The characteristics of each address discharge were investigated when the voltages of the scan and common electrodes were lowered simultaneously during an address period under the same address voltage conditions in an AC plasma display panel. It was confirmed that the delay time of address discharge shortened as the voltage decreased. However, the background light increased because the low scanning voltage generated more discharge between the electrodes of the upper and lower plates in the reset period. To lower the background light, a positive voltage was applied to the address electrode of the lower panel during the period when the rising ramp wave was applied, and a floating voltage was applied to the address electrode during the period when the falling ramp wave was applied during the reset period. As a result, the background light could be lowered by about 30%.

The characteristics of write discharge were investigated when the conventional driving method with the unipolar sustain voltages, and the single sustain driving method applying the bipolar sustain voltage were applied in an AC plasma display. In the case of having a single sustain waveform, the strength of the write discharge is weakened compared to the conventional driving method during the address period, because the wall charge inside the panel is more dissipated by the lower scanning voltage. In the driving method with a single sustain waveform, the bias voltage of the other electrodes was changed to improve the write discharge characteristics. As a result, the intensity of the discharge was enhanced by 32% and the delay time was shortened by 60 μs.

The effect of address discharge characteristics by selective reset method is investigated to prevent the weakness of address discharge in the middle of a TV-field without increase of the black luminance. To reduce black luminance in AC PDP usually, the first subfield during one TV frame adopted the conventional rising ramp-reset waveform, whereas the other subfields adopted the subsidiary reset waveform without rising ramp type. As the wall charge for the address discharge was accumulated by only the rising ramp waveform during the first reset period, the wall charge on three electrodes was disappeared as time passed and the address discharge would be weakened in the rear subfields. To prevent a reduction of the address discharge characteristics without decrease the black luminance, the modified rising ramp reset waveform was adopted only in the sixth subfield. As a result, a modified driving method could improve the address discharge characteristics compared with selective reset driving scheme with almost the same black luminance.

The address discharge characteristics of a open dielectric structure compared with the conventional panel structure are investigated by measuring the discharge firing voltage. The open dielectric structure could easily produce the discharge between the scan and the sustain electrodes by erasing the dielectric layer between two electrodes. Due to the changes in the discharge firing characteristics of the open dielectric structure between the two sustain electrodes, the conventional reset waveform including the address waveform needs to be modified. The modified driving waveform suitable for the open dielectric structure is proposed and examined in AC PDP.