CN111487826A - Display panel, manufacturing method thereof and display terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a display panel, a manufacturing method thereof, and a display terminal. The display panel includes a backlight module, a first substrate, a second substrate and a liquid crystal layer. The first substrate includes a base substrate, a transition layer and a gate insulating layer. The polar insulating layer is arranged on the side of the first base substrate away from the backlight module, the transition layer is arranged between the base substrate and the gate insulating layer, and the refractive index of the transition layer is smaller than that of the gate insulating layer. Refractive index, thereby reducing light reflection at the interface between the glass substrate and the gate insulating layer, and improving the backlight transmittance of the display panel.

Description

Display panel, method of making the same, and display terminal

technical field

The present invention relates to the field of display technology, and in particular, to a display panel, a manufacturing method thereof, and a display terminal.

Background technique

An existing liquid crystal display (LCD) generally includes a backlight module, an array substrate, a liquid crystal layer and a color filter substrate. The backlight module provides a light source, and the light emitted by the backlight module is incident on the array substrate, and is deflected from the array substrate by the liquid crystal layer. The color filter substrate is emitted from the side away from the backlight module, thereby generating a display image.

In the array substrate of the amorphous silicon thin film transistor device using the bottom gate structure, part of the gate insulating layer is in direct contact with the glass substrate on the side close to the backlight. The light emitted by the module is largely reflected at the interface between the gate insulating layer and the glass substrate, which reduces the backlight transmittance of the liquid crystal display panel, and cannot meet the requirements of large-size, high-resolution liquid crystal display panels for high backlight transmittance. Require.

To sum up, the existing liquid crystal display panel has the problem that the light rays at the interface between the gate insulating layer and the glass substrate are largely reflected, which reduces the transmittance of the backlight of the liquid crystal display panel. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a display panel, a manufacturing method thereof, and a display terminal to improve this defect.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a display panel, a method for fabricating the same, and a display terminal, which are used to solve the problem that a large amount of light is reflected at the interface between the gate insulating layer and the glass substrate existing in the existing liquid crystal display panel, which reduces the transmittance of the backlight of the liquid crystal display panel. The problem.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a display panel, including:

Backlight module;

a first substrate, disposed on the light-emitting side of the backlight module;

a second substrate disposed on a side of the first substrate away from the backlight module; and

a liquid crystal layer, disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate;

Wherein, the first substrate includes a base substrate, a transition layer and a gate insulating layer, the gate insulating layer is disposed on a side of the first base substrate away from the backlight module, and the transition layer It is disposed between the base substrate and the gate insulating layer, and the refractive index of the transition layer is smaller than that of the gate insulating layer.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first substrate further includes a patterned first metal layer between the base substrate and the transition layer, and the patterned first metal layer includes a plurality of gates and multiple metal electrodes.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first substrate further includes a passivation protection layer and a transparent electrode layer stacked on the gate insulating layer, and a plurality of passivation protection layers are provided on the first substrate. layer, the gate insulating layer and the via hole of the transition layer, and the transparent electrode layer is connected to the metal through the via hole.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the material of the gate insulating layer includes silicon nitride, and the material of the transition layer includes silicon oxynitride.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the thickness of the transition layer is between 80 nm and 100 nm.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the refractive index of the transition layer is between 1.70 and 1.80.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a display terminal, including a terminal body and the above-mentioned display panel, where the display panel is disposed on the terminal body.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a method for fabricating a display panel, including:

providing a base substrate, feeding a reactive gas, and depositing a transition layer on the base substrate;

forming a gate insulating layer on a side of the transition layer away from the base substrate; and

forming a stacked passivation protection layer and a pixel electrode layer on the side of the gate insulating layer away from the transition layer;

Wherein, the refractive index of the transition layer is smaller than the refractive index of the gate insulating layer.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the manufacturing method further includes:

Before forming the transition layer, a metal material is deposited on the first base substrate, and the metal material is etched to form a patterned first metal layer, where the first metal layer includes a plurality of gate electrodes and a plurality of metal electrodes.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the step of forming the pixel electrode layer includes:

Passing an etching gas to form a first via hole through the passivation protection layer, the gate insulating layer and the transition layer by etching, so as to expose a part of the metal electrode; and

A transparent conductive material is deposited on the passivation protection layer, and the transparent conductive material is etched to form a patterned transparent electrode layer, and the transparent electrode layer is connected to the metal electrode through the via hole.

Beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present disclosure: In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a transition layer with a refractive index smaller than that of the gate insulating layer is added between the gate insulating layer and the base substrate, so as to reduce the difference between the glass substrate and the gate insulating layer. The amount of light reflection at the interface improves the backlight transmittance of the display panel.

Description of drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments or technical solutions in the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the accompanying drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only for disclosure. In some embodiments, for those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can also be obtained according to these drawings without any creative effort.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a film layer structure of a display panel provided by the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a display terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a method for fabricating a display panel according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed ways

The following descriptions of the various embodiments refer to the accompanying drawings to illustrate specific embodiments in which the present disclosure may be practiced. The directional terms mentioned in this disclosure, such as [up], [down], [front], [rear], [left], [right], [inner], [outer], [side], etc., are only for reference Additional schema orientation. Accordingly, the directional terms used are used to describe and understand the present disclosure, rather than to limit the present disclosure. In the figures, structurally similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The present disclosure will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a display panel, which will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 1 . As shown in FIG. 1 , FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a film layer structure of a display panel according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The display panel includes a backlight module 11 , a first substrate 12 , a second substrate 13 and a liquid crystal layer 14 . The first substrate 12 is an array substrate, disposed on the light-emitting side of the backlight module 11, the second substrate 13 is a color filter substrate, disposed on the side of the first substrate 2 away from the backlight module 11, and the liquid crystal layer 14 is disposed on the first substrate 12 and the first substrate 12. Between the two substrates 13 , the display panel further includes a frame sealant disposed around the first substrate 12 and the second substrate 13 for sealing and bonding the first substrate 12 and the second substrate 13 .

Specifically, the first substrate 12 includes a first base substrate 121, a patterned first metal layer 122 disposed on the first base substrate 121, disposed on the first base substrate 121 and covering the first metal layer The gate insulating layer 124 of the layer 122, the active layer 125 disposed on the gate insulating layer 124, the source-drain electrode layer 126 disposed on the active layer 125, disposed on the gate insulating layer 124 and covering all The source-drain electrode layer 126, the passivation protection layer 127 of the active layer 125, and the transparent electrode layer 128 disposed on the passivation protection layer 127, wherein the material of the active layer 125 is amorphous silicon material, the film layer The structure includes a channel layer and an ohmic contact layer on the gate insulating layer 124. The active layer 125, the gate in the first metal layer 122, and the source and drain in the source-drain electrode layer 126 together form the inner surface of the display panel. Amorphous silicon thin film transistor with bottom gate structure.

In the disclosed embodiment, a transition layer 123 is disposed between the gate insulating layer 124 and the first base substrate 121 , and the refractive index of the transition layer 123 is smaller than that of the gate insulating layer 124 , but greater than that of the first base substrate 121 . The refractive index of the base substrate 121, so that the light emitted by the backlight module 11 gradually enters the light from the optically rarer medium in the transparent sub-region of the first substrate 12 (ie, the region where the backlight module 11 emits light in FIG. 1). The dense medium reduces the amount of reflected light and prevents the light from being largely reflected at the interface between the first base substrate 121 and the gate insulating layer 124 with a large difference in refractive index, thereby improving the backlight transmittance of the display panel.

Specifically, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the refractive index of the transition layer 123 is 1.70, and the film thickness of the transition layer 123 is 80 nm. The refractive index of the transition layer 123 can be adjusted by controlling the gas flow ratio of NH3 and N2O during the film formation process. In some embodiments, the refractive index of the transition layer 123 can also be 1.80, or between 1.70~ It can be between 1.80, and the film thickness can also be 100nm, or between 80nm and 100nm, which is not limited here, but under the condition that the reflectivity at the interface decreases, the film thickness of the transition layer 123 The minimum value should be taken to ensure that the electrical properties of the thin film transistor devices in the display panel meet the requirements.

