JP2002117764A - Plasma display panel and its manufacturing method and manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plasma display panel having an excellent discharge characteristic by removing residual impurities in the panel and to provide a manufacturing method and a manufacturing device therefor. SOLUTION: Discharge is generated while running discharge gas by differential exhaust during the aging in a manufacturing process of the panel.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plasma display panel (PDP) using gas discharge light emission for use in a color television receiver or display for displaying characters or images, a method of manufacturing the same, and a manufacturing apparatus. It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional plasma display panel will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of an AC type (DP type) PDP.

[0005] In FIG. 5, reference numeral 11 denotes a front glass substrate, on which a display electrode 12 is provided, and is covered with a dielectric film 13 and a protective film 14 from above (for example, a special electrode). See JP-A-5-342991).

Reference numeral 21 denotes a rear glass substrate, on which an address electrode 22, a base dielectric layer 23, a partition wall 24, and a phosphor layer 25 are provided. The phosphor layer 25 includes a red phosphor layer 25R, a green phosphor layer 25G, and a blue phosphor layer 2 for color display.
This is a configuration in which three colors of 5B are sequentially arranged. Reference numeral 26 denotes a discharge space in which a discharge gas is sealed. Each of the phosphor layers 25 emits and emits light by vacuum ultraviolet rays (wavelength: 147 nm) having a short wavelength generated by discharge.

FIG. 6 shows a conventional method of manufacturing a PDP.
It will be described based on.

A display electrode 12 is provided on a front glass substrate 11.
Then, a dielectric film 13 and a protective film 14 are formed, and a front plate 15 is formed (formation of a front plate).

On the other hand, an address electrode 22 is formed on a rear glass substrate 21, and a base dielectric layer 23 and barrier ribs 24 are formed thereon at a predetermined pitch. The red phosphor 25R, the green phosphor 25
The phosphor layer 25 is formed by disposing the G and blue phosphors 25B, respectively, and the back plate 27 is formed (back plate formation).

Thereafter, a glass frit for sealing with the front plate 15 is applied around the rear glass substrate 21 and calcined at about 350 ° C. to remove resin components and the like in the glass frit (frit calcining). Process).

Further, the front plate 15 and the rear plate 2
7 is connected to the display electrode 12 and the address electrode 22 via the partition wall 24.
Are arranged so as to be orthogonal to each other, fired at about 450 ° C., and the periphery is sealed with a glass frit for sealing (sealing step).

Next, the inside of the discharge space is evacuated while being heated to about 350 ° C. (exhaust baking step), and after cooling, a discharge gas is introduced at a predetermined pressure (gas introduction step), and is used for exhaust and discharge gas introduction. Seal the tube (tip-off process). Then, a pulse waveform is applied between the display electrodes to generate a discharge for a certain period of time, thereby activating the protective film 14 formed on the front plate 15 and stabilizing the discharge (aging process).

[0012]

One factor that characterizes the discharge characteristics of a plasma display panel is residual impurities in the panel. Among them, impurities of water, carbonic acid, or hydrocarbon have been confirmed, and it is considered that these are mainly caused by carbon compounds mixed in the atmosphere or from an organic solvent for sealing. In order to remove these impurities, conventionally, measures have been taken such as increasing the heating temperature in the evacuation step or lengthening the heating time. However, if the heating time is lengthened, the production tact becomes longer, and the productivity becomes worse. Further, when the heating time is lengthened, the residual impurities cannot be completely removed.

In order to solve this problem, there has been a manufacturing method including a step of forming a discharge while flowing a discharge gas into a discharge space of a panel (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-25826). However, the effect varies greatly depending not only on the flow of the discharge gas but also on the conditions of the flow gas.

On the other hand, a phosphor formed on the back plate,
In particular, the blue phosphor is susceptible to thermal degradation due to water vapor, and it is known that the luminance and the chromaticity change.However, if moisture is contained as a residual impurity inside the panel, it is generated in the aging process as above. The phosphor deteriorates due to the heat generated.

In view of such problems, the present invention employs an aging step in which the deterioration of the phosphor is suppressed while removing the residual impurities inside the panel, thereby providing a plasma display having excellent discharge characteristics and good color purity. It is intended to provide a panel.

