JP2003168373A - Front substrate for surface discharge ac type plasma display panel, surface discharge ac type plasma display panel, and surface discharge ac type plasma display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a surface discharge AC type PDP allowing a shade film having a predetermined shape to be precisely manufactured at low cost regardless of the shape of a sustaining electrode and to provide a surface discharge AC type PDP having a front substrate without breaking barrier ribs on the back substrate side. <P>SOLUTION: The band-like shade film 4 with a thickness T set to 5 μm or less is disposed on a surface 5S1 of a part 51 positioned between both adjoining bus electrodes 3 belonging to different discharge sustaining electrode couples in a dielectric layer 5 formed on a front glass substrate 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention mainly relates to a high-precision, high-display-quality, inexpensive surface discharge AC type plasma display panel (hereinafter, a plasma display panel will be referred to simply as "P").
The present invention relates to a technique of forming a front substrate for realizing (DP).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A surface discharge AC type PDP has been commercialized as a key device for realizing a large-screen / thin display, and market needs for wall-mounted TVs and public display devices have been increasing in recent years.

On the other hand, along with the diversification of video information, there is a demand for a high-definition surface discharge AC type PDP that is compatible with future high-density video signals. In order to meet such market needs, it is possible to improve image quality such as improvement of contrast and emission efficiency while accurately producing a plurality of fine discharge cells constituting a surface discharge AC type PDP. The realization of technology is emphasized. In the future, surface discharge AC type P
In order for DP to become more popular in the market, it is important to supply high-definition, high-quality panels at low prices, and overall cost including panel structure, manufacturing method, and panel quality. Efforts for reduction are essential.

For example, in order to maintain and improve the contrast of the surface discharge AC type PDP, it is already known that it is effective to provide a light shielding film for suppressing the light leaking from between the adjacent discharge cells on the front glass substrate. Has been. Specifically, it is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-32830, Japanese Patent No. 3163563, and other prior documents.

Surface discharge AC type PD having such a light shielding film
A vertical cross-sectional view of the front substrate for P is shown in FIG. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 1P is a front glass substrate, 2P is a transparent electrode,
3P is a bus electrode (metal electrode), 4P is a light-shielding film (black stripe) formed on the surface of the front glass substrate 1P located between adjacent bus electrodes 3P of different pairs, 5P
Is a transparent dielectric layer formed on the surface of the front glass substrate 1P so as to cover all of the transparent electrode 2P, the bus electrode 3P, and the light shielding film 4P, and 6P is a cathode film made of a MgO film. Also, by combining the transparent electrode 2P and the bus electrode 3P,
It is called a sustain electrode. Further, both sustain electrodes facing each other through the discharge gap 7P are referred to as a discharge sustain electrode pair. Note that FIG.
In the above example, the stripe-shaped light-shielding film 4P is provided so as to be close to each of the two adjacent bus electrodes 3P of different pairs.

When the light shielding film 4P is not formed, the shape of the convex portion on the surface of the dielectric layer 5P immediately above the discharge sustaining electrode pair is as shown by a broken line BL2 in FIG. 8 (a convex portion having a height of about 1 μm). Part), a band-shaped light-shielding film 4P (generally, the thickness is 10 μm).
(m or more), the surface shape of the dielectric layer 5P becomes a concavo-convex shape as indicated by a broken line BL1 shown in FIG.

Further, for the purpose of improving luminous efficiency, the discharge cell structure, particularly the barrier rib structure of the rear substrate is complicated, and with this, the shape of the light shielding film is changing from a strip shape to another shape.

[0008]

However, as long as the structure in which the strip-shaped light-shielding film is provided on the front glass substrate is adopted, the following problems must be faced. This point will be described based on the configuration example disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent No. 3163563, for example. That is, when the strip-shaped light-shielding film is formed on the inner surface of the front glass substrate so as to overlap the bus electrode of the sustain electrode, the light-shielding film interferes with the bus electrode, resulting in the following problems.

First, as a first problem, in the case of forming a band-shaped light-shielding film by the photolithography method, the light-shielding film layer formed on the entire surface of the substrate is projected when it is processed into a predetermined pattern in the developing process. As a result of the presence of the bus electrode hindering the removal of unnecessary portions, it is difficult to obtain a light-shielding film layer having a predetermined shape with high accuracy. Specifically, the thickness of the silver electrode forming the bus electrode of the sustain electrode is about 10 μm.
m, the thickness is about 20 μm on the upper surface of the silver electrode.
When the above light-shielding film material is formed, undulations (projections) of at least about 10 μm occur at the relevant portions on the light-shielding film surface. Then, when such a light-shielding film is exposed with a predetermined glass mask, the boundary of the photosensitive portion at that portion becomes unclear, and the predetermined light-shielding film shape designed for the glass mask cannot be obtained after the developing process. Even if the light-shielding film becomes thin, if the predetermined light-shielding film is formed by the same method, it is considered that this problem similarly occurs.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, even when the bus electrode and the light shielding film do not overlap with each other, if the adjacent distance between them is extremely short, similarly, due to the influence of the bus electrode, a predetermined shape and size are obtained. The problem that it is difficult to obtain a light-shielding film having

