Liquid crystal display panel and display device

The present disclosure provides a liquid crystal display panel and a display device. A spacer of the liquid crystal display panel includes a connection part and a support part which are formed integrally, and the connection part has a cross section larger than that of the support part in a direction parallel to a first substrate and a second substrate. The connection part is connected to the first substrate and the support part supports the second substrate.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is the U.S. national phase of PCT Application No. PCT/CN2014/078285 filed on May 23, 2014, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201310666476.4 filed on Dec. 9, 2013, the disclosures of which are incorporated in their entirety by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of liquid crystal display technology, in particular to a liquid crystal display panel and a display device.

BACKGROUND

Along with the development of the display manufacturing technology, a liquid crystal display (LCD), as a mainstream of the flat-panel display, has gradually replaced a traditional CRT display. It has been widely used in TVs, computers and mobile phones due to its features such as light weight, small volume, radiation-free, excellent energy saving effect and high resolution. During the manufacture of a display panel of the LCD, the design and control of a cell thickness, as one of the pivotal technologies, will directly affect the LCD quality.

As shown inFIG. 1, an existing liquid crystal display panel of the LCD includes an array substrate10′ and a color film substrate20′ arranged opposite to each other to form a cell, and a liquid layer (not shown) arranged between the array substrate10′ and the color film substrate20′. In the related art, a thickness of the liquid crystal layer (i.e., the cell thickness) is mainly controlled by a spacer (PS) (which is usually formed on the color film substrate20′) arranged between the array substrate10′ and the color film substrate20′. On the basis of its functionalities, the PS includes a primary PS1′ and an auxiliary PS2′. A first spacer support region3′ is formed on the array substrate10′ at a position corresponding to the primary PS1′, and a second spacer support region4′ is formed at a position corresponding to the auxiliary PS2′. Generally, an upper surface of the first spacer support region3′ is located at a position above an upper surface of the second spacer support region4′. The main PS1′ plays a major role in supporting, and only when an excessive external force is exerted to the liquid crystal display panel, the auxiliary PS2′ play a supporting role.

FIG. 1shows a traditional design for the PS made of an elastic polymer. The primary PS1′ inFIG. 1has been compressed somewhat at the time of no external force, and maintains the cell thickness. When a strong external force is repeatedly exerted to the liquid crystal panel, the PS will be compressed at a larger amount, and thus easily broken in the middle and then fall away from the substrate. As a result, an adverse display effect will be achieved, and the quality of the LCD will be seriously affected. Once an excessive external force beyond the tolerance capacity of the PS is exerted to the liquid crystal display panel, an irreversible damage will be caused to the liquid crystal display panel.

In order to overcome these drawbacks, the cross-sectional dimension of the primary PS1′ may be increased so as to increase the external force desired for breaking the PS in the middle. In addition, an area of a lower surface of the primary PS1′ may be increased so as to increase the adhesion thereof to the substrate, thereby to prevent it from falling away from the substrate. However, an increase in the whole cross-sectional dimension of the primary PS1′ will deteriorate the elasticity of the PS, and as a result, the primary PS1′ will lose its ability to adjust the cell thickness.

SUMMARY

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a liquid crystal display panel and a display device, so as to improve the ability of the liquid crystal display panel to withstand an external force exerted thereto and ensure its ability to adjust a cell thickness, thereby to improve the quality of the display device.

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a liquid crystal display panel, including:

a first substrate and a second substrate arranged opposite to each other; and

a spacer arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate.

The spacer includes a connection part and a support part which are formed integrally. The connection part has a cross section larger than that of the support part in a direction parallel to the first substrate and the second substrate. The connection part is connected to the first substrate, and the support part supports the second substrate.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a display device including the above-mentioned liquid crystal display panel.

