CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit of the filing date of Chinese Patent Application No. 201710557038.2 filed on Jul. 10, 2017, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a display technology, and more particularly, to an array substrate and fabrication method thereof and a display apparatus.

BACKGROUND

At present, in order to realize identification of a user's action on a display apparatus, it is necessary to use an expensive CCD (Charge-coupled Device)/CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) camera to capture the user's action. After the captured action is analyzed, corresponding operations are performed. Moreover, if a user's action needs to be identified at night, it is also necessary to use a four-axis motion memory sensor (Motion MEM sensor) to record the user's action. These apparatuses that realize the identification of a user's action currently are very expensive. In addition, it is difficult to integrate them into a display apparatus.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Accordingly, one example of the present disclosure is an array substrate. The array substrate may comprise a base substrate, gate lines and data lines intersecting the gate lines on the base substrate. The gate lines and the data lines may define a plurality of pixel regions. Each of at least some of the plurality of the pixel regions may be provided with an image sensor. The image sensor may be configured to sense light having image information and comprise a sensitive element, a first electrode at one end of the sensitive element, and a second electrode at the other end of the sensitive element. The first electrode of the image sensor may be coupled to one of the gate lines and the second electrode of the image sensor may be coupled to a current detection line. In one embodiment, the first electrode of the image sensor may be coupled to the one of the gate lines through a connection electrode in a through hole of a gate insulating layer. The first electrode and the second electrode of the image sensor may be spaced apart, the sensitive element thereof may be on the first electrode and the second electrode, and the sensitive element may be suspended with respect to the gate insulating layer.

The array substrate may further comprise a driving thin-film transistor for displaying in each of the pixel regions. The driving thin-film transistor may comprise a gate electrode, a source electrode, a drain electrode, and an active layer. The sensitive element of the image sensor and the active layer of the driving thin-film transistor may be made of a same material.

The array substrate may further comprise a switching thin-film transistor configured to control the image sensor and comprising a gate electrode, a source electrode, a drain electrode, and an active layer. The drain electrode of the switching thin-film transistor may be coupled to the first electrode, the gate electrode of the switching thin-film transistor may be coupled to one of the gate lines, and the source electrode of the switching thin-film transistor may be coupled to a data input line. The drain electrode of the switching thin-film transistor and the first electrode may have a unitary structure. The sensitive element of the image sensor, the active layer of the driving thin-film transistor, and the active layer of the switching thin-film transistor may be made of a same material. The image sensor may be an infrared image sensor.

Another example of the present disclosure is a display apparatus. The display apparatus may comprise the array substrate according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The display apparatus may further comprise a processing circuit coupled to the current detection line, and the process circuit may be configured to identify touch operations based on change in current on the current detection line.

Another example of the present disclosure is a method of fabricating an array substrate. In one embodiment, the method may comprise forming gate lines and gate electrodes of driving thin-film transistors on a base substrate; forming a gate insulating layer with through holes through the gate insulating layer; forming source electrodes of the driving thin-film transistors, drain electrodes of the driving thin-film transistors, data lines, first electrodes of image sensors, second electrodes of the image sensors, and current detection lines on the gate insulating layer by using a single mask plate; forming a transition layer between the first electrodes and the second electrodes; forming active layers of the driving thin-film transistors and the sensitive elements on the transition layer by using a single mask plate; and removing the transition layer to form the sensitive elements mounted on the first electrodes and the second electrodes.

The step of forming source electrodes of the driving thin-film transistors, drain electrodes of the driving thin-film transistors, data lines, first electrodes of image sensors, second electrodes of the image sensors, and current detection lines on the gate insulating layer may comprise forming a metal material layer on the gate insulating layer and patterning the metal material layer using a single mask plate to form the source electrodes of the driving thin-film transistors, the drain electrodes of the driving thin-film transistors, the data lines, the first electrodes of image sensors, the second electrodes of the image sensors, and the current detection lines. The active layers of the driving thin-film transistors and the sensitive elements may be made of amorphous-Si or low temperature polysilicon. The first electrodes and the second electrodes may be spaced apart, the second electrodes may be coupled to the current detection lines respectively, and the first electrodes may be coupled to the gate lines through the through holes of the gate insulating layer respectively.

In another embodiment, the method of fabricating an array substrate may comprise forming gate lines and gate electrodes of driving thin-film transistors on a base substrate; forming a gate insulating layer with through holes through the gate insulating layer; forming first electrodes, second electrodes, and data lines of image sensors, current detection lines, data lines, source electrodes and drain electrodes of the driving thin-film transistors, and source electrodes and drain electrodes of switching thin-film transistor on the gate insulating layer by using a single mask plate; forming a transition layer between the first electrodes and the second electrodes; forming active layers of the driving thin-film transistors, active layers of the switching thin-film transistor, and the sensitive elements on the transition layer by using a single mask plate; and removing the transition layer to form the sensitive elements mounted on the first electrodes and the second electrodes.

The step of forming first electrodes, second electrodes, and data lines of image sensors, current detection lines, data lines, source electrodes and drain electrodes of the driving thin-film transistors, and source electrodes and drain electrodes of switching thin-film transistor on the gate insulating layer may comprise forming a metal material layer on the gate insulating layer and patterning the metal material layer using a single mask plate to form the first electrodes, the second electrodes, and the data lines of image sensors, the current detection lines, the data lines, the source electrodes and the drain electrodes of the driving thin-film transistors, and the source electrodes and the drain electrodes of the switching thin-film transistor on the gate insulating layer.

The first electrodes and the second electrodes may be spaced apart, the drain electrodes of the switching thin-film transistors may be coupled to the first electrodes respectively, the source electrodes of the switching thin-film transistors may be coupled to the data input lines respectively, and the second electrodes may be coupled to the current detection lines respectively. The active layers of the driving thin-film transistors, the active layers of the switching thin-film transistor, and the sensitive elements may be made of amorphous-Si or low temperature polysilicon. The sensitive element may be suspended with respect to the gate insulating layer.

