JPH08306318A - Plasma display panel and its driving method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To drive a high intensity and highly efficient plasma display panel in low voltage by transferring to surface discharge by writing in display data on the narrower surface discharge clearance side, and discharging the wider surface discharge clearance side by using its discharge. CONSTITUTION: A first surface discharge electrode 13 composed of a belt-like transparent electrode, a second surface discharge electrode 14 and a third surface discharge electrode are provided on an insulating base board 1. A surface discharge clearance 16 is set in 50μm, and a surface discharge clearance 17 is set in 200μm. A metallic electrode having a width of 50μm is printed as a thick film on the surface discharge electrode formed of the transparent electrode, and a resistance value of the surface discharge electrode is equivalently reduced. Next, the first to the third surface discharge electrodes 13, 14 and 15 are covered with a transparent glass film 7 by a thick film printing process. In addition to that, surfaces of the electrodes are covered with a magnesium oxide film of a discharge resistant substance, and it is formed as a protective film 8. A belt-like metallic electrode orthogonal to the discharge electrodes 13 to 15 is formed on the insulating base board 1, and is formed as a data electrode 5. A phosphor layer 9 is also formed as a thick film along the data electrode 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an AC using surface discharge.
Type memory plasma display panel and its driving method, and more particularly, to a panel structure and its driving method for supplying a plasma display with high brightness and high efficiency.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 schematically shows a cross section of an example of a conventional AC type plasma display panel utilizing surface discharge having a memory function.

Referring to FIG. 5, the AC type plasma display panel includes insulating substrates 1 and 2, scan electrodes 3, sustain electrodes 4, data electrodes 5, insulating layers 6 and 7, a protective layer 8, a phosphor 9, and It is composed of the partition wall 10. In the figure, 12 indicates a discharge cell (pixel), and 19 indicates a discharge space.

As shown in FIG. 6, this conventional AC type plasma display panel has a surface discharge gap 18 (see FIG. 5) in which the luminous brightness and luminous efficiency are defined as the gap between the scan electrode 3 and the sustain electrode 4. ) Depends on. The emission brightness increases almost proportionally as the surface discharge gap 18 increases from 40 μm to 250 μm. In addition, the luminous efficiency gradually increases from the surface discharge gap 18 of 40 μm to 100 μm, and increases almost in proportion from the point where the surface discharge gap 18 exceeds 100 μm.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, the discharge voltage also depends on the surface discharge gap 18. Discharge voltage is 40 μm between electrodes
It takes a minimum value in the vicinity, and sharply increases as the surface discharge gap 18 increases.

In the case of displaying this conventional AC type plasma display panel by the driving method described later, when the surface discharge gap 18 is wide so that the brightness and the luminous efficiency are high, a high driving voltage is required. Will be done. For this reason, it is difficult to make the drive circuit of the plasma display panel into an IC (semiconductor integrated circuit), and the circuit scale becomes large and high in cost, which makes it difficult to put it into practical use.

A method of driving this conventional AC type plasma display will be described below.

A negative voltage pulse is applied to the scan electrode 3 for sequential scanning, and in synchronization with this, a positive voltage pulse corresponding to desired display data is applied to the data electrode 5. Display is performed by maintaining the discharge generated by the writing by the voltage pulses applied to the scan electrode 3 and the sustain electrode 4 and having negative polarities and opposite phases.

The display color is obtained by exciting the phosphor 9 formed on the data electrode 5 with ultraviolet light generated by discharge.

FIG. 8 shows an example of drive waveforms of a conventional AC type plasma display. 8A shows a voltage pulse applied to the sustain electrode 4, FIG. 8B, FIG. 8C and FIG. 8D show the scan electrode 3, and FIG. 8E shows the data electrode 5. Each of the applied voltage pulses is shown.

Referring to FIG. 8, when writing display data, as shown in FIGS. 8 (b), 8 (c), and 8 (d), scanning electrodes 3 are sequentially superposed with scanning pulses and scanned. By synchronizing with this, a data pulse is applied according to the display data to cause discharge between the scan electrode 3 and the data electrode 5.

Subsequently, the discharge corresponding to the display data written between the sustain pulse A and the sustain pulse B applied between the scan electrode 3 and the sustain electrode 4 is sustain-emitted.

[0013]

In this conventional driving method, writing of display data is performed by the opposing data electrodes 5.
Since the discharge is performed between the scanning electrode 3 and the scanning electrode 3, the discharge is performed almost independently of the surface discharge characteristics.

