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Using the ionization rates of each atom species in a mixture gas of Ne(95%) + Ar(5%) + Hg(∼mg), the minimum quantity of mercury in the glow plasma discharge of CCFLs and EEFLs for a large area LCD backlight, is calculated to be 0.05 ∼ 0.36 mg without considering the mercury consumption.

The properties of longitudinal and transverse discharges are investigated with the use of external electrode tubular lamps, with respect to the characteristics of current and voltage, luminance and spectral radiation. With the mercury-rare gases, a high luminance of over 10 000 cd m−2 is readily obtained in the longitudinal discharge with a long positive column where the spectral radiations from Hg are dominant. However, the luminance is extremely low, a few hundred cd m−2, in the transverse discharge with a short gap where all kinds of atom species are ionized and the intensity of the spectral lines from Ne and Ar is rather high. With pure Xe and a mixture of Xe, the transverse discharge is superior to the longitudinal discharge in that the breakdown voltage is low and the luminance for a high pressure above 200 Torr is relatively high.

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