In general, display devices can be divided into two categories, one is the display using the cathode ray tube, and the other one is the flat panel display. Since the flat panel display is lighter, thinner and easier to carry compared to the display using the cathode ray tube, and the consumed power is much less than the display using the cathode ray tube, the flat panel display has started to replace the display using the cathode ray tube and is gradually becoming the user favorite. As a picture display device to be used in place of the cathode ray tube (CRT) which constitutes the main stream at present, a variety of flat panel type display devices have been investigated. Examples of such a flat panel type display device include liquid crystal display devices (LCD), field emission displays (FED), electroluminescence display devices (ELD), and plasma display panels (PDP). Liquid crystal displays are commonly used for active matrix displays such as computer and television monitors, personal digital assistants (PDA), and cell phones. Generally, flat panels comprise two glass plates having a layer of liquid crystal material sandwiched therebetween. At least one of the glass plates includes at least one conductive film disposed thereon that is coupled to a power supply. Power supplied to the conductive material film from the power supply changes the orientation of the liquid crystal material, creating patterns such as text or graphics that may be seen on the display. A liquid crystal display device displays a desired image by individually supplying a data signal to liquid crystal cells arranged in a matrix form and controlling light transmittance of the liquid crystal cells according to image information. Liquid crystal display devices are in wide use as display devices capable of reducing the overall size, weight and thickness of electronic apparatuses in which they are employed. In particular, the thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) employing the TFT as a switching element is most widely used.

In color display devices employed for image display on computers or TVs, a plasma display device having a plasma display panel (PDP) has recently received considerable attention as a color display device with large sized screen but lightweight body due to its low-profile structure. Plasma display devices employing plasma display panels are drawing increasing attention as display devices for high-definition television images on large screens. Generally, a plasma display panel (PDP) is a picture display device using a gas discharge, and is advantageous to a large screen. The PDP has provided an enhanced picture quality owing to the recent improvement of circuit technique and panel structure. A PDP forms an image by illuminating thousands of pixels, each made of a red, blue, and green fluorescent light. Like a CRT television, a PDP produces a full spectrum of colors by varying the illumination intensity of the different lights. Plasma display apparatuses are widely used as display apparatuses installed in busy sections of a city for the general public, or installed at a home for a family to enjoy videos on a large screen. Although LCDs have superior properties of low power consumption, and low driving voltage, the production of large screen liquid crystal panels is difficult, and LCDs have limited viewing angles. Compared with these devices, as well as plasma display panel having a wide viewing angle range, the production of large screen PDPs with shallow depth is relatively simple, and developments have already been made in 40 inch class products. A plasma display panel (PDP) has better characteristics than a liquid crystal panel in the following points: responding at a faster speed, a wider viewing angle, easier to produce a larger screen, and higher display quality due to self-light-emitting. The plasma display panel (PDP) display, with the advantages of low radiation, low power consumption, and large display area with small volume, will be a very promising HDTV display to replace the CRT display.

A plasma display panel is a display device in which a plurality of discharge cells are arranged in a matrix, and the discharge cells are selectively illuminated to restore image data, which are input as electrical signals. In the PDP, display cells partitioned with barrier ribs are disposed on a board, and a phosphor layer covers the display cells. An ultraviolet ray generated by gas discharge excites the phosphor to emit light for color display. A plasma display panel is basically composed of front and rear boards. The front board includes a glass substrate, display electrodes including transport electrodes and bus electrodes aligned in stripes on one main face of the glass substrate, a dielectric layer covering the display electrodes that functions as a capacitor, and a dielectric protective film formed on the dielectric layer. The rear board includes a glass substrate, address electrodes aligned in stripes on one main face, a dielectric layer covering the address electrodes, barrier ribs formed on the dielectric layer, and a phosphor layer which emits red, green, and blue lights formed between barrier ribs. A plasma display panel is provided with a plurality of scan electrodes, and sustains electrodes extending in the horizontal direction, and a plurality of data electrodes extending in the vertical direction. Display cells are provided at individual intersections between the scan and sustain electrodes, and the data electrodes. Each of these electrodes is covered with dielectric. Discharge at each cell is controlled in accordance with the amount of the wall charge formed on the dielectric. A surface discharge type PDP for a color display includes a partition for preventing discharge interference between neighboring cells. There are arrangement patterns of the partition including a stripe pattern that divides a display area into columns of a matrix display and a mesh pattern that divides a display area into cells.

