JP2733155B2 - Planar luminous body - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a planar illuminant used for a display or a backlight.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a planar light emitting body, an EL (Electr
oLuminescence) panels are known. However, the EL panel does not have sufficient brightness, and since a large number of thin films such as an insulating layer and an electrode layer are formed by lamination in addition to the light emitting layer, the process is complicated and the cost increases. As a result, there is a problem that the use range is limited.

On the other hand, as a high-luminance luminous body, a luminous body utilizing gas discharge, particularly glow plasma (glow discharge), is well known, and there are various signs, displays and display elements using this luminous body. Various forms have been proposed and are in practical use. However, large-scale planar light emission using gas discharge has been particularly difficult for the following reasons. It is based on the discharge phenomenon under low pressure of several to several tens Torr or less, and it is necessary to keep the inside at low pressure,
The glass wall becomes thick and cannot be made thin because it needs to have a structure that can withstand atmospheric pressure. The low-pressure plasma itself cannot spread evenly on a plane, causing luminance unevenness . A backlight using a thin tube lamp is also known, but the thickness must be increased to remove luminance unevenness, or the luminance is reduced due to the use of a diffusion plate.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive and thin planar illuminant which has high luminance, is suitable for large area, and is inexpensive.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a planar illuminant according to the present invention is a planar illuminant for emitting light in a planar manner using a glow discharge, and at least one surface side is provided. A sheet cell having a light-transmitting property and two sheet electrodes, wherein at least one of He and Ne and metal vapor , Ar, Xe and Kr added as necessary At least one of
But, it has been sealed at a pressure of 0.9~1.1atm, before
The partial pressure of He and / or Ne in the sheet cell is 9
/ 10 or more, and the two sheet electrodes are opposed to the sheet cell in such a manner that at least a part of the gas-filled space is interposed between the two electrodes , and the two sheet electrodes are arranged opposite to each other in a plane direction. It is characterized in that a layer is formed.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically.
As the planar cell in the present invention, a cell made of an inorganic material or an organic material having an electrical insulating property and made of a material having a small dielectric constant is preferable. Specifically, a cell made of a transparent glass or a cell made of a transparent resin is preferable. Is mentioned. The planar cell has a light transmitting property because at least one of the front side and the rear side is a light projecting surface from which light is emitted. For example, if the entire cell is made of a transparent material, the entire cell will have translucency, and the front and back sides may be light transmissive surfaces. However, it goes without saying that the cell may be translucent only on the necessary side.

The gas sealed in the planar cell is H
e and Ne, and these alone walking is to be sealed at atmospheric pressure in the form of a 併. If necessary, metal vapor (for example, mercury vapor) , Ar, Xe or Kr may be sealed at normal pressure. Note that the area
The partial pressure of He and / or Ne in the
is there. The fact that a stable glow discharge can be obtained at a pressure near normal pressure is disclosed in JP-A-1-306589 and JP-A-2-1589.
No. 5171. In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the inventors conducted studies from various angles and focused on glow discharge of a rare gas generated near a normal pressure, which has been conventionally used for surface treatment of a substrate and formation of a thin film. As a result of further study, the present invention was completed as described above . The normal pressure referred to in the present invention is in the range of 0.9 atm to 1.1 atm.

The two sheet electrodes may be provided inside the cell, both may be provided outside the cell, or one sheet electrode may be provided inside the cell. May be installed outside the cell. Usually 2
The electrodes face each other in parallel to form a parallel electrode. When the planar light emitter of the present invention emits light, one of the two electrodes is grounded (earthed), and a high-frequency voltage on the order of kHz to MHz is applied to the other electrode to generate glow plasma.

As described above, at least one of the front side and the back side of the cell is a light projecting surface, and therefore, of the two planar electrodes, at least the electrode located on the light projecting surface side is a light transmitting surface. It is required not to hinder Because the glow plasma is generated between the electrodes, light is naturally generated between the electrodes, and the light must pass through the electrodes. Examples of the planar electrode that does not hinder light transmission include a mesh electrode in which light passes between meshes, or a transparent electrode made of a transparent conductive material.
In addition, a punched plate electrode or the like can be used.