A second problem is that at the location where the sustain electrode and the light-shielding film formed on the same surface overlap, the relative film thickness becomes larger than at other locations, so that the sustain electrode and the light-shielding film are formed. When the dielectric layer is formed on the above, the dielectric layer portion at the above-mentioned overlapping portion has a shape that remarkably protrudes. Specifically, the thickness of the bus electrode included in the sustain electrode is about 10
When the light-shielding film having a thickness of about 10 μm is obtained as a film after firing on the upper surface in the case of μm, the layer thickness of the intersecting portions becomes about 20 μm as viewed from the substrate surface. When the dielectric layer is formed on the upper surface of the substrate to have a thickness of about 30 μm, the protrusion amount of the portion is at least 10 μm or more even when the fluidity of the dielectric glass itself during firing is taken into consideration. Therefore, when the front substrate and the rear substrate are sealed, the protruding dielectric layer portion causes a problem that the partition wall on the rear substrate side is lost. In particular, it is difficult to predict the degree of barrier rib defect, and such barrier rib defect may be a pixel defect including a plurality of discharge cells around the defective portion. As a matter of course, when the partition wall shape is complicated other than a simple stripe shape extending so as to be orthogonal to the sustain electrodes on the front substrate, for example, when the partition wall has a lattice shape or a so-called delta array type. In the case of the meandering shape, the stress generated in the partition wall due to the contact with the front substrate becomes complicated, and it becomes more difficult to avoid the partition wall loss.

The problem that the smoothness of the surface of the dielectric layer is impaired and the barrier ribs may be lost as shown in FIG. 8 is that the bus electrode and the light-shielding film do not overlap each other, as shown in FIG. Even if the adjacent distances of are extremely short, they can occur similarly.

As described above, when the light-shielding film layer is formed below the dielectric layer (the configuration example disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3163563 and the configuration example of FIG. 8), the thickness of the light-shielding film is large. And the surface smoothness of the dielectric layer is significantly impaired (broken line B in FIG. 8).
See L1). As a method of avoiding this point, a glass material having a low softening point temperature, for example, a material having a softening point temperature of 500 ° C. or lower is adopted as the dielectric layer material, and the temperature is sufficiently higher than the softening point temperature, for example, 580 ° C. It is conceivable to bake the same material to some extent. However, when a material containing silver under the dielectric layer is used as a bus electrode, when the firing temperature of the dielectric layer is sufficiently higher than the softening point temperature of the material, the dielectric layer and the front glass substrate are A new problem may occur that the silver component diffuses inward. If the silver component diffuses, short circuits and discoloration of the electrodes will occur. Therefore, it cannot be said that a workaround for using a glass material having a relatively low softening point temperature of 500 ° C. or lower for the dielectric layer material is preferable.

Therefore, in order to avoid such a problem of the diffusion of the silver component, a structure in which the silver material does not come into direct contact with the dielectric layer material made of a predetermined glass material having a low softening point temperature, For example, a method of coating a material having a high softening point temperature around the silver electrode can be considered. However, such a method is limited to the maintenance of the function of the front substrate for PDP, and there is an undeniable cost increase, and it cannot be asserted that it is an effective method.

Regarding the improvement of the luminous efficiency of the PDP, a problem from another point of view will be pointed out below. That is, recently, the present inventor has formed a film made of a powder material containing an oxide such as Al ₂ O ₃ as a main component on a MgO film as a method of suppressing erroneous discharge between sustain electrodes of different pairs. It was found that it is effective (unknown technique). However, since the surface roughness (Ra) of the portion of the surface of the dielectric layer other than the portion located immediately above the bus electrode is about 0.2 to 0.3 μm, the above-mentioned powder material capable of suppressing erroneous discharge is used. It has been found that a problem that a film made of the powder material is desorbed by a slight effect of vibration or the like after being formed on the cathode film on the surface portion of the dielectric layer may newly occur. Therefore, it is necessary to stably form the above-mentioned powder material having the effect of suppressing erroneous discharge on the front panel.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem situation, and its purpose is as follows.

That is, a light-shielding film having a predetermined shape can be manufactured accurately and inexpensively regardless of the shape of the sustain electrode on the front substrate side, and a front substrate for PDP excellent in display quality and a PDP using the same. The first purpose is to realize.

A second object is to realize a PDP having a front substrate which is less likely to damage the partition wall on the rear substrate side facing the front substrate.

Further, it is possible to realize a PDP having a front substrate having a structure capable of further reducing the local load applied to the partition wall and ensuring an exhaust path even when the partition wall has a complicated structure such as a lattice shape. The third purpose is to do.

Further, a fourth object is to stably form a material capable of suppressing erroneous discharge between sustain electrodes of different pairs.

