KR20010104080A - Plasma display panel and driving method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a plasma display panel that enables high speed driving.

The plasma display panel of the present invention is formed on the lower substrate of the discharge cell in a direction crossing the sustain electrode pair and the sustain electrode pair formed on the upper substrate of the discharge cell, so that the scan / sustain electrode line and the address discharge of the sustain electrode pair are A first auxiliary electrode electrically connected to the scan / sustain electrode line of the sustain electrode pairs to be formed in parallel with the sustain electrode pair, and formed in parallel with the sustain electrode pair. And an insulator formed on the lower substrate so as to be opposed to the first and second auxiliary electrodes to prevent erroneous discharge between the first auxiliary electrode and the address electrode during address discharge.

According to the present invention, high-speed addressing can be achieved by causing an auxiliary discharge to the odd or even second auxiliary electrode line in the address period and supplying the space charges generated by the auxiliary discharge to the discharge cells of the next scan line.

Description

Plasma Display Panel And Driving Method Thereof

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 and a driving method thereof for enabling high speed driving.

Plasma Display Panel (hereinafter referred to as "PDP") is a display device using visible light generated from a phosphor when ultraviolet light generated by gas discharge excites the phosphor. PDP is thinner and lighter than Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), which has been the mainstay of display means, and has the advantage of being able to realize high definition large screen. PDP is composed of a plurality of discharge cells arranged in a matrix form, one discharge cell constitutes a pixel of the screen.

1 is a perspective view showing a conventional AC surface discharge PDP.

Referring to FIG. 1, a discharge cell of a three-electrode alternating surface discharge type PDP is formed on a scan / sustain electrode 12Y and a common sustain electrode 12Z formed on an upper substrate 10, and a lower substrate 18. An address electrode 20X is provided. The upper dielectric layer 14 and the passivation layer 16 are stacked on the upper substrate 10 having the scan / sustain electrode 12Y and the common sustain electrode 12Z side by side. In the upper dielectric layer 14, wall charges generated during plasma discharge are accumulated. The protective layer 16 prevents damage to the upper dielectric layer 14 due to sputtering generated during plasma discharge and increases emission efficiency of secondary electrons. As the protective film 16, magnesium oxide (MgO) is usually used. The lower dielectric layer 22 and the partition wall 24 are formed on the lower substrate 18 on which the address electrode 20X is formed, and the phosphor 26 is coated on the surfaces of the lower dielectric layer 22 and the partition wall 24. The address electrode 20X is formed in the direction crossing the scan / sustain electrode 12Y and the common sustain electrode 12Z. The partition wall 24 is formed in parallel with the address electrode 20X to prevent ultraviolet rays and visible light generated by the discharge from leaking to the adjacent discharge cells. The phosphor 26 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 substrates 10 and 18 and the partition wall 24.

2 is a view showing a driving apparatus of a conventional AC surface discharge type PDP.

Referring to FIG. 2, a conventional AC surface discharge type PDP driving apparatus includes a scan / sustain electrode line (Y1 to Ym), common sustain electrode lines (Z1 to Zm), and m × n discharge cells 1. A PDP 30 arranged in a matrix so as to be connected to the address electrode lines X1 to Xn, a scan / sustain driver 32 for driving the scan / sustain electrode lines Y1 to Ym, and a common sustain; The common sustain driver 34 for driving the electrode lines Z1 to Zm, the odd-numbered address electrode lines X1, X3, ..., Xn-3, Xn-1 and the even-numbered address electrode lines X2. First and second address drivers 36A and 36B for dividing and driving .X4, ..., Xn-2, Xn are provided. The scan / sustain driver 32 sequentially supplies scan pulses and sustain pulses to the scan / sustain electrode lines Y1 to Ym so that the discharge cells 1 are sequentially scanned in line units, and m × n The discharge in each of the four discharge cells 1 is continued. The common sustain driver 34 supplies a sustain pulse to all of the common sustain electrode lines Z1 to Zm. The first and second address drivers 36A and 36B supply image data to the address electrode lines X1 through Xn in synchronization with the scan pulse. The first address driver 36A supplies image data to the odd-numbered address electrode lines X1, X3, ..., Xn-3, Xn-1, and the second address driver 36B supplies the even-numbered address electrode lines ( Image data is supplied to X2, X4, ..., Xn-2, Xn).

