Plasma displays

Summary form only given. Full color plasma displays are now demonstrating high levels of image quality and performance which meet and in some cases exceed that of CRTs. This new generation of plasma displays exhibit full color capability, high brightness and contrast ratio, with wide viewing angles and rapid refresh rates. These attributes combined with the ability to achieve large diagonals, make color plasma technology the leading contender for practical "hang-on-the-wall" television. Accordingly, several major plasma display companies have announced plans for the construction of multi-million dollar manufacturing facilities for the high-volume production of large area, full color plasma displays. AC plasma displays in particular promise to be very manufacturable due to their structure and the relatively simple processes used in their production. These mature techniques are readily scaled to screen sizes of 40 to 60 inches in diagonal and are low-cost, high-volume processes. The current generation of plasma displays have achieved luminous efficiencies of 1 lm/W. However, the fluorescent lamp which operates on the same fundamental gas discharge principles achieves 80 lm/W. Therefore, it is anticipated that with very active research and development, plasma displays can increase their luminous efficiency to 5 lm/W. At this efficiency plasma displays will require lower power than backlit LCDs. Gas discharge dynamics provide very rapid addressing speed, enabling plasma displays to show a full range of colors and full motion video. The color gas discharges have wide operational voltage tolerances and require relatively low address voltages. These two characteristics allow reductions in the cost of the displays.