[0016]

In order to achieve the above object, a method of manufacturing a plasma display panel according to the present invention includes an aging step of causing a discharge between at least display electrodes, wherein the aging step is performed outside a display area. A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel having a plurality of holes, introducing a discharge gas from one hole, and generating a discharge between display electrodes while discharging a discharge gas from another hole, wherein the aging step is performed. The discharge gas introduced and discharged is different from the discharge gas charged at the time of driving the panel.

In the above structure, the aging step is
After completion, exhaust the inside of the panel and
It is characterized by being introduced. Also introduced during aging
The discharge gas to be discharged is He, Ne, Ar, K
using either r or Xe or a mixed gas thereof
Is desirable. In addition to these gases, O _Two
It is more desirable to include

Further, the method of manufacturing a plasma display panel according to the present invention includes an aging step of causing a discharge at least between display electrodes, wherein the aging step has a plurality of holes outside a display region, and discharges from one hole. A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel in which a gas is introduced and a discharge is generated between display electrodes while discharging a discharge gas from another hole, wherein the pressure of the discharge gas introduced and discharged at the time of aging is reduced. It is characterized in that the pressure is different from the pressure of gas at the time of driving.

The above structure is characterized in that a discharge is generated between the display electrodes when the pressure of the discharge gas to be introduced and discharged is 600 Torr (79.8 kPa) or more. Also, after the aging step is completed,
A predetermined gas is introduced after exhausting the inside of the panel.

Further, the method of manufacturing a plasma display panel according to the present invention is a method of manufacturing a plasma display panel in which at least electrodes are disposed between a pair of parallelly disposed plates and a gas medium is sealed. After an aging step of causing a discharge between display electrodes, a tube for introducing a discharge gas into the internal space of the panel or a tube for discharging a gas from the internal space is sealed.

Further, the plasma display panel manufacturing apparatus of the present invention is provided with a gas introduction system,
More preferably, a gas introduction system capable of controlling the flow rate is provided. In addition, it is preferable to provide a gas exhaust system,
More preferably, a gas exhaust system capable of controlling the flow rate is provided.

In the above structure, a heating furnace is provided.

Further, the plasma display panel of the present invention is a plasma display panel in which at least an electrode is disposed between a pair of parallelly disposed plates and a gas medium is sealed, and It is characterized by being manufactured by a method or manufactured by any one of the manufacturing apparatuses described above.

Next, a plasma display device according to the present invention is a plasma display device comprising a plasma display panel and a drive circuit for driving the plasma display panel, wherein the plasma display panel is any one of the plasma display panels described above. It is a panel.

[0025]

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, a method for manufacturing a plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a perspective view schematically showing an AC surface discharge type plasma display panel according to one embodiment of the present invention.

This PDP has a front plate 1 on which a pair of display electrodes 12 composed of a scanning electrode 12a and a common electrode 12b, a dielectric film 13, and a protective film 14 are disposed on a front glass substrate 11.
5 and a back plate 27 on which an address electrode 22, a base dielectric layer 23, a partition 24 and a phosphor layer 25 are disposed on a back glass substrate 21, and are formed between the front plate 15 and the back plate 27. A discharge gas is sealed in the discharge space 26.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the steps in the manufacturing method of the present invention. A front plate and a back plate are formed, bonded and sealed as in the conventional case. Thereafter, the gas is exhausted while being heated to 350 ° C., and a discharge gas is introduced. At this time, the glass tube used for introducing the discharge gas is aged without being sealed, and the tube is sealed after the aging is completed.

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a heating apparatus provided with a gas introduction system and a discharge system with a pulse generation circuit for implementing the manufacturing method of the present invention. The heating device includes a gas introduction system 8 for introducing gas into the internal space 3 of the panel bonded by the front plate 1, the back plate 2, and the glass frit 4.
A gas discharge system 9 for discharging gas from the internal space 3 of the panel, a pulse generation circuit 10 for generating a predetermined pulse, and a heating furnace 7 for heating the panel.

Hereinafter, steps after the exhaust step will be described.

