JPH0773810A - Gas type electric discharge panel and its driving method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To heighten the brightness, simplify a driver circuit, increase the margin of a hold voltage, and enhance the efficiency by conducting the write-in electric discharge and holding electric discharge separately, and connecting a hold anode from a bus electrode through a resistance wire. CONSTITUTION:A gas type electric discharging panel 17 is driven being separated into the address period and hold period. In the address period, pulses of a potential -VT1 and potential VS1 are impressed on an aux. electrode 10 and a hold electrode 8, respectively so that an electric discharge occurs between them 10, 8, and a trigger setting is made. Then scan pulses of potential -Vk are impressed on a cethode 11 (Kn) in linear sequence, and write pulses of potential VA are impressed on the anode with which the display is to be made. Therein a trigger discharge is generated between the insulative layer of aux. electrode 10 and the cathode 11 immediately before writing, which becomes the priming for write discharge, and electric duscharging is conducted certainly between the selected anode and cathode, and thus writing is conducted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a DC type gas discharge panel and a driving method for displaying characters, figures and the like by utilizing light emission of gas discharge, and more particularly to a gas discharge panel having a memory function and its driving. It is about the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, gas discharge panels can be made thin, and because they are flat, there is no display distortion at the corners, because there is no flicker, eyes are less likely to get tired, and harmful electromagnetic waves such as X-rays are emitted. Since it has features such as no temperature and a wide operating temperature range, it has been noticed and partially put into practical use.However, since the brightness is relatively low, it has recently become necessary to increase the brightness especially when displaying colors. A DC type gas discharge panel having a memory function has been proposed, for example, as an NHK 33 type PPM panel.

However, in any gas discharge panel,
A write pulse for causing a discharge according to the data of the display image and a sustain pulse for sustaining the started pulse discharge are periodically applied to the display anode, and a scan pulse for performing an auxiliary discharge as a pilot light is applied to the cathode. The erase pulse for controlling the sustain emission period is line-sequentially applied, and if the sustain pulse voltage and the erase pulse voltage are appropriately selected, in the lighting cell, the charged particles of the auxiliary cell are used as priming to write on the anode side. A writing discharge is generated in the display cell by the pulse and the scanning pulse on the cathode side, and after the writing discharge is completed, the charged particles are used as priming for sustaining discharge by the sustaining pulse on the anode side. On the other hand, in the non-lighted cells, since there is no write discharge, the cells are not lighted by the sustain pulse on the anode side.

Therefore, if the voltage of the sustain pulse is increased even in the non-lighted cell, the residual charged particles of the auxiliary discharge and the bleeding of the charged particles of the adjacent cell are used as priming even though there are no residual charged particles due to the write discharge. The sustain voltage cannot be increased because there is a risk of erroneous discharge. Then, there is a possibility that the sustain discharge cannot be performed in the cell (selected cell) where the write discharge is to be performed. That is, there is a drawback that the voltage margin of the sustain pulse (the voltage range in which stable memory operation is possible) is small.

Further, the control circuit is complicated, for example, the voltage applied to the cathode is set to three stages in order to expand the voltage margin, and two kinds of pulses, that is, a write pulse and a sustain pulse, are applied to the display anode. Therefore, the control circuit was inevitably complicated.

Moreover, since both the writing discharge and the sustaining discharge utilize glow discharge, there are drawbacks such as low luminous efficiency. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a gas discharge panel and a driving method thereof, which have improved brightness, a simple driving circuit, a high margin of a sustain voltage, and an improved efficiency. The purpose is to

[0007]

In the gas discharge panel of the present invention, a plurality of strip electrodes are provided in parallel on a front substrate, and a transparent insulating layer is provided on the electrodes in a portion corresponding to the cathode of the electrodes. Are provided so as to be exposed, and a plurality of bus electrodes that are three-dimensionally orthogonal to the electrodes are provided on the back substrate directly or through an insulating layer, a resistance wire strip branched from the bus electrode for each cell, and this wire strip. A sustaining anode to be connected is provided, and an insulating layer that exposes the sustaining anode and hides the resistance from the bus electrode is provided, and a cathode and an auxiliary electrode covered with the insulating layer are three-dimensionally formed on the insulating layer together with the electrode. They are provided so as to be orthogonal to each other, and a partition for separating each cell is provided on the front substrate or the back substrate or the front substrate and the back substrate, and the cathode and the sustain anode are provided on the opposite sides in each cell, or directly on the back substrate. Or through an insulating layer A plurality of bus electrodes that are three-dimensionally orthogonal to the electrodes, a resistance line that is branched from the bus electrode for each cell, a sustaining anode that is connected to the line, and an auxiliary electrode that is three-dimensionally orthogonal to the electrodes are provided. And further providing an insulating layer exposing the sustaining anode and concealing the bus electrode, the resistor and the auxiliary electrode,
A cathode is provided on the insulating layer so as to be three-dimensionally orthogonal to the electrode, and a partition for separating each cell is provided on the front substrate or the back substrate or the front substrate and the back substrate, and the cathode and the sustain anode are provided for each cell. It is characterized in that it is provided on the opposite side of the inside. In these driving methods, it is preferable that the gas discharge panel is driven separately in the writing period and the sustaining period.

