JP2003187702A - Manufacturing method of plasma display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce an aging treatment time in a manufacturing method of a plasma display panel. <P>SOLUTION: Aging is conducted in a state of the pressure of discharge gas sealed in the aging treatment being set to be lower than the pressure of the gas sealed when the panel is finished. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a large screen, thin type,
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a plasma display device known as a lightweight display device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a plasma display device has been attracting attention as a display panel (thin display device) having excellent visibility, and high definition and large screen have been promoted.

Hereinafter, a manufacturing process of a conventional plasma display device will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a panel structure of an alternating current (AC) plasma display device. Reference numeral 11 is a transparent glass substrate on the front side, and display electrodes 12 forming an electrode group are formed on the glass substrate 11. Further, a protective film 14 is formed on the display electrode 12 by the dielectric 13 and magnesium oxide (MgO). A front plate 15 is composed of the glass substrate 11 and the protective film 14.

Reference numeral 16 is a glass substrate on the back side, on which address electrodes 17 which form an electrode group together with the display electrodes 12 are formed. Further, partition walls (ribs) 18 are formed between the address electrodes 17 so as to partition the discharge space, and the phosphors 19 are formed on the address electrodes 17 between the partition walls 18. A back plate 20 is formed from the glass substrate 16 and the phosphor 19.

After manufacturing the front plate 15 and the rear plate 20, a sealing glass frit is applied to the peripheral portion of the rear plate 20, and the front plate 15 and the back plate are arranged so that the display electrodes 12 and the address electrodes 17 are orthogonal to each other. The face plates 20 are arranged to face each other, and the peripheral portion is sealed with a sealing glass frit. As a result, a space surrounded by the protective film 14 and the phosphor 19 is formed,
This is the discharge space. After that, the discharge space is evacuated while heating (exhaust step), and the discharge gas containing at least Xe is introduced at a predetermined pressure (about 500 Torr). Only by the above-mentioned steps, the discharge characteristics change greatly with time and cannot be used as a product. Therefore, the discharge characteristic is stabilized by performing an aging process of applying a predetermined voltage and discharging for a predetermined time.

[0006]

By the way, in the method of manufacturing such a plasma display device, there is a problem that a large amount of input power and processing time are required for the aging step, and a countermeasure against it is desired.

The present invention solves the above problems and provides a method of manufacturing a plasma display device which shortens the processing time of the aging process.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a plasma display device, wherein the first discharge gas has a gas pressure higher than a dischargeable pressure and contains at least Xe. The second discharge gas is introduced so as to be lower than the gas pressure of the second discharge gas, and an aging step of performing discharge for a predetermined time is provided, and then the second discharge gas is introduced.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a pair of substrates, at least the front side of which are transparent, are arranged so as to face each other so that a discharge space is formed between the substrates, and the plurality of discharge spaces are provided. A plasma display device in which a partition wall for partitioning is arranged on at least one substrate, and an electrode group is arranged on the substrate so that discharge is generated in the discharge space partitioned by the partition wall, and a phosphor layer which emits light by discharge is provided. In the manufacturing method of the first discharge gas, the first discharge gas has a gas pressure higher than a dischargeable pressure and at least Xe.
Is introduced so as to be lower than the gas pressure of the second discharge gas, and an aging step of performing discharge for a predetermined time is provided, and then the second discharge gas is introduced.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present invention is
At least a pair of transparent substrates on the front side are arranged so as to face each other so that a discharge space is formed between the substrates, and a partition wall for partitioning the discharge space into a plurality is arranged on at least one of the substrates.
Also, in the method of manufacturing a plasma display device, in which an electrode group is arranged on a substrate so that a discharge is generated in a discharge space partitioned by the partition wall, and a phosphor layer which emits light by the discharge is provided, the gas pressure of the first discharge gas is increased. Is introduced so as to be higher than the dischargeable pressure and lower than the gas pressure of the second discharge gas containing at least Xe, and an aging step of performing discharge for a predetermined time is provided, after which the first
Part of or all of the discharge gas of the
This discharge gas is introduced.

