JP3410681B2 - Plasma display panel and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a plasma display panel used for displaying images on a computer monitor and a television.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional plasma display panel will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 22 is a sectional view showing an outline of an AC type (AC type) plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as “PDP”). In FIG. 22, 210 is a front glass substrate,
Discharge electrodes 211 are formed on the front glass substrate 210. Further, the discharge electrode 211 is covered with a dielectric glass layer 212 and a dielectric protective layer 213 made of magnesium oxide (MgO) (for example, JP-A-5-3).
42991).

Further, 220 is a rear glass substrate, and address electrodes 221 and
A visible light reflection layer 222, partition walls 223, and a phosphor layer 224 are provided to cover this, and 230 serves as a discharge space in which a discharge gas is sealed. For the color display, phosphor layers of three colors of red, green and blue are sequentially arranged. Each of the phosphor layers 224 described above is excited to emit light by ultraviolet rays having a short wavelength (for example, a wavelength of 147 nm) generated by discharge.

The following materials are generally used as the phosphor constituting the phosphor layer 224. "Blue phosphor": BaMgAl ₁₀ O _17: Eu "green phosphor": Zn ₂ SiO _4: Mn or BaAl
₁₂ O ₁₉ : Mn “Red phosphor”: Y ₂ O ₃ : Eu or (Y _x Gd _1-x ) B
O ₃ : Eu A conventional method for manufacturing a PDP will be described below.

First, a discharge electrode is formed on a front glass substrate, a dielectric layer made of dielectric glass is formed so as to cover the discharge electrode, and a protective layer made of MgO is further formed on the dielectric layer. Next, an address electrode is formed on the back glass substrate, and a visible light reflection layer made of dielectric glass and a glass partition are formed on the address electrode at a predetermined pitch. In each space sandwiched between these partition walls, a phosphor layer is formed by arranging each color phosphor paste containing the red phosphor, the green phosphor, and the blue phosphor prepared as described above, After the formation, the phosphor layer is baked at about 500 ° C. to remove the resin component and the like in the paste (phosphor baking step).

After the phosphor is fired, a glass frit for sealing with the front glass substrate is applied around the rear glass substrate, and calcined at about 350 ° C. to remove resin components in the glass frit (glass for sealing). Calcination process). After that, the front glass substrate on which the discharge electrode, the dielectric glass layer and the protective layer are sequentially formed, and the rear glass substrate are arranged so as to face each other so that the display electrode and the address electrode are orthogonal to each other via the partition wall.
It is baked at about ℃, and the periphery is sealed with sealing glass (sealing step).

After that, the inside of the panel is evacuated while heating up to a predetermined temperature (about 350 ° C.) (exhaust step), and after completion, the discharge gas is introduced at a predetermined pressure. In the panel manufactured through each process as described above, a large change with time of the light emission characteristic or the discharge characteristic appears in the initial stage of lighting.
Therefore, it is necessary to stabilize the light emission characteristics and the discharge characteristics by discharging the manufactured panel for a predetermined time. A process for stabilizing such a light emitting property and a discharge property is called an aging process.

[0008]

However, in the conventional method for manufacturing a plasma display panel, there is a problem that the light emission characteristics are particularly deteriorated in the aging process for stabilizing the light emission characteristics and the discharge characteristics as described above. . As one of the causes, there is a problem that the phosphor used is deteriorated. In particular, BaMgAl ₁₀ O ₁₇ : Eu used as a blue phosphor is more likely to be deteriorated in the aging process than phosphors of other colors, which causes a decrease in emission intensity and a deterioration in emission chromaticity.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and the phosphor is hardly deteriorated even through the aging process required for the panel manufacturing process, and the luminous efficiency is relatively high. An object of the present invention is to provide a plasma display panel that operates and has good color reproducibility.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, at least one of the discharge electrodes is disposed, and at least one of the front plate and the back plate having a phosphor layer formed on the inner surface is internally provided with an internal space. A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel, comprising: sealing in a state of having a discharge gas, and then performing a aging treatment by applying a discharge required voltage to the discharge electrode in a state where a discharge gas is present in the internal space, The treatment is characterized by including a discharge treatment for making discharge gas in the internal space discharged.

Here, the aging treatment further comprises an introduction treatment for newly introducing the discharge gas into the internal space from the outside,
The introducing process is a process of introducing a discharge gas through a first ventilation port formed in the panel, and the discharging process is a process of discharging the introduced discharge gas through a second ventilation port formed in the panel. By performing the introduction process and the discharge process as a process, it is possible to apply a required discharge voltage to the discharge electrode while continuously flowing a discharge gas into the internal space to perform discharge.

Further, by intermittently performing the introducing process and the discharging process, a discharge required voltage is applied to the discharge electrodes while intermittently flowing a discharge gas into the internal space to cause discharge. You can also Further, the discharge is performed by applying a required voltage to the discharge electrode in a plurality of periods, and the introduction process and the discharge process are performed between the discharges, so that the internal space is discharged. It is also possible to flow the discharge gas and replace the gas in the internal space with a new discharge gas before starting the next discharge.

Here, in the plasma display panel to be subjected to the aging treatment, a plurality of discharge spaces are formed by disposing a plurality of partition walls partitioning the internal space between the front plate and the back plate. Along with, the sealing glass layer for sealing at the outer peripheral portion of the front plate and the back plate is interposed, and between the first end portion in the longitudinal direction of the plurality of partition walls and the sealing glass layer, A first space communicating with the discharge space formed between the barrier ribs is formed, and a first space communicating with the discharge space is provided between the second end in the longitudinal direction of the plurality of barrier ribs and the sealing glass layer. A structure in which a second space is formed, further, the first vent hole is formed in communication with the first space, and the second vent hole is formed in communication with the second space. In the case of, in the aging process, in the introduction process, the first The discharge gas is introduced into the discharge space by performing a process of introducing the discharge gas into the space through the first vent, and the discharging process of discharging the discharge gas from the second space through the second vent. It can be flushed.

Among the plurality of partition walls, at least the partition wall excluding the partition wall located farthest from the first ventilation port, the shortest distance between the sealing glass layer facing the first space and the partition wall end portion is parallel to the partition wall. It is also possible to subject the panel having a structure wider than the shortest distance between the sealing glass layer and the partition wall adjacent thereto to the aging treatment. Further, a part of the outermost partition walls and the sealing glass so that the discharge gas does not flow between the outermost partition wall of the plurality of partition walls and the sealing glass layer. A panel having a structure in which a part of the layer is in contact with the layer can be subjected to an aging treatment.

The first vent hole is formed near the outermost partition wall, and the second vent hole is formed near the outermost partition wall opposite to the first vent hole. A panel having a different structure can be subjected to an aging treatment. Further, a plurality of partition walls partitioning the internal space are provided between the front plate and the back plate to form a plurality of discharge spaces, and the front plate and the back plate are sealed at their outer peripheral portions. A sealing glass layer, and a flow stop partition on the inner peripheral side of the sealing glass layer, and the partition walls are provided between the first ends of the plurality of partition walls in the longitudinal direction and the flow stop partition. A first space is formed in communication with the discharge space formed therebetween, and a second space in communication with the discharge space is provided between the second end in the longitudinal direction of the plurality of partition walls and the flow stop partition. Further, the first vent hole is formed in communication with the first space, and the second vent hole is a panel having a structure formed in communication with the second space. It can also be subjected to aging treatment. In the aging process of the panel having such a structure, in the introducing process, a process of introducing a discharge gas into the first space through the first vent, and in the discharging process, discharging from the second space through the second vent. The discharge gas can be caused to flow into the discharge space by performing the process of discharging the gas.

Further, among the plurality of partition walls, at least the partition wall excluding the partition wall located farthest from the first vent, the shortest distance between the partition wall facing the first space and the partition wall end are parallel to the partition wall. It is also possible to subject a panel having a structure wider than the shortest distance between the flow stop partition wall in the direction and the partition wall adjacent thereto to the aging treatment. Further, among the plurality of partition walls, the partition wall located at the outermost side and the flow stop partition wall, and a part of the partition wall positioned at the outermost side so that the discharge gas does not flow, and the flow stop partition wall. It is also possible to subject the panel having a structure in which a part of it is brought into contact with it to aging treatment.

The first vent hole is formed near the outermost partition wall, and the second vent hole is formed near the outermost partition wall opposite to the first vent hole. A panel having a different structure can be subjected to an aging treatment. With such a structure, in the gas flow path from the first space to the second space, the discharge gas flows better into the discharge space than in the other parts, preventing deterioration of the phosphor during aging treatment. To be done.

The discharge gas introduced into the internal space is
It is desirable to use dry gas. The water vapor partial pressure of the dry gas is preferably 15 Torr or less. More preferably, the water vapor partial pressure is 10 Torr or less, even more preferably the water vapor partial pressure is 5 Torr or less, further preferably the water vapor partial pressure is 1 Torr or less, and the water vapor partial pressure is 0.1 Torr or less.