[0008]

In the panel of the present invention, the anode is separately provided for the writing anode and the sustaining anode, and the writing discharge and the sustaining discharge are separately performed. Further, since the sustaining anode is connected from the bus electrode through the resistance wire, Since the sustain current of all cells can be suppressed and all cells can be maintained at the same time, the duty ratio can be improved and, as a result, the luminance can be significantly improved.

Further, since the sustaining anode is connected to the common bus electrode via a resistor, a driving circuit for a large number of lines as in the prior art is unnecessary, the driving circuit for the sustaining anode is simplified, and the sustaining discharge is prevented. Since the current is limited by the resistance built into the panel, there is little variation in the sustain discharge current from cell to cell.

Further, by covering the auxiliary electrode with an insulating layer, a non-selected cell is used because an AC discharge is used between the insulated auxiliary electrode and the sustaining anode or between the auxiliary electrode and the anode as priming for the writing discharge. Of the selected cell can be increased, and the ratio of the brightness of the selected cell (contrast) can be increased.

The writing discharge is performed by glow discharge between the electrodes facing each other with a relatively short distance between the anode and the cathode, but the sustain discharge is provided between the sustaining anode and the cathode on the opposite side of the cell. If the distance is relatively long, for example, about 0.5 mm or more, the positive column discharge is performed, so that the light emission efficiency is high. In this case, since the writing anode and the sustaining anode are separated, the writing driving IC is The drive IC used conventionally can be used, and the special high breakdown voltage drive IC required for a normal positive column discharge panel is unnecessary.

Regarding the driving method, before the writing period, trigger setting is performed between the auxiliary electrode and the sustaining anode or between the auxiliary electrode and the anode, and trigger discharge occurs at the time when the cathode is selected. Therefore, the writing discharge voltage can be lowered, and if the voltage of the sustaining anode is lowered to −V _S1 , the voltage becomes + after writing.
The charged particles remain in the partition wall near the cathode and in the phosphor portion, which facilitates the sustain discharge, and can increase the sustain pulse voltage margin.

Further, by driving the write period and the sustain period separately, priming for the write discharge is generated by an AC discharge before the write period. Therefore, the priming for the write discharge is provided without lowering the contrast. be able to. Furthermore, highly reliable writing can be performed at a low voltage.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. 1, 2, and 3 are a partially cutaway perspective view, a partial cross-sectional view, and a time chart showing a driving method of a gas discharge panel according to a first embodiment of the present invention, respectively.
5 and 6 are a partially cutaway perspective view, a partial sectional view, and a time chart showing a driving method of a gas discharge panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiment 1 As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in this gas discharge panel, ITO and SnO are used as a strip electrode 2 on a front substrate 1 such as glass.
A transparent conductive film such as _two films is formed by a method such as a sputtering method or a vapor deposition method, and a translucent insulating layer 3 is further formed thereon, a paste containing a phosphor emitting red light as a main component, and a fluorescent light emitting green light. A paste containing a body as a main component and a paste containing a phosphor emitting blue color as a main component are separately screen-printed and fired for each cell, and the phosphor layers P _R , P _G , and P _B are used as anodes, respectively. It is formed by removing a part of the working electrode.

On the other hand, an insulating layer 5 is formed on the entire surface of the rear substrate 4 by screen printing and baking a glass paste, and a plurality of bus electrodes 6 which are three-dimensionally orthogonal to the electrodes are formed thereon by a silver paste. A resistance wire 7 branched from the bus electrode 6 for each cell is made of a paste containing ruthenium oxide as a main component, and a sustaining anode 8 connected to the resistance wire 7 is made of a conductive paste mainly made of nickel. It is formed by screen printing and firing in order.

