This application claims an invention which was also disclosed in the following utility applications: copending U. S. Application Serial Number 09/299,350, filed April 26,1999, entitled"PROCESS FOR MAKING ARRAY OF FIBERS USED IN FIBER-BASED PLASMA", copending U. S. Application Serial Number 09/299,370, filed April 26,1999 entitled "FIBER BASED PLASMA DISPLAY", copending U. S. Application Serial Number 09/299,371, filed April 26,1999 entitled"FRIT-SEALING PROCESS USED IN MAKING DISPLAYS", copending U. S. Application Serial Number 09/299,372, filed April 26,1999, entitled"FIBER-BASED PLASMA ADDRESSED LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY", copending U. S. Application Serial Number 09/299,394, filed April 26,1999, entitled"LOST GLASS PROCESS USED IN MAKING FIBER-BASED DISPLAY", copending U. S. Application Serial Number 09/517,353, entitled FIBER-BASED DISPLAYS CONTAINING LENSES AND METHODS OF MAKING SAME filed March 2,2000, and copending U. S. Application Serial Number 09/517,759, entitled REFLECTIVE ELECTRO-OPTIC FIBER-BASED DISPLAYS, filed March 2,2000. The aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention pertains to the field of fiber-based displays. More particularly, the invention pertains to fiber-based plasma, plasma addressed liquid crystal, field emission displays, reflective displays, three-dimensional and multiple view displays and their methods of manufacture.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION All electronic display technologies are composed of a large array of display picture elements, called pixels, arranged in a two-dimensional matrix. Color is added to these displays by subdividing each pixel element into three-color subpixels. The electronic display technologies can be further divided into a category known as flat-panel displays. The basic structure of a flat-panel display comprises two glass plates with a conductor pattern of electrodes on the inner surfaces of each plate with additional structure to separate the plates or create a channel. The conductors are configured in a x-y matrix with horizontal and vertical electrodes deposited at right angles from each other to allow for matrix addressing. Examples of flat-panel displays include plasma displays, plasma addressed liquid crystal (PALC) displays, field emission displays (FED), and the like.

Plasma Display Plasma display panels (PDP) have been around for about 30 years, however they have not seen widespread commercial use. The main reasons are the short lifetime, low efficiency, and cost of the color plasma displays. Most of the performance issues were solved with the invention of the three electrode surface discharge AC plasma display (G. W. Dick,"Three- Electrode per PEL AC Plasma Display Panel", 1985 International Display Research Conf., pp.

45-50; U. S. Pat. Nos. 4,554,537,4,728,864,4,833,463,5,086,297,5,661,500, and 5,674,553).

The new three electrode surface discharge structure advances many technical attributes of the display, but its complex manufacturing process and detailed structure makes manufacturing complicated and costly.

The traditional method of manufacturing limits the display to small plasma cells (lmm x 0.3mm x 0.15 mm high) which limits their applications to small displays (<80"diagonal). This limitation in plasma cell size also limits the efficiency of the display because of the short firing distance (small if any positive column) and large surface area to volume ratio, which creates a lot of quenching of the plasma. The positive column in a plasma is the section where the number of electrons equals the number of ionized atoms. Fluorescent lights have a luminous efficiency of 80 lum/W, whereas when the positive column is shrunk down from 3 feet to 50 Fm the luminous efficiency is reduced to around 1 lum/W.) Currently, plasma display structures are built up layer by layer on specialty glass substrates using many complex processing steps. Figure 1 illustrates the basic structure of a

surface discharge AC plasma display made using standard technology. The PDP can be broken down into two parts: top plate 10 and bottom plate 20. The top plate 10 has rows of paired electrodes referred to as the sustain electrodes 1 la and 1 lb. The sustain electrodes are composed of wide transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes 12 and narrow Cr/Cu/Cr bus electrodes 13. These electrodes are formed using sputtering and multi-layer photolithography.

The sustain electrodes 11 are covered with a thick (25 m) dielectric layer 14 so that they are not exposed to the plasma. Silk-screening a high dielectric paste over the surface of the top plate and consolidating it in a high temperature process step forms this dielectric layer 14. A magnesium oxide layer (MgO) 15 is deposited by electron-beam evaporation over the dielectric layer to enhance secondary emission of electrons and improve display efficiency. The bottom plate 20 has columns of address electrodes 21 formed by silk-screening silver paste and firing the paste in a high temperature process step. Barrier ribs 22 are then formed between the address electrodes 21. These ribs 22, typically 50 zm wide and 120 pm high, are formed using either a greater than ten layer multiple silk-screening process or a sandblasting process. In the sandblasting method, barrier rib paste is blade coated on the glass substrate. A photoresist film laminated on the paste is patterned by photolithography. The rib structure is formed by sandblasting the rib paste between the exposed pattern, followed by removal of the photoresist layer and a high temperature consolidation of the barrier rib 22. Alternating red 23R, green 23G, and blue 23B phosphors are silk-screened into the channels between the barrier ribs to provide color for the display. After silk-screening the phosphors 23, the bottom plate is sandblasted to remove excess phosphor in the channels. The top and bottom plates are frit sealed together and the panel is evacuated and backfilled with a gas mixture containing xenon.

The basic operation of the display requires a plasma discharge where the ionized xenon generates ultraviolet (UV) radiation. This UV light is absorbed by the phosphor and converted into visible light. To address a pixel in the display, an AC voltage is applied across the sustain electrodes 11 which is large enough to sustain a plasma, but not large enough to ignite one. A plasma is a lot like a transistor, as the voltage is increased nothing happens until a specific voltage is reached where it turns on. Then an additional short voltage pulse is applied to the address electrode 21, which adds to the sustain voltage and ignites the plasma by adding to the total local electric field, thereby breaking down the gas into a plasma. Once the plasma is formed, electrons are pulled out of the plasma and deposited on the MgO layer 15. These electrons are used to ignite the plasma in the next phase of the AC sustain electrodes. To turn the pixel off, an opposite voltage must be applied to the address electrode 21 to drain the

electrons from the MgO layer 15, thereby leaving no priming charge to ignite the plasma in the next AC voltage cycle on the sustain electrodes. Using these priming electrons, each pixel can be systematically turned on or off. To achieve gray levels in a plasma display, each video frame is divided into 8 bits (256 levels) and, depending on the specific gray level, the pixels are turned on during these times.

Addressing the Plasma Display There are presently three address modes of operation for a standard AC plasma display: (1) erase address (U. S. Pat. No. 5,446,344), (2) write address (U. S. Pat. No. 5,661,500) and (3) ramped voltage address (U. S. Pat. No. 5,745,086). The prior art wave forms for the matrix erase address waveform is shown in Figure 2. In the initial address cycle CA in the line display period T a discharge sustain pulse PS is applied to the display electrode 1 la and simultaneously a writing pulse in applied to the display electrode 1 lb. In Figure 2, the inclined line in the discharge sustain pulse PS indicates that it is selectively applied to lines. By this operation, all surface discharge cells are made to be in a written state.

After the discharge sustain pulses PS are alternately applied to the display electrodes 1 la and 1 lb to stabilize the written states, and at an end stage of the address cycle CA, an erase pulse PD is applied to the display electrode 1 lb and a surface discharge occurs.

The erase pulse PD is short in pulse width, 1 us to 2 u. s. As a result, wall charges on a line as a unit are lost by the discharge caused by the erase pulse PD. However, by taking a timing with the erase pulse PD, a positive electric field control pulse PA having a wave height Va is applied to address electrodes 21 corresponding to unit luminescent pixel elements to be illuminated in the line.

In the unit luminescent pixel elements where the electric field control pulse PA is applied, the electric field due to the erase pulse PD is neutralized so that the surface discharge for erase is prevented and the wall charges necessary for display remain. More specifically, addressing is performed by a selective erase in which the written states of the surface discharge cells to be illuminated are kept.

In the display period CH following the address cycle CA, the discharge sustain pulse PS is alternately applied to the display electrodes l la and l lob to illuminate the phosphor layers 23.

The display of an image is established by repeating the above operation for all line display periods.

The prior art waveforms for the matrix write address waveform is shown in Figure 3. At the initial stage of the address cycle CA, a writing pulse PW is applied to the display electrode 1 la at the same time a sustain pulse is applied to display electrode 1 lb so as to make the potential thereof large enough to place each pixel element in the line in a write state. The write pulse PW is followed by two sustain pulses PS to condition the plasma cells. A narrow relative pulse of width tl is then applied to each pixel element in the line to erase the wall charge. The narrow pulse is obtained by applying a voltage Vs on the sustain electrode 1 la a time tl before a voltage Vs is applied to sustain electrode 1 lb. In the display line, a discharge sustain pulse PS is selectively applied to the display electrode l lob and a selective discharge pulse PA is selectively applied to the address electrodes 21 corresponding to the unit luminescent pixel elements to be illuminated in the line depending on the image. By this procedure, opposite discharges between the address electrodes 21 and the display electrode l lob or selective discharges occur, so that the surface discharge cells corresponding to the unit luminescent pixel elements to be illuminated are placed into write states and the addressing finishes.

In the display period CH following the address cycle CA, the discharge sustain pulse PS is alternately applied to the display electrodes 1 la and 1 lb to illuminate the phosphor layers 23.

The display of an image is established by repeating the above operation for all line display periods.

The prior art wave forms for the matrix ramped voltage address waveform is shown in Figure 4. During the setup period a voltage ramp PE is applied to the sustain electrode 1 lb which acts to erase any pixel sites which are in the ON state. After the initial erase a slowly rising ramp potential Vr is applied to the sustain electrode 1 la then raised potential is applied to sustain electrode 1 lb and a falling potential Vf is applied to the sustain electrode 1 la. The rising and falling voltages produces a controlled discharge causing the establishment of standardized wall potentials at each of the pixel sites along the sustain line. During the succeeding address pulse period, address data pulses PA are applied to selected column address lines 21 while sustain lines llb are scanned PSc. This action causes selective setting of the wall charge states at pixel sites along a row in accordance with applied data pulses.

Thereafter, during the following sustain period an initial longer sustain pulse PSL is applied to the sustain electrode 1 la to assure proper priming of the pixels in the written state.

The remaining sustaining period is composed of discharge sustain pulses PS alternately applied to the display electrodes 11 la and 1 lb to illuminate the phosphor layers 23. The display of an image is established by repeating the above operation for all line display periods.

A number of methods have been proposed to create the structure in a plasma display, such as thin and thick film processing, photolithography, silk screening, sand blasting, and embossing. However, none of the structure forming techniques provides as many advantages as that of using fibers. Also, none of the techniques allows for the formation of medium (0.1 mm3 to 5 mm3) to large (5 mm3 and up) plasma cells. Small hollow tubes were first used to create structure in a panel by W. Mayer,"Tubular AC Plasma Panels,"1972 IEEE Conf. Display Devices, Conf. Rec., New York, pp. 15-18, and R. Storm,"32-Inch Graphic Plasma Display Module,"1974 SID Int. Symposium, San Diego, pp. 122-123, and included in U. S. Patents 3,964,050 and 4,027,188. These early applications were focused on using an array of gas filled hollow tubes to produce the rib structure in a PDP. In addition, this work focused on adding the electrode structure to the glass plates that sandwiched the gas filled hollow tubes. Since this early investigation no further work was published on further developing a fiber or tube technology until that published by C. Moore and R. Schaeffler,"Fiber Plasma Display", SID'97 Digest, pp. 1055-1058.

Plasma Addressed Liquid Crystal (PALC) Displays The present invention is also directed to PALC displays. Tektronix, Inc. has disclosed and demonstrated the use of plasma channels to address a liquid crystal display. For example, U. S. Patent Nos. 4,896,149,5,036317,5,077,553,5,272,472, and 5,440,201 all disclose such structures. The idea of utilizing fibers for PALC displays was first published by D. M. Trotter, C. B. Moore, and V. A. Bhagavatula,"PALC Displays Made from Electroded Glass Fiber Arrays", SID'97 Digest, pp. 379-382.

The PALC display, illustrated in Figure 5, relies on the highly non-linear electrical behavior of a relatively low-pressure (10-100 Torr) gas, usually He, confined in many parallel channels. A pair of parallel electrodes 36 are deposited in each of the channels 35, and a very thin glass microsheet 33 forms the top of the channels. Channels 35 are defined by ribs 34, which are typically formed by screen printing or sand blasting. A liquid crystal layer 32 on top

of the microsheet 33 is the optically active portion of the display. A cover sheet 30 with transparent conducting electrodes 31 running perpendicular to the plasma channels 35 lies on top of the liquid crystal 32. Conventional polarizers, color filters, and backlights like those found in other liquid crystal displays are also commonly used.

Because there is no ground plane, when voltages are applied to the transparent electrodes 31, the voltages are divided among the liquid crystal 32, the microsheet 33, the plasma channel 35, and any other insulators intervening between the transparent electrode 31 and whatever becomes the virtual ground. As a practical matter, this means that if there is no plasma in the plasma channel 35, the voltage drop across the liquid crystal 32 will be negligible, and the pixels defined by the crossings of the transparent electrodes 31 and the plasma channels 35 will not switch. If, however, a voltage difference sufficient to ionize the gas is first applied between the pair of electrodes 36 in a plasma channel 35, a plasma forms in the plasma channel 35 so that it becomes conducting, and constitutes a ground plane. Consequently, for pixels atop this channel, the voltages will be divided between the liquid crystal 32 and the microsheet 33 only. This places a substantial voltage across the liquid crystal 32 and causes the pixel to switch; therefore, igniting a plasma in the channel causes the row above the channel to be selected. Because the gas in the channels is non-conducting, the rows are extremely well isolated from the column voltages unless selected. This high nonlinearity allows very large numbers of rows to be addressed without loss of contrast.

Field Emission Displays (FEDs) An initial disclosure of a fiber-based FED is found in U. S. Patent 5,984,747. This patent only disclosed one fiber array containing a high voltage electrode and phosphor layer arrayed orthogonal to a glass plate with orthogonal diamond emitter electrodes deposited on the surface of the glass plate. To address the FED disclosed in U. S. Patent 5,984,747, the high voltage would have to be modulated. The electronics needed to switch the high voltage fast enough to address every pixel in a reasonably sized display is presently impossible to construct. Therefore, a new field emission structure is needed that separates the addressing of the electron emission from the high voltage used to accelerate the emitted electrons toward the phosphor layer.

