Discharge and Luminous Characteristics of Coplanar Type Xe Plasma Flat Lamp

Abstract

The Xe plasma flat lamp, considered to be a new eco-friendly LCD backlight, requires a further improvement of its luminance and luminous efficiency. To improve the performance of this type of lamp, it is necessary to understand the effects of the discharge variables on the luminous characteristics of the lamp. In this study, the luminous characteristics of a coplanartype Xe plasma flat lamp with a teeth-type electrode pattern were analyzed while varying the gas composition, gas pressure and input voltage. The effects of the phosphor layer on the discharge and the luminous characteristics of the lamp were also studied. The luminous efficiency of the coplanar-type Xe plasma flat lamp improved as the Xe input ratio and gas pressure increased. Higher luminous efficiency was also obtained when helium (He) was used as a buffer gas and when a phosphor layer was fabricated on the electrode region. In contrast, the luminous efficiency was reduced with increasing the input voltage. It was found that the infrared emissions from the lamp were affected by the Xe excitation rate in the plasma, the Xe gas density, the collisional quenching of excited Xe species by gas molecules, and the recombination rate between the Xe ions and electrons.