KR100615337B1 - Plasma display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a new structure plasma display panel with an increased emission amount of secondary electrons. To achieve this object, the present invention provides a rear substrate, a front substrate spaced parallel to the rear substrate, A front panel disposed between the front substrate and the rear substrate, partitioning the discharge cells, extending parallel to each other while surrounding the discharge cells arranged in one direction and the discharge cells disposed along one direction, and spaced apart from each other in the partition walls Discharge electrodes and rear discharge electrodes, address electrodes extending to cross the direction in which the front discharge electrodes and the rear discharge electrodes extend, secondary electron emission layers disposed in the discharge cells, and the discharge Provided is a plasma display panel having phosphor layers disposed in cells and a discharge gas in the discharge cells. .

Description

Plasma display panel {Plasma display panel}

1 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional plasma display panel.

2 is an exploded perspective view of a plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 2.

4 is a layout view schematically illustrating the discharge cells and the electrodes illustrated in FIG. 2.

5 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a process in which discharge occurs in one discharge cell of FIG. 2.

6 is a cross-sectional view showing the arrangement position of the modified electrodes as a modification of the present embodiment.

<Brief description of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: plasma display panel 110: back substrate

113: front discharge electrode 114: rear discharge electrode

115: protruding member 118: address electrode

119: first secondary electron emission layer 120: the front substrate

126 phosphor layer 128 partition wall

129: second secondary electron emission layer 130: discharge cell

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plasma display panel, and more particularly, to a new structure plasma display panel having an increased emission amount of secondary electrons.

Recently, a plasma display panel, which is drawing attention as a replacement of a conventional cathode ray tube display device, is discharged after a discharge gas is filled between two substrates on which a plurality of electrodes are formed. The phosphor formed in a predetermined pattern by the ultraviolet rays is excited to obtain a desired image.

1 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional AC three-electrode surface discharge plasma display panel 5. As used herein, "front" or "front" means the direction in which the image is displayed.

Referring to FIG. 1, the plasma display panel 5 includes a rear substrate 10 and a front substrate 20 that face each other. A plurality of address electrodes 11 are arranged on the front surface of the rear substrate 10, and the address electrodes 11 are embedded by the first dielectric layer 12. The barrier rib 13 partitions the discharge cells 14 having a matrix shape on the entire surface of the first dielectric layer 12. Conventionally, stripe-shaped partition walls have been used a lot, but in order to reduce the possibility of cross talk between discharge cells, a rectangular closed partition structure has been mainly used in recent years. The phosphor layer 15 is applied to a predetermined thickness in the discharge cell 14 partitioned by the partition wall 13. The front substrate 20 is a transparent substrate through which visible light can be transmitted. The front substrate 20 is mainly made of glass and is coupled to the rear substrate 10 provided with the partition wall 13. On the rear surface of the front substrate 20, sustain electrode pairs 30 are formed to intersect the address electrodes 11. One sustaining electrode of the pair of sustaining electrodes 30 is the X electrode 21, and the other sustaining electrode is the Y electrode 22. The sustain electrode pairs 30 are buried by the transparent second dielectric layer 23, and a protective layer 24 is formed on the rear surface of the second dielectric layer 23. The protective layer 24 emits secondary electrons in the discharge cell to increase efficiency, thereby lowering the discharge voltage applied between the electrodes and protecting the electrodes.

However, in the plasma display panel, the discharge is concentrated only in the vicinity of the front substrate on which the sustain electrode pairs are arranged, and the area of the protective layer that generates secondary electrons during the plasma discharge is narrow, thereby limiting the amount of plasma discharge. Therefore, there is a difficulty in improving luminance and luminous efficiency.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a new structure plasma display panel with an increased amount of emission of secondary electrons.