Further, an insulating layer 9 is formed by screen-printing and baking a glass paste having a low melting point so as to expose the sustaining anode 8 and hide the bus electrode 6 and the resistance wire 7.

An auxiliary electrode 10 and n cathodes 1 from K ₁ to K _n are formed on the insulating layer 9 so as to be three-dimensionally orthogonal to the electrode 2.
1 is formed by screen-printing and firing with a paste containing silver paste and nickel as the main components (the cathode portion is a hollow cathode by overprinting except the through-hole portion), and on the auxiliary electrode 10. Insulating layer 12 is formed of glass paste.

Further, on the insulating layer 12 and on the exposed portions of the insulating layer 9, a paste containing a phosphor that emits red as a main component and a phosphor that emits green as a main component are used as the insulating layer 13 and the insulating layer 14, respectively. And a paste containing a phosphor that emits blue as a main component are screen-printed for each cell and baked to form phosphor layers P _R , P _G , and P _B. Further, the partition wall 15 for separating each cell is formed by screen-printing and firing a glass paste a number of times.

After that, the front substrate and the rear substrate are overlapped and sealed, and a gas having a predetermined gas pressure, for example, He and Xe, is sealed in the space 16 so as to have a pressure of 250 Torr to complete the gas discharge panel 17.

The gas discharge panel 1 thus obtained
7 is preferably driven separately in the address period and the sustain period as shown in the time chart of FIG. That is, in First address period, the potential -V _T1 to the auxiliary electrode, by applying a pulse to the sustain anode becomes the potential V _S1 is discharged between the auxiliary electrodes and the sustain anode performs trigger setting. Next, a scanning pulse having the potential −V _K is applied line-sequentially from the cathodes K ₁ to K _n , while a writing pulse having the potential V _A is applied to the anode to be displayed. At this time, trigger discharge occurs between the insulating layer of the auxiliary electrode and the cathode immediately before writing,
It becomes the priming of the writing discharge, and the discharge is reliably generated between the selected anode and cathode, and writing is performed.

The sustaining anode has a potential of − during the address period.
By lowering the voltage to V _S2 , + charged particles remain in the partition wall 15 and the phosphor 13 portion near the cathode, which facilitates the sustain discharge.

During the sustain period, the potential V _S3 is applied to the sustain anode.
Pulse is applied at regular time intervals, and each cathode is -V _KS
When the potential is lowered to, the unselected cells do not discharge by the application of the sustain pulse because the charged particles do not remain in the vicinity of the cathode, but in the selected cell, the + charged particles are generated by the write discharge in the vicinity of the cathode and the partition wall. When the sustain pulse (potential V _S3 ) is applied between the sustain anode and the cathode because the phosphor remains in the phosphor, the sustain discharge is easily performed at a lower voltage than that in the non-selected cell, and the display during the sustain period is performed. Done.

In this way, one frame (16.7 m)
s) is over, and the same procedure is followed. Further, grayscale display can also be performed by configuring one frame into a plurality of subframes, configuring each subframe as described above, and weighting the length of the sustain period binary.

Embodiment 2 As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, in this gas discharge panel, ITO or SnO is used as a strip electrode 2 on a front substrate 1 such as glass.
A transparent conductive film such as _two films is formed by a method such as a sputtering method or a vapor deposition method, and a glass paste is screen-printed thereon as a translucent insulating layer 3 except for a part of the electrode acting as an anode. Formed by firing.

On the other hand, on the rear substrate 4, a plurality of bus electrodes 6 are screen-printed with silver paste, the resistance wire 7 is screen-printed with ruthenium oxide as a main component, and the auxiliary electrode 10 is screen-printed with silver paste. Formed by firing,
The sustaining anode 8 is formed on the resistance wire by screen printing and firing with a conductive paste containing nickel as a main component.

Further, an insulating layer 9 is formed by screen-printing and baking glass paste a number of times except for this portion so that the sustaining anode is exposed. On the insulating layer 9, fluorescent light emitting green color is formed. A body, for example, zinc silicate (Zn ₂ SiO ₄ ) containing manganese-doped phosphor as a main component is used to make the n cathodes 11 of K ₁ to K _n three-dimensionally orthogonal to the electrodes 2. It is formed by screen printing and firing with a paste containing nickel as a main component. Except for the through hole portion, the cathode portion is overprinted to form a hollow cathode.