One pitfall with fabricating large FEDs is creating the electron emitters. Electron emitters are traditionally made using Spindt tips, U. S. Patent No. 3,665,241. These field emitter tips are fabricated on a silicon wafer using a costly multilevel photolithography process.

Diamond has been shown to yield a low electron emission coefficient, however no one has been able to demonstrate a technique to address the film using a low voltage addressing technique.

Another very interesting emitter material, discovered by S. Iijma, (Nature, Vol. 354,1991, pp.

56-58) is carbon nanotubes. Because of the shape of the nanotube structures, they have very low field emission voltages as first shown by W. A. de Heer, et al. in Science, Vol. 270,1995, pp.

1179-1180. Using nanotubes as the emitting layer could be very advantageous because they could be used to fabricate very large displays. However, like its diamond emitter counterpart, no one has demonstrated a low-voltage addressing scheme using these materials.

Reflective Displays There are several different methods of producing a reflective display. The most well known and widely used method is to use liquid crystal molecules as an electro-optic material. In the liquid crystal family, a vast range of molecules could potentially be used to create reflective displays. Some of these liquid crystal molecules include twisted nematic, cholesteric-nematic, dichroic dye (or guest-host), dynamic scattering mode, and polymer dispersed molecules. Most of these liquid crystal molecules require other films, such as alignment layers, polarizers, and reflective films.

Another type of reflective display composing an electro-optic material is an electrophoretic display. Early work such as that described in U. S. Patent No. 3,767,392 used a suspension of small charged particles in a liquid solution. The suspension is sandwiched between two glass plates with electrodes on the glass plates. If the particles have the same density as the liquid solution then they will not be effected by gravity, therefore the only way to move the particles is using an electric field. By applying a potential to the electrodes, the charged particles are forced to move in the suspension to one of the contacts. The opposite charge moves the particles to the other contact. Once the particles are moved to one of the contacts, they reside at that point until they are moved by another electric field, therefore the particles are bistable. The electrophoretic suspension is designed such that the particles are a different color than the liquid solution. Therefore, moving the particles from one surface to the other will change the color of the display. One potential problem with this display is the agglomeration of the small charged particles when the display is erased. For example, as the pixel is erased the particles are removed from the contact in groups rather than individually.

The invention of microencapsulating the electrophoretic suspension in small spheres solves this problem, shown in U. S. Patent No. 5,961,804. Figure 6 shows the typical operation of a microencapsulated electrophoretic display. In this display, the particles are positively charged and are attracted to the negative terminal of the display. The charged particles are white and the liquid solution they are suspended in is dark, therefore contrast in the display is optionally achieved by selectively moving some of the particles from one contact to the other.

In this type of display, the electro-optic material is the electrophoretic material 231 and any casing used to contain the electrophoretic material.

A similar type of electro-optic display, a twisting ball display or Gyricon display, is shown in Figure 7 and was invented by N. Sheridon at Xerox, U. S. Patent No. 4,126,854. The display was initially called a twisting ball display because it is composed of small spheres 232, one side coated black, the other white, sandwiched between two electroded glass plates. Upon applying an electric field, the spheres 232 with a positive charged white half and relative negative charged black half are optionally addressed (rotated). Once the spheres 232 are rotated, they stay in that position until an opposite field is applied. This bistable operation requires no electrical power to maintain an image. A follow up patent, U. S. Patent No. 5,739,801, disclosed a multithreshold addressable twisting ball display. In this type of display, the electro-optic material is the bichromal spheres and any medium they may reside in to lower their friction in order to rotate.

The last major electro-optic display is that produced using an electrochromic material.

An electrochromic display, similar to that in U. S. Patent No. 3,521,941, is a battery which has one of the electrodes serving a display function. An electrochemical display stores electrical energy by changing it into chemical energy via an electrochemical reaction at both electrodes.

In this reaction, electrochemically active material 234 is plated-out on one of the contacts changing it from transparent to absorbing. Figure 8 shows the typical reaction of an electrochromic display, where an electrochemical reaction from the applied voltage causes material to plate out on the negative terminal of the display. In this type of display, the electro- optic material is the electrochromic material 234, which is sandwiched between the electroded plates.

The current electro-optic displays have problems with addressing the display. Since most of the electro-optic materials do not have a voltage threshold, displays fabricated with the materials have to be individually addressed. Some of the liquid crystal materials use an active

transistor back plane to address the displays, but these type of displays are presently limited in size due to the complicated manufacturing process. Transmissive displays using liquid crystal materials and a plasma addressed back plane have been demonstrated, for example in U. S.

Patent 4,896,149, as shown in Figure 5. However, a reflective display using such a technique has not been disclosed. In addition, displays fabricated using the plasma addressed back plane shown in Figure 5 are also limited in size due to availability of the thin microsheet 33. One potential solution for producing large size displays is to use fibers to create the plasma cells.

Three-Dimensional and Multiple View Displays The present invention is also directed towards three-dimensional and multiple view displays. Almost all flat-panel three-dimensional or multiple view displays are constructed by aligning a lens array or an array of slits to a preexisting display system.

U. S. Patent Nos. 2,209,747,4,717,949,5,457,574, and 5,838,494 disclose stereoscopic display devices with an array of thin, vertical, parallel, equidistant, light emitting elements formed as lines behind a flat, transmissive, electronically controlled display panel, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a liquid crystal display (LCD). The devices generate the perception of three-dimensional images for an observer. The displays realize stereoscopic viewing without using any ancillary equipment, such as spectacles, that direct optical images of different polarized light components to the right and left eyes, respectively.

U. S. Patent Nos. 2,209,747 and 4,717,949 disclose placing an opaque screen with a plurality of transparent slits in front of another screen, which displays a stereoscopic pair of images made up of alternating strips. Each strip displays a thin vertical section of one of the stereo pair of images. The strips are arranged so that the first strip displays a section of the right eye image, the second strip displays a section of the left eye image, the third strip displays a section of the right eye image and so on. The screen with the transparent slits is placed at a fixed distance in front of a picture so that an observer sees only the right eye strips through the slits with his right eye and only the left eye strips through the slits with his left eye. This technique of displaying stereographic pictures is known as the Hess system. For good image fidelity, the slits have to be very thin, relative to the opaque area that separates the slits, in order to block a large fraction of the light coming from the display. This makes it difficult to obtain bright images.

U. S. Patent Nos. 5,457,574 and 5,838,494 disclose a three-dimensional display apparatus using a lenticular lens sheet. Referring to Figure 9, observation positions R and L correspond to the view points of the right and left eyes. A lenticular lens sheet 340 contains an array of lenticular lenses where each lens has the same radius of curvature and a lens effect in one direction aligned to the electronic display 345 on which linear images are formed. On the electronic display 345, linear images which are obtained by dividing two images having parallax are formed based on the different, right and left view points, along the longitudinal direction of the respective lenticular lenses of the lenticular lens sheet 340. More specifically, alternating images 345a and 345b spaced on the lenticular lens spacing form the two parallax images viewed at points L and R, respecitvely.

Another method of generating a three-dimensional image without using glass is disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 5,790,086. The patent is drawn to a device for creating a three-dimensional image by varying the distance of the image from the viewer pixel by individual pixel. The invention employs an array of extremely small, specially designed light-refracting optical elements which are formed such that the focal length of the elements varies across the surface of the optical element. By minutely displacing the entry point at which light is input to these optics for different pixels within an image, a complete image is presented to the viewer. The image contains certain elements which appear closer to the viewer while other elements appear farther from the viewer, mimicking the view of a real-world scene.

Prior art techniques for generating a three-dimensional image or multiple view image required a difficult alignment of either the lens array sheet or a sheet with an array of slits to the electronic display. Fabricating large lens arrays with tight tolerances have been difficult and fabricating large flat panel displays has been next to impossible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A fiber-based display includes orthogonal arrays of fiber with co-drawn wire electrodes placed between two plates to form an information display. One of the key concepts of the invention is that all structure of each row and column of a display panel is contained within each fiber of both arrays. Therefore, the entire functionality of the display is contained within each fiber of the display. Containing the structure of the display within the fibers not only eliminates multi-level alignment process steps, but allows for the fabrication of very large flat panel

displays. The fiber arrays are formed by drawing fiber from a preform onto a cylindrical drum and then removing them from the drum as a sheet of fibers. The fiber arrays are assembled between the plates before a seal is applied. Tight control of the fiber shape and cross-section is obtained using a lost glass or polymer process. The cross-sectional shape of the fibers in the fiber arrays are suitable for use in a flat panel display, such as plasma emissive displays, plasma addressed liquid crystal displays, field emission displays, reflective displays, three-dimensional and multiple view displays.

The present invention relates to a fiber-based plasma display device, which includes two glass plates sandwiched around a top fiber array and a bottom fiber array. The top fiber array includes identical top fibers, each top fiber including two sustain electrodes located near a surface of the top fiber on a side facing away from the viewer. A thin dielectric layer separates the sustain electrodes from the plasma channel formed by a bottom fiber array. The bottom fiber array includes three alternating bottom fibers, each bottom fiber including a pair of barrier ribs that define the plasma channel, an address electrode located near a surface of the plasma channel, and a phosphor layer coating on the surface of the plasma channel, wherein a luminescent color of the phosphor coating in each of the three alternating bottom fibers represents a subpixel color of the plasma display. Each subpixel is formed by a crossing of one top fiber and one corresponding bottom fiber.

In another embodiment of the invention, a plasma display is composed of at least two orthogonal arrays of fiber-like structures. Each fiber contains at least one wire electrode creating plasma cells with a volume greater than 0.05 mm3.

In another embodiment of the invention, a fiber-based PALC (plasma addressed liquid crystal) display device includes two plates sandwiched around a top fiber array and a bottom fiber array. The top and bottom fiber arrays are substantially orthogonal and define a structure of the display, with the top fiber array disposed on a side facing towards a viewer. The top array includes three alternating top fibers, each top fiber including at least one wire address electrode and built in liquid crystal spacers. The top fibers are composed of a colored material with absorbing sides, which builds into the display the color filter and black matrix functions. The bottom array includes identical bottom fibers, each bottom fiber including a hollow plasma channel and two wire channel electrodes. Polarizing films and liquid crystal alignment layers are applied to the top and bottom fibers, which are assembled orthogonal to each other and a liquid crystal material is filled between them. The PALC display is sealed around the perimeter to

contain the liquid crystal and the wire electrodes are brought out through the seal and connected to the drive control system.

An embodiment of the invention pertains to the field of constructing a field emission display using an array of fibers and an orthogonal array of emitter electrodes. Each fiber in the fiber array contains an extraction electrode, spacer, a high voltage electrode and a phosphor layer. The array of emitter electrodes consists of carbon nanotube emitters attached to conductive electrodes. The emitter electrodes are separated using non-conductive fibers. A getter material in the form of a wire is placed within the array of emitter electrodes to maintain a high vacuum within the display. A metal-insulator-metal cathode may be used as the electron emission source for the display.

Another embodiment of the invention includes the use of fibers with wire electrodes to construct reflective fiber-based displays, where reflectivity is formed by modulating an electro- optic material within the display. A plasma channel is optionally built into the display to address the electro-optic material. The plasma channel is optionally totally contained within the fibers and addressed using wire electrodes. The wire electrodes are contained within the fiber or on the surface of the fiber. The fibers are optionally colored to impart color to the display, or are optionally black to serve as an absorbing layer to enhance the contrast of the display, or white to enhance the reflectivity of the display. The electro-optic material consists of a liquid crystal material, electrophoretic material, bichromal sphere material, electrochromic material, or any electro-optic material that can serve to create a reflective display. In addition, colored pigment is optionally added to the electro-optic material to impart color to the display. The fibers are optionally composed of glass, glass ceramic, plastic/polymer, metal, or a combination of the above.

In another embodiment of the invention, a three-dimensional display is formed using glass fibers with wire electrodes. The fibers have a lens function built into them to create the three-dimensional image. The three-dimensional image is created using a lenticular shaped fiber that provides a left and right eye image or a stereoscopic view. The lenticular shaped fibers also form multiple views across the viewing zone in front of the display. A lens shaped fiber with wire electrodes is also used to form a three-dimensional view where the image is created by varying the distance of the image from the viewer pixel by individual pixel. This three- dimensional image is created by dynamically changing the focus of the light generated by the display at each pixel location. The lenses which generate the three-dimensional images are

preferably standard concave and convex lenses, a combination of both concave and convex lenses, or a Fresnel lens. The lens can also be contained within the fiber by using a high and low index of refraction material to form the fiber. The electronic part of the displays preferably function as plasma displays (PDP), plasma addressed liquid crystal (PALC) displays, field emission displays (FED), cathode ray tubes (CRT), electroluminescent (EL) displays or any similar type of displays.

In an embodiment of the invention, a process for fabricating a fiber-based display includes drawing fiber onto a cylindrical drum, removing the fibers from the drum to form an array of fibers, and laying at least one array of fibers removed from the drum between two plates to form a fiber-based display panel. The cross-sectional shape of the fibers in the fiber arrays are suitable for use in a flat panel display, such as plasma emissive displays, plasma addressed liquid crystal displays, and field emissive displays.

Another aspect of the invention involves a method of sealing the display together.

Removing the electrodes from the glass plates and including them in the glass fibers eliminates the need for one panel to be larger than the other in one direction and vice versa, such that electrical connection can be made to the display. Making one plate larger than the other allows the display to be first assembled into a panel, then the seal applied to the panel. This method of assembling the panel before sealing is particularly useful for fiber-based displays because the fibers can be clamped tight between the glass plates during the sealing step to prevent the formation of gaps between fibers.

Another embodiment of the invention is a process for frit-sealing together a panel of a fiber-based information display. This process includes assembling the panel and sealing, after the step of assembling, the panel by forcing a glass frit to flow between the two glass plates that comprise the panel using narrow strips of glass. The glass frit-seals the top and bottom glass plates together and covers the wire electrodes at the end of the fibers to dielectrically isolate them from each other. The process of assembling and frit-sealing the panel is particularly suitable for use in an information display, such as plasma emissive displays, plasma addressed liquid crystal displays, field emissive displays, reflective displays, three-dimensional and multiple view displays, and the like.