In order to achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides a rear substrate, a front substrate disposed in parallel and spaced apart from the rear substrate, disposed between the front substrate and the rear substrate, and partitions the discharge cells. A front discharge electrode and a rear discharge electrode disposed in parallel with each other and surrounding the discharge cells arranged along one direction and spaced apart from each other in the partition wall, the front discharge electrodes and Address electrodes extending to cross the direction in which the rear discharge electrodes extend, secondary electron emission layers disposed in the discharge cells, phosphor layers disposed in the discharge cells, and the discharge cells in the discharge cells. A plasma display panel having a discharge gas is provided.

In the present invention, the secondary electron emission layer is preferably disposed on the side of the partition wall.

In addition, in the present invention, it is preferably disposed on the rear substrate facing the discharge cell, further comprising a protruding member having a predetermined height, the secondary electron emission layer is preferably disposed to cover the protruding member. .

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a partially separated perspective view of the plasma display panel 100 according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG. 2. 4 is a schematic layout view of the discharge cells and electrodes shown in FIG. 2.

2 and 3, the plasma display panel 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes an upper plate 150 and a lower plate 160, and the upper plate 150 includes a front substrate 120, Phosphor layers 126, barrier ribs 128, front discharge electrodes 113, rear discharge electrodes 114, address electrodes 118, and first secondary electron emission layers 119. The back substrate 110 includes the back substrate 110, the protruding members 115, and the second secondary electron emission layers 129.

The back substrate 110 and the front substrate 120 are spaced apart in parallel at predetermined intervals to define a plurality of discharge cells 130 partitioned by the partition wall 128 therebetween. In the present embodiment, since the visible light generated in the discharge cells 130 is emitted to the outside through the front substrate 120, the transparent front substrate 120 is made of a material having good light transmittance, such as glass. The back substrate 110 is also typically manufactured using glass. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and an image may be embodied to the outside through the rear substrate 110 or an image may be embodied on both sides.

Referring to FIG. 2, the partition wall 128 has a matrix shape that partitions the plurality of discharge cells 130 having a substantially rectangular cross section. In particular, in the present embodiment, the corner portion of the partition wall is rounded to prevent the discharge from concentrating on the corner portion and breaking the partition wall, and causing the discharge to be generated uniformly as a whole. However, the shape of the partition wall is not limited thereto, and as long as a plurality of discharge spaces can be formed, the partition walls may be partition walls of various patterns, for example, waffles, deltas, and the like. In addition, the cross section of the discharge space may be formed to be a polygon, such as a triangle, a pentagon, or a circle, an ellipse, or the like, in addition to the quadrangle.

The front substrate 120 and the partition wall 128 may be integrally formed. Here, the unitary body does not mean that the front substrate 120 and the partition wall 128 are formed in the same process.

As shown in FIG. 4, the front discharge electrodes 113 and the rear discharge electrodes 114 are disposed in the partition 128. Each of the front discharge electrodes 113 and the rear discharge electrodes 114 has a shape in which quadrangular rings surrounding each discharge cell 130 are connected to each other, and are disposed in the partition 128. The front discharge electrodes 113 extend while surrounding the discharge cells 130 arranged in one direction (x direction). In addition, the rear discharge electrodes 114 also extend to surround the discharge cells 130 arranged in one direction (x direction) in parallel with the front discharge electrode 113. The front discharge electrodes 113 and the rear discharge electrodes 114 are spaced apart from each other in the vertical direction (z direction) on the front substrate in the partition 128. Therefore, the front discharge electrodes 113 are disposed closer to the front substrate than the rear discharge electrodes 114.

In order to uniformize the discharge in each discharge cell 130, the annular portions of the front discharge electrode 113 and the rear discharge electrode 114 surrounding each discharge cell 130 are formed to be symmetrical up and down. It is preferable.

In the partition 128, address electrodes 118 extending in a direction crossing the direction in which the front discharge electrodes 113 and the rear discharge electrodes 114 extend, are disposed. The address electrodes 118 are used to generate an address discharge for facilitating sustain discharge between the front discharge electrode 113 and the rear discharge electrode 114. More specifically, the address electrodes 118 lower the voltage at which the sustain discharge starts. . The address discharge is a discharge occurring between the scan electrode and the address electrode. When the address discharge is completed, cations are accumulated on the scan electrode side and electrons are accumulated on the common electrode side, thereby making it easier to sustain discharge between the scan electrode and the common electrode.