Further, the dew point temperature of the dry gas is preferably 20 ° C. or lower. More preferably, the dew point temperature is 10
C. or lower, and more preferably, the dew point temperature is 1.degree. C. or lower, more preferably the dew point temperature is -20.degree. C. or lower, and the dew point temperature is -40.degree. C. or lower. An inert gas can be used as the discharge gas introduced into the internal space. He, Ne, Ar or Xe can be used as the inert gas.

In order to achieve the above object, at least one of the discharge electrodes is disposed, and at least one of the front plate and the rear plate having a phosphor layer formed on the inner surface has an internal space inside. A method of manufacturing a plasma display panel, which comprises sealing and then performing an aging treatment by applying a discharge required voltage to the discharge electrode in a state where a discharge gas is present in an internal space, wherein after the aging treatment, fluorescence is generated. It is characterized in that heat treatment for heating the phosphor forming the body layer is performed.

In the heat treatment after the aging treatment, it is desirable to heat the phosphor to a higher temperature, specifically, it is desirable to heat the phosphor to 300 ° C. or more. Further, it is more preferable to heat the phosphor to 370 ° C. or higher, and it is more preferable to heat the phosphor to 400 ° C. or higher, and further to 500 ° C. or higher. As a method of heating the phosphor, a method of heating the entire panel to a predetermined temperature by using a heating furnace, a method of locally irradiating the panel portion where the phosphor is arranged with a laser beam and heating, an inside space A method of heating by heating a heated heating medium is considered. When heating the entire panel using a heating furnace, the heating temperature can be heated only to a temperature not exceeding the softening point of the sealing glass used for sealing the front plate and the rear plate of the panel. In the case of locally irradiating with light and locally heating with a heat medium, heating can be performed to a higher temperature. In the heat treatment after the aging treatment (in the case of heating in a heating furnace and in the case of heating with a laser beam), it is more preferable to heat while discharging the gas in the internal space.

After the aging treatment (when heating in a heating furnace and when heating with a laser beam), the gas in the internal space may be discharged and the drying gas may be introduced, and then the panel may be heated. Here, in the heat treatment after the aging treatment (in the case of heating in a heating furnace and in the case of heating with a laser beam), while flowing a dry gas into the internal space through at least two ventilation holes formed in the panel. It can also be heated.

Next, an inert gas can be used as the dry gas. Further, it is desirable that the dry gas contains oxygen. Here, the introduced dry gas is exhausted in the heated state from the internal space heated by the heat treatment after the aging treatment (when heated in the heating furnace, when heated by the laser beam and when heated by the heat medium). You can also do it.

In the case where the heat treatment is carried out with the gas flowing in the discharge space (when heating in the heating furnace while flowing the gas in the discharge space, when heating with laser light while flowing the gas in the discharge space) In the case of heating with a heat medium), it is more preferable that the panel structure to be subjected to the heat treatment has a structure in which gas is positively flown into the discharge space as described above because the gas exchangeability in the discharge space is enhanced.

According to the above manufacturing method, the deterioration of the blue phosphor is particularly suppressed, so that a plasma display panel having excellent emission characteristics can be obtained. Specifically, all cells are turned on under the same conditions. The color temperature of the emission color is 70
A plasma display panel having a temperature of 00K or more can be obtained. Further, a plasma display panel can be obtained in which the peak intensity ratio of the emission spectrum when the cells provided with the blue and green phosphor layers are turned on under the same power condition is blue / green ≧ 0.8.

[0026]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an essential part showing an AC surface discharge PDP according to an embodiment.
In this figure, the display area at the center of the PDP is partially shown. This PDP includes a front panel substrate 10 in which a discharge electrode 12 (a pair of a scan electrode 12a and a sustain electrode 12b), a dielectric layer 13, and a protective layer 14 are arranged on the opposite surface of a front glass substrate 11, and a rear glass. An address electrode 22 and a rear panel substrate 20 having a visible light reflection layer 23 disposed on the opposite surface of the substrate 21 are arranged in parallel with each other with the discharge electrode 12 and the address electrode 22 facing each other. Is configured. The gap between the front panel substrate 10 and the rear panel substrate 20 is partitioned by the partition wall 24 in a stripe shape to form a discharge space 30, and the discharge space 30 is filled with a discharge gas.

In the discharge space 30, a phosphor layer 25 is arranged on the rear panel substrate 20 side. The phosphor layers 25 are repeatedly arranged in the order of red, green and blue. The discharge electrode 12 and the address electrode 22 are
Both are stripe-shaped, the discharge electrodes 12 are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the barrier ribs 24, and the address electrodes 22 are arranged in parallel with the barrier ribs 24. Then, the discharge electrode 12 and the address electrode 2
A panel structure is formed in which cells that emit red, green, and blue colors are formed where the two intersect.

The address electrode 22 is a metal electrode (for example,
A silver electrode or a Cr-Cu-Cr electrode). The discharge electrode 12 has an electrode structure in which a bus electrode (silver electrode, Cr—Cu—Cr electrode) having a narrow width is laminated on a wide transparent electrode made of a conductive metal oxide such as ITO, SnO ₂ , ZnO or the like. It is preferable to set the resistance of the display electrode to be low and to secure a large discharge area in the cell.
Similarly to the above, a silver electrode can be used.

The dielectric layer 13 is a layer made of a dielectric material, which is arranged so as to cover the entire surface of the front glass substrate 11 on which the discharge electrodes 12 are arranged, and generally a lead-based low melting point glass is used. However, it may be formed of a bismuth-based low melting point glass or a laminate of a lead-based low melting point glass and a bismuth-based low melting point glass. The protective layer 14 is made of magnesium oxide (Mg
It is a thin layer of O) and covers the entire surface of the dielectric layer 13.

The visible light reflection layer 23 is similar to the dielectric layer 13, but TiO ₂ particles are mixed so as to also function as a visible light reflection layer. The partition wall 24 is made of a glass material and is used for the visible light reflection layer 2 of the rear panel substrate 20.
3 is projected on the surface. As a phosphor material forming the phosphor layer 25, here, blue phosphor: BaMgAl ₁₀ O ₁₇ : Eu green phosphor: Zn ₂ SiO ₄ : Mn red phosphor: Y ₂ O ₃ : Eu or (Y _x Gd _1-x ) BO ₃ :
Eu will be used.

The composition of these phosphor materials has conventionally been P.
Although it is the same as that used for DP, the conventional P
Compared with the phosphor layer in DP, the degree of heat deterioration that the phosphor has undergone in the manufacturing process is small, so that the emission color is better. That is, in the conventional general PDP, the chromaticity coordinate y of the emission color when only the blue cell is turned on (CIE color system)
Is 0.085 or more and the color temperature is about 6000K in white balance without color correction, whereas in the PDP of the present embodiment, the chromaticity coordinates of the emission color when only the blue cell is turned on. y is 0.08 or less, and further 0.06
It is also possible to set the following, and thereby, it becomes possible to set the color temperature to about 7000K to 11000K with white balance without color correction. Further, as the chromaticity coordinate y of the blue cell is decreased, the PD having a wider color reproduction range near blue is provided.
P can be realized. Thus, the color temperature is 6000
The emission spectrum of the blue phosphor capable of achieving a color temperature exceeding K is experimentally confirmed by the inventors.
It is necessary to have spectral characteristics with a peak wavelength of 455 nm or less. In other words, when the peak wavelength shifts to a long wavelength exceeding 455 nm, it becomes close to green and the color reproducibility deteriorates. The emission spectrum characteristic is
It is the spectral characteristics when only the blue phosphor is made to emit light.

Next, in the present embodiment, the film thickness of the dielectric layer 13 is about 20 μm and the film thickness of the protective layer 14 is about 1.0 μm in accordance with a 40-inch class high-definition television. The height of the partition wall 24 is 0.1 to 0.15 m.
m, partition pitch 0.15 to 0.3 mm, phosphor layer 25
The film thickness is 5 to 50 μm. Further, the discharge gas to be sealed is Ne-Xe system, the content of Xe is 5% by volume, and the sealing pressure is set in the range of 500 to 800 Torr.

At the time of driving the PDP, as shown in FIG. 21, each driver and panel drive circuit 300 is connected to the PDP and applied between the scan electrode 12a and the address electrode 22 of the cell to be turned on to perform the address discharge. After that, a pulse voltage is applied between the scan electrode 12a and the sustain electrode 12b to perform sustain discharge. Then, in the cell, ultraviolet rays are emitted along with the discharge, and converted into visible light in the phosphor layer. An image is displayed by lighting the cell in this manner.

