The Study on the Relation between the Cathode Fall Voltage and the Electrode Material of the CCL

Abstract

To improve the efficiency of the cold cathode lamp (CCL), it is important to select the optimum electrode material to reducing the cathode fall voltage (CFV). Furthermore, it is necessary to understand the relationship between the electrode material and the CFV. Considering the above, we measured the CCL’s CFV with an indirect CFV measurement method using a hot cathode fluorescent lamp. By observing the negative glow of the electrode, we investigated the relationship between the CFV and the negative glow condition. The results showed that there is a relationship between the CCL’s CFV and the γ coefficient of the electrode. Moreover, they make it clear that there is a relation between the CFV and the negative glow condition of each electrode material. We conclude that the CFV measurement method is useful for estimating the performance of a CCL’s electrode.