According to the present disclosure, the spacer of the liquid crystal display panel includes the connection part and the support part which are formed integrally, and the connection part has a cross section larger than that of the support part in a direction parallel to the first substrate and the second substrate. The connection part is connected to the first substrate and the support part supports the second substrate. By increasing a cross-sectional dimension of the connection part, it is able to increase the external force desired for breaking the spacer in the middle and improve the ability of the spacer to withstand the external force. In addition, due to the support part with a smaller cross-sectional dimension, it is able to maintain the elasticity of the spacer and ensure its ability to adjust the cell thickness. Further, due to an increase in a contact area between the spacer and the first substrate, it is able to prevent the spacer from falling away from the first substrate when a large external force is exerted thereto.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure will be described hereinafter in conjunction with the drawings and the embodiments. The following embodiments are for illustrative purposes only, but shall not be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

First Embodiment

For a liquid crystal display panel, its cell thickness is mainly controlled by a spacer arranged between an array substrate and a color film substrate. During the actual application, the spacer may include a primary spacer and an auxiliary spacer on the basis of its effects. The primary spacer has been compressed somewhat at the time of no external force and plays a major role in supporting so as to maintain a cell thickness. Only when an excessive external force is exerted to the liquid crystal display panel, the auxiliary spacer plays a supporting role. Because the primary spacer has been compressed somewhat at the time of no external force, when an excessive force is exerted to the liquid crystal display panel, the primary spacer will be compressed at a larger amount, and thus easily broken in the middle and then fall away from the substrate. As a result, an adverse display effect will be achieved, and the quality of the LCD will be seriously affected. By increasing its cross-sectional dimension, it is able to increase the external force desired for breaking the primary spacer in the middle, thereby to improve its ability to withstand the external force. However, an increase in the cross-sectional dimension of the primary spacer will deteriorate its elasticity, and as a result, the primary spacer will lose its ability to adjust the cell thickness.

In order to overcome these drawbacks, the present disclosure provides a liquid crystal display panel which, as shown inFIG. 2, includes a first substrate10and a second substrate20arranged opposite to each other to form a cell, and a spacer1arranged between the first substrate10and the second substrate20. A bottom surface of the spacer1is connected to the first substrate10, and a top surface of the spacer1supports the second substrate20, so as to form a space, into which liquid crystal molecules are filled, between the first substrate10and the second substrate20.

The spacer1includes a connection part11connected to the first substrate10and a support part12supporting the second substrate20. The connection part11and the support part12are formed integrally, and the connection part11has a cross section larger than that of the support part12. The term “cross section” refers to a section in a direction parallel to the first substrate10and the second substrate20. By increasing a cross-sectional dimension of the connection part11, it is able to increase an external force desired for breaking the spacer1in the middle and improve the spacer's ability to withstand the external force. In addition, due to the support part12with a smaller cross-sectional dimension, it is able to maintain the elasticity of the spacer1and ensure its ability to adjust the cell thickness. Further, due to an increase in a contact area between the spacer1and the first substrate10, it is able to prevent the spacer1from falling away from the first substrate10at the time of a large external force.

The first substrate10may be an array substrate while the second substrate20may be a color film substrate, or the first substrate10may be a color film substrate while the second substrate20may be an array substrate. In other words, the spacer1of the liquid crystal display panel may be formed on the array substrate or the color film substrate.

During the manufacture, merely a cross-sectional dimension of a lower portion of the spacer1may be increased, so as to form the connection part11, thereby to improve the ability of the spacer1to withstand the external force. Meanwhile, a cross-sectional dimension of an upper portion of the spacer1may remain unchanged, so as to form the support part12, thereby to maintain the elasticity of the spacer1and ensure its ability to adjust the cell thickness. Because the spacer1of the liquid crystal display panel must be located at a region between pixel units, with the permission of the arrangement space, the larger the cross-sectional dimension of the connection part11, the better. In addition, an extension direction and a shape of the connection part11are not particularly defined.

According to the present disclosure, the spacer of the liquid crystal display panel includes the connection part and the support part which are formed integrally, and the connection part has a cross section larger than that of the support part. The connection part is connected to the first substrate and the support part supports the second substrate. By increasing a cross-sectional dimension of the connection part, it is able to increase the external force desired for breaking the spacer in the middle and improve the ability of the spacer to withstand the external force. In addition, due to the support part with a smaller cross-sectional dimension, it is able to maintain the elasticity of the spacer and ensure its ability to adjust the cell thickness. Further, due to an increase in the contact area between the spacer and the first substrate, it is able to prevent the spacer from falling away from the first substrate at the time of a large external force.

Further, in order to maintain the elasticity of the spacer1, a height ratio of the support part12to the connection part11is set to be greater than ⅕ (i.e., h2/h1>⅕) in a thickness direction of the first substrate10and the second substrate20.

