The discharge characteristics of a multielectrode dual coplanar in a mercury-free flat fluorescent lamp were investigated using brightness-efficiency measurement and the infrared ͑IR͒ spectrum and intensified charge coupled device ͑ICCD͒ characteristics. The level of brightness was above 14 900 cd/ m 2 under the conditions of neon--50% xenon-8% He gas composition, 150 Torr pressure, and 20 kHz alternating current pulse. The ICCD results revealed a faster and wider discharge with a Ne-50% Xe-8% He gas composition. The effect of adding helium ͑He͒ to Ne-50% Xe revealed a faster peak emission, as confirmed by ICCD images. From the gated IR emission spectrum, the intensity ratio of I 823 nm / I 828 nm was ϳ8% higher with Ne-50% Xe-8% He than with Ne-50% Xe under the same pressure and applied voltage conditions.

A new structure including igniter electrode is proposed to achieve a low sustaining voltage and high luminous efficacy. By measuring minimum sustaining voltage(Vsm), discharge current(Ion), displacement current(Ioff) and brightness of the light from a 6‐inch AC PDP, performances of the conventional structure and the igniter structure are compared. When compared with the conventional structure, the igniter structure showed 10% Vsm improvement at the Ne‐Xe(10%) gas mixture of 600 mbar. Therefore, we could apply the higher partial pressure of Ne‐Xe(12%) to the igniter structure, which results in 42% luminous efficacy improvement at the similar sustaining voltage range.

Abstract— In this study, the effects of diamond and AlN layers inserted beneath the phosphor layer of the rear plate of a PDP were investigated. The layers were formed via an osmotic‐pressure coating process. Macrocells and test panels were prepared to examine their effects on luminance and luminous efficacy. The results indicate that the layers primarily affect the glow‐discharge behavior and eventually enhance the luminous efficacy of the PDP, suggesting the possibile improvement in the performance of PDPs.

In this study, thermal spreader and/or reflection layers with materials of high thermal conductivity were applied in-between the surface of rear plate of PDP and phosphor layer via osmotic pressure coating process. [1] The coating materials include diamond, AlN, and zeolite. The results demonstrated that the layers not only reflects the visible light within the cell but also affects the discharge characteristics of glow discharge in the cells, resulting increased the luminance and luminous efficacy of the panels. IntroductionPlasma display panel realizes images by using visible lights emitted from phosphor layers coated on the surface of rear plate.A significant fraction of light emitted from the phosphor, however, is lost either by scattering or by absorption inside the discharge cells of PDP, further reducing the efficiency of the device. In addition, more than 99% of the power supplied to the cell is converted to heat within the discharge cells. Therefore, most of the energy supplied to the panel is used to heat-up the phosphor that is in close contact with the glow discharge. The increase in temperature of the phosphor leads to reduced efficiency of energy conversion of phosphor.In this study, therefore, layers of ceramic materials either with high thermal conductivity and/or with high reflectivity of visible lights were applied in-between the surface of barrier rib on rear plate and the phosphor layer. The interlayer is expected to reduce the temperature of phosphor surface by spreading the heat generated within the cells. In addition, materials with high reflectivity of reflectivity should also increase the luminance of the panel by increasing the reflection of visible lights generated within the cells. For the coating, osmotic pressure coating process was used. The ceramic materials used include diamond, hBN, AlN, and zeolite. The effects of the interlayer on luminance and its efficiency were evaluated. The temperature distribution within the cells was also modeled using FEM software package. It is expected that use of the interlayer layer with higher thermal conductivity and reflectivity should improve the luminance and its efficiency, significantly. Experimental ProceduresPhysical properties of the interlayer materials used are shown in Table 1. Green sheets containing the materials were prepared and the layer was formed on the surface of rear plated using the osmotic pressure coating process. The details of the process is described elsewhere [ ]. Using rear plates with the reflection layer, test panels were manufactured and their luminance and luminance efficacy were evaluated. For the discharge gas, Ne + 4%Xe gas mixture was used and its pressure was 400 Torr. A simple square voltage pulse was applied for the luminance measurement. The frequencies of current were 30 kHz.In addition, macroscopic cells were prepared to observe the effects of the interlayer on glow discharge. The scale factor of the cell was 58.7 and operation conditions were selected according the similarity law [2,3,4]. Side view of the...