The three-electrode AC surface discharge type PDP is driven by dividing one frame into several subfields having different discharge times in order to express gray levels of an image. Each subfield is further divided into a reset period for uniformly discharging the discharge, an address period for selecting the discharge cells, and a sustain period for expressing the gray scale according to the number of discharges. For example, when the image is to be displayed with 256 gray levels, the frame period (16.67 ms) corresponding to 1/60 second is divided into eight subfields SF1 to SF8. In addition, each of the eight subfields SF1 to SF8 is divided into an address period and a sustain period. Here, the reset period and the address period of each subfield are the same for each subfield, while the sustain period is 2 ⁿ (n = 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7) in each subfield. Is increased. In such a subfield driving method, the sustain period is a period for displaying an image, and a certain amount of time must be secured in order to achieve appropriate luminance. However, since the discharge sustain period is reduced by the time occupied by the reset period and the address period which do not contribute to the brightness, there is a problem in that it cannot cope with high resolution properly. For example, when single scan of 480 scan / sustain electrode lines Y is required, an address period required in one frame requires an address pulse width × 480 scan / sustain electrode lines × 8 subfields. . In this case, when using an address pulse having a pulse width of about 3 ms for a certain address discharge, a total of 11.52 ms is required, and if it includes a reset period, it takes 13 ms or more, so it can be allocated to the discharge sustain period within one frame. The time to stay is 3.67㎳. Therefore, in order to address more scan / sustain electrode lines Y as the resolution of the video signal to be displayed increases, a high speed addressing method is required. If the address pulse width is reduced to 1 ms, the address period can be sufficiently reduced to 10 ms even if 10 subfields are allocated to the 1024 scan / sustain electrode lines, so that a relatively large amount of time can be spent in the sustain period. However, if the address pulse width is reduced to 1 ms, the address discharge becomes unstable.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, when supplying an address pulse of about 3 ms, that is, a scan pulse and a data pulse, discharge occurs irregularly in a range of about 500 ms to 3 ms experimentally. Therefore, when the address pulse width is reduced to 1 [mu] s, the discharge failure rate becomes high, so that the address discharge becomes unstable. However, if priming particles are generated by applying an auxiliary discharge pulse as shown in Fig. 4 before the address discharge, the address discharge occurs uniformly within the 1 ms address pulse width.

Accordingly, recently, a method of generating an auxiliary discharge before address discharge by further providing an auxiliary electrode as shown in FIG. 5 has been proposed.

Referring to FIG. 5, a PDP further including a conventional auxiliary electrode includes a first auxiliary line extending from each of the scan / sustain electrode line Y and the common sustain electrode line Z, and the scan / sustain electrode line Y. The electrode line AY, the second auxiliary electrode line AZ disposed between the common sustain electrode line Z and the first auxiliary electrode line AY, the scan / sustain electrode line Y and the common sustain electrode line. An address electrode line (not shown) formed in a direction orthogonal to (Z) is provided. First, in the reset period, as shown in FIG. 6, a reset pulse having a polarity opposite to that of the second auxiliary electrode line AZ and the scan / sustain electrode line Y is applied to generate a reset discharge. In the address period, an auxiliary voltage is constantly applied to the second auxiliary electrode line AZ, and a scanning pulse applied to the scan / sustain electrode line Y is equally applied to the first auxiliary electrode line AY. Accordingly, an auxiliary discharge occurs between the second auxiliary electrode line AZ and the first auxiliary electrode line AY. The space charge generated by this secondary discharge is supplied to the next scan line. Accordingly, since the space charge generated by the auxiliary discharge during address discharge is used, the width of the scanning pulse can be reduced to about 1 ms. In addition, visible light generated by the secondary discharge is blocked by the black matrix 38.

However, in the conventional PDP having the auxiliary electrode, mis-discharge may occur with the second auxiliary electrode line AZ and the address electrode line X in the address period. In addition, since the black matrix 38 is formed to be wider than the distance between the first auxiliary electrode line AY and the second auxiliary electrode line AZ, the light emitting area is reduced, so that the luminance of the PDP is reduced. In addition, since the secondary discharge occurs in all discharge cells, it consumes a lot of power consumption.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a plasma display panel and a driving method thereof capable of high speed addressing and preventing erroneous discharge.

1 is a perspective view showing a conventional three-electrode AC surface discharge PDP.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an electrode line and a driving unit of the PDP shown in FIG. 1.

Fig. 3 is a waveform diagram showing address timing when scan pulses and data pulses are supplied.

