SERIAL ROW-SELECT MATRIX-ADDRESSED SYSTEM

• US 20180131886A1
• Filed: 01/08/2018
• Published: 05/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Display Company Technology Limited (Sensinnovat BVBA)
• Original Assignee: X-Celeprint Limited
• Inventors: Cok, Ronald S.
• Granted Patent: US 10,158,819 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/0426 Layout of electrodes and connections
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0221 with use of split matrices G09G3/3644 and G09G3/3666 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0267 Details of drivers for scan electrodes, other than drivers for liquid crystal, plasma or OLED displays
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0286 Details of a shift registers arranged for use in a driving circuit
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/20 for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3208 organic, e.g. using organic light-emitting diodes [OLED]
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3611 Control of matrices with row and column drivers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14601 Structural or functional details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/74 Circuitry for scanning or addressing the pixel array

Abstract

A matrix-addressed system includes a system substrate and an array of pixels arranged in rows and columns disposed on the system substrate. A column-control circuit provides information to or receives information from the pixels. The column-control circuit includes a separate column-driver circuit connected to each column of pixels that provides information in common to all of the pixels in the column or receives information in common from all of the pixels in the column. A row-select circuit likewise disposed on the system substrate includes a serial shift register having a number of row storage elements equal to or larger than the number of rows in the array of pixels. Each row storage element in the shift register has a row-select line connected to all of the pixels in a row.

Claims

1. A matrix-addressed system, comprising:

a system substrate;

an array of pixels arranged in rows and columns disposed on the system substrate, wherein each pixel in the array of pixels comprises one or more light elements;

a column-control circuit for providing information to the pixels, the column-control circuit comprising a separate column-driver circuit connected to each column of pixels that provides information in common to all of the pixels in the column through a corresponding column line; and

a row-select circuit disposed on the system substrate, the row-select circuit comprising a serial shift register comprising a number of row storage elements equal to or larger than the number of rows in the array of pixels, each row storage element in the shift register having a corresponding row-select line connected to all of the pixels in a row.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein

the one or more light elements are light emitters or light-emitting diodes.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the column-control circuit and the row-select circuit provide passive-matrix control to the array of pixels.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each pixel comprises a pixel circuit connected to the one or more light elements of the pixel, connected to the column-driver circuit corresponding to the column in which the pixel is arranged, and connected to the row-select line corresponding to the row in which the pixel is arranged.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the information is digital information.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the serial shift register is a digital shift register comprising flip-flops or digital latches.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more light elements are formed in or on one or more light-element substrates that are separate, distinct, and independent of the system substrate.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the row-select circuit is formed in or on one or more row-select substrates that are separate, distinct, and independent of the system substrate.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein each pixel comprises a pixel circuit that is connected to the one or more light elements of the pixel, connected to the column-driver circuit corresponding to the column in which the pixel is arranged, and connected to the row-select line corresponding to the row in which the pixel is arranged and wherein the pixel circuit is formed in or on one or more pixel substrates that are separate, distinct, and independent of the system substrate.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more pixel substrates are disposed on the system substrate.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein, for each pixel in the array of pixels, the one or more pixel substrates and the one or more light elements are disposed on a pixel module substrate separate and distinct from the system substrate, the one or more pixel substrates, and the one or more light elements, and wherein the pixel module substrate is disposed on the system substrate.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more light elements are bare die or unpackaged semiconductor devices.

35. The system of claim 1, comprising a redundant row-select circuit connected in parallel with the row-select circuit.

36. The system of claim 1, comprising a row-control circuit that provides a control bit to the row-select circuit that is shifted serially through the row-select circuit to select sequential rows of pixels.

37. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is a display system and the array of pixels comprises an array of light emitters.

38. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more light elements are one or more micro-light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) or photo-sensors and each of the one or more light elements has at least one of a width from 2 to 5 μ

m, 5 to 10 μ

m, 10 to 20 μ

m, or 20 to 50 μ

m, a length from 2 to 5 μ

m, 5 to 10 μ

m, 10 to 20 μ

m, or 20 to 50 μ

m, and a height from 2 to 5 μ

m, 4 to 10 μ

m, 10 to 20 μ

m, or 20 to 50 μ

m.

39. The system of claim 1, wherein the light elements are micro-light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) and the system substrate has a contiguous substrate area that comprises the micro-LEDs, wherein each micro-LED has a light-emissive or light-sensitive area, and wherein the combined light-emissive or light-sensitive areas of the micro-LEDs is less than or equal to one-quarter of the contiguous substrate area or wherein the combined light-emissive or light-sensitive areas of the micro-LEDs is less than or equal to one eighth, one tenth, one twentieth, one fiftieth, one hundredth, one five-hundredth, one thousandth, one two-thousandth, or one ten-thousandth of the contiguous substrate area.

40. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more light elements are one or more micro-light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) that each has an anode and a cathode disposed on a same side of the respective light element and, optionally, the anode and cathode of a respective light element are horizontally separated by a horizontal distance, wherein the horizontal distance is from 100 nm to 500 nm, 500 nm to 1 micron, 1 micron to 20 microns, 20 microns to 50 microns, or 50 microns to 100 microns.

41. The system of claim 1, wherein the row-select circuit comprises a control element associated with one or more row storage elements that limits the operation of the one or more row storage elements to those row storage elements whose stored value changes.

5-9. -9. (canceled)

14. (canceled)

18-23. -23. (canceled)

25. (canceled)

26. A method of making a matrix-addressed system, comprising:

providing a system substrate;

disposing an array of pixels arranged in rows and columns on the system substrate;

providing a column-control circuit comprising a separate column-driver circuit connected to each column of pixels in the array of pixels that provides information in common to all of the pixels in the column from all of the pixels in the column through a corresponding column line;

disposing a row-select circuit on the system substrate, wherein the row-select circuit comprises a serial shift register comprising a number of row storage elements equal to or larger than a number of rows in the array of pixels, each row storage element in the shift register having a corresponding row-select output connected to all of the pixels in a row; and

electrically connecting the pixels to the row-select circuit and to the column-control circuit.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein disposing the array of pixels comprises micro-transfer printing one or more light elements onto the system substrate.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein micro-transfer printing an array of pixels comprises micro-transfer printing one or more light elements onto a pixel module substrate and disposing the pixel module substrate onto the system substrate.

42. The method of claim 26, wherein disposing the row-select circuit comprises micro-transfer printing the row-select circuit onto the system substrate and wherein micro-transfer printing the row-select circuit onto the system substrate comprises micro-transfer printing a plurality of row-select substrates onto the system substrate, the row-select substrates each including at least a portion of the row-select circuit.

28-29. -29. (canceled)

31. A matrix-addressed system, comprising:

an array of pixels arranged in rows and columns;

a column-control circuit for providing information to the pixels, the column-control circuit comprising a separate column-driver circuit connected to each column of pixels in the array of pixels that provides information in common to all of the pixels in the column through a corresponding column line; and

a row-select circuit disposed on the system substrate, the row-select circuit comprising a serial shift register comprising a number of row storage elements equal to or larger than the number of rows in the array of pixels, each row storage element in the shift register having a corresponding row-select line connected to all of the pixels in a row.

32-34. -34. (canceled)