An embodiment of the invention fabricates a fiber-based information display using a lost glass process. The lost glass process includes drawing a fiber from a preform composed of at

least two different glass compositions, where one of the compositions is a dissolvable glass, and removing the dissolvable glass with a liquid solution to change a cross-sectional shape of the drawn fiber. The lost glass process can be used to create an exposed wire electrode, where the drawn fiber contains a wire electrode that is exposed when the dissolvable glass is removed.

The lost glass process can also be used to hold the shape and a tight tolerance of the drawn fiber.

The cross-sectional shape of the fibers created using the lost glass process are suitable for use in an information display, such as plasma emissive displays, plasma addressed liquid crystal displays, and field emissive displays. A similar lost plastic or lost polymer process can be employed where the sacrificial polymer or plastic is removed using wet, dry, photochemical, or a thermal process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 illustrates a standard plasma display in accordance with the prior art.

Figure 2 shows the prior art waveforms for the erase address mode of operation.

Figure 3 shows the prior art waveforms for the write address mode of operation.

Figure 4 shows the prior art waveforms for the ramped voltage address mode of operation.

Figure 5 illustrates a standard PALC display in accordance with the prior art.

Figure 6 schematically shows a cross-section and addressing of an electrophoretic display, in accordance with the prior art.

Figure 7 schematically shows a cross-section and addressing of a bichromal sphere display in accordance with the prior art.

Figure 8 schematically shows a cross-section and addressing of an electrochromic display in accordance with the prior art.

Figure 9 shows a schematic view of stereoscopic viewing in a three-dimensional display apparatus using a lenticular lens sheet in accordance with the prior art.

Figure 10 illustrates the fiber draw process.

Figure 11 schematically shows the fiber-based plasma display with all functions of the display integrated into fibers with embedded wire electrodes in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 12 schematically shows a cross-section of a frit-sealing process using glass tabs to force the frit to flow into the gap between the glass plates.

Figure 13 shows a planar view of the plasma panel frit sealed with glass tabs and wire electrodes extending out through the frit region.

Figure 14 schematically shows a frit-sealing process to attached the evacuation tube to the plasma panel using a glass washer to force the frit to flow.

Figure 15A illustrates the process steps to form a fiber array.

Figure 15B illustrates the process steps to form a fiber array.

Figure 15C illustrates the process steps to form a fiber array.

Figure 15D illustrates the process steps to form a fiber array.

Figure 16 illustrates a typical process flow for fiber-based plasma display.

Figure 17 illustrates a process to coat phosphor in the fiber channels on a rotating drum and remove the excess from the top of the barrier ribs.

Figure 18A schematically shows a cross-section of guide structure built into the bottom fiber to interlock the fibers.

Figure 18B schematically shows a cross-section of an interlocking structure built into the bottom fiber.

Figure 19A schematically shows a cross-section of a guide structure built into the top fiber to interlock the fibers.

Figure 19B schematically shows a cross-section of an interlocking structure built into the top fiber.

Figure 20 schematically shows the use of optically absorbing sides in the top fiber to form a black matrix pattern.

Figure 21 schematically shows a cross-section of an interlocking structure built into the top fiber and the use of optically absorbing sides in the top fiber to form a black matrix pattern.

Figure 22 schematically shows a cross-section of an interlocking structure built into the top fiber and the use of optically absorbing sides in the top fiber to form a black matrix pattern.

Figure 23 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber in a plasma display with intra-pixel shape.

Figure 24 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber in a plasma display with intra-pixel shape.

Figure 25 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber in a plasma display with intra-pixel shape.

Figure 26 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber in a plasma display with two wire electrodes per sustain electrode.

Figure 27 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber in a plasma display with three wire electrodes per sustain electrode.

Figure 28 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber in a plasma display with two wire electrodes per sustain electrode and intra-pixel shape.

Figure 29 schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber depicting the addressing distance, d, between the address electrode and the sustain electrodes which would be located at the top of the channel.

Figure 30A schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber where the address electrode is moved up into the wall of the barrier rib to reduce the distance between the address electrode and sustain electrodes, thus increasing the electric field of the addressing pulse.

Figure 30B schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber where two address electrodes are located in the top of the walls of the barrier ribs to reduce the distance between the

address electrodes and sustain electrodes, thus increasing the electric field of the addressing pulse.

Figure 31A schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber where the address electrode is at the top of the barrier rib and an additional wire electrode is placed at the bottom of the plasma channel to define a lower plane and confine the electric field form the sustain electrodes. This electrode could also serve to block the EMF radiating out of the back of the display.

Figure 31B schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber where the address electrodes are at the top of the barrier ribs and an additional wire electrode is placed at the bottom of the plasma channel to define a lower plane and confine the electric field form the sustain electrodes. This electrode could also serve to block the EMF radiating out of the back of the display.

Figure 31C schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber where the address electrode is at the top of the barrier rib and two additional wire electrodes are placed at the bottom of the plasma channel to define a lower plane and confine the electric field form the sustain electrodes. These electrodes could also serve to block the EMF radiating out of the back of the display.

Figure 31D schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber where the address electrodes are at the top of the barrier ribs and two additional wire electrodes are placed at the bottom of the plasma channel to define a lower plane and confine the electric field form the sustain electrodes. These electrodes could also serve to block the EMF radiating out of the back of the display.

Figure 32 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber with two sets of closely spaced electrodes separated by a larger distance used to pull the plasma during operation.

Figure 33 schematically shows addressing in the four-electrode top fiber configuration.

Figure 34 is a Paschen curve which represents the voltage potential as a function of reduced electrode distance, Pd, for both the starting potential and sustaining potential of a given gas.

Figure 35 shows the voltage waveforms for the erase address then pulled plasma sustain mode of operation.

Figure 36 shows the voltage waveforms for the write address then pulled plasma sustain mode of operation.

Figure 37 shows the voltage waveforms for the ramped voltage address then pulled plasma sustain mode of operation.

Figure 38 schematically shows a cross-section of top fibers with two sets of closely spaced electrodes in adjacent fibers separated by a larger distance used to pull the plasma during operation.

Figure 39 schematically shows a cross-section of top fibers with a set of closely spaced electrodes in adjacent fibers separated by a larger distance between a single electrode on each side used to pull the plasma during interlaced addressing.

Figure 40 schematically shows a cross-section of top fibers with two sets of closely spaced electrodes in adjacent fibers with a built in black matrix between the electrodes separated by a larger distance used to pull the plasma during operation.

Figure 41 schematically shows a cross-section of top fibers with two sets of closely spaced electrodes in adjacent fibers separated by a larger distance used to pull the plasma during operation. The area around the wire electrodes is textured to enhance the electric field.

Figure 42 schematically shows a cross-section of top fibers with two sets of closely spaced electrodes in adjacent fibers separated by a larger distance used to pull the plasma during operation. The area around the wire electrodes is curved to create a uniform electric field.

Figure 43 schematically shows a cross-section of top fibers with additional wire electrodes to assist in directing the electric field out of the fiber and into the plasma region.

Figure 44 schematically shows a cross-section of top fibers with additional wire electrodes to assist in directing the electric field out of the fiber and into the plasma region.

Figure 45 schematically shows a cross-section of top fibers with a transparent electrode on or near its top surface to assist in directing the electric field out of the fiber and into the plasma region.

Figure 46 schematically shows a cross-section of top fibers with two sets of closely spaced electrodes in adjacent fibers separated by a larger distance used to pull the plasma during operation. The electrode sets are raise from the fibers to enhance the electrode field during pulling of the plasma.

Figure 47 schematically shows a cross-section of top fibers with two sets of closely spaced electrodes in adjacent fibers separated by a larger distance used to pull the plasma during operation. The electrode sets are raise from the fibers to enhance the electrode field during pulling of the plasma with a V-shaped center to keep the plasma from spreading over the barrier ribs.

Figure 48 schematically shows a large fiber pulled plasma display with a grooved top fiber, which is periodically filled with glass frit at the top of the bottom fiber's barrier ribs.

Figure 49 is a cross-section taken from Figure 48.

Figure 50 schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber with glass sealing frit attached to the sides of the fiber.

Figure 51A schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber with glass sealing frit attached to the top sides of the fiber.

Figure 51B schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber with glass sealing frit attached to the top of the barrier ribs.

Figure 52 schematically shows three bottom fibers sealed together on their sides with a glass sealing frit.

Figure 53 schematically shows a plasma display with a long positive glow region formed by pulling electrons through the gas to a third set of electrodes.

Figure 54 schematic cross-section of the top fiber shown in Figure 53, which will resist the priming charge getting stolen to the anode electrode.

Figure 55 schematically shows a plasma display formed using three fiber arrays with a long positive glow region formed by pulling electrons through the gas to a third set of electrodes.

Figure 56 schematically shows the fiber-based PALC display with all functions of the display integrated into the fibers with embedded wire electrodes in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 57 schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber in a PALC display.

Figure 58A schematically shows a cross-section of the top fiber in a PALC display with one address electrode.

Figure 58B schematically shows a cross-section of the top fiber in a PALC display with two address electrodes.

Figure 58C schematically shows a cross-section of the top fiber in a PALC display with three address electrodes.

Figure 59 schematically shows a cross-section of top fiber in a PALC display with integrated color filter and black matrix pattern.

Figure 60 schematically shows a cross-section of top fiber in a PALC display with integrated color filter, black matrix pattern and interlocking structure.

Figure 61A schematically shows a cross-section of the bottom fiber in a PALC display partially formed using a lost glass process.

Figure 61B schematically shows a cross-section of the bottom fiber in a PALC display partially formed using a lost glass process.

Figure 61C schematically shows a cross-section of the bottom fiber in a PALC display partially formed using a lost glass process.

Figure 62A schematically shows a cross-section of the top fiber in a PALC display partially formed using a lost glass process.

Figure 62B schematically shows a cross-section of the top fiber in a PALC display partially formed using a lost glass process.

Figure 63 schematically illustrates a fiber-based FED with two orthogonal arrays in accordance with the current invention.

Figure 64A schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber containing the support structure, extraction and high-voltage electrodes, and phosphor layer.

Figure 64B schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber, where the extraction electrodes come to a point to enhance the electric field.

Figure 64C schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber with a black matrix and color filter build into the fiber.

Figure 64D schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber with a single high-voltage wire electrode.

Figure 65A schematically shows a cross-section of the emitter electrode array including spacers and getter material.

Figure 65B schematically shows a cross-section of the emitter electrode array, where the getter material is coated on the outside of a wire and a resistor material is added between the emitter material and wire electrode.

Figure 65C schematically shows a cross-section of the emitter electrode array, where the getter material has a non-cylindrical shape to increase its surface area.

Figure 65D schematically shows a cross-section of the emitter electrode array, where the getter material and the electrode spacers are included in one a single structure.

Figure 66A schematically shows a cross-section of the emitter electrode array, where the nanotube coated wire emitter is replaced with a thin film emitter layer.

Figure 66B schematically shows a cross-section of the emitter electrode array, where the nanotube coated wire emitter has a cylindrical cross-section.

Figure 66C schematically shows a cross-section of the emitter electrode array, where the emitter electrode is composed of several nanotube coated wire electrodes.

Figure 66D schematically shows a cross-section of the emitter electrode array, where the getter material and the nanotube coated wire electrode are combined.

Figure 67A schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber, which includes a pair of focusing electrodes.

Figure 67B schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber, which includes a pair of focusing electrodes.

Figure 68 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber where electron multiplier electrodes are included in the fiber.

Figure 69A schematically illustrates a method of maintaining the fiber shape using forming tools during the draw process.

Figure 69B shows the draw forces one the preform/fiber in the root during the draw process.

Figure 70A shows a method of maintaining the fiber shape using a lost glass process.

Figure 70B shows the fiber from the preform in Figure 70A after the draw process and removal of the sacrificial glass.

Figure 71 schematically illustrates a fiber-based FED with three fiber/wire arrays in accordance with the current invention Figure 72A schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber, which includes the high voltage electrodes and phosphor layer.

Figure 72B schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber with long support structures.

Figure 73A schematically shows a cross-section of a middle fiber with extraction electrodes.

Figure 73B schematically shows a cross-section of a middle fiber with a focusing electrode.

Figure 74A schematically represents a method of aligning the middle fiber array with the proper separation between fibers using small spacers that are subsequently removed.

Figure 74B schematically represents a method of aligning the middle fiber array with the proper separation between fibers using a coating that is subsequently removed.

Figure 75 schematically illustrates a fiber-based surface emission display in accordance with the current invention.

Figure 76A schematically represents an extraction electrode of a surface emission display.

Figure 76B schematically represents an extraction electrode with a non-continuous surface emission layer.

Figure 76C schematically represents an extraction electrode coated with extraction particles.

Figure 77A schematically represents the lower half of the support structure fiber with a wire mesh address electrode.

Figure 77B schematically represents the lower half of the support structure fiber with a particle containing film between the address electrodes.

Figure 78 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber structure containing ribs to form the structure that supports the electro-optic material.

Figure 79 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber structure with a built-in black matrix.

Figure 80A schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber structure with a contoured surface around the wire electrodes to control the electric field through the electro-optic material.

Figure 80B schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber structure with a contoured surface around the wire electrodes to control the electric field through i. he electro-optic material.

Figure 81A schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber structure with a dissolvable material used to expose the wire electrodes.

Figure 81B schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber structure in Figure 81a with the dissolvable material removed, thus exposing the wire electrodes.

Figure 82 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber structure with a conductive surface layer.

Figure 83 schematically shows an array of top fiber structures composed of different colored fibers and different colored electro-optic material, both of which add color to the display.

Figure 84 schematically shows an array of fibers containing wire electrodes and ribs that create the structure to support the electro-optic material and a glass plate with transparent electrodes to form the opposite electrode surface.

Figure 85 schematically shows two orthogonal fiber arrays with wire electrodes, where the structure of the electro-optic display is formed using one of the fiber arrays.

Figure 86 schematically shows two orthogonal fiber arrays with wire electrodes, where the structure of the electro-optic display is formed using both fiber arrays.

Figure 87 schematically shows an array of fibers containing plasma channels with wire electrodes to address the plasma channels and ribs to form the structure in the electro- optic display, and a glass plate with transparent electrodes to form the opposite electrode surface.

