JPH05314893A - Method for forming electrode - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To broaden the selection range of electrode materials and to easily form uniform electrodes with good discharge efficiency. [Structure] After an electrode 12 is patterned on a substrate 11 through a thick film forming step and a baking step, an oxide layer on the electrode surface is removed. A sandblast method is used as a removing means. By removing the oxide layer, an electrode having a low surface resistance is formed and the discharge efficiency of the PDP is improved. Since a uniform electrode surface can be obtained, the conventional aging treatment after panelization is unnecessary. In addition, it does not require a special process such as firing in an atmosphere to prevent surface oxidation,
It is possible to use a substance that cannot be used as an electrode material of PDP due to the problem of surface oxidation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrode forming method, and more particularly to an electrode forming method for a plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as PDP).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 1 shows a structural example of a conventional color DC type PDP. As shown in the figure, this DC type PDP
In FIG. 1, a flat plate-shaped front plate 1 and a rear plate 2 made of glass are arranged in parallel and opposite to each other, and both are held at a constant interval by a cell barrier 3 provided therebetween. .. Further, a plurality of anodes 4 parallel to each other are formed on the back surface of the front plate 1, and a plurality of cathodes 5 parallel to each other are formed on the front surface side of the back plate 2 orthogonal to the anodes 4. .. Further, a fluorescent layer 6 is provided on both sides of the anode 4.
Are formed adjacent to each other, and the phosphor layers 6 are provided with phosphors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) emission colors separately for each cell 7 as a display element. ing.

In the above conventional DC type PDP, when a predetermined voltage is applied between the anode 4 and the cathode 5,
The positive ions are attracted to the cathode 5 and the negative electrons are attracted to the anode 4 to generate a discharge, thereby forming an electric field. When the ions excited in the electric field return to the ground state, ultraviolet rays are generated. Then, this ultraviolet ray is generated in all directions, of which the ultraviolet ray impinging on the fluorescent layer 6 excites the phosphor to generate visible light so that an observer visually recognizes this visible light transmitted through the front plate 1. Is becoming

The material of the cathode 5 in the DC type PDP is N from the viewpoint of spatter resistance and secondary electron emission characteristics.
Metals such as i, Al and LaB ₆ are used. Also,
As a method of forming the cathode 5, there are a plasma spraying method, a vapor deposition method, and the like, but a thick film formation by a screen printing method is widely used in consideration of manufacturing cost and easiness for increasing the size.

[0005]

By the way, the following items are generally required as materials for the cathode in the DC type PDP. Low work function. That is, the secondary electron emission coefficient is high. Strong against ion bombardment. That is, it has good spatter resistance. Be able to withstand the panel manufacturing process. In particular, it must withstand the temperature and atmosphere during sealing.

In order to meet such requirements, the above-mentioned metals such as Ni, Al and LaB ₆ can be used as the cathode material. In particular, LaB ₆ (lanthanum hexaboride) has excellent properties in work function and sputtering resistance. However, when a screen printing paste in which LaB ₆ particles, glass frit, and a vehicle are mixed is formed on the substrate by patterning and then firing, the LaB ₆ electrode surface is oxidized to increase the electric resistance value of the surface or to form an insulating layer Will form. Therefore, there is a problem that LaB ₆ cannot be used as the cathode of the PDP in the conventional electrode forming method including the thick film forming process and the baking process.

Further, the electrodes made of Ni and Al also have the same problem that an oxide layer is formed on the surface during firing in the conventional electrode forming method. In particular, for Ni, which is often used as a cathode material for PDPs, the oxide layer is activated and the electrode surface is made uniform by aging treatment after the panel sealing step, exhaust step, and gas filling step. This aging treatment affects the panel characteristics such as current, applied voltage, setting of discharge time, etc., and therefore must be performed under appropriate conditions, which complicates the manufacturing process.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to broaden the selection range of electrode materials and to easily form a uniform electrode having good discharge efficiency. An object of the present invention is to provide a method of forming an electrode that can be used.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the electrode forming method of the present invention comprises an oxide layer on the surface of an electrode after patterning an electrode on a substrate through a thick film forming step and a baking step. It is characterized by removing.

