Electrical breakdown voltage in a mixed gas in connection with application to plasma display panel

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Summary form only given. The plasma display panel is operated at high-pressure gas and the breakdown voltage reduction in a mixed gas is mostly accomplished by collision-frequency decrease. The UV light emitted from xenon discharge plasma is converted into fluorescent light, which provides an image on TV screen. The discharge plasma is generated by the electrical breakdown. Reduction of the discharge voltage is therefore the key element in enhancing the electrical efficiency of PDP. Size of xenon atoms is relatively large so that electrons in the plasma are highly collisional. Therefore, electron mean free-path is small in xenon gas, requiring high breakdown voltage. Plasma generation in a mixture of xenon and light-atom gases may not need high breakdown voltage. We therefore investigate electrical discharge properties in a mixed gas. Properties of electrical breakdown voltage in a mixed gas are investigated based on Townsend criterion. The breakdown temperature T/sub b/ and voltage V/sub b/ are obtained in terms of the gas mixture ratio /spl chi/. As an example, we investigate electrical breakdown properties in neon gas mixed with xenon. It is shown that the breakdown voltage decreases, reaches the minimum value at /spl chi/ = 0.02 and then increases again, as the mixture ratio /spl chi/ increases from zero to unity. A preliminary experiment of AC-PDP is carried out for neon gas mixed with a few percent of xenon to verify some of the theoretical models. The experimental data agree qualitatively well with theoretical predictions.