Figure 88 schematically shows an array of fibers containing plasma channels with wire electrodes to address the plasma channels and ribs to form the structure in the electro- optic display, and a second orthogonal fiber array with wire electrodes to form the opposite electrode surface.

Figure 89 schematically shows an array of fibers containing plasma channels with wire electrodes to address the plasma channels, a second orthogonal fiber array with wire electrodes to address the display, and a glass substrate with a transparent electrode coating to modulate the electro-optic material.

Figure 90 schematically shows an array of fibers containing plasma channels with wire electrodes to address the plasma channels and a second orthogonal fiber array with two sets of wire electrodes; one to address the display and one to modulate the electro-optic material.

Figure 91 schematically illustrates a reflective display where the electro-optic material is contained within a fiber.

Figure 92 schematically illustrates a reflective display where the plasma to address the electro- optic material is addressed at every pixel location.

Figure 93 schematically illustrates a total-fiber reflective display where the electro-optic material is contained within a fiber and the display is plasma addressed.

Figure 94 schematically illustrates a reflective display where the plasma is confined and addressed at each individual pixel.

Figure 95 schematically illustrates a transflective display.

Figure 96A schematically shows the top fiber in Figure 95 with absorbing sides and a reflective base.

Figure 96B schematically shows the top fiber in 96a with the particles in the electrophoretic material pulled to one of the side contacts.

Figure 96C schematically shows the top fiber in 96a with the particles in the electrophoretic material pulled to the bottom of the channel.

Figure 96D schematically shows the top fiber in 96a with bichromal spheres aligned using an in plane voltage.

Figure 96E schematically shows the top fiber in 96a with bichromal spheres aligned using a voltage normal to the plane of the display.

Figure 97A schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber structure with a dissolvable material used to hold the tolerance in the fiber during the draw process.

Figure 97B schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber structure in Figure 97a with the dissolvable material removed.

Figure 98A schematically shows a plasma tube with the electrodes at the ends of the tubes.

Figure 98B schematically shows a plasma tube with built in spacers for the electro-optic material and electrodes at the ends of the tubes.

Figure 99 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a fiber with absorbing regions, which form a small slit that is used to form multiple views from multiple light generated regions.

Figure 100 shows a cross-sectional schematic of the width of the light generated regions from the fiber in Figure 99.

Figure 101 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a top fiber of a plasma display with absorbing regions to create a small slit and three separate sustain electrodes.

Figure 102 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a top fiber of a plasma display with absorbing regions to create a small slit and three separate sustain electrodes.

Figure 103 is a cross-sectional schematic of a top fiber of a plasma display with absorbing regions to create a small slit and light guide regions to the small slit and three separate sustain electrodes.

Figure 104 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a top fiber of a PALC display with absorbing regions to create a small slit and three separate pairs of address electrodes.

Figure 105 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a top fiber of a PALC display with absorbing regions to create a small slit and three separate pairs of address electrodes consisting of a conductive wire connected to a transparent conductive region.

Figure 106 illustrates a fiber-based lenticular lens system with wire electrodes.

Figure 107 illustrates a fiber-based lenticular lens system with eight potential views.

Figure 108 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a lenticular lens showing the ray traces that form the two images.

Figure 109 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a lenticular lens top fiber of a plasma display with three sets of sustain electrode pairs.

Figure 110 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a lenticular lens top fiber of a plasma display with three sets of sustain electrode pairs.

Figure 111 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a lenticular lens top fiber of a plasma display where the lens is formed inside the fiber with a different index material.

Figure 112A shows a cross-sectional schematic of a lenticular lens top fiber of a plasma display where the lens is a Fresnel lens formed on the surface using a lost glass process.

Figure 112B shows a cross-sectional schematic of a lenticular lens top fiber of a plasma display where the lens is a Fresnel lens formed on the surface using a lost glass process.

Figure 113 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a lenticular lens top fiber of a plasma display that has five viewing zones where the lens is a Fresnel lens.

Figure 114 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a lenticular lens top fiber of a PALC display.

Figure 115 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a lenticular lens top fiber of a PALC display with transparent electrodes.

Figure 116A shows a cross-sectional schematic of a bottom fiber of a plasma display with curved plasma channel to focus the generated light.

Figure 116B shows a cross-sectional schematic of a bottom fiber of a plasma display with curved plasma channel to focus the generated light.

Figure 116C shows a cross-sectional schematic of a bottom fiber of a plasma display with curved plasma channel to focus the generated light.

Figure 117A shows a cross-sectional schematic of a bottom fiber of a PALC display with a lens built into the fiber inside the hollow plasma channel.

Figure 117B shows a cross-sectional schematic of a bottom fiber of a PALC display with a lens built into the fiber inside the hollow plasma channel.

Figure 118 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a bottom fiber of a PALC display with a Fresnel lens built into the surface of the fiber.

Figure 119 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a bottom fiber of a PALC display with a lens built into the fiber inside the hollow plasma channel and a Fresnel lens built into the surface of the fiber.

Figure 120 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a bottom fiber of a PALC display with a quasi- Fresnel lens built into the surface of the fiber to direct the light into the hollow plasma channel.

Figure 121 shows a ray trace of how a three-dimensional image is generated with varying viewing depth at each pixel using fibers with a built in lens function.

Figure 122 shows a cross-sectional schematic of a set of top fibers used to create a three- dimensional image with varying depth.

Figure 123 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a plasma display used to create a three-dimensional image with varying depth.

Figure 124 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a plasma display used to create a three-dimensional image with varying depth.

Figure 125 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a plasma display with a lens having a continuously varying focal length used to create a three-dimensional image with varying depth.

Figure 126 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a plasma display with a lens having a continuously varying focal length used to create a three-dimensional image with varying depth.

Figure 127 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a plasma display with a binary lens used to create a three-dimensional image with varying depth.

Figure 128 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a plasma display with a Fresnel lens used to create a three-dimensional image with varying depth.

Figure 129 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a plasma display with a lenticular lens surface.

Figure 130 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a plasma display with a lenticular lens surface.

Figure 131 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a plasma display with a lens contained within the fiber formed with a different index of refraction material used to create a three-dimensional image with varying depth.

Figure 132 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a plasma display with a lens contained within the fiber formed with a different index of refraction material used to create a three-dimensional image with varying depth.

Figure 133 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a plasma display with collimated light regions formed with a different index of refraction material.

Figure 134 shows a cross-sectional schematic of bottom fiber of a PALC display with light redirection regions formed with a different index of refraction material.

Figure 135 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a PALC display with a Fresnel lens surface used to create a three-dimensional image with varying depth.

Figure 136 shows a cross-sectional schematic of top fiber of a PALC display with a lens having a continuously varying focal length used to create a three-dimensional image with varying depth and where the fibers are colored to add color to the display.

Figure 137A shows a cross-sectional schematic of a top fiber of a FED with a lenticular lens built into the top to the fiber.

Figure 137B shows a cross-sectional schematic of a top fiber of a FED with a lens having a continuously varying focal length used to create a three-dimensional image with varying depth.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the following description it is understood that the term"top"refers to the section or sections of a panel in a display that is closest to the viewer, whereas"bottom"refers to the section or sections of a panel in the display that is on the half away from the viewer.

One of the key concepts of the invention is that all structure of each row and column of a display panel is contained within each fiber of both arrays. Therefore, the entire functionality of the display is contained within each fiber of the display. Each individual fiber in the top fiber array contains all the structure of each row of the display and each individual fiber in the bottom fiber array contains all the structure of each column of the display. In the invention, fibers with wire electrodes are formed by drawing fiber 27 from an appropriately shaped preform 40, as illustrated in Figure 10. The fibers are assembled into arrays and placed between two plates to form the structure of an information display. The preform 40 in which the fiber is drawn from is formed using an extrusion process, where a billot of glass or plastic is loaded into a high temperature press and it is forced out through a die to form an appropriately-shaped preform 40.

The fiber can also be formed directly from the hot glass extrusion process by either extruding the appropriately sized and shaped fiber or drawing the fiber directly from the preform as it exits the extrusion machine. Examples of fiber-based information displays are shown in Figure 11 for

a plasma display and Figure 56 for a PALC display, similar fiber-based displays could be constructed for other flat-panel displays such as FEDs, reflective displays, three-dimensional and multiple view displays, and the like.

Glass fiber 27 (or 17) is drawn from a large glass preform 40, which is formed using hot glass extrusion. Metal wire electrode (s) 41 are fed through a hole in the glass preform and are co-drawn with the glass fiber (Figure 10). The glass around the metal wire is only drawn down enough to pull the wire and does not actually fuse to the wire. To draw fiber at a high draw speed (5 to 20 m/sec) 43 the temperature of the furnace 42 has to be high enough to lower the viscosity of the glass in the root 45 to around 1x105 Poise. This low viscosity places restrictions on the complicated shape preforms to produce fibers of the same shape. The draw forces in the root 45 of the draw tend to cause the corners to bow inward at the top of the root. The root of the fiber goes through a point of inflection, where the force of the draw tends to cause the corners to bow outward at the bottom of the root. The outward force at the bottom of the root tends to rotate a"barrier rib"section of a bottom fiber 27 outward to a 120° angle. To counteract the bowing outward of the"barrier rib"section, a triangular section is added at a 120° angle to the bottom of the plasma channel to the inside of the barrier ribs. The larger base on the barrier rib keeps it from folding outward during the draw process. In the preferred embodiment the bottom fiber preform should be designed such that angle between the bottom of the plasma channel and the side of the barrier rib is >110°, and more preferred >115°, and most preferred > 120°. Another area in a preform that effects the final shape of a fiber is the thickness of glass from the bottom of the fiber to the bottom of the plasma channel. The same forces in the root 45 of the draw act to open up the plasma channel depending on the thickness of glass below the bottom of the plasma channel. If the thickness of glass below the plasma channel is equal to or greater than the depth of the plasma channel (or height of barrier ribs) then the shape of the plasma channel will be held in the draw process. In the preferred embodiment the bottom fiber preform should be designed such that the percent of glass from the bottom of the plasma channel to the bottom of the fiber is >50% of the height of the barrier ribs, and more preferred >75%, and most preferred >100%.

A further embodiment of the invention is to use a lost glass or polymer process to generate fine features and hold tight tolerances in the fiber profile. To hold the proper shape during the draw process, a sacrificial glass or polymer can be added to the preform and removed from the fiber after the draw process. The sacrificial glass or polymer can be removed during

the draw process before the fiber is wound onto the drum, or the glass or polymer can be removed while the fibers are wrapped on the drum, or the glass or polymer can be removed after the fibers have been removed from the drum as a sheet. The sacrificial glass or polymer can be used to generate fine features in the top or bottom fibers, such as very thin barrier ribs with straight sidewalls or thin uniform walls. In part, a sacrificial glass or polymer can be used to generate any shape or tolerance in a fiber-based display. The sacrifical glass or polymer can also be used to expose a draw-in electrode to the outside envirnment. Using a lost glass or polymer process to control fiber shape will be discussed further with reference to Figure 61.

Plasma Displays The innovation of the fiber-based plasma display is that the entire functionality of the standard plasma display (Figure 1) is created by replacing the top and bottom plates with respective sheets of top 17 and bottom 27 fibers (Figure 11) sandwiched between plates of soda lime glass 16 and 24. Each row of the bottom plate is composed of a single fiber 27 that includes the address electrode 21, barrier ribs 22, plasma channel 25 and the phosphor layer 23.

Each column of the top plate is composed of a single fiber 17 that includes two sustain electrodes 11 and a thin built-in dielectric layer 14 over the electrodes which is covered with a MgO layer 15. Therefore, the entire function of the display is contained within the fibers.

Sheets of top 17 and bottom 27 fibers are placed between two glass plates 16 and 24 and the ends of the glass fibers are removed from the wire electrodes. The glass plates are frit sealed together with the wire electrodes extending through the frit seal. The panel is evacuated and backfilled with a xenon-containing gas and the wire electrodes are connected to the drive circuitry. This highly innovative approach is considerably simpler than the existing fabrication technology and comparisons are discussed in greater detail below.

The ability to fabricate large displays with the fiber technology will set a precedent for plasma displays since the current industry capability is only 50"diagonal. In standard plasma display fabrication, the display size is determined by the size of the masks used in the numerous patterned photolithography steps since the display is built up layer by layer on a glass substrate.

Thus, larger panel sizes require scale-up of processing equipment. It is also expected that considerably larger sizes (>80"diagonal) will not be possible by conventional technology due to technical difficulties in aligning the fine patterns over large areas. These difficulties arise because of screen stretching during the silk-screening steps and feature distortion during the

high temperature process steps due to glass compaction (Weber and Birk, MRS Bulletin, 65, 1996).

The most significant technical issues with current plasma display fabrication are the need for low-cost processes to form barrier ribs and a simpler phosphor coating process (Mikoshiba, SID Int. Symp. Seminar Lecture Notes, M-4/1,1998). The complex multi-step barrier rib formation process used in the standard plasma display is replaced by a much simpler process in the fiber-based display where the barrier ribs are simply designed into the fiber shape. Phosphor deposition is also simplified in the fiber display since individual fibers are spray coated with a specific color and subsequently arranged in alternating red, green and blue patterns in the bottom fiber array. Spray coating also produces a very uniform coating throughout the channel. The innovative process to fabricate the fiber-based plasma display and other fiber-based displays will be discussed further with reference to Figure 16.

The fiber-based plasma display is a low cost alternative because it reduces the manufacturing cost by one half. This reduction in manufacturing cost is realized in a more simplified manufacturing process with lower capital and material costs. The fiber-based process has only 13 process steps compared to 25 or more for the standard process. In addition, the process steps are simpler-extrusion and fiber draw compared to multi-level photolithography and precision silk screening. It is expected that fewer process steps will result in higher yields and lower overall cost. Multi-level alignment steps are also eliminated in the fiber-based display process because the entire functionality of the top and bottom plates is contained within each respective fiber. The standard process has two alignment steps to process the top plate and five alignment steps for the bottom plate. These multi-level alignment steps are interleaved with high temperature processes (e. g. firing of address electrode or barrier rib pastes) that mandate the use of expensive specialty glass substrates to minimize the compaction or shrinkage of the glass. The fiber-based process has no multi-level steps, permitting use of low cost soda lime glass substrates for any size display. Since all the process steps are performed on the fibers, no large area vacuum process equipment is needed nor any expensive photolithography processes.