Further, the patterned first metal layer 122 in the embodiment of the present disclosure includes gate electrodes 1221 of a plurality of thin film transistors, a plurality of metal electrodes 1222 and a plurality of scan lines arranged in an array. The first metal layer 122 The transition layer 123 is disposed between the first base substrate 121 and the transition layer 123, and the transition layer 123 covers the plurality of gate electrodes 1221, the metal electrodes 1222 and the plurality of scan lines. The material of the transition layer 123 is silicon oxynitride SiO _x N _y , and the material of the gate insulating layer 124 is silicon nitride SiN _x . Above the metal layer 122, the transition layer 123 and the gate insulating layer 124 can be formed successively through a chemical vapor deposition process by controlling the film forming temperature and the flow ratio of the reaction gas in the reaction device, which simplifies the transition layer 123 and the gate electrode. The film forming process of the insulating layer 124 can also reduce the contamination of the interface of the inner film layers of the display panel such as the transition layer 123 or the gate insulating layer 124 by impurity particles, ensure the quality of each dielectric film layer in the display panel, and reduce the electrical properties of the thin film transistor device. Risk of performance degradation.

Of course, in some embodiments, the transition layer 123 can also be disposed between the first base substrate 121 and the first metal layer 122, which can also achieve the technical effect of reducing the amount of light reflection at the interface. In other implementations, the transition layer 123 can also be disposed only in the transparent sub-region within the display area of the display panel. For the non-transparent sub-region, the gate insulating layer 124 is kept in direct contact with the first base substrate 121, which can also be used to The amount of light reflection at the interface between the first base substrate 121 and the gate insulating layer 124 in the transparent sub-region is reduced, which is not limited here.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a plurality of via holes are further provided on the first substrate 12 , and the via holes include a first via hole V1 and a second via hole V2 , wherein the first via hole V1 penetrates the passivation protection layer 126 and expose part of the source or drain electrode in the source-drain electrode layer 126, the transparent electrode layer 128 includes a plurality of patterned transparent electrodes arranged in an array, the transparent electrodes communicate with the source-drain electrodes through the first via V1 A source or drain connection in layer 126. The second via hole V2 penetrates the passivation protection layer 127 , the gate insulating layer 124 and the transition layer 123 and exposes part of the metal electrode 1222 , and the transparent electrode is connected to the metal electrode 1222 through the second via hole V2 . Using a combination of etching gases NF3, O2, and He, a second via V2 that penetrates the passivation protection layer 127, the gate insulating layer 124 and the transition layer 123 can be formed by one etching, and is located at the bottom of the transition layer 123. The two side walls can maintain a good edge slope angle, which can effectively prevent the poor chamfering of the top layer resulting in poor overlap between the transparent electrode and the metal electrode 1222 .

Beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present disclosure: In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a transition layer with a refractive index smaller than that of the gate insulating layer is added between the gate insulating layer and the base substrate, so as to reduce the difference between the glass substrate and the gate insulating layer. The light reflection at the interface improves the backlight transmittance of the display panel and meets the requirements of large-size, high-resolution LCD panels for high backlight transmittance. The transition layer and the gate insulating layer are formed at the same time by deposition, which simplifies the film formation process of the transition layer and the gate insulating layer, and can also reduce the contamination of the interface of the inner film layer of the display panel such as the transition layer or the gate insulating layer by impurity particles, so as to ensure the display The quality of each dielectric film layer in the panel can be reduced, thereby reducing the risk of electrical performance degradation of the thin film transistor device, and it can also prevent the poor chamfering of the top layer in the second via hole resulting in poor overlap between the transparent electrode and the metal electrode.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a display terminal. As shown in FIG. 2 , FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a display terminal provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. The display terminal 20 includes a terminal body 21 and a display panel 22 . The display The panel 22 is disposed on the terminal body 21 . The terminal main body 21 and the display panel 22 can be combined into one body, and the display panel 22 is the display panel provided in the above-mentioned embodiment. The terminal main body 20 provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure can achieve the same technical effect as the display panel 22 provided by the above-mentioned embodiment, which is not repeated here.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a method for fabricating a display panel, which will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 3 . As shown in FIG. 3 , FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a method for fabricating a display panel according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The fabrication method includes:

Step S1: depositing a layer of metal material on the first base substrate 121, and etching the metal material to form a patterned first metal layer 122 as shown in 3a in FIG. 3, the first metal layer 122 A plurality of gate electrodes 1221 and a plurality of metal electrodes 1222 are included.