[0021]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a front substrate for a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel, which is formed on a front glass substrate and a surface of the front glass substrate. Each of the sustain electrodes is composed of a pair of sustain electrodes extending in a first direction, and is formed on the front surface of the front glass substrate, and a plurality of discharge sustain electrode pairs arranged along a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. On the surface of the dielectric layer covering the plurality of pairs of discharge sustaining electrodes and on the surface of the dielectric layer corresponding to both adjacent sustaining electrodes belonging to different pairs, in the first direction. A light-shielding film formed so as to extend, and formed on the surface of the dielectric layer,
A cathode film covering the light shielding film.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the front substrate for a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel according to the first aspect, wherein the light shielding film has a thickness of 5 μm or less.

A third aspect of the present invention is the front substrate for a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel according to the first or second aspect, wherein the light-shielding film extends from a part thereof to the surface of the dielectric layer. It is characterized in that it has a portion projecting along the second direction toward a portion directly above each of the adjacent sustain electrodes belonging to different pairs.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is the front substrate for a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the dielectric layers are adjacent to each other and belong to different pairs. The surface roughness of the light shielding film formed on the surface of the portion corresponding to both sustain electrodes is the surface of the portion corresponding to both adjacent sustain electrodes belonging to different pairs in the dielectric layer. It is characterized by being larger than the roughness.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is the front substrate for a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel according to the fourth aspect, wherein between the adjacent sustain electrodes belonging to different pairs in the dielectric layer. Further provided is a discharge suppressing film formed of a powder material containing oxide as a main component, which is formed on the surface portion of the cathode film, which is located directly above the light shielding film formed on the surface of the corresponding portion. Is characterized by.

The invention according to claim 6 is the front substrate for a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the light-shielding film is uniformly formed on the surface of the dielectric layer. Of the dielectric film, and the film thickness of the portion of the light shielding film formed on the portion of the surface of the dielectric layer located directly above the pair of sustain electrodes is equal to that of the other dielectric layer. It is characterized in that it is thinner than the film thickness of the portion of the light shielding film formed on the body layer surface region.

The invention according to claim 7 is a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel, wherein the surface discharge AC type plasma display panel front substrate according to any one of claims 1 to 6; And a rear substrate sealed at the peripheral portion.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surface discharge AC type plasma display device, wherein the surface discharge AC type plasma display panel according to the seventh aspect and a method for driving the surface discharge AC type plasma display panel. And a drive unit.

[0029]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (Embodiment 1) In the present embodiment, a transparent dielectric layer formed with a pair of discharge sustaining electrodes on the surface (inner surface) of a front glass substrate, and a transparent dielectric layer formed on the dielectric layer. The first characteristic is that a band-shaped light-shielding film is formed so as to be sandwiched between both layers with the formed cathode film. In this way, since the band-shaped light-shielding film is provided on the surface of the upper dielectric layer different from the surface of the front glass substrate on which the bus electrode is formed, the shape of the light-shielding film and the sustain electrode (especially the bus electrode) It has become possible to obtain a light-shielding film having a predetermined shape with high accuracy regardless of the shape. In addition, due to the first characteristic point, it is possible to easily realize a structure that can minimize the smoothness of the surface portion of the dielectric layer located directly above the discharge sustaining electrode pair. Further, the first feature described above makes it possible to minimize the restrictions of the transparent dielectric layer glass material formed on the surface of the front glass substrate and expand the selection range of the specifications. In particular, a nearly smooth surface of the dielectric layer can be easily obtained without lowering the softening point of the dielectric layer glass material more than necessary. At the same time, the high temperature treatment in the firing step of the glass material may be unnecessary, so that the diffusion of silver into the dielectric layer can be effectively prevented.

Further, the present embodiment has a second characteristic point that the thickness of the band-shaped light-shielding film arranged at the above position is set to 5 μm or less. Due to this second characteristic point, it is possible to avoid the abnormal protrusion that has conventionally occurred on the surface of the dielectric layer, and thus on the surface of the cathode film. Due to this effect, it becomes possible to avoid partition wall loss during sealing.

The structure of the surface discharge AC type PDP according to this embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings (the core of which is the structure of the front substrate).

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing the structure of a front substrate for a surface discharge AC type PDP according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the front substrate or the front panel includes a front glass substrate 1 as a base substrate, a strip-shaped transparent electrode 2 made of, for example, an ITO film or a NESA film, and a strip-shaped bus electrode or metal mainly composed of silver, for example. Electrode 3 (its second direction D2
Has a width of about 70 μm and a thickness in the third direction D3 of about 10 μm after firing), a transparent dielectric layer (hereinafter simply referred to as a dielectric layer) 5, and a band-shaped light-shielding film (black stripe) 4
And a cathode film 6 made of, for example, a MgO film.
More details are as follows.

That is, on the surface 1S of the front glass substrate 1, a pair of transparent electrodes 2 facing each other so as to form a discharge gap 7 of about 75 μm are formed so as to extend along the first direction D1. ing. Then, the bus electrode 3 is formed on the surface of each of the pair of transparent electrodes 2 near the outer ends thereof so as to also extend along the first direction D1. Here, the transparent electrode 2 and the bus electrode 3 formed thereon are referred to as “sustain electrodes”, and the pair of sustain electrodes facing each other through the discharge gap 7 is referred to as “discharge sustain electrode pair”. Therefore, the discharge sustaining electrode pairs are arranged at a predetermined interval along the second direction orthogonal to the first direction D1. Dielectric layer 5 is formed on front surface 1S of front glass substrate 1 so as to cover these discharge sustaining electrode pairs (excluding the lead-out end of each sustaining electrode).