The fiber-based technology produces a variety of special displays with unique attributes.

The fiber-based display technology is the only known direct view technology that can be used to fabricate a curved display. With all the functionality of the display contained within the fibers, which can be wrapped onto a curved surface, a full 360° viewable display can be produced.

Large tiled displays with small tiling gaps can also be fabricated, since the electrodes are wires, which can be bent to a 90° angle as they exit the frit region.

A further embodiment of the invention, illustrated in Figure 12, is a glass frit sealing process, which is of particular use in fiber-based displays that contain a hermetically sealed enclosure. The prior art method of frit sealing a display requires that the frit be first applied to at least one of the panels before the panels are clamped together and forced to come into contact as the glass frit flows during the high temperature sealing process step. The present invention uses small strips of glass 61 to force the frit 60 to flow into the gap between the top 16 and bottom 24 glass plates, in turn sealing the plates together. This process is particularly useful since it allows the panel to be assembled before frit is applied to the panel. Assembling before frit sealing will assure that the fibers are locked tight together and no visible gaps exist between them.

The frit-sealing process of the present invention is suitable for standard plasma displays such as shown in Figure 1. The display panel can be assembled before the frit is applied to the panel and the high temperature sealing process step. However, in this case, the frit needs to be applied to opposite sides of the panel.

The preferred method of sealing the panel together requires that one of the panels 16 is larger than the other in both directions, such that the frit 60 coated glass tabs 61 can be clamped 65 around the perimeter of the smaller glass plate 24 (Figure 13). In order for one of the plates of the display to be larger than the other in both directions the electrodes for the smaller plate must exist separate from that plate, such as in the fiber-based displays. The glass of the fibers is removed from the wire electrodes in the frit seal region and the wires are brought out through the frit seal. Under the proper conditions the frit will flow around the thousands of wire electrodes and form a vacuum tight seal.

Exposing the wire electrodes 11 in the top fibers by removing the glass from the wires will allow an arc to form between the bare electrodes at the ends of the top plate fibers during operation. This arcing occurs during the application of the AC voltage to the sustain electrodes 11. Using the new frit sealing process forces the frit to flow between the top and bottom glass plates and cover the ends of the fibers 1 la and 1 lb. Encasing the bare wires in frit prevents arcing between the electrodes. Therefore, the new frit sealing process adds both a method of assembling the panel before frit sealing to lock the fibers in place and a method of forming a dielectric layer around the wire electrodes to assure proper addressing of the display.

The frit 60 can be applied to the perimeter of the panel after assembly then the glass tabs 61 can be clamped 65 over the frit 60 to force it to flow between the two glass plates. The frit 60 may also be applied to the glass tabs 61 before they are clamped 65 around the perimeter of the panel. The frit 60 may be applied as a paste or glass frit rods or co-extruded or co-slot drawn as part of the glass tab.

A further embodiment of the invention involves a method of using a glass washer 62 on the evacuation tube 66 clamped 65 over the frit 60 to assist in sealing the evacuation tube 66 to the glass plate 24 (Figure 14). This application 69 of attaching the evacuation tube to the display uses the same forced frit flow concept as that explained above. The evacuation tube 66 is placed into a countersunk hole in the glass plate that has a small hole 67 placed through the plate to evacuate the panel. The frit 60 is placed around the tube 66 as a paste or a glass frit washer and the glass washer 62 clamped 65 over it or may be included as part of the glass washer itself preferably as a paste.

The forced frit flow sealing method is particularly useful when fabricating curved displays because the panel has to be assembled before it is sealed together to assure intimate contact between the two plates especially for a 360° viewable display. Also, all curved displays have non-flat surfaces; therefore gravity can not be conveniently used to flow the frit in the desired direction.

A further embodiment of the invention, illustrated in Figure 15, is a method of forming an array of fiber for the fiber-based display. Fiber (17 or 27) from the fiber draw process or from another process is wound onto a rotating cylinder or drum 70 (Figure 15A). Previous to the fiber winding process two rigid rods 71 are placed into the grooves 73 in the drum 70. After the fiber winding process a second set of rigid rods 71 are clamped 72 over the fiber (17 or 27) to the first set and the fiber are cut 75 between the two pair of rods 71 (Figure 15B). One set of rods 71 is removed from its groove 73 and the fibers (17 or 27) are unraveled from the drum 70 as a sheet (Figure 15C). Once the fibers (17 or 27) are totally unraveled from the drum 70 and the other set of rods 71 is removed from its groove 73 a self supported array of fibers (17 or 27) is formed (Figure 15D). The preferred method of forming fiber arrays for fiber-based displays is described above. The key to the invention is to form an array of fibers from a cylindrical drum.

There are several different methods of forming a fiber array from a cylindrical drum without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, first the fiber is

drawn onto a rotating drum 70. Then, place the fiber wound drum on a flat surface. The fiber is held tight to the drum 70 above the flat surface. The fibers are cut between the flat surface and the location where the fibers are being held to the drum 70. The other end of the cut fibers is held to the flat surface and the drum 70 is rolled on the flat surface to unwind the fibers. As the end of the fibers is rolled off the drum 70, that end is held onto the flat surface to form an array of fibers.

An example of a typical process flow chart to fabricate a fiber-based plasma display is shown in Figure 16. The innovative process starts by preparing the glass plates, which consists of cutting them to size, edging the glass and drilling the evacuation hole in the bottom plate.

Next, the bottom and top fiber preforms are formed using hot glass extrusion. These preforms are then loaded into a fiber draw tower, wire is fed through the holes in the preform and fiber containing the wire electrode is drawn onto a rotating cylindrical drum (similar to that shown in Figure 10). The bottom fiber is drawn onto the cylindrical drum with the plasma channel facing outward. Three separate drums containing fibers are wound to be subsequently coated with red, green and blue phosphors. The phosphor 81 is applied to the channels of the fibers 27 using a spaying process 80, shown in Figure 17. The fibers are wrapped tight to each other to prevent phosphor from getting between the fibers and creating a gap in the subsequent panel fabrication process. The phosphor on the top of the barrier ribs is removed by scraping 82 it off and vacuuming 83 it away. There is a typical build-up of phosphor on the top of the barrier rib. If a vacuum 83 is added to the scraping process 82 the phosphor is only removed from the top of the barrier rib and is not disturbed in the channel. After three separate drums are coated with red, green, and blue phosphors, they are sequentially rewound onto a single drum in the required RGB sequence. Sheets of bottom fibers can then be formed using the fiber array forming process explained in detail above.

Once the top plate fiber is drawn onto a rotating drum 70, the side of the fiber facing the plasma channel needs to be coated with a MgO film. The quality of the MgO film has a drastic effect on the UV generation and the firing voltages of the plasma cell. A high quality MgO film is one that has a high secondary electron emission and charge storage capacity, which yields a display with low sustain and address voltages with high UV emission. The MgO film can be coated on the fiber in a multitude of fashions. The standard method of coating the top plates in the plasma industry is to use physical vapor deposition. E-beam deposition is the standard process, however sputtering the MgO is becoming more popular. The ability to spray coat the

MgO film results in a process with no vacuum process steps and considerably lower fabrication cost. High quality MgO films have been demonstrated using MgO powder by Ichiro Koiwa, et al. at Oki Electric (J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 142, No. 5,'95, pg. 1396-1401; Elec. Comm. in Jap, Part 2, Vol. 79, No. 4,'96, pg. 55-66; IEICE Trans. Elect., Vol. E79-C, No. 4,'96, pg. 580- 585) and pyrolizing a magnesium oxide solution, such as magnesium acetate (Asia Display'98, paper 22.1, pp. 389-392; Thin Solid Films, Vol. 283,1996, pp. 17-25; J. Crystal Growth, Vol.

109,1991, pp. 314-317). Using the fibers as a substrate for the MgO film will allow for a much higher heat treatment temperature than MgO deposited on a plate, because the stress caused by the expansion mismatch is releaved at each fiber width. The higher temperature heat treatment will create a MgO film with a higher secondary electron emission coeficient and a lower sustaining voltage. The preferred method of coating the fibers with a MgO film is to spray the MgO film on the top fibers while wrapped on the cylindrical drum similar to the phosphor coating technique.

The fibers may also be removed from the drum as a sheet and spray coated with the MgO film. Different vehicles, such as water, alcohol, and magnesium nitrate salt as a binder may be mixed with a MgO powder to be sprayed on the top fibers. The fibers are coated using the standard coating techniques of e-beam deposition or sputtering by removing the fibers as a sheet and then coating them, or by placing the cylindrical drum with the wound fibers into a coating system and coating them while on the drum. The fibers may also be coated a single fiber at a time or a small number of fibers at once in a small coating system, where the fiber is spooled through the system and taken-up by another drum. The small vacuum coating system could have variable loadlocks on both ends or large chambers to support the cylinders and the fiber could be coated in a reel-to-reel system.

Once the top fiber is coated with a MgO film and formed into a sheet, it is assembled orthogonal to the bottom fiber array and sandwiched between the two previously prepared soda lime glass plates (Figure 11). The top glass plate is place on a flat surface and the top fiber array is place on top of it with the MgO film facing away from the glass plate. The bottom fiber array is placed on top of the top fiber array channel down and the bottom glass plate is placed on top of the stack. Note that the bottom glass plate is smaller than the top glass plate in all directions in the plane of the plates. Before the frit is applied to the perimeter of the bottom plate, the glass from the fibers is removed from the wire electrodes in the frit seal region. The evacuation tube and frit seal assembly is assembled on the panel. Narrow glass tabs with frit are clamped around

the perimeter of the bottom glass plate and the panel is sealed together in a furnace, where the glass tabs force the frit to flow between the glass plates (Figure 12). The panel is evacuated and backfilled with a xenon-containing gas, and the wire electrodes are connected to the drive electronics.

With the fiber-based technology of the present invention, the overall size is simply determined by the fiber length, which is independent of processing equipment. High precision arrangement of fibers into fiber array sheets requires only fine control of the size and shape of individual fibers. The requirement of height control of the fiber is typically <10 m corresponding to about 10% of the plasma channel depth. To keep the plasma from spreading over the top of the barrier ribs the separation between the top fibers and the barrier ribs should be <10% of the channel depth. The use of an interlocking mechanism 50 and 51 built into the sides of the top or bottom fibers can assist in retaining a consistent fiber height (Figures 18 and 19). Fiber guides 50a and 50b built into the sides of the fibers will set the fibers in an array all at the same height when the fiber array is assembled and tightly compressed together. High precision arrangement of the fibers can also be aided with an interlocking mechanism. Since all of the functions of the display are contained within each fiber, the avoidance of visible gaps between the fibers is the only requirement for tolerance. The interlocking mechanism 51a and 51b will tend to stitch the fibers together as they are assembled into their perspective arrays.

Some relief of the gap tolerance will be achieved by the addition of a black matrix pattern 53 built into the sides of the top plate fiber (Figure 20). However, the optimum method of avoiding a visible gap between fibers is to combine the interlocking mechanism 50 with the black matrix pattern 52. Figures 21 and 22 show the advantage of combining the interlocking mechanism 50 with the black matrix pattern 52. Note that the fibers can be separated a distance equal to the interlocking tab 50a before the viewer can see between the fibers.

A technical challenge for the plasma display industry is to increase the efficiency of the displays. Presently, plasma display efficiencies are around one lumen/Watt (1/W) compared to >five 1/W for CRTs. By increasing the discharge efficiency (2x), increasing the phosphor efficiency (2x), and increasing the optical coupling (1.25x), the luminous efficiency of plasma displays can be increased to five 1/W. One of the major advantages the fiber-based technology has over all other technologies is the fine control of the shape of the plasma cell. This fine control is achieved by controlling the shape of the fiber surface and the dielectric layer thickness 14 around the wire electrodes 11 in the top fiber. This"intra-pixel"control allows a specific

electric field to be generated in order to optimize the discharge efficiency. Figures 23-25 illustrate the intra-pixel shape of the top fiber by controlling the dielectric layer 14 around the wire electrodes 11. There are many different possible shapes of both the top and bottom fibers and the optimum shape to yield the proper electric field will depend on size of plasma cell, number and separation of sustain electrodes, and amount of plasma damage to the phosphor layer. Stray ion bombardment of the phosphors, which limit their lifetime, can also be reduced by optimizing the intra-pixel shape. Phosphor lifetime, or the amount of time before the luminance is decreased by 50%, and plasma efficiency are presently the two technical challenges facing the plasma display industry and the fiber-based technology is most suited to solve these issues because of the ability of controlling the intra-pixel shape.

The sustain electrodes in a standard plasma display (Figure 1) are typically constructed using narrow metal bus electrodes 13 and wide indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes 12 to spread the plasma and increase the amount of UV generation. To spread out the electric field in the fiber-based display the sustain electrodes 11 are composed of more than one metal wire. Figure 26 illustrates a two electrode 1 la per sustain electrode configuration and Figure 27 illustrates a three electrode 11 la per sustain electrode configuration. Intra-pixel control can also be added into the multi-sustain electrode configuration as shown in Figure 28. The multi-electrode configuration will serve a similar purpose as the ITO electrodes 12 in the standard display. The plasma will be fired over a larger area, hence generating more secondary electrons, which generate more ionization, which generate more UV, which generates more visible light.

Addressing the fiber-based plasma display requires different voltage waveforms because the electrical fields generated from a wire electrode are substantially different than those from a thin metal electrode. It has been noted that addressing a fiber-based plasma display requires longer address pulses to write the display image. The voltage ramp requirements for addressing a display with wire electrodes will be lessened because of the lack of the thin metal edge that enhances the electric field. A cylindrical wire electrode does not have a thin metal edge that enhances the electric field, therefore all the addressing modes of operations will require significantly different electric fields. The exact wave forms for the different modes of operation (erase, write, and voltage ramp) will differ for different intra-pixel fiber shapes as a result of different dielectric thickness around the wire electrodes, location of wire electrodes, and total number of wire sustain electrodes.

