KR20010091638A - Plasma Display Panel and Discharging Method of The Same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A plasma display panel and discharge method is provided, in which trigger electrode has blades formed at the center of the trigger electrode, so as to thereby allow sustaining discharge to be readily carried out and improve luminance efficiency. CONSTITUTION: A plasma display panel comprises a pair of auxiliary electrodes(36,38) as trigger electrodes having an area larger than at the center of the discharge cell than at the periphery of the discharge cell; and a pair of sustaining electrodes(28,34) disposed at both sides of the auxiliary electrodes, and which causes sustaining discharge by using auxiliary discharge. Each of auxiliary electrodes has blades(36A,36B,38A,38B) formed at the center of auxiliary electrode so as to allow auxiliary electrodes to have increased central area. As a consequence, wall charges are focused at the blade of auxiliary electrode upon occurrence of auxiliary charge within the discharge cell, to thereby allow sustaining discharge to be easily performed.

Description

Plasma Display Panel and Discharging Method of The Same}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plasma display panel, and more particularly to a plasma display panel capable of obtaining high luminous efficiency.

Plasma Display Panel (hereinafter referred to as "PDP") emits phosphors by 147 nm ultraviolet rays generated upon discharge of He + Xe or Ne + Xe gas, thereby displaying an image including characters or graphics. Such a PDP is not only thin and easy to enlarge, but also greatly improved in quality due to recent technology development. These PDPs are largely classified into a DC drive method and an AC drive method. Unlike the DC driving method, the PDP of the AC driving method is attracting more attention as a display device because of the advantages of low voltage driving and long life by using a dielectric. PDP is composed of a plurality of discharge cells arranged in a matrix form, one discharge cell constitutes a pixel of the screen.

1 and 2 show a conventional three-electrode PDP. 1 and 2, the discharge cells of the three-electrode AC surface discharge type PDP are formed on the upper substrate 2 and the scan / sustain electrode 4 and the common sustain electrode 6 and the lower substrate 22. And an address electrode 18 formed at the upper portion. The scan / sustain electrode 4 and the common sustain electrode 6 are composed of transparent electrodes 4A and 6A and bus electrodes 4B and 6B. The upper dielectric layer 10 and the protective layer 12 are stacked on the upper substrate 2 on which the scan / sustain electrode 4 and the common sustain electrode 6 are arranged side by side. Wall charges generated during plasma discharge are accumulated in the upper dielectric layer 10. The protective layer 12 prevents damage to the upper dielectric layer 10 due to sputtering generated during plasma discharge and increases emission efficiency of secondary electrons. As the protective layer 12, magnesium oxide (MgO) is usually used. The lower dielectric layer 20 and the partition wall 16 are formed on the lower substrate 22 on which the address electrode 18 is formed, and the phosphor layers (red, green, blue, 14) are formed on the lower dielectric layer 20 and the partition wall 16. Is applied. The address electrode 18 is formed in the direction crossing the scan / sustain electrode 4 and the common sustain electrode 6. The partition wall 16 is formed in parallel with the address electrode 18 to prevent ultraviolet rays and visible light generated by the discharge from leaking to the adjacent discharge cells. The phosphor layer 14 is excited by ultraviolet rays generated during plasma discharge to generate visible light of any one of red, green, and blue. Inert gas for gas discharge is injected into the discharge space provided between the upper and lower plates and the partition wall. Briefly describing the process of emitting light, in order to initialize all the discharge cells of the panel, a reset pulse is supplied to the scan / sustain electrode 4 of all the discharge cells so that reset discharge occurs. In the reset discharge, wall charges are generated for each discharge cell, thereby lowering the discharge voltage required for the subsequent address discharge. Then, a scan pulse is supplied to the scan / sustain electrode 4, and a data pulse is applied to the address electrode 18 in synchronization with the scan / sustain electrode 4 so that an address discharge occurs between the two electrodes so that wall charges are applied to the upper and lower dielectric layers 10 and 20. Is formed. In the cells selected by the address discharge, sustain discharge occurs between the two electrodes by an alternating current signal alternately supplied to the scan / sustain electrode 4 and the common sustain electrode 6. At this time, in the discharge space 15, the vacuum ultraviolet ray 24 is generated in the process of transition after the discharge gas is excited. The generated vacuum ultraviolet rays 24 excite the phosphor 14 to generate visible light, thereby realizing an image of the PDP.

