DISPLAY PANEL AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME

• US 20090231304A1
• Filed: 03/13/2009
• Published: 09/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Lee, Sang-Hun, Huh, Chul, Kim, Byoung-Joo, Kim, Gwan-Soo, Chang, Sun-Young
• Granted Patent: US 8,553,010 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13338 Input devices, e.g. touch panels

Abstract

Provided are a touch screen-embedded liquid crystal display panel and a method of manufacturing the same in accordance with one or more embodiments. The touch screen-embedded liquid crystal display panel may include, for example, a transparent first substrate; a second substrate which faces the first substrate; a conductive spacer and a cell-gap spacer which are formed on the first substrate; and a common electrode which is formed on the second substrate and has an aperture in a region that contacts the cell-gap spacer on the first substrate.

Claims

1. A display panel comprising:

a transparent first substrate;

a second substrate which faces the first substrate;

a conductive spacer and a cell-gap spacer which are formed on the first substrate; and

a common electrode which is formed on the second substrate and has an aperture in a region that contacts the cell-gap spacer.

2. The display panel of claim 1, wherein the conductive spacer and the cell-gap spacer are formed on the same layer.

3. The display panel of claim 2, wherein the first substrate comprises a first structure on which the conductive spacer and the cell-gap spacer are formed.

4. The display panel of claim 3, wherein the second substrate comprises a second structure on which the common electrode is formed.

5. The display panel of claim 4, wherein the first structure comprises a thin-film transistor (TFT), first and second sensing lines, and an insulating film which is formed on the TFT and the first and second sensing lines.

6. The display panel of claim 5, wherein a sensing electrode is formed on the conductive spacer and is connected to the first and second sensing lines by contact holes which are formed in the insulating film.

7. The display panel of claim 5, wherein the second structure comprises a black matrix, color filters formed on the black matrix, and the common electrode formed on the color filters.

8. The display panel of claim 3, wherein the first structure comprises a TFT, first and second sensing lines, and color filters which are formed on the TFT and the first and second sensing lines.

9. The display panel of claim 8, wherein a sensing electrode is formed on the conductive spacer and is connected to the first and second sensing lines by contact holes which are formed in the color filters.

10. The display panel of claim 8, wherein the color filters comprise a red filter, a green filter, and a blue filter which have different thicknesses.

11. The display panel of claim 10, wherein the cell-gap spacer is formed on a thickest color filter from among the color filters, and the conductive spacer is formed on a color filter of a different color than the color filter on which the cell-gap spacer is formed.

12. A method of manufacturing a display panel, the method comprising:

forming a first structure, which comprises first and second sensing lines, on a first substrate;

forming a cell-gap spacer and a conductive spacer on the first structure;

connecting the conductive spacer to the first and second sensing lines;

forming a second structure, which comprises a common electrode, on a second substrate;

forming a pattern on the common electrode; and

adhering the first substrate to the second substrate.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the forming of the first structure comprises:

forming a first sensing line, which extends in a direction, and a gate line, which comprises a gate electrode, on the first substrate;

sequentially forming a gate insulating film, an active layer and an ohmic contact layer on the gate line and then forming an active region of a thin-film transistor (TFT);

forming a second sensing line, which crosses the gate line, and a data line which comprises a source electrode and a drain electrode; and

forming an insulating film on the TFT, the gate line, the data line, and the first and second sensing lines.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the connecting of the conductive spacer to the first and second sensing lines comprises:

forming contact holes in the insulating film to partially expose the first and second sensing lines; and

forming a sensing electrode on the conductive spacer and the exposed first and second sensing lines.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the forming of the second structure comprises:

forming a black matrix on the second substrate; and

forming color filters on the second substrate.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the forming of the second structure comprises:

forming a conductive layer on the color filters; and

etching a region of the conductive layer, which corresponds to a region in which the cell-gap spacer is formed, and thus forming the common electrode.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the forming of the first structure comprises:

forming a first sensing line, which extends in a direction, and a gate line, which comprises a gate electrode, on the first substrate;

sequentially forming a gate insulating film, an active layer and an ohmic contact layer on the gate line and then forming an active region of a TFT;

forming a second sensing line, which crosses the gate line, and a data line which comprises a source electrode and a drain electrode; and

forming color filters on the TFT, the gate line, the data line, and the first and second sensing lines.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the forming of the color filters comprises forming a red filter, a green filter and a blue filter, which have different thicknesses, on the TFT, the gate line, the data line, and the first and second sensing lines.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the forming of the cell-gap spacer and the conductive spacer on the first structure comprises:

forming the cell-gap spacer on a thickest color filter from among the color filters; and

forming the conductive spacer on a color filter of a different color than the color filter on which the cell-gap spacer is formed.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the forming of the second structure comprises:

forming a conductive layer on the second substrate; and

etching a region of the conductive layer, which corresponds to a region in which the cell-gap spacer is formed, and thus forming the common electrode.