Shizuo Andoh

Discharge-time lag in a plasma display—Selection of protection layer (γ surface)

The discharge-time lag in an ac plasma display panel was studied and the discharge phenomena in the cells were considered. As a result, it was confirmed that time lag characteristics are unique in ac-driven capacitively coupled discharge elements and that such characteristics have a decisive effect on the dynamic characteristics. It was further clarified that the secondary emission coefficient γ of the protection layer determines the time lag characteristics and it is an important determining factor of the dynamic characteristics. As a result of the study of the effect of γ, it was possible to confirm that high γ leads to high performance and, accordingly, MgO is appropriate as protection-layer material.

A highly stabilized AC plasma display

Achieving overall stability of the ac plasma display/ memory device is vital to solving major problems to secure maintenance-free operation in its practical use. The stability improvement reported in this paper has been achieved by improving driving waveforms for the panel. The main improvements were: finding an address-pulse shape suitable for the panel characteristics, applying a proper address sequence, and the use of an addressing method free from half-select failure. These techniques have enabled us to obtain a wide operating margin in character-display application.

Self-shift plasma display panels with meander electrodes or meander channels

Two new types of self-shift plasma display panels with meander electrodes (ME-PDPs) and with meander channels (MC-PDPs) are described, both of which have new electrode configurations characterized by interdigital pairs of electrodes on each substrate. The panels have simple structures which do not require electrode crossovers, and therefore have good potentials for low cost compared with our former type of panel. Principles and characteristics of the two new types are discussed, and comparison between them leads to the conclusion that the ME-PDP, which can eliminate even the barrier structure by adopting meander electrode patterns, is superior for a high-resolution display.