Electric lamp and discharge devices – With gas or vapor – Three or more electrode discharge device
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-08
2002-05-07
Patel, Vip (Department: 2879)
Electric lamp and discharge devices
With gas or vapor
Three or more electrode discharge device
C313S582000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06384532
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel (PDP) and a method of fabricating the same and more particularly, to a PDP having pairs of sustain electrodes that extend in parallel and covered with a dielectric layer and selection electrodes that extend perpendicular to the pairs of sustain electrodes, and a method of fabricating the PDP.
2. Description of the Prior Art
PDPs can be readily fabricated as large-sized flat display panels and therefore, they have been used for display devices of personal computers and workstations, wall-mounted television (TV) sets, and so on.
An example of the configuration of prior-art PDPs is shown in
FIGS. 1A
to
1
C, which is of the surface-discharge type.
As shown in
FIGS. 1A
to
1
C, this prior-art PDP includes first and second components
101
and
102
coupled together. The components
101
and
102
are of a plate shape.
The first component
101
has a first lass substrate
111
, pairs of strip-shaped sustain electrodes
112
and
115
formed on the inner flat surface of the substrate
111
, a dielectric layer
113
formed on the inner surface of the substrate
111
to cover the pairs of sustain electrodes
112
and
115
, and a magnesium oxide (Mg0) layer
114
formed on the dielectric layer
113
. The pairs of sustain electrodes
112
and
115
, which extend in parallel to each other, are arranged at a specific pitch. Each of the sustain electrodes
112
is apart from a corresponding (or pair-forming) one of the sustain electrodes
115
by a specific distance. The dielectric layer
113
is made of low melting-point glass such as lead monoxide (Pb0)-system glass. The Mg0 layer
114
is used to protect the dielectric layer
113
.
On the other hand, the second component
102
has a second glass substrate
121
, strip-shaped selection electrodes
122
formed on the inner flat surface of the substrate
121
, a dielectric layer
123
formed on the inner surface of the substrate
121
to cover the selection electrodes
122
, partition walls
125
formed on the dielectric layer
123
to extend in parallel to the selection electrodes
122
, and strip-shaped fluorescent layers
124
formed on the dielectric layer
123
. The selection electrodes
122
, which are perpendicular to the pairs of strip-shaped sustain electrodes
112
and
115
, are arranged at a specific pitch. The partition walls
125
protrude vertically from the surface of the dielectric layer
123
and contacted with the opposing Mg0 layer
114
of the first component
111
, resulting in strip-shaped discharge spaces
103
extending along the walls
125
between the first and second components
101
and
102
. Each of the spaces
103
includes a corresponding one of the selection electrodes
122
located at the center of the corresponding space
103
. The fluorescent strips
124
cover not only the exposed surface of the dielectric layer
123
but also the side faces of the partition walls
125
, as shown in FIG.
1
C.
The first and second components
101
and
102
are couples together so that the Mg0 layer
114
is opposed to the dielectric layer
123
at a specific distance. A discharge gas (not shown) is filled into the discharge spaces
103
to emit ultraviolet (UV) light for the purpose of exciting the fluorescent stripes
124
. As shown in
FIG. 1A
, areas (approximately rectangular in shape) near the intersections of the pair of sustain electrodes
112
and
115
and the selection electrodes
122
form unit light-emitting areas, i.e., cells
105
.
On operation of the prior-art PDP shown in
FIGS. 1A
to
1
C, a specific voltage is applied across the pairs of sustain electrodes
112
and
115
to thereby generate and sustain electric discharge in the gas filled in the discharge spaces
103
. Due to this electric discharge, UV light is emitted from the gas and irradiated to the fluorescent stripes
124
. Thus, visible light is emitted from the fluorescent stripes
124
. The visible light thus emitted can be seen through the first or second glass substrate
111
or
121
.
One of each pair of sustain electrodes
112
and
115
is used as a common electrode and the other is used as a scan electrode. The selection electrodes
122
are used to select desired ones of the cells
105
for displaying a visible image on the PDP as necessary.
Typically, the visible light emitted from the fluorescent stripes
124
is seen through the first glass substrate
111
. In this case, the pairs of sustain electrodes
112
and
115
are made of a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO), and the selection electrodes
122
are made of a conductive metal.
With the prior-art PDP shown in
FIGS. 1A
to
1
C, the dielectric layer
113
of the first component
101
has an approximately uniform thickness over the whole layer
113
. Therefore, if the thickness of the dielectric layer
113
is increased to improve the light-emitting efficiency, the discharge-sustaining voltage applied across the pairs of the sustain electrodes
112
and
115
needs to be raised, thereby arising a problem that the power consumption of the PDP is increased. On the other hand, if the thickness of the dielectric layer
113
is decreased to lower the discharge-sustaining voltage, a problem that the light-emitting efficiency degrades occurs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a PDP that improves the light-emitting efficiency without raising the discharge-sustaining voltage, and a method of fabricating the PDP.
Another object of the present invention to provide a PDP that improves the light-emitting efficiency without increasing the power consumption, and a method of fabricating the PDP.
Still another object of the present invention to provide a PDP that realizes an improved display quality with low power consumption, and a method of fabricating the PDP.
The above objects together with others not specifically mentioned will become clear to those skilled in the art from the following description.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a PDP is provided, which is comprised of
a first substrate;
a second substrate coupled with the first substrate to form a specific gap between inner surfaces of the first and second substrates;
pairs of a first sustain electrode and a second sustain electrode formed on or over the inner surface of the first substrate; the pairs of first and second sustain electrodes extending in a first direction and arranged at a specific pitch in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction; each of the pairs of first and second sustain electrodes being apart from each other at a specific gap;
a first dielectric layer formed on or over the inner surface of the first substrate to cover the pairs of first and second sustain electrodes;
selection electrodes formed on or over the inner surface of the second substrate to extend in the second direction; the selection electrodes being arranged in the first direction at a specific pitch;
a second dielectric layer formed on or over the inner surface of the second substrate to cover the selection electrodes;
partition walls formed in the gap between the inner surfaces of the first and second substrates to extend in the second direction; partition walls being arranged in the second direction at a specific pitch; the partition walls forming discharge spaces in the gap;
fluorescent layers formed respectively in the discharge spaces; and
a discharge gas introduced in the discharge spaces.
An overlapping part of the first dielectric layer with the first sustain electrode has a non-uniform thickness in a widthwise direction of the first sustain electrode. An overlapping part of the first dielectric layer with the second sustain electrode has a non-uniform thickness in a widthwise direction of the second sustain electrode.
With the PDP according to the first aspect of the present invention, the overlapping part of the first dielectric layer with each of the first sustain electrodes has a non-uniform thickness in the wi
Miyakoshi Akira
Yoshioka Toshihiro
Patel Vip
Scully Scott Murphy & Presser
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