ABSTRACT
Plasma-driven flat panel display pixels were invented by Bitzer and Slottow at the University of Illinois in 1966 [1-3]. Figure 33.1 shows one of the inventors’ early designs and demonstrates its simplicity. Parallel sets of thin conducting wires are deposited on two glass substrates which are then mounted with the conductor sets perpendicular to one another as shown in the Figure 33.1. A spacer, in this case a perforated glass dielectric, is used to maintain a gap separation of about 100
m
m between the glass plates. The gap region then is filled with an inert gas, typically at a pressure of half an atmosphere. Individual pixels formed by the intersection of two conductor wires are aligned with the perforations. Pixels are illuminated by applying a voltage between two intersecting wires sufficient to initiate gas breakdown. Over the years, this basic pixel design has undergone a multitude of refinements and improvements, but the fundamental concept is still widely used.