Further, in the invention according to claim 3 of the present invention, the gas pressure of the first discharge gas is changed when the gas pressure of the first discharge gas is changed to measure the discharge start voltage. It is characterized in that it is higher than the gas pressure when the discharge starting voltage takes a minimum value and lower than the gas pressure of the second discharge gas.

In the invention according to claim 4 of the present invention, the gas pressure of the first discharge gas is 100 T at room temperature.
It is higher than orr and lower than the gas pressure of the second discharge gas.

A method of manufacturing a plasma display device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The panel structure of the plasma display device according to the present invention is similar to that shown in FIG. 7, and a description thereof will be omitted.

First, in the plasma display device according to the present invention, as described with reference to FIG. 7, the front plate 15 and the rear plate 20 are manufactured and then arranged so as to face each other, and the peripheral portion is sealed with the sealing glass frit. A bonding process is performed to produce a panel. Then, after performing an exhaust process of exhausting the discharge space of the panel while heating, the discharge gas composed of a mixed gas of Xe and Ne has a pressure lower than the gas pressure of the completed panel.
After the introduction of 00 Torr, a high frequency and high voltage pulse power supply is connected to each electrode of the panel and a predetermined voltage is applied to perform aging for discharging.

The discharge voltage before this aging is higher than the working voltage of the product, but when the aging is performed for a predetermined time, the discharge voltage gradually decreases and eventually settles to a constant value. This time is the time when the aging is completed, which is about 4 hours in the present invention. It is considered that this voltage change reflects a change in the protective film 14 of MgO which is the electron emission source.

Regarding this point, the results of observing the surface change of the protective film 14 before and after aging are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
Therefore, a shape change occurs as shown in the schematic diagrams of FIGS. It can be seen that the surface before aging (FIG. 2) has an angular shape reflecting the crystal plane of MgO, while it is smooth after aging (FIG. 3). From this, it can be said that the aging is a step of shaving the surface of the MgO film, which is the protective film 14, having a square surface by electric discharge so as to be smooth.

Therefore, the inventor of the present invention has found that the MgO of the protective film 14 is
When the pressure was set lower than the pressure of the discharge gas that is normally introduced into the panel, the surface of the protective film 14 was significantly scraped in a short time as shown in FIG. I understood it.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the sputter rate when the pressure of the discharge gas is changed, that is, the amount of the MgO surface removed per unit time. As shown in FIG. 4, when a discharge gas having a pressure lower than the pressure (about 500 Torr) of the discharge gas introduced into the panel of the finished product is introduced into the panel, the amount of the MgO surface as the protective film 14 per unit time is scraped. Can be increased. From this, it is understood that the pressure of the discharge gas should be lowered in order to shorten the aging time. Of course, the minimum condition for the pressure of the discharge gas at this time is to be a pressure at which discharge is possible.

Further, according to the experiments of the present inventor, when the pressure of the discharge gas is made too low, as shown in FIG.
It was found that the surface of MgO was shaved unevenly. Therefore, in order to reduce the aging time, at the time of aging, it is sufficient to introduce a discharge gas having a pressure lower than the pressure of the discharge gas introduced into the panel of the finished product.
As the discharge gas at this time, it is desirable to introduce a discharge gas with a lower limit value determined so that the MgO surface is not shaved unevenly.

According to the inventor's opinion, the boundary between the appropriate pressure of the discharge gas and the pressure that is too low is near the minimum value of the Paschen curve showing the pressure dependence of the discharge voltage as shown in FIG. It is considered to be a thing. That is, the pressure of the discharge gas in the aging step is lower than the operating pressure of the panel of the finished product, and when the discharge start voltage is measured by changing the gas pressure of the discharge gas, the gas pressure at which the discharge start voltage has a minimum value. It is desirable to set the pressure higher than 100 Torr according to the example shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 shows the results of measuring the voltage change depending on the aging time for the method according to the present invention and the conventional method in which the discharge gas at the pressure of the finished product (about 500 Torr) was introduced. In the method according to the present invention,
After assembling the panel, about 200 Tor as described above
A discharge gas was introduced at a pressure of r and aging was performed in this state.

