Excimer fluorescence for display applications

Over the past decade workers have examined a variety of gas mixtures and phosphor excitation schemes in an effort to develop a viable alternative to the orange neon gas discharge display. To date no approach has been found that offers the combination of brightness, efficiency, and practicality typical of neon-based displays. In this paper we report early results of an investigation directed toward evaluation of excimer molecule fluorescence for display applications. Attention has been focused on rare gas-halide and rare gas-oxide excimers because of their favorable formation kinetics and visible emission characteristics. Modeling of kinetic processes has identified gas mixtures suitable for the generation of visible excimer fluorescence. Experimentation carried out using both a conventional ac plasma panel and a discharge test device has resulted in blue Xe2Cl emission using Ne-Xe-Cl2mixtures, and green XeO emission using Xe-O2mixtures. Moreover, the measured luminous intensity of these excimer mixtures was comparable to, and under some conditions greater than, that of neon-Penning mixtures excited under Similar conditions. These results indicate the possibility of developing a new class of plasma display based on the visible fluorescence of excimer molecules.