Abstract: To provide an AC-PDP capable of achieving low power consumption and low cost, a driving method is adopted in which, during a period of sustaining light emission of the AC-PDP, an electrode of one side of the panel is fixed at a predetermined potential, and positive and negative voltages are alternately applied to an electrode of the other side of the panel. In addition, an IGBT is used as a switch element. Thus, with a half-bridge driving method using an IGBT as a switch element, it is possible to simultaneously achieve a reduction in loss of a driving circuit of the AC-PDP and a reduction in the number of components thereof, such reductions not being able to be achieved by the conventional techniques.

Abstract: A plasma display device of the present invention having a plurality of display cells, comprises a X electrode kept at a reference voltage, a Y electrode, an address electrode, the X electrode and the Y electrode between which sustain discharge occurs, and an address driver comprising a first switch element Q2 for outputting a low level voltage, a second switch element Q1 for outputting a high level voltage, whose withstand voltage of the second switch element is lower than the first switch element, and a diode inserted and connected between the address electrode and the second switch element.

Abstract: In a semiconductor device having a pair of IGBT and diode which are connected to each other in inverse-parallel in which a collector-electrode of the IGBT and a cathode-electrode of the diode are wired to each other, and an emitter-electrode of the IGBT and an anode-electrode of the diode are wired to each other, when a breakdown voltage of a junction of a p-type emitter layer and an n-type buffer layer of the IGBT is represented as BVec, and a forward voltage occurring while the diode transits from a state of blocking to a state of forward conduction is represented as VF, a relationship of VF<BVec is satisfied in a predetermined current value Id of a current flowing in the diode, and the maximal doping concentration of the n-type cathode layer of the diode is higher than that of the n-type buffer layer of the IGBT.

Abstract: A plasma display apparatus wherein during the period for which the lighting of the AC type PDP panel is sustained, the electrodes on one side of the panel are maintained at a constant potential whereas the electrodes on the other side of the panel are supplied alternately with a positive voltage and a negative voltage, the plasma display apparatus having a means that feeds power flowing toward the address power source into a separate power source.

Abstract: A plasma display apparatus having a plurality of display cells for prolonging the luminous brightness lifetime in the single-sided drive mode has a first sustaining electrode, a second sustaining electrode connected to reference potential and cooperating with the first sustaining electrode to perform sustain discharge through a discharge space of a display cell, and an address electrode, an electrical capacitance set up between the second sustaining electrode and the discharge space is larger than that set up between the first sustaining electrode and the discharge space.

Abstract: To provide an AC-PDP capable of achieving low power consumption and low cost, a driving method is adopted in which, during a period of sustaining light emission of the AC-PDP, an electrode of one side of the panel is fixed at a predetermined potential, and positive and negative voltages are alternately applied to an electrode of the other side of the panel. In addition, an IGBT is used as a switch element. Thus, with a half-bridge driving method using an IGBT as a switch element, it is possible to simultaneously achieve a reduction in loss of a driving circuit of the AC-PDP and a reduction in the number of components thereof, such reductions not being able to be achieved by the conventional techniques.

Abstract: In a semiconductor device having a pair of IGBT and diode which are connected to each other in inverse-parallel in which a collector-electrode of the IGBT and a cathode-electrode of the diode are wired to each other, and an emitter-electrode of the IGBT and an anode-electrode of the diode are wired to each other, when a breakdown voltage of a junction of a p-type emitter layer and an n-type buffer layer of the IGBT is represented as BVec, and a forward voltage occurring while the diode transits from a state of blocking to a state of forward conduction is represented as VF, a relationship of VF<BVec is satisfied in a predetermined current value Id of a current flowing in the diode, and the maximal doping concentration of the n-type cathode layer of the diode is higher than that of the n-type buffer layer of the IGBT.