CN111856832B - Reflective active element array substrate, manufacturing method thereof and reflective display device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a reflective active element array substrate, a manufacturing method thereof and reflective display equipment. The reflective active device array substrate comprises a substrate, a plurality of active devices, a protective layer and a plurality of metal oxide conductor layers. The active components are distributed on the substrate. The protective layer is disposed on the substrate and covers the active device. The protection layer is provided with a plurality of openings, and each opening exposes the source electrode or the drain electrode of the corresponding active component. The metal oxide conductor layer is disposed on the substrate and covers the protection layer. Each metal oxide conductor layer is electrically connected with the source electrode or the drain electrode of the corresponding active element through the corresponding opening. Therefore, external light reflection can be reduced.

Description

Reflective active element array substrate and manufacturing method thereof and reflective display device

Technical Field

The invention relates to a substrate and a manufacturing method thereof, in particular to a reflective active element array substrate and a manufacturing method thereof and a reflective display device using the reflective active element array substrate.

Background Art

Most electrophoretic display devices are reflective display devices, which use the electrophoretic particles inside to reflect external light beams to achieve the purpose of displaying images. At present, the active element array substrates of electrophoretic display devices mostly use opaque metal materials as conductive electrodes. In addition to the conductive effect, the conductive electrodes made of metal materials can also block light to prevent the active elements from having a photoelectric effect due to light exposure. However, when a hole occurs in the display medium layer, the conductive electrodes made of metal materials will directly reflect light, causing viewers to see obvious bright spots, which in turn affects product quality.

Summary of the invention

The present invention is directed to a reflective active element array substrate, which replaces the existing metal conductive electrode with a metal oxide conductor layer, has a lower light reflectivity and can reduce external light reflection.

The present invention is directed to a method for manufacturing a reflective active element array substrate, which is used to manufacture the above-mentioned reflective active element array substrate.

The present invention also provides a reflective display device, including the reflective active element array substrate, which has better display quality.

The reflective active element array substrate of the present invention comprises a substrate, a plurality of active elements, a protective layer and a plurality of metal oxide conductor layers. The active elements are dispersedly arranged on the substrate. The protective layer is arranged on the substrate and covers the active elements. The protective layer has a plurality of openings, and each opening exposes a source or drain of a corresponding active element. The metal oxide conductor layer is arranged on the substrate and covers the protective layer. Each metal oxide conductor layer is electrically connected to a source or drain of a corresponding active element through each corresponding opening.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the material of each of the metal oxide conductor layers includes molybdenum oxide, molybdenum niobium oxide, tantalum oxide or aluminum oxide.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the active components includes a gate, a semiconductor channel layer, a gate insulating layer, and a source and a drain. The gate is disposed on a substrate. The gate insulating layer covers the gate and is located between the gate and the semiconductor channel layer. The source and the drain are disposed on the same side of the semiconductor channel layer and expose a portion of the semiconductor channel layer.

The manufacturing method of the reflective active element array substrate of the present invention comprises the following steps. An array substrate is provided. The array substrate comprises a substrate, a plurality of active elements and a protective layer. The active elements are dispersedly formed on the substrate, and the protective layer is formed on the substrate and covers the active elements. The protective layer has a plurality of openings, and each opening exposes the source or drain of each corresponding active element respectively. The array substrate is moved into a reaction chamber, wherein a metal target is provided in the reaction chamber. A reaction gas is introduced into the reaction chamber to chemically react with the metal target, and a plurality of metal oxide conductive layers are formed on the array substrate. The metal oxide conductive layer covers the protective layer, and each metal oxide conductive layer is electrically connected to the source or drain of each corresponding active element through each corresponding opening.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the metal target material includes molybdenum, molybdenum-niobium, tantalum or aluminum, and the reaction gas includes oxygen.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the active components includes a gate, a semiconductor channel layer, a gate insulating layer, and a source and a drain. The gate is disposed on a substrate. The gate insulating layer covers the gate and is located between the gate and the semiconductor channel layer. The source and the drain are disposed on the same side of the semiconductor channel layer and expose a portion of the semiconductor channel layer.

