System and method for detecting defects in a thin-film-transistor array

Abstract

A system and method for detecting a defect in a transistor array includes applying a test signal to the array, monitoring pixel voltage along a gate line of the array, and detecting a defect associated with the gate line based on a variation in the pixel voltage during the monitoring step. The defect may be a short between the gate line and a common line of the array. The gate line and common line may be associated with a same pixel element or different pixel elements. The system and method also detect a precise location of the defect based on a rate of change in the variation of the pixel voltage along the gate line. The rate of change may be measured in any one of a variety of ways. For example, the rate of change may be measured as a sudden increase or increase of the pixel voltage or as a change in slope of a pixel voltage profile. Alternatively, the location of the defect may be detected as corresponding to a minimum or maximum value in a pixel voltage profile. The transistor array may be a TFT array or another circuit which includes an array of transistors.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.