In FIG. 1, a panel in which a front plate 1 and a back plate 2 are bonded and sealed is installed in a heating furnace 7. A vent (not shown) is provided outside the display area of the rear panel 2 of the panel, and a glass tube 5 is attached to the vent and connected to a pipe 6. That is, the pipe 6a of the gas introduction system 8 is connected to one hole, and the pipe 6b of the gas discharge system 9 is connected to the other hole. Then, the gas in the internal space 3 is sucked from the pipe 6 b connected to the glass tube 5 using the gas discharge system 9. That is, the exhaust is started. Internal space 3 is 10 ^-5 Torr (1
When a vacuum state of about 33 × 10 ⁻⁵ Pa) is reached, heating by the heating furnace 7 is started while continuing evacuation, and the panel is heated. When the temperature reaches 350 ° C., the temperature is maintained for about 3 hours, and the mixture is naturally cooled.

When the panel has cooled to room temperature, a discharge gas is introduced from the gas introduction system 8. In this case, the gas discharge system 9
And the discharge gas is introduced from the pipe 6a of the gas introduction system 8. The pulse generation circuit 1 maintains a predetermined pressure by adjusting the flow rates of the gas introduction system 8 and the gas discharge system 9.
A pulse of 0 to 250 V and 60 kHz is generated to generate a discharge between the display electrodes of the front panel 1. That is, aging is started.

Conventionally, since the aging process is performed last in the panel manufacturing process, a discharge gas (Ne-Xe: 5%) for promoting excitation and emission of the phosphor has been used. However, for the purpose of cleaning the internal space of the panel and preventing deterioration of the phosphor, excitation and emission of the phosphor are not necessarily required, and any gas can be used. For example, by using gas He whose discharge start voltage is lower, the generated pulse voltage can be reduced,
Aging power can be reduced, and
By using cheaper Ar, direct material cost can be reduced. In any case, when the purpose is to strike the inner surface of the panel (the surface of the protective layer, the surface of the phosphor) by discharging, the same effect can be obtained by using any of the gas types. Was. However, the introduction of O _2, although the cleaning effects of the discharge space surface (particularly the surface of the protective layer) was found to be very large, this is due to the use of MgO as the protective layer, O ₂ is introduced As a result, it becomes active oxygen by discharge,
It is considered that the surface is easily activated and the cleaning effect is enhanced. It has been known that the phosphor for emitting blue light is thermally degraded by water vapor, the chromaticity y is increased, and the luminous intensity is reduced. However, this phenomenon is observed even in the aging process for a panel having many residual impurities. From being
It is considered that the phosphor reacts due to the heat caused by the discharge. According to the present embodiment, a reaction with moisture generated by impurities is less likely to occur due to the effect of flushing and washing away residual impurities by discharge, suppressing thermal deterioration due to water vapor, preventing chromaticity change, and lowering emission intensity. It turned out to be effective.

After the aging step is completed, the gas in the internal space 3 is once suctioned by the gas discharge system 9 and the discharge gas (Ne-
Xe: 5%) and introduced at 500 Torr (66.5 kP).
a). In this case, there is no need to remove impurities, so there is no need to heat as in the exhaust process,
It is sufficient to be in a vacuum state of 10 ^-2 Torr (133 × 10 ^-2 Pa). Thereafter, by sealing the glass tube 5 as before, the plasma display panel of the present embodiment can be produced.

At the time of driving the PDP, as shown in FIG. 4, each driver and the panel drive circuit 100 are connected to the PDP so that a weak discharge is caused between the scan electrode 12a and the address electrode 22 to discharge. The cell to be applied is selected, and a voltage is applied between the scanning electrode 12a and the common electrode 12b to perform sustain discharge. Then, the cell emits ultraviolet light along with the discharge,
The light is converted into visible light by the phosphor layer 25. An image is displayed by lighting the cell in this manner.

(Embodiment 2) Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing a plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. The panel configuration and the manufacturing flow are the same as those in the first embodiment. Here, the discharge gas pressure characteristic of the second embodiment will be described.

