Electrowetting display and method of manufacturing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9612431-B2
Application number	US-201414549401-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2014
Priority date	Jun 8, 2012
Publication date	Apr 4, 2017
Grant date	Apr 4, 2017

Abstract

An electrowetting display includes first and second substrates facing each other, an electrowetting layer, a first electrode, a second electrode, and a hydrophobic barrier layer. The electrowetting layer is disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate and includes a first fluid and a second fluid, and the first fluid has an electrical conductivity or a polarity. The first electrode is disposed on the first substrate, and the second electrode forms an electric field in cooperation with the first electrode to control a position of the first fluid. The hydrophobic barrier layer is disposed between the first substrate and the electrowetting layer to cover the first electrode and includes a first surface making contact with the first electrode and a second surface having a hydrophobicity stronger than a hydrophobicity of the first surface and making contact with the electrowetting layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing an electrowetting display, the method comprising:
providing a first electrode in a pixel region of a first substrate;
providing partition walls on a periphery of the pixel region;
placing a preliminary hydrophobic layer on the first substrate to cover at least a portion of the partition walls and the first electrode;
forming a hydrophobic layer in the pixel region by:
etching portions of the partition walls; and
removing the preliminary hydrophobic layer from the partition walls;

providing a second electrode on a second substrate; and
placing a fluid layer between the first substrate and the second substrate, the fluid layer contacting the hydrophobic layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the hydrophobic layer further comprises:
vapor depositing the hydrophobic layer on the preliminary hydrophobic layer in the pixel region using a reaction gas.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the reaction gas of the surface-treatment contains fluorine.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the preliminary hydrophobic layer comprises at least one of fluorinated silicon oxide or fluorinated silicon nitride.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a surface of the partition walls has a hydrophobicity stronger than a hydrophobicity of a surface of the first electrode.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the preliminary hydrophobic layer formed on the partition walls has a density smaller than the preliminary hydrophobic layer formed on the first electrode.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein etching portions of the partition walls further comprises:
using an etchant that is provided to the partition walls through the preliminary hydrophobic layer.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a barrier layer on the first substrate to cover at least a portion of the first electrode, wherein providing the barrier layer comprises:
providing a preliminary barrier layer to cover at least a portion of the partition walls and the first electrode before providing the preliminary hydrophobic layer; and
etching portions of the partition walls to remove the preliminary barrier layer formed on the partition walls.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising removing the preliminary barrier layer and the preliminary hydrophobic layer together in the same process.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the hydrophobic layer in the pixel region further comprises:
patterning the preliminary hydrophobic layer such that the hydrophobic barrier layer is formed to be substantially spaced apart from the partition walls.

11. A method of manufacturing an electrowetting display, the method comprising:
providing a first electrode on a first substrate;
placing a preliminary barrier layer on the first substrate to cover at least a portion of the first electrode, wherein the preliminary barrier layer has a first hydrophobicity;
forming a hydrophobic barrier layer having a second hydrophobicity greater than the first hydrophobicity, wherein forming the hydrophobic barrier layer comprises performing a surface-treatment on a portion of the preliminary barrier layer to form a hydrophobic portion of the hydrophobic barrier layer and a hydrophilic portion of the hydrophobic barrier layer, wherein the hydrophobic portion is the portion of the preliminary barrier layer on which the surface-treatment is performed, and the hydrophilic portion is another portion of the preliminary barrier layer on which the surface-treatment is not performed;
providing a second electrode on a second substrate; and
placing a fluid layer between the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein the fluid layer is in contact with the hydrophobic barrier layer.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the hydrophilic portion comprises at least one of silicon oxide or silicon nitride, and the hydrophobic portion comprises at least one of fluorinated silicon oxide or fluorinated silicon nitride.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the hydrophobic portion comprises an inorganic insulating material containing fluorine.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the hydrophobic portion and the hydrophilic portion are disposed in an area of the hydrophobic barrier layer that corresponds to a pixel region.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the hydrophobic portion has a first thickness, the hydrophilic portion has a second thickness, and the hydrophobic barrier layer has a third thickness, and wherein the second thickness is substantially equal to a difference between the first thickness and the third thickness.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
prior to forming the hydrophobic barrier layer, providing partition walls on at least a portion of the preliminary barrier layer so that the partition walls correspond to a periphery of a pixel region of the first substrate, wherein the partition walls are used as a mask, and wherein the portion of the preliminary barrier layer is in the pixel region.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein providing the partition walls on the preliminary barrier layer further comprises:
providing the partition walls such that the hydrophobic barrier layer is substantially spaced apart from the partition walls.

18. A method of manufacturing an electrowetting display, the method comprising:
providing a first electrode on a first substrate;
placing a preliminary barrier layer on the first substrate to cover at least a portion of the first electrode, wherein the preliminary barrier layer has a first hydrophobicity;
forming, on a portion of the preliminary barrier layer, a hydrophobic barrier layer having a second hydrophobicity greater than the first hydrophobicity by exposing the portion of the preliminary barrier layer to flourine gas to vapor-deposit the hydrophobic barrier layer onto the portion of the preliminary barrier layer;
providing a second electrode on a second substrate; and
placing a fluid layer between the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein the fluid layer is in contact with the hydrophobic barrier layer.

19. A method of manufacturing an electrowetting display, the method comprising:
providing a first electrode in a pixel region of a first substrate;
providing partition walls on a periphery of the pixel region;
placing a preliminary hydrophobic layer on the first substrate to cover at least a portion of the partition walls and the first electrode, wherein the hydrophobic portion comprises an inorganic insulating material containing fluorine;
forming a hydrophobic layer in the pixel region by:
etching portions of the partition walls; and
removing the preliminary hydrophobic layer from the partition walls;

providing a second electrode on a second substrate; and
placing a fluid layer between the first substrate and the second substrate, the fluid layer contacting the hydrophobic layer.

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Yang Sunghoon
• Sung Woo Yong

Classifications

• C23C16/407

  of zinc, germanium, cadmium, indium, tin, thallium or bismuth · CPC title

• C23C16/401

  containing silicon · CPC title

• G02B26/005 Primary

  based on electrowetting · CPC title

• G02B2207/115

  Electrowetting · CPC title