However, since the display is performed by maintaining the surface discharge, the surface discharge voltage directly affects the drive voltage. Therefore, the surface discharge voltage needs to be equal to or lower than the withstand voltage of the drive driver IC. Due to this,
This has prevented the practical application of a drive circuit for a high-luminance, high-efficiency plasma display panel (high discharge voltage) having a wide surface discharge gap 18 (see FIG. 5). More specifically, conventionally, only a plasma display panel having a structure in which the surface discharge gap 18 is at most about 90 μm can be put to practical use, and it cannot be said that such a conventional panel has high brightness and high luminous efficiency.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a plasma display device having a wide surface discharge gap and utilizing high luminance and high luminous efficiency characteristics, and a driving method thereof.

[0016]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a surface discharge electrode group composed of a plurality of electrodes juxtaposed on the same surface, and a surface discharge electrode group arranged so as to be orthogonal to the surface discharge electrode group. An AC discharge memory type plasma display panel comprising: a discharge cell (pixel) formed at an intersection of the surface discharge electrode group and the data electrode, the discharge cell (pixel) being filled with gas. There is provided a plasma display panel, wherein a surface discharge electrode group is formed in the discharge cell so as to have at least two surface discharge gaps having different gap widths.

The present invention is preferably characterized in that the surface discharge electrode group includes at least three electrodes parallel to each other in the discharge cell and has at least two surface discharge gaps having different gap widths. To do.

In the present invention, preferably, the surface discharge electrode group includes three electrodes which are parallel to each other in the discharge cell, and a gap width is provided on both sides of the first surface discharge electrode arranged at the center. Second, to have different surface discharge gaps,
The third surface discharge electrodes are respectively provided.

In the present invention, preferably, the first surface discharge gap formed by the first surface discharge electrode and the second surface discharge electrode is the first surface discharge electrode and the third surface discharge. It is formed narrower than the second surface discharge gap formed by the electrodes, and the sum of the widths of the first and second surface discharge electrodes and the first surface discharge gap is set to the third surface discharge electrode. It is characterized in that it is substantially the same as the width.

In the present invention, preferably, the discharge cell is
At least the first surface discharge electrode and the second surface discharge electrode of the adjacent discharge cells, which are partitioned by the barrier ribs formed in parallel with the surface discharge electrode and have different surface discharge electrodes from each other. The first surface discharge gap formed and the first surface discharge gap;
Second surface discharge electrode and the third surface discharge electrode
And the surface discharge gaps are alternately inverted and arranged for each adjacent discharge cell.

[0021] The present invention is preferably characterized in that the second surface discharge electrodes and / or the third surface discharge electrodes are commonly connected between adjacent discharge cells.

The present invention comprises a surface discharge electrode group consisting of a plurality of electrodes juxtaposed on the same surface, and a data electrode arranged so as to be orthogonal to the surface discharge electrode group. A discharge cell (pixel) formed at the intersection of the group and the data electrode is filled with gas so that the surface discharge electrode group has at least two surface discharge gaps having different gap widths in the discharge cell. A method for driving an AC discharge memory type plasma display panel formed, wherein desired display information is written by applying a voltage pulse of opposite phase to the data electrode and the surface discharge electrode to generate discharge, Of the surface discharge gaps, voltage pulses of opposite phase are applied to the surface discharge electrodes forming the narrow surface discharge gap to cause the surface discharge first, and then the voltage discharges of the opposite phase are formed on the surface discharge electrodes forming the wide surface discharge gap. Applying a scan by surface discharge, to provide a driving method of a plasma display panel, characterized in that in order to maintain the said surface discharge.

The present invention further comprises a surface discharge electrode group consisting of a plurality of electrodes juxtaposed on the same surface, and a data electrode arranged so as to be orthogonal to the surface discharge electrode group. The discharge cells (pixels) formed at the intersections of the discharge electrode groups and the data electrodes are filled with a gas, and the surface discharge electrode groups have a gap width on both sides of the first surface discharge electrode arranged at the center. At least second and third surface discharge electrodes are arranged so as to have different surface discharge gaps, and the first surface discharge gap formed by the first surface discharge electrode and the second surface discharge electrode is the first surface discharge gap. A method for driving an AC discharge memory type plasma display panel, which is formed so as to be narrower than a second surface discharge gap formed by a first surface discharge electrode and a third surface discharge electrode. Write display information by discharging at the data electrodes A scan pulse is applied to the first surface discharge electrode, a data pulse having a reverse polarity is applied to the data electrode in synchronization with the scan pulse, and the second surface discharge electrode and the third surface are Provided is a method for driving a plasma display panel, which is characterized in that the discharge electrodes have the same potential.

