Transflective display panels and methods for making the same

#The invention relates to display panels, and more particularly, to transflective display (LCD) panels with reflective layer structures.

#As manufacturing costs decrease and quality improves, liquid crystal displays are increasingly employed in different products such as notebook computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, clocks, and the like. Liquid crystal displays are passive luminous devices and can include a backlight unit for LCD devices.

#Typically, LCD devices can be divided into several types according to their display methods. Some examples are reflective LCD devices, transmissive LCD devices, and transflective LCD devices. A reflective LCD device saves power and reduces manufacturing costs by reflecting light from the environment to display images. A transmissive LCD device comprises an LCD panel and an additional backlight unit for providing a light source to the LCD panel, leading to higher brightness and less restrictions on use. Additionally, a transflective LCD device, which combines features of the transmissive LCD device and the reflective LCD device, is used because it can reflect ambient light to render images. The transmissive LCD device can also use a backlight unit to actively generate light in a low light environment, such as indoors or at night.

#The transflective display panel can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

#FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional transflective display panel;

#FIG. 2 is a cross-section of the display region along a line A-A′ in FIG. 1;

#Transflective display panels according to various embodiments are provided. As will be described herein, some embodiments of the reflective layer structures are disposed on a planarization layer of a transflective display panel.

#FIG. 3-5 are schematic diagrams according to various embodiments for fabricating a transflective display panel 210. As shown in FIG. 3, the transflective display panel can comprise a substrate 212 with a transmissive area 214 and a reflective area 215 thereon. A planarization layer 216 can be formed on the substrate 212 and then patterned to form a transmissive hole 218 to expose the transmissive area 214 and a part of the reflective area 215. In an embodiment, the substrate 212 can comprise a glass substrate, a silicon substrate, a silicon on insulator substrate, a sapphire substrate, a polymer substrate, or any other suitable material. According to various embodiments, planarization layer 216 can have a thickness of from about 2.9 to about 3.9 micrometers. Further, planarization layer 216 can comprise a dielectric material, such as silicon oxide, silicon nitride, polymer, or a combination thereof.

#As shown in FIG. 4, a first reflective layer 220 and a second reflective layer 222 can be formed on the transmissive area 214, the reflective area 215, and on sidewalls of the planarization layer 216 in the transmissive hole 218.