Further, a partition wall 15 for separating each cell
Are screen-printed and fired many times with a glass paste containing a phosphor that emits green color. After that, the front substrate and the rear substrate are overlapped and sealed, and a gas having a predetermined gas pressure, for example, He and Xe, is sealed in the space 16 so as to have a pressure of 250 Torr to complete the gas discharge panel 17.

The gas discharge panel 1 thus obtained
It is preferable that 7 is driven separately in the address period and the sustain period as shown in the time chart of FIG. That is, first, in the address period, a pulse having the potential −V _T1 is applied to the auxiliary electrode to cause discharge between the auxiliary electrode and trigger setting. Next, a scanning pulse having the potential −V _K is applied line-sequentially from the cathodes K ₁ to K _n , while a writing pulse having the potential V _A is applied to the anode to be displayed. At this time, a trigger discharge is generated between the insulating layer of the auxiliary electrode and the cathode immediately before writing, which serves as priming for the writing discharge, and discharge is reliably generated between the selected anode and cathode to perform writing.

The sustaining anode has a potential of − during the writing period.
By lowering to V _S1 , + charged particles remain in the peripheral portion of the cathode, facilitating the sustain discharge. In the sustain period, when a single wide pulse having a potential of V _S2 and −V _KS , respectively, is applied to the sustain anode and the cathode over substantially the entire sustain period, the unselected cells are charged particles on the surface of the cathode. Does not remain and is not discharged by the application of the sustain pulse, but in the selected cell, + charged particles remain in the partition wall and the phosphor 13 portion near the cathode due to the write discharge, so that it is easy between the sustain anode and the cathode. The sustain discharge is performed and the display is performed during the sustain period.

In this way, one frame (16.7 m)
s) is over, and the same procedure is followed. Further, grayscale display can also be performed by configuring one frame into a plurality of subframes, configuring each subframe as described above, and weighting the length of the sustain period binary.

The dimension of each part of such a gas discharge panel is set to a dot pitch (pitch of partition walls) of 1.0 mm × 0.8.
mm, the anode has a pitch of 0.8 mm, the width is 0.48 mm, the cathode has a width of 150 μm and a thickness of 40 μm, and the partition wall has a trunk portion of 35 mm.
0 μm (width) × 100 μm (height), with 200 branches
μm (width) × 500 μm (length) × 100 μm (height), auxiliary electrode 150 μm (width) × 15 μm (thickness), sustaining anode 150 μm × 150 μm, insulating layer 9 thickness 40 μm, phosphor 13 With the thickness of 8 μm, in the above-described driving method, the potential V _A of the write pulse on the anode was 70 V, the width was 33.6 μs, and V _A0 was 0 V.
The potential V _K of the scan pulse of the cathode is −173 V, the pulse width is 40 μs, and the potential −V _KS of the pulse in the sustain period is −154.
V, width 1.2 ms, V _K0 −33 V, auxiliary electrode pulse potential −V _T1 −290 V, V _T0 70 V, pulse potential −V _S1 −94 in sustain anode address period.
V, the potential V _S2 of the pulse during the sustain period was set to 98 V, the pulse width was 1.1 ms, and V _S0 was set to −20 V.
Luminance is 230 cd / m ² , luminous efficiency is 0.20 lm / W
And excellent results were obtained.

Regarding the driving time, the number of cathodes n
Is 100, and the address period is 40 × the scanning time of the cathode.
Almost 5 with 100 (= 4ms) plus some time before and after
As for the ms and the sustain period, assuming a gray scale of 256 gray scales, the sustain pulse per gray scale is assumed to be 4 μs, 4 × 2
It was set to 1.1 ms based on 55 (= 1.02 ms).

Although the preferred embodiments have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these, and various applications are possible. Although the multicolor display panel is described in the first embodiment and the single color display is described in the second embodiment,
Of course, it can be applied to a monochrome display panel that does not use a phosphor. Further, in the case of such a color display, further providing a phosphor on the inner surface side of the partition wall, the bottom surface of the through hole of the cathode and the like improves the brightness.

In the case of monochrome display, the translucent insulating layer may be formed by screen printing glass paste or the like instead of the phosphor, and the insulating layers 13 and 14 are not necessary. For the partition wall 15, the branch portion needs to have a length of at least a half of the cell (longitudinal direction in the electrode direction of the front substrate) in order to separate from the adjacent cell, and the branch of the embodiment is further extended to complete the cell. You may partition.

