1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel (PDP), and more particularly, to a PDP with electrodes that may compensate for the different discharge characteristics of discharge cells coated with red, green, and blue phosphor layers.
2. Discussion of the Background
Generally, plasma display panels (PDPs) are flat panel display devices with a discharge gas in a space enclosed between facing substrates. A plurality of discharge electrodes are arranged on the substrates to generate discharges in the space, thereby generating ultraviolet (UV) rays. The UV rays excite a phosphor layer to emit light that forms visible images.
FIG. 1 is an enlarged view showing discharge electrodes included in a PDP 100 as disclosed in Korean Laid Open Patent Application No. 2003-13036, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the PDP 100.
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, stripe shaped barrier ribs 120 partition a discharge space of the PDP 100. The PDP 100 includes an address electrode 140 and a pair of transparent electrodes in each discharge cell to independently control light emitted from the discharge cells. The transparent electrode pair includes a display electrode 160 and a scanning electrode 180.
A plurality of stripe shaped address electrodes 140 are arranged along an X-axis direction on a lower substrate 210, and a dielectric layer 220 is formed on the lower substrate 210 to cover the address electrodes 140. A plurality of barrier ribs 120 are arranged on the dielectric layer 220 and between the address electrodes 140, thereby partitioning the discharge space to correspond to each of the address electrodes 140. Red, green, and blue phosphor layers are coated on the barrier ribs 120.
The address electrodes 140 include non-conductive regions 140a where the address electrodes 140 face the display electrodes 160. The non-conductive regions 140a have no address electrode material, are arranged entirely within the address electrodes 140, and are arranged to correspond to each of the display electrodes 160.
An operation for selectively discharging a certain display cell in the PDP 100 is described below.
First, when an address voltage is applied across the address electrodes 140 and the scanning electrodes 180, plasma occurs in the discharge space, and electrons and ions of the plasma migrate towards an electrode having an opposite polarity. Therefore, negative charges accumulate on the surface of the dielectric layer 220 covering the address electrodes 140, and positive charges accumulate on the surface of a transparent dielectric layer 230 covering the scanning electrodes 180.
Since the address electrodes 140 have reduced areas where they face the display electrodes 160, charges generated during address periods concentrate on the transparent dielectric layer 230 corresponding to the scanning electrodes 180 and on a region of the dielectric layer 220 where the address electrodes 140 face the scanning electrodes 180. However, substantially no charges accumulate on the dielectric layer 220 above the non-conductive regions 140a. 
As such, the non-conductive regions 140a prevent charges from accumulating on the dielectric layer 220 facing the display electrodes 160, prevent the charges accumulated on the dielectric layer 220 from traveling towards the display electrodes 160, and prevent wall charges from forming on the transparent dielectric layer 230 facing the display electrodes 160.
Thus, when selectively discharging the display cells by applying a discharge sustain voltage across the scanning electrodes 160 and the display electrodes 180 during sustaining periods, if the wall charges are not accumulated towards the display electrodes 160 as described above, an error between wall charges predicted during designing and actual wall charges generated by address discharge may be minimized.
Therefore, the PDP 100 may minimize the possibility of erroneous discharge while accurately sustain discharging only those display cells that were selected during the address period.
Although the conventional PDP 100 may prevent erroneous discharges to some extent by including address electrodes on which windows are formed, a PDP that compensates for the different discharge characteristics of discharge cells coated with red, green, and blue color phosphor layers and minimizes electric field interference between neighboring address electrodes 140 disposed in adjacent discharge cells is needed.