[Method of Manufacturing PDP] Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing the PDP having the above configuration will be described. (Production of Front Panel Substrate) The front panel substrate 10 includes a front glass substrate 11 on which a transparent electrode forming paste is applied by screen printing, and a silver electrode paste on the transparent electrode by screen printing. The discharge electrode 12 is formed by firing. Then, so as to cover it, a lead-based glass material (composition thereof is, for example, 70% by weight of lead oxide [PbO], 15% by weight of boron oxide [B ₂ O ₃ ] and 15% by weight of silicon oxide [SiO ₂ ]). %) Is applied by a screen printing method and baked to form a dielectric layer 13, and the surface of the dielectric layer 13 is further subjected to CVD.
The protective layer 14 made of magnesium oxide (MgO) is formed by the method (chemical vapor deposition).

(Preparation of Rear Panel Substrate) The rear panel substrate has a rear glass substrate 21 on which an address electrode 22 is formed by a method of screen-printing a silver electrode paste and then baking the paste, and TiO ₂ particles are formed thereon. A visible light reflection layer 23 was formed by applying a paste containing a glass powder and dielectric glass particles by a screen printing method and baking the paste, and the paste containing glass particles was repeatedly applied at a predetermined pitch using the screen printing method. After that, the partition wall 24 is formed by firing. At the same time when the partition wall 24 is formed, it is desirable to form a partition wall that blocks the flow of the sealing glass on the rear glass substrate around the partition wall 24 formation region. By forming the flow stop partition wall in this way, it is possible to prevent the glass for sealing from flowing toward the inner peripheral side of the substrate during sealing.

Then, red, green, and blue phosphor pastes of respective colors are prepared, and the pastes are applied to the spaces between the partition walls 24 by the screen printing method, and baked in the air to form the phosphor layers 25 of the respective colors. Each color phosphor paste used here can be manufactured as follows.

Blue phosphor (BaMgAl ₁₀ O ₁₇ : Eu)
Is, as a raw material, barium carbonate (BaCO ₃ ), magnesium carbonate (MgCO ₃ ), aluminum oxide (α-A
1 ₂ O ₃ ) is blended so that the atomic ratio of Ba, Mg, and Al is 1: 1: 10. Next, a predetermined amount of europium oxide (Eu ₂ O ₃ ) is added to this mixture. And
Mixing with an appropriate amount of flux (AlF ₂ , BaCl ₂ ) in a mixer (for example, ball mill), reducing atmosphere (H ₂ ,
Under N ₂ ) for a predetermined time (for example, 0.5 hours) at a temperature of 1
It is obtained by firing at 400 ° C to 1650 ° C.

The red phosphor (Y ₂ O ₃ : Eu) is prepared by adding a predetermined amount of europium oxide (Eu ₂ O ₃ ) to yttrium hydroxide Y ₂ (OH) ₃ as a raw material.
Then, it is obtained by mixing with an appropriate amount of flux in a mixer (for example, a ball mill) and firing in air at a temperature of 1200 ° C to 1450 ° C for a predetermined time (for example, 1 hour).

The green phosphor (Zn ₂ SiO ₄ : Mn) is prepared by mixing zinc oxide (ZnO) and silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ) as raw materials so that the atomic ratio of Zn and Si is 2: 1. Next, a predetermined amount of manganese oxide (Mn ₂ O ₃ ) is added to this mixture. Then, after mixing with a mixer (for example, a ball mill), it is obtained by firing in air at a temperature of 1200 ° C to 1350 ° C for a predetermined time (for example, 0.5 hours).

By pulverizing and sieving each color phosphor thus produced, each color phosphor particle having a predetermined particle size distribution can be obtained. A phosphor paste of each color is obtained by mixing the phosphor particles of each color with a binder and a solvent. When forming the phosphor layer 25, in addition to the screen printing method described above, a method of scanning while ejecting phosphor ink from a nozzle, or a method of using a photosensitive resin containing phosphor materials of respective colors It can also be formed by a method of producing a sheet, adhering the sheet to the surface of the rear glass substrate 21 on which the partition wall 24 is arranged, patterning by photolithography, and developing to remove an unnecessary portion.

(Sealing of Front Panel Substrate and Rear Panel Substrate) Either one or both of the front panel substrate 10 and the rear panel substrate 20 thus produced are coated with glass for sealing (glass frit) and calcined. To form a glass layer for sealing, and the discharge electrodes 12 of the front panel substrate 10 and the address electrodes 22 of the rear panel substrate 20 are laminated so as to face each other at right angles, and both substrates 20 and 30 are heated to seal glass. Seal by softening the layers.

Then, the panel is fired while exhausting it from the internal space of the sealed panel substrate,
Degas the interior space. Then, the discharge gas is sealed in this internal space. This calcination and sealing step will be described in detail below. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of a sealing device used in the calcination and sealing steps.

This sealing device 40 includes the front panel substrate 10
And a heating furnace 41 that heats the rear panel substrate 20, a gas introduction valve 42 that adjusts the amount of atmospheric gas introduced into the heating furnace 41, and a gas discharge valve 43 that adjusts the amount of gas discharged from the heating furnace 41. Etc. are attached and configured. The inside of the heating furnace 41 can be heated to a high temperature by a heater (not shown). In addition, in the heating furnace 41, an atmosphere gas (for example, a partial pressure of water vapor of 20T) that forms an atmosphere in which the front panel substrate and the rear panel substrate are heated
Dry air of about orr. In addition, the following "dry gas",
The term "dry air" has a water vapor partial pressure (dew point) of 20.
It means gas and air below Torr (22 ° C). )
Can be introduced through the gas introduction valve 42, and the gas exhaust valve 43 is evacuated by a vacuum pump (not shown) to heat the furnace 41.
It is also designed to be able to create a high vacuum inside. The degree of vacuum in the heating furnace 41 can be adjusted by the gas introduction valve 42 and the gas discharge valve 43.

A gas dryer (not shown) is provided between the atmosphere gas supply source and the heating furnace 41 to cool the atmosphere gas to a low temperature (minus several tens of degrees) to condense water and remove the moisture. Has been. Then, the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere gas (water vapor partial pressure) is controlled by passing the atmosphere gas through this gas dryer. In the heating furnace 41, the front panel substrate 10 and the rear panel substrate 2
A mounting table 44 for placing 0s on top of each other is provided, and on the upper part of the mounting table 44, a moving pin 45 for translating the rear panel substrate 20 is installed. Also, the mounting table 4
4, a pressing mechanism 46 for pressing the rear panel substrate 20 downward is installed.

A vent hole 21a is provided in the outer peripheral portion of the rear glass substrate 21, and a glass tube 26 is attached to the vent hole 21a, and the glass tube 26 is inserted from the outside of the heating furnace 41. The connected pipe 48 is connected. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration of the heating furnace 41. 2 and 3, the rear panel substrate 20 is
The partition walls are arranged so that the direction of the partition walls is along the lateral direction of the drawing.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the rear panel substrate 20 is set to be slightly longer than the front panel substrate 10 in the direction of the partition wall (horizontal direction in the drawing), and both ends of the rear panel substrate 20 are in front. The panel substrate 10 protrudes outward from both ends (note that a lead-out line for connecting the address electrode 22 to a drive circuit is provided in the protruding portion). Then, the moving pin 45 and the pressing mechanism 46 are provided on the mounting table 44 so that the rear panel substrate 20 is mounted.
The protruding portions are arranged so as to be sandwiched from above and below in the vicinity of the four corners of the rear panel substrate 20.

The upper ends of the four moving pins 45 project upward from the upper surface of the mounting table 44, and can be simultaneously moved up and down by a pin elevating mechanism (not shown) provided inside the mounting table 44. . Each of the four pressing mechanisms 46 has a cylindrical support portion 46a fixed to the upper portion of the heating furnace 41, a slide portion 46b supported inside the support portion 46a in a vertically movable state, and a support portion. A spring 46 that is located inside 46a and urges the slide portion 46b downward.
The lower end of the slide portion 46b presses the rear panel substrate 20 by the urging force of the spring 46c.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the operation when the preheating process and the sealing process are performed using this sealing device. The calcination, preheating, and sealing steps will be described with reference to this figure. Calcining step: In advance, the outer peripheral portion of the facing surface of the front panel substrate 10 (the surface facing the rear panel substrate 20) or the outer peripheral portion of the facing surface of the rear panel substrate 20 (the surface facing the front panel substrate 10), or The sealing glass layer 15 is formed by applying a sealing glass paste to the outer peripheral portions of the facing surfaces of both the front panel substrate 10 and the rear panel substrate 20 (note that in the figure, the sealing glass layer 15 is the front surface). It is formed on the opposite surface of the panel substrate 10.).

Then, with the front panel substrate 10 and the rear panel substrate 20 aligned and superposed, they are placed in a fixed position on the placing table 44 and the pressing mechanism 46 is set to press the rear panel substrate 20. (See FIG. 4 (a)). Next, the following operation is performed while circulating the atmospheric gas (dry air) in the heating furnace 41 (or while using the vacuum exhaust from the gas exhaust valve 43).