However, in the conventional PDP, since the sustain discharge between the scan / sustain electrode 4 and the common sustain electrode 6 causing the sustain discharge occurs only at the center of the discharge cell, the space of the discharge cell was not sufficiently utilized. Accordingly, there is a problem that the brightness of the discharge cells is lowered and the luminous efficiency is lowered. In order to solve this problem, the scan / sustain electrode 4 and the common sustain electrode 6 which cause a sustain discharge are provided at both edges of the discharge cell, or the width of the discharge electrode is widened. However, when the distance between the scan / sustain electrode 4 and the common sustain electrode 6 increases, the discharge voltage increases, and when the width of the discharge electrode is widened, the discharge current also increases, thereby increasing the power consumption.

To compensate for this disadvantage, as shown in FIG. 3, PDPs having trigger electrode pairs 30 and 32 formed between the scan / sustain electrode 28 and the common sustain electrode 34 disposed side by side at both edges of the discharge cell are provided. It has been proposed. The trigger electrode pairs 30 and 32 are arranged in parallel at a narrow interval to generate an auxiliary discharge in response to the trigger pulse voltage, which is an AC pulse voltage, during the sustain period. Immediately after the auxiliary discharge occurs, a sustain pulse is supplied to the scan / sustain electrode 28 and the common sustain electrode 34. Then, the scan / sustain electrode 28 and the common sustain electrode 34 can cause discharge due to the priming effect caused by the auxiliary discharge and the wall charge accumulated in the discharge cell and the voltage difference caused by the sustain pulse. Such sustain discharge is continuously generated by the sustain pulse and the trigger pulse. The PDP having such a structure has a high luminous efficiency when sustain discharge is maintained even though the voltage applied to the trigger electrode pair is lowered.

However, in the discharge cell of the PDP shown in Fig. 3, since wall charges by auxiliary discharge are pre-distributed along the trigger electrode pair, a sufficient amount of wall charge is not accumulated between the sustain electrode pairs. As a result, if the voltage applied to the trigger electrode pair is too low, it is difficult to maintain the sustain discharge. If the voltage applied to the trigger electrode pair is too high, the luminous efficiency is lowered during the sustain discharge.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a plasma display panel and a discharge method for improving the luminous efficiency.

1 is a perspective view showing a conventional three-electrode plasma display panel.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a three-electrode plasma display panel shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is a plan view showing a discharge cell structure of a conventional 5-electrode plasma display panel.

4 is a plan view illustrating a discharge cell structure of a 5-electrode plasma display panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the trigger electrode shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing still another embodiment of the trigger electrode shown in FIG. 4; FIG.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

2: upper substrate 4,28: scan / sustain electrode

4A, 6A: transparent electrode 4B, 6B: bus electrode

6,34: common sustain electrode 8: bus electrode

10: upper dielectric layer 12: protective layer

14 phosphor 15 discharge space

16, 26 partition 18 address electrode

20: lower dielectric layer 22: lower substrate

24: UV 30, 32, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46: Trigger electrode pair

A, A´, B, B´: Center part of trigger electrode pair

36A, 36B, 38A, 38B, 40A, 42A, 44A, 46A: wing of trigger electrode pair

In order to achieve the above object, the plasma display panel of the present invention is provided with an auxiliary electrode pair having a larger area in the center of the discharge cell than a peripheral portion of the discharge cell, and disposed on both sides of the auxiliary electrode pair to sustain sustain discharge using auxiliary discharge. An electrode pair.

