Displays with Shared Flexible Substrates

• US 20140239276A1
• Filed: 02/04/2014
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lin, Wey-Jiun, Kim, Sang Ha, Youn, Sang
• Granted Patent: US 9,287,336 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 257/40
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/0281 Reinforcement details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/189 characterised by the use of a flexible or folded printed circuit H05K3/326 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10128 Display
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 2102/311 Flexible OLED
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/84 Passivation; Containers; Encapsulations
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/8426 Peripheral sealing arrangements, e.g. adhesives, sealants
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/10 OLED displays
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/12 Active-matrix OLED [AMOLED] displays
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/1213 the pixel elements being TFTs
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 77/111 Flexible substrates
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/549 Organic PV cells

Abstract

An electronic device may be provided with a display such as an organic light-emitting diode display. The display may include an array of display pixels formed on a polymer substrate layer. The polymer substrate layer may include an contiguous layer of polyimide that forms a substrate layer in additional structures such as a polymer film and a flexible printed circuit. A first transition region may be interposed between the display and the polymer film, and a second transition region may be interposed between the polymer film and the flexible printed circuit. Metal traces may be formed on the polymer film and on the flexible printed circuit. A display driver integrated circuit may be mounted to the traces on the polymer film. The polymer film may form a U-shaped bend. The flexible printed circuit may be coupled to a printed circuit board in the device using hot bar solder connections.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a display having an array of display pixels;

a polymer film having a first plurality of metal traces;

a flexible printed circuit having a second plurality of metal traces, wherein the display, the polymer film, and the flexible printed circuit share a flexible polymer substrate layer; and

a transition region interposed between the polymer film and the flexible printed circuit, wherein the transition region is thicker than the flexible printed circuit.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the display pixels comprise organic light-emitting diode display pixels.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the flexible polymer substrate layer is a contiguous layer of polyimide having a first region that forms a display substrate layer in the display, a second region that forms a polymer film substrate layer in the polymer film, and a third region that forms a flexible printed circuit layer in the flexible printed circuit.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the transition region is thicker than the polymer film.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising a second transition region interposed between the display and the polymer film, wherein the second transition region is thicker than the polymer film.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the polymer film comprises at least one layer of metal.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6 wherein the flexible printed circuit comprises more layers of metal than the polymer film.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the array of display pixels comprises thin-film transistor circuitry formed on the flexible polymer substrate layer.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising a display driver integrated circuit mounted on the polymer film.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the polymer film comprises a U-shaped bend.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the first plurality of metal traces comprises photolithographically patterned metal traces.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising:

a printed circuit board; and

solder connections between the printed circuit board and the flexible printed circuit;

13. The electronic device defined in claim 12 wherein the solder connections comprise hot bar solder connections.

14. An electronic device, comprising:

a flexible polymer substrate layer;

an array of display pixels formed on a first region of the flexible polymer substrate layer;

a plurality of metal traces in a second region of the flexible polymer substrate layer; and

a display driver integrated circuit mounted to the plurality of metal traces in the second region of the flexible polymer substrate layer, wherein the flexible polymer substrate layer comprises a bend such that the first region of the flexible polymer substrate layer overlaps the display driver integrated circuit in the second region of the flexible polymer substrate layer.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 14 wherein the array of display pixels comprises thin-film transistor circuitry formed on the first region of the flexible polymer substrate layer.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 14 wherein the array of display pixels comprises an array of organic light-emitting diode display pixels.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 14 wherein the flexible polymer substrate layer has a third region that is sandwiched between layers of metal.

18. An electronic device, comprising:

a display having an array of display pixels;

a polymer film having metal traces; and

a display driver integrated circuit mounted to the metal traces, wherein at least a portion of the display overlaps the display driver integrated circuit and wherein the display and the polymer film share a flexible polymer substrate layer.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 18 wherein the flexible polymer substrate layer comprises a U-shaped bend.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 18 further comprising:

a flexible printed circuit comprising at least first and second layers, wherein the flexible polymer substrate layer is sandwiched between the first and second layers of the flexible printed circuit.