The moving pin 45 is raised and the rear panel substrate 20 is pushed upward and moved in parallel (see FIG. 4B). As a result, the gap between the facing surfaces of the front panel substrate 10 and the rear panel substrate 20 is widened, and the rear panel substrate 20
The surface on which the phosphor layer 25 is arranged is opened to a wide space in the heating furnace 41. In this state, the inside of the heating furnace 41 is heated to the calcination temperature (about 350 ° C.) and heated, and the calcination temperature is maintained for about 10 to 30 minutes to perform calcination.

Preheating step: The panel substrates 10 and 20 are further heated and heated to release the gas adsorbed on the panel substrates 10 and 20. Then, at a predetermined temperature (for example, 40
(0 ° C.), the preheating step is finished. Sealing step: Subsequently, the moving pin 45 is lowered and the rear panel substrate 20 is overlaid on the front panel substrate 10 again. At this time, the rear panel substrate 20 is overlaid in the original aligned state (see FIG. 4C).

When the temperature in the heating furnace 41 reaches the sealing temperature (about 450 ° C.) higher than the softening point of the sealing glass layer 15, the sealing temperature is maintained for 10 to 20 minutes. At this time, the outer peripheral portions of the front panel substrate 10 and the rear panel substrate 20 are sealed by the softened sealing glass. During this time, since the rear panel substrate 20 is pressed against the front panel substrate 10 by the pressing mechanism 46, stable sealing can be performed.

The sealing method of this embodiment has the following effects as compared with the conventional sealing method. Usually, gases such as water vapor are adsorbed on the front panel substrate and the rear panel substrate, but when these substrates are heated and heated, the adsorbed gas is released. In the conventional general manufacturing method, after the calcination step, in the sealing step, the front panel substrate and the rear panel substrate are superposed at room temperature and then heated and heated for sealing. The gas adsorbed on the front panel substrate and the rear panel substrate is released. Even if the gas adsorbed on the substrate is released to some extent in the calcination step, the gas is adsorbed again by bringing the temperature to room temperature in the atmosphere until the start of the sealing step. Occurs. Then, the released gas is confined in the narrow internal space. At this time, it is known from the measurement result that the partial pressure of water vapor in the internal space is usually 20 Torr or more.

Therefore, the phosphor layer 25 facing the inner space is likely to be thermally deteriorated by the influence of gas (in particular, the influence of water vapor emitted from the protective layer 14). When the phosphor layer (particularly the blue phosphor layer) is thermally deteriorated, the emission intensity is reduced. On the other hand, according to the manufacturing method of the present embodiment, the gas such as water vapor adsorbed on the front panel substrate 10 and the rear panel substrate 20 is released by the sealing step and the preheating step. Since the wide gap is formed between the panel substrates 10 and 20, the generated gas is not confined in the internal space. Then, after preheating, since both panel substrates 10 and 20 are sealed in a heated state,
Water and the like will not be adsorbed on both panel substrates 10 and 20 after preheating. Therefore, at the time of sealing, both panel substrates 1
The gas generated from 0 and 20 decreases, and the phosphor layer 25
The thermal deterioration of the will be prevented.

Further, in the present embodiment, since the preheating step and the sealing step are performed in the atmosphere in which the dry air flows, the phosphor layer 25 is formed by the water vapor in the atmosphere gas.
Does not cause thermal deterioration. Further, by using the sealing device 40 as described above, first, the front panel substrate 1
If 0 and the rear panel substrate 20 are aligned, sealing is performed in the aligned state.

Next, after cooling, the panel is taken out of the heating furnace 41, and a driving circuit for aging treatment or the like is connected to the discharge electrode to perform aging treatment to stabilize the light emission characteristic and the discharge characteristic. FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of an aging device 50 for performing the aging step in the present embodiment. The aging device 50 includes pipes 52a, 52 for flowing a discharge gas into the internal space 51a of the panel 51.
b, valves 53a and 53b for adjusting the discharge gas pressure in the internal space 51a of the panel 51, and a drive circuit 54 for applying a discharge voltage in a pulsed manner.

The rear panel substrate 55, on which the address electrodes, the visible light reflecting layer, the partition walls and the phosphor layer are formed, is provided with two or more vent holes 56 which communicate with the internal space of the panel while avoiding the display area ( This vent is the vent 21
In addition to a, newly provided ones are included. ), Glass tubes 57 are attached to these vents 56, and they are mounted on a mounting table (not shown). Then, the glass tube 57 and the pipes 52a and 52b for flowing the discharge gas are connected.
After the connection, the interior space of the panel 51 is evacuated through the pipe 52b, and then the discharge gas 59 is introduced through the pipe 52a.
After that, the valves 53a and 53b are adjusted so that the discharge gas continues to flow at a predetermined flow rate while maintaining a predetermined pressure. It is desirable that the flow rate of the discharge gas be as constant as possible. This is because the discharge voltage changes when the flow rate changes. However, if a large discharge voltage is applied in anticipation of the amount of change in advance, it is possible to avoid that the discharge does not occur even if the discharge gas flow rate changes and the discharge voltage changes accordingly.

When the ventilation holes 56 are provided at two places as shown in the drawing, it is desirable that the ventilation ports 56 are provided on a diagonal surface through the partition wall of the rear panel substrate 55. This is because the gas flow sent into the panel becomes favorable by providing such a structure. In the present embodiment, dried He, Ne, Ar, Xe is used as the discharge gas flowing in the internal space.
Alternatively, the discharge gas pressure is set to about 100 to 760 Torr by using a mixed inert gas thereof.

After adjusting the gas pressure, a predetermined voltage is applied to the discharge electrodes formed on the front panel substrate 58 by using the drive circuit 54 while the gas is flowing in the panel to generate the discharge inside the panel 51. Aging is performed for a predetermined time.
By continuing the discharge while flowing the discharge gas as described above, the gas containing the water vapor generated inside can be discharged, and the deterioration of the emission characteristics of the phosphor that has conventionally occurred during aging can be suppressed.

Further, since the dry gas is used as the discharge gas to be introduced into the panel, it is possible to suppress the thermal deterioration caused by the contact between the water vapor in the discharge gas and the phosphor. In order to achieve such an effect, it is important to efficiently discharge the gas generated in the very narrow linear space partitioned by the partition wall inside the panel 51 in the aging step. For that purpose, the introduced discharge gas needs to flow stably in the linear space partitioned by the partition walls, and the panel configuration as shown in FIGS. 6 to 12 is advantageous. The stripe-shaped partition walls are provided on the entire surface of the panel.
2 shows only some of the strip-shaped partition walls on both sides.

In FIG. 6, the shortest distance between the partition wall 61 and the sealing glass layer 62 in the vertical direction and the partition wall end portion 63 is smaller than the shortest distance between the partition glass 61 in the parallel direction to the partition wall 61 and the adjacent partition wall 61. The discharge gas introduced from the vents 65a spreads into the space 66a formed on the partition wall end (in the drawing) and stably flows in the space 67 between the partition walls. Space 66 created under the edge (on the drawing)
It is possible to efficiently discharge the gas generated inside through the vent hole 65b through b and suppress deterioration of the phosphor in the aging step.

In this structure, the shortest distance between the partition wall 61 and the sealing glass layer 62 in the vertical direction and the partition wall end portion 63 is determined by the partition wall 61.
The wider the distance is from the shortest distance between the sealing glass layer 64 and the adjacent partition wall 61 in the parallel direction, the more stably the introduced gas flows through the space 67 between the partition walls. this is,
By doing so, the gas introduced from the vent 65a is located near the vent 65a and above the partition end (on the drawing).
This is because it easily spreads into the space 66a, and is easily distributed to and discharged from the space 67. Here, as shown in FIG. 7, the configuration in which the sealing glass layer 64 in the direction parallel to the partition wall and the partition wall 61 adjacent to the partition wall are in contact with each other at least partially is most effective. This is because discharge does not occur outside the partition walls located at both ends, so it is not necessary to flow gas in this part.Therefore, if the gas flow in this part is blocked, in the discharge space where discharge occurs during aging. This is because the gas can be derived more efficiently.

In the space 66a, the distance between the end of the partition wall and the glass for sealing becomes a problem in the portion close to the vent hole 65a through which gas enters the panel, and is located farthest from the vent hole. Even if the end portion 63 of the partition wall is in contact with the glass layer for sealing, the gas flowing from the vent hole 65a into the space 66a is distributed to the space 67, so that the flowability of the gas is not hindered. In other words, if the space near the vent hole 65a is narrow, the gas will flow into a wider space that is easier to flow, and the gas will not be distributed well to the space 67. Hereinafter, when discussing the distance between the partition wall end portion and the sealing glass layer (or the flow stop partition wall) in the space above the partition wall, the ends of the partition walls other than the partition wall located farthest from the gas inlet port. It is the distance from the department.