The method of discharging a plasma display panel includes the steps of causing wall charges to be concentrated in the center portion of the discharge cell by increasing the area of the auxiliary electrode pair corresponding to the center portion of the discharge cell. Generating sustain discharge between the pair of sustain electrodes using the generated wall charges.

Other objects and features of the present invention in addition to the above objects will become apparent from the description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

4 illustrates electrodes disposed on a top plate of a PDP according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, a PDP includes a scan / sustain electrode 28 and a common sustain electrode 34 disposed side by side at both boundary portions of a discharge cell, and a trigger electrode pair 36 and 38 disposed side by side between the electrode pairs. It is provided. In each of the trigger electrodes 36 and 38, wings 36A and 36B having a constant area are symmetrically formed on both sides of the central portion A '. Meanwhile, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, wing portions 40A, 42A, 44A, and 46A having a predetermined area on one side of the center portion B, B ′ of the trigger electrodes 40, 42, 44, and 46 are symmetrical. Can also be used. The trigger electrode pairs 36 and 38 provided as described above receive the trigger pulse voltage, which is an AC pulse voltage, during the sustain period to cause an auxiliary discharge. At this time, the wall charges generated during the discharge process are concentrated in the central portion A ′ of the trigger electrodes 36 and 38 including the wing portions 36A, 36B, 38A, and 38B. The scan / sustain electrode 28 and the common sustain electrode 34 which are arranged at wide intervals in the outer portion alternately receive one of the trigger electrode pairs 36 and 38 and an AC pulse voltage of a predetermined level at the same time. The sustain discharge is induced by the auxiliary discharge discharged from the trigger electrode pairs 36 and 38 of the scan / sustain electrode 28 and the common sustain electrode 34 supplied with the AC pulse voltage. Such sustain discharge is continuously generated by the sustain pulse and the trigger pulse.

As described above, the PDP according to the present invention forms the wing portion in the center of the trigger electrode so that the center portion of the trigger electrodes has a large electrode area. Accordingly, in the PDP according to the present invention, when the auxiliary discharge occurs in the discharge cell, the wall charges are concentrated on the wing of the trigger electrode so that the voltage applied in the discharge cell becomes high even when the voltage is applied to the trigger electrode from the outside, so that the low trigger voltage There is an advantage that can be sustained by applying a sustain discharge.

As described above, the plasma display panel according to the present invention forms the wing portion at the center of the trigger electrode so that the center portion of the trigger electrodes has a large electrode area. Accordingly, in the PDP according to the present invention, when auxiliary discharge occurs in the discharge cell, the sustained discharge easily occurs because the wall charges are concentrated on the wing of the trigger electrode. Sustain discharge can be maintained even when a low trigger voltage is applied, thereby increasing the luminous efficiency.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims.

Claims (5)

An auxiliary electrode pair having a larger area in the center of the discharge cell than the peripheral portion of the discharge cell, And a sustain electrode pair disposed at both sides of the auxiliary electrode pair to generate a sustain discharge using the auxiliary discharge. The method of claim 1, And a wing portion having a predetermined area on each of the auxiliary electrode pairs positioned in the center of the discharge cell. The method of claim 2, And the wing portion is symmetrically formed at both sides of the auxiliary electrode pair at a central portion with a predetermined area. The method of claim 2, And the wing portion is formed symmetrically with a predetermined area on one side of the center portion of the auxiliary electrode pair. In the discharge method of the plasma display panel having a sustain electrode pair disposed at the edge of the discharge cell and the auxiliary electrode pair disposed between the sustain electrode pair, By increasing the area of the auxiliary electrode pair corresponding to the central portion of the discharge cell Concentrating wall charges on the central portion of the discharge cell during the auxiliary discharge occurring between the auxiliary electrode pairs; And generating sustain discharge between the sustain electrode pairs by using the wall charges generated by the auxiliary discharge.