The consequences of cell geometry and gas mixture on plasma display panel performance

Summary form only given. Plasma display panels (PDP) are one of the leading technologies currently under consideration for large screen flat panel displays. Since PDP cells are small and have limited diagnostic access, computer modeling has proven useful for understanding their physics and optimizing their operation. In this paper, we describe a new hybrid 2-dimensional PDP simulation, and discuss results from investigations into the consequences of cell geometry and gas chemistry on the display's performance. The basic model consists of solving Poisson's equation, the electron energy conservation equation and continuity equations for all species. The drift-diffusion approximation has been used for the flux of all species. The coupled set of Poisson's and charged species continuity equations are integrated implicitly in time using Newton's method and sparse matrix techniques. The remaining equations are solved explicitly. The computed electron temperature is used in conjunction with a precomputed lookup table from the solution of Boltzmann's equation to determine source functions for electron impact reactions and electron transport coefficients. The basic model is augmented with a Monte Carlo simulation for secondary electrons emitted from surfaces and a radiation transport model for computing visible light emission. Reaction mechanisms have been formulated for He, Ne, Xe and their mixtures.