4 is a waveform diagram showing address timing when an auxiliary discharge occurs before a scan pulse and a data pulse are supplied.

5 is a diagram showing a conventional 5-electrode AC surface discharge PDP.

FIG. 6 is a waveform diagram showing a driving waveform of the PDP shown in FIG. 5; FIG.

7 shows a five-electrode alternating surface discharge PDP according to an embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a cross-sectional view showing a 5-electrode AC surface discharge PDP according to an embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a waveform diagram showing a driving waveform of the PDP shown in FIG. 7;

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

1: discharge cell 10,42: upper substrate

12Y: scan / sustain electrode 12Z: common sustain electrode

14,22 dielectric layer 16: protective film

18,44: lower substrate 20X: address electrode

24: partition 26: phosphor

30: PDP 32: scan / sustain drive unit

34: common sustain driver 36A: first address driver

36B: second address driver 38, 40: black matrix

46: insulator

In order to achieve the above object, the plasma display panel of the present invention is formed on the lower substrate of the discharge cell in a direction intersecting with the sustain electrode pair and the sustain electrode pair formed on the upper substrate of the discharge cell. An address electrode causing the sustain electrode line and the address discharge, a first auxiliary electrode electrically connected to the scan / sustain electrode line among the sustain electrode pairs to be parallel to the sustain electrode pair, and formed parallel to the sustain electrode pair And an insulator formed on the lower substrate so as to be opposed to the first and second auxiliary electrodes in order to prevent mis-discharge between the first auxiliary electrode and the address electrode during address discharge. do.

A method of driving a plasma display panel of the present invention includes supplying scan pulses to a first auxiliary electrode and supplying auxiliary pulses to a second auxiliary electrode in order to cause auxiliary discharges that generate space charges during an address period. .

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, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9.

7 and 8 are a plan view and a cross-sectional view of a PDP according to an embodiment of the present invention.

7 and 8, the scan / sustain electrode line Y and the common sustain electrode line Z formed side by side on the upper substrate 42 and the scan / sustain electrode line Y extending from the scan / sustain electrode line Y, respectively. 1 auxiliary electrode line (AY), second sustain electrode line (AZ) disposed between common sustain electrode line (Z) and first auxiliary electrode line (AY), scan / sustain electrode line (Y) and common sustain A black matrix formed between the address electrode line X formed on the lower substrate 44 in a direction orthogonal to the electrode line Z, and between the first auxiliary electrode line AY and the second auxiliary electrode line AZ. 40 and an insulator 46 formed on the lower substrate 44 in a direction facing the first auxiliary electrode line AY and the second auxiliary electrode line AZ. The black matrix blocks visible light generated by an auxiliary discharge between the first auxiliary electrode line AY and the second auxiliary electrode line AZ. The insulator 46 is formed on the address electrode line X to prevent erroneous discharge of the first auxiliary electrode line AY and the address electrode line X. In order to maximize the light emitting area, the distance between the scan / sustain electrode line Y and the common sustain electrode line Z is wider than the distance between the first auxiliary electrode line AY and the second auxiliary electrode line AZ.

