Plasma addressed liquid crystal display with reduced column voltages

Abstract

A plasma-addressed liquid crystal color display device comprising a layer of liquid crystal material, data electrodes coupled to the liquid crystal layer and adapted to receive data voltages for activating pixels of the liquid crystal layer, and a plurality of ionizable-gas-filled plasma channels extending generally transverse to the data electrodes for selectively switching on said liquid crystal pixels. The plasma channels are sealed off by a thin dielectric sheet, and a color filter layer is provided in the device through which changes in the attenuation of the liquid crystal pixels may be viewed to obtain a color image. To reduce the magnitude of the data voltages needed to activate the device, the device layers are configured and given compositions such that a much higher fraction of the applied data voltages appears across the liquid crystal layer thereby allowing a smaller data voltage to be used to obtain the same effect on the liquid crystal pixels. Another feature of the invention includes location of the color filter between the substrate supporting the column electrodes and the column electrodes. Still a further feature is a color filter made up of dyed porous segments of an anodized aluminum film, or of evaporated pigment segments.