In the present invention, preferably, a discharge is generated in the second discharge gap formed by the first surface discharge electrode and the third surface discharge electrode, and the discharge is maintained to display desired information. At this time, immediately after the first surface discharge electrode and the second surface discharge electrode are discharged based on the written display data, the first surface discharge electrode and the second surface discharge electrode are set to the same potential. Further, the second surface discharge electrode and the third surface discharge electrode are set to have opposite phases, and discharge is generated and maintained for display.

[0025]

With the above structure, the present invention provides that different surface discharge gaps are provided in the same discharge cell, and that the discharge voltage of the narrow surface discharge gap is lower than the discharge voltage of the wide surface discharge gap.
It is possible to drive a wide surface discharge gap with high brightness and high luminous efficiency at a low voltage.

As a result, it was possible to provide a plasma display having a much higher luminance and a higher luminous efficiency than the conventional example, with the scale and cost of the conventional drive circuit being the same level or less.

[0027]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0028]

First Embodiment A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the pixel (discharge cell) 12 (see FIG.
A plasma display having a pitch of 1.05 mm) will be described as an example. The dimensions such as the electrode width shown in the following description have different optimum values depending on the type of the enclosed gas, other structural dimensions such as the size and pitch of the pixel, and the constituent materials. Therefore, the dimensions and the like described in the present embodiment are merely for the purpose of explanation, and are not for limiting the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, on an insulating (glass) substrate 1, a first surface discharge electrode 13 made of a band-shaped transparent electrode,
The second surface discharge electrode 14 and the third surface discharge electrode 15 are formed.

The transparent electrode is ITO (Indium-Tin-Oxide)
Alternatively, the nesa was formed into a plane and then patterned by using a photo-etching method.

The width of the first surface discharge electrode 13 was 100 μm, the width of the second surface discharge electrode 14 was 100 μm, and the width of the third surface discharge electrode 15 was 250 μm.

The first surface discharge gap 16 between the first surface discharge electrode 13 and the second surface discharge electrode 14 is 50 μm.
The second surface discharge gap 17 between the first surface discharge electrode 13 and the third surface discharge electrode 15 was 200 μm.

On the surface discharge electrode formed by the transparent electrode, a metal electrode (also called "trace electrode") having a width of 50 μm is formed by thick film printing, and the resistance value of the surface discharge electrode is equivalently reduced. ing. For this metal electrode, a low resistance paste such as a silver paste is used.

Subsequently, the first to third surface discharge electrodes 13, 1
4 and 15 were coated with a transparent glass film (insulating layer) 7 by a thick film printing process to a thickness of about 20 μm.

Then, the electrode was covered with a magnesium oxide film as a discharge resistant material to form a protective layer 8. The magnesium oxide film was formed by vacuum vapor deposition to have a film thickness of about 1 μm.

The other insulating (glass) substrate 2 has a first
A band-shaped metal electrode orthogonal to the third surface discharge electrodes 13, 14 and 15 was formed as the data electrode 5. Data electrode 5
Is formed by a thick film printing process using a metal paste such as silver.

Subsequently, a glass paste mixed with a white inorganic pigment was coated with a reflective layer 11 of an insulating film formed in a thick film process (the reflective layer 11 reflects the discharge light emission of the discharge cell to the upper side in the figure, and emits light). Is transmitted through the transparent insulating layer 7 and output).

Further, the phosphor layer 9 is provided along the data electrode 5.
Was formed by a thick film process.

The two types of substrates formed as described above are opposed to each other with the partition wall 10 interposed therebetween so as to maintain a gap of 150 μm, and a gas such as Xe which emits ultraviolet light by discharge is injected to seal the surrounding area. It was tightly sealed.

The partition wall 10 was formed by a thick film process using a paste obtained by mixing aluminum oxide powder and glass powder. As shown in FIG. 1, the barrier ribs 10 are formed between the data electrodes 5 and the direction along the electrodes so as to separate the surface discharge electrodes (not shown) so as to surround the pixels (discharge cells) 12. It is provided.

