Display device having transmission hole passing through substrate and thin-film encapsulation layer and manufacturing method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11380739-B2
Application number	US-202016826138-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 20, 2020
Priority date	Apr 11, 2019
Publication date	Jul 5, 2022
Grant date	Jul 5, 2022

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a display device includes forming a display unit including a main display area and a sensor area over a substrate, the main display area including a main pixel, and the sensor area including an auxiliary pixel and a transmission portion, the forming of the display unit including preparing a hard substrate defining an empty space corresponding to a location of the transmission portion, forming a soft substrate on the hard substrate, forming the main display area and the sensor area on the soft substrate, forming a thin-film encapsulation layer covering the main display area and the sensor area, and forming a transmission hole in the empty space by removing the hard substrate, the transmission hole passing through from the soft substrate to the thin-film encapsulation layer, and arranging a component on one side of the substrate, the component for communicating a signal through the transmission portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A display device comprising:
a substrate;
a display unit over the substrate, and comprising a main display area comprising a main pixel, and a sensor area comprising an auxiliary pixel and a transmission portion;
a thin-film encapsulation layer covering the main pixel and the auxiliary pixel of the display unit; and
a component for exchanging a signal through the transmission portion,
wherein the transmission portion comprises a transmission hole passing through the substrate and the thin-film encapsulation layer.

2. The display device of claim 1 , wherein the thin-film encapsulation layer comprises at least one organic layer and at least one inorganic layer that are stacked.

3. The display device of claim 2 , wherein the at least one inorganic layer of the thin-film encapsulation layer covers an end of a layer between the substrate and the thin-film encapsulation layer, the end being adjacent the transmission hole.

4. The display device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one inorganic layer of the thin-film encapsulation layer covers an end of the substrate adjacent the transmission hole.

5. The display device of claim 2 , wherein the thin-film encapsulation layer comprises a plurality of inorganic layers with the at least one organic layer therebetween.

6. The display device of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a transformable soft substrate.

7. The display device of claim 1 , wherein the component comprises a sensor, a lamp, or a speaker.

8. A display device comprising:
a substrate;
a display unit over the substrate, and comprising a main display area comprising a main pixel, and a sensor area comprising an auxiliary pixel and a transmission portion defining a transmission hole;
a thin-film encapsulation layer covering the main pixel and the auxiliary pixel of the display unit, and comprising at least one organic layer and at least one inorganic layer that are stacked;
a component for exchanging a signal through the transmission portion; and
a dam around the transmission hole for blocking the at least one organic layer of the thin-film encapsulation layer from flooding the transmission hole,
wherein the transmission hole passes through the substrate and the thin-film encapsulation layer.

9. A method of manufacturing a display device, the method comprising:
forming a display unit comprising a main display area and a sensor area over a soft substrate, the main display area comprising a main pixel, and the sensor area comprising an auxiliary pixel and a transmission portion, the forming of the display unit comprising:
preparing a hard substrate defining an empty space corresponding to a location of the transmission portion;
forming the soft substrate on the hard substrate;
forming the main display area and the sensor area on the soft substrate;
forming a thin-film encapsulation layer covering the main display area and the sensor area; and
forming a transmission hole in the empty space by removing the hard substrate, the transmission hole passing through the soft substrate and the thin-film encapsulation layer; and

arranging a component on one side of the soft substrate, the component for communicating a signal through the transmission portion.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the forming of the thin-film encapsulation layer comprises stacking at least one organic layer and at least one inorganic layer.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising forming a dam around the transmission hole for blocking the at least one organic layer of the thin-film encapsulation layer from flooding the transmission hole.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one inorganic layer of the thin-film encapsulation layer covers an end of a layer between the soft substrate and the thin-film encapsulation layer, the end being adjacent the transmission hole.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the at least one inorganic layer of the thin-film encapsulation layer covers an end of the soft substrate adjacent the transmission hole.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the thin-film encapsulation layer comprises a plurality of inorganic layers with the at least one organic layer therebetween.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the hard substrate comprises a glass substrate.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein the empty space comprises a hole that completely passes through the hard substrate, or a recess that is indented in the hard substrate, the hard substrate comprising a glass substrate.

17. The method of claim 9 , wherein inner walls of the empty space that face each other are formed in parallel to each other.

18. The method of claim 9 , wherein inner walls of the empty space that face each other are formed non-parallel to each other.

19. The method of claim 9 , wherein the component comprises a sensor, a lamp, or a speaker.

20. The method of claim 9 , further comprising using the empty space as a mark for alignment with a mask while the mask for forming the main display area and the sensor area is installed.

Assignees

• Samsung Display Co Ltd

Inventors

• Seo Hyunsang
• Kim Kihyun
• Park Younggil

Classifications

• H10K71/00

  Manufacture or treatment specially adapted for the organic devices covered by this subclass · CPC title

• H10K59/12

  Active-matrix OLED [AMOLED] displays · CPC title

• H10K59/40

  OLEDs integrated with touch screens · CPC title

• H10K59/8731 Primary

  multilayered coatings having a repetitive structure, e.g. having multiple organic-inorganic bilayers · CPC title

• H10K59/8722

  Peripheral sealing arrangements, e.g. adhesives, sealants · CPC title