The reflective display device of the present invention comprises a reflective active element array substrate and an electrophoretic display film. The reflective active element array substrate comprises a substrate, a plurality of active elements, a protective layer and a plurality of metal oxide conductor layers. The active elements are dispersedly arranged on the substrate. The protective layer is arranged on the substrate and covers the active elements. The protective layer has a plurality of openings, and each opening exposes a corresponding source or drain of each active element. The metal oxide conductor layer is arranged on the substrate and covers the protective layer. Each metal oxide conductor layer is electrically connected to a corresponding source or drain of each active element through each corresponding opening. The electrophoretic display film is arranged on the reflective active element array substrate.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the material of each of the metal oxide conductor layers includes molybdenum oxide, molybdenum niobium oxide, tantalum oxide or aluminum oxide.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the active components includes a gate, a semiconductor channel layer, a gate insulating layer, and a source and a drain. The gate is disposed on a substrate. The gate insulating layer covers the gate and is located between the gate and the semiconductor channel layer. The source and the drain are disposed on the same side of the semiconductor channel layer and expose a portion of the semiconductor channel layer.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the electrophoretic display film comprises a flexible substrate, a transparent conductive layer and a display medium layer. The transparent conductive layer is disposed on the flexible substrate and is located between the reflective active element array substrate and the flexible substrate. The display medium layer is disposed on the flexible substrate and is located between the reflective active element array substrate and the transparent conductive layer. The display medium layer comprises a plurality of display media. Each display medium comprises an electrophoretic fluid and a plurality of charged particles distributed in the electrophoretic fluid.

Based on the above, in the structure of the reflective active element array substrate of the present invention, the metal oxide conductor layer is used as the conductive electrode. Compared with the existing use of metal materials as conductive electrodes, the metal oxide conductor layer of the present invention has a lower light reflectivity and can reduce the reflection of external light. Therefore, when a hole occurs in the electrophoretic display film of the reflective active element array substrate of the present invention, the metal oxide conductor layer can reduce the reflection of external light without generating bright spots, so that the reflective display device has better display quality.

In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, embodiments are given below with reference to the accompanying drawings for detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the present invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the present invention.

FIG1 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a reflective active device array substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method for manufacturing a reflective active device array substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3A to 3B are cross-sectional schematic diagrams of a method for manufacturing the reflective active device array substrate of FIG. 2 ;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a reflective display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Description of Figure Numbers

10: Reflective display device;

100: reflective active element array substrate;

100a: array substrate;

110: substrate;

120: Active components;

122a: source;

122b: drain;

124: gate;

126: gate insulating layer;

128: semiconductor channel layer;

130: protective layer;

132: Opening;

140: metal oxide conductor layer;

200: electrophoretic display film;

210: Flexible substrate;

220: transparent conductive layer;

230: display medium layer;

232: Display medium;

234: electrophoresis fluid;

236: Charged particles;

S10, S20, S30: steps.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whenever possible, the same reference numerals are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a reflective active device array substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1 , the reflective active device array substrate 100 of the present embodiment includes a substrate 110, a plurality of active devices 120 (only two are schematically shown in FIG. 1 ), a protective layer 130, and a plurality of metal oxide conductor layers 140 (only two are schematically shown in FIG. 1 ). The active devices 120 are dispersedly arranged on the substrate 110. The protective layer 130 is arranged on the substrate 110 and covers the active devices 120. The protective layer 130 has a plurality of openings 132 (only two are schematically shown in FIG. 1 ), and each opening 132 exposes a source 122a or a drain 122b of a corresponding active device 120. The metal oxide conductor layer 140 is arranged on the substrate 110 and covers the protective layer 130. Each metal oxide conductor layer 140 is electrically connected to a source 122a or a drain 122b of each corresponding active device 120 through each corresponding opening 132.

