Quantitative wall voltage characteristics of AC plasma displays

This paper presents the results of a quantitative characterization effort for the ac plasma display panel. A new characteristic curve is developed that we have named the wall voltage input-output (WVIO) curve. It is a simple quantitative transfer curve that relates the values of the wall voltage before and after the gas discharge to be characterized. Because of the tedious nature of measuring WVIO curves, we have developed a computer-controlled hardware system and the necessary algorithms for automatically measuring and plotting these curves in real time. This has resulted in orders of magnitude increase in the detailed characterization data taken on ac plasma panels. The most interesting characteristics of these data are presented in this paper. Detailed data showing the influence of sustain waveshape, priming, electrode structure, and gas mixture is presented.