Display apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12193262-B2
Application number	US-202016997101-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 19, 2020
Priority date	Sep 3, 2019
Publication date	Jan 7, 2025
Grant date	Jan 7, 2025

Abstract

A display apparatus includes a substrate having a display area and a peripheral area surrounding the display area. Display elements are arranged in the display area. A spacer is disposed between the display elements and includes a lateral side having a first slope. A thin film encapsulation layer covers the display area and includes a buffer encapsulation layer, an inorganic, encapsulation layer, an organic encapsulation layer, and a composite encapsulation layer sequentially stacked on one another. The composite encapsulation layer includes a plurality of sub-layers stacked on each other. Each of the sub-layers has a thickness that is less than a thickness of the inorganic encapsulation layer. An upper surface of the buffer encapsulation layer has a second slope that is smaller than the first slope. The second slope overlaps the first slope in a direction of a thickness of the substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A display apparatus comprising:
a substrate including a display area and a peripheral area surrounding the display area;
display elements arranged in the display area;
a spacer disposed between the display elements, the spacer including a lateral side having a first slope; and
a thin film encapsulation layer covering the display area, the thin film encapsulation layer comprising a buffer encapsulation layer, an inorganic encapsulation layer, an organic encapsulation layer, and a composite encapsulation layer sequentially stacked on one another,
wherein the composite encapsulation layer comprises a plurality of sub-layers stacked on each other, each of the sub-layers has a thickness that is less than a thickness of the inorganic encapsulation layer,
wherein an upper surface of the buffer encapsulation layer has a second slope that is smaller than the first slope, the second slope overlapping the first slope in a direction of a thickness of the substrate.

2. The display apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a modulus of the composite encapsulation layer is less than a modulus of the inorganic encapsulation layer.

3. The display apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the modulus of the composite encapsulation layer is in a range of about 5% to about 20% of the modulus of the inorganic encapsulation layer.

4. The display apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the buffer encapsulation layer comprises an organic-inorganic hybrid material.

5. The display apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the buffer encapsulation layer comprises silicon oxide that includes carbon.

6. The display apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
1 dyad is a stack structure of a first sub-layer and a second sub-layer, the first sub-layer and the second sub-layer comprising different materials or different composition ratios from each other; and
the composite encapsulation layer comprises 1.5 dyads to 10 dyads.

7. The display apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a capping layer disposed between the display elements and the thin film encapsulation layer,
wherein the capping layer comprises a refractive index of about 1.6 to about 3.

8. The display apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an inorganic barrier layer disposed between the display elements and the buffer encapsulation layer,
wherein the inorganic barrier layer has a thickness that is less than the thickness of the inorganic encapsulation layer.

9. The display apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the thickness of the inorganic barrier layer is in a range of about 500 Å to about 1000 Å.

10. A display apparatus comprising:
a substrate including a display area and a peripheral area surrounding the display area;
display elements arranged in the display area; and
a thin film encapsulation layer covering the display area, the thin film encapsulation layer comprising an inorganic encapsulation layer, an organic encapsulation layer, and a composite encapsulation layer sequentially stacked on one another,
wherein the composite encapsulation layer comprises a plurality of sub-layers stacked on each other and a thickness of the composite encapsulation layer is less than a thickness of the inorganic encapsulation layer, wherein at least one sub-layer of the plurality of sub-layers includes an organic-inorganic hybrid material.

11. The display apparatus of claim 10 , wherein:
the thin film encapsulation layer further comprises a buffer encapsulation layer disposed between the display elements and the inorganic encapsulation layer,
wherein the buffer encapsulation layer comprises an organic material or an organic-inorganic hybrid material.

12. The display apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the buffer encapsulation layer comprises SiO x C y H z ,
wherein x>0, y>0, and z≥0.

13. The display apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:
a capping layer disposed between the display elements and the thin film encapsulation layer,
wherein the capping layer comprises a refractive index of about 1.6 to about 3.

14. The display apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising:
a protection layer disposed between the capping layer and the thin film encapsulation layer, the protection layer comprising an inorganic material,
wherein a refractive index of the protection layer is less than the refractive index of the capping layer.

15. The display apparatus of claim 10 , wherein:
the plurality of sub-layers includes a first sub-layer and a second sub-layer alternately stacked on each other,
wherein the first sub-layer comprises an inorganic film and the second sub-layer comprises an organic-inorganic hybrid material.

16. A flexible display apparatus comprising:
a flexible substrate including a display area and a peripheral area surrounding the display area;
display elements arranged in the display area;
a spacer disposed between the display elements, the spacer including a lateral side having a first slope; and
a thin film encapsulation layer covering the display area, the thin film encapsulation layer including a buffer encapsulation layer disposed above the display area and an inorganic encapsulation layer disposed above the buffer encapsulation layer, the buffer encapsulation layer comprising an organic-inorganic hybrid material;
wherein an upper surface of the buffer encapsulation layer has a second slope that is smaller than the first slope, the second slope overlapping the first slope in a direction of a thickness of the substrate.

Assignees

• Samsung Display Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Sunho
• Lee Sunhee
• Kim Gunhee
• Kim Hyun

Classifications

• H10K59/8723 Primary

  Vertical spacers, e.g. arranged between the sealing arrangement and the OLED · CPC title

• H10K59/8731 Primary

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

• H10K59/131

  Interconnections, e.g. wiring lines or terminals · CPC title

• H10K50/8445 Primary

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

• H10K2102/311

  Flexible OLED · CPC title