In the plasma display device, the display electrodes and address electrodes of the plasma display panel and electrical circuits for driving and controlling the electrodes are connected, using flexible printed circuit boards. A plasma display panel is grouped into an alternating current (AC) type one in which electrodes covered with dielectric material are operated indirectly in AC discharge condition, and a direct current (DC) type one in which electrodes are exposed to a discharge space, and operated in DC discharge condition. An alternating current type plasma display panel is further grouped into a memory operation type in which memory of display cell is utilized as a driving method, and a refresh operation type that does not utilize the memory. The AC type PDP comprises a plurality of column electrodes (address electrodes) and a plurality of row electrodes that are orthogonal to the column electrodes, and a pair of row electrodes forms a scan line. Each of these row and column electrodes is coated with a dielectric layer exposed to a discharge space, and the intersection of a row electrode and a column electrode defines a discharge cell corresponding to one pixel. As a color display device, an AC type PDP having three-electrode surface discharging structure is commercialized. This type has a pair of main electrodes for sustaining, which are arranged in parallel for each line (row) of the matrix display and also has an address electrode for each column. Division walls for preventing interruption of discharge between cells are provided in stripes. The DC PDPs have the characteristic that the matrix discharge electrodes are exposed in each discharge cell and the electric field control of the discharge space in the cell is easy. On the other hand, the AC PDPs have the characteristic that the matrix discharge electrodes are covered with a dielectric layer, which reduces electrode degradation due to discharge and achieves a longer life.

The plasma display device emits light by applying a voltage in discharge cells composed of discharge spaces filled with a discharge gas such as an inert gas, to generate ultraviolet rays due to glow discharge in the discharge gas, thereby exciting phosphor layers in the discharge cells with the ultraviolet rays. The central element in each fluorescent light is a plasma, e.g., a gas comprised of free-flowing ions and electrons. When an electric current is run through the plasma, free electrons collide with the gas atoms, causing them to release photons of energy. Inside the cell of display panel of PDP, a fluorescent substance for displaying was sealed and fixed, the fluorescent substance emits color by ultraviolet lights generated in a gas sealed inside the cell by adding voltage. A plasma display device using a PDP performs additive color mixing of so-called three primary colors (red, green, and blue) to provide full-color display. To realize the full color display, the PDP has phosphor layers that are respectively prepared for emitting red (R), green (G), and blue (B) of the three fundamental colors. A phosphor layer is formed of phosphor particles. Phosphor particles constituting these phosphor layers are exited by ultraviolet light generated in discharge cells of the PDP to generate visible light of respective colors. In the plasma display, activated phosphor acts as illuminant for display. The plasma display panel comprises multiple discharge cells each having the phosphor therein. The phosphor is activated by ultraviolet rays generated by gas discharge performed in each cell. In a plasma display panel, a luminance of each of colors displayed in each of cells is in proportion to the number of sustaining pulses.

In general, a plasma display panel has a flat structure and a high display contrast without flickering. Plasma display panels offer the advantages of thin structure, freedom from flicker, a high display contrast ratio, the relative ease of production in a large-screen format, rapid response speed, and the capability for multicolor light emission through the use of phosphors in spontaneous light emission forms. The use of plasma display panels is consequently becoming more widespread in recent years in the fields of large public display devices and in color TV. The PDP can be used as a large size display in various applications, so that its input signal terminal is desirably connectable to various external apparatuses such as a personal computer, a television receiver, and a video cassette recorder. The plasma display panel (PDP) as a medium of large format TV, particularly high definition televisions (HDTV) is gaining attention over cathode ray tube (CRT) based TVs due to its' high performance and scalability. In particular, the plasma display devices are expected to be applied to domestic wall-hung televisions, public large-sized information terminal devices, and the like because of advantages in relatively easily obtaining large screens and wide viewing angles, enhancing the resistance against environmental factors such as temperature, magnetism, and vibration, prolonging the service life.