Pioneer PDP-503CMX Product Training Manual page 14

PDP basic principles
The PDP screen is 2 glass panels with pixels sandwiched. The pixels consist of tiny
cells with electrodes on the top and bottom. Inert gas (Xenon+Neon) is trapped
between 2 glasses, separated by a gap of just 100-200 microns wide. UV light is
generated by discharging the gas using electrodes. Red, green and blue phosphors
absorb these UV discharges and reradiate the energy as visible light to produce the
colors that appear on the screen.
Pioneer Method
[B-C] Initialization discharge
(Reset) charges the electric at
+/- electrodes, activating
gas to extract electron
[D] Sustaining discharge is made by a pulse of voltage on sustain electrodes. It
generates UV light, which makes phosphor radiate visible light emission.
[E] The electric at electrodes remains so that continuous pulses of AC voltage
can make another light-emitting discharge
[F] Address discharge selects the cells
required for emission by clearing the
electric charge from unnecessary cells
with comparatively small voltage
Sustain
electrode
Address
electrode
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