When the discharge gas is introduced and discharged in the aging step, if the gas pressure inside the panel is increased, the discharge starting voltage increases, but the total energy of ions and electrons increases. It has been found that a great effect is obtained by the cleaning, which leads to a shortening of the aging time. However, if the discharge gas becomes higher than the atmospheric pressure, it may peel off at the bonding portion between the front plate and the rear plate. Therefore, in the panel configuration of the present embodiment, aging at a pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure is appropriate. it is conceivable that.

The cleaning effect on the gas pressure is the same regardless of the type of gas used. When combined with the effect of the first embodiment, for example, 700 T
Aging at a pressure of orr (93.1 kPa) broadens the selection of effects, such as obtaining a high cleaning effect while driving at a low voltage.

[0038]

EXAMPLE A PDP manufactured based on the above embodiment
FIG. 4 shows the power consumption and aging time required during aging, the total power supplied to the panel, and the change in luminescent color.
Table 1 shows the results of the burn-in evaluation when each driver is connected to the PDP and the panel is driven as shown in FIG.

[0039]

[Table 1]

Panels 1 to 7 shown in Table 1 are PDPs according to the embodiment. 1 to 5
Panels are panels with different gas types, and panels 6 and 7 are panels with different gas pressures. The conventional example is Ne-
Xe (5%) was caused to flow between display electrodes while flowing into the panel while maintaining a pressure of 500 Torr (66.5 kPa). The gas flow rate of each panel was set to 20 CCM (2 × 10 ⁻⁵ m ³ / min), and the aging time was determined as the time when the discharge starting voltage was stabilized. Further, the burn-in evaluation can be expressed as a difference in luminance between the cell and its peripheral cells when black is displayed after lighting only a predetermined cell for a certain period of time.
In this evaluation, the smaller the numerical value, the smaller the burning.

PD with different gas types for panel numbers 1 to 5
At P, the total input power is almost the same as in the conventional example, and it can be seen that the power efficiency does not substantially change. On the other hand, with respect to the burn-in evaluation, a result equivalent to or better than the conventional example was obtained. That is, it can be seen that, particularly, Ar and Kr have a high effect of cleaning residual impurities, and O ₂ has a particularly large effect.

Further, it was found that the PDP of panel No. 5 had substantially the same power consumption and aging time as the conventional example, but a great effect was obtained with respect to the change of the emission color. Also in the conventional PDP, the deterioration of the blue phosphor was suppressed and the change of the emission color was reduced as compared with the case where the aging was performed without flowing the discharge gas. Thus, the change in the emission color between the start and end of the aging was invisible.

In PDPs having different gas pressures for panel numbers 5 and 6, power consumption increases as the gas pressure increases. However, it can be seen that the aging time and the total input power decrease as the gas pressure increases, and that both the power efficiency and the time efficiency increase.

From the above, it can be said that efficient aging is possible by the combination of the gas type and the gas pressure.

[0045]

As described above, according to the plasma display panel and the method of manufacturing the same according to the present invention, a discharge is generated between the display electrodes while flowing a discharge gas by differential exhaust during aging in the panel manufacturing process. Thus, it is possible to realize a plasma display panel with good color purity and excellent discharge characteristics, in which deterioration of the phosphor is suppressed while removing residual impurity gas in the panel.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a heating device having a gas introduction system and an exhaust system with an aging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a manufacturing flowchart of the plasma display panel according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of an AC surface discharge type plasma display panel according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic device diagram of an AC surface discharge type plasma display panel driving device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional AC surface discharge type plasma display panel.

FIG. 6 is a manufacturing flowchart of a conventional plasma display panel.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Front plate 2 Back plate 3 Internal space 4 Glass frit 5 Glass tube 6 Pipe 7 Heating furnace 8 Gas introduction system 9 Gas exhaust system 10 Pulse generation circuit 11 Front glass substrate 12 Display electrode 13 Dielectric film 14 Protective film 15 Front plate 21 Back glass substrate 22 Address electrode 23 Base dielectric layer 24 Partition wall 25 Phosphor layer 26 Discharge space 27 Back plate 100 Drive circuit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Koichi Kodera 1006 Kadoma Kadoma, Osaka Pref. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Terms (reference) 5C012 AA09 VV10 5C040 FA01 FA04 GB03 GB14 HA04 HA05 JA24 MA03 MA17

