Active solid-state devices (e.g. – transistors – solid-state diode – Incoherent light emitter structure – In combination with or also constituting light responsive...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-31
2004-03-09
Parker, Kenneth (Department: 2871)
Active solid-state devices (e.g., transistors, solid-state diode
Incoherent light emitter structure
In combination with or also constituting light responsive...
C081S342000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06703643
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for miniaturizing active matrix displays and for enhancing their reliability.
2. Description of the Related Art
The state of a panel forming the prior art active matrix display is shown in
FIG. 4
in cross section. As can be seen from this figure, a sealing material
402
surrounds a pixel region
404
and so only the pixel region
404
of the active matrix display is in contact with a liquid crystal material. TFTs in a peripheral driver circuit region
403
are in contact with the atmosphere. These are remains of the prior art techniques in which only pixel TFTs are present on the substrate of an active matrix display, and in which a driver circuit is an externally attached IC. In these prior art techniques, the position at which the driver circuit is mounted is not optimized where the pixel region
404
and the peripheral driver circuit region
403
are formed on the same glass substrate
401
.
In the prior art active matrix display, the TFTs of the driver circuit are exposed. Therefore, during assembly of the panel, the substrate of the active matrix display must be handled with meticulous care. Under these circumstances, there is a demand for an active matrix display which assumes such a form that the display is handled with ease during fabrication processes. Pixels are protected by the liquid crystal material, the sealing material, and other materials for securing high reliability. On the other hand, the driver circuit is coated with only a thin oxide film. Therefore, the driver circuit does not have sufficient temperature resistance, and is vulnerable to contamination.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to minimize the damage sustained during assembly of the panel of the driver circuit of an active matrix display in an attempt to solve the problems with the reliability, the driver circuit of the active matrix display may take such a form that the user cannot directly touch it. Accordingly, as shown in
FIG. 1
, the peripheral driver circuit region
103
of the aforementioned active matrix display is buried either in the liquid crystal material or in the sealing material.
One invention disclosed herein is an active matrix display which is similar to the above-described active matrix display where pixel TFTs and TFTs forming the driver circuit for the pixels are formed on the same substrate. A liquid crystal material is sealed in so that both pixel TFTs and TFTs of the driver circuit are in contact with the liquid crystal material directly or via a thin film.
Generally, a thin-film transistor (TFT) is coated with an interlayer dielectric film consisting of a film of silicon oxide or the like. Therefore, the TFT is in contact with the liquid crystal material via this dielectric film. By adopting this structure, the TFTs of the peripheral driver circuit can be substantially sealed in the liquid crystal material. That is, the TFTs of the peripheral driver circuit can be sealed by the liquid crystal material.
Another invention has a pair of transparent substrates between which a liquid crystal material is held. TFTs are arranged in rows and columns on the surface of one of the substrates, thus forming a matrix circuit. A peripheral driver circuit consisting of TFTs is connected with the matrix circuit. A liquid crystal material or sealing material is present on the top surface of the peripheral driver circuit. A space for accommodating an integrated circuit connected with the peripheral driver circuit is formed between the substrates.
A specific example of the above-described structure is shown in
FIG. 2
which is a schematic cross section of an active matrix display having a pair of glass substrates
202
and a liquid crystal material
209
held between the substrates. The configuration shown in
FIG. 2
has TFTs
207
of the active matrix circuit; TFTs
208
of the peripheral driver circuit for driving the TFTs
207
, and an integrated circuit
211
for sending video signals and various control signals to the TFTs
208
of the peripheral driver circuit.
In the structure shown in
FIG. 2
, the liquid crystal material exists on the top surface of each TFT
208
of the peripheral driver circuit. The integrated circuit
211
sealed by a sealing material
210
is disposed in a space formed between the glass substrates
202
.
Another invention is an active matrix display characterized in that the pixel TFTs of the active matrix display and the TFTs of the driver circuit for activating the pixels are present on the same substrate, and that the TFTs of the driver circuit are sealed by the sealing material.
A specific example of the above-described structure is shown in
FIG. 3
, where TFTs
308
forming the peripheral driver circuit are sealed by a sealing material
310
.
The peripheral driver circuit region is located either within the region where the liquid crystal material exists or within the sealing material. It substantially follows that the peripheral driver circuit region is sealed in the liquid crystal material or in the sealing material. This can prevent extraneous moisture from encroaching on the peripheral driver circuit region of high packaging density. Furthermore, the effects of stress can be mitigated.
To minimize the damage of a drive circuit in an active matrix liquid crystal display device in a panel assembly process, and to solve the problem of reliability, an active matrix liquid crystal display device is required to be manufactured such that the drive circuit thereof cannot be touched directly. Therefore, a peripheral drive circuit region
803
of an active matrix liquid crystal display device is mounted in liquid crystal or sealing material as shown in FIG.
8
.
FIG. 8
shows an embodiment in which a single glass substrate
801
is constituted of four panels. The substrate shown in
FIG. 8
is constituted of a peripheral drive circuit
803
and a pixel area
804
which are integrated on the same glass substrate. The pixel area
804
is constituted of at least one thin-film transistor which is connected to a pixel electrode arranged like a matrix.
In
FIG. 8
, only the glass substrate
801
on which each circuit is formed is shown, however, another glass substrate opposite to it is actually arranged. A counter electrode is arranged on the opposite glass substrate not shown.
Further, in the constitution shown in
FIG. 8
, the active matrix liquid display device is divided by sealing material
802
so as to realize a manufacturing of a plurality of active matrix liquid crystal display panels on a pair of glass substrates. With such a constitution, the productivity and the reliability can be simultaneously enhanced.
It should be noted that although the width of the sealing material
802
is equal in
FIG. 8
, it may be widened to provide a margin for cutting the glass substrate
802
in an area where it is cut. For example, as shown in
FIG. 9
, the width of the cross area of a sealing material
800
that divides liquid crystal display device may be approximately twice as wide as that of an edge area around the glass substrate
801
. In
FIG. 9
, the same reference numeral as in
FIG. 8
denotes the same member.
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Hirakata Yoshiharu
Kawasaki Yuji
Konuma Toshimitsu
Koyama Jun
Teramoto Satoshi
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Parker Kenneth
Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co,. Ltd.
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