Sony patents display layout that saves space in OLED screens
Sony describes a design for OLED display pixels that uses the physical gap between two transistors as a capacitor. This component stores the electrical charge needed to control the brightness of the light-emitting element. By using existing space for this function, the design aims to make the display circuitry more compact.
In the filing’s own words
A display element includes a light-emitting unit of a current drive type, and a drive unit that drives the light-emitting unit, in which the drive unit includes a capacitance unit, a drive transistor that causes a current corresponding to a voltage held by the capacitance unit to flow through the light-emitting unit, and a write transistor that writes a signal voltage to the capacitance unit, the drive transistor and the write transistor are formed in a state of being separated by an element isolation region, on a semiconductor substrate, and a capacitance generated in a portion where the drive transistor and the write transistor face each other through the element isolation region functions as at least a part of the capacitance unit.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A display device comprising: a light emitting element; a first capacitor; a second capacitor; a sampling transistor configured to supply a data signal voltage corresponding to a data signal to the first capacitor according to a control signal supplied from a control signal line; and a driving transistor configured to supply a driving current from a power potential to the light emitting element according to a voltage stored in the first capacitor, wherein a first electrode of the first capacitor is disposed in a first layer and is electrically connected to a gate of the driving transistor, a second electrode of the first capacitor is disposed in a second layer different from the first layer and is electrically connected to a first source/drain of the driving transistor, a first electrode of the second capacitor is disposed in a third layer different from the first layer and the second layer, and is electrically connected to the first source/drain of the driving transistor, a first source/drain of the sampling transistor is disposed closer to the first source/drain of the driving transistor than to a second source/drain of the driving transistor, the first source/drain of the sampling transistor being electrically connected to the gate of the driving transistor, the first source/drain of the driving transistor being electrically connected to the power potential, and the second source/drain of the driving transistor being electrically connected to an anode of the light emitting element, at least a portion of a wiring path is adjacent, without an intervening wiring line, to at least a portion of the power potential, the wiring path electrically connecting the first source/drain of the sampling transistor and the gate of the driving transistor, and at least a portion of the power potential overlaps the gate of the driving transistor in a plan view.
Facts
- Company
- Sony (Sony Group Corporation)
- Official title
- Display element, display device, and electronic device
- Patent number
- US12770571B2
- Application number
- 19254958
- Filed
- Jun 30, 2025
- Granted
- Oct 20, 2026
- Inventors
- 1
- Claims
- 14
Classified under
G09G 3/3258 Physics & computingG09G 3/3266 Physics & computingH10K 59/126 Electricity & electronicsH10K 59/131 Electricity & electronicsG09G 2300/0876 Physics & computingH10K 59/12 Electricity & electronicsMore from Sony in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.