As the distance between the scan electrode and the address electrode is closer, the address voltage decreases. In this embodiment, the rear discharge electrodes 114 perform the function of the scan electrode, and the front discharge electrodes 113 perform the function of the common electrode. do. Thus, address discharge occurs between the rear discharge electrodes 114 and the address electrodes 118. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and as shown in FIG. 6, the front discharge electrodes 113, the address electrodes 118, and the rear discharge electrodes 114 in the vertical direction from the front substrate 120. In this case, it is preferable that the electrodes (front discharge electrodes 113 or rear discharge electrodes 114) disposed closer to the address electrodes 118 perform the function of the scan electrodes. .

Since the front discharge electrodes 113, the rear discharge electrodes 114, and the address electrodes 118 do not reduce the visible light transmittance toward the front (z direction), they may be formed of a conductive metal such as aluminum or copper. Therefore, since the voltage drop in the longitudinal direction is small, stable signal transmission is possible.

The partition 128 directly induces electric charge between the adjacent front discharge electrodes 113 and the rear discharge electrodes 114 and prevents cations or electrons from directly colliding with the sustain electrodes, thereby damaging the sustain electrodes. It is desirable to be formed of a dielectric capable of accumulating charge.

Grooves 120a are formed on the rear surface of the front substrate 120 that faces the discharge cells 130. The grooves 120a are formed discontinuously for each of the discharge cells 130 and are preferably formed at positions facing the centers of the discharge cells 130. However, the shape of the grooves 120a is not limited thereto.

These grooves 120a are formed to have a predetermined depth. Therefore, since the thickness of the front substrate 120 is reduced by the grooves 120a, the visible light transmittance toward the front (z direction) is increased.

Red, green, and blue light emitting phosphor layers 126 are respectively coated in the grooves 120a to a predetermined thickness. However, the position at which the phosphor layers 126 are disposed is not limited thereto and may be disposed at various positions in the discharge cell 130. However, in order to have a transmissive structure, the phosphor layer 130 may be disposed between the front substrate 120 and the electrodes 113 and 114.

The phosphor layers 126 have a component that generates ultraviolet light by receiving ultraviolet rays, and the red phosphor layer formed in the red light emitting cell includes phosphors such as Y (V, P) O ₄ : Eu and the like, and emits green light. The green phosphor layer formed in the cell includes a phosphor such as Zn ₂ SiO ₄ : Mn, and the blue phosphor layer formed in the blue light emitting discharge cell includes a phosphor such as BAM: Eu.

Protruding members 115 are disposed on the front surface of the rear substrate 110. The protruding members 115 are discontinuously disposed one by one for each unit discharge cell 130. Each protruding member 115 has a rectangular cross section, and preferably has the same height as the height of the partition wall. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the protruding members 115 may have various cross sections, such as a circle, an ellipse, a triangle, a pentagon, and the like, in particular, having a cross section substantially similar to the cross section of the discharge cell. Preferred for uniformity. In addition, the size of the cross section of the protruding members 115 may be variously selected, and preferably is selected so that the plasma discharge is generated efficiently. However, the number and shape of the protruding members disposed in the unit discharge cells are not limited to the above.

The protruding members 115 are covered by the second secondary electron emission layers 129. The second secondary electron emission layers 129 emit secondary electrons during plasma discharge to lower the discharge voltage and increase the discharge amount. In addition, the second secondary electron emission layers 129 serve as a protective layer to prevent the protruding members formed of the dielectric material from being damaged by the sputtering of plasma particles. The second secondary electron emission layers 129 may be formed by applying magnesium oxide (MgO) to a predetermined thickness on the outer surface of the protruding members 128. The second secondary electron emission layers 129 are mainly formed of a thin film by sputtering or E-beam epaporation.