Furthermore, fluorescent material layer is provided on the inner surface of the planar cell in the present invention. A fluorescent substance (for example, a mixture of zinc and zinc oxide) is applied to the inner surface of the cell.

[0011]

The planar cell of the planar light emitting device of the present invention contains He.
And at least one of Ne is encapsulated,
Moreover, because the partial pressure in the planar cell is 9/10 or more
Then, a stable glow plasma is generated near normal pressure . This
Glow plasma that occurs in the the high luminance as
Thus, the planar illuminant has high brightness. The planar illuminant of the present invention is thin and has a large area suitability. This is because the inside of the cell is at normal pressure and there is almost no pressure difference between the inside and outside of the cell, and no external force is applied. When the inside of the cell is in a reduced pressure state, an external force due to a pressure difference between the inside and outside of the cell is applied to the cell.

The planar light emitting device of the present invention is inexpensive. This is because the sealed gas in the cell is at normal pressure, the process of evacuating and depressurizing the cell is eliminated and the manufacturing process is simplified, and the external force due to the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the cell is hardly applied to the cell. This is because the sheet cell itself can be easily made of ordinary materials because it is not necessary to have excessive mechanical strength.

As described above, the planar luminous body of the present invention has a high luminance, a wide luminous surface, little luminance unevenness, and is inexpensive, so that it can be used in fields where application has not been considered before. Since it can be expected, its usefulness can be said to be extremely high.

[0014]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a planar light emitting device according to the present invention. The present invention
It is not limited to the following embodiment. -Example 1-The planar light-emitting body of Example 1 has a configuration as shown in Fig. 1.
The planar light-emitting body of Example 1 includes a planar cell 1 made of transparent glass (transparent insulating material) and two planar electrodes 2 and 3.

The planar cell 1 is 10 cm long, 20 cm wide and 0.5 cm thick. A light-transmitting surface 1a is provided on the front side and has been subjected to gloss processing, and a fluorescent substance layer 5 is applied and formed on the inner surface of the planar cell 1 corresponding to the back side of the light-transmitting surface 1a. Then, He gas is 1 atm inside the planar cell 1.
Enclosed. Note that a mixture of zinc and zinc oxide was used as the fluorescent substance.

On the other hand, the planar electrode 2 is installed at an intermediate position inside the planar cell 1 so as to be aligned with the planar cell.
The planar electrode 3 is disposed on the back surface outside the planar cell 1 so as to be aligned with the planar cell, and as shown in FIG. 2, both electrodes 2 and 3 are in a state of facing in parallel. I have. The planar electrode 2 inside the planar cell 1 is a mesh electrode, and light passes through the mesh.

The light emission operation of the planar light emitting device of Example 1 was confirmed as follows. As shown in FIG. 1, a high-frequency power source 9 is connected between the planar electrode 2 and
When a high-frequency voltage of kHz and 500 V was applied, a glow plasma zone 6 appeared between the electrodes 2 and 3 in the planar cell 1, and light was emitted from the light transmitting surface of the planar cell 1. -Example 2-The planar light-emitting body of Example 2 has a configuration as shown in Fig. 3.
The planar light-emitting body of the second embodiment includes a planar cell 11 made of transparent glass (transparent insulating material) and two planar electrodes 12 and 13.

The planar cell 11 is 10 cm long, 20 cm wide,
It has a thickness of 0.5 cm. A light-transmitting surface 11a is on the front side, and a fluorescent material layer 15 is applied and formed on the inner surface of the planar cell 11 on the back side of the light-transmitting surface 11a. And
Ne gas and mercury vapor are 1a inside the planar cell 11.
tm. Note that a mixture of zinc and zinc oxide was used as the fluorescent substance.

