The Plasma monitor was invented in the 1960s at the University of Illinois. This was however a monochrome display, which is capable of displaying only in shades of one color. Building on this, by 1992, the Japanese company Fuji was able to produce the world’s first color monitor that used plasma technology.
Plasma monitor work on a simple principal. CRT TVs use pixels that light up to display an image. In Plasma TV s these pixels are replaced by thousands of small cells placed between two glass panels. The cells are filled with Noble Gases Helium, Xenon or Neon and long electrodes are placed between the glass plates, scattered in front and behind the cells. Behind the cells, along the back glass plate address electrodes are placed. Electrodes insulated by a dielectric material and enclosed in a magnesium oxide layer for protection are placed along the front panel. These electrodes are known as transparent display electrodes. When electricity charges the electrodes a voltage difference occurs between the front and back panels. This causes the gas molecules to ionize and form plasma. The ions move towards the electrodes and when they collide, photons (small packets of energy that make up light beams) are released. The cells are coated with Phosphors to create the different colors needed to see images in color. Since stopping the current to a particular cell can control the activation of the cell, plasma monitors offer better picture quality than CRTs. This is because they have zero motion blur and provide more accurate color reproduction with better contrasts.
flat screen plasma TVs bring in another advantage. No longer are the televisions sets eating up in to your living room space. Some of the latest found in the market are light as 45 pounds and are only an inch thick. It can easily be hung like a painting in your living room wall. By mounting the monitor to a wall, you place the monitor at ideal height to obtain the best in image quality. There are also quite affordable and within the budget range of many people.
Improvement in technology has overcome many of the drawbacks of the first plasma TVs. The time it takes for a panel’s brightness to reduce by half, called the ‘half-life’ has been extended to around 60,000 hours. This is compatible with other displays types available on the market. Some of the disadvantages of older equipment, like ‘burn in’ have also been reduced, though not eliminated completely. Another drawback of is that helium and co are susceptible to high altitude, where the reduced pressure affects them. At the same time compared to television sets that depend on other technology, flat screen plasma TVs offer the biggest possibility of making large displays. At present up to a 150-inch diagonal length are within the scope of this technology. People who wish to purchase larger TVs prefer plasma TV sets.
From an environment the point of view, flat screen plasma TVs are among the biggest global warming contributors in the television production industry. Also plasma screens have more energy consumption compared to others like LCD Displays.