[0041]

Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

With reference to FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, the first surface discharge gap 16 between the first surface discharge electrode 13 and the second surface discharge electrode 14, and the first surface discharge electrode 13 are provided. And the second surface discharge gaps 17 between the third surface discharge electrodes 15 are alternately arranged, and the first surface discharge electrodes 13 are commonly connected inside the panel. Is also commonly connected inside the panel.

The first and second surface discharge gaps 16 and 17 have the same width as in the first embodiment. In addition, the partition wall 10
Of the surface discharge electrode 14 and the third surface discharge electrode 15 along the longitudinal direction of the electrodes, and also between the data electrodes 5 along the longitudinal direction of the opposing data electrodes 5. The partition wall 10 surrounds the discharge cell 12 and prevents an erroneous discharge from occurring due to the influence of an adjacent discharge cell or the discharge from being erroneously extinguished.

In this embodiment, the first surface discharge electrode 13 has a width of 100 μm, the second surface discharge electrode 14 has a width of 550 μm, and the third surface discharge electrode 15 has a width of 850 μm.

According to this structure, the effective electrode width in the discharge cell 12 is 225 μm for the second surface discharge electrode 14 and 375 μm for the third surface discharge electrode 15. The partition wall 10 has a height of 150 μm and a width of 100 μm.

In this embodiment, since the second and third surface discharge electrodes 14 and 15 are shared by the adjacent discharge cells 12, the panel manufacturing is simplified.

Furthermore, the second and third surface discharge electrodes 14, 1
Since the trace electrodes of No. 5 can be formed under the barrier ribs 10, the ratio of the trace electrodes blocking the light emission in the discharge cells 12 is reduced, and thus the brightness and the luminous efficiency are apparently increased.

The common connection method inside the panel described above is one example of the connection method in this embodiment.

In addition to the connection method described above, the connection is made in a region other than the display region (the region outside the region where the discharge cells 12 are formed) or only under the barrier ribs 10 formed along the data electrodes 5. A method or the like may be used. That is, a method suitable for the characteristics of the display area such as the size and pitch of the pixel 12 can be used.

[0050]

[Embodiment 3] With reference to FIG. 3, an embodiment of a preferable driving method of a plasma display panel according to the present invention will be described below.

Discharge is generated between the first surface discharge electrode 13 and the opposing data electrode 5 according to the display data, and the display data is written. Therefore, the voltage waveform S is applied to the first surface discharge electrode 13 and the voltage waveform Data is applied to the data electrode 5.

In this embodiment, the voltage waveform S has a priming pulse P1 and a scanning pulse S which are negative voltage pulses.
The pulse train is a combination of can, transition pulse Trn2, and sustain pulse Sus1.

Of these, the scan pulse Scan scans the first scan electrode 13 in the time division over the entire display area of the panel. On the other hand, the priming pulse P1 and the sustain pulse Sus1 are simultaneously applied. However, when the display area is divided into a plurality of blocks and driven for other reasons such as the current capacity of the drive driver, the voltage may be applied to each block.

The voltage waveform Data is a pulse train composed of a combination of positive polarity data pulses Dn. The data pulse Dn is applied in synchronization with the above-mentioned scan pulse Scan based on the presence / absence of display data. And
When there is display data, write discharge is generated between the first surface discharge electrode 13 and the data electrode 5.

According to the display data written as described above, the first surface discharge electrode 13 and the second surface discharge electrode 14 are formed.
Cause a selected surface discharge between and. For this,
The voltage waveform Sc is applied to the second surface discharge electrode 14. The voltage waveform Sc is a pulse train composed of a combination of a priming pulse P2, which is a negative voltage pulse, a transition pulse Trn1, and a sustain pulse Sus1.

The transition pulse Trn1 selectively uses the wall charges and priming particles formed on the first surface discharge electrode 13 by the above-described writing discharge generated according to the display data to selectively perform the first surface discharge. Surface discharge is caused between the electrode 13 and the second surface discharge electrode 14. Therefore, the transition pulse Trn1 is applied immediately before the transition pulse Trn2 of the first surface discharge electrode 13 after the scanning of the display area is completed.

The surface discharge is then maintained again between the first and second surface discharge electrodes 13 and 14 by the transition pulse Trn2 of the first surface discharge electrode 13 described above.

After that, the surface discharge is once maintained between the first and third surface discharge electrodes 13 and 15, and the first and second surface discharge electrodes 13 and 14 and the third surface are kept at the same potential. Discharge electrode 1
Maintained between 5 and 5. Therefore, the third surface discharge electrode 1
The voltage waveform C is applied to 5.