Step S2: The reaction gas NH3, N2O and SiH4 are introduced into the reaction device, and under the condition of the first film formation temperature, the first substrate substrate 121 is formed by chemical vapor deposition method as shown in 3b in FIG. 3 . The material is the transition layer 123 of SiOxNy;

Step S3: Continuously feeding the above-mentioned reactive gas, and under the condition of the first film forming temperature, the gate insulating layer 124 as shown in 3b in FIG. 3 is formed on the surface of the transition layer 123 by chemical vapor deposition ;

Step S4: forming a stacked active layer 125 and a source-drain electrode layer 126 as shown in 3c in FIG. 3 on the side of the gate insulating layer 124 away from the first base substrate 121;

Step S5 : forming a passivation protection layer 127 covering the active layer 125 and the source-drain electrode layer 126 as shown in FIG. 3 c on the side of the gate insulating layer 124 away from the first base substrate 121 ;

Step S6: depositing a layer of photoresist on the surface of the passivation protection layer 127, etching the photoresist to form a patterned photoresist layer 10, feeding the etching gases NF3, O2 and He, using the photoresist The layer 10 is etched to form a first via hole V1 penetrating the passivation protection layer 127 and exposing part of the source-drain electrode layer 126 as shown in 3d in FIG. 3 , and passing through the passivation protection layer 127 , the gate insulating layer 124 and the transition layer 123 and expose part of the second via hole V2 of the metal electrode 1222;

Step S7 : as shown in 3e in FIG. 3 , remove the photoresist layer 10 , deposit a layer of transparent conductive material on the passivation protection layer 127 , and etch the transparent conductive material to form a patterned transparent electrode layer 128 , the first transparent electrode layer 128 includes a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged in an array, the pixel electrodes are connected to the source or drain in the source-drain electrode layer 126 through the first via hole V1, and the pixel electrode also passes through the second via hole V2 is connected to the metal electrode 1222 .

Step S8 : forming a protective layer and an alignment layer on the electrode layer. The process of this step and the subsequent process of cell matching with the color filter substrate are the same as those in the prior art, which will not be repeated here.

In the disclosed embodiment, the material of the transition layer 123 is silicon oxynitride SiO _x N _y , the material of the gate insulating layer 124 is silicon nitride SiN _x , and the refractive index of the transition layer 123 is smaller than that of the gate insulating layer 124 rate, but greater than the refractive index of the first base substrate 121, so that the light emitted by the backlight module 11 is in the transparent sub-region of the first substrate 12 (that is, the region where the backlight module 11 emits light in FIG. 1 ). ) gradually enters the optically dense medium from the optically sparser medium, which reduces the amount of light reflected and prevents the light from being largely reflected at the interface between the first base substrate 121 and the gate insulating layer 124 with a large difference in refractive index, thereby improving the display. Backlight transmittance of the panel.

In step S2, the refractive index of the transition layer 123 can be adjusted by controlling the gas flow ratio of NH3 and N2O in the reaction gas. In addition, an appropriate amount of N2 can also be introduced during the chemical vapor deposition film formation process to improve the film formation of the transition layer 123. uniformity of thickness. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the refractive index of the transition layer 123 is 1.70, and the film thickness of the transition layer 123 is 80 nm. Of course, in some embodiments, the refractive index of the transition layer 123 may also be 1.80, or between 1.70 and 1.80, and the film thickness may also be 100 nm, or between 80 nm and 100 nm. , which is not limited here, but under the condition that the reflectivity at the interface decreases, the film thickness of the transition layer 123 should take the minimum value to ensure that the electrical performance of the thin film transistor device in the display panel meets the requirements.

In both steps S2 and S3, the first film-forming temperature is used. By maintaining the same film-forming temperature, only the flow ratio of each reaction gas in the reaction device is changed, and the transition layer 123 is disposed adjacent to the gate insulating layer 124. The transition layer 123 and the gate insulating layer 124 can be formed successively through a chemical vapor deposition process, which simplifies the film forming process of the transition layer 123 and the gate insulating layer 124, and also It can reduce the contamination of the inner film interface of the display panel such as the transition layer 123 or the gate insulating layer 124 by impurity particles, ensure the quality of each dielectric film layer in the display panel, and reduce the risk of electrical performance degradation of the thin film transistor device.