Further, of the surface 5S of the dielectric layer 5, the surface portion 1 between the two adjacent bus electrodes 3 belonging to different pairs.
The strip-shaped light-shielding film 4 extending along the first direction D1 is formed on the surface 5S1 of each dielectric layer portion 51 formed immediately above S1. Further, the surface 5S of the dielectric layer 5
A cathode film or a protective film (made of, for example, a MgO film) 6 that covers each light-shielding film 4 is formed on the top.

As described above, the surface on which each sustain electrode is formed and the surface on which each light shielding film 4 is formed are not flush with each other. Therefore, when the shape of the light-shielding film is inspected by an image inspection device or the like after forming the light-shielding film 4, the shape of the light-shielding film can be easily inspected with little influence of the sustain electrodes. Moreover, each light-shielding film 4 has a relatively thick surface 5S1 of the dielectric layer 5 covering the sustain electrodes.
Since it is arranged above, the flatness or convex shape of the surface portion 5S2 of the dielectric layer 5 located immediately above each discharge sustain electrode pair is the same as that when the light shielding film is not provided (broken line BL in FIG. 8).
2), and good flatness of the dielectric layer surface 5S can be obtained. Therefore, it is not necessary to use a special glass material forming the dielectric layer 5 having a softening point temperature of 500 ° C. or lower, and the range of choice of the glass material forming the dielectric layer 5 is widened. The above advantages are also obtained (providing cost reduction).

In addition, the thickness of each light shielding film 4 in the third direction D3 is set to a value of 5 μm or less.
With this setting, as will be described later, even if the front substrate of FIG. 1 is sealed to the rear substrate, the convex surface portion of the cathode film 6 immediately above each light-shielding film 4 lacks the partition wall on the rear substrate side at that time. It is possible to prevent the situation of causing it.

Further, as will be described later, the relationship of (surface roughness of each light shielding film 4)> (surface roughness of the dielectric layer portion 51 immediately below each light shielding film 4) is established.

Next, an example of the structure of the front substrate and the rear substrate sealed in the peripheral portion of FIG. 1 will be described. Figure 2
FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a rear substrate having a stripe-shaped partition wall 10. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of write electrodes 8 extending in the second direction D2 are formed on the surface of the rear glass substrate 12.
Are formed so as to be arranged at a predetermined interval in the first direction D1. Then, a white dielectric layer (glaze layer) 9 is formed on the surface of the rear glass substrate 12 so as to cover the plurality of write electrodes 8 (excluding the extraction end portion). Further, a plurality of partition walls 10 extending in the second direction D2 and arranged at a predetermined interval in the first direction D1 so as to sandwich each write electrode 8 are formed on the surface of the white dielectric layer 9. There is. The top of the partition wall 10 comes into contact with the surface of the cathode film 6 of the front substrate by sealing the front substrate and the back substrate. Further, red, green, and blue phosphors 11 are sequentially coated on the opposite side surfaces of the adjacent partition walls 10 and on the surface portion of the white dielectric layer 9 sandwiched between the adjacent partition walls 10. . In addition to the simple stripe-shaped partition wall 10, the partition wall may have a more complicated structure, for example, a grid shape, or a meandering shape in a delta array type pixel. Further, the white dielectric layer 9 may be unnecessary. The rear glass substrate 12 and the white dielectric layer 9 are collectively referred to as "rear base substrate".

The method of manufacturing the front substrate of FIG. 1 will be described below. First, the front glass substrate 1 on which the discharge sustaining electrode pair described above is formed is prepared.

The next formation of the dielectric layer 5 is performed by a screen printing method using a glass paste containing lead oxide or the like as a main component. At this time, by applying the glass paste once, the film thickness after drying is about 20 μm and the film thickness after firing is about 10 μm.
A μm dielectric layer is obtained. The dielectric layer 5 obtained by repeating this step about 3 times has a thickness in the third direction D3 of about 30 μm, and a surface roughness (Rz−) in a direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the sustain electrodes (second direction D2). d value) is about 1 μm to 2
It has a characteristic of μm. At this time, the softening point temperature of the glass contained in the dielectric layer 5 is about 520 ° C to 560 ° C.
In this way, it is possible to easily obtain an almost smooth dielectric layer surface 5S without lowering the glass softening point of the dielectric layer material more than necessary. At the same time, it is possible to eliminate the need for high temperature treatment in the firing step of the glass material, so that the diffusion of silver contained in the bus electrode 3 into the dielectric layer 5 can be effectively prevented.

The dielectric surface roughness in the direction D2 orthogonal to the extending direction D1 of the sustain electrode, which changes every time one dielectric layer 5 is formed, is as shown in Table 1 below.