On the other hand, the planar electrode 12 is disposed on the surface outside the planar cell 11, that is, on the light-transmitting surface, with the planar cell aligned in the planar direction. The two electrodes 12 and 13 are placed in parallel with the planar cells on the outer rear surface, and the electrodes 12 and 13 face each other in parallel. The planar electrode 12 on the light transmitting surface of the planar cell 11 is formed of ITO (indium tin oxide), which is a transparent conductive material, and allows light to pass through.

The light emission operation of the planar light emitting device of Example 2 was confirmed as follows. As shown in FIG. 2, when a high-frequency power supply 19 is connected between the planar electrode 12 and the planar electrode 13 and a high-frequency voltage of 10 kHz and 500 V is applied, a glow is applied between the electrodes 12 and 13 in the planar cell 11. The plasma zone 16 appeared, and light was emitted from the light transmitting surface of the planar cell 11.

Example 3 The planar light-emitting body of Example 3 differs from that of Example 1 in that He gas and Ar gas are sealed in the planar cell 1 at a volume ratio of 9: 1. It has the same configuration. It was confirmed that the planar light-emitting body of Example 3 also emitted light in the same manner when a high-frequency voltage of 10 kHz and 500 V was applied.

Example 4 The planar light emitting device of Example 4 is different from that of Example 1 in that He gas and Xe gas are sealed in the planar cell 1 at a volume ratio of 9: 1. It has the same configuration. It was confirmed that the planar light-emitting body of Example 4 also emitted light in the same manner when a high-frequency voltage of 10 kHz and 500 V was applied.

Example 5 The planar light emitting device of Example 5 is different from that of Example 1 in that He gas and Kr gas are sealed in the planar cell 1 at a volume ratio of 9: 1. It has the same configuration. It was confirmed that the planar light-emitting body of Example 5 also emitted light in the same manner when a high-frequency voltage of 10 kHz and 500 V was applied.

[0024]

A discharge gas is sealed in the planar cell of the planar light emitting device of the present invention described in detail above.
Discharge gas contains at least one of He and Ne
And the partial pressure of He and / or Ne in the discharge gas is 9
Since the pressure of the discharge gas is set to 0.9 to 1.1 atm or more, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Stable glow plasma is generated, and high brightness
You. (2) Since there is almost no pressure difference between the inside and outside of the cell and no external force for deforming the cell is applied, a thin and large cell can be used. (3) Since there is no step of evacuating and decompressing the inside of the cell, and the planar cell itself can be easily made of ordinary materials, it is very inexpensive. Furthermore, its usefulness is extremely high because it can be expected to be used in fields where application has not been considered.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a main part of a planar light-emitting body of Examples 1 and 3 to 5.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an arrangement of planar electrodes in the planar light emitting body of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a main part of a planar light-emitting body according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Planar luminous body 2 Plane electrode 3 Plane electrode 5 Phosphor material layer 6 Glow plasma zone 11 Plane luminous body 12 Plane electrode 13 Plane electrode 15 Fluorescent substance layer 16 Glow plasma zone

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Masaki Shinomiya 1048, Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. ) Inventor, Sachiko Okazaki 2-20-11, Takaido East, Suginami-ku, Tokyo Hei 3-50752 (JP, U)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A planar illuminator for emitting light in a planar manner using glow discharge, comprising: a planar cell having a translucency on at least one surface side; and two planar electrodes. At least one of He and Ne in the cell;
Optionally added metal vapors , Ar, Xe and K
at least one of r is 0.9 to 1.1 atm
And the He and the He in the planar cell are sealed .
And / or the partial pressure of Ne is 9/10 or more;
At least a portion is placed face by aligning the plane direction in a planar shape cells as mediated this fluorescent substance layer is formed on the inner surface of the cells of the sheet of the planar electrode is gas filled space between the electrodes
A planar light-emitting body characterized by the following . 2. The planar light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the planar electrodes is a reticulated electrode and is located on the light-transmitting surface side of the cell. 3. The planar light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the planar electrodes is a transparent electrode and is located on the light-transmitting surface side of the cell.