Wiring structure, display substrate and display device

The present application is the U.S. national phase entry of PCT/CN2017/109884, with an international filling date of Nov. 8, 2017, which claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 201710297270.7, filed on Apr. 28, 2017, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

The present disclosure relates to the field of display technologies, particularly to a wiring structure, a display substrate, and a display device.

In order to manufacture a flexible display device, many display components made of organic materials have been developed, such as an organic light emitting layer, an organic passivation layer, and a polymer substrate (e.g. a PI substrate) as a flexible substrate. However, it is difficult to replace the metal wiring in the display with organic materials because the electrical conductivity of organic materials is much lower than that of the metal wiring. When the flexible display device is bent, the metal wiring in the display panel may be broken (the broken wiring ratio is about 1%), resulting in failure of the display device.

The present disclosure aims to at least alleviate or solve one of the technical problems existing in the prior art, and provides a wiring structure that is not easily broken, a display substrate, and a display device.

The wiring structure provided by embodiments of the disclosure comprises a plurality of hollow units connected in series, each hollow unit comprising a hollow area and a non-hollow area. Non-hollow areas of any two adjacent hollow units at least partially overlap, and hollow areas thereof do not overlap.

In some embodiments, the hollow unit of the wiring structure further comprises at least one bridging part, the bridging part being in the hollow area and connected to the non-hollow area of the hollow unit.

In some embodiments, an outline of the hollow unit has a shape of an approximate rectangle, and non-hollow areas of any two adjacent hollow units corresponding to long sides of the rectangle partially overlap.

In some embodiments, an outline of the hollow unit has a shape of an approximate rectangle, and non-hollow areas of any two adjacent hollow units corresponding to short sides of the rectangle partially overlap.

In some embodiments, an outline of the hollow unit has a shape of an approximate rectangle, and the non-hollow area of one of any two adjacent hollow units corresponding to a long side of the rectangle overlaps the non-hollow area of the other hollow unit corresponding to a short side of is the rectangle.

In some embodiments, an outline of the hollow unit has a D-shape, wherein any two adjacent hollow units form a centrally symmetric pattern.

In some embodiments, a material of the hollow unit includes metal.

Another embodiment of the disclosure provides a display substrate, comprising a base substrate and a wiring structure described in any of the forgoing embodiments which is arranged on the substrate.

In some embodiments, the base substrate includes a flexible substrate.

A further embodiment of the present disclosure provides a display device comprising the display substrate described above.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating two adjacent hollow units in a wiring structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating two adjacent hollow units in a wiring structure according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating two adjacent hollow units in a wiring structure according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating two adjacent hollow units in a wiring structure according to a further embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating two adjacent hollow units in a wiring structure according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure.

To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions of the present disclosure, the disclosure will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and examples.

As shown in FIGS. 1-4 , an embodiment of the disclosure provides a wiring structure, which comprises a plurality of hollow units 1 connected in series. Each hollow unit 1 comprises a hollow area 11 and a non-hollow area 10 . The non-hollow areas 10 of any two adjacent hollow units 1 at least partially overlap, while the hollow areas 11 do not overlap.

In some embodiments, the non-hollow areas 10 of any two adjacent hollow units 1 which at least partially overlap may be formed in the same layer during preparation, that is, the two hollow units 1 are disposed in the same layer (direct contact). Of course, the two hollow units 1 may also be disposed in two layers. In this case, during preparation, an insulating layer may be arranged between the layers where the two hollow units 1 reside, and the insulating layer is then provided with via holes at positions where it is connected to the two hollow units so that the two hollow units can be electrically connected to each other through the via holes.