[0042]

[Table 1]

The surface roughness of the dielectric varies depending on the adjustment of the softening point temperature and the firing temperature of the glass material and the film thickness of the material existing under the dielectric layer. According to this, it has been confirmed that the film width of the material existing under the dielectric layer also has a great influence on the dielectric surface roughness. In particular, when the light shielding film is arranged on the front glass substrate under the dielectric layer as in the prior art shown in FIG. 8 and the like, the line width of the light shielding film in the second direction is clearly larger than that of the bus electrode. When it is wide, there is a high probability that the surface roughness of the dielectric will be significantly reduced. Therefore, when disposing a material having a predetermined function below the dielectric layer, it is difficult to obtain a dielectric layer having a predetermined surface roughness only by reducing the film thickness of the material. It is necessary to give sufficient consideration to the width. In order to avoid this, a method of increasing the number of times of applying the dielectric layer material and the number of times of firing can be considered, but the cost increase due to the increase in the number of processes cannot be denied and cannot be said to be an effective method. On the other hand, in the structure of the front substrate of FIG. 1, it is not necessary to consider such a problem.

The point to be noted in the present embodiment is that instead of the screen printing method, the dielectric layer material is formed using a batch coating apparatus (specifically, the sheet material is stuck by a laminator, or the coater is used). It is easy to carry out batch coating of paste materials). By this method, it is possible to eliminate the plural times of printing formation / firing steps that have been conventionally performed, and to improve the productivity and reduce the cost. When the batch coating is adopted, the dielectric layer is formed of a single material, and the single dielectric layer material is a conventional dielectric layer composed of two kinds of materials. It is required to realize the basic functions of the material (the function of suppressing the diffusion of silver electrodes, the function of ensuring the smoothness of the surface of the dielectric layer). In this regard, in the structure of FIG. 1 according to the present embodiment, since the light shielding film layer is formed on the surface of the dielectric layer, the surface of the dielectric layer (especially the surface of the dielectric layer on the sustain electrode including the transparent electrode). Since the smoothness of the single dielectric layer can be easily ensured, the single dielectric layer material can be easily developed.

Next, the band-shaped light-shielding film 4 is formed by using a method such as a screen printing method on the dielectric layer 5 having the smooth surface 5S obtained by the above method. For example, when a screen printing device is used, a paste-like light-shielding film material having photosensitivity in paste form is applied over the surface 5S of the dielectric layer 5 through a screen plate having a predetermined transmission volume.

Here, the light-shielding film material to be applied is in a paste state containing glass powder or a black pigment as a main component. Moreover, the thickness of the light-shielding film 4 after firing should be 5 μm or less,
A paste solid content ratio (ratio of glass powder contained in the paste component) is prepared. The value of 5 μm is obtained from the result of the trial manufacture in which the occurrence of defects such as defects due to height variations of the partition walls is investigated. That is, when the thickness of the light-shielding film 4 after firing exceeds 5 μm, a non-negligible gap is generated between a certain partition wall and the cathode film 6.
It is necessary to avoid this because the isolation between the cells that are adjacent to each other via the one partition wall cannot be maintained, and there is concern that the emission characteristics may deteriorate due to discharge leakage. Therefore, the thickness of the light-shielding film 4 after firing is controlled to 5 μm or less. As an example of the paste composition ratio (ratio of glass powder, solvent, and resin in the paste), 30% of glass / pigment component, 3% of resin, and 67% of organic solvent such as terpineol can be mentioned. The resin contained in the paste may be a photosensitive resin when a predetermined light shielding film is obtained by a photolithography method or the like. Further, the glass softening point temperature of the glass powder contained in the light shielding film material may be approximately the same as the softening point temperature of the glass contained in the dielectric layer material, or may be lower by about 10 to 20 ° C. The reason for setting such a temperature relationship is that if the temperature relationship is reversed, the dielectric layer glass, which is the base of the light-shielding film, exhibits fluidity first, and the desired light-shielding film pattern shape is This is to avoid the problem of not being obtained.

Even if a thin film having a thickness of 3 μm to 4 μm is formed, it still has predetermined optical characteristics (sufficient light shielding property).
Since a material (paste) made of a glass component or the like has already been developed, it is possible to directly form a pattern by screen printing using this material to form the light shielding film 4.

By the way, the method of adjusting the film thickness of the light-shielding film 4 is not limited to the above-mentioned paste preparation, and for example, screen plates having different transmission volumes may be used. In addition, as the light shielding film material, a material containing glass as a main component may be used, or another insulating material may be used. Further, as a method for applying / forming the light-shielding film material, in addition to using a screen printing apparatus, a method using a collective coating apparatus or a method of applying / forming with a laminator or the like may be used. That is, a paste-like material may be applied / coated by a predetermined method, or a sheet-like material may be attached.

After the light-shielding film material is applied, the front substrate is exposed by using a glass mask having a predetermined light-shielding film pattern.
The front substrate after exposure is developed using an alkaline aqueous solution containing sodium carbonate or the like. Further, by baking the front substrate after development at a predetermined temperature, the light-shielding film 4 having the same shape as the glass mask is obtained on the surface 5S1 of the dielectric layer 5. After that, the cathode film 6 is formed by a vapor deposition method or the like using a material such as MgO, and the front substrate having the structure shown in FIG. 1 can be obtained.