Electrode 2 whose exposed portion acts as an anode
Regarding, as to be hidden by the partition wall, a bus electrode may be formed on the partition wall, and a branch into the cell may be taken out to branch, and in this case, an opaque electrode can be adopted, It can be formed by screen printing and firing with a paste containing nickel as a main component.

When the hollow cathode is provided with a through hole as the cathode, a large number of charged particles due to the write discharge remain in the cell selected for writing, which facilitates discharge with a sustain pulse, which is preferable, but a normal cathode having no through hole is preferable. You may make it a flat structure.

In addition to nickel, a metal conductor such as aluminum or an oxide conductor having a perovskite structure may be used as a material. The insulating layer 5 provided on the back substrate shown in Example 1 is preferable because it can be formed accurately without bleeding with the bus electrodes, resistance wires, sustaining anodes, etc. formed thereon, but Example 2 Of course, the bus electrode, the resistance wire, and the sustaining anode may be directly formed by omitting the insulating layer as shown in FIG.

Regarding the driving method, it is preferable to drive the address period and the sustain period separately so that writing can be performed with a low voltage and with high reliability, and the voltage margin of the sustain pulse can be increased. The address period and the sustain period that are conventionally known are not separated,
It is of course possible to drive by a method of performing sustain discharge after writing discharge.

[0040]

The gas discharge panel of the present invention has high brightness,
Furthermore, the margin of the sustain voltage can be increased, the light emission efficiency can be improved, and the driving circuit can be simplified. Furthermore, if the address period and the sustain period are driven separately, a low voltage is required. Writing can be performed with high reliability, erroneous discharge due to sustain pulses can be eliminated, and the voltage margin of sustain pulses can be increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a gas discharge panel according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the gas discharge panel according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing a driving method of the gas discharge panel according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a gas discharge panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of a gas discharge panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a time chart showing a method for driving a gas discharge panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Front Substrate 2 Electrode 3 Translucent Insulating Layer 4 Back Substrate 5, 9, 12, 13, 14 Insulating Layer 6 Bus Electrode 7 Resistance Wire 8 Maintenance Anode 10 Auxiliary Electrode 11 Cathode 15 Partition 16 Space 17 Gas Discharge Panel

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Noboru Hiraiwa 1510 Oguchi-cho, Matsusaka-shi, Mie Central Glass Stock Company Technical Center

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A front substrate is provided with a plurality of strip-shaped electrodes in parallel, and a transparent insulating layer is provided on the electrodes so that a portion of the electrodes corresponding to the cathode is exposed. A plurality of bus electrodes that are three-dimensionally orthogonal to the electrodes through an insulating layer, a resistance wire that branches from the bus electrode for each cell, and a sustaining anode that is connected to the wire are provided, and the sustaining anode is further provided. An insulating layer that exposes and hides the bus electrode and the resistance is provided, and a cathode and an auxiliary electrode covered with the insulating layer are provided on the insulating layer so as to be three-dimensionally orthogonal to the electrodes, and a front substrate, a rear substrate, or a front surface. A gas discharge panel having a memory function, characterized in that a partition wall for separating each cell is provided on a substrate and a back substrate, and the cathode and the sustaining anode are provided on opposite sides in each cell. 2. A front substrate is provided with a plurality of strip electrodes in parallel, and a transparent insulating layer is provided on the electrodes so that a portion of the electrodes corresponding to the cathode is exposed. A plurality of bus electrodes that are three-dimensionally orthogonal to the electrodes through an insulating layer, a resistance wire that branches from the bus electrode for each cell, a sustain anode that is connected to the wires, and the electrodes that are three-dimensionally perpendicular to the electrodes. And an insulating layer for exposing the sustaining anode and concealing the bus electrode, the resistance, and the auxiliary electrode,
A cathode is provided on the insulating layer so as to be three-dimensionally orthogonal to the electrode, and a partition for separating each cell is provided on the front substrate or the back substrate or the front substrate and the back substrate, and the cathode and the sustain anode are provided for each cell. A gas discharge panel having a memory function, which is provided on the opposite side of the inside. 3. A method for driving a gas discharge panel, wherein the gas discharge panel having the memory function according to claim 1 or 2 is driven separately in a writing period and a sustaining period.