ELECTROCHROMIC DISPLAY SUBSTRATE

• US 20090161194A1
• Filed: 12/20/2007
• Published: 06/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales DIS France SAS (Thales SA)
• Original Assignee: Aveso, Inc. (Thales SA)
• Inventors: Pennaz, Thomas J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,294,973 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 359/265
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/163 Operation of electrochromic cells, e.g. electrodeposition cells; Circuit arrangements therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/12229 Intermediate article [e.g., blank, etc.]

Abstract

A metal-plated copperless substrate for an electrochromic display. The display includes the substrate in the form of a backplane whereon circuitry of less than about 1 micron in thickness is patterned from the copperless metal. A transparent frontplane is coupled to the substrate with an electro-active ink material therebetween through which pixels may be activated to form an image for the display.

Claims

1. An electrochromic display module comprising:

a backplane having copperless circuit lines patterned thereon;

a transparent frontplane; and

an electro-active ink material disposed between said transparent frontplane and said backplane to accommodate a display of pixels therethrough.

2. The electrochromic display module of claim 1 wherein the copperless circuit lines are less than about 1 micron in thickness.

3. The electrochromic display module of claim 1 further comprising one of a bus, a microcontroller, a resistor, a crystal and a battery electrically coupled to the copperless circuit lines.

4. The electrochromic display module of claim 3 wherein said battery is configured to provide between about 0.7 volts and about 3.0 volts through the copperless circuit lines.

5. The electrochromic display module of claim 3 wherein said microcontroller includes circuitry extending therefrom in excess of about 40 lines with spacing of less than about 5 mils and corresponding to spacing of the copperless circuit lines.

6. The electrochromic display module of claim 3 wherein said backplane is electrically coupled to a positive terminal of said battery to serve as a positive electrode.

7. The electrochromic display module of claim 1 further comprising an electrically insulating dielectric on said backplane.

8. The electrochromic display module of claim 7 wherein said electrically insulating dielectric is patterned to allow exposure to the copperless circuit lines at a selected location.

9. The electrochromic display module of claim 8 wherein the selected location is for one of pixel generation, die attach, and battery component accommodation.

10. The electrochromic display module of claim 1 wherein the copperless circuit lines include a material selected from gold, silver, tin, platinum, palladium, chromium, and zinc.

11. The electrochromic display module of claim 1 wherein said backplane includes a material selected from a polyester, a polyimide, a polypropylene, an acrylate, a polyolefin, polyethylene napthalate, a polycarbonate, and polyvinyl chloride.

12. The electrochromic display module of claim 1 further comprising a conductive layer on said transparent frontplane, said conductive layer of a material selected from a group consisting of gold, silver chromium, and indium tin oxide.

13. The electrochromic display module of claim 12 wherein said conductive layer is grounded to serve as a negative electrode.

14. The electrochromic display module of claim 1 having a thickness of less than about 1 mm.

15. An electronic display card comprising:

an external electronic component; and

an electrochromic display module electronically coupled to said external electronic component, said electrochromic display module comprising;

a backplane having copperless circuit lines patterned thereon;

a transparent frontplane; and

an electro-active ink material disposed between said transparent frontplane and said backplane to accommodate a display of pixels therethrough.

16. The electronic display card of claim 15 wherein said electronic component is coupled to said electrochromic display module through a bus thereof and is one of a power source, a processor, a membrane switch, a sensor, and an interactive read write device.

17. An electrochromic display substrate comprising:

a backplane; and

a copperless metal plated on said backplane to a thickness of less than about 1 micron for patterning into circuit lines to activate a pixel display through an electro-active ink material to a transparent frontplane.

18. The electrochromic display substrate of claim 17 to accommodate a printed dielectric thereon following the patterning.

19. A copperless substrate comprising:

a backplane; and

a copperless metal plated on said backplane to a thickness of less than about 1 micron, said copperless metal configured to accommodate an electronic device feature.

20. The copperless substrate of claim 19 wherein the electronic device feature is one of a current collector for a battery component and an attach location for one of a microprocessor, a sensor, a switch, a crystal, and a radio frequency antenna.

21. A method of forming an electrochromic display device, the method comprising:

providing an electrochromic display substrate of a backplane with patterned copperless circuit lines thereat; and

coupling a frontplane over the electrochromic display substrate.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the patterned copperless circuit lines are less than about 1 micron in thickness, the method further comprising printing a dielectric over the electrochromic display substrate prior to said coupling.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

printing a conductive adhesive on the frontplane prior to said coupling;

printing electrochromic ink material over the dielectric prior to said coupling; and

curing the conductive adhesive epoxy after said coupling to stabilize the frontplane to the electrochromic display substrate.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein the patterned copperless circuit lines are of gold, the method further comprising:

electroplating an anode battery component at a location on the electrochromic display substrate; and

printing a cathode battery component on the cathode battery component.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the anode battery component includes zinc and the cathode battery component includes carbon manganese.