Charge transport in an AC plasma panel

A transverse voltage applied between a display cell
D
and a transfer cell
T
on a standard 60 lines/inch ac plasma panel can simultaneously cause a previously ON cell
D
to fire and transport a large amount of electrons from cell
D
toward cell
T
. The same transverse voltage combines with the voltage due to transported electrons to produce subsequent discharges which, initiated near cell
T
, grow rapidly as they propagate along the row toward cell
D
. A voltage pulse (≃sustain pulse), applied to cell
T
, will combine with the local row wall voltage to produce another sequence of discharges along the row. These discharges, initiated near cell
D
, gain intensity as they spread toward cell
T
. This dynamic process results in a large and controllable charge transfer between the display cell
D
and the transfer cell
T
, a key mechanism for shift address display. By reversing the polarity of the transverse voltage, ions also can be transported, but ion transport produces smaller charge transfer.