In the present embodiment, the surface roughness of the light-shielding film in the second direction D2 is larger than the surface roughness of the dielectric layer at the position where the sustain electrode is not present in the lower layer, for example, powder particles of black pigment. It is desirable to adjust the diameter to 0.3 μm to 0.5 μm or more on average, and to 2 μm to 3 μm or more at the maximum. The reason why the relationship of (surface roughness of the light-shielding film 4)> (surface roughness of the dielectric layer portion 51 immediately below the light-shielding film 4) is established in this way is as follows. That is, this is for efficiently and stably adhering the powder material in Embodiment 2 to be described later onto the portion of the cathode film 6 directly above the light shielding film 4, while the dielectric layer surface roughness is Is large, the light transmittance is significantly impaired, and the smaller the value, the better.

As described above, the softening point temperature of the glass material contained in the light-shielding film 4 is preferably about the same as or lower than the softening point temperature of the dielectric layer glass material. On the contrary, when the softening point temperature of the glass material of the dielectric layer is lower, there is a problem that the light-shielding film is cracked during firing of the light-shielding film, and this must be avoided.

When the positional accuracy is allowed to have a tolerance, the light shielding film 4 having a predetermined shape may be directly formed by the screen printing method.

(Modification 1) The characteristic point of this modification is that the portion 5S2 of each of the adjacent sustain electrodes belonging to different pairs within the dielectric layer surface 5S from a part of the light shielding film 4 in FIG.
There is provided a portion projecting along the second direction D2 toward. In particular, the protruding portion of the light-shielding film 4 is provided in the portion of the light-shielding film 4 which intersects with the partition wall on the rear substrate side at the time of sealing. Hereinafter, the configuration of the protruding portion of the light shielding film will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing the structure of the front substrate for a surface discharge AC type PDP according to the present modification of the first embodiment. 3, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 denote the same components. FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically showing the configuration (stripe structure + overhang structure) of the light shielding film 4 according to this modification. Further, FIG. 5 schematically shows a positional relationship between the protruding portion 41 of the light shielding film 4 according to the present modification and the simple stripe-shaped partition wall 10 on the back substrate side as a mode when viewed from the back substrate side. It is a see-through plan view. As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the stripe-shaped light-shielding film 4 extending in the first direction D1 between the adjacent sustain electrodes belonging to different pairs is formed when the front substrate and the rear substrate are sealed to each other. Each partition wall 10 extending in the second direction D2 when viewed from the display surface side of the front substrate.
And an overhang extending from each of the portions 4IP that intersect three-dimensionally via the cathode film 6 to the dielectric layer surface portion 5S2 on each sustain electrode (particularly the transparent electrode 3) belonging to a different pair along the second direction D2. It has a portion 41. Here, the projecting dimension of the projecting portion 41 when viewed from the display surface side is
It must be set within a range that does not reach above the discharge gap 7 (to secure the exhaust path 14 in FIG. 5.
This is because the exhaust path is completely blocked when the overhanging portion 41 is connected between the adjacent light shielding films. ). Of course, the protruding portion 41 of the light-shielding film 4 in the PDP display region may have any shape as long as it has a portion that at least partially overlaps with the sustain electrode when viewed from the display surface side of the front substrate. In addition, in order to maintain the brightness of the PDP, it is not desirable to shield all the regions between adjacent sustain electrodes of different pairs from each other, and at least all the regions of the bus electrodes existing in the sustain electrodes are shielded with a light shielding film. It is not necessary to have a covering structure.

The size of the protruding portion 41 of the light-shielding film 4 is 1 μm or less if the size of the protruding portion of the dielectric layer surface 5S2 directly below the protruding portion 41 is about 1 μm. The partition wall loss and the like due to the contact between the cathode film portion immediately above and the partition wall is not a serious problem.

The effect of providing the projecting portion 41 from the three-dimensional intersection portion 4IP of the light shielding film 4 is as follows.

The first effect is avoidance of defects due to local load on the partition wall. That is, as compared with the case where only the simple striped light-shielding film of FIG. 1 is used, in the case of this modification, in addition to the contact between the partition wall 10 and the cathode film portion immediately above the three-dimensional intersection 4IP, the overhanging portion 41 is formed. Since contact between the cathode film portion directly above and the partition wall 10 also occurs, the contact area between the convex cathode film portion and the partition wall 10 increases,
The local load applied to the partition wall can be further dispersed. Therefore, it is possible to further suppress the occurrence of partition wall loss at the contact portion.

The second effect is to secure an exhaust path after sealing. That is, since the protruding portion 41 is provided, contact between the protruding portion of the cathode film directly above the protruding portion 41 and the partition wall 10 occurs, so that a small gap is formed between the cathode film portion directly above the discharge gap 7 and the partition wall 10. Is possible. This gap becomes the exhaust path 14 shown in FIG.
The securing of the exhaust path 14 is particularly significant in the case of a grid-shaped partition wall in which the discharge space cannot be used as the exhaust path.

