ELECTRO-OPTICAL DEVICE AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS

• US 20110050657A1
• Filed: 08/25/2010
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Element Capital Commercial Company Pte. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: YAMADA, Tadashi
• Granted Patent: US 8,593,061 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0266 for a display module assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 2102/311 Flexible OLED
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/84 Passivation; Containers; Encapsulations
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/18 Tiled displays
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/87 Passivation; Containers; Encapsulations

Abstract

An electro-optical device includes a display panel obtained by forming an electro-optical layer, in which a plurality of pixels is formed, on a glass substrate having a thickness of 50 μm or less; and a support frame supporting the display panel, wherein the display panel has at least a display region in which the plurality of pixels is formed and frame regions formed outside the display region, and wherein at least one side of each of the frame regions is bent from the vicinity of a circumference of the display region to the support frame side and is fixed to the support frame.

Claims

1. An electro-optical device comprising:

a display panel including an electro-optical layer, in which a plurality of pixels is formed, on a glass substrate having a thickness of 50 μ

m or less; and

a support frame supporting the display panel,

wherein the display panel has at least a display region in which the plurality of pixels is formed and frame regions formed outside the display region, and

wherein at least one side of each of the frame regions is bent from a circumference of the display region to the support frame side and is fixed to the support frame.

2. The electro-optical device according to claim 1, wherein:

a support portion supporting at least a portion of the display region and a storage portion for storing at least one side of each of the frame regions are formed in the support frame, and

the side is fixed in a state of being in contact with a sidewall formed in a crossing direction with respect to a surface including the display region of the storage portion.

3. The electro-optical device according to claim 2, wherein:

in side view, the surface including the display region and the bent portion are provided such that an angle formed with respect to the bent side is in a range of 90 to 120 degrees, and

the bending radius of the glass substrate in the bent portion is 1.8 mm or less.

4. The electro-optical device according to claim 3, wherein at least two facing sides in the display region are bent.

5. The electro-optical device according to claim 1, wherein:

the support frame is formed with substantially the same area as the display region in plan view, and

a front-surface adhesive layer for fixing the display panel is placed on a front surface of the display panel side of the support frame and a side-surface adhesive layer for fixing the frame regions is placed on a side surface of the support frame.

6. The electro-optical device according to claim 5, wherein:

the support frame is a plate-shaped member formed of metal, and

the lengths of the frame regions are 2 mm or more.

7. The electro-optical device according to claim 6, wherein:

the frame regions are formed so as to extend from the side to the outside of the display region in every side of the display region,

a notched portion is formed between neighboring frame regions on the outside of the display region, and

all the frame regions are bent.

8. The electro-optical device according to claim 7, further comprising a tape member or a bezel for pressing the bent portion from the outside to the side surface of the support frame.

17. An electronic apparatus comprising the electro-optical device according to claim 1 as a display portion.

18. An electronic apparatus comprising a display unit having a plurality of electro-optical devices according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electro-optical devices is tiled and placed such that the bent portions or the folded-back portions are adjacent to each other.

19. An electronic apparatus including a plurality of electro-optical devices according to claim 8, comprising:

a display unit having a plurality of first electro-optical devices in which the bezel is placed on an upper side which is the display panel side in the side surface and a plurality of second electro-optical devices in which the bezel is placed on a lower side opposed to the upper side in the side surface,

wherein, when the first electro-optical devices and the second electro-optical devices are aligned, the respective bezels are arranged so as not to be superposed in a planar direction, and

wherein the first electro-optical devices and the second electro-optical devices are alternately tiled and placed.

9. An electro-optical device comprising:

a display panel obtained by forming an electro-optical layer, in which a plurality of pixels is formed, on a glass substrate having a thickness of 50 μ

m or less; and

a support substrate supporting the display panel,

wherein, when a surface of the display panel side of the support substrate is a front surface and a surface opposed to the front surface is a rear surface,

at least one side of each frame region formed on the outside of the display region, in which the plurality of pixels is formed, of the display panel is folded back from the vicinity of a circumference of the display region to the rear surface side of the support substrate.

10. The electro-optical device according to claim 9, wherein:

a front-surface adhesive layer for adhering the display panel and supporting the display panel is provided on the front surface of the support substrate and a rear-surface adhesive layer for adhering the folded-back side is provided on the rear surface, and

the bending radius of the glass substrate in the folded-back portion is substantially equal to half a thickness obtained by adding the thicknesses of the front-surface adhesive layer and the rear-surface adhesive layer to the thickness of the support substrate.

11. The electro-optical device according to claim 10, wherein:

when the glass substrate is a first substrate,

the display panel further includes a second substrate formed of a glass substrate having substantially the same thickness as the first substrate and the electro-optical layer is interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate.

12. The electro-optical device according to claim 11, further comprising a resin film which covers and laminates the display panel from the first substrate side and the second substrate side.

13. The electro-optical device according to claim 12, wherein:

the frame regions are formed so as to extend from the side to the outside of the display region in every side of the display region,

a notched portion is formed between neighboring frame regions on the outside of the display region, and

all the frame regions are folded back.

14. The electro-optical device according to claim 13, wherein:

a pixel circuit including a driving circuit for displaying and driving the plurality of pixels is formed in the frame regions of the display panel, and

a wiring portion for connecting the pixels and the pixel circuit is formed in the folded-back portion.

15. The electro-optical device according to claim 14, wherein the lengths of the frame regions are 2 mm or more.

16. The electro-optical device according to claim 15, wherein the electro-optical layer is an organic EL layer including an organic light emitting layer.

20. An illumination device comprising:

a panel including a light emitting layer formed on a glass substrate with flexibility; and

a support frame supporting the substrate,

wherein the panel includes a light emitting region for irradiating light emitted from the light emitting layer and frame regions formed on the outside of the light emitting region, and

wherein at least one side of each of the frame regions is bent from the vicinity of a circumference of the light emitting region to the support frame side and is fixed to the support frame.