14.4: Plasma Display Panel with Ridged Dielectric Layer between Sustaining Electrodes

This article presents a front panel structure for an alternating current plasma display panel (AC PDP) based on a ridged transparent dielectric layer between the sustaining electrodes. Compared to a conventional AC PDP, the suggested structure can reduce a firing voltage and sustaining voltage due to a strong electric field between the sustaining electrodes. First experiments were conducted to see the effect of ridged dielectric structure in the short electrode gap of 110 μm with various Xe contents from 10% to 50% at a gas pressure of 450 Torr, and the results confirmed that the ridged dielectric structure reduced the firing and sustaining voltages by about 74 and 79 V at 10% Xe content compared to a conventional structure with 10% Xe content, respectively. Also, the proposed structure improved the luminous efficacy and luminance by about 50.9% and 33%, respectively, with 50% Xe content when compared to a conventional structure with 10% Xe content at a similar driving voltage. Second, performances of the conventional structure and the ridged dielectric structure with the electrode gap of 140 μm were compared. Experimental results confirmed that the box shaped ridged dielectric structure could be driven at a lower voltage than conventional AC‐PDPs with the same Xe content. Also, the luminous efficacy of box shaped ridged dielectric structure was higher than those of conventional structures.