As can be seen from the characteristics shown in FIG. 1, according to the present invention, the characteristics settle to a constant value in a shorter time than in the conventional case, and the aging can be completed in a short time.

As described above, when the discharge gas at the time of aging is the first discharge gas and the discharge gas introduced into the panel of the finished product is the second discharge gas, the gas pressure of the first discharge gas is discharged. By introducing so as to be higher than the possible pressure and lower than the gas pressure of the second discharge gas for aging, it is possible to stabilize the characteristics in a shorter aging time than before.

In the above description, a mixed gas of Xe and Ne was used as the first discharge gas, but the same component as the second discharge gas may be used as long as it is a discharge gas containing at least Xe. Good.

After aging with the first discharge gas, the second discharge gas is continuously introduced so as to have an operating pressure, that is, a predetermined pressure to be introduced into the panel of the finished product, or One discharge gas may be partially or wholly exhausted, and then the second discharge gas may be introduced up to a predetermined pressure.

[0026]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the method for manufacturing a plasma display device of the present invention, by setting the pressure of the discharge gas in the aging step to be low, desired stable characteristics can be obtained in a short time. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the effect that the aging process can be completed in a short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a characteristic diagram showing an example of discharge voltage change in an aging process in the present invention and a conventional method.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the surface of MgO before the aging step.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the surface of MgO after the aging step.

FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram showing pressure dependence of a sputtering rate of MgO.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the surface of MgO when the pressure is too low.

FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram showing pressure dependence of discharge voltage.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a panel structure of a plasma display device.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Front glass substrate 12 Display electrode 13 Dielectric 14 Protective film 15 Front plate 16 Rear glass substrate 17 address electrodes 18 partitions 19 phosphor 20 back plate

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A pair of substrates, at least the front side of which is transparent, are arranged so as to face each other so that a discharge space is formed between the substrates, and a partition wall for partitioning the discharge space into a plurality is arranged on at least one of the substrates. In a method of manufacturing a plasma display device, in which a group of electrodes are arranged on a substrate so that a discharge is generated in a discharge space partitioned by a partition, and a phosphor that emits light by discharge is provided, a first discharge gas can be discharged with a gas pressure. Of the second discharge gas containing at least Xe higher than the above pressure and lower than the gas pressure of the second discharge gas, and performing an aging step of discharging for a predetermined time, and then introducing the second discharge gas. A method of manufacturing a characteristic plasma display device. 2. A pair of substrates, at least front side of which are transparent, are arranged so as to face each other so that a discharge space is formed between the substrates, and a partition wall for partitioning the discharge space into a plurality is arranged on at least one of the substrates. In a method of manufacturing a plasma display device, in which a group of electrodes are arranged on a substrate so that a discharge is generated in a discharge space partitioned by a partition, and a phosphor that emits light by discharge is provided, a first discharge gas can be discharged with a gas pressure. An aging step in which the second discharge gas is introduced at a pressure higher than the above pressure and lower than the gas pressure of the second discharge gas containing at least Xe to discharge for a predetermined time,
After that, the first discharge gas is partially or wholly exhausted and the second discharge gas is introduced, and the plasma display device manufacturing method. 3. The gas pressure of the first discharge gas is higher than the gas pressure at which the discharge start voltage has a minimum value when the discharge start voltage is measured by changing the gas pressure of the first discharge gas. The method of manufacturing a plasma display device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the gas pressure is lower than the gas pressure of the second discharge gas. 4. The plasma display device according to claim 1, wherein the gas pressure of the first discharge gas is higher than 100 Torr at room temperature and lower than the gas pressure of the second discharge gas. Method.