The third effect is that the sealing position accuracy between the front substrate and the partition wall 10 can be easily visually recognized.

The partition shape may be any shape such as a lattice shape other than the simple stripe structure. Similarly, the shape of the sustain electrode, particularly the bus electrode, is not limited to the linear shape, and may be any shape (this point is common to the present invention).

(Modification 2) FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the structure of a front substrate for a surface discharge AC type PDP according to this modification. 6, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 denote the same components. The front substrate of FIG. 6 is characterized in that the arrangement position of the light shielding film 4 of the front substrate of FIG. 1 is modified by utilizing the fact that the light shielding film does not block 100% of light. That is, the light-shielding film 4 is present as a film formed uniformly over the surface 5S of the dielectric layer 5, and is located directly above the discharge sustaining electrode pair within the surface 5S of the dielectric layer 5. The thickness T of the light shielding film portion 4B formed on the portion 5S2 to be formed
B is thinner than the film thickness TA of the light shielding film portion 4A formed on the other dielectric layer surface region 5S1 (TB <TA ≦ 5.
μm). It is needless to say that the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained in this modification as well.

(Embodiment 2) In the following, for convenience of description, an example in which the characteristics of this embodiment are applied to the front substrate according to Embodiment 1 of FIG. 1 will be described. It goes without saying that it is also applicable to the modified examples 1 and 2 described above.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the structure of the front substrate for the surface discharge AC type PDP according to this embodiment. Figure 7
In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 denote the same components. As shown in FIG. 7, in the surface 6S of the cathode film 6, on the surface of the cathode film located immediately above the light-shielding film 4, in the first direction D1, a powder material containing an oxide as a main component is formed. A band-shaped discharge suppressing film 13 extending along is formed.
As described in the first embodiment, (surface roughness of the light shielding film 4)
> (The surface roughness of the dielectric layer portion 51), the surface roughness of the cathode film surface portion immediately above the light shielding film 4 also reflects the surface roughness of the light shielding film 4 and directly above the surface 5S2. It becomes larger than the surface roughness of the cathode film surface portion of.
This embodiment utilizes this point. Thus, when a powder material film capable of suppressing erroneous discharge between adjacent sustain electrodes of different pairs is formed directly on the light shielding film 4 via the MgO film 6, the separation of the powder material film from the surface of the MgO film 6 is prevented. Can be possible.

Next, a method of manufacturing the discharge suppressing film 13 will be described. First, a powder material containing an oxide such as Al ₂ O ₃ as a main component is kneaded with a resin and a solvent to form a paste, and the paste-like powder material is prepared by the method described in the first embodiment. The cathode film 6 of the front substrate prepared by
The surface 6S is coated with a predetermined method to form a predetermined pattern. Then, the solvent and the resin are heat-treated and removed, whereby the front substrate having the discharge suppressing film 13 having the structure shown in FIG. 7 can be obtained.

According to the present embodiment, the contact area between the surface of the cathode film directly above the light-shielding film 4 and the powder material film 13 directly reflecting the surface roughness of the light-shielding film 4 is the same as in the conventional case. Is much larger than the contact area between the surface of the cathode film directly above the surface of the dielectric layer not formed thereon and the powder material film, and as a result, the front substrate with high adhesion of the powder material film 13 is formed. Obtainable. Furthermore, since the thickness of the discharge suppressing film 13 made of the above powder material is generally 1 μm or less, it is not necessary to consider the physical interference between the discharge suppressing film 13 and the partition walls on the rear substrate side. In addition, the discharge suppressing film 13 is a very thin film as described above, and the film quality is a simple powder aggregate containing no glass. As a result, the discharge suppressing film 13 due to physical stress is formed.
Since it is easy to deform, it is possible to expect an effect of preventing wall wall loss.

(Supplementary Note) Embodiment 1, Modifications 1 and 2 thereof
And a surface discharge AC PDP formed by sealingly bonding the front substrate described in each of the second embodiment and the rear substrate having the structure illustrated in FIG. 2 together with a drive unit having a drive circuit thereof. A surface discharge AC plasma display device such as a wall-mounted TV can be obtained by disposing it in a predetermined housing.

[0067]

