CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0164832, filed Dec. 11, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a touch display device.

Description of the Related Art

The advent of the information society has brought growing demand for display devices for displaying images, and various types of display devices, such as a liquid crystal display device, an organic light-emitting display device, and the like, are being utilized.

Further, the display devices include a touch display device that provides a touch-based input function allowing a user to input information or commands easily, intuitively and conveniently in addition to a function of displaying a video or images.

In order to perform touch sensing, a touch display device may include a plurality of touch electrodes, a touch sensing circuit for driving and sensing the touch electrodes, and a plurality of touch routing lines for electrically connecting the plurality of touch electrodes to the touch sensing circuit.

A manufacturing process of the touch display device may include a process of testing whether a touch sensor structure such as a plurality of touch electrodes and a plurality of touch routing lines is normally formed.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The inventors have realized that according to such test process of the conventional art, a great number of test pads for testing must be formed in a panel together with the touch sensor structure such as the plurality of touch electrodes and the plurality of touch routing lines. In addition, the inventors have realized that the number of lines for inputting and outputting a test signal is inevitably increased by as much as the number of test pads, and a test time is also inevitably increased.

Due to these factors, as the number of the touch electrodes and the touch routing lines increases, the structure for testing the touch sensor structure may be more complicated, and the test time may be more increased. Thus, the touch sensor structure test may greatly affect the overall manufacturing time and process of the touch display device. Based on the inventors work in fully locating and appreciating these issues, they have proposed solutions as described herein.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to providing a touch display device capable of enabling efficient testing and reducing the number of test pads.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are also directed to providing a touch display device having a touch sensor structure capable of enabling efficient testing and reducing the number of test pads, and also improving touch sensitivity.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a touch display device including: a substrate; a transistor disposed on the substrate; a pixel electrode connected to a source electrode or a drain electrode of the transistor; a common electrode disposed above the pixel electrode; an encapsulation layer disposed on the common electrode; a plurality of touch electrodes disposed in a first touch sensor metal layer located above the encapsulation layer; a plurality of touch pads disposed in a driving pad area in a non-active area that is an area outside an active area in which an image is displayed; and a plurality of touch routing lines that electrically connect the plurality of touch electrodes to the plurality of touch pads and descend along an inclined surface of the encapsulation layer to extend to the driving pad area while being connected to the plurality of touch electrodes in the active area.

The touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure may further include a plurality of outer switches that are disposed further outward than the driving pad area, do not overlap the inclined surface of the encapsulation layer, and include one ends electrically connected to the plurality of touch pads in the driving pad area and the other ends in an electrically floating state.

In the touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of outer switches may further include an on-off control terminal to which a control voltage, whose voltage level is not varied, is applied.

In the touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure, the control voltage may be a turn-off level voltage.

The touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure may further include one or more control lines to which the on-off control terminals of the plurality of outer switches are connected.

In the touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure, the one or more control lines may be electrically connected to a gate voltage line to which a turn-off level gate voltage for display driving is applied.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a touch display device including: a substrate; a transistor disposed on the substrate; a pixel electrode connected to a source electrode or a drain electrode of the transistor; a common electrode disposed above the pixel electrode; an encapsulation layer disposed on the common electrode; a plurality of touch electrodes located above the encapsulation layer and disposed in an active area; a plurality of touch pads disposed in a driving pad area in a non-active area that is an outer area of the active area; and a plurality of touch routing lines that electrically connect the plurality of touch electrodes to the plurality of touch pads and descend along an inclined surface of the encapsulation layer to extend to the driving pad area while being connected to the plurality of touch electrodes in the active area.

The touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure may further include a plurality of outer switches disposed further outward than the driving pad area.

In the touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure, the plurality of touch electrodes may be grouped into K test groups, and K may be a natural number of two or more.

The touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure may further include K test lines respectively corresponding to the K test groups, and K test pads electrically connected to the K test lines and disposed in a test pad area located further outward than the driving pad area.

In the touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure, the plurality of touch pads may include two or more touch pads electrically connected to two or more touch electrodes included in any first test group among the K test groups.

In the touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure, one end of each of two or more outer switches among the plurality of outer switches may be electrically connected to each of the two or more touch pads in a corresponding manner, the other end of each of the two or more outer switches among the plurality of outer switches may be electrically connected to a first test line corresponding to the first test group among the K test lines in common, and an on-off control terminal of each of the two or more outer switches among the plurality of outer switches may be electrically connected to a control line in common.

The touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure may further include a test switch configured to connect one of a test node to which a turn-on level voltage is applied and a normal node to which a turn-off level voltage is applied to the control line.

In the touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure, when a test start event for the two or more touch electrodes included in the first test group is generated, the test node may be connected to the control line by the test switch, and the turn-on level voltage may be applied to an on-off control terminal (a gate node) of each of the two or more outer switches.

In the touch display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure, when a test end event for the two or more touch electrodes included in the first test group is generated, the normal node may be connected to the control line by the test switch, and the turn-off level voltage may be applied to an on-off control terminal (a gate node) of each of the two or more outer switches.

Advantageous Effects

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a touch display device capable of enabling efficient testing and reducing the number of test pads.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a touch display device having a touch sensor structure capable of enabling efficient testing and reducing the number of test pads, and also improving touch sensitivity.

Other technical benefits would be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art beyond those mentioned herein.