In the above electrode forming method, the sandblast method can be used to remove the oxide layer.

[0011]

According to the above-described electrode forming method of the present invention, by removing the oxide layer on the electrode surface after the firing step,
The surface resistance of the electrode is reduced, the discharge efficiency is enhanced, and a uniform electrode surface is obtained.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a process chart showing an embodiment of the electrode forming method according to the present invention. The structure of the PDP using this electrode as the cathode is the DC type PDP shown in FIG. Hereinafter, this process will be described step by step.

First, as shown in FIG. 2A, a Ni paste (Dup) having a pitch of 0.5 mm, a line width of 0.3 mm and a film thickness of 20 μm is formed on a glass substrate serving as a back plate 11.
No. 9535) was applied in a pattern by screen printing to form a thick film electrode to be the cathode 12. Then, after drying at 170 ° C., a peak temperature of 58
Firing was performed at 0 ° C. Then, as shown in (b),
After forming a grid-shaped cell barrier 13 having a pitch of 0.5 mm, a line width of 0.15 mm, and a film thickness of 0.2 mm by stacking by screen printing, firing was performed at 580 ° C. A matching pattern of the cell barrier 13 and the cathode 12 is shown in FIG.

Thereafter, as shown in (c), a sandblast treatment for removing the oxide layer on the electrode surface was performed.
Although Ni was used as the cathode material in the present embodiment, this is not a limitation of the cathode material, and Al, LaB _6, etc. may be considered as the cathode material. Then, the detailed conditions of the sandblast treatment are set according to the thickness of the oxide layer and the hardness of the electrode surface. In this example, glass beads # 600 were used as the abrasive, and the pressure was 1 kg /
The sandblasting treatment was performed at cm ² and a nozzle moving speed of 50 mm / sec.

Next, as shown in (d), the front plate 14 and the rear plate 11 are sealed. At the time of this sealing, the linear anode 15 formed on the front plate 14 is positioned so as to be orthogonal to the cathode 12 of the rear plate 11. As shown in FIG. 1, on the front plate 14, fluorescent layers are formed on both sides of the anode 15, and fluorescent layers having R, G, and B emission colors are distributed to each cell 16. They are arranged in a predetermined pattern. Then, after sealing, the inside of the panel is evacuated and He-
A DC PDP was formed by enclosing a gas of Xe (Xe 3%) at 230 Torr.

FIG. 4 shows the DC type PDP manufactured in this embodiment.
The voltage-current characteristics of (as indicated by a) and the conventional DC PPDP (as indicated by b) are shown. Incidentally, the cathode in the conventional DC type PDP is not subjected to the sandblast treatment, but is used after being subjected to the aging treatment. As can be seen from this figure, the voltage of the discharge cell having the cathode subjected to the sandblast treatment is reduced by about 2 to 5 V, and stable and uniform discharge can be obtained in the low current portion.

[0018]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

According to the electrode forming method of the present invention, after the electrode is patterned on the substrate, the oxide layer on the surface of the electrode is removed. Therefore, by removing this oxide layer, an electrode having a low surface resistance can be formed. Therefore, the discharge efficiency of the PDP can be increased by a simple method. In addition, since a uniform electrode surface can be obtained, there is no need for the conventional aging treatment after paneling.

Since no special process such as firing in an atmosphere for preventing surface oxidation is required, it is possible to use a substance that cannot be used as an electrode material for PDP due to the problem of surface oxidation. The selection range of materials is expanded.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional DC type plasma display panel.

FIG. 2 is a process drawing showing an example of an electrode forming method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a matching pattern of a cell barrier and a cathode formed through the step (b) of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing voltage-current characteristics of a DC type plasma display panel having an electrode as a cathode manufactured according to the present invention in comparison with a conventional one.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Rear Plate 12 Cathode (Electrode) 13 Cell Barrier 14 Front Plate 15 Anode 16 Cell

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electrode forming method, which comprises patterning an electrode on a substrate through a thick film forming step and a baking step and then removing an oxide layer on the electrode surface. 2. The electrode forming method according to claim 1, wherein a sandblast method is used to remove the oxide layer.