Initiation of gas discharges in plasma displays assisted by electron emission of thin insulators

At present many efforts are done for the development of colour plasma displays (PD). One main problem is to secure a reliable ignition, provided by a suitable concentration of starting particles in the discharge cells (priming). In this paper a new priming method is proposed using the exoelectron emission (EEE) of thin insulators. The influence of the EEE on the ignition behaviour of ac PD cells is investigated and compared with direct measurements of the afteremission of MgO, Al2O3 and MgAl2O4. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), residual gas mass spectra and Ar+ etching are additionally used methods. (orig.)