Simulation Studies of Rib Structure Effect on Discharge Characteristics of Plasma Display Panel

Abstract

To investigate the effect of the rib structure on the discharge characteristics of the plasma display panel, the potential distribution, particles density distribution and ions incident angle distribution were examined by simulation of a two-dimensional particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision, with two kinds of rib structure: the stripe rib structure and the Waffle rib structure. The results showed that the distribution of electric potential at the corner of the discharge cell was almost the same for these two rib structures while in the centre there was a difference between these two rib structures. The striation phenomenon could be observed in both cases. The distribution of density also indicated that the striation phenomenon was accompanied by the firing of discharge, and the Waffle rib structure might reduce the density humps. In the cell with a stripe rib structure, the profiles of the surface charge density along the sustained dielectric layer presented a better fluctuating distribution than that in the cell with a Waffle rib structure. The spatial potential and particle density in the discharge bulk showed that the Waffle ribs could weaken the striation phenomenon, which could be explained by the decrease in the particle numbers in the discharge cell. The simulation results of the ion incident angle showed that most ions impacted the sustained dielectric layer in the normal stripe rib cell with an incident angle in the range of 6o to 19o while with the Waffle rib structure the incident angle of most ions was in the range of 4o to 19o. The Waffle rib structure did not affect the angle distribution of incident ions significantly.