According to the inventions of claims 1, 6, 7 and 8, the surface on which the light shielding film is formed and the surface on which the sustain electrode is formed are not on the same surface. A light-shielding film having excellent shape accuracy can be obtained at low cost regardless of the shape of the sustain electrodes. Moreover, according to the present invention, the smoothness of the surface of the dielectric layer positioned directly above the discharge sustaining electrode pair is not provided by any light shielding film as compared with the case of the conventional technique in which the light shielding film is formed under the dielectric layer. There is also an effect that the smoothness of the surface of the dielectric layer when not present can be improved. As a derivative of this effect, it is possible to widen the choice or selection range of the dielectric layer material (glass material) that can smooth the surface of the dielectric layer. That is, since the smoothness loss on the surface of the dielectric layer due to the provision of the light shielding film can be easily suppressed in the present invention, there is no need to adjust the softening point temperature of the dielectric layer material more than necessary. In addition, according to the present invention, when the light-shielding film shape is inspected by an image inspection device or the like, the effect of the sustain electrodes can be minimized and the light-shielding film shape can be easily inspected. In other words, at the time of production, each pattern shape can be individually and accurately recognized by the image inspection device or the like.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, even if the light-shielding film is provided on the dielectric layer, the partition walls on the rear substrate side are not damaged when the front substrate and the rear substrate are sealed to each other. Can be realized.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a part of the light shielding film is slightly extended in the direction in which it overlaps with the sustain electrode to form the projecting portion. However, a part of the light shielding film is interposed via the cathode film. The following effects can be obtained by setting it in a portion that intersects with the partition on the back substrate side. That is, since the contact area between the partition wall and the partition wall immediately above the light-shielding film can be increased by the amount of the protruding portion, it is possible to avoid irregular partition wall loss during sealing. . In addition, there is also an effect that a small space that continuously exists between the partition wall and the surface of the cathode film immediately above the discharge gap formed by the pair of sustain electrodes can be secured as the exhaust path. Furthermore,
There is also an effect that the sealing position accuracy between the front substrate and the partition can be easily visually recognized.

According to the fourth and fifth aspects of the invention, the powder material film, which is formed on the surface of the cathode film located between the adjacent sustain electrodes of different pairs and is essential for improving the luminous efficiency, is formed on the front substrate. The adhesion can be significantly improved by increasing the contact area with the surface roughness of the light shielding film itself.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a surface discharge AC type P according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the structure of the front substrate for DP.

FIG. 2 is a surface discharge AC type P according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing an example of the structure of the back substrate for DP.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing a structure of a front substrate for a surface discharge AC type PDP according to a first modification of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically showing a configuration of a light-shielding film according to Modification 1 of Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view schematically showing a positional relationship between an overhanging portion of a light-shielding film and a partition according to a first modification of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the structure of a front substrate for a surface discharge AC type PDP according to a second modification of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a surface discharge AC type P according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the structure of the front substrate for DP.

FIG. 8 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the structure of a conventional front substrate for a surface discharge AC PDP.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 front glass substrate, 2 transparent electrodes, 3 bus electrodes, 4
Light-shielding film, 41 overhang portion, 5 transparent dielectric layer, 6
Cathode film (MgO film), 7 discharge gap, 8 write electrode, 9 white dielectric layer, 10 barrier ribs, 11 phosphor,
12 rear glass substrate, 13 discharge suppressing film.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A front glass substrate, and a pair of sustain electrodes formed on a surface of the front glass substrate, each of which extends in a first direction, and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. A plurality of discharge sustaining electrode pairs arranged along, a dielectric layer that is formed on the surface of the front glass substrate and covers the plurality of discharge sustaining electrode pairs, and among the dielectric layers, A light-shielding film formed to extend in the first direction on a surface of a portion corresponding to both adjacent sustain electrodes belonging to different pairs; and a light-shielding film formed on a surface of the dielectric layer, A front substrate for a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel, comprising a cathode film covering a light shielding film. 2. The surface discharge AC type plasma display panel front substrate according to claim 1, wherein the light shielding film has a thickness of 5 μm or less. Front substrate. 3. The front substrate for a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein the light shielding film is formed from a part of the front substrate to different pairs within the surface of the dielectric layer. A front substrate for a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel, characterized in that it has a portion projecting along the second direction toward a portion directly above each of the two adjacent sustain electrodes to which it belongs. 4. The front substrate for a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel according to claim 1, which is equivalent to a distance between two adjacent sustain electrodes belonging to different pairs in the dielectric layer. The surface roughness of the light-shielding film formed on the surface of the portion to be formed is larger than the surface roughness of the portion corresponding to both adjacent sustain electrodes belonging to different pairs in the dielectric layer. A front substrate for a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel, which is characterized. 5. The front substrate for a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel according to claim 4, wherein the surface of a portion of the dielectric layer corresponding to both adjacent sustain electrodes belonging to different pairs. A surface of the cathode film, which is located immediately above the light-shielding film formed on the surface of the cathode film, and further comprises a discharge suppressing film made of a powder material having an oxide as a main component. Discharge AC type plasma display panel front substrate. 6. The front substrate for a surface discharge AC plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein the light shielding film is present as a film uniformly formed on the surface of the dielectric layer. The film thickness of the portion of the light-shielding film formed on the portion of the surface of the dielectric layer that is located directly above the pair of sustain electrodes is equal to that of the other dielectric layer surface area. Characterized in that it is thinner than the film thickness of the portion of the light-shielding film that is formed,
Front substrate for surface discharge AC type plasma display panel. 7. A front substrate for the surface discharge AC type plasma display panel according to claim 1, and a rear substrate sealed at the peripheral portion with the front substrate. , Surface discharge AC type plasma display panel. 8. A surface discharge A comprising: the surface discharge AC type plasma display panel according to claim 7; and a drive unit for driving the surface discharge AC type plasma display panel.
C-type plasma display device.