In detail, the active device 120 of the present embodiment includes a gate 124, a semiconductor channel layer 128, a gate insulating layer 126, a source 122a and a drain 122b. The gate 124 is located on the substrate 110, and the gate insulating layer 126 covers the gate 124 and a portion of the substrate 110. The semiconductor channel layer 128 is located on a side of the gate insulating layer 126 opposite to the gate 124 and does not contact the gate 124, that is, the gate insulating layer 126 is disposed between the gate 124 and the semiconductor channel layer 128. The source 122a and the drain 122b are disposed on the same side of the semiconductor channel layer 128, and a portion of the semiconductor channel layer 128 is exposed. Here, from the configuration of the gate 124, the gate insulating layer 126, the semiconductor channel layer 128, the source 122a and the drain 122b, it can be seen that the active device 120 of the present embodiment is embodied as a bottom gate thin film transistor, but is not limited thereto. The present invention does not limit the structural type of the active device 120 . In other embodiments, it may also be a top-gate thin film transistor, which still falls within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Continuing with FIG. 1 , the opening 132 of the protective layer 130 of the present embodiment exposes the drain 122 b of the corresponding active element 120. However, in other embodiments not shown, the opening of the protective layer may also expose the source of the corresponding active element. The metal oxide conductor layer 140 is electrically connected to the drain 122 b of each corresponding active element 120 through the corresponding opening 132. Here, the metal oxide conductor layer 140 has light-proof properties (i.e., light-blocking properties), electrical conductivity, and low-reflection properties, wherein the material of the metal oxide conductor layer 140 may be, for example, molybdenum oxide, molybdenum niobium oxide, tantalum oxide, aluminum oxide, or other metal oxides with low reflectivity.

In short, in the structure of the reflective active component array substrate 100 of the present embodiment, the metal oxide conductor layer 140 is used as a conductive electrode. Compared with the existing use of metal materials as conductive electrodes, the metal oxide conductor layer 140 of the present embodiment can have a lower light reflectivity, which can reduce the reflection of external light. Furthermore, the metal oxide conductor layer 140 of the present embodiment still has opacity (i.e., light blocking), conductivity and reflection properties due to the material properties, and therefore does not affect the product characteristics of the reflective active component array substrate 100. In addition, compared with the conductive electrode made of metal material, the metal oxide conductor layer 140 of the present embodiment has better corrosion resistance, which can make the reflective active component array substrate 100 have better product reliability.

The above only describes the structure of the reflective active device array substrate 100 of this embodiment. The following will describe the manufacturing method of the reflective active device array substrate 100 of this embodiment with reference to the flowchart of FIG2 and the cross-sectional schematic diagrams of FIG3A and FIG3B.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method for manufacturing a reflective active element array substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A to FIG. 3B are cross-sectional schematic diagrams of a method for manufacturing a reflective active element array substrate of FIG. 2 . Please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3A simultaneously. First, in step S10, an array substrate 100a is provided, wherein the array substrate 100a includes a substrate 110, active elements 120 (only two are schematically shown in FIG. 3A ) and a protective layer 100a. The active elements 120 are dispersedly formed on the substrate 110, and the protective layer 130 is formed on the substrate 110 and covers the active elements 120. The protective layer 130 has openings 132 (only two are schematically shown in FIG. 3A ), and each opening 132 exposes the drain 122b of each corresponding active element 120 .

Next, please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3A at the same time, step S20, the array substrate 100a is moved into a reaction chamber (not shown), wherein the reaction chamber is provided with a metal target (not shown). Here, the metal target is, for example, molybdenum, molybdenum-niobium, tantalum or aluminum.

Afterwards, please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3B at the same time. In step S30, when plasma (not shown) bombards the metal target, a reaction gas (not shown) is introduced into a reaction chamber (not shown) to chemically react with the metal target, and a metal oxide conductive layer 140 is formed on the array substrate 100a. At this time, the metal oxide conductive layer 140 covers the protective layer 130, and each metal oxide conductive layer 140 is electrically connected to the drain 122b of each corresponding active element 120 through each corresponding opening 132. Here, the reaction gas is, for example, oxygen. At this point, the manufacture of the reflective active element array substrate 100 has been completed.