By using at least two orthogonal arrays of complicated shaped glass rods or very large fiber-like structures with wire electrodes, one can fabricate plasma displays with plasma cells larger than 0.05 mm3 in volume. The volume of a plasma cell is defined by the width of the plasma channel times the height of the plasma channel times the pitch of the pair of sustain electrodes. Increasing the size of the fibers creates a very long addressing distance (d) in the bottom fiber 27, shown in Figure 29. This addressing distance (d) in typical plasma displays are typically 100, um to 150 Zm. The addressing electrode 21 is used to add to the total electric field in the plasma channel to ignite the plasma. As the distance (d) between the address electrode 21 and sustain electrodes (located just above the top of the bottom fiber) is increased, by increasing the size of the bottom fiber 27, the electric field decreases, thus a larger voltage is required to address the plasma. To increase the size of the bottom fiber 27 and keep the addressing voltage constant or to reduce the addressing voltage, the address electrode 21 needs to be moved from the bottom of the channel 25 up into the barrier rib 22, as shown in Figure 30a. Moving the address electrode 21 up into the barrier rib 22 reduces the distance (d), between the address electrode 21 and the sustain electrodes 11, thus increasing the electric field of the addressing pulse. To maintain a more uniform addressing field and build redundancy into the display an additional address electrode 21 can be included in the barrier rib wall 22 on the other side of the plasma channel 25, shown in Figure 30b.

Moving the address electrode 21 up near the top of the barrier rib 22 allows the electric field from the sustain electrodes to spread down into the plasma charmel and there is no address electrode at the bottom of the channel to confine the field lines. The lack of a conductor at the bottom of the plasma channel drastically increases the sustaining voltage. To define a lower plane for the electric field of the sustain electrodes an additional wire electrode, which is called the field electrode 26 has to be added into the fiber below the channel or close to the bottom of the channel, as shown in Figures 31a-31d. Figure 31a shows a single field electrode 26 directly below the plasma channel 25 with a single address electrode 21 located in the wall of the barrier rib. Figure 31b shows a single field electrode 26 with two address electrodes 21, whereas Figures 31c and 31d schematically show two field electrodes 26 per bottom fiber 27 with one and two address electrodes 21, respectively. Adding field electrodes 26 to the bottom fiber 27 not only bounds the electric field from the sustain electrodes, but also adds a shield for electromotive force (EMF) escaping out of the back of the display.

Increasing the size of the plasma cell in the standard fiber-based plasma display not only requires modifications of the bottom fiber in order to address the display, but also requires that

the top fiber be modified in order to increase the size of the plasma glow and increase the efficiency of the display. Simply increasing the separation distance between the top sustain electrodes 11 to increase the size of the plasma glow increases the firing voltage of the plasma.

A longer firing distance between sustain electrodes is desired because longer firing distances usually results in higher efficiencies. For example, a fluorescent tube with a firing distance of about 4 feet has a luminous efficiency of about 80 lum/W, whereas a typical plasma display with a firing distance of only 100 Fm only produces 1 lum/W. The reason for the increased efficiency is because the positive column in a plasma display is much more efficient than the negative column. The positive column is where the number of electrons is about equal to the number of ionized species, whereas in the negative column there are much more electrons and a much higher electric field. One method to retain a high pressure and fire the plasma over a long distance, to achieve a large positive glow, is to fire the plasma with a pair of closely spaced sustain electrodes 11 la and 1 lob. Then, once charge is stored in the display, the stored charge is used to sustain the plasma over a much larger sustain electrode separation (1 la-1 lb) to (1 lc- 1 ld), as shown in Figures 32 and 33. This method of setting up the charge between two closely spaced electrodes then firing between a much wider separated electrode spacing is referred to as pulling the plasma. Figure 33 shows how the plasma is initially setup between the closely spaced electrodes 1 la and 1 lb and then in the third firing cycle the charge is pulled to electrodes 1 lc and 1 ld. After the plasma is pulled through the large firing gap it continues to be sustained between electrodes (l la, l lb) and electrodes (l lc, l ld).

The starting potential of a plasma versus a pressure, P, times electrode separation, d, which is know in the industry as a Paschen curve, is shown in Figure 34 for a given gas. A minimum in the starting potential against (Pd) appears for the following reason: the number of molecules in the gap is proportional to (Pd). At low P, the mean free path of an electron is large and few electrons can collide with gas molecules; most of them impinge on the anode and few ionizations take place. At large P, however, the mean free path of an electron is small and few electrons acquire sufficient energy over a mean free path to ionize. However, after the initial cell has been fired, stored charge adds to the electric field in the next cycle of the AC, during the sustain period. This added electric field would tend to shift the sustaining potential versus (Pd) to higher values. To maintain the same mean free path length of the electron during sustaining the gap separation can be increased. The lowering of the voltage between the starting potential and sustaining potential is a result of both the added electric field from the stored charge and the initial ionization from this stored charge moving from one contact to the next. Thus using this

shift in Pd the plasma can be addressed at one sustain electrode separation and sustained at a larger one.

Figures 35,36, and 37 show three different waveforms for addressing the pulled plasma display erase address, write address and ramped voltage address, respectively. Figure 35 shows the pulled plasma erase address waveforms. In the initial setup period in the display a discharge sustain pulse PS is applied to the display electrode 1 la and simultaneously a writing pulse is applied to the display electrode l lb. The inclined line in the discharge sustain pulse PS indicates that it is selectively applied to lines. By this operation, all surface discharge cells are made to be in a written state. After the discharge sustain pulses PS are alternately applied to the display electrodes lla and llb to stabilize the written states, and at an end stage of the setup period, an erase pulse PD is applied to the display electrode 1 la and a surface discharge occurs.

The erase pulse PD is short in pulse width, 1 us to 2 ps. As a result, wall charges on a line as a unit are lost by the discharge caused by the erase pulse PD. However, by taking a timing with the erase pulse PD, a positive electric field control pulse PA having a wave height Va is applied to address electrodes 21 corresponding to unit luminescent pixel elements to be illuminated in the line.

In the unit luminescent pixel elements where the electric field control pulse PA is applied, the electric field due to the erase pulse PD is neutralized so that the surface discharge for erase is prevented and the wall charges necessary for display remain. More specifically, addressing is performed by a selective erase in which the written states of the surface discharge cells to be illuminated are kept.

In the sustain period following the address period, the discharge pulses PS are alternately applied to the display electrodes (l lc, l ld) and (l la, l lb) to pull the plasma across the larger gap and illuminate the phosphor layers 23 with ultraviolet light. The display of an image is established by repeating the above operation for all lines in the display.

The pulled plasma waveforms for matrix write addressing are shown in Figure 36. At the initial stage of the setup period, a writing pulse PW is applied to the display electrode 1 la at the same time a sustain pulse is applied to display electrode 1 lb so as to make the potential thereof large enough to place each pixel element in the line in a write state. The write pulse PW is followed by two sustain pulses PS to condition the plasma cells. A narrow relative pulse of width tl is then applied to each pixel element in the line to erase the wall charge. The narrow

pulse is obtained by applying a voltage Vs on the sustain electrode 11 a a time tl before a voltage Vs is applied to sustain electrode 1 lb. In the display line, a discharge sustain pulse PS is selectively applied to the display electrode 1 lb and a selective discharge pulse PA is selectively applied to the address electrodes 21 corresponding to the unit luminescent pixel elements to be illuminated in the line depending on the image. By this procedure, opposite discharges between the address electrodes 21 and the display electrode l lob or selective discharges occur, so that the surface discharge cells corresponding to the unit luminescent pixel elements to be illuminated are placed into write states and the addressing finishes.

In the sustain period following the address period, discharge sustain pulses PS are alternately applied to the electrodes (l lc, l ld) and (l la, l lb) to pull the plasma across the larger gap and illuminate the phosphor layers 23. The display of an image is established by repeating the above operation for all lines in the display.

The pulled plasma waveforms for the matrix ramped voltage addressing are shown in Figure 37. During the setup period, a voltage ramp PE is applied to the sustain electrode l lob which acts to erase any pixel sites which are in the ON state. After the initial erase, a slowly rising ramp potential Vr is applied to the sustain electrode 1 la then raised potential is applied to sustain electrode 1 lb and a falling potential Vf is applied to the sustain electrode 1 la. The rising and falling voltages produces a controlled discharge causing the establishment of standardized wall potentials at each of the pixel sites along the sustain line. During the succeeding address pulse period, address data pulses PA are applied to selected column address lines 21 while sustain lines l lob are scanned PSc. This action causes selective setting of the wall charge states at pixel sites along a row in accordance with applied data pulses.

Thereafter, during the following sustain period an initial longer sustain pulse PSL is applied to the sustain electrode 1 la to assure proper priming of the pixels in the written state.

The following sustain period is composed of discharge sustain pulses PS alternately applied to the display electrodes (llc, lld) and (lla, llb) to pull the plasma across the larger gap and illuminate the phosphor layers 23. The display of an image is established by repeating the above operation for all lines in the display.

Figure 38 schematically shows a cross-section of three top fibers 17 with wire electrodes 1 la-1 ld in the corner of each fiber. The wire electrodes 1la and 1 lb in adjacent fibers are used to set up the charge in the plasma cell and wire electrodes l lc and l ld are used to pull and

sustain the plasma in the displays similar to that discussed above. Note that wire electrodes l lc and l ld have the same voltage waveforms in Figures 35-37, thus they could be combined as one electrode, as shown in Figure 39. This wire electrode, as well as any other, could be larger to support the increased current per wire electrode. This type of electrode configuration would be most favorably addressed in an interlaced mode of operation. In the interlaced mode of addressing, every other pixel element is addressed and sustained in the first video frame and in the second video frame the remaining pixels are addressed and sustained. This interlaced addressing allows for plasma coverage of the entire surface without allowing the charge to spread to the nearby electrode structure, hence a misaddressing of the plasma. All of the top electrode structures can be addressed in an interlaced mode of operation.

The plasma created during the initial addressing period in the plasma pulling mode of operation generates some light between wire electrodes 1 la and 1 lob. This light acts as a background illumination and decreases the contrast ratio in the dark. To reduce the amount of background light reaching the viewer's eye, a black matrix 59 is built into the fibers 17 between wire electrodes 1 la and 1 lob, as shown in Figure 40. This black matrix 59 is simply added to the sides of the glass fibers as a glass frit as the fibers are being sealed together or the black matrix 59 is added into the glass fiber itself. Adding approximately 1% to 5% Cobalt into most glass compositions is usually sufficient to add enough dark color to the glass to serve as a black matrix 59.

Figure 41 shows a textured surface 114 around the wire sustain electrodes 11. The textured surface 114 is composed of sharp edges that enhance the electric field, hence lower the voltage during addressing and sustaining. The textured surface 114 is designed into the surface of the glass fiber 17 or added as a coating after or during fiber draw. The textured surface 114 also yields more surface area around the wire sustain electrodes 11. This increased surface area allows for more charge to be stored around the sustain electrodes 11, hence making it easier to address and sustain the plasma.

The electric field between sustain electrodes 1 la and l lob is preferably enhanced by adding texture 114 to the surface of the fiber 17. Rounding off the ends of the top fibers 17 leaves a gap between sustain electrodes 1 la and l lb, as shown in Figure 42. Because the largest electric field is directly between two electrodes, removing the glass dielectric between the wire sustain electrodes 1 la and l lb drastically increases the ability to breakdown the gas and address the display. This glass removal between sustain electrodes 1 la and l lob could also be combined with texturing 114 the surface of the fiber 17, as in Figure 41, to lower the initial writing voltages. It is a concern that not too much glass is removed between sustain electrodes 1 la and

1 lb, because of the potential of charge transfer from one plasma cell to the next over the barrier ribs. A solution to reduce this probability of charge transfer is discussed below. However, if the gap between sustain electrodes is small (around 100 pm) then the electric field is strong and the charge carriers mainly move in one direction toward the electrodes. Since the charge carriers (electrons and ionized species) have a large directional motion toward the electrodes, there should be little spreading of the charge along the length of the top fiber 17 over the barrier ribs.

The electric field spreading into the top fibers is reduced, similar to that shown in Figure 31 for the bottom fiber, by adding an additional wire electrode 18 into the top fibers 17, as shown in Figures 43 and 44. This additional field wire electrode 18 serves to add an electrical retardation plane for spreading electric field lines spreading up through the top of the top fiber 17. The field electrode 18 retards the electric field, hence creating the highest potential below the top fibers 17, which is in the plasma region. The retardation electrode is also optionally added to the top of the fiber as a transparent conductive thin film 18, as shown in Figure 45.

This transparent field electrode 18 is also optionally added to the bottom of the top cover glass which would locate it close to the top of the top fiber 17. This field electrode 18 also adds a shield for electromotive force (EMF) escaping out of the front of the display.

Similar to that shown in Figure 42, the electric field between sustain electrode pairs (1 la, 1 lb) and (l lc, 1 ld) are enhanced by removing some of the glass dielectric in the grooved region 19 between the electrode pairs, as shown in Figure 46. Since the highest electric field is directly between the electrodes, removing the glass in this grooved region 19 allows the plasma gas to reside in this grooved region 19. However, the larger electrode separation creates a positive glow region where the charged particles have a larger mean free path along the length of the wire sustain electrodes. Therefore, there is a much higher probability of the charge to spread over the barrier ribs 22 and along the length of the sustain electrodes 11. To reduce the probability of charge spreading over the barrier ribs 22 the center of the top fiber 17 could be designed to extend down to the top of the barrier ribs to force the charged carriers to flow down below the top fiber 17, as shown in Figure 47.

The most effective method of stopping the plasma from spreading over the top of the barrier ribs 22 in a grooved region 19 of the top fiber 17 is to add frit 60 to the bottom fibers 27 and have it flow up against the top fibers during the frit seal process step. Figure 48 schematically shows a top 17 and bottom 27 fiber array assembled where the frit 60 flows between the fibers and fills the gap between the top of the barrier ribs 22 and the grooved region 19 of the top fiber 17. Figure 49 is a cross section taken from Figure 48. Note that the frit flows

over the top of the barrier ribs 22 and into the grooved region 19 in the top fibers 17. Figures 50 and 51 show different configurations of bottom fiber 27 with glass frit 60. In Figure 50 the glass frit 60 is evenly applied to both sides of the bottom fiber 27. Figure 5 la shows the glass frit 60 only applied to the top of the bottom fiber 27, hence upon sealing of the plasma panel force will have to be applied to the sides of the fibers 27 to push them together and force the frit to flow.