Similarly, in the space 66b, the distance between the partition wall end and the sealing glass is a problem in a portion close to the vent hole 65b through which gas exits from the inside of the panel. Even if the end 63 of the partition wall is in contact with the glass layer for sealing, the gas in the space 66b is vented to the vent hole 65b.
Since it is emitted from the gas, it does not hinder the flowability of gas. In other words, if the space near the vent hole 65b is narrow, the gas will flow into a wider space that is more likely to flow, and the efficiency of discharging the gas from the vent hole 65b will be low. Hereinafter, when discussing the distance between the partition wall end and the sealing glass layer (or the flow-stop partition) in the space below the partition, the partition walls other than the partition located farthest from the vent through which the gas exits. It is the distance from the edge.

Further, in the space 66b on the side where the gas is discharged, if the space between the partition wall end and the sealing glass is narrow, the gas flowing through the space 67 will be less likely to be discharged from the vent 65b through the space 66b. When the distance between the partition wall end and the sealing glass in the space 66a is defined as described above, the effect of improving the gas distribution efficiency to the space 67 can be obtained. Of course, if the distance between the partition wall end and the sealing glass in the space 66b is defined as described above, the discharge efficiency from the space 67 to the space 66b will be improved, so that the gas flow in the space 67 will be more efficient. For this purpose, it is desirable to define the distance between the partition wall end and the sealing glass as described above in both the spaces 66a and 66b as described above.

In FIG. 8, the partition walls 81 and 82 for preventing the sealing glass layers 62 and 64 from flowing into the inside of the panel at the time of sealing are the sealing glass layers 62 and 64 and the strip-shaped partition wall 61. Between the stripe-shaped partition wall 61 and the vertical partition wall 81 for preventing flow in the vertical direction, and the shortest distance between the stripe-shaped partition wall end portion 63 and the partition wall 61 in the parallel direction for blocking flow. The panel has a configuration wider than the shortest distance between the partition wall 82 and the adjacent strip-shaped partition wall 61, and the discharge gas introduced from the vent hole 65a is stored in the space 66a formed on the partition wall end portion (on the drawing). After expanding and stably flowing in the space 67 between the partition walls, the ventilation port 6 is passed through the space 66b formed under the partition wall end (on the drawing).
The gas discharged from 5b and generated inside can be efficiently discharged, and the deterioration of the phosphor in the aging step can be suppressed.

In this structure, the shortest distance between the partition wall 61 and the partition wall 81 for preventing flow in the vertical direction and the partition wall end portion 63 is the partition wall 61.
The wider the distance is from the shortest distance between the flow stop partition wall 82 and the adjacent partition wall 61, the more stable the introduced gas flows through the space 67 between the partition walls. Here, FIG.
The most effective configuration is that the partition wall 82 for preventing flow parallel to the partition wall and the partition wall 61 adjacent thereto are in contact with each other at least partially as shown in FIG. As described above, this is because discharge does not occur outside the partition walls located at both ends, so it is not necessary to flow gas to this part.Therefore, if the gas flow in this part is blocked, discharge will occur during aging. This is because the gas can be more efficiently led out in the generated discharge space.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the same applies to a panel having a structure in which only the stripe-shaped partition wall 61 and the vertical partition wall 81 are formed, and the partition wall 61 and the sealing glass layer 64 in the parallel direction are in contact with each other. The effect was obtained. further,
The positions of the vent holes 65a and 65b are not limited to the upper and lower sides of the partition wall end portion, and may be provided, for example, beside the central portion of the partition wall 61 as shown in FIG. Here, the partition walls 61 located at both ends are brought into contact with the partition wall 82 for flow prevention,
It is desirable to promote the flow of gas in one direction so that the gas can be more efficiently led out between the partition walls.

Further, the vent holes are not limited to two places, but may be two or more places so that gas can be introduced and discharged. Here, as shown in FIG. 12, it is also possible to divide the panel by the partition wall 70 and adjust the introduction and discharge of gas at each part. Then, after aging, the panel is again put into the heating furnace 41, the exhaust temperature lower than the softening point of the glass for sealing is lowered, and the exhaust temperature is maintained while heating (for example, at 350 ° C. for 1 hour). ), A high vacuum (8 × 10 ⁻⁷ Torr) is obtained by evacuating the internal space of both the sealed panel substrates, and degassing is performed from the internal space. This evacuation process is performed by connecting a vacuum pump (not shown) to the pipe 48, but only one of the vents is opened and connected to the vacuum pump, and the remaining vents allow gas to flow into the panel. It is sealed so as not to.

After this evacuation step, the panel substrate was cooled to room temperature while keeping the internal space in a vacuum, and the discharge gas was filled into the internal space from one open glass tube, and all the vent holes opened. A PDP is made by sealing and cutting all the glass tubes. Then, by performing the aging treatment as described above, it is possible to suppress the thermal deterioration of the phosphor, which is inevitable in the conventional aging process. The reason for this will be considered below.

First, using a device as shown in FIG.
Blue phosphor used (BaMgAl _TenO₁₇: Eu) release
The durability against electricity was evaluated. , The evaluation device is a discharge
When the phosphor to be evaluated is coated on the inner surface of the tube 110,
This is to evaluate the light emission characteristics before and after discharging for a period of time.
is there. The discharge gas 111 has a predetermined pressure in the discharge tube 110.
And a voltage is applied between the pair of electrodes 112.
Discharge occurs at and. If the discharge gas 111 is Ne, Xe
And a mixed gas of water vapor and a gas pressure of 100 Tor
r. The partial pressure ratio of Ne and Xe is Ne: Xe = 95: 5.
Fixed to, and change the partial pressure of steam (or dew point temperature)
The emission characteristics of the phosphor were evaluated. In addition, in the discharge tube
Discharges heat generated in the discharge tube 110.
A heat emitter 113 is arranged in the tube. The heat
BaO was used as the mitter 113.

14 and 15, the change rate of the emission intensity of the used blue phosphor (BaMgAl ₁₀ O ₁₇ : Eu) due to discharge (emission intensity after discharge / emission intensity before discharge, emission intensity is luminance / color). (Value calculated by the chromaticity y value) and the measurement result of the chromaticity y value after discharge. The horizontal axes of FIGS. 14 and 15 represent the partial pressure of water vapor in the discharge gas. The chromaticity y value of the blue phosphor before the discharge test was 0.052.

The emission intensity after discharge became weaker as the partial pressure of water vapor increased. Further, when the water vapor partial pressure is around 0 Torr, no change in chromaticity due to discharge is observed, and it increases with an increase in the water vapor partial pressure. Thus, the y of the blue phosphor is
The larger the value, the narrower the color reproduction range of the panel occurs. From the change in y value, it is considered that the deterioration of the emission intensity after discharge is larger than that in the case of heating in steam.

From these results, the blue phosphor (BaMgAl ₁₀ O) during the aging process of the plasma display panel was obtained.
₁₇ : Eu) is caused by deterioration of the protective layer (MgO) on the front plate, the phosphor layer formed on the back plate, the barrier ribs, or the like generated by the gas containing water vapor during the aging step.
It is considered that the ion impact generated by the discharge during the aging process or the deterioration by the vacuum ultraviolet irradiation is combined. Therefore, deterioration due to ultraviolet irradiation is inevitable due to the aging process. Therefore, if the partial pressure of water vapor in the discharge gas, which is another factor of phosphor deterioration, is reduced, the blue phosphor (BaMgAl ₁₀ O ₁₇ : Eu) is reduced. It has been found that it is possible to prevent the deterioration of the light emission characteristics of (1).

When the aging process is taken into consideration, the discharge occurs in a narrow space partitioned by partition walls or the like, so that the protective layer (MgO) on the front plate or the phosphor layer or partition walls formed on the back plate during discharge. It is considered that the gas containing water vapor generated from is trapped and affects the phosphor. That is, at the time of discharge, the surface of the phosphor layer is heated to a high temperature (about 1000 ° C.) by the generated plasma, and in such a high temperature state, the inner peripheral surface of the discharge space is sputtered by the plasma. When the generated water vapor comes into contact with the surface of the phosphor layer, the phosphor is deteriorated.

Therefore, by discharging the gas containing water vapor generated at the time of discharge from the discharge space, it is possible to prevent the thermal deterioration of the phosphor caused by the contact between this gas and the phosphor. In the present embodiment, the discharge gas was continuously flowed during aging, but the same effect can be obtained even when the discharge gas is intermittently flowed by intermittently introducing and discharging the discharge gas. . This is because the gas containing water vapor in the discharge space can be discharged to the outside of the discharge space by intermittently introducing and discharging the discharge gas.

Further, the discharge may be divided into plural times and intermittently performed, and the discharge gas in the discharge space may be replaced between the discharges. In this case, the vent is 2
Even if it is not provided in more than one place, it is possible to replace the gas between discharges by providing only one vent hole for both gas introduction and gas discharge. Further, it is desirable that the discharge gas flowing through the panel inner space is also a dry gas containing as little water vapor as possible. This is because if the discharge gas introduced into the panel contains too much water vapor, the water vapor and the phosphor will come into contact with each other, and eventually the phosphor will be thermally deteriorated.

