Multilevel voltage wave-shaping display driver for AC plasma display panel application

A new sustainer circuit with multilevel voltage wave-shaping characteristics for an AC plasma display panel (AC-PDP) drive is proposed. The proposed circuit features half the device voltage stresses and significantly reduced power losses compared with those of the conventional ones. This circuit, realizable without much increased cost of the semiconductor devices, gives a significant improvement in the power efficiency, essential for the design of a drive circuit for the AC-PDP. A comparative analysis and experimental results are presented to show the validity of the proposed sustainer circuit.