Patent ID: 7288892

Claim:
A plasma display cell comprising front and back plates, a pair of adjacent spaced sustaining electrodes defining a discharge gap there between having a discharge gap width within the same display cell formed at said front plate, a dielectric layer covering said pair of adjacent spaced sustaining electrodes, a protective layer formed on said dielectric layer, an address electrode formed on said back plate, a dielectric layer covering said address electrode, a phosphor layer formed on said dielectric layer, and an inert gas mixture between said protective layer and said phosphor layer, characterized in that: the thickness of the dielectric layer between each sustaining electrode and the protective layer adjacent the inert gas mixture is thicker in a first region adjacent the discharge gap and thinner in a second region farther away from the same discharge gap within the same display cell, and the dielectric layer in the thicker first region extends over the entire width of the discharge gap and overlaps with the pair of adjacent spaced sustaining electrodes defining the discharge gap; the electrode configuration of each of the paired sustaining electrodes within the same display cell is step shaped with an outer electrode portion embedded in the dielectric layer, a riser portion, and an inner electrode portion parallel to the outer electrode portion and extending from the riser portion toward the discharge gap defined by the paired sustaining electrodes, and wherein the thickness of dielectric material within the same cell adjacent the inner electrode portion is greater than the thickness of dielectric material adjacent the outer electrode portion; and the thickness of the dielectric material adjacent the inner electrode portion is at least three times the thickness of the dielectric material adjacent the outer electrode portion within the same cell.