JPH05135701A - Surface discharge type plasma display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a high-precision, high-speed, multi-gradation display. CONSTITUTION:At least three display electrodes X, X1, Y2, Y3 are arranged in parallel in a unit luminescence region EC, and driving voltage is applied to a pair of one display electrode X and one or multiple of display electrodes Y1, Y2, Y3 selected among the other display electrodes Y1, Y2, Y3 in the arrangement direction of the display electrodes X, Y1, Y2, Y3 to generate a surface discharge.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a matrix display type surface discharge type plasma display panel (PDP).

The surface discharge type PDP is suitable for color display by a phosphor and has come to be used as a color display means instead of a CRT. Further, in utilizing the surface discharge type PDP as a means for displaying image information such as a television image, high-speed multi-gradation display is desired.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A surface discharge type PDP is a PDP having a structure in which display electrodes, which form a pair during a main discharge that determines display brightness, are arranged on the same substrate. Usually surface discharge PDP
The display is performed by AC driving, and therefore the display electrodes are covered with a dielectric.

FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically showing an electrode structure of a conventional surface discharge type PDP 1j. Conventional surface discharge PDP
In 1j, a pair of display electrodes Xj and Yj are arranged in parallel with each other for each line L of matrix display, and an address electrode A is provided for each unit light emitting region EC of one line so as to be orthogonal to these display electrodes Xj and Yj. It is arranged.

That is, a total of two display electrodes Xj and Yj and one address electrode A are associated with each of the unit light emitting areas EC arranged vertically and horizontally. In the present specification, the line L means a row of unit light emitting regions EC arranged in one direction (usually the horizontal direction of the display screen). Therefore, when one unit light emitting area EC is set to one pixel for display, the line L corresponds to a pixel group in one column.

In each unit light emitting region EC, a selective discharge cell C2 for selecting (addressing) light emission or non-light emission is defined at the intersection of the display electrode Xj of one of the pair of display electrodes Xj, Yj and the address electrode A. To be done. In addition, the selective discharge cell C
A main discharge cell C1 for surface discharge is defined between the display electrodes Xj and Yj in the vicinity of 2.

Now, the surface discharge type PDP 1 having the above electrode structure
In j, it is extremely difficult to control the intensity of light emission (that is, the display brightness) for each unit light emitting region EC. Therefore, in the case of reproducing a halftone (gradation display) at the time of displaying by the surface discharge type PDP 1j, a method of adjusting the number of times of light emission per unit time by switching the drive frequency according to the degree of gradation (light emission time The method of changing the effective density) was used.

[0008]

Conventionally, in the case of gradation display, there is a problem that the time required to display one screen increases as the number of gradations increases. For this reason, it has been difficult to dynamically increase the number of gradations of display contents, such as television display, in which display contents are switched at high speed.

As another method of gradation display, a plurality of unit light emitting areas EC are associated with one pixel of a display image.
It is conceivable to use a method of selecting the number of unit light emitting areas EC to emit light in a pixel according to the gradation (a method of changing the spatial density of light emission). But in that case,
The area of one pixel becomes large, which is disadvantageous in achieving high definition display. Particularly in color display, a plurality of unit emission regions EC having different emission colors are associated with one pixel. Therefore, when a plurality of unit emission regions EC are associated with each color for gradation display, the display roughness is reduced. It stands out.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a surface discharge type PDP which can realize high definition and high speed multi-gradation display.

[0011]

The PDP according to the present invention comprises:
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, as shown in FIG. 1, a matrix display type surface discharge plasma display panel 1 is provided.
In addition, at least three display electrodes X, Y1, Y2, Y3 are arranged in parallel with each other in the unit light emitting region EC, and the display electrode X at one end in the arrangement direction of the display electrodes X, Y1, Y2, Y3 is , One or a plurality of display electrodes Y1, Y2, Y3 selected from the other display electrodes Y1, Y2, Y3 are paired to generate a surface discharge by applying a drive voltage. .

[0012]

With the display electrode X and the other display electrodes Y1, Y2, Y3, a plurality of surface discharge cells having different discharge gaps (distances between electrodes) are defined in each unit light emitting region EC of the matrix display. To be done.

Under the same driving voltage conditions, the longer the discharge gap, the larger the discharge area. That is, the discharge spreads over a wide range. The larger the discharge area, the higher the brightness of light emission. Therefore, by selectively or appropriately combining the surface discharge cells to emit light, the brightness of the unit light emitting region EC can be changed.

[0014]

1 is a cross-sectional view of a main portion showing the structure of a surface discharge PDP 1 according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the electrode arrangement of the surface discharge PDP 1 of FIG. Note that FIG. 1 shows a cross section viewed from the left side of FIG. In addition, in these figures, FIG.
The same reference numerals are given to the components having the same functions as.