Since the wiring structure in the embodiment of the disclosure comprises a plurality of hollow units 1 connected in series, compared with a linear-type wiring structure, the wiring structure according to an embodiment of the disclosure can release the stress through the hollow areas 11 of the hollow units 1 in the process of bending, stretching and twisting, so as to avoid breaking of the wiring structure that may result in failure of the device on the substrate that employs the wiring structure. Moreover, in this embodiment, the non-hollow areas 10 of any two adjacent hollow units 1 at least partially overlap, that is, the area of the connecting position between adjacent hollow units 1 is relatively large, which can effectively avoid breaking of the wiring structure at the connecting positions between two hollow units 1 in the process of bending, stretching and twisting, thereby ensuring the yield of the wiring structure. Particularly, since the flexible substrate itself is prone to bending, using the wiring structure proposed in the disclosure can greatly improve the yield of the flexible substrate.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIGS. 1-3 , the outline of each hollow unit 1 in the wiring structure is approximately rectangular, that is, the overall outline of the non-hollow area 11 enclosing the hollow area 10 of the hollow unit 1 has an approximately rectangular shape. However, the outline of the non-hollow area 11 may also be in other shape different from a rectangle, which is not limited in the present disclosure. In the example in which the outline of the non-hollow area 10 of the hollow unit 1 has an approximately rectangular shape, the outer edge of the non-hollow area 10 includes two long sides and two short sides. The two long sides are a first side and a second side, respectively, and the two short sides are a third side and a fourth side, respectively. Some examples regarding the connection between adjacent hollow units are given below.

In the example shown in FIG. 1 , the first side of the non-hollow area 10 of one of any two adjacent hollow units 1 at least partially overlaps the second side of the non-hollow area 10 of the other hollow unit.

In another example, as shown in FIG. 2 , the third side of the non-hollow area 10 of one of any two adjacent hollow units 1 at least partially overlaps the fourth side of the non-hollow area 10 of the other hollow unit.

In another example, as shown in FIG. 3 , the first side of the non-hollow area 10 of one of any two adjacent hollow units 1 at least partially overlaps the third side or the fourth side of the non-hollow area 10 of the other hollow unit. Similarly, the second side of the non-hollow area 10 of one of any two adjacent hollow units 1 at least partially overlaps the third side or the fourth side of the non-hollow area 10 of the other hollow unit.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 4 , the outline of each hollow unit 1 in the wiring structure has a D-shape. Any two adjacent hollow units 1 form a centrally symmetric pattern, and the center of symmetry is the central point of the connecting position therebetween.

It is to be noted here that the outline of the hollow unit 1 in the embodiment of the disclosure is not limited to the approximately rectangular shape and the D-shape described above, but may also be in other shapes, such as a circle, a hexagon, and the like, as long as it satisfies the condition that the non-hollow areas of adjacent hollow units at least partially overlap. In this way, even if one connection point is broken in the process of bending, stretching and twisting of the wiring structure, the connections at the remaining positions can still ensure the normal connection of the wiring structure, which may further prevent failure of the display device.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, as shown in FIG. 5 , the hollow unit 1 in the wiring structure in this embodiment may further comprise at least one bridging part 2 which is in the hollow area of the hollow unit and connected to the non-hollow area. In the example of FIG. 5 , the bridging part 2 is connected between different positions of the inner edge of the non-hollow area 10 of the hollow unit 1 . Such bridging parts can effectively increase the yield of the wiring structure.

The material for the hollow units in the embodiments of disclosure may include metal, so that it can be ensured that the wiring structure has good conductivity. Of course, other conductive materials may also be used, which will not be enumerated here.

A further embodiment of the disclosure provides a display substrate comprising a base substrate and a wiring structure arranged on the base substrate. The wiring structure may be a wiring structure as described in any of the foregoing embodiments.

The display substrate in this embodiment may be a flexible substrate, that is, the material used for the base substrate is a flexible material, such as polyimide (PI) or the like.

Since the wiring structure in the display substrate in the embodiment of the present disclosure comprises a plurality of hollow units connected in series, during the process of bending, stretching and twisting of the display substrate, the wiring structure may release the stress through the hollow units so as to avoid occurrence of breaking which may result in failure of the device on the substrate. Particularly, since the flexible substrate itself is prone to bending, using the wiring structure in this embodiment can greatly improve the yield of the flexible substrate.

Yet another embodiment of the disclosure provides a display device comprising the display substrate described in the foregoing embodiment. The display device may be a liquid crystal display device or an electroluminescent display device, for example, any product or component having a display function such as a liquid crystal panel, an electronic paper, an OLED panel, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a television, a monitor, a notebook computer, a digital photo frame, a navigator, and the like.

It can be understood that the above embodiments are merely exemplary embodiments for explaining the principle of the disclosure. However, the invention is not so limited. For those ordinarily skilled in the art, various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the spirit and the essence of the disclosure. These modifications and improvements shall also be regarded as falling into the scope of the invention.