Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a display and method thereof, and more particularly an emissive-reflective display and method thereof.  
         [0003]     2. Description of Related Art  
         [0004]     A reflective non-emissive display comes with a power saving feature and a capability of maintaining a good viewing quality in a very bright environment, and the reflective non-emissive display such as a reflective LCD, a cholesterol LCD, and an electrophoretic display combines a reflective panel and a liquid crystal device.  
         [0005]     A self-emissive display such as an organic light emitting diode (OLED) and a polymer light emitting diode (PLED) provides better image quality in a darker environment without the needs of using a polarizer, a backlight source, or a light compensation film to achieve the wide-angle, high-contrast, and fast response features.  
         [0006]     As to the prior art display devices adopting the self-emissive components, there are many issued and disclosed patents and these prior art display devices are divided into penetrating self-emissive displays, reflective self-emissive displays and emissive-reflective self-emissive displays.  
         [0007]     As to the prior art penetrating self-emissive displays, U.S. Pat. Publication No. 20020196387A1 entitled “Electro-optical device, method for driving electro-optical device, electronic apparatus, and method for driving electronic apparatus” discloses an electro-optical device, method for driving electro-optical device, electronic apparatus, and method for driving electronic apparatus, and comprises a detection device for detecting the brightness of a light source, and an active device for driving a self-emission layer or a reflective layer.  
         [0008]     As to the prior art reflective self-emissive display, U.S. Pat. Publication No. 20030201960A1 entitled “Display device and driving method thereof” discloses a method of selecting the reflective or self-emissive function for an external light source by the modulation of a liquid crystal layer.  
         [0009]     As to the prior art emissive-reflective self-emissive display, U.S. Pat. Publication No. 20030218595A1 entitled “Electronic display” discloses a driving device comprised of double electrophoretic substrates and double self-emissive substrates. This patent further specifies four substrates driven and combined by the double self-emissive substrates of an electronic device, and thus making the related manufacturing process more complicated.  
         [0010]     Further, U.S. Pat. Publication No. 20040051445A1 entitled “Display device” discloses a light emitting device installed with a plurality of matrix pixels, and the display device comprises a light emitting layer and a reflective device installed at the back of the light emitting layer.  
         [0011]     Referring to  FIG. 1  for the schematic view of a prior art emissive-reflective self-emissive display device, the device comprises a ferroelectric liquid crystal display device  10  and an organic light emitting display component  30 . The ferroelectric liquid crystal display device  10  includes a polarized layer  12 , a first substrate  14 , a second substrate  16 , a plurality of alignment layers  18 , a plurality of spacers  20  and a plurality of electrode layers  22 , wherein the first substrate  14  and the second substrate  16  are plastic substrates. The organic light emitting display component  30  comprises a third substrate  32 , a fourth substrate  34 , a plurality of electrode layers  22 , and a polymer layer  36 , wherein the third substrate  32  and the fourth substrate  34  are glass substrates. Since the thickness of the emissive-reflective self-emissive display device produced by combining the second substrate  16  and the third substrate  32  is relatively large, therefore a poor reflection and vision may result.  
         [0012]     In the foregoing disclosed patents, the self-emissive display comes with a high resolution and a high contrast and has a power saving feature better than the traditional backlight penetrating LCD, however it is not easy to distinguish such feature in an outdoor or a strong light environment. On the other hand, the reflective display features good outdoor visibility and low power consumption. Therefore, a good outdoor low-power display device can be produced by integrating the advantages of the aforementioned two displays. The manufacturing process of the foregoing emissive-reflective display must go with the manufacturing processes of the self-emissive components and the reflective components, and thus the manufacturing process is very complicated and difficult to achieve.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0013]     The present invention provides a emissive-reflective display and method thereof that are produced by both self-emissive components and reflective components for simplifying the related manufacturing process and design to reduce the complexity of the manufacturing process.  
         [0014]     To achieve the foregoing objective, the method of manufacturing a emissive-reflective display comprises the steps of: providing an upper substrate and a lower substrate; forming an upper electrode layer on the upper substrate; producing a plurality of reflective components on the upper electrode layer; producing a plurality of thin film transistor layers on the lower substrate; producing a plurality of self-emissive components on the thin film transistor layers; producing a lower electrode layer on the self-emissive components; and combining the upper substrate having the reflective components with the lower substrate having the self-emissive components.  
         [0015]     The present invention also provides a emissive-reflective display comprising an upper substrate and a lower substrate; an upper electrode layer formed onto the upper substrate; a plurality of reflective components produced on the upper electrode layer; a plurality of thin film transistor layers produced on the lower substrate; a plurality of self-emissive components produced on the thin film transistor layers; a lower electrode layer produced on the self-emissive components; and the upper substrate having the reflective components combined with the lower substrate having the self-emissive component. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0016]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a prior art emissive-reflective semi-penetrating display;  
         [0017]      FIG. 2  is a schematic view of the manufacturing process of an upper substrate of an emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0018]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the manufacturing process of a reflective component of an emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0019]      FIG. 4  is a schematic view of the manufacturing process of a lower substrate of an emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0020]      FIG. 5  is a schematic view of the manufacturing process of a self-emissive component of an emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0021]      FIG. 6  is a schematic view of the manufacturing process of a lower electrode layer of an emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0022]      FIG. 7  is a schematic view of the assembling and manufacturing process of an emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0023]      FIG. 8  is a schematic view of a emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0024]      FIG. 9  is a schematic view of an emissive-reflective display according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0025]     To make it easier for our examiner to understand the innovative features and technical content, preferred embodiments are used together with the attached drawings for the detailed description of the invention, but it should be pointed out that the attached drawings are provided for reference and description but not for limiting the present invention.  
