Display panel provided with repair capability of defective elements

Claim 1

A liquid crystal display panel having a repair capability comprising: a plurality of optical display pixels arranged in a matrix format on a substrate; a plurality of parallel scan lines, and a plurality of parallel data lines arranged orthogonally on said substrate, the site of one intersecting scan line and one data line defining a single display pixel; at least two thin film field effect transistors associated with each of said display pixels, each transistor having source, drain and gate electrodes; first line connections between the gate electrodes of each of said transistors and said scan line of the pixel; first severable line connections between the source electrodes of each of said transistors and said data line of a pixel; a split plate electrode on said substrate having two separate parts; second severable line connections between the drain electrodes of each of said transistors and a respective part of said split plate electrode; a means to selectively electrically join the parts of said split plate electrode; a conductive metal layer on said substrate adjacent to but spaced from said split plate electrode and said transistors; a dielectric layer overlying said metal layer; a first metal strip extension to a first of said second severable lines having a portion over said dielectric layer in overlying relation to said metal layer; a second metal strip extension to the second of said second severable lines having a portion over said dielectric layer in overlying relation to said metal layer; and an electrical connection between said second metal strip extension and said metal layer.

Claim 12

A method of repairing a display panel having defective elements comprising: providing a display panel with a plurality of display pixels having at least two sub-pixels arranged in a matrix on a substrate, including a plurality of scan lines, a plurality of orthogonal data lines, at least two field effect transistors associated with each display pixel with line connections joining the gate electrodes to a scan line, severable lines between the source electrodes and the data line, severable lines between the source electrodes and the data line, a split plate electrode, severable line connections between the drain electrodes of each transistor and the respective parts of the split plate electrode, and a means to electrically join the parts of the split plate electrode, a set of capacitor plates beneath the split plate electrode, a dielectric layer between the capacitor plates and split plate electrode, and severable lines joining the capacitor plates; the capacitor plates underlying the parts of the split plate electrode being electrically connected by thin conductive lines that do not underlie the split plate electrode; electrically testing the elements of the display panel; noting the location of defective transistors; and cutting with a laser beam the severable lines between the data line and each defective transistor, the thin conductive lines associated with each defective transistor; and the severable lines between the split plate electrode and each defective transistor, and electrically joining the parts of the split plate electrode associated with the defective transistor.

Claim 13

A method of repairing a display panel having defective elements comprising: providing a display panel with a plurality of display pixels having at least two sub-pixels arranged in a matrix on a substrate, including a plurality of scan lines, a plurality of orthogonal data lines, at least two field effect transistors associated with each display pixel with line connections joining the gate electrodes to a scan line, severable lines between the source electrodes and the data line, severable lines between the source electrodes and the data line, a split plate electrode, severable line connections between the drain electrodes of each transistor and the respective parts of the split plate electrode, and a means to electrically join the parts of the split plate electrode, a set of capacitor plates beneath the split plate electrode, a dielectric layer between the capacitor plates and split plate electrode, and severable lines joining the capacitor plates; the capacitor plates underlying the parts of the split plate electrode being electrically connected by thin conductive lines that do not underlie the split plate electrode; electrically testing the elements of the display panel; noting the location of defective transistors; and cutting with a laser beam the severable lines between the data line and each defective transistor, the thin conductive lines associated with each defective transistor; and the severable lines between the split plate electrode and each defective transistor, and electrically joining the parts of the split plate electrode associated with the defective transistor.