The mechanism of striation formation in plasma display panels

Despite the high pressure employed in plasma display panels, the energy balance of low-energy electrons is found to be dominated by inelastic collisions, and the resulting nonlocal electron kinetics plays a key role in the striation formation. Surface charge accumulation on the anode dielectric, however, is also needed for striations to form. It is the combined effect of surface charges and nonlocal electron kinetics that results in the striation formation in plasma display panel cells. Two-dimensional fluid simulations, which assume local electron kinetics, and two-dimensional particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collision simulations with a bare conducting anode show that striations do not form if either the nonlocal electron kinetics or the surface charge accumulation is not considered

Secondary electron emission coefficients in plasma display panels as determined by particle and fluid simulations

The secondary electron emission coefficient (γse) of ions and excited species in a plasma display panel (PDP) was studied by means of 2-dimensional fluid and 1-dimensional particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collision simulations. Relations between the driving voltage and the luminous efficiency observed in experiments are reproduced at low and high Xe concentrations. Agreement between experiments and simulations, however, requires careful selection of the γse of ions and excited species. The trend of the efficiency as a function of the driving voltage is particularly sensitive to the γse of Xe excited species. For the conditions typically encountered in PDP cells (pd= 1–10 Torr cm), the dependence of the γse on the energy of impinging ions can be neglected in discharges of pure gases. This is a consequence of multiple charge exchange collisions in the cathode region. In Xe–Ne mixtures, however, the ion energy distribution function on the cathode depends on the mixture ratio. Typically more energetic ions can reach the cathode in gas mixtures and the γse is enhanced