Area light source and display device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11256010-B2
Application number	US-201816329456-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 11, 2018
Priority date	Aug 1, 2017
Publication date	Feb 22, 2022
Grant date	Feb 22, 2022

Abstract

A surface light source, comprising a waveguide layer and a grating structure; the waveguide layer has a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other; the grating structure is provided on the first or second surface of the waveguide layer; and the grating structure is used for guiding light incident to the grating structure to the waveguide layer and performing total reflection propagation in the waveguide layer. Such surface light source structure enables energy and direction of light emitted from a light field modulation layer to be distributed uniformly, and thus the thickness of the surface light source and the number of LEDs in the surface light source are reduced. Also disclosed is a display device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An area light source, comprising:
a waveguide layer, wherein the waveguide layer comprises a first surface and a second surface opposite thereto, and the second surface of the waveguide layer comprises a light extraction component configured to guide light rays propagated in a total reflection mode in the waveguide layer to an outside uniformly;
a plurality of light sources, wherein each of the plurality of light sources is located on a side of the first surface; and
a plurality of two-dimensional diffraction grating components, wherein the plurality of two-dimensional diffraction grating components correspond to the plurality of light sources in a one-to-one manner, and each of the plurality of two-dimensional diffraction grating components comes into contact with the waveguide layer, and is configured to guide light rays emitted from the corresponding light source into the waveguide layer;
wherein each of the plurality of two-dimensional diffraction grating components comes into contact with the second surface; and an orthographic projection of the light extraction component onto the waveguide layer does not overlap with an orthographic projection of each of the plurality of two-dimensional diffraction grating components onto the waveguide layer;
wherein each of the plurality of light sources comes into contact with the first surface.

2. The area light source according to claim 1 , wherein an orthographic projection of each of the plurality of light sources onto the waveguide layer is located at a center of an orthographic projection of a corresponding two-dimensional diffraction grating component onto the waveguide layer.

3. The area light source according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of two-dimensional diffraction grating components satisfies a following condition:

D
=

2
⁢
d

tan
⁢

⁢
30
⁢
°

;

wherein D is a diameter of the two-dimensional diffraction grating component, and d is a distance between a corresponding light source, and a surface of the waveguide layer proximate to the two-dimensional diffraction grating component.

4. The area light source according to claim 1 , wherein the waveguide layer satisfies a condition of

4
⁢
h

tan
⁢

⁢
θ

>
D

,

wherein h is a thickness of the waveguide layer, θ is an incidence angle of a light ray incident on the waveguide layer, and D is a diameter of each of the plurality of two-dimensional diffraction grating components.

5. The area light source according to claim 4 , wherein the thickness of the waveguide layer is greater than or equal to two micrometers.

6. The area light source according to claim 1 , wherein the light extraction component comprises one or more of a plurality of netted dot components, or a plurality of grating components.

7. The area light source according to claim 1 , wherein a refractive index of each of the plurality of two-dimensional diffraction grating components is higher than a refractive index of the waveguide layer.

8. The area light source according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of two-dimensional diffraction grating components includes a first sub-grating, and a plurality of second sub-gratings surrounding the first sub-grating; an orthographic projection of the first sub-grating onto the waveguide layer is a circle, and orthographic projections of the plurality of second sub-gratings onto the waveguide layer are rings concentric with the circle and with different radiuses.

9. The area light source according to claim 8 , wherein a periodicity, a line width, and a height of the first sub-grating are not exactly same as a periodicity, a line width, and a height of at least one of the plurality of second sub-gratings, and periodicities, line widths, and heights of at least two of the plurality of second sub-gratings are not exactly same from each other.

10. The area light source according to claim 9 , wherein the first sub-grating comprises a plurality of first sub-components in any one periodicity of the first sub-grating; and
both line widths and heights of respective first sub-components are not equal; or line widths of respective first sub-components are equal, but heights of the respective first sub-components are not equal; or line widths of respective first sub-components are not equal, but heights of the respective first sub-components are equal.

11. The area light source according to claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of second sub-gratings comprises a plurality of second sub-components in any one periodicity of the second sub-grating; and
both line widths and heights of respective second sub-components are not equal; or line widths of respective second sub-components are equal, but heights of the respective second sub-components are not equal; or line widths of respective second sub-components are not equal, but heights of the respective second sub-components are equal.

12. The area light source according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of light sources is a monochromatic light source;
the area light source further comprises a monochromatic light conversion layer located on a light-emitting side of the area light source; and
the monochromatic light conversion layer is configured to convert monochromatic light emitted from each of the plurality of light sources into white light.

13. The area light source according to claim 12 , wherein the monochromatic light conversion layer comprises one or more of a fluorescent layer or a quantum dot layer.

14. The area light source according to claim 12 , wherein each of the plurality of light sources is arranged below the monochromatic light conversion layer, and located between the waveguide layer and the monochromatic light conversion layer.

15. The area light source according to claim 1 , wherein the area light source further comprises a reflection layer located on a side of the waveguide layer away from the monochromatic light conversion layer.

16. The area light source according to claim 15 , wherein each of the plurality of light sources is arranged on the reflection layer, and located between the waveguide layer and the reflection layer.

17. A display device, comprising the area light source according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd

Inventors

• Meng Xiandong
• Wang Wei
• Dong Xue
• Lv Jing
• Chen Xiaochuan
• Tan Jifeng
• Gao Jian
• Meng Xianqin

Classifications

• G02B5/1814 Primary

  structurally combined with one or more further optical elements, e.g. lenses, mirrors, prisms or other diffraction gratings (G02B5/189 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B5/1861

  Reflection gratings characterised by their structure, e.g. step profile, contours of substrate or grooves, pitch variations, materials (G02B5/1809, G02B5/1828, G02B5/1833, G02B5/1838 and G02B5/1847 take precedence) · CPC title

• G02F1/133605

  including specially adapted reflectors · CPC title

• G02B6/0016

  Grooves, prisms, gratings, scattering particles or rough surfaces · CPC title

• G02F1/133602

  Direct backlight · CPC title