GB1433256A - Gas discharge display devices - Google Patents

Abstract

1433256 Gas discharge display panels MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO Ltd 4 June 1973 [2 June 1972 24 June 1972 (2) 20 Dec 1972] 26624/73 Heading H1D A display device comprises an envelope 1, two generally planar and parallel or copolanar main electrodes 2 and 3, one of said electrodes being adapted to serve as a cold cathode 2 and the other of said electrodes being adapted to serve as an anode 3, said anode permitting the passage of current carriers generated between said main electrodes to a cathodo-luminescent panel structure 4 positioned adjacent said anode electrode, said structure 4 comprising a transparent support plate 7, a transparent electrode 5 on said plate and a phosphor layer 6 on said transparent electrode, said phosphor layer 6 being on the side of said transparent electrode 5 facing said anode 3. Cold cathode 2 may be a metal plate or open box (Fig. 9, not shown) and anode 3 may be a metal plate with slots or circular apertures or a grid or lattice (Figs. 6, 7 and 8, not shown). Alternatively the anode and cathode may be formed by connecting alternate wires of an array of parallel wires in common, or a set of anode wires may be mounted in grooves in a cathode plate (Figs. 10 and 11, not shown). A negatively biased grid may be located on the side of the anode and cathode wires remote from the display structure (Fig. 12, not shown). Electrode 5 may be divided into a plurality of groups of seven segments in figure 8 layout (Fig. 2, not shown) or into any other desired pattern. The electrodes 2 and 3 may be of Ni, Mo, W, Ti, or Al and the electrode 5 of tin oxide, titanium oxide, or indium oxide. The gas filling may be H, He, Kr, Ne, A, N or mixtures thereof at a pressure from 10-1 to 10 torr. In alternative embodiments (Figs. 3, 5 and 13, not shown) the electrode 5 is divided into a plurality of strips arranged at right-angles to a system of parallel anode wires to provide an x-y matrix display system. The strips may be arranged in groups of three coated with different phosphors for colour display, and the anode wires may be in groups of three with the side wires of a group biased to a lower potential than the central wire to concentrate the discharge.