Effects of thermomechanical properties of polarizer components on light leakage in thin-film transistor liquid-crystal displays

In this paper, we present static thermal analysis of stress and strain on a thin-film transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel and their correlation with light leakage phenomena under high-temperature durability test. Three-dimensional (3D) finite element analysis (FEA) is coupled with experimental parameters of key components of the TFT-LCD panel for the analysis. A strong correlation exists between light leakage and retardation difference induced by stress on triacetyl cellulose (TAC) films. Moreover, shrinkage in stretched poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) film and modulus of the adhesive layer are key factors affecting stress distribution and displacement of polarizer stack. An increase in Young's modulus (E) of the adhesive layer effectively reduces polarizer shrinkage and light leakage at the center of the panel. A TAC film with lower Young's modulus and/or coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is also an effective solution.