Backlight unit with conductive film and method for manufacturing

• US 9,217,819 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2012
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Shui-Lung Chen
• Original Assignee: Shui-Lung Chen
• Inventors: Chen, Shui-Lung
• Primary Examiner(s): Negron, Ismael
• Application Number:
  US13/706,347
• Publication Number:
  US 20130170246A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0011 the light guides being planar or of plate-like form
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0043 provided on the surface of the light guide
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0051 Diffusing sheet or layer
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0055 Reflecting element, sheet or layer
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0083 Details of electrical connections of light sources to drivers, circuit boards, or the like

Abstract

A backlight unit uses conductive, chemically toughened glass as substrate and includes a diffusion layer, a light guide layer, an optical microstructure layer, a transparent layer, a reflective layer and a light source module. The integrally formed backlight unit is fabricated using photochemical lithography, printing-coating, and ultrasonic hot melt adhesion processes.

Claims

1. A backlight unit, comprising:

a light guide layer formed of a transparent substrate having shaped as a thin plate and made of chemically toughened glass with a thickness ranging from 0.1 mm to 5 mm;

a conductive transparent film made of conductive material forming a predetermined circuit pattern on the transparent substrate of the light guide layer, and having a surface resistance in the range of 4.5 ohms per square to 650 ohms per square;

a diffusion layer for scattering light from emitting surface uniformly into a planar light source and adjusting the color temperature of the planar light source, the diffusion layer having transparent resin, diffusing particles and a dye in different proportions, and having a light transmittance in the range of 30% to 98%;

an optical microstructure layer made of high refractive index, including a plurality of microstructures forming a predetermined optical microstructure pattern on the transparent substrate of the light guide layer, the optical microstructure layer being for refracting incident light;

a transparent resin layer disposed on a surface of transparent substrate and optical microstructure layer, to allow the passage of light ray not refracted by the optical microstructure layer to a reflective layer;

a reflective layer for reflecting the light ray having passed through the transparent layer to the light guide layer; and

a light source module consisting of conductive material, a plurality of light emitting diodes and flexible circuit boards, adhered and connected to the predetermined circuit pattern on the conductive film, the light source module providing an incident light source in the backlight unit.

2. The backlight unit according to claim 1, wherein the conductive film is selected from a group consisting of indium tin oxide (ITO), zinc oxide (ZnO), Ga-doped ZnO, and conductive polymer.

3. The backlight unit according to claim 1, wherein the conductive material used in the light source module is selected from a group consisting of gold, silver, copper, titanium, tin, cobalt, nickel and mixtures thereof.

4. The backlight unit according to claim 1, wherein the transparent resin in the diffusion layer consists of acrylic resin or epoxy resin or mixture thereof;

the diffusing particle is TiO2, acrylic resin or SiO2 micro- and nanoparticles or mixture thereof; and

the dye.

5. The backlight unit according to claim 1, wherein the material of the transparent layer is acrylic resin, an epoxy resin, or mixture thereof.

6. The backlight unit according to claim 1, wherein the width of each microstructure in the optical microstructure layer ranges from 0.028 micron to 200 micron if the layer is fabricated using photochemical lithography and ranges from 10 micron to 200 micron if the layer is fabricated using coating-printing process.

7. The backlight unit according to claim 6, wherein the optical microstructure layer includes either a) titanium dioxide (TiO2) etched by photochemical lithography into the optical microstructure layer, or b) a layer of silver or aluminum etched into the optical microstructure layer using photochemical lithography.

8. The backlight unit according to claim 6, wherein the optical microstructure layer includes TiO2, or silver or aluminum micro- and nanoparticles and acrylic resin or epoxy resin, or mixture thereof.