It is preferable that the first secondary electron emission layers 119 are also formed on the side surface of the partition wall 128. The first secondary electron emission layer 119 prevents the partition 128 and the electrodes 113, 114, and 118 formed of the dielectric from being damaged by the sputtering of plasma particles, and emits secondary electrons to lower the discharge voltage. Role. The first secondary electron emission layers 119 may be formed by applying magnesium oxide (MgO) to a side surface of the partition wall 128 to a predetermined thickness. For the method of forming the first secondary electron emission layers, see the foregoing.

The discharge cells 130 are filled with discharge gases such as Ne, Xe, and the like and mixed gases thereof. In the case of the present invention including this embodiment, the discharge surface can be increased and the discharge region can be enlarged, so that the amount of plasma formed is increased, thereby enabling low voltage driving. Therefore, in the case of the present invention, even when a high concentration of Xe gas is used as the discharge gas, low voltage driving is possible, thereby significantly improving the luminous efficiency. This solves the problem of low voltage driving when using a high concentration of Xe gas as a discharge gas in a conventional plasma display panel.

In the plasma display panel 100 according to the present invention having the structure as described above, visible light emitted from the phosphor layer 129 is transmitted through the front substrate 120 to be emitted forward. However, since the front discharge electrodes 113 and the rear discharge electrodes 114 disposed in the partition 128 do not require transparency, they may be made of a general conductive metal material. As described above, since the front discharge electrodes 113 and the rear discharge electrodes 114 can be formed of a metal material having excellent conductivity and low resistance such as Ag, Al, or Cu, the response speed due to discharge is high, and the signal is high. Is not distorted and power consumption required for sustain discharge can be reduced.

Referring to the operation of the plasma panel 100 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

When an address voltage is applied between the address electrode 118 and the rear discharge electrode 114, an address discharge occurs, and as a result of this address discharge, a discharge cell 130 for generating sustain discharge is selected. Then, when a sustain voltage is applied between the front discharge electrode 113 and the rear discharge electrode 114 of the selected discharge cell 130, the wall charges accumulated on the front discharge electrode 113 and the rear discharge electrode 114 The movement causes a sustain discharge, and the ultraviolet rays are emitted while the energy level of the discharge gas excited during this sustain discharge becomes low. The ultraviolet rays excite the phosphor 126 coated in the discharge cell 130. As the energy level of the excited phosphor 129 decreases, visible light is emitted, and the visible light is emitted from the phosphor layer 126 and the front substrate. The light is transmitted through 120 to form an image that can be recognized by a user.

5 illustrates a process in which discharge is performed in one discharge cell 130. The arrows in FIG. 5 indicate the electric field distribution of the plasma discharge. Since charged particles and electrons move in accordance with the electric field, the amount of charged particles and electrons colliding with the second secondary electron emission layer 129 located in the center of the discharge cell is increased, thereby increasing the amount of emission of secondary electrons. In addition, the first secondary electron emission layer 119 disposed on the side surface of the partition wall 128 further increases the emission of secondary electrons. Therefore, discharge occurs smoothly, and low-voltage sustain discharge is possible. In addition, the amount of priming particles is increased to improve the luminous efficiency.

In addition, in the conventional plasma display panel shown in Fig. 1, the sustain discharge between the sustain electrodes 21 and 22 occurs in the horizontal direction, so that the discharge area is relatively narrow. However, the sustain discharge of the plasma display panel 100 according to the present embodiment may occur not only in all aspects of defining the discharge cells 130, but also in that the discharge area is relatively large.

In addition, the sustain discharge in this embodiment is formed in a closed curve along the side of the discharge cell 130 and gradually diffuses to the center portion of the discharge cell (130). As a result, the volume of the region where the sustain discharge occurs is increased, and the space charge in the discharge cell, which is not well used in the past, also contributes to light emission. Such matters result in the improvement of the luminous efficiency of the plasma display panel.

In addition, in the plasma display panel according to the present embodiment, since the sustain discharge is performed only at the center portion of the discharge cell, ion sputtering of the phosphor by the charged particles, which is a problem of the conventional plasma display panel, is prevented, and thus the same image is displayed for a long time. There is an advantage in that permanent display does not occur even when displayed.