Figure 5 lb shows the glass frit 60 placed on the top of the barrier ribs 22, thus during sealing the frit will flow since the panel is clamped together.

Figure 52 shows an array of bottom fibers 27 frit sealed 60 together to form a gas tight bottom fiber structure. Therefore, no bottom glass plate is necessary and a much lighter plasma display can be fabricated. Similar top fiber sealing can be preformed to remove the need of a top glass plate.

Figure 53 schematically shows a plasma display formed using two orthogonal fiber arrays similar to that discussed above. However, in this display the bottom fiber 27 has very long plasma channels coated with phosphor layers 23 with anode electrodes 270 at the bottom of the channel and address electrodes 21 in the top of the barrier ribs 22. The display operates similarly to a standard surface discharge display with sustain electrodes l la and llb and address electrode 21. However, the anode electrode (s) 270 at the bottom of the channel has a constant positive voltage to draw the free electrons generated from the surface discharge plasma through the long plasma channel, hence creating a long positive glow region. In addition, the positive voltage applied to the anode electrodes 270 is applied in an alternating fashion between the two electrodes. The long positive glow region has a small voltage drop where the number of electrons is about equal to the number of ionized species, hence generating an efficient plasma glow. The wire anode electrodes 270 are designed to be open to the plasma channel to more easily bleed off the charge of the electrons. The electrodes are exposed to the plasma using a lost glass process. The high aspect ratio plasma channel is also preferably fabricated using the lost glass process disclosed above. To increase the amount of electrons flowing through the system to the anode electrode, either the address electrode or at least one of the sustain electrodes has to be exposed to the plasma. Unless the display is interlace addressed with respect to the color subpixel charge will flow from the adjacent anode electrode 270 over the barrier rib and down through the addressed plasma channel to create ionization.

One potential problem when addressing the display in Figure 53 is loosing the charge on the sustain electrode. The electrons that"plate out"on the bottom of the top fiber 17 may tend to be lost due to the positive voltage on the anode electrodes 270. To ensure that the priming electrons stay on the top fiber, it needs to be located such that it is not in direct line of sight with

the anode electrode 270 at the bottom of the plasma channel. There are two possible solutions to this problem of loosing the stored charge. One is to add shape 19 to the top fiber 17, similar to that shown in Figure 54, such that the potential created by the anode electrode 270 does not have a direct line of sight to strip the electron. A second method is to design a three-fiber-array display where the priming electrons can reside on the top of the top fiber array 17, as shown in Figure 55. In the three-fiber-array display the bottom fiber array 27 is divided into two fiber arrays 27a and 27b. Both bottom fibers have a built-in channel, where bottom fiber 27a contains the address electrode and is used to address the plasma display and bottom fiber 27b contains the anode electrode (s) 270 and phosphor layer for light generation. The channel in bottom fiber 27a creates a plasma cell and allows the display to be addressed and the electrons migrating between the top fibers 17 are drawn toward the anode electrode 270 creating ionization. The priming charge created during addressing the display resides on the top of the top fiber hence it is shielded from the anode electrode 270 potential. In this three-fiber-array display it is advantageous to have both the anode electrodes 270 and address electrodes 21 exposed to the plasma so that more electrons flow through the plasma channel per voltage cycle.

While much of the above description has been directed to plasma displays, many embodiments of the present invention are also applicable to plasma addressed liquid crystal (PALC) displays, field emission displays (FED), reflective displays, three-dimensional and multiple view displays.

Plasma Addressed Liquid Crystal Displays (PALCs) Another embodiment of the invention is to produce fiber-based PALC displays using fibers, for example in Figures 56-62. A method of fabricating a PALC display using hollow fibers for the bottom plate is disclosed in U. S. Patent 5,984,747. However, the fiber shape was a rectangular tube that required a small vacuum in the centerline of the draw to produce fiber with a flat dielectric 33 at the top of the fiber. This tight tolerance on flatness with the hollow fiber has not yet been achieved. The preferred embodiment disclosed within uses a tapered barrier rib or side wall of the plasma channel and a thicker glass bottom for the bottom fiber. These improvements, discussed in detail below, prevent the top of the fiber from changing shape during the draw process, hence producing a bottom fiber with a thin flat dielectric layer between the plasma channel and the liquid crystal layer.

The fibers can be used for the top plate of the PALC display. These fibers, shown in Figures 58A through 58C, may have one embedded address electrode 31 or several embedded

address electrodes tied together at the ends of the fiber and attached to the drive electronics or individually addressed. The spacer 90 for the liquid crystal material may also be built into the top fiber. Building the spacer 90 into each fiber helps control the gap between the fiber arrays, hence controlling the thickness of the liquid crystal and the operation of the display. Large variations (>3 u. m) in the liquid crystal gap creates variations in viewing angle and gray scale of the individual pixels. Therefore, building a spacer into each fiber greatly enhances the operation of the display, especially in large display sizes.

The only section of the fiber-based PALC display (e. g., Figure 56) that has to be composed of glass is the bottom fibers 27. The bottom fibers 27 are preferably constructed from a glass or inorganic compound in order to contain a plasma gas without contaminating the gas.

All the other structures in the panel can be composed of plastic, such as the top fibers 17, top plate 30, and bottom plate. Creating a display mainly composed of plastic produces a very lightweight panel.

A further embodiment of the invention is to add color and optically absorbing regions in the top fibers in the PALC display to create a color filter and black matrix function. The top fiber may be composed of a colored glass or plastic to add color to the display or a colored die may be applied to the surface of the fiber (similar to layer 99 shown in Figures 57 and 58A) to add color to the display. Figure 59 illustrates a top fiber array with built-in liquid crystal spacers 90 and address electrodes 31 consisting of alternating red 17R, green 17G and blue 17B colored fibers. Figure 59 also illustrates an integral black matrix 52 function built into the fibers. This absorbing region may be included into the top fiber or produced by coating at least one edge of the fiber with an absorbing die. In addition to the black matrix 52 and color filter (17R, 17G and 17B), an interlocking mechanism 50 is preferably built into the fibers, as illustrated in Figure 60.

The interlocking mechanism 50 has the advantage of helping to control the variation in cell gap between fibers and the visible gap between fibers, as discussed above.

The invention also involves applying both the polarizing film 99 and the liquid crystal alignment layer 98 to the fibers in the PALC display. The polarizing film 99 is applied to the surface of the top and bottom fibers, as illustrated in Figures 57 and 58A. The polarizing film is applied to the fibers while they are drawn, wrapped around the drum, or after they are formed as a sheet of fibers. The polarizing film can also be built into the fibers by simply including a composition that becomes polarizing when stretched in the draw process into a section of the initial preform. The liquid crystal alignment layer 98 is added to the fiber during the draw

process, while wound on the cylindrical drum, or after the fibers are removed from the drum as a sheet. In order for proper operation of the liquid crystal, the alignment layer 98 should be applied to both the top and bottom fibers, as illustrated in Figures 57 and 58A.

PALC displays that operate in a transflective (transmissive and reflective) mode of operation are constructed using partially reflective bottom fibers. It is desirable that the fibers be made to reflect as much of the incident light coming from outside the panel through the liquid crystal as possible. Thus, in a preferred embodiment, the bottom fibers in the PALC display are made to be capable of reflecting at least 25 percent, and more preferably at least 50 percent, of the incident light. This is achieved, for example, by fabricating the fibers from a reflecting glass (such as an opal glass or glass-ceramic) or applying a partially reflective coating to the bottom fibers.

A further embodiment of the invention is to use a lost glass or polymer process to create an exposed wire electrode or hold tolerance in a fiber, as illustrated in Figures 61 and 62. A sacrificial glass or plastic 95 is co-extruded with the base glass or polymer 27 to form a preform for fiber draw. The wire electrodes (36 or 31) are drawn into the fiber and the sacrificial glass or polymer 95 is subsequently removed. The sacrificial glass or plastic can be removed using a wet or dry etch process or a thermal etch process. Typical liquid solutions used to dissolve the glass include vinegar and lemon juice. A sacrificial glass or polymer 95 is used to hold the wire electrode in a particular location during the draw process. When the sacrificial glass or polymer 95 is removed, the wire becomes exposed to the environment outside the fiber. A sacrificial glass or polymer 95 is also optionally used to hold a tight tolerance in a fiber during the draw process, as illustrated in Figure 61B. In this example, the dissolvable glass 95 is used to assure that the thin membrane that forms the dielectric layer between the plasma channel 36 and the liquid crystal remains flat during the fiber draw process. A dissolvable glass may also be used to create a unique shaped plasma channel in a fiber plasma display or one with steep sidewalls and narrow barrier ribs.

A preferred embodiment also includes a process for fabricating the fiber-based PALC display, similar to that discussed above for fabricating fiber plasma displays. Both top and bottom fibers are drawn from a preform with their corresponding wire electrodes. The fibers with wire electrodes may also be extruded directly from the extrusion machine. In either case they are wound onto a cylindrical drum. The top fibers are processed with their constituent coatings, if any, and rewound onto a separated drum in a red, green, blue sequence. The bottom

fibers which are wound on the cylindrical drum are gas processed before they are removed from the drum. Before gas processing, an emissive material may be applied inside the plasma channel 36. This emissive film may be applied by placing a vapor or liquid through the hollow channel in the fiber. An example would be a liquid solution of magnesium nitrate salt that could be placed into the hollow fibers and converted to a MgO-containing film upon heating. Also, any dissolvable glass used to hold shape or expose a wire electrode should also be removed before gas processing. To gas process the fibers, the two ends of the fibers are connected to a gas processing system and the proper pressure and gas type applied to the hollow fiber array wound around the drum. After establishing the proper gas conditions, the fibers are sealed in two parallel strips along the axis of the cylindrical drum. By cutting the fibers between the sealed regions, they are removed from the drum as a gas-processed array of bottom fibers. The two fiber arrays are sandwiched between the plates and the seal and liquid crystal added to the panel.

Once the glass or plastic is removed from the wire electrodes, they are connected to the drive electronics for panel operation.

While much of the above description has been directed toward plasma addressed liquid crystal displays, many embodiments of the present invention are also applicable to reflective displays, in particular, plasma addressed reflective displays.

Field Emission Displays (FED) It is a purpose of the present invention to disclose a low voltage addressing method for using both diamond and nanotube emitters in a field emission display. Another field emitter material disclosed is a metal-insulator-metal, MIM, a cathode emitter. Figure 63 shows a FED with one row of fibers 115 and an orthogonal row of emitter 145 electrodes 140. Each fiber 115 contains extraction electrodes 110, high voltage electrodes 120, phosphors (130R, 130G, 130B) and a thin conductive coating 132 over the phosphor layers 130. The orthogonal array of emitter 145 electrodes 140 includes carbon nanotube emitters 145 attached to a conductive electrode 140. The conductive electrodes 140 are separated by non-conductive spacers 150. Between the non-conductive spacers 150 are getter wires 155. In order to operate the FED shown in Figure 63, it needs to be enclosed in a vacuum vessel. A vacuum vessel is formed by sandwiching the structure, shown in Figure 63, between two glass plates and frit sealing the glass plates around the perimeter. The wire electrodes are brought out through the frit seal region and connected to the drive electronics.

Operation of the FED, shown in Figure 63, is achieved by applying a voltage on the extraction electrodes 110 with respect to the emitter 145 electrodes 140. If carbon nanotubes are used for the emitters 145, then by applying a voltage that creates an electric field greater than 5 V/pm, electrons are extracted from the nanotube emitters 145. A high voltage between 500 V and 20,000 V applied to the high voltage electrodes 120 accelerate the extracted electrons toward the phosphor layer 130. By the time the electrons reach the phosphor layer 130, they have enough energy to cause cathodoluminescense. The generated light has a color associated to the color of the electron impinging phosphor layer (130R, 130G, 130B).

Operation of the FED has to occur under high vacuum (-1x10' Torr). As a result of the large surface area within the display, it is very difficult to maintain such a low pressure. In traditional Cathode Ray Tubes, CRTs, a getter material is evaporated onto the interior walls of the tube to absorb any stray molecules. In traditional FEDs, including a getter material is very difficult because of the lack of free surface area. One method of adding a getter material is to include small wires 155 of getter material into the display during its fabrication, as shown in Figure 63. This getter material is activated by applying a voltage across the wire while under a vacuum, hence heating the getter material and desorbing the molecules trapped inside the material. The getter wire 155 could also be heated to a point of evaporating the getter material inside the display. Evaporating the getter material would be preferred, as long as it does not create an electrical short, because it would coat a larger surface area.

Figure 64A shows a cross-section of the fiber 115 shown in Figure 63. The electrodes' (110 and 120) shape are cylindrical wires. To enhance the electric field at the extraction electrodes 110, it is preferred that the electrode come to a sharp edge, as shown in Figure 64B.

The high voltage electrodes 120 can also be non-cylindrical. Creating rectangular shaped high voltage electrodes 120 limits the amount of light generated by the phosphors 130, that is blocked by the electrodes 120.

Figure 64C and 64D show that the shape of the fibers can be altered. Figure 64C shows a different fiber 115 shape used to form the electron trajectory channels. Figure 64D shows a changed shape around the extraction electrode 110 region. The fiber 115 shape is altered such that a gap exists under the fiber 115 near the tip of the extraction electrode 110. This gap allows electrons to be extracted from"under the fiber", hence creating a larger electron extraction region and possibly a brighter display.

There are several methods of adding color to the display. The most traditional method is to use differently colored phosphors (130R, 130G, 130B), as discussed above and shown in Figure 63. Another method is to add color to the fiber 115. Color can be added directly to the composition of the fiber material or a coating 138 can be added to the surface of the fiber 115, as shown in Figure 64C. This colored coating 138 is used to enhance the color of the phosphors 130. Figure 64C also shows a black matrix 152 preferably added to the display. The material to form the black matrix 152 is included in the fiber (115) directly or coated on the surface of the fiber 115.

The purpose of the high voltage electrode 120 is to both apply the high voltage to accelerate the electrons and drain the remaining charge deposited by the high voltage electrons.