In FIG. 1, a surface discharge type PDP 1 includes a glass substrate 11 on the display surface H side, display electrodes X, Y1, arranged in parallel at a predetermined pitch to generate surface discharge.
Y2, Y3, a dielectric layer 17 for AC driving, grid-like partition walls 19 for partitioning the internal discharge space 30 into unit light emitting areas EC, a glass substrate 21 on the back side, display electrodes X, Y1.
An address electrode A arranged so as to intersect with Y3, a strip-shaped partition wall 29 that contacts the partition wall 19 and defines the gap size of the discharge space 30, and a predetermined emission color that is excited by ultraviolet rays UV generated by surface discharge to emit light. It is composed of a phosphor 28 and the like.

Each of the display electrodes X and Y1 to Y3 is a transparent electrode made of a Nesa film (tin oxide film). Although not shown, the display electrodes X, Y1 to Y3 are overlaid with narrow metal bus electrodes to supplement their conductivity. Further, a protective film made of MgO is provided on the surfaces of the dielectric layer 17 and the lattice-shaped partition wall 19.

As well shown in FIG. 2, a surface discharge type PD
In P1, each display line L has a total of four display electrodes X,
Y1 to Y3 are associated with each other, and among the display electrodes X and Y1 to Y3, the display electrode X at one end in the arrangement direction is arranged.
And each of the other three display electrodes Y1 to Y3, three main discharge cells C11, C are provided for each unit light emitting region EC.
12, C13 are defined. In addition, the selective discharge cell C2 is defined by the display electrode X and the address electrode A.

That is, the display electrode X serves as one electrode of a pair of electrodes for surface discharge, and each of the main discharge cells C11, C12, C.
13 is commonly used and also used as an address electrode. Then, each display electrode Y1 to Y3
Is used as the other electrode of the electrode pair for surface discharge.

The discharge gaps g1, g2, g3 of the main discharge cells C11, C12, C13 naturally increase in size (g1 <g2 <g3). Therefore, each main discharge cell C
If the conditions of the driving voltage applied to 11, C12, and C13 are the same, the main discharge cell C13 has the largest discharge area, the main discharge cell C12 has the next largest discharge area, and the main discharge cell C12 has the largest discharge area.
The discharge area of 11 is the smallest. The larger the discharge area, the wider the excited range of the phosphor 28 and the higher the emission brightness.

Therefore, the surface discharge type PDP 1 of the present embodiment.
In the above, the main discharge cells C11, C12, and C13 are selectively made to emit light, so that the luminance of the unit light emitting region EC can be switched in three steps. Also, by appropriately combining two or three of the main discharge cells C11, C12, C13 to emit light, it is possible to switch the brightness in four or more steps. That is, the unit light emitting area EC
It is possible to display a gradation by changing the luminance of.

When driving the surface discharge type PDP 1, either a write address method or an erase address method which has been conventionally known as an AC driving address method may be used. However, display electrodes Y1 to
It is necessary to select Y3 appropriately and apply the sustain pulse.

According to the above-mentioned embodiment, since the display electrode X is shared among the main discharge cells C11, C12, C13,
Compared to the case where an electrode pair is provided for each of the main discharge cells C11, C12, C13, the number of electrodes associated with the unit light emitting region EC is small, which is advantageous for high definition.

According to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to perform high-speed multi-gradation display by using the gradation display method by changing the number of times of light emission described as the prior art. In the above embodiment, a total of four display electrodes X, Y1 to Y3 are provided in each line L.
Although the number of the display electrodes Y1 to Y3 not used for the address is appropriately changed according to the number of gradations, the number of the display electrodes of each line L is set to 3 or 5 or more. You can

[0024]

According to the present invention, high speed gradation display can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part showing the configuration of a surface discharge PDP according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an electrode arrangement of the surface discharge PDP of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically showing an electrode structure of a conventional surface discharge PDP.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 surface discharge type PDP X display electrode (display electrode at one end) Y1, Y2, Y3 display electrode (other display electrode) EC unit light emitting region

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A surface discharge type plasma display panel (1) of a matrix display system, wherein at least three display electrodes (X) (Y1) (Y2) (Y3) are mutually arranged in a unit light emitting region (EC). The display electrodes (X), which are arranged in parallel and are at one end in the arrangement direction of the display electrodes (X) (Y1) (Y2) (Y3), and the other display electrodes (Y).
1) One or a plurality of display electrodes (Y1), (Y2), and (Y3) selected from (Y2) and (Y3) are paired to generate a surface discharge by applying a drive voltage. A surface discharge type plasma display panel characterized by the following.