Method of operation of display panel

An AC plasma display comprising:

• a hermetically sealed gas filled enclosure, the enclosure including a top transparent substrate having an array of paired top substrate electrodes and an electron emissive and insulating film covering the top substrate electrodes;
• a bottom substrate spaced from but in contact with the top transparent substrate, the bottom substrate having a plurality of parallel micro-grooves arranged orthogonally to the top substrate electrodes and forming gas filled cavities;
• a bottom substrate electrode formed of metal and deposited within each the micro-groove including bottom and side-walls;
• and a phosphor material deposited on and coincident with each the bottom substrate electrode thereby forming sub-cell pairs called sub-pixels at the projected intersections of top electrodes forming rows and microgrooves forming columns;
• a first circuit connected to each first electrode of paired top substrate electrodes for generating a common multi level sustain first voltage waveform with a selective negative addressing pulse for each electrode;
• a second circuit connected to each second electrode of paired top substrate electrodes for generating a common multilevel sustain second voltage waveform of opposite polarization and amplitude from the first electrode with a selective positive addressing pulse for each electrode;
• a third circuit connected to each electrode on the bottom substrate for generating a common multi level sustain third voltage waveform with a selective positive addressing pulse for each electrode;
• a fourth circuit including an input converter, frame buffer, and data transform circuit with an external interface capable of transferring row data in parallel to the third circuit;
• a fifth circuit including a waveform and waveform timing control circuit interconnected with the first, second, third and fourth circuits and determinant of timing and control of the sustaining circuits and addressing pulses so as to create sustain and address discharge pulses initiated by discharges to sidewalls;
• and
• a power circuit capable of supplying power to the first five circuits.

A method of operating an AC plasma flat-panel display having a hermetically sealed gas filled enclosure including a top transparent substrate and a bottom substrate spaced from the top substrate,

• the top substrate having an array of paired top electrodes and an electron emissive and insulating film covering the top electrodes,
• the bottom substrate having a plurality of parallel micro-grooves arranged orthogonally to the top electrodes forming gas filled cavities, a bottom electrode formed of metal and deposited within each micro-groove having a bottom and side-walls, and a phosphor material deposited on and coincident with each bottom electrode thereby forming sub-cell pairs at the projected intersections of the top electrodes forming rows and microgrooves forming columns, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
• applying a sustain step by applying
• a first voltage to a first electrode of the paired top electrode and a reference voltage to all bottom electrodes, the difference of sufficient magnitude to cause an initiating discharge to the sidewalls of the bottom electrodes intersected at a Paschen minimum only for sub-cells which have charges stored under corresponding top substrate electrodes, and applying
• a second voltage, of opposite polarity to the first voltage, to a second electrode of the paired top electrode which creates a lateral discharge between virtual electrodes, formed by the initiating discharges to the sidewalls, between sub-cells pairs at a pressure gap product value greater than the Paschen minimum,
• maintaining the voltages until the discharges extinguish thereby depositing charges under the top electrodes of opposite polarity,
• applying first terminating voltages to the first top electrodes and second terminating voltages to the second top electrodes to sweep residual charges in gas volume, and
• reversing the polarities of the first and second top electrodes and repeating the sequence continuously.

A method of operating an AC plasma flat-panel display having a hermetically sealed gas filled enclosure including a top transparent substrate and a bottom substrate spaced from the top substrate, the top substrate having an array of paired top electrodes and an electron emissive and insulating film covering the top electrodes;

• the bottom substrate having a plurality of parallel micro-grooves arranged orthogonally to the top electrodes forming gas filled cavities;
• a bottom electrode formed of metal and deposited within each micro-groove having a bottom and side-walls;
• and a phosphor material deposited on each bottom electrode thereby forming sub-cell pairs called sub-pixels at the projected intersections of the top electrodes forming rows and microgrooves forming columns, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
• applying a sustain step comprised of a applying a first voltage to the first electrodes of the top electrode pairs and a reference voltage to all bottom electrodes, the difference of sufficient magnitude to cause an initiating discharge to the bottom electrodes intersected at the Paschen minimum only for sub-cells which have charges stored under corresponding top substrate electrodes to form a virtual electrode, and
• applying a second voltage, of opposite polarity to the first voltage, to the second electrodes paired with the first electrodes to form a virtual electrode and which creates a lateral discharge between the virtual electrodes, formed by the initiating discharges, between sub-cells pairs at a pressure gap product value greater than the Paschen minimum,
• maintaining the voltages until the discharges extinguish thereby depositing charges under the top electrodes of opposite polarity,
• applying first terminating voltages to the first top electrodes and second terminating voltages to the second top electrodes as required to sweep residual charges in gas volume, and
• reversing the polarities of the first and second top electrodes and repeating the sequence continuously in conjunction with optional selective addressing steps comprising:
• applying a selective write step comprised of:
• applying a write voltage of common polarity to a sustaining voltage to a first electrode of one or more pairs of top electrodes and a selective write voltage to selected bottom electrodes, the difference of sufficient magnitude to cause a discharge to all bottom electrodes intersected at the Paschen minimum,
• applying a write voltage of common polarity to a sustaining voltage to a first electrode of one or more pairs of top electrodes and an inhibit voltage to unselected bottom electrodes, the difference of sufficient magnitude to not cause a discharge to all bottom electrodes intersected,
• applying a second write voltage, of opposite polarity to the first, to the second electrode paired with the first electrode, and form lateral discharges between virtual electrodes formed by the discharges between sub-cells pairs at pressure gap product values greater than the Paschen minimum, and
• maintaining the voltages until discharges extinguish thereby depositing and storing charges on the dielectric coating under the top electrodes;
• and
• a selective erase step comprised of:
• applying an erase voltage of opposite polarity to a sustaining voltage to a first electrode of one pair of top electrodes and a column voltage to selected bottom electrodes, the resulting voltage of combined magnitude sufficient to cause a discharge to the selected bottom electrodes at the Paschen minimum but only at sub-cell sites which have charges stored under corresponding top electrodes, and
• maintaining the voltages until discharges extinguish thereby removing stored charges which prevent discharging at subsequent sustain steps.