Plasma Display HistoryA plasma display (a.k.a. PDP) is an emissive flat panel display where light is created by phosphors excited by a plasma discharge between two flat panels of glass. The gas discharge contains no mercury (contrary to the backlights of an AMLCD). An inert mixture of noble gases (neon and xenon) is used instead. For around 75 years, televisions have been engineered solely around one technology using the cathode ray tube (CRT).
Not later than 1964, Donald L. Bitzer and H. Gene Slottow for the PLATO invented the plasma display panel at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Computer System. Prior to their invention, the inventors researched the feasibility of plasma displays as an alternative to the rear projection televisions sets using CRT technology. They incited such research after being unimpressed with regular television sets as computer monitors for their in-house computer network. Cathode-ray display is suitable for displaying video and broadcasts but not as much for computer graphics. By July of 1964, the team had built the first plasma display. This panel only had a single cell, while plasma televisions at present use millions of cells. The panels, originally orange or green monochrome, gained popularity in the early 1970s because the displays were rugged and needed neither memory nor refresh circuitry. By the late 1970s, semiconductor memory made CRT displays cheaper, effectively causing a long period of sales slump. In spite of, plasma's relatively large screen size and thin profile were ubiquitous in high-profile placement such as lobbies and stock exchanges. In 1983, IBM released the model 3290 'information panel, a 19" orange on black monochrome display. The said creation was able to show four simultaneous 3270 virtual machine (VM) terminal sessions. Fujitsu was the first to create the 21-inch full color display. The company introduced it in 1992. The product was a hybrid based on the plasma display created at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and NHK STRL. However it was not until 1997 when the first Plasma TV was sold to the public. Initiated by Pioneer, displays have been sold while its screen sizes increased since the 21-inch model in 1992. The largest plasma display in the world measured 103 ". This was the initiative of Matsushita Electrical Industries (Panasonic). It was shown at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas in 2009. Until quite recently the superior brightness and wider viewing angle of color plasma displays, when compared to LCD televisions, made them one of the most popular forms of display for HDTV. However since that time improvements in LCD technology have closed the gap dramatically. The lower weight, price, and power consumption of LCDs have seen them make large inroads into the former plasma market.
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