JP3322071B2 - Plasma address display - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plasma addressed display device in which a liquid crystal cell and a plasma cell are stacked via a dielectric sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been proposed a plasma addressed display device in which a liquid crystal cell and a plasma cell are stacked via a dielectric sheet. FIG. 4 shows an example of the structure of the plasma addressed display device.

[0003] The plasma addressed display device of FIG. 4 has a flat panel structure in which a liquid crystal cell 2 and a plasma cell 3 are stacked via a dielectric sheet 4. The liquid crystal cell 2 is joined to the dielectric sheet 4 in a state where the color filter substrate 21 has a predetermined gap via a liquid crystal sealing material 22. On the inner surface of the color filter substrate 21, stripe-shaped data electrodes (not shown) made of a transparent conductive material extending in the row direction are formed in parallel in the column direction (vertical direction in the drawing). Color filter substrate 21 and dielectric sheet 4
Is filled with a liquid crystal to form a liquid crystal layer 23. Although not shown in FIG. 4, a spacer is provided in the liquid crystal layer 23 to make the size of the gap uniform.

In the plasma cell 3, the plasma substrate glass 31 faces the dielectric sheet 4 with a predetermined gap. Plasma substrate glass 31 on dielectric sheet 4 side
A stripe-shaped display electrode 32 made of nickel or the like is formed on the display electrode 32 extending in the column direction and formed in parallel with a predetermined gap in the row direction. The barrier ribs 33 having a width smaller than that of the display electrode 32 are formed on the display electrode 32 at an equal pitch. The plasma substrate glass 31 faces the dielectric sheet 4 with a predetermined gap therebetween via the display electrodes 32 and the barrier ribs 33. The display electrode 32 and the barrier rib 33 constitute the partition 5, and the partition 5
Is defined as a plasma chamber 34. The plasma chambers 34 extend in the column direction and are formed at predetermined intervals in the row direction. The plasma chamber 34 is filled with an ionizable gas. As this gas, for example, helium, neon, argon, or a mixed gas thereof is used. Thus, the display electrode 3
2 and barrier ribs 33 serve as partition walls 5 for partitioning each plasma chamber 34, and
Also acts as a gap spacer. The display electrodes 32 are connected to drivers so that they alternately become the anode display electrode 32A and the cathode display electrode 32K. A ring-shaped frit seal 35 made of low-melting glass or the like is provided around the plasma substrate glass 31, and the plasma substrate glass 31 and the dielectric sheet 4 are hermetically joined by the frit seal 35.

In the above plasma address display device, the data electrode and the plasma chamber 34 are orthogonal to each other, the data electrode serves as a column drive unit, the plasma chamber 34 serves as a row drive unit, and a pixel is defined at the intersection of these. . In such a plasma addressed display device, the anode display electrode 3
When a predetermined voltage is applied between 2A and the cathode display electrode 32K, the gas in the plasma chamber 34 is selectively ionized to generate plasma discharge, and the inside thereof is maintained at substantially the anode potential. In this state, when a data voltage is applied to the data electrode, the data voltage is written via the dielectric sheet 4 to the liquid crystal layers 23 of the pixels arranged in the column direction corresponding to the plasma chamber. When the plasma discharge ends, the plasma chamber 34 becomes a floating potential, and the voltage written in the liquid crystal layer 23 of the corresponding pixel is held until the next writing period (for example, after one frame). At this time, the plasma chamber 34 functions as a sampling switch, and the liquid crystal layer 23 of each pixel functions as a sampling capacitor.

The data electrode 1 is applied to the liquid crystal layer 23 of each pixel.
Since the liquid crystal operates by the data voltage written from 5, the display is performed in pixel units. Therefore, the liquid crystal layer 23 of a plurality of pixels arranged in the column direction by generating a plasma discharge
A two-dimensional image can be displayed by sequentially scanning the plasma chamber in which the data voltage is written in the row direction.

A method of manufacturing such a plasma addressed display device will be briefly described with reference to FIG.
As shown in (A), a display electrode pattern is printed on the plasma substrate glass 31 in a stripe shape by, for example, a screen printing method, and then dried to form the display electrode 32.

Next, the display electrodes 3 formed in a stripe shape
The barrier rib 33 is screen-printed on top of FIG.
As shown in (B), the layers are stacked at an equal pitch. in this case,
In order to make the barrier rib 33 have a height of about 200 μm, this height is obtained by repeatedly applying screen printing and performing recoating. After printing the barrier ribs of a predetermined height, baking is performed, and then the upper portion of the barrier ribs is polished to make the height of the barrier ribs equal to the predetermined height.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5C, a ring-shaped frit seal 35 is formed around the plasma substrate glass 31.
Is formed with a dispenser or the like, and this frit seal 3 is formed.
5 and the dielectric sheet 4 made of glass is
Is bonded to the plasma substrate glass 31. The dielectric sheet 4 is usually made of thin glass having a thickness of about 50 μm. As a result, the area surrounded by the frit seal 35 includes the dielectric sheet 4 and the plasma substrate glass 3.
1 is an upper and lower wall, and a flat sealed chamber 36 is hermetically shut off from the outside having a frit seal as a side wall. This sealed room 3
6 is evacuated and gas is injected. At this time, the thin glass 4 is in close contact with the upper end surface of the barrier rib 33, and a plasma chamber 34 is formed.