In step S6, the etching gas of the combination of NF3, O2 and He is used to etch the via hole. By reducing the gas flow ratio of NF3 and O2, the etching selectivity ratio of the gate insulating layer 124 and the transition layer 123 can be improved, and at the same time It is also possible to increase the edge of the photoresist layer 10 at the two via holes to fade to both sides of the via holes, thereby reducing the etching of the passivation protection layer 127, the gate insulating layer 124 and the transition layer 123 on the two side walls of the second via hole V2. Corrosion degree, so that the edge slope angle of the second via hole V2 located on the two sides of the above-mentioned three film layers is good, so as to prevent the poor chamfering of the top layer resulting in poor overlap between the transparent electrode layer 128 and the metal electrode 1222. In addition, adding He can further Etch uniformity is maintained in the case of large area etching.

Beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present disclosure: The manufacturing method of the display panel provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure simultaneously forms the transition layer and the gate insulating layer by one chemical vapor deposition method, thereby reducing the crossover between the first substrate and the gate insulating layer. The amount of reflection of the light emitted by the backlight module at the interface improves the backlight transmittance of the display panel. In addition, it can simplify the film-forming process of the transition layer and the gate insulating layer, and reduce the amount of transition layer or gate insulating layer in the display panel. The interface of the film layer is polluted by impurity particles, which ensures the quality of each dielectric film layer in the display panel, thereby reducing the risk of electrical performance degradation of the thin film transistor device. In addition, it can also prevent the occurrence of poor top chamfering in the second via hole, which may lead to transparent electrodes and metals. Poor electrode connection.

In conclusion, although the present disclosure is disclosed above with preferred embodiments, the above preferred embodiments are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Those of ordinary skill in the art can make various modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure Alterations and modifications, therefore, the scope of protection of the present disclosure is based on the scope defined by the claims.

Claims (10)

1. A display panel, characterized in that, comprising: Backlight module; a first substrate, disposed on the light-emitting side of the backlight module; a second substrate disposed on a side of the first substrate away from the backlight module; and a liquid crystal layer, disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; Wherein, the first substrate includes a base substrate, a transition layer and a gate insulating layer, the gate insulating layer is disposed on a side of the first base substrate away from the backlight module, and the transition layer It is disposed between the base substrate and the gate insulating layer, and the refractive index of the transition layer is smaller than that of the gate insulating layer. 2 . The display panel of claim 1 , wherein the first substrate further comprises a patterned first metal layer between the base substrate and the transition layer, the patterned first metal layer. 3 . The first metal layer includes a plurality of gate electrodes and a plurality of metal electrodes. 3 . The display panel of claim 2 , wherein the first substrate further comprises a passivation protection layer and a transparent electrode layer stacked on the gate insulating layer, and the first substrate is provided on the first substrate. 4 . There are a plurality of via holes penetrating the passivation protection layer, the gate insulating layer and the transition layer, and the transparent electrode layer is connected to the metal through the via holes. 4 . The display panel of claim 3 , wherein a material of the gate insulating layer comprises silicon nitride, and a material of the transition layer comprises silicon oxynitride. 5 . 5 . The display panel of claim 4 , wherein the thickness of the transition layer is between 80 nm and 100 nm. 6 . 6 . The display panel of claim 5 , wherein the transition layer has a refractive index between 1.70 and 1.80. 7 . 7. A display terminal, comprising a terminal body and the display panel according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the display panel is disposed on the terminal body. 8. A method for manufacturing a display panel, comprising: providing a base substrate, feeding a reactive gas, and depositing a transition layer on the base substrate; Continuously feeding the reactive gas to form a gate insulating layer on the side of the transition layer away from the base substrate; and forming a stacked passivation protection layer and a pixel electrode layer on the side of the gate insulating layer away from the transition layer; Wherein, the refractive index of the transition layer is smaller than the refractive index of the gate insulating layer. 9. The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 8, wherein the manufacturing method further comprises: Before forming the transition layer, a metal material is deposited on the first base substrate, and the metal material is etched to form a patterned first metal layer, where the patterned first metal layer includes a plurality of gate electrodes and multiple metal electrodes. 10. The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 9, wherein the step of forming the pixel electrode layer comprises: Passing an etching gas to form a first via hole through the passivation protection layer, the gate insulating layer and the transition layer by etching, so as to expose a part of the metal electrode; and A transparent conductive material is deposited on the passivation protection layer, and the transparent conductive material is etched to form a patterned transparent electrode layer, and the patterned transparent electrode layer is connected to the metal electrode through the via hole.

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