Therefore, considering the results of FIG. 14 and FIG. 15 together, the vapor partial pressure of the discharge gas flowing through the panel inner space is preferably 15 Torr or less (the dew point temperature is 20 ° C. or less), and the vapor partial pressure ( Or, the lower the dew point temperature), the more the deterioration of the emission characteristics of the phosphor can be suppressed.
More desirably, 10 Torr or less (dew point temperature is 10 ° C. or less), and further 5 Torr or less (dew point temperature is 1 ° C. or less)
Is desirable, and 1 Torr or less (dew point temperature is -20
(° C or less) is more desirable, and further 0.1 Torr
It is more preferable that the temperature is r or lower (the dew point temperature is −40 ° C. or lower).

(Example)

[0080]

[Table 1]

The PDP with panel number 1 shown in Table 1 is a PDP according to an example in which the panel having the structure of FIG. 8 was manufactured by the aging method based on the above-mentioned embodiment, and was used as a discharge gas to flow during aging. A mixed gas of Ne and Xe (mixing ratio: Ne: Xe = 95: 5) was used, and the steam partial pressure of the discharge gas introduced into the panel was 1 Torr or less. The discharge gas pressure was 500 Torr.

The PDP with panel number 2 shown in Table 1 is the PDP according to the embodiment, and as shown in FIG. 16, the stripe-shaped partition wall 61, the vertical flow stop partition wall 81, and the stripe-shaped partition wall end. The panel is configured such that the shortest distance to the portion 63 is narrower than the shortest distance to the stripe-shaped partition wall 61, the parallel flow-stop partition wall 82, and the adjacent strip-shaped partition wall 61, and the same aging as in the above-described embodiment. It was produced by the method.

Furthermore, the PDP of panel number 3 shown in Table 1
Is a PDP according to a comparative example, and in the configuration of FIG. 16, there is one vent hole 65 as shown in FIG. 17, and the aging treatment was performed with the vent hole sealed. Each P
In DP, discharging by aging was performed for 12 hours, and the manufacturing process other than the aging process was under the same conditions. Also,
The panel structure is also the same except for the vent hole and the partition wall for blocking the flow, the phosphor film thickness is 30 μm, and the discharge gas is Ne (95).
%)-Xe (5%) was encapsulated at 500 Torr. Aging was performed by alternately applying 200 V, 20 KHz alternating current to the discharge electrodes in a pulse shape.

After aging, the produced panel was lit in white (all cells were lit) to evaluate the light emission characteristics (the evaluation results are shown in Table 1). The PDP of panel number 1 showed the best characteristics. Panel number 1 is a panel number 2 PD
The reason why the characteristics were better than P was that panel number 1 was an aging process, in which the discharge gas stably flowed in the stripe-shaped space between the barrier ribs, and the gas containing water vapor generated inside could be discharged efficiently. In the PDP of panel number 2, most of the discharge gas introduced from the vent 65a is located below the partition wall end portion from the space 161 formed between the partition wall at the leftmost end (on the drawing) and the flow blocking partition wall 82. Through space 66b,
Most of the discharge gas discharged and introduced from the vent hole 65b was discharged from the space 66a above the end of the partition wall to the space 67 without being distributed. Therefore, a gas containing water vapor generated in the striped space between the partition walls. It is thought that this was because the gas could not be efficiently discharged.

Also, the PDP of panel number 3 cannot discharge the gas containing water vapor generated in the stripe-shaped space between the partition walls, and therefore the PDPs of panel numbers 1 and 2 have emission characteristics.
It was worse than As described above, the panel characteristics of the panel Nos. 1 and 2 were superior to those of the panel No. 3 which was aged by the conventional method. This proves that exhausting the gas generated inside during aging is effective in not deteriorating the panel characteristics.

In this embodiment, FIGS. 8, 16 and 17 are used.
The emission characteristics of the panel having the panel configuration shown in FIG.
In any of the panels shown in FIGS. 12A to 12C, the gas generated in the stripe-shaped space between the partition walls can be efficiently discharged, and a panel having a light emission characteristic almost equal to that of this example was obtained. . [Embodiment 2] In this embodiment, except that the aging step and the subsequent steps are different from those of Embodiment 1, the PD
Since the P structure and the PDP manufacturing method are the same as those in the first embodiment, only the differences will be described.

In the present embodiment, first, the front panel substrate and the rear panel substrate are sealed, and then the aging process is performed under the conventional general conditions. This method is a simple method in which a pulse is applied between discharge electrodes to generate a discharge. However, in this conventional aging treatment, the phosphor is thermally deteriorated as described above, so that the aging treatment remarkably deteriorates the light emission characteristics and the discharge characteristics. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the emission characteristics of the phosphor thus deteriorated in the aging step are effectively restored.

For this reason, in the present embodiment, the following steps are added after the aging step. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a panel manufacturing apparatus for performing an aging step and a subsequent heating step in the present embodiment. The panel manufacturing apparatus is a panel 10
Pipe 102 for introducing and exhausting gas into the internal space of No. 1
a, 102b, valves 103a and 103b for adjusting the gas pressure in the internal space of the panel 101, a drive circuit 104 for applying a discharge voltage, and a heating furnace 108.

The rear glass substrate 105 on which the address electrodes, the visible light reflecting layer, the partition walls and the phosphor layer are formed is provided with two or more vent holes 106 communicating with the internal space of the panel while avoiding the display area ( In addition to the vent 21a,
Includes newly opened vents. ), Glass tubes 107 are attached to these vents. Then, the glass tube 107 and the pipes 102a, 10 for flowing the discharge gas
Connect 2b. After connection, the internal space 11 of the panel 101
0 is evacuated to a vacuum through the pipe 102b, and the panel is heated to a predetermined temperature (exhaust step), and after cooling, the pipe 1
The discharge gas is introduced from 02a at a predetermined pressure to drive the driving circuit 1
04 is used to apply a predetermined voltage to the discharge electrode formed on the front plate 109 to generate a discharge inside the panel 101,
Aging is performed for a predetermined time.

In this embodiment, dried He, Ne, Ar, Xe or a mixed inert gas thereof is used as the discharge gas, and the discharge gas pressure is set to about 100 to 760 Torr. After the aging step is completed, the discharge gas inside the panel is exhausted through the pipe 102b, and then the dry gas is introduced through the pipe 102a. While continuing to flow the dry gas into the panel 101 at a constant flow rate, the glass for sealing the panel 101 is Heat to a predetermined temperature at which it does not soften.

After the panel is cooled, the inner space of the panel 101 is evacuated to a vacuum through a pipe 102b, a discharge gas having a predetermined composition is introduced through the pipe 102a at a predetermined pressure, and a glass tube 107 is sealed to produce a PDP. To do. By heating after discharging as described above, it is possible to recover the deterioration of the emission characteristics of the phosphor that has occurred during aging.
In this heating step, if the drying gas is heated while flowing into the inner space of the panel, the degree of recovery becomes higher. Further, in the case of flowing the dry gas in this way, by defining the opening position of the vent hole as described in the first embodiment (see FIGS. 6 to 12), the gas is efficiently flowed in the discharge space. Because of this, the degree of recovery will be even higher.

Further, the characteristics of the phosphor can be restored only by discharging the gas generated inside the panel at the time of heating, instead of positively flowing the dry gas in the internal space. This is because water vapor generated inside during heating can be discharged to the outside of the panel. Further, the deterioration of the phosphor can be recovered to some extent only by introducing the dry gas instead of positively flowing the dry gas in the internal space. However, as compared with the case of flowing, the recovery degree is small because the steam generated inside during heating cannot be efficiently discharged to the outside of the panel.

Further, even if the discharge gas is not discharged and then the discharge gas is heated as it is, the emission characteristics are recovered to some extent, but the discharge gas in the panel is once discharged after the discharge as described above. However, the degree of recovery is high. Next, it will be considered that the above method can effectively restore the emission characteristics. First, a blue phosphor (BaMgAl ₁₀ O ₁₇ :
Table 2 shows the change in emission characteristics before and after the aging process of the plasma display panel coated with only Eu).

[0094]

[Table 2]

The emission intensity is a relative evaluation with 100 before the aging step. The blue phosphor significantly deteriorated in emission intensity due to the aging process, and the chromaticity y value also increased. By going through the aging process like this,
The characteristics of the phosphor are deteriorated. 19 and 20, the blue phosphor (BaMgAl ₁₀ O ₁₇ : Eu) whose y value and emission intensity were deteriorated by the aging step was re-reproduced in dry air (steam partial pressure 2 Torr) at a peak temperature maintaining time of 30 minutes. The measurement results of the firing peak temperature dependence of the relative emission intensity and the chromaticity y value in the case of firing are shown respectively. For the relative emission intensity, the emission intensity of the blue phosphor before the aging step is 100. The chromaticity y value of the completely unfired blue phosphor was 0.052.

