Electric lamp and discharge devices – With gas or vapor – Three or more electrode discharge device
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-24
2004-05-11
O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)
Electric lamp and discharge devices
With gas or vapor
Three or more electrode discharge device
C313S485000, C313S495000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06734626
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel and, particularly, to a structure of a surface-discharge type color plasma display panel having reduced power consumption and a fabrication method of the same color plasma display panel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a flat display panel whose display area can be increased easily, attention has been paid to a plasma display panel (PDP). Particularly, the color PDP has been used in a personal computer, a display of workstation and a wall television, etc. A surface-discharge type color PDP among such color PDPs is constructed with a first glass substrate equipped with electrode pairs, which are covered by a dielectric layer and each of which includes a pair of electrodes opposing mutually in a plane to form a discharge space therebetween, and a second glass substrate arranged in an opposing relation to the first glass substrate through discharge gas. Visible display is realized by applying a voltage between the electrodes of each electrode pair to generate discharge therebetween and irradiating a fluorescent member formed on an inner surface of the PDP with ultraviolet ray generated by the discharge.
A portion of a conventional surface-discharge type color PDP, which corresponds to one discharge cell thereof, is shown in
FIGS. 20A
,
20
B and
20
C, which are a plan view of the discharge cell of the conventional surface-discharge type PDP, a cross section taken along a line A-A′ in
FIG. 20A and a
cross section taken along a line C-C′ in
FIG. 20A
, respectively,
As shown in
FIGS. 20A
,
20
B and
20
C, sustaining electrodes
712
, which become electrode pairs, are formed on one and the same surface of the first glass substrate
711
and are covered by a dielectric layer
724
of a low melting point glass material and a protective film
715
formed of magnesium oxide (MgO), etc.
Thickness of the dielectric layer
724
formed on the sustaining electrodes
712
is usually uniform substantially. When the dielectric layer
724
is made thick in order to improve the light emitting efficiency of the PDP, the discharge sustaining voltage is increased. On the contrary, when the dielectric layer
724
is made thin in order to restrict the discharge sustaining voltage, the light emitting efficiency is lowered.
In order to solve such contradiction, JP 2000-113827A propose two examples of a structure of a surface-discharge type color PDP, which will be described briefly with reference to
FIGS. 21A and 21B
.
As shown in
FIG. 21A
or
21
B, thickness of a dielectric layers
824
or a dielectric layer
924
is changed within a discharge cell such that a portion of the dielectric layer
824
or
924
in a location opposing to a sustaining electrode
812
or
912
becomes thinnest.
However, it is generally difficult to control the thickness of the dielectric layer
824
or the dielectric layer
924
throughout the panel. Since a variation of thickness of the dielectric layer affects discharge characteristics of the panel, it is difficult to obtain a PDP having desired display characteristics.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a surface-discharge type color PDP having desired display characteristics.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a surface-discharge type color PDP capable of improving light emitting efficiency and realizing a reduction of power consumption.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for fabricating a surface-discharge type color PDP.
The present invention is applicable to a surface-discharge type color PDP comprises a first substrate having a plurality of electrode pairs covered by a dielectric layer, a second substrate arranged in an opposing relation to the first substrate with a gap and discharge gas filling the gap between the first substrate and the second substrate in which discharge is generated in the discharge gas by applying a voltage between the electrode pair in each discharge cell. The present invention has a basic structure in which at least one of electrodes of each electrode pair is divided in a thickness direction of the dielectric layer such that a lower electrode and an upper electrode are formed, which are electrically connected to each other to make the upper and lower electrodes equipotential.
The above mentioned basic construction of the surface-discharge type color PDP of the present invention is expansive in various manners to be described below.
In a first aspect of the surface-discharge type color PDP according to the present invention, both the electrodes of the sustaining electrode pair covered by the dielectric layer are spatially separated in the thickness direction of the dielectric layer. The spatially separated sustaining electrodes are electrically connected each other.
On the first substrate on which the discharge sustaining electrode pairs are formed, one electrodes and the other electrodes of the electrode pairs extend in parallel to each other and the plurality of the electrode pairs extend in parallel with a space therebetween.
In such surface-discharge type PDP, each of the electrode of each electrode pair includes an upper electrode and a lower electrode, the upper electrode of one electrode of the electrode pair is provided in a plurality of different layers and the upper electrodes of the other electrode of the electrode pair are provided in the same number of different layers and corresponding ones of the electrode layers of the upper electrodes are in the same position in the thickness direction of the dielectric layer. In such construction, the one of the opposing upper electrodes and the other of the opposing upper electrodes are formed symmetrically about a center of a first sustain gap between one of the lower electrodes of each electrode pair and the other lower electrode.
Furthermore, a second sustain gap may be provided between one of the upper electrodes and the other upper electrode, which are mutually opposing with a gap therebetween, which gap is the smallest among gaps between the upper electrodes of the electrode pair, and the second sustain gap is substantially coincident with the first sustain gap. Alternatively, a second sustain gap is provided between one of the upper electrodes and the other upper electrode, which are mutually opposing with a gap therebetween, which gap is the smallest among gaps between the upper electrodes of the electrode pair, and one of the first sustain gap and the second sustain gap is within the other sustain gap.
When the upper electrodes of the electrodes constituting the electrode pair are arranged in a single layer and the sustaining second region is within the first sustain gap, the upper electrodes are within the first sustain gap.
When the upper electrodes of the one and the other electrodes of the electrode pair are arranged in a single layer, the second sustain gap may be coincident with the first sustain gap or the first sustain gap is within the second sustain gap.
Alternatively, a center of said first sustain gap may be deviated from a center of said second sustain gap.
Alternatively, when the upper electrodes of the electrodes constituting the electrode pair are in a single layer, respectively, either one of the upper electrodes may be within the first sustain gap.
The surface-discharge type color PDP of the present invention may be constructed such that each of the electrodes of each electrode pair includes the lower electrode and the upper electrode and at least one divided electrode having a potential equal to the potential of one of the upper electrodes is provided on a side of the one upper electrode corresponding to at least one of the lower electrodes in a plane, which is the same as a plane of the one upper electrode, remote from the other lower electrode.
In the above-mentioned PDP, a width of the upper electrode is a half of a width of the lower electrode or less. Alternatively, the width of the upper electrode may be one-fifth the width of the lower electr
Miyakoshi Akira
Yoshioka Toshihiro
Dong Dalei
NEC Corporation
O'Shea Sandra
Young & Thompson
LandOfFree
Plasma display panel and fabrication method thereof does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Plasma display panel and fabrication method thereof, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Plasma display panel and fabrication method thereof will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3249873