For example, according to the above process, if molybdenum is selected as the metal target, oxygen is introduced when the plasma bombards the metal target to form molybdenum oxide. Compared with ordinary metal molybdenum, which can reflect about 60% of the incident light, molybdenum oxide of the same thickness can reflect about 6% of the incident light, significantly reducing the light reflectivity.

In short, in the manufacturing method of the reflective active device array substrate 100 of this embodiment, the metal oxide conductor layer 140 replaces the conductive electrode of the existing metal material. Therefore, in addition to having conductivity and light shielding properties, it has a lower light reflectivity and can reduce the reflection of external light.

FIG4 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a reflective display device according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG4 , the reflective display device 10 of the present embodiment includes the reflective active element array substrate 100 and the electrophoretic display film 200, wherein the electrophoretic display film 200 is disposed on the reflective active element array substrate 100. The electrophoretic display film 200 includes a flexible substrate 210, a transparent conductive layer 220, and a display medium layer 230. The transparent conductive layer 220 is disposed on the flexible substrate 210 and is located between the reflective active element array substrate 100 and the flexible substrate 210. Here, the material of the flexible substrate 210 is, for example, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyethylene napthalate (PEN), but is not limited thereto. The material of the transparent conductive layer 220 is, for example, indium tin oxide (ITO), but is not limited thereto. The display medium layer 230 is disposed on the flexible substrate 210 and is located between the reflective active element array substrate 100 and the transparent conductive layer 220. The display medium layer 230 includes a plurality of display media 232 (only two are schematically shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B ), each display medium 232 includes an electrophoretic liquid 234 and a plurality of charged particles 236 distributed in the electrophoretic liquid 234. Specifically, the charged particles 236 include a plurality of white charged particles and a plurality of black charged particles, and the movement of the black charged particles and the white charged particles can be driven by applying a DC voltage or an AC voltage, so as to display black, white or different shades of gray. Of course, in other embodiments not shown, each display medium may also include an electrophoretic liquid and a plurality of white charged particles distributed in the electrophoretic liquid, wherein the electrophoretic liquid is, for example, a black electrophoretic liquid; or, the electrophoretic liquid and the charged particles may have other colors, which are not limited here.

In the manufacturing process of the reflective display device 10, the reflective active device array substrate 100 is first formed by the method shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3A to FIG. 3B. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the electrophoretic display film 200 is assembled on the reflective active device array substrate 100. At this point, the manufacturing of the reflective display device 10 has been completed.

In short, the reflective display device 10 of this embodiment includes the reflective active device array substrate 100, wherein the reflective active device array substrate 100 uses the metal oxide conductor layer 140 as a conductive electrode. Compared with the conventional conductive electrode using metal materials, when a hole occurs in the electrophoretic display film 200, the metal oxide conductor layer 140 of this embodiment can reduce the reflection of external light without generating bright spots, so that the reflective display device 10 has better display quality.

Based on the above, in the structure of the reflective active element array substrate of the present invention, the metal oxide conductor layer is used as the conductive electrode. Compared with the existing use of metal materials as conductive electrodes, the metal oxide conductor layer of the present invention has a lower light reflectivity and can reduce the reflection of external light. Therefore, when a hole occurs in the electrophoretic display film of the reflective active element array substrate of the present invention, the metal oxide conductor layer can reduce the reflection of external light without generating bright spots, so that the reflective display device has better display quality.

Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or replace some or all of the technical features therein by equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims (7)

1. A reflective active device array substrate, comprising:

A substrate;

a plurality of active devices disposed on the substrate in a dispersed manner;

a protection layer disposed on the substrate and covering the plurality of active devices, wherein the protection layer has a plurality of openings, and each of the plurality of openings exposes a source or a drain of each of the plurality of active devices; and

A plurality of metal oxide conductor layers disposed on the substrate and covering the protective layer, wherein each of the plurality of metal oxide conductor layers is electrically connected with the source electrode or the drain electrode of each of the plurality of active devices through each of the corresponding plurality of openings, and orthographic projection of the plurality of metal oxide conductor layers to the substrate completely covers the corresponding plurality of active devices,

Wherein the metal oxide conductor layers have light-tightness, and each material comprises molybdenum oxide, molybdenum niobium oxide, tantalum oxide or aluminum oxide.

