Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi – Process – With assembly or disassembly
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-20
2003-01-21
Ramsey, Kenneth J. (Department: 2879)
Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi
Process
With assembly or disassembly
C445S023000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06508685
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a flat panel display device, and more particularly to a plasma display panel(PDP) provided with a barrier rib which can separate a discharge space of the PDP exploiting a gas charge into the discharge cell unit. Also, this invention is directed to a process of fabricating the barrier rib of the PDP.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Nowadays, there have been actively developed a flat panel display device such as a liquid crystal display(LCD), a field emission display(FED), a plasma display panel(PDP) and so on. In the flat panel display device, the PDP has advantages in that it provides an easiness for a manufacture of large-scale screen due to its simple structure, and that it has a light view angle more than 160° and characteristics of lack thickness and light weight. The PDP exploits a gas discharge phenomenon to display a picture by radiating a fluorescent body of vacuum ultraviolet ray generating during a gas discharge. A typical structure of the PDP will be described with reference to
FIG. 1
below.
FIG. 1
shows a structure of a discharge cell arranged in a matrix pattern in the conventional PDP. The PDP discharge cell includes an upper plate having a sustaining electrode pair
12
A and
12
B, an upper dielectric layer
14
and a protective film
16
that are sequentially formed on an upper substrate
10
, and a lower plate having an address electrode
20
, a lower dielectric layer
22
, a barrier rib
24
and a fluorescent body layer that are sequentially formed on a lower substrate
18
. The upper substrate
10
is spaced in parallel from the lower substrate
18
by the barrier rib
24
. The sustaining electrode pair included in the upper plate consists of a scanning/sustaining electrode
12
A and a sustaining electrode
12
B. The scanning/sustaining electrode
12
A is responsible for applying a scanning signal for an address discharge and a sustaining signal for a sustained discharge, etc. On the other hand, the sustaining electrode
12
B is responsible for applying a sustaining signal for a sustained discharge, etc. The upper dielectric layer
14
is formed on the upper substrate
10
on which the sustaining electrode pair
12
A and
12
B is provided, thereby accumulating an electric charge. The protective film
16
is coated on the surface of the upper dielectric layer
14
. A MgO film is usually used as the protective film
16
. The protective film
16
protects the upper dielectric layer
14
from the sputtering phenomenon of plasma articles so that it may prolong a life of PDP and improve an emission efficiency of secondary electrons. Also, the protective film
16
reduces a variation in the discharge characteristic of a refractory metal due to a contamination of oxide. The address electrode
20
included in the lower plate is formed on the lower substrate
18
in such a manner to be crossed with the sustaining electrode pair
12
A and
12
B. The address electrode
20
serves to apply a data signal for the address discharge. The lower dielectric layer
22
is formed on the lower substrate
18
on which the address electrode
20
is provided. The barrier rib
24
is arranged in parallel to the address electrode
20
on the lower dielectric layer
22
. The barrier rib
24
serves to provide a stripe-type discharge space at the inner side of the discharge cell so as to shield electrical and optical interference between the adjacent discharge cells. Also, the barrier rib
24
serves to support the upper substrate
10
and the lower substrate
18
. The fluorescent body layer
26
is coated on the surfaces of the lower dielectric layer
22
and the barrier rib
24
to generate a red, green, or blue visible ray. Further, an inactive gas for the gas discharge is sealed into the discharge space. The PDP discharge cell having a structure as described above maintains a discharge by a face discharge between the sustaining electrode pair
12
A and
12
B after being selected by an opposite discharge between the address electrode
20
and the scanning/sustaining electrode
12
A. In the PDP discharge cell, the fluorescent body
26
is radiated by an ultraviolet ray generated during the sustained discharge, thereby emitting a visible light to the outer side of the discharge cell. As a result, the PDP with the discharge cells displays a picture.
FIG. 2
shows a PDP device including the discharge cell shown in FIG.
1
. Referring to
FIG. 2
, the barrier rib
24
plays an important role of providing a stripe-type discharge space to prevent electrical and optical interference between the adjacent discharge spaces. In this case, the conventional barrier rib
24
has a width of about 100 &mgr;m and a height of about 200 &mgr;m, and it is mainly made from a ceramic or a glass-ceramics. However, the conventional stripe-type barrier rib
24
has a problem in that, since it separates the discharge space only into the column line unit without separating the same into the row line unit, it fails to shield electrical and optical interference between the row lines. In other words, in the conventional barrier rib
24
cannot shut out electrical and optical interference between the picture elements because a discharge space is not separated for each picture element. Further, a PDP device including the conventional stripe-type barrier rib
24
has a drawback in that it has a relatively low radiation efficiency because it utilizes only the fluorescent body layer
26
coated on each face of the barrier rib
24
and the surface of the lower dielectric layer
22
.
In addition, the conventional barrier rib
24
is formed by exploiting the screen printing technique, the sand blast technique, the additive technique or the like. However, such methods of fabricating the barrier rib have basic problems in that a fabrication process is complicated and a large amount of materials are wasted.
FIG. 3
a
to
FIG. 3
d
are sectional views for representing a process of fabricating the barrier rib making use of the screen printing technique step by step. Referring now to
FIG. 3
a
, there is shown a structure in which the lower dielectric layer
22
and the glass paste patterns
28
are disposed on the lower substrate
18
in turn. The glass paste patterns
28
are formed by coating a glass paste prepared by mixing glass powder, which is mixed by the parent glass and the filler, with an organic vehicle on the lower dielectric layer
22
at a desired thickness using the screen printing technique and thereafter by drying the same during a desired time. Then, a process of forming the glass paste patterns
28
as mentioned above is repeatedly performed about seven to eight times as shown in
FIG. 3
b
and
FIG. 3
c
. As a result, the glass paste patterns
28
are disposed into a desired height, for example, of 150 to 200 &mgr;m. The glass paste patterns
28
disposed in this manner are calcined to provide the barrier ribs
24
having a desired height on the lower dielectric layer
22
as shown in
FIG. 3
d.
Such a screen printing method has an advantage in that the process is simple and the fabrication cost is low. However, the screen printing method has a problem in that a lot of time is required because it needs procedures for performing a position adjustment of the screen and the lower substrate
18
and for repeating the printing and the drying several times. In addition, the screen printing method is not suitable for the fabrication of a barrier rib for a high resolution PDP because a position between the screen and the lower substrate go amiss during the repeated work.
FIG. 4
a
to
FIG. 4
f
are sectional views for representing a process of fabricating the barrier rib making use of the sand blast technique. After a glass paste
30
is coated on the lower dielectric layer
22
formed on the lower substrate
18
as shown in
FIG. 4
a
, a photo resistor
32
is coated on the glass paste
30
as shown in
FIG. 4
b
. Next, as shown in
FIG. 4
c
, mask patterns
34
are positioned on the photo resistor
32
which is exposed to a light
Cho Soo Je
Lee Yoon Kwan
Fleshner & Kim LLP
Haynes Mack
LG Electronics Inc.
Ramsey Kenneth J.
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