Electronic devices with flexible display and method for manufacturing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9349969-B2
Application number	US-201414168872-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2014
Priority date	Feb 1, 2013
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure can significantly reduce the non-display area of a flexible OLED display, which would otherwise be covered by a cosmetic trim such as a bezel or an opaque. As such, an electronic device with a display having minimized border area can be provided. This makes it possible to reduce the overall size of the electronic device without sacrificing the size of the display therein. Such a reduction in size of the bezel was achieved by bending the flexible substrate near its edge using an insert member.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A flexible OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display, comprising:
a flexible substrate that includes a first portion, a second portion underneath a plane of the first portion and a bent portion between the first portion and the second portion;
a display unit on an outer surface of the first portion of the flexible substrate, the display unit comprising a plurality of OLED pixels;
a first support film that is disposed on an inner surface of the first portion of the flexible substrate;
a second support film that is disposed on an inner surface of the second portion of the flexible substrate, the inner surface of the second portion of the flexible substrate facing the inner surface of the first portion of the flexible substrate; and
an insert member separate from the flexible substrate and disposed between the first support film and the second support film, the insert member having a first surface and a second surface at an opposite side of the first surface, the first surface facing the first support film and the second surface facing the second support film, wherein the insert member has a rounded end that comes into contact with at least a portion of the bent portion of the flexible substrate to support the bent portion.

2. The flexible OLED display according to claim 1 , wherein the rounded end of the insert member has a radius of curvature that is substantially equal to that of the bent portion of the flexible substrate.

3. The flexible OLED display according to claim 1 , wherein the rounded end of the insert member substantially fills a space under the bent portion of the flexible substrate.

4. The flexible OLED display according to claim 1 , wherein the insert member is formed of a stainless steel, polyethylene-terephthalate (PET), and polycarbonate (PC), and
wherein the flexible substrate is formed of a material selected from a group consisting of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), poly butylene terephthalate (PBT), polysilane, polysiloxane, polysilazane, polycarbosilane, polyacrylate, polymethacrylate, polymethylacrylate, polymethylmetacrylate, polyethylacrylate, polyethylmetacrylate, cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), cyclic olefin polymer (COP), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyimide (PI), polymethylmethacylate (PMMA), polystyrene (PS), polyacetal (POM), polyether ether keton (PEEK), polyestersulfone (PES), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polycarbonate (PC), polyvilyidenefluoride (PVDF), perfluoroalkyl polymer (PVA), and styrene acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN), and a combination thereof.

5. The flexible OLED display according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an insulating film with a chip connected to the second portion of the flexible substrate, wherein the chip is a display driver-integrated circuit or touch-integrated circuit.

6. The flexible OLED display according to claim 5 , wherein the insert member includes a recessed portion for receiving the chip.

7. The flexible OLED display according to claim 1 , wherein the insert member includes a recessed portion for receiving a securing member for affixing the flexible OLED display.

8. The flexible OLED display according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an adhesive layer that is interposed between the first support film and the insert member, wherein the adhesive layer is a foam pad type adhesive layer.

9. The flexible OLED display according to claim 5 , further comprising:
a step compensation layer that is disposed on a bottom surface of the first support film so as to be spaced apart from the insert member, wherein at least some part of the insulating film is attached to the step compensation layer, and the chip is positioned in a space between the insert member and the step compensation layer.

10. The flexible OLED display according to claim 1 , wherein the insert member is formed of a metal sheet having a first portion with a first thickness and a second portion with a second thickness, the second thickness being greater than the first thickness, and wherein the rounded end of the insert member is formed with a hollow cavity.

11. The flexible OLED display according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a cover layer that is formed on at least parts of an outer surface of the first portion of the flexible substrate, an outer surface of the bent portion of the flexible substrate, and an outer surface of the second portion of the flexible substrate.

12. An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display device, comprising:
a flexible substrate having a central portion mounted with a display unit and an edge portion having a bent portion that is bent downwards away from a plane of the central portion of the flexible substrate, the display unit comprising a plurality of OLED pixels;
an insert member having a first flat surface, a second flat surface at an opposite side of the first flat surface and a rounded end, the rounded end coming into contact with at least a part of the bent portion of the flexible substrate to support the bent portion of the flexible substrate, wherein the bent portion of the flexible substrate has a curvature that substantially conforms to a curvature of the rounded end of the insert member, so that the bent portion of the flexible substrate wraps the rounded end of the insert member;
a first support film between the first flat surface and the flexible substrate; and
a second support film between the second flat surface and the flexible substrate.

13. The OLED display device of claim 12 , wherein the rounded end of the inset member has a radius of curvature that is equal to that of the bent portion of the flexible substrate or smaller than that of the bent portion of the flexible substrate.

14. The OLED display device of claim 12 , wherein the display unit is configured to recognize a touch input.

15. The OLED display device of claim 12 , wherein the insert member extends across and beyond an edge of the display unit parallel to a plane along which the display unit extends, the display unit formed on the central portion of the flexible substrate.

16. An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display device, comprising:
a substrate having a display unit on an outer surface, the display unit comprising a plurality of OLED pixels;
two supporting films on an inner surface of the substrate arranged to face each other, wherein at least a portion of the substrate being-free of the two supporting films is bent backwards at an edge of the OLED display device; and
an insert member separate from the substrate, an end of the insert member coming into contact with the portion of the substrate free of the two supporting member but the insert member spaced apart from portions of the substrate attached with the two supporting films by the two supporting films.

17. The OLED display device of claim 16 , wherein an end of the insert member toward the edge of the OLED display device is aligned with an end of one of the two supporting films.

18. The OLED display device of claim 16 , wherein an end of the insert member is rounded and the rounded end of the insert member protrudes out toward the edge of the OLED display device more than an end of each of the two supporting films.

19. The OLED display device of claim 16 , wherein the substrate is formed of a material selected from a group consisting of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), poly butylene terephthalate (PBT), polysilane, polysiloxane, polysilazane, polycarbosilane, polyacrylate, polymethacrylate, polymethylacrylate, polymethylmetacrylate, polyethylacrylate, pol

Assignees

• Lg Display Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kwon Seyeoul
• Yoo Juhn Suk
• Yang Jae Hun
• Yang Heeseok
• Lee Chanwoo
• Youn Sangcheon
• Jo Soyoung

Classifications

• H10K59/8722

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

• H10K59/10

  OLED displays · CPC title

• H01L27/3241

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L51/0097 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• Y02E10/549

  Organic PV cells · CPC title