Abstract:
A display may have thin-film transistor (TFT) circuitry on a substrate. An array of organic light-emitting diodes may be formed on the thin-film transistor circuitry. The display may include inorganic brittle layers and organic and metal layers that are ductile and mechanically robust. To help prevent propagation of cracks and other defects along the edge of the display, the display may be provided with crack stop structures and crack detection circuitry. The crack detection circuitry may include one or more loops that are formed along the periphery of the display. The crack stop structures may include TFT/OLED structures formed in a staggered configuration. At least some of the brittle layers can be removed from the panel edge. An additional adhesion layer may also be formed directly on the substrate to help prevent inorganic layers from debonding from the surface of the substrate.
Abstract:
A display may have an array of organic light-emitting diodes that form an active area on a flexible substrate. Metal traces may extend between the active area and an inactive area of the flexible substrate. Display driver circuitry such as a display driver integrated circuit may be attached to a flexible printed circuit that is attached to the flexible substrate in the inactive area. The metal traces may extend across a bend region in the flexible substrate. The flexible substrate may be bent in the bend region. The flexible substrate may be locally thinned in the bend region. A neutral stress plane adjustment layer may cover the metal traces in the bend region. The neutral stress plane adjustment layer may include polymer layers such as an encapsulation layer, a pixel definition layer, a planarization layer, and a layer that covers a pixel definition layer and planarization layer.
Abstract:
Display structures and methods of assembly are described. In an embodiment, a display structure includes a display panel including a pattern of trenches extending at least partially through a backplane of the display panel, without extending past a matrix of LEDs in an overlying emission layer stack. The plurality of trenches can be formed in 2D to facilitate bending of the display panel into a 3D film curvature.
Abstract:
An electronic device may have a flexible portion that allows the device to be folded. The device may have a flexible display. The flexible display may have a flexible display layer, a cover layer, a touch sensor interposed between the flexible display layer and the cover layer, a support layer, and a polarizer layer. The polarizer layer may be interposed between the touch sensor and the flexible display or between the touch sensor and the cover layer. The touch sensor may include optically clear adhesive that is flexible and facilitates bending of the display. The optically clear adhesive may include additives such as water vapor penetration reducing additive, anticorrosion additive, ultraviolet-light blocking additive, and index-of -refraction adjustment additive. The support layer may be formed from shape memory alloy or amorphous metal and may have openings to facilitate bending.
Abstract:
An electronic device may have a flexible portion that allows the device to be folded. The device may have a flexible display. The flexible display may have edge portions that are joined along a flexible middle portion. The flexible middle portion may overlap a bend axis and may be bent about the bend axis. Flexibility enhancement regions may be formed in a backing layer, polarizer layer, organic-light-emitting display layer, and other display layers to enhance flexibility for the middle portion. The device may have a display with a flexible tail that is bent about a bend axis. Metal trace on the flexible display may include metal trace strips that serve as power lines. Flexibility enhancement regions such as slot-shaped openings or other openings may be formed in the metal trace strips to enhance flexibility.
Abstract:
A display having thin-film transistor (TFT) structures may be used to display images within an active area of the display, which is surrounded by an inactive border area. In order to reduce the inactive area, a TFT passivation layer may be used to help protect conductive routing lines at the outer edge of the border so that encapsulation layers need not be formed all the way to the edge. At least some of the conductive routing lines in the inactive area may be stacked or coupled in parallel to help reduce border width. The TFT passivation layer may also cover the lateral edges of the routing lines to help prevent corrosion during an anode etch. The encapsulation layers may also be formed in a bent portion of the display substrate to help adjust the neutral stress plane such that metal traces formed in the bent portion do not crack.
Abstract:
An electronic device may have a hinge that allows the device to be flexed about a bend axis. A display may span the bend axis. To protect display elements such as pixel circuitry from excessive mechanical stress, the display may include one or more structural protective layers. A structural layer may be incorporated into the display stack as a supportive backing behind the pixel circuitry and/or as a protective cover over the pixel circuitry. The structural layer may include rigid portions and flexible portions. The flexible portions may contain flexible material that separates and adjoins adjacent rigid structures or that fills grooves between adjacent rigid portions. The rigid portions may be formed from thin sheets of glass or other transparent materials. The flexible material in the structural layer may be an elastomeric material having a refractive index that matches that of the glass sheets in the structural layer.
Abstract:
A display may have an array of organic light-emitting diodes that form an active area (14A) on a flexible substrate (30). Metal traces (74) may extend between the active area (14A) and an inactive area (14C) of the flexible substrate. Display driver circuitry such as a display driver integrated circuit may be coupled to the inactive area. The metal traces may extend across a bend region (14B) in the flexible substrate. The flexible substrate may be bent in the bend region. The flexible substrate may be made of a thin flexible material to reduce metal trace bending stress. A coating layer (84) in the bend region may be provided with an enhanced elasticity to allow its thickness to be reduced. The flexible substrate may be bent on itself and secured within an electronic device without using a mandrel.
Abstract:
An electronic device display may have pixels formed from crystalline semiconductor light-emitting diode dies, organic light-emitting diodes, or other pixel structures. The pixels may be formed on a display panel substrate. A display panel may extend continuously across the display or multiple display panels may be tiled in two dimensions to cover a larger display area. Interconnect substrates may have outwardly facing contacts that are electrically shorted to corresponding inwardly facing contacts such as inwardly facing metal pillars associated with the display panels. The interconnect substrates may be supported by glass layers. Integrated circuits may be embedded in the display panels and/or in the interconnect substrates. A display may have an active area with pixels that includes non-spline pixels in a non-spline display portion located above a straight edge of the display and spline pixel in a spline display portion located above a curved edge of the display.
Abstract:
An electronic device display may have pixels formed from crystalline semiconductor light-emitting diode dies, organic light-emitting diodes or other pixel structures. The pixels may be formed in a display panel having a single substrate or an array of display panel tiles (24). The display panel has inwardly facing display panel contacts (56') that mate with corresponding outwardly facing interconnect substrate contacts (54) on an interconnect substrate (44). The interconnect substrate may have areas with compound curvature that are overlapped by the display panel. To enhance flexibility of the interconnect substrate, the interconnect substrate may have flexibility enhancement openings and/or may be formed from a material with a low elastic modulus such as silicone or other elastomeric material.