The voltage waveform C is a pulse train composed of a combination of a priming pulse P2, which is a negative voltage pulse, a transition pulse Trn3, and a sustain pulse Sus2.

The transition pulse Trn3 is the transition pulse Trn.
With 2, the discharge is temporarily maintained between the first and third surface discharge electrodes 13 and 15.

Then, the sustain pulse Sus2 is maintained together with the sustain pulse Sus1 as described above.

In this embodiment, as described above, the transition pulse T
rn1, Trn2, and Trn3 were sequentially applied, but the transition pulse Trn1 was applied at the same time after the transition pulse Trn1 was applied.
2, Trn3 may be applied. The priming pulses P1 and P2 have the effect of precharging the charged cells and metastable particles to the discharge cells to ensure the generation of the above-described write discharge.

A desired pattern could be realized by driving the panel shown in FIG. 1 and the like by the above driving method.

In this embodiment, the data pulse Dn has a peak value of 60 V, a width of 4 μs, and the scan pulse Scan has a peak value of 160.
V, pulse width 4 μs, transition pulse Trn1, 2 has a peak value 150 V, width 4 μs, transition pulse Trn3 has a peak value 16
0 V, width 4 μs, priming pulses P1 and P2 had a peak value of 280 V and width 10 μs.

As the sustain pulses Sus1 and Sus2, pulses having a peak value of 160 V, a pulse width of 4 μs, and an opposite phase of 100 Khz were used. However, these pulse waveforms show an example applied to the panel of this embodiment.

[0066]

Fourth Embodiment Another embodiment of the driving method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The present embodiment is a driving method for surely performing the transition of the write discharge to the sustain discharge.

In the driving method of this embodiment, the pulse width of the above-mentioned transition pulses Trn1, Trn2 and Trn3 is 4 μm.
It is characterized by being expanded from s to 10 μs. When the pulse widths of the transition pulses Trn1, Trn2, Trn3 are widened in this way, the surface discharge is surely grown, and even a large panel can be driven.

Further, in the above embodiment, the negative polarity pulse is applied to the first to third surface discharge electrodes 13, 14, 15 and the positive polarity pulse is applied to the data electrode 5. However, the driving method according to the sequence of this embodiment is used. However, the polarity is not limited to this, and a combination of other polarity pulses may be used.
Further, it is needless to say that the method such as the superposition of the cancel pulse and the base pulse, which is applied to the driving method of the AC plasma display having the three-electrode structure, can be applied by observing the driving sequence of this embodiment.

Further, in the above embodiment, the data electrode 5
Is provided on the surface opposite to the surface on which the first to third surface discharge electrodes are arranged. However, in addition to this configuration, the present invention forms a surface discharge electrode on the same surface and forms a surface discharge. It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to a configuration in which the data electrode is formed via the electrode and the insulating film.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and it goes without saying that the invention includes various embodiments according to the principles of the present invention.

[0072]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The present invention provides a device and a driving method for driving a plasma display panel having a relatively wide surface discharge gap of high brightness and high efficiency, which has been difficult to put into practical use in the past. That is, according to the present invention, the display data is written on the narrower surface discharge gap side to shift to the surface discharge, and the discharge of the narrower surface discharge gap is utilized to discharge the wider surface discharge gap side. By doing so, it is possible to drive a plasma display panel with high brightness and high efficiency at a low voltage.

According to the present invention, the panel structure is relatively simple and the scale of the drive circuit is almost the same as the conventional one. Therefore, it is possible to suppress an increase in manufacturing cost and improve the luminance efficiency particularly. Has the advantage. In particular, when the surface discharge electrode is shared between adjacent discharge cells, the panel structure is simplified and the cost is reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart illustrating a first embodiment of the driving method of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart explaining a second embodiment of the driving method of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a conventional plasma display panel.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the surface discharge gap dependence of luminance and luminous efficiency.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a surface discharge gap dependency of a surface discharge voltage.