The larger the ratio h2/h1 is, the better the elasticity of the spacer1and the better the spacer's ability to adjust the cell thickness are. However, the ratio h2/h1 shall not be too large, because the smaller the height h1 of the connection part11is, the greater the risk for the spacer1to be broken in the middle is when a large external force is exerted to the liquid crystal display panel. In this regard, the height ratio of the support part12to the connection part11is set to be less than 50 (i.e., h2/h1<50), so as to reduce the risk for the spacer1to be broken in the middle.

Alternatively, the second substrate20includes a first support region3and a second support region4, and a top surface of the second support region4is located at a position above a top surface of the first support region3in the thickness direction of the first substrate10and the second substrate20. The support part12corresponds to the first support region3, and a portion of the connection part11arranged outside the support part12corresponds to the second support region4and serves as an auxiliary support so as to replace an existing auxiliary spacer. When no external force is exerted, merely the support part12of the spacer1supports the first support region3, and at this time the support part12is in a compressed state. When an excessive external force is exerted to the liquid crystal display panel, the portion of the connection part11arranged outside the support part12supports the second support region4, and at this time the portion of the connection part11is in a compressed state and serve as an auxiliary support. According to the above-mentioned design, it is able to increase the cross-sectional dimension of the connection part11as possible while maintaining the function of the auxiliary spacer, so as to improve the ability of the spacer1to withstand the external force.

In a high-resolution product, a size of the pixel unit becomes smaller and smaller. In order to ensure an aperture ratio, a space where the spacer is accommodated becomes smaller and smaller too. In addition, due to the limit of a process for manufacturing the spacer, defects will easily occur for the spacer with a too small size, thus the design of the spacer for the high-resolution product will be limited. However, according to the above-mentioned design where the connection part11of the spacer1replaces the existing auxiliary spacer to serve as an auxiliary support, it is able to overcome this limit by reducing the aperture ratio of the individual pixel units30, thereby to sufficiently support the substrate, as shown inFIG. 3.

In this embodiment, the connection part11and the support part12of the spacer1are formed in a single patterning process, so as to reduce the process complexity. To be specific, the connection part11and the support part12of the spacer1may be formed by an identical film layer or different film layers.

The formation of the spacer1in this embodiment will be described hereinafter by taking the connection part11and the support part12of the spacer1formed by the same film layer as an example.

Step a: applying a photoresist onto the film layer.

Step b: exposing and developing the photoresist with a half-tone or half-grayscale mask plate, so as to form a photoresist-half-reserved region corresponding at least to a region where the portion of the connection part11arranged outside the support part12is located, a photoresist-fully-reserved region corresponding at least to a region where the support part12is located, and a photoresist-unreserved region corresponding to the other regions.

Step c: etching off the film layer at the photoresist-unreserved region by a first etching process.

Step d: removing the photoresist at the photoresist-half-reserved region by an ashing process, and etching off a part of the film layer at the photoresist-half-reserved region by a second etching process.

Step e: peeling off the photoresist so as to form the connection part11and the support part12of the spacer1.

When the connection part11and the support part12of the spacer1are formed by different film layers, the formation thereof is similar to that mentioned above, and will not be repeated herein. Of course, the connection part11and the support part12of the spacer1may also be formed by two patterning processes, respectively.

Further, when the connection part11and the support part12of the spacer1are formed by different film layers, the connection part11may be made of a material with hardness greater than that of the support part12, so as to further increase the external force desired for breaking the spacer1in the middle, thereby to improve the ability of the spacer1to withstand the external force.

Further, when the connection part11and the support part12of the spacer1are formed by different film layers, the connection part11may be made of a material with elasticity greater than that of the support part12, so as to increase the elasticity of the spacer1, thereby to improve the ability of the spacer1to adjust the cell thickness.

Second Embodiment

The present disclosure further provides a display device including the liquid crystal display panel in the first embodiment. Because the ability of the liquid crystal display panel to withstand the external force and to adjust the cell thickness is improved, it is able to improve the quality of the display device.

The above are merely the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be appreciated that, a person skilled in the art may make further improvements and replacements without departing from the principle of the present disclosure, and these improvements and replacements shall also fall thin the scope of the present disclosure.