Design of efficient plasma display panel cells using a multifluid kinetic model of electrical microdischarges

Plasma display panels (PDPs) are one of the leading candidates in the competition for large-size, high-brightness flat panel displays, suitable for high definition television (HDTV) wall-mounted monitors. Recent progress of PDP technology development and manufacturing has been remarkable. One of the most critical issues in ongoing PDP research is the improvement of the luminous efficiency, which is still low compared to conventional cathode ray tube displays (CRTs). Another important problem is the relatively high operating voltages. We first use a fundamental kinetic model to compare the electron excitation efficiency of different compositions of inert gas mixtures in plasma display panels. Electron excitation efficiency is an increasing function of the Xe concentration in both the Ne-Xe and He-Xe cases. The fractional increase in efficiency is very small for Xe concentrations higher than ∼10%. We also use a two-dimensional self-consistent simulation model to study the effect of the geometric parameters on the operating voltages and the efficiency of a coplanar-electrode plasma display panel cell. For the standard coplanar-electrode geometry it is found that there is a trade-off between high efficiency and low operating voltages as the electrode gap, or other parameters of the upper dielectric are varied, while variation of the sustain electrode width has no significant effect on either the operating voltages or efficiency. Finally, we put forth several non-standard cell geometry designs involving two-dimensional variations of the coplanar-electrode PDP cell and analyze their performance using the simulation model. A PDP cell with modified shape of sustain electrodes is found to have ∼20% larger luminous efficiency without substantial increase of the operating voltages. Similar performance improvement is achieved by new designs with different shapes of the upper dielectric, or by those involving two different dielectric layers. The dependence of PDP performance on the geometrical design parameters of these new structures is quantified.