FIG. 8 is a timing chart illustrating a conventional driving method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Insulating Substrate 2 Insulating Substrate 3 Scanning Electrode 4 Sustaining Electrode 5 Data Electrodes 6 and 7 Insulating Layer 8 Protective Layer 9 Phosphor Layer 10 Partition Wall 11 Reflective Layer (Insulating Film) 12 Pixel (Discharge Cell) 13 First Surface Discharge Electrode 14 Second surface discharge electrode 15 Third surface discharge electrode 16 First surface discharge gap 17 Second surface discharge gap 18 Surface discharge gap

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A surface discharge electrode group composed of a plurality of electrodes juxtaposed on the same surface, and a data electrode arranged so as to be orthogonal to the surface discharge electrode group. An AC discharge memory type plasma display panel, wherein discharge cells (pixels) formed at intersections with the data electrodes are filled with gas, wherein the surface discharge electrode groups have a gap width within the discharge cells. A plasma display panel, which is formed so as to have at least two different surface discharge gaps. 2. The surface discharge electrode group includes at least three electrodes that are parallel to each other in the discharge cell, and has at least two surface discharge gaps having different gap widths from each other. Plasma display panel. 3. A surface discharge gap in which the surface discharge electrode group includes three electrodes that are parallel to each other in the discharge cell, and the gap widths are different on both sides of the first surface discharge electrode arranged in the center. The plasma display panel according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second and third surface discharge electrodes are provided so as to have the above-mentioned. 4. A first surface discharge gap formed by the first surface discharge electrode and the second surface discharge electrode is formed by the first surface discharge electrode and the third surface discharge electrode. The second surface discharge gap is formed to be narrower, and the sum of the widths of the first and second surface discharge electrodes and the first surface discharge gap is substantially equal to the width of the third surface discharge electrode. The plasma display panel according to claim 3, wherein the plasma display panel is formed. 5. The first surface discharge of adjacent discharge cells, wherein the discharge cells are partitioned by partition walls formed at least in parallel with the surface discharge electrodes, and the surface discharge electrodes are different from each other. An electrode and a first surface discharge gap formed by the second surface discharge electrode, the first surface discharge electrode and the third surface discharge electrode.
4. The plasma display panel according to claim 3, wherein the second surface discharge gap formed by the surface discharge electrodes is alternately inverted for each adjacent discharge cell. 6. The plasma according to claim 5, wherein the second surface discharge electrodes and / or the third surface discharge electrodes are commonly connected between adjacent discharge cells. Display panel. 7. A surface discharge electrode group comprising a plurality of electrodes juxtaposed on the same surface, and a data electrode arranged so as to be orthogonal to the surface discharge electrode group, wherein the surface discharge electrode group is provided. A discharge cell (pixel) formed at the intersection with the data electrode is filled with gas, and the surface discharge electrode group is formed in the discharge cell so as to have at least two surface discharge gaps having different gap widths. A method of driving an AC discharge memory type plasma display panel, comprising: writing desired display information by applying voltage pulses of opposite phases to the data electrodes and the surface discharge electrodes to cause discharge, Of the discharge gap, the opposite phase voltage pulse is applied to the surface discharge electrode that forms the narrower surface discharge gap to cause the surface discharge first, and then the opposite phase voltage pulse is applied to the surface discharge electrode that forms the wider surface discharge gap. A driving method of a plasma display panel, characterized in that a surface discharge is applied to maintain the surface discharge. 8. A surface discharge electrode group comprising a plurality of electrodes juxtaposed on the same surface, and a data electrode arranged so as to be orthogonal to the surface discharge electrode group. The discharge cells (pixels) formed at the intersections with the data electrodes are filled with gas, and the surface discharge gaps having different gap widths are formed on both sides of the first surface discharge electrode having the surface discharge electrode group arranged at the center. At least second and third surface discharge electrodes are arranged so that a first surface discharge gap formed by the first surface discharge electrode and the second surface discharge electrode is the first surface discharge. A method for driving an AC discharge memory type plasma display panel, which is formed to be narrower than a second surface discharge gap formed by an electrode and a third surface discharge electrode, wherein the first surface discharge electrode and the data electrode are When writing the display information by discharging, A scanning pulse is applied to the surface discharge electrode, a data pulse having a reverse polarity is applied to the data electrode in synchronization with the scanning pulse, and the second surface discharge electrode and the third surface discharge electrode have the same potential. A method for driving a plasma display panel, comprising: 9. A discharge is generated in the second discharge gap formed by the first surface discharge electrode and the third surface discharge electrode,
When the desired information is displayed by maintaining the discharge, the first surface discharge electrode and the second surface discharge electrode are immediately 9. The display is performed by maintaining the second surface discharge electrode at the same potential, and setting the second surface discharge electrode and the third surface discharge electrode in opposite phases to generate and maintain a discharge. Driving method for plasma display panel of.