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. An aging step for causing a discharge between at least display electrodes, wherein the aging step has a plurality of holes outside a display area, and a discharge gas is introduced from one hole and from another one hole. A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel that causes discharge between display electrodes while discharging a discharge gas, wherein the discharge gas to be introduced and discharged during the aging step is:
A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel, wherein the discharge gas is different from a discharge gas filled when the panel is driven. 2. A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel, wherein a discharge gas introduced and discharged during an aging step is different from a discharge gas charged during driving of the panel, wherein the inside of the panel is exhausted after the aging step is completed. 2. The method for manufacturing a plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein a predetermined gas is introduced by the method. 3. The discharge gas introduced and discharged during aging is selected from He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe.
3. The method of manufacturing a plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein an aging step is performed using a mixed gas of these. 4. A discharge gas introduced and discharged at the time of aging, containing at least O ₂ , He, Ne, Ar,
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the aging step is performed using one of Kr and Xe or a mixed gas thereof. 5. An aging step for causing a discharge between at least display electrodes, wherein the aging step has a plurality of holes outside a display region, introduces a discharge gas from one hole, and starts a discharge gas from another hole. A method of manufacturing a plasma display panel for generating a discharge between display electrodes while discharging a discharge gas, wherein the pressure of the discharge gas introduced and discharged at the time of aging is the pressure of the gas when the panel is filled when the panel is driven. A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel, wherein the method is different. 6. An aging step of causing a discharge between at least display electrodes, wherein the aging step has a plurality of holes outside a display region, introduces a discharge gas from one hole, and starts a discharge gas from another hole. A method of manufacturing a plasma display panel in which a discharge is generated between display electrodes while discharging a discharge gas, wherein a pressure of a discharge gas to be introduced and discharged at the time of aging is higher than a pressure of a gas when the panel is filled during driving of the panel. The method of manufacturing a plasma display panel according to claim 5, wherein the height is high. 7. The discharge gas according to claim 5, wherein a discharge gas is introduced between the display electrodes and discharged at a pressure of 600 Torr (79.8 kPa) or more at the time of aging. A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel. 8. A method of manufacturing a plasma display panel, wherein the pressure of a discharge gas introduced and discharged at the time of aging is different from the pressure of a gas at the time of driving the panel. 6. The method for manufacturing a plasma display panel according to claim 5, wherein a predetermined gas is introduced after exhausting gas. 9. Between a pair of parallelly arranged plates,
A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel in which at least electrodes are provided and a gas medium is sealed, wherein after an aging step of causing discharge between display electrodes,
A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel, comprising sealing a tube for introducing a discharge gas into an internal space of a panel or a tube for discharging a gas from an internal space. 10. A plasma display panel manufacturing apparatus, comprising an aging apparatus for a plasma display panel, comprising a gas introduction system. 11. The plasma display panel manufacturing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the plasma display panel aging apparatus includes a gas introduction system capable of controlling a flow rate. 12. The plasma display panel manufacturing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the plasma display panel aging apparatus includes a gas exhaust system. 13. The plasma display panel manufacturing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the plasma display panel aging apparatus includes a gas discharge system capable of controlling a flow rate. 14. The apparatus for manufacturing a plasma display panel according to claim 10, wherein the apparatus is an aging apparatus for a plasma display panel, the apparatus including a heating furnace. 15. A plasma display panel in which at least an electrode is disposed between a pair of parallelly disposed plates and a gas medium is sealed, wherein the plasma display panel is provided.
A plasma display panel manufactured by any one of the above manufacturing methods. 16. A plasma display panel in which at least an electrode is disposed between a pair of parallelly disposed plates and a gas medium is sealed, and manufactured by the manufacturing apparatus according to claim 10. A plasma display panel characterized by: 17. A plasma display device comprising a plasma display panel and a driving circuit for driving the plasma display panel, wherein the plasma display panel is the plasma display panel according to claim 15 or 16. Plasma display device.