Effects of operating frequency on luminance characteristics of wide-gap AC plasma display panel

The three-electrode microdischarge characteristics of ac plasma display panels are analyzed with a wide-sustain-discharge gap of 180 μm. In particular, the luminance and consumed-power variations are examined as parameters of the operating frequency. It is found that the luminance per unit pulse decreases, and simultaneously, the consumed power per unit pulse increases with an increase in the operating frequency. For the wide-gap structure, the sustain voltage increases when increasing the operating frequency, thus causing the power consumption per unit pulse to be increased. However, the luminance per unit pulse decreases when increasing the sustain voltage, even though the power consumption per unit pulse increases with the sustain-voltage increase. As a result, it is observed that the self-erasing discharge between the sustain and address electrodes caused by the short pulsewidth under high frequency affects the luminance and consumed power. Due to the self-erasing discharge, the sustain voltage increases, and the discharge shrinkage phenomenon affecting the luminance characteristics occurs under high frequency that is up to 200 kHz with a wide-sustain-discharge gap of 180 μm.