It can be seen that the luminescent characteristics (luminous intensity and chromaticity y value) are restored by re-baking the phosphor that has deteriorated in the aging step in a dry atmosphere. That is, it is understood that the deterioration of the blue phosphor during the aging process is a reversible reaction. Further, it can be seen that the recovery of the emission characteristics is observed from around the heating peak temperature of 300 ° C., and the higher the re-baking temperature is, the higher the degree is, but the saturated state is reached around 500 ° C. Although not shown further,
When the peak time was changed, the longer the peak time was, the greater the degree of recovery of the emission characteristics was.

Although not shown, heating is performed by Ne-X.
e When mixed gas was used, recovery of chromaticity y value showed almost no effect of the atmosphere and showed recovery equivalent to dry air, but recovery of emission intensity was performed in dry air. The degree of recovery was higher in firing than in Ne-Xe mixed gas. The cause of this is that the change in the y value is caused by water vapor, so the recovery of the y value during re-firing is determined by the water vapor partial pressure, regardless of the gas species. It is necessary to repair the defects (mainly oxygen deficiency) generated in the phosphor by the irradiation of ultraviolet rays, and it is considered that the degree of recovery is higher in the case of re-baking in an atmosphere containing oxygen.

Next, the relationship between the partial pressure of water vapor of the dry gas and the degree of recovery of the emission characteristics will be considered. As the water vapor partial pressure in the dry gas is lower, the thermal deterioration caused by the contact between the phosphor and the water vapor is less likely to occur as described above. Therefore, the lower the water vapor partial pressure of the dry gas is, the light emission of the blue phosphor is increased. The degree to which the characteristic is recovered becomes large, 15 Torr
A remarkable effect appears from around (the dew point temperature is 20 ° C. or lower). Further, the lower the water vapor partial pressure (dew point temperature), the more the deterioration of the luminescent properties of the phosphor can be suppressed. The following) is desirable, and 1 Torr or less (dew point temperature is -20 ° C or less)
It is more desirable if it is 0.1 Torr or less (dew point temperature is -40 ° C. or less). The relationship between the partial pressure of water vapor in the dry gas and the recovery effect is supported by the characteristic diagrams shown in FIGS. 14 and 15. Note that the relationships of FIGS. 14 and 15 are characteristic diagrams obtained when discharging, and here, here, the relationship between the degree of recovery of once deteriorated phosphor characteristics and the water vapor partial pressure of the heating atmosphere is shown. Therefore, the same tendency can be recognized, although it cannot be necessarily discussed in the same manner as the characteristic diagrams of FIGS. 14 and 15.

(Example 2)

[0100]

[Table 3]

PDPs of panel numbers 1 to 8 shown in Table 3
Is the P according to the example manufactured based on the above-described embodiment.
In DP, panel Nos. 1 to 4 are heated to a predetermined temperature while flowing a dry gas (water vapor partial pressure 2 Torr) inside the panel in a heating process after the aging process, and after cooling, exhaust and discharge gas filling are performed. This is the panel I went to
The heating temperature and the type of drying gas are changed. The peak temperature (highest temperature) during heating was maintained for 30 minutes.

The PDP of panel No. 5 shown in Table 3 is a panel in which after the aging step, the inside of the panel is heated while being exhausted, then cooled and then exhausted and filled with discharge gas.
Panel No. 6 PDP is dry air (steam partial pressure 2To
It is a panel that is heated to a predetermined temperature while flowing rr) and then is discharged while heating the panel as it is without cooling the panel, and after discharging, filling discharge gas.

In the PDP of panel No. 7, after the dry air (water vapor partial pressure 2 Torr) was introduced, the panel was heated in a sealed state without flowing the dry gas, then cooled, and then exhausted and charged with discharge gas. It is a panel. Panel number 8
The PDP is obtained by heating the panel manufactured by the conventional manufacturing method as it is after the aging step. The PDP of panel number 9 is the PDP according to the comparative example, which is the light emission characteristic of the panel manufactured by the conventional manufacturing method after the aging step.

In each of the PDPs, discharge in the aging process was performed for 24 hours, and the manufacturing process up to the aging process was performed under the same conditions. Also, the panel configuration is the same,
The phosphor film thickness is 30 μm, and the discharge gas is Ne (95%)-X.
e (5%) was encapsulated at 500 Torr. As the emission characteristics, the emission intensity and the chromaticity y value when blue light was turned on were measured. Furthermore, without color correction, the panel color temperature in white balance (panel color temperature when blue cells, green cells, and red cells are made to emit light at the same power and white display is performed), and blue cells and green cells are made to emit light at the same power. The peak intensity (blue / green) of the emission spectrum was measured. The emission intensity is shown as a relative emission intensity with the emission intensity of panel number 9 of the comparative example as 100.

Looking at the evaluation results of the light emission characteristics, the PDPs of panel numbers 1 to 8 of this example all had improved light emission characteristics as compared with the conventional PDP of panel number 9. Comparing the data between the PDPs of panel numbers 1 to 3 shows that the higher the heating temperature after the aging step, the better the emission characteristics of the panel. This is because, as shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, the higher the heating temperature, the higher the degree of recovery of the blue phosphor deteriorated in the aging step.

Further, by comparing the data of the PDPs of panel numbers 1, 4 and 5, the atmosphere during heating was as follows:
The best emission characteristics are shown in the case of dry air containing oxygen. It is considered that this is because defects due to oxygen deficiency of the phosphor formed in the aging step are recovered by heating in an atmosphere containing oxygen. Further panel number 1,
By comparing the data of the PDPs of No. 6, the PDP exhausted in the heated state without cooling after the heating process had better emission characteristics. This is because the adsorbed gas inside the panel can be efficiently discharged when the gas is exhausted in the heated state without cooling.

Further, even when heating in a sealed state with no gas flowing inside, as shown in the data of the PDP of panel No. 7, a certain degree of improvement in light emission characteristics was obtained. Furthermore,
When the data of the PDP of panel number 4 and the PDP of panel number 8 were compared, a slight improvement in the light emission characteristics was recognized as shown in the data of the PDP of panel number 8 even when the panel after the aging process was heated as it was. However, it is understood that the degree of recovery is increased by exhausting the inside of the panel once before heating. After performing aging by the conventional method as in the PDP of panel number 8,
The fact that the panel characteristics are improved even when the panel is not exhausted once and is heated, that is, when the gas containing water vapor remains in the discharge space is effective in the discharge space. This is because unlike the case where the discharge is performed in the presence of a gas containing water vapor, the heating does not affect the phosphor by the ultraviolet rays generated by the discharge.

In the heating process after the aging process, the panel is heated to 370 ° C. or higher, so that the emission intensity is considerably improved and a substantially constant chromaticity value is obtained. Further, even higher emission intensity can be obtained by heating the panel to 400 ° C. or higher. The color temperature and the peak intensity ratio of the emission spectra of the blue and green phosphor layers, which are not affected by the color correction, are measured by the following method in addition to driving the manufactured PDP. Can be measured.

First, the front panel substrate and the rear panel substrate are separated from each other, ultraviolet rays are applied to the exposed phosphor layer of the rear panel substrate in a vacuum using an ultraviolet lamp, and the generated visible light is measured. It could be done and showed the same value when measured by this method in the panel above. This method is particularly effective when the colored glass is used for the front panel and the visible light generated by the phosphor cannot be accurately captured.

Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the following modified examples are possible.
That is, when the sealing step in the first embodiment is performed by the conventional general method (the method of simply heating the front panel substrate and the rear panel substrate in the furnace), the sealing process is performed in the second embodiment. Thus, after the aging step, by heating at a predetermined temperature, the state of thermal deterioration generated in the sealing step can be recovered.

In the second embodiment, the panel is placed in a heating furnace to recover the characteristics of the phosphor after the aging treatment, and the entire panel is heated. Can be heated to restore its properties. That is, it is a method of heating the phosphor layer by scanning while irradiating the surface of the front glass substrate or the back glass substrate on the phosphor layer with laser light. According to this method, unlike the case where the entire panel is heated, since the phosphor can be heated without heating the sealing glass, the phosphor can be heated to a temperature higher than the softening point of the sealing glass. . Specifically, when the characteristics of the phosphor are restored by heat treatment, the effect is saturated at 500.
It can be heated to above ° C. Therefore, the difference in the degree of recovery due to the difference in heating temperature can be eliminated. When this method is applied, it is desirable to perform it while flowing a dry gas into the panel or exhausting the inside of the panel.
Alternatively, it is desirable to carry out in a state in which a dry gas having a reduced water vapor partial pressure is introduced into the panel. Even when heated in a heating furnace, it may be possible to heat up to about 500 ° C., but it is restricted by the softening point of the sealing glass,
500 ° C when the softening point of the glass for sealing is lower than 500 ° C
It cannot be heated above. On the other hand, the method of irradiating with laser light is not restricted by the softening point of the glass for sealing.

