The effective secondary electron emission coefficient of MgO protective layer in AC-PDP calculated by fitting breakdown voltage curves

A convenient way is given in this paper to calculate the effective secondary electron emission coefficient (λ_eff) of protective layers in AC-PDP by fitting breakdown voltage curves. Based on the analysis of chemical kinetics of gas discharging in Plasma Display Panels, we deduced an empirical equation of self-sustaining discharge condition for Penning gas mixture in terms of Townsend breakdown criteria. It was used to calculate the breakdown voltage curves of Ne-Xe/MgO, Ne-Ar/MgO, Ne/MgO, Ar/MgO and Xe/MgO in a testing macroscopic discharge cell of AC-PDP. The effective secondary electron emission coefficients were derived by comparing the breakdown voltage curves obtained from the empirical equation with the experimental data of breakdown voltages. The λ_eff results showed a good conformity with the secondary electron emission coefficients in literatures. The empirical equation can be used as a convenient approach to research gas discharge characteristics and the effective secondary electron emission behaviors in plasma display panels.