Characterization of Voltage and Charge Transfer in AC Gas Discharge Displays

New techniques have been applied to the characterization of voltage and charge transfer in ac gas discharge display cells. This paper presents a new method of measuring the voltage transfer curve and several aspects of the operation of the cells which are revealed by these measurements. In the steady sustain region the voltage transfer is nearly equal to the initial gas voltage. Over most of the voltage transfer curve, the voltage transferred is independent of the history and operating environment of the test cell. On the other hand, the charge transfer does depend upon these factors. The voltage and charge transferred vary differently with the initial gas voltage, so the effective wall capacitance depends upon the initial wall voltage as well as on history and environment. This is attributed to the dependence of the lateral spread of the discharge upon its strength.