The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 08, 1998
Filed:
Jul. 08, 1996
Craig R Wuest, Danville, CA (US);
The Regents of the University of California, Oakland, CA (US);
Abstract
A microgap flat panel display which includes a thin gas-filled display tube that utilizes switched X-Y 'pixel' strips to trigger electron avalanches and activate a phosphor at a given location on a display screen. The panel utilizes the principal of electron multiplication in a gas subjected to a high electric field to provide sufficient electron current to activate standard luminescent phosphors located on an anode. The X-Y conductive strips of a few micron widths may for example, be deposited on opposite sides of a thin insulating substrate, or on one side of the adjacent substrates and function as a cathode. The X-Y strips are separated from the anode by a gap filled with a suitable gas. Electrical bias is selectively switched onto X and Y strips to activate a 'pixel' in the region where these strips overlap. A small amount of a long-lived radioisotope is used to initiate an electron avalanche in the overlap region when bias is applied. The avalanche travels through the gas filled gap and activates a luminescent phosphor of a selected color. The bias is adjusted to give a proportional electron multiplication to control brightness for given pixel.