Further, by flowing a heat medium such as an inert gas heated to a predetermined temperature into the discharge space, the phosphor can be heated and the characteristics of the phosphor can be restored. Similar to the method of irradiating laser light in this method as well, unlike the case of heating the entire panel, the phosphor can be heated without heating the sealing glass, so that the fluorescent light can reach a temperature higher than the softening point of the sealing glass. The body can be heated.

It is also possible to combine the method of Embodiment 1 with the method of Embodiment 2, but in this case, if the gas containing oxygen is made to flow inside the panel at the time of heating,
It is more desirable because the state of oxygen deficiency of the phosphor can be restored. Furthermore, the material of the phosphor is not limited to the above-mentioned materials, and materials having the following compositions can also be used.

Blue Phosphor: (Ba, Sr) MgAl ₁₀ O ₁₇ : Eu Green Phosphor: BaAl ₁₂ O ₁₉ : Mn Finally, in the above embodiments, the surface discharge type PDP is used.
However, the present invention can also be applied to a counter discharge type PDP. Furthermore, in a direct current (DC) PDP,
The same effect can be obtained.

[0115]

As described above, according to the method for manufacturing a plasma display panel of the present invention, the aging treatment includes the discharge treatment for discharging the discharge gas in the internal space. It is possible to obtain a plasma display panel in which the phosphor hardly deteriorates even through the aging process required in the manufacturing process, operates with relatively high luminous efficiency, and has good color reproducibility.

Further, according to the method for manufacturing a plasma display panel of the present invention, after the aging treatment, the heating treatment for heating the phosphor forming the phosphor layer is performed, and similarly, the aging step necessary for the manufacturing process of the panel is performed. Even through the above, finally, the deterioration of the phosphor hardly occurs, and it is possible to obtain a plasma display panel which operates with a relatively high luminous efficiency and has good color reproducibility.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a PDP common to the embodiments of the present invention.
It is a perspective view which shows the structure of.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of the sealing device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of the sealing device.

4 (a) to 4 (c) are diagrams showing an operation when performing a preheating process and a sealing process using the sealing device.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a configuration of an aging device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an arrangement relationship of partition walls, sealing glass, ventilation holes, etc. on the rear panel substrate.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an arrangement relationship of partition walls, sealing glass, ventilation holes, etc. on the rear panel substrate.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing an arrangement relationship of partition walls, sealing glass, ventilation holes, etc. on the rear panel substrate.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing an arrangement relationship of partition walls, sealing glass, ventilation holes, etc. on the rear panel substrate.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing an arrangement relationship of partition walls, sealing glass, ventilation holes, etc. on the rear panel substrate.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing an arrangement relationship of partition walls, sealing glass, ventilation holes, etc. on the rear panel substrate.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing an arrangement relationship of partition walls, sealing glass, ventilation holes, etc. on the rear panel substrate.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing the structure of a discharge tube for evaluating the durability of a phosphor.

FIG. 14 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the emission intensity of the phosphor and the water vapor partial pressure.

FIG. 15 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the chromaticity y value of the phosphor and the water vapor partial pressure.

FIG. 16 is a plan view showing an arrangement relationship of partition walls, sealing glass, ventilation holes, etc. on the rear panel substrate.

FIG. 17 is a plan view showing an arrangement relationship of partition walls, sealing glass, ventilation holes, etc. on the rear panel substrate.

FIG. 18 is a plan view showing a configuration of an aging device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a heating temperature dependency of a relative emission intensity change when a blue phosphor whose emission characteristics are deteriorated in an aging step is heated.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing the heating temperature dependence of the change in the chromaticity y value when the blue phosphor whose emission characteristics have deteriorated in the aging process is heated.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a state in which each driver and panel drive circuit are connected to a PDP.

FIG. 22 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a conventional PDP.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Front panel board 11 Front glass substrate 12 discharge electrodes 12a scanning electrode 12b Sustain electrode 13 Dielectric layer 14 Protective layer 20 Back panel board 21 Rear glass substrate 22 Address electrode 23 Visible light reflective layer 24 partitions 25 Phosphor layer 30 discharge space 50 Aging device 51 panels 51a Internal space 52a, 52b piping 53a, 53b valves 54 drive circuit 55 Rear panel board 56 Vent 57 glass tubes 58 Front glass substrate 59 discharge gas

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (56) Reference JP-A-3-25826 (JP, A) JP-A-3-230447 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01J 9/38-9/395 H01J 9/44 H01J 11/02-17/49

Claims (13)

(57) [Claims] 1. A front plate and a back plate, each having a discharge electrode on at least one side and a phosphor layer formed on the inner surface of at least one side, are sealed in a state having an internal space inside, and then a discharge gas is discharged. A method of manufacturing a plasma display panel, wherein a discharge required voltage is applied to the discharge electrodes in an internal space to perform an aging process, and the aging process is a new discharge from the outside in the internal space. There is an introducing process for introducing gas and an exhausting process for making the discharge gas in the internal space exhausted, and the introducing process is a process for introducing the discharge gas through the first vent hole formed in the panel. The discharge process is a process of discharging the introduced discharge gas through a second ventilation port formed in the panel, and the discharge process is performed intermittently while the discharge process is performed. A method of manufacturing a plasma display panel, wherein a discharge required voltage is applied to the discharge electrodes while intermittently flowing a discharge gas into the internal space to discharge. 2. A front plate and a back plate, each having a discharge electrode on at least one side and a phosphor layer formed on the inner surface of at least one side, are sealed in a state having an internal space inside, and then a discharge gas is discharged. A method of manufacturing a plasma display panel, wherein a discharge required voltage is applied to the discharge electrodes in an internal space to perform an aging process, and the aging process is a new discharge from the outside in the internal space. There is an introducing process for introducing a gas and an exhausting process for making the discharge gas in the internal space exhausted, and the introducing process is a process for introducing the discharge gas through a first vent hole formed in a panel. The discharging process is a process of discharging the introduced discharge gas through a second vent hole formed in the panel, and applying a discharge required voltage to the discharge electrode. Performed separately discharged to I into a plurality of periods, between the discharge and the discharge, by performing the discharge process performs the introduction process, the manufacturing method of a plasma display panel for pouring a discharge gas between the internal space. 3. The method of manufacturing a plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein the discharge gas introduced into the internal space is a dry gas. 4. The method for producing a plasma display panel according to claim 3, wherein the partial pressure of water vapor of the dry gas is 15 Torr or less. 5. The method for manufacturing a plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein the discharge gas introduced into the internal space is an inert gas. 6. The method of manufacturing a plasma display panel according to claim 5, wherein the inert gas contains He, Ne, Ar or Xe. 7. A discharge electrode is provided on at least one side,
A front plate and a spine with a phosphor layer formed on the inner surface of at least one
Sealed with the face plate having an internal space inside
A method for aging plasma display panels
I mean Introducing a new discharge gas from the outside and the discharge gas
Discharge chamber to the discharge electrode in the state that
Discharge process that applies required voltage to discharge in the internal space
And the discharge that makes the discharge gas in the internal space discharged
With processing, The introduction process is performed through the first ventilation hole formed in the panel.
Is a process of introducing discharge gas by
Discharge introduced through a second vent formed in the
The process of discharging gas, Perform the introduction process intermittently and perform the discharge process
The discharge gas is intermittently flown into the internal space by
While applying the required voltage for discharge to the discharge electrode
Plasma display panel aging process
Reasoning method. 8. A discharge electrode is disposed on at least one side,
A front plate and a spine with a phosphor layer formed on the inner surface of at least one
Sealed with the face plate having an internal space inside
A method for aging plasma display panels
I mean Introducing a new discharge gas from the outside and the discharge gas
Discharge chamber to the discharge electrode in the state that
Discharge process that applies required voltage to discharge in the internal space
And the discharge that makes the discharge gas in the internal space discharged
With processing, The introduction process is performed through the first ventilation hole formed in the panel.
Introduce the discharge gas Processing, and the discharge processing is a panel
Discharge introduced through a second vent formed in the
The process of discharging gas, The discharge process is divided into a plurality of periods to perform discharge and discharge.
In the meantime, the introduction process and the discharge process are performed.
This allows the plasma to flow the discharge gas into the internal space.
Display panel aging treatment method. 9. The discharge gas introduced into the internal space is a drying gas.
Plas according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that
Display panel aging treatment method. 10. The water vapor partial pressure of the dry gas is 15 Torr or less.
The plasma display according to claim 9, wherein the plasma display is below.
Spray panel aging method. 11. The discharge gas introduced into the internal space is inert.
11. The gas according to claim 8, which is a characteristic gas.
The plasma display panel aging described in any one of
Processing method. 12. The inert gas is He, Ne, Ar or Xe.
12. The plastic according to claim 11, wherein the plastic is included.
Zuma display panel aging method. 13. The manufacturing method according to claim 1.
Plasma display panel manufactured in
A drive equipped with a drive circuit that drives the Zuma display panel.
Razma display panel display device.