Next, an orientation process (not shown) is performed, and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5D, spacers 24 for dispersing the liquid crystal layer to a uniform thickness are scattered, and as shown in FIG. Then, a liquid crystal chamber is formed, and then liquid crystal is injected to obtain the plasma addressed display device shown in FIG.

[0011]

However, as shown in FIG. 6, after the dielectric sheet 4 is bonded to the plasma substrate glass 31 via the frit seal 35, the sealing chamber 36 formed by this is connected to the plasma substrate glass. Glass 31
When vacuum is applied from the exhaust pipe P through a ventilation hole (not shown) provided in the glass sheet, if the sheet glass 4 is loosened, as shown in FIG. In some cases, the user may concentrate on the portion indicated by the arrow. Such concentration of looseness causes cracks in the thin glass and unevenness in the gap in the liquid crystal chamber, which causes defective products. Such a phenomenon has become remarkable as the size of the display device increases and the area of the dielectric sheet increases.

Further, the same material is used for the thin glass and the plasma substrate glass in order to prevent bending or cracking due to a difference in thermal expansion coefficient when heat is applied during frit sealing or the like. This limits the choice of materials,
There is a problem that the degree of freedom in design is low.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to prevent slack from being concentrated on the dielectric sheet when the dielectric sheet is brought into close contact with the barrier ribs by drawing a vacuum. An object of the present invention is to provide a plasma addressed display device in which a dielectric sheet and a plasma substrate glass can be made of different materials.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, a plasma addressed display device of the present invention has a structure in which a liquid crystal cell and a plasma cell are stacked via a dielectric sheet. a plasma substrate glass and the dielectric sheets forming, via the multi-speed parallel provided bulkhead opposed with a predetermined gap, the liquid crystal of the operation of the liquid crystal cell by plasma discharge in the plasma cell to the outside A plasma address display device in which an effective pixel area displayed for the plasma address display apparatus and an invalid area outside the effective pixel area which do not affect the liquid crystal display are formed, wherein the dielectric sheet and the plasma substrate glass are provided in the invalid area. A plurality of pillars are arranged between the pillars to absorb the slack of the dielectric sheet.
In the <br/> distance between the partition walls adjacent to the struts or between the struts, but which is adapted to be larger than the distance between the partition walls existing in the effective pixel region.

In this case, the partition wall adjacent to or adjacent to the column in a direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the partition wall.
The distance between the be greater than the distance between the partition walls existing in the effective pixel region, the dielectric Sea
It is preferable to absorb slack in the ineffective area . Further, the strut is in the same structure and the partition wall, be a plasma addressed display device which is arranged in the same direction, producing
It is preferable in the process .

Further, it is preferable that the column is an independent column-shaped plasma addressed display device.

[0017]

According to the plasma addressed display device of the present invention, a plurality of pillars for supporting the dielectric sheet are arranged in the invalid area which does not affect the display function, similarly to the above-mentioned partition walls, and the columns between the pillars or the partition walls of the pillars are provided. Is made larger than the separation distance between the partition walls existing in the effective pixel area. This allows the dielectric sheet to be loosened between the pillars with a large separation distance, so to say, forms a relief area of the looseness, so that the effective pixel area does not loosen and does not affect the display function. At the same time, cracking of the dielectric sheet due to concentration of slack can be prevented. In addition, since the slack is positively generated, it is possible to use a dielectric sheet having a smaller coefficient of thermal expansion than the plasma substrate glass (the dielectric sheet becomes longer when cooled). And the dielectric sheet need not be made of the same material.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing one embodiment of the plasma addressed display device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the same device.

The plasma addressed display device 1 of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 shows a state in which the plasma cell unit 3 is joined to a dielectric sheet, and corresponds to FIG. 5 (C), and differs from that shown in FIG. It has basically the same structure. The difference is that the separation distance between the partition walls 5 in the effective pixel region is normal, while
In the ineffective region, the pillars 37 have the same structure and the same direction as the partition walls, and the distance b between the pillars 37 is larger than the distance a between the partition walls.

Here, the effective pixel area is the plasma chamber 34.
This is a region where the operation of the liquid crystal is displayed to the outside by the discharge of the data electrodes and the driving of the data electrodes, and specifically, a portion where the plasma chamber 34 defined by the partition walls exists. The invalid area is an area in which the operation of the liquid crystal is not displayed to the outside, and specifically, a part other than the effective pixel area in the sealed chamber sealed by the frit seal.

The separation distance a between the partition walls 5 in the effective pixel area is about 0.67 mm because the pitch is about 0.69 mm and the width of the barrier rib 33 is about 100 μm at present. On the other hand, the separation distance between the supports 37 and the support 37 and the partition 5
May be larger than the separation distance a between the partition walls 5, but the upper limit is that the thickness of the thin sheet glass as the dielectric sheet 4 is about 50 μm, which is within about 1.8 mm. If it is not supported by a distance, it is said to break, so it is 1.8 mm. For this reason, the specifically preferable separation distance b is 1 mm to 1.8 mm. Further, it is preferable that the width of the support 37 is substantially equal to the width of the partition 5.