The plasma display panel according to the present invention has the following effects.

First, since the emission of secondary electrons is increased during plasma discharge by the secondary electron emission layer disposed in the discharge cell, the number of priming particles is increased, and the discharge is generated smoothly. Therefore, the discharge voltage is reduced, and the luminous efficiency is improved.

Second, since the surface discharge can be generated from all sides forming the discharge space, the discharge surface can be greatly enlarged.

Third, since the discharge is generated in terms of forming the discharge cell and diffused to the center portion of the discharge cell, the discharge area is significantly increased compared with the conventional one, so that the entire discharge cell can be efficiently used. Therefore, the driving can be performed even at a low voltage, thereby significantly improving the luminous efficiency.

Fourth, since low voltage driving is possible, even when a high concentration of Xe gas is used as the discharge gas, low voltage driving is possible, thereby improving luminous efficiency.

Fifth, since the electrode is not disposed on the front substrate through which visible light is transmitted but on the side of the discharge cell, a low resistance electrode such as a metal electrode can be used as the electrode without the need for using a transparent electrode having a high resistance as an electrode. As a result, the discharge response speed is increased, and low voltage driving is possible without distortion of the waveform.

Sixth, the electric field due to the voltage applied to the front discharge electrode and the rear discharge electrode formed on the side of the discharge cell concentrates the plasma to the center of the discharge cell, so that ions generated by the discharge are discharged by the electric field even after a long discharge. By preventing the collision with the phosphor, it is possible to fundamentally prevent the problem of permanent persistence caused by damage to the phosphor due to ion sputtering. In particular, when using a high concentration of Xe gas as the discharge gas, the problem of permanent afterimage is very serious, in the case of the present invention it is possible to prevent such permanent afterimage inherently.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

Claims (15)

Back substrate; A front substrate spaced apart from and parallel to the rear substrate; A partition wall disposed between the front substrate and the rear substrate and partitioning discharge cells and formed of a dielectric; Front discharge electrodes and rear discharge electrodes which extend in parallel with each other and surround the discharge cells arranged in one direction and are spaced apart from each other in the partition wall; Address electrodes extending to cross the direction in which the front discharge electrodes and the rear discharge electrodes extend; Secondary electron emission layers disposed in the discharge cells; Phosphor layers disposed in the discharge cells; And And a discharge gas in the discharge cells. The method of claim 1, And the secondary electron emission layers are disposed on side surfaces of the partition wall. The method of claim 1, And a protruding member disposed on the rear substrate facing the discharge cells and having a predetermined height. The method of claim 3, And the secondary electron emission layers are disposed to cover the protruding members. The method of claim 3, And the protruding members are disposed to correspond to the centers of the discharge cells. The method of claim 3, And wherein the protruding members have a substantially circular, elliptical, or polygonal cross section. The method of claim 3, And the protruding members have substantially the same height as the partition wall. The method of claim 3, And the protruding members are formed of a dielectric. The method of claim 1, And the secondary electron emission layers are formed of MgO. The method of claim 1, And the phosphor layers are disposed between the front discharge electrodes and the rear discharge electrodes and the front substrate. The method of claim 1, Grooves are formed on the rear surface of the front substrate facing the discharge cells. And the phosphor layers are disposed in grooves. The method of claim 1, The address electrodes are disposed in the partition wall, And a plasma display panel extending around the discharge cells arranged in one direction. The method of claim 12, And the front discharge electrodes, the address electrodes, and the rear discharge electrodes are arranged in close proximity to the front substrate in the partition wall. The method of claim 12, And the front discharge electrodes, the rear discharge electrodes, and the address electrodes disposed in the partition wall in close proximity to the front substrate. The method of claim 1, And the front discharge electrodes, the rear discharge electrodes, and the address electrodes extend in parallel to the front substrate and are spaced apart from each other in a vertical direction to the front substrate.

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