second driving electrodes 52b may be connected to each other, which is not limited by the present application. In the present embodiment, a plurality of second driving electrodes 52b are mainly used as a continuous whole layer for illustration; the plurality of second driving electrodes 52b have openings corresponding to the first conductive vias a to avoid shorting the second driving electrodes 52b to the anode electrode layer 2. The second driving electrode 52b is electrically connected to the cathode electrode layer 4 at the edge of the display panel 100. The plurality of first driving electrodes 52a of the plurality of phase change cells 50 are electrically connected to the driving circuit units in the driving circuit layer 10, respectively.
Referring to fig. 6 and 8, fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of an electrode connection according to another embodiment of the application. The plurality of first driving electrodes 52a of the plurality of phase change cells 50 are connected to each other. Specifically, the plurality of first driving electrodes 52a may be connected in a mesh shape, or may be a continuous one-layer structure, so long as the plurality of first driving electrodes 52a may be connected to each other, which is not limited by the present application. In the present embodiment, the first driving electrode 52a is mainly taken as a continuous whole layer. The first driving electrode 52a is electrically connected to the cathode electrode layer 4 at the edge of the display panel 100. The packaging layer B further has a plurality of second conductive vias (not shown) spaced apart from the accommodating cavity 53a, and the plurality of second driving electrodes 52B of the plurality of phase change units 50 are electrically connected to the driving circuit layer 10 through the second conductive vias of the packaging layer B, respectively.
Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a driving circuit according to an embodiment of the application. The present application also provides a driving circuit 200 for driving the display panel 100 related to the above-described embodiment. The driving circuit 200 includes a judging module 300 and a driving module 400. Referring to fig. 9 and 6, the judging module 300 is configured to judge a state of the display panel 100; the driving module 400 is used for driving the phase change unit 50 of the display panel 100 according to the determination result of the determining module 300. Wherein, in response to the display panel 100 being in the non-display state, the driving module 400 drives the phase change material 51 to be in the first state through the driving element 52; in response to the display panel 100 being in the display state, the driving module 400 drives the phase change material 51 to be in the second state through the driving element 52. That is, in the non-display state of the display panel 100, ambient light reaching the phase change material 51 through the organic light emitting layer 3 is absorbed by the phase change material 51, so that the display panel 100 has a better black state when not displayed; further, the display panel 100 is generally in the non-display state for a longer period of time, and no voltage is applied to the cholesteric liquid crystal in the non-display state, thereby saving energy and power. In the display state of the display panel 100, ambient light reaching the phase change material 51 through the organic light emitting layer 3 is reflected by the phase change material 51, and the reflected light passes through the organic light emitting layer 3, thereby enhancing the light of the organic light emitting layer 3 and improving the light emitting efficiency and contrast of the display panel 100.
Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a display device according to an embodiment of the application. The present application also provides a display device 500 including the display panel 100 and the driving circuit 200. The specific structure and function of the display panel 100 and the driving circuit 200 can be referred to the description of the display panel 100 and the driving circuit 200 provided in the above embodiments, and will not be repeated here. The display device 500 may be a self-luminous product, such as a notebook computer, a mobile phone, a television, etc. made of an OLED and a Mini-LED.
It will be evident to those skilled in the art that the application is not limited to the details of the foregoing illustrative embodiments, and that the present application may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the application being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein. Any reference sign in a claim should not be construed as limiting the claim concerned.
The foregoing description is only of embodiments of the present application, and is not intended to limit the scope of the application, and all equivalent structures or equivalent processes using the descriptions and the drawings of the present application or directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields are included in the scope of the present application.