According to the structure having the columns 37, when the dielectric sheet 4 is evacuated from the exhaust pipe P to be in close contact with the barrier ribs 33, even if the dielectric sheet 4 is loosened, the effective pixel area is not removed. Since the partition walls 5 are formed at a fine pitch, the dielectric sheet 4 hardly bends downward. On the other hand, since the pitch between the columns 37 is wide between the columns 37 in the invalid region, as shown in FIG. 1, the dielectric sheet 4 bends downward, and the dielectric sheet 4 is bent in the invalid region. Can absorb slack. Accordingly, the effective pixel region does not bend and the gap unevenness of the liquid crystal is reduced. The material of the dielectric sheet 4 is a plasma substrate glass 31.
Not limited to the same material as that described above, a material having a smaller thermal expansion coefficient than the plasma substrate glass 31 can be used. That is, when cooled after heating, the dielectric sheet 4 that has less heat shrinkage loosens, but this slack can be absorbed in the ineffective region.

In order to form such columns 37, the pattern of the display electrodes 32 and the barrier ribs 33 constituting the partition walls 5 may be simply enlarged by increasing the pitch between the patterns in the invalid area as shown in FIG. Specifically, the screen pattern of the screen printing used for forming the display electrodes 32 and the barrier ribs 33 may be as shown in FIG. 2, which is simple.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the plasma addressed display device according to the present invention, in which the pillars 37 in the invalid area are cylindrical. In this example,
The distance b between the columns is larger than the distance a between the partitions 5 in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the partitions 5 extend. The upper limit of the distance c between the columns 37 in the direction in which the partition walls extend is 1.8 mm for the above-described reason. The columnar support 37 in this example is preferably formed in the same step as the partition 5 and, therefore, is preferably made of the same material as the partition.

The structure shown in FIG. 1 corresponds to the structure shown in FIG.
Step. Therefore, after the structure shown in FIG. 1 is obtained, a gas is injected into the sealed chamber 36, and then the mercury vapor is diffused into the sealed chamber 36. After that, an alignment process (not shown) is performed, and as shown in FIG. 5D, spacers 24 for making the liquid crystal layer have a uniform thickness are dispersed, and the liquid crystal sealing material 2 is formed.
The color filter 21 is bonded to the dielectric sheet 4 through the liquid crystal 2 to form a liquid crystal chamber, and then liquid crystal is injected to obtain the plasma addressed display device shown in FIG.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, various shapes such as a prismatic shape and an elliptic shape can be adopted as the shape of the pillar. In the above example, the pillar is arranged in a direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the partition, but is arranged in the extending direction of the partition. Alternatively, various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0027]

According to the present invention, there is provided a plasma addressed display device comprising:
Cracking of the dielectric sheet and display unevenness caused by loosening of the dielectric sheet can be prevented as much as possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing one embodiment of a plasma addressed display device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing one embodiment of the plasma addressed display device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the plasma addressed display device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing an example of a plasma addressed display device.

FIGS. 5A to 5E are flowcharts showing manufacturing steps of the plasma addressed display device of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a step of bringing a dielectric sheet into close contact with barrier ribs by vacuum in a conventional plasma addressed display device.

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating slackening of a dielectric sheet in a conventional plasma addressed display device when the dielectric sheet is brought into close contact with barrier ribs by vacuum.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Plasma address display device 2 Liquid crystal cell 3 Plasma cell 4 Dielectric sheet 5 Partition 21 Color filter substrate 22 Liquid crystal sealing material 23 Liquid crystal layer 31 Plasma substrate glass 32 Display electrode 33 Barrier rib 34 Plasma chamber 35 Frit seal 36 Sealing chamber 37 Column

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A and a liquid crystal cell and a plasma cell are laminated via a dielectric sheet structure, and the plasma substrate glass and the dielectric sheets constituting the plasma cell, provided large numbers parallel Opposing each other with a predetermined gap therebetween through the partition wall, and the plasma discharge in the plasma cell affects the operation of the liquid crystal of the liquid crystal cell to an effective pixel area displayed to the outside and the liquid crystal display outside the effective pixel area. a plasma addressed display device without the ineffective region is formed in the ineffective region, a plurality of struts disposed between the plasma substrate glass and the dielectric sheet, the dielectric sheet
Plasma to absorb the slack of over preparative separation distance between the partition walls adjacent to the struts or between the struts is characterized by greater than the separation distance between the barrier ribs standing on the effective pixel region Address display device. 2. A release <br/> distance between the partition walls adjacent to the struts or between the struts in the direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the partition walls, between the partition walls existing in prior Symbol effective pixel region 2. The plasma addressed display device according to claim 1, wherein the distance is larger than the separation distance. Wherein the struts in the partition wall of the same structure, the plasma addressed display device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein arranged in the same direction. 4. The plasma addressed display device according to claim 1, wherein said pillars are independent pillars.