2. The reflective active element array substrate of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of active elements comprises:

a gate electrode disposed on the substrate;

a semiconductor channel layer;

a gate insulating layer covering the gate electrode and located between the gate electrode and the semiconductor channel layer; and

The source electrode and the drain electrode are arranged on the same side of the semiconductor channel layer, and part of the semiconductor channel layer is exposed.

3. A manufacturing method of a reflective active element array substrate comprises the following steps:

providing an array substrate, wherein the array substrate comprises a substrate, a plurality of active elements and a protective layer, the plurality of active elements are formed on the substrate in a scattered manner, the protective layer is formed on the substrate and covers the plurality of active elements, the protective layer is provided with a plurality of openings, and each of the plurality of openings respectively exposes a source electrode or a drain electrode of each of the corresponding plurality of active elements;

moving the array substrate into a reaction chamber, wherein the reaction chamber is provided with a metal target; and

Introducing a reaction gas into the reaction chamber to perform a chemical reaction with the metal target, forming a plurality of metal oxide conductor layers on the array substrate, wherein the plurality of metal oxide conductor layers cover the protection layer, the plurality of metal oxide conductor layers are electrically connected with the source electrode or the drain electrode of each of the plurality of corresponding active elements through each of the plurality of corresponding openings, the orthographic projection of the plurality of metal oxide conductor layers on the substrate completely covers the plurality of corresponding active elements,

Wherein the metal target comprises molybdenum, molybdenum niobium, tantalum, or aluminum, and the reactant gas comprises oxygen, and the plurality of metal oxide conductor layers are opaque.

4. The method of manufacturing a reflective active device array substrate of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of active devices comprises:

a gate electrode disposed on the substrate;

a semiconductor channel layer;

a gate insulating layer covering the gate electrode and located between the gate electrode and the semiconductor channel layer; and

The source electrode and the drain electrode are arranged on the same side of the semiconductor channel layer, and part of the semiconductor channel layer is exposed.

5. A reflective display device, comprising:

A reflective active device array substrate, comprising:

A substrate;

a plurality of active devices disposed on the substrate in a dispersed manner;

a protection layer disposed on the substrate and covering the plurality of active devices, wherein the protection layer has a plurality of openings, and each of the plurality of openings exposes a source or a drain of each of the plurality of active devices; and

A plurality of metal oxide conductor layers disposed on the substrate and covering the protective layer, wherein each of the plurality of metal oxide conductor layers is electrically connected to the source or the drain of each of the plurality of active elements through each of the corresponding plurality of openings, and orthographic projection of the plurality of metal oxide conductor layers on the substrate completely covers the corresponding plurality of active elements; and

An electrophoretic display film disposed on the reflective active device array substrate,

Wherein the metal oxide conductor layers have light-tightness, and each material comprises molybdenum oxide, molybdenum niobium oxide, tantalum oxide or aluminum oxide.

6. The reflective display device of claim 5, wherein each of the plurality of active elements comprises:

a gate electrode disposed on the substrate;

a semiconductor channel layer;

a gate insulating layer covering the gate electrode and located between the gate electrode and the semiconductor channel layer; and

The source electrode and the drain electrode are arranged on the same side of the semiconductor channel layer, and part of the semiconductor channel layer is exposed.

7. The reflective display device of claim 5, wherein the electrophoretic display film comprises:

a flexible substrate;

The transparent conductive layer is configured on the flexible substrate and is positioned between the reflective active element array substrate and the flexible substrate; and

The display medium layer is configured on the flexible substrate and is positioned between the reflective active element array substrate and the transparent conductive layer, the display medium layer comprises a plurality of display mediums, and each of the plurality of display mediums comprises an electrophoretic liquid and a plurality of charged particles distributed in the electrophoretic liquid.