         [0026]     The present invention provides a simplified manufacturing process design to produce self-emissive components and reflective components separately on different substrates, and then uses a simple adhesion technology to combine the two substrates and complete the manufacture of the emissive-reflective display. Referring to FIGS.  2  to  7  for the schematic views of the manufacturing process of the emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the process comprises the following steps.  
         [0027]     Referring to  FIG. 2  for the schematic view of a manufacturing process of an upper substrate of a emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the manufacturing process comprises the steps of providing an upper substrate  40 , wherein the upper substrate  40  is a glass substrate or a plastic substrate; and then forming an upper electrode layer  42  on the upper substrate  40 . A plurality of color filter layers (not shown in the figure) is disposed between the upper substrate  40  and the upper electrode layer  42 , and the disposition of these color filter layers depends on the filled display medium, but this manufacturing process may or may not dispose the color filter layer. If the filled display medium is made of cholesteric liquid crystals or electrophoretic, then it is not necessary to dispose the color filter layer. If the filled display medium is made of reflective liquid crystals, then it is necessary to dispose the color filter layer. Referring to  FIG. 3  for the schematic view of the manufacturing process of a reflective component of a emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of reflective components  44  is made on the upper electrode layer  42 ; wherein each reflective component  44  comprises a plurality of reflective media, and these reflective media could be cholesteric liquid crystals, reflective liquid crystals or electrophoretic. During the manufacturing process of the reflective components  44 , a plurality of walls  440  is made on the upper electrode layer  42 , and the walls  440  are made by photolithography, casing, screen printing and ink-jet manner, and the material used may be a polymer material; a plurality of reflective media  442  is filled among the walls  440 , and these reflective media  442  are filled by a coating process, an one drop filling (ODF) process, or an ink-jet printing manner; and a plurality of protective layers  444  is formed on the reflective media  442 , and these protective layers  444  are formed by an ink-jet method or a coating manner.  
         [0028]     Referring to  FIG. 4  for the schematic view of a manufacturing process of a lower substrate of a emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the process comprises the step of providing a lower substrate  50 , wherein the lower substrate  50  is a glass substrate or a plastic substrate; and then making a plurality of thin film transistor layers  52  on the lower substrate  50 .  
         [0029]     Referring to  FIG. 5  for the schematic view of a manufacturing process of a self-emissive component of an emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the thin film transistor layers  52  are made on a plurality of self-emissive components  54 , wherein the self-emissive components  54  are made of a self-emissive material.  
         [0030]     Referring to  FIG. 6  for the schematic view of a lower electrode layer of a emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the self-emissive components  54  are produced on a lower electrode layer  56 , wherein the lower electrode layer acts as a passive matrix layer or an active matrix.  
         [0031]     Referring to  FIG. 7  for the schematic view of a manufacturing process of an emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the upper substrate  40  having the reflective components  44  is combined with the lower substrate  50  having the self-emissive components  54 . If the upper substrate  40  or the lower substrate  50  is a plastic substrate, then the rolling manner is adopted for direct pressing; if the upper substrate  40  or the lower substrate  50  is a glass substrate, then a plastic material (not shown in the figure) is adopted for adhesions, and the selected plastic material could be a curing resin or a thermal curing resin.  
         [0032]     Referring to  FIG. 8  for the schematic view of a emissive-reflective display according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the emissive-reflective display comprises an upper substrate  40  and a lower substrate  50 , wherein the upper substrate  40  and the lower substrate  50  are glass substrates or plastic substrates; an upper electrode layer  42  formed on the upper substrate  40  and further comprising a plurality of color filter layers (not shown in the figure) disposed between the upper substrate  40  and the upper electrode layer  42 , and the disposition of these color filter layers depends on the display medium, and the color filter layer may or may not be disposed during this process; a plurality of reflective components  44  made on the upper electrode layer  42 ; a plurality of thin film transistor layers  52  made on the lower substrate  50 , and the manufacturing process of these reflective components  44  comprises the step of producing a plurality of walls  440  on the upper electrode layer  42 , wherein the walls  440  are made of a macromolecular material.  
         [0033]     A plurality of reflective medium  442  is filled among the walls  440 ; and a plurality of protective layers  444  is formed on the reflective media  442  to make the reflective components  44 . A plurality of self-emissive components  54  is made on the thin film transistor layers  52 , wherein the self-emissive components  54  are made of a self-emissive material; a lower electrode layer  56  is made on the self-emissive components and further  54  comprises a plastic material (not shown in the figure) formed between the protective layers  444  and the lower electrode layers  56 , wherein the plastic material is a curing resin or a thermal curing resin, and the upper substrate  40  having the reflective components  44  is combined with the lower substrate  50  having the self-emissive component  54 . If the upper substrate  40  or the lower substrate  50  is a plastic substrate, then a rolling manner is adopted for a direct pressing; if the upper substrate  40  and the lower substrate  50  are glass substrates, then the plastic material (not shown in the figure) is adopted for adhesions.  
         [0034]     Referring to  FIG. 9  for the schematic view of a emissive-reflective display according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention, the difference with the first preferred embodiment resides on that the upper substrate  40  and the upper electrode layer  42  of this embodiment dispose a plurality of color filter layers  62  to make a emissive-reflective display having these color filter layers.  
         [0035]     The present invention can simplify the manufacturing process of the emissive-reflective display and improve the overall process yield as described in the foregoing preferred embodiments, and the reflective components of the upper substrate and the self-emissive components of the lower substrate are prior art manufacturing technologies, and the present invention separately manufactures the reflective components and the self-emissive components and then combines these components by a simple adhesion method (such as direct pressing or adding a plastic material) to complete the manufacture of the emissive-reflective display, and thus improving the overall process yield.  
         [0036]     Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have been suggested in the foregoing description, and others will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Technology Category: 3