A driving method of the PDP having such a configuration will now be described with reference to the driving waveform shown in FIG. 9. One subfield is divided into a reset period for initializing the entire screen, an address period for writing data while scanning the entire screen in a line-sequential manner, and a sustain period for maintaining the light emission state of the cells in which the data is written. First, during the reset period, the discharge cells are initialized and reset discharges are generated by the reset pulses supplied to the common sustain electrode line Z and the second auxiliary electrode line AZ to assist the address discharge. Form wall charges. In the address period, scan pulses are sequentially applied to the scan / sustain electrode lines Y of the PDP, and data pulses are supplied to each address electrode line X in synchronization with the scan pulses. At this time, a common level DC voltage is supplied to the common sustain electrode lines Z, and the DC voltage enables stable address discharge between the address electrode line X and the scan / sustain electrode line Y. . In the address period, an auxiliary pulse is supplied to the second auxiliary electrode line AZ to generate an auxiliary discharge with the first auxiliary electrode line AY supplied with the scan pulse. The space charges generated by this secondary discharge are supplied to the discharge cells of the next scan line. In the first field, the auxiliary pulse occurs only in the second odd auxiliary electrode line AZ, so that the auxiliary discharge occurs once when two scan pulses are supplied to the scan / sustain electrode line Y. In addition, since such auxiliary discharge always occurs regardless of the presence / absence of address data, sufficient space charge necessary for address discharge can be supplied to all discharge cells. In the sustain period, a sustain pulse is supplied to the scan / sustain electrode line Y and the common sustain electrode line Z to emit light of the selected discharge cells in the address period. In this case, a DC voltage having a predetermined level is supplied to the second auxiliary electrode line AZ, and the DC voltage prevents sustain discharge between the second auxiliary electrode line AZ and the first auxiliary electrode line AY. That is, the sustain discharge between the first and second auxiliary electrode lines AY and AZ does not affect the luminance due to the black matrix 40 formed between the first auxiliary electrode line AY and the second auxiliary electrode line AZ. can not do it. During the reset period of the second field, the discharge cells are initialized, and a reset discharge is generated by the reset pulses supplied to the common sustain electrode line Z and the second auxiliary electrode line AZ to help address discharge. Space charges and wall charges are formed. In the address period, scan pulses are sequentially applied to the scan / sustain electrode lines Y of the PDP, and data pulses are supplied to each address electrode line X in synchronization with the scan pulses. At this time, an auxiliary pulse is supplied to the second auxiliary electrode line AZ to cause an auxiliary discharge with the first auxiliary electrode line AY supplied with the scan pulse. The space charges generated by this secondary discharge are supplied to the discharge cells of the next scan line. In the second field, the auxiliary pulse is supplied to the even-numbered second auxiliary electrode line AZ. That is, the auxiliary pulses are alternately supplied to the even-numbered second auxiliary electrode line AZ and the odd-numbered second auxiliary electrode line AZ for each field. Therefore, the discharge can be balanced and the amount of power consumed by the secondary discharge can be minimized.

As described above, according to the plasma display panel and the driving method thereof according to the present invention, the auxiliary discharge is caused to the odd or even second auxiliary electrode line in the address period and the space charges generated by the auxiliary discharge are transferred to the next scan line. The high speed addressing can be performed by supplying the discharge cells. In addition, the width of the scan / sustain electrode line and the common sustain electrode line may be widened, and a black matrix may be formed between the first auxiliary electrode line and the second auxiliary electrode line to maximize the emission area. Furthermore, the insulator was prevented by forming an insulator at a position opposite to the first and second auxiliary electrode lines.

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 (9)

A pair of sustain electrodes formed on the upper substrate of the discharge cell, An address electrode formed on the lower substrate of the discharge cell in a direction crossing the sustain electrode pair to cause a scan / sustain electrode line and an address discharge of the sustain electrode pair; A first auxiliary electrode electrically connected to a scan / sustain electrode line among the sustain electrode pairs and formed in parallel with the sustain electrode pairs; A second auxiliary electrode formed to be parallel to the sustain electrode pair and causing auxiliary discharge with the first auxiliary electrode; And an insulator formed on the lower substrate so as to prevent mis-discharge between the first auxiliary electrode and the address electrode during the address discharge. The method of claim 1, And a black matrix formed between the first auxiliary electrode and the second auxiliary electrode to absorb visible light generated by the auxiliary discharge. The method of claim 1, And the gap between the sustain electrode pairs is wider than the gap between the first and second auxiliary electrodes. The method of claim 1, And the insulator is formed on the address electrode. The method of claim 1, And the space charge generated by the auxiliary discharge is supplied to discharge cells of a next scan line. A plasma display panel which includes a sustain electrode pair formed on an upper substrate of a discharge cell, first and second auxiliary electrodes formed in a direction parallel to the sustain electrode pair, and is divided into a reset period, an address period, and a sustain period. In the driving method of, Supplying a scan pulse to the first auxiliary electrode to cause an auxiliary discharge to generate space charges during the address period; And supplying an auxiliary pulse to the second auxiliary electrode. The method of claim 6, When two scan pulses are supplied to the first auxiliary electrode, the auxiliary pulses are supplied to any one of the even and odd lines of the second auxiliary electrode in synchronization with any one of the two scan pulses. A method of driving a plasma display panel. The method of claim 7, wherein And when the auxiliary pulse is supplied to the even-numbered line of the second auxiliary electrode line in the address period, the auxiliary pulse is supplied to the odd-numbered line of the second auxiliary electrode line in the next address period. . The method of claim 6, And supplying a DC voltage having a predetermined level to the second auxiliary electrode during the sustain period.