The high voltage electrodes 120 are removed from the fibers and the thin metal coating 132 over the phosphors 130 are used as both the high voltage electrodes and charge removal electrode. If the high voltage applied is not above about 2,000 V, then the thin metal film 132 can not be used because the electrons do not have enough energy to penetrate through the film 132. A single metal wire is used as the high voltage electrode 120 as shown in Figure 64D. One method of assisting in charge removal is to add a very thin conductive layer over the surface of the phosphors 130.

Figure 65A through 66D represent cross-sections of the emitter electrode plane. Figure 65A is a cross-section of the emitter electrode plane, shown in Figure 63. Carbon nanotubes 145 attached to a conductive electrodes 140 are used as the emitter electrodes. Non-conductive fibers 150 separate the emitter electrodes and sandwich a getter wire 155. One potential problem with connecting the nanotubes 145 directly to the conducting wires 140 is that once a nanotube 145 starts emitting, all the current flows through that nanotube 145. A resistor 141 is preferably placed between the nanotubes 145 and the conductive electrode 140, as shown in Figure 65B. This resistor 141 limits the current that can flow through any single nanotube 145.

The getter material 155 can be coated onto a wire 154 as shown in Figure 65B. The advantage is that many different types of getter materials 155 can be used. The getter material 155 is preferably a thin film or a particulate material. Coating the getter material 155 onto a wire 154 allows the getter material 155 to be heated by flowing current through the wire 154.

Therefore, the getter material 155 does not have to be conductive to be heated. In addition, several different getter materials 155 can be used by coating wires 154 with the different getter materials 155 and sequentially placing them into the display. The different getter materials are

designed to getter different gases, including 02, N2, C, CO, and C02. The getter material 155 can also be designed in different shapes, as shown in Figure 65C, or combined with the non- conductive spacer 150, as shown in Figure 65D.

Figures 66A through 66D show changes to the emitter electrodes. Figure 66A shows the conductive electrode coated with an emissive film 146, such as diamond. This emissive film 146 may need to be separated from the conductive electrode with a resistive layer to limit the local current. The shape of the rectangular conductive electrode 140 can also be changed, such as shown in Figure 66B. In this example, circular conductive wires 140 with carbon nanotubes 145 are used as the emissive electrodes. To increase the width of the wire emissive electrode, several wire emissive electrodes are arrayed next to each other as shown in Figure 66C. If the getter material 155 is conductive and can be formed as a wire, then the emissive material 145 can be coated on it, as shown in Figure 66D. Combining the getter 155 and emissive material 145 increases the total coverage of emissive material 145 in the emissive plane. In addition, the getter material 155, conductive electrode 154, emissive material 145, and non-conductive spacer 150 can all be included in a single fiber.

Focusing electrodes 118 can be included in the fiber 115, as shown in Figures 67A and 70B. These focusing electrodes 118 can be placed near the extraction electrodes 110, as shown in Figure 67A or farther away from the extraction electrodes 110, as shown in Figure 67B. The focusing electrodes 118 serve to focus the electron trajectory such that the electrons do not collide with the inside walls of the fiber 115. The focusing electrodes 118 could also be used to scan the electron beam across the phosphor region 130, such that not all the current is deposited in a single point.

If the total number of electrons extracted from the emissive material is low, then the luminous of the display is low unless an extremely high voltage is applied to the high voltage electrodes 120. One method to increase the total number of electrons impinging on the phosphor layer is to added electron multiplier electrodes 122 to the fiber 115, as shown in Figure 68. These electron multiplier electrodes 122 are designed to emit more than one electron for every electron impinging on the electrodes 122. By applying a 300 V difference between the electron multiplier electrode 122A and the extraction electrodes 110, electrons are accelerated toward the electron multiplier electrode 122A. When the electrons strike the electrode 122A many electrons are emitted from the electrode 122A. By applying 600 V to electron multiplier electrode 122B and 900 V to electron multiplier electrode 122C, two more multiple electron

multiplications occur. For example, one emitted electron creates four electrons at electrode 122A, which creates sixteen electrons at electrode 122B, which creates sixty-four electrons at electrode 122C, assuming one impinging electron creates four additional electrons.

The high aspect ratio shaped fiber 115 discussed above is very difficult to fabricate. The fiber 115 has to be drawn from a preform 119 in order to obtain the small size fiber 115 needed to construct a high-resolution display, such as that needed for a television. During the draw process, there are normal forces placed on the preform/fiber as it is being drawn. These normal forces are created in the root of the draw or in the section where the larger preform 119 is "necked down"into fiber 115 and cause the fiber to change shape. The forces of interest (F1 and F2) are shown in Figure 69B. The force (F1) acts to add a normal force to the outside of the preform/fiber toward the center of the preform/fiber. This force (Fl) exists until the root of the preform goes through a point of inflection (concave in to concave out) wherein the force (F2) exists on the preform/fiber, which adds a normal force to pull the preform/fiber away from its center. Therefore, during the draw process the force (Fl) tends to close up the end of the fiber near the extraction electrodes 110, while farther down the root of the draw force (F2) tends to open up the fiber. These forces can have devastating effects on the shape of the fiber, especially if the length of the root is short and the viscosity of the glass is low. Given the shape of the preform/fiber shown in Figure 64A it is almost certain that the long legs that separate the extraction electrodes 110 from the high voltage electrodes 120 will splay outward such that the remaining fiber is flat.

There are two preferred methods of maintaining the proper fiber shape. Figure 69A shows one of the methods where forming tools are used in the root of the draw to prevent the preform/fiber from changing shape. In this example, a shape holding tool 190 is placed down through the center of the preform such that the end of the tool 190 reaches past the point of inflection (POI) of the root. This tool 190 prevents the preform/fiber from closing in on itself.

A second shape holding tool 195 is placed below the point of inflection (POI) of the root to keep the preform/fiber from splaying out, hence maintaining the shape of the fiber 115. Figure 70A and 70B show a second method of maintaining the proper fiber shape using a lost glass process.

In this example, a second sacrificial glass 95 is added to the initial preform 119 before the draw process, as shown in Figure 70A. The preform 119 is drawn into fiber 115 and the sacrificial glass 95 is removed, as shown in Figure 70B. The sacrificial glass 95 acts as a core for the preform 119 and the new draw properties of the preform (119 plus 95) are similar to a traditional

rectangle. One added advantage of using a lost glass process to form the fiber 115 is that holes 181 can be designed into the preform (119 plus 95) for the insertion of wire electrodes, so that after the draw and removal of the sacrificial glass 95 the wire is exposed outside the fiber 115.

Figure 71 represents another method of constructing a fiber-based FED display, which consists of an array of fibers 160 with the high voltage electrodes 120 and the phosphor layers 130, a second array of fibers 165 used as spacers containing the extraction electrodes 110, and an electron emissive plane similar to that discussed above. The operation of this FED display is similar to that discussed above, but the addressing of the electrodes is different since the high voltage electrodes 120 are now orthogonal to the extraction electrodes 110. One major difference in addressing of this type of FED display is that the pixel information is addressed between the extraction electrodes 110 and the emissive electrodes 140 and the color is sequentially addressed using the corresponding high voltage electrodes 120. The high voltage is sequentially applied to the high voltage electrodes 120 corresponding to all the red phosphors 130R then the green phosphors 130G and then the blue phosphors 130B. Applying the high voltage to the electrodes 120 associated to only one color pulls the emitted electrons only to that color.

Figure 72A shows a cross-sectional schematic of the top fiber 160 in Figure 71. The phosphor layer 130 is contained by small ridges next to the high voltage electrodes 120 and is coated with a thin conductive film 132. The legs 162 that confine the phosphor layer can be longer to increase the separation between the high voltage electrodes and addressing electrodes and to stop the back-scattered electrons from jumping to an adjacent phosphor layer, as shown in Figure 72B.

Figure 73A shows a cross-sectional schematic of the middle fiber 165 in Figure 71.

Figure 73B shows that a focusing electrode 118 can be contained within the fiber. The advantage of choosing this shape for the spacer in the FED is that the shape can easily be formed using a draw process. However, one potential problem is achieving a uniform spacing between the fiber 165. Figures 74A and 74B illustrate two methods of obtaining a uniform fiber pitch.

Figure 74A illustrates a method of adding an additional fiber or wire 170 between each fiber 165 during the fiber assembly step. After the fibers are arrayed the additional fiber or wire 170 can be remove to create a uniformly spaced fiber 165 array. The second method of forming a uniform fiber 165 array is to use a spacer material 172 that is either chemically or thermally removed, as shown in Figure 74B. In this case, the spacer material 172 is coated on the fiber

165 before it is arrayed. The fibers 165 are arrayed with no gaps between the spacer material 172, thus once the spacer material 172 is removed a uniform gap exist between the fibers 165.

Figure 75 illustrates another type of field emission display constructed using a metal- insulator-metal (MIM) cathode for the electron emission region. The new electron emission display in Figure 75 shares the same or similar fiber 115 with high voltage electrodes 120 and phosphor layers 130 as discussed above with a different electron emission technique. The electrodes to create electron emission using a modified MIMs cathode are shown in Figures 76A through 77B. Figure 76A shows the MIMs cathode. The MIMs cathode is constructed using a metal conductor 141, such as aluminum, coated with an insulating layer 142, such as A1203, which is coated with a thin metal layer 146. It is preferred that the thin metal layer 146 be divided into small islands. The fibers 115 with a wire mesh 112 between the extraction electrodes 110, Figure 77A, are then placed over the MIMs cathodes, as shown in Figure 75.

The wire mesh 112 comes in contact with the thin metal layer 146 on top of the MIMs cathode.

Applying a voltage between the extraction electodes 110 and the cathode electrode 141 creates a potential across the thin dielectric insulating layer 142. Electrons tunnel through the thin dielectric insulation layer 142, similar to that in an electroluminescent display, and strike the thin metal layer 146. The electrons that strike the thin metal layer 146 have enough energy to create a secondary electron emission in the thin film 146. These secondary electrons are attracted to the high voltage at the high voltage electrodes 120 and impinge on the phosphor layer 130 creating light. One issue is creating a non-connecting thin layer 146. If the thin layer 146 is connected then emission occurs along the entire length of the MIMs cathode. One method of creating a non-connected layer is to coat the insulated 142 conductive electrode 141 with small particles 146, as shown in Figure 76B. It is preferred that these small particles 146 are thin platelets that have a high secondary electron emission coefficient. An additional step in using the small particles 146 is to move the insulating layer 142 from the conductive electrode 141 to the small particles 146, as shown in Figure 76C. The wire mess 112 that makes contact to the thin metal layer 146 could also be replaced by a paste with metal particles or fibers 112, as shown in Figure 77B. Using a conductive paste 112 connected to the extraction electrodes 110 is preferred over the wire mesh 112, shown in Figure 77A, because it creates a better contact to the thin metal layer 146 along the length of the Fiber 115. However, it is noted that the metal paste 112 must have holes in it to allow the secondary electrons a path to the high voltage electrode 120 region.

Reflective Fiber-Based Displays An embodiment of the invention includes the use of fibers with wire electrodes to construct reflective fiber-based displays, where reflectivity is achieved by modulating an electro- optic material within the display. The wire electrodes are contained within the fiber or on the surface of the fiber. The fibers are optionally colored to impart color to the display, or are optionally black to serve as an absorbing layer to enhance the contrast of the display, or are optionally white to enhance the reflectivity of the display. The electro-optic material consists of a liquid crystal material, electrophoretic material, bichromal sphere material, electrochromic material, or any electro-optic material that serves to create a reflective display. Most of these electro-optic materials are bistable in their operation. In addition, colored pigment is optionally added to the electro-optic material to impart color to the display. The fibers are optionally composed of glass, glass ceramic, plastic/polymer, metal, or a combination of the above.

As previously discussed, Figure 56 shows a schematic of a plasma addressed liquid crystal (PALC) display using both top 17 and bottom 27 fibers to create the structure in the display. Modifying the top fiber 17 in this fiber-based PALC display, such as shown in Figure 78, creates a reflective display. To create a reflective display, the traditional liquid crystal, alignment layers and polarizers are replaced with an electro-optic material 237. Spacers 90, such as legs or ribs, are formed on the ends of the top fiber 17 to create a channel to support the electro-optic material 237. Upon operation, a plasma is ignited in the plasma channel 35 using the plasma address electrodes 36. The plasma creates many electrons and ions in the plasma channel 35. During the plasma glow period, a voltage is applied to the address electrodes 31 in the top fiber 17. This voltage, if positive relative to the plasma address electrodes 36, will pull electrons out of the plasma and plate them out on the upper inside surface of the plasma channels 35, directly below the electro-optic material 237. After the plasma is extinguished, the free carriers diminish from the plasma gas, leaving the electrons on the upper surface of the channel 35. Upon removing the applied voltage from the address electrodes 31, an electric field is set up between the deposited charge and the address electrodes 31. This electric field slowly modulates the electro-optic material 237. Note that the plasma addressing time is much faster than the response time of the electro-optic material 237. Because the charge on the inner surface of the plasma cell 35 is not stable, the plasma may have to be addressed more than once per image frame in order to fully address the electro-optic material 237.

Gray scale images are optionally created in the display by controlling the address voltage or by dividing the addressing time into sections or bits, similar to the addressing scheme of a plasma display. The time the electrons are plated-out in the plasma channel 35 is optionally broken down into 8-bit increasing time domains, or 256 levels of gray scale. Another method of creating a gray scale image is to divide the address voltage between the address electrodes 31.

Applying the full on address voltage to one of the address electrodes causes the electro-optic material to switch below that wire electrode and not the other. Thus, two bits of gray scale are optionally created if there are two electrodes and the voltage is full on or full off. If the voltage is divided between the two electrodes and its magnitude is also controlled, then the total number of gray scale levels equals the voltage bits of gray scale times the number of electrodes. In addition, using separate wires to address a bichromal sphere twisting ball display allows the ball to be rotated to specific angles. Rotating the ball to a specific angle not only controls the gray scale, but also controls the direction of the reflected light. Controlling the direction of reflected light is extremely useful to maximize the usage of a point light source, such as, for example, the sun.

Figure 79 is a schematic cross-section of a top fiber 17 similar to that shown in Figure 78, except the sides of the fiber 52 are black or absorbing to create a black matrix function. The absorbing sides 52 are optionally included in the top fiber 17, or are optionally coated on the surface of the fiber 17. The fibers are optionally composed of either an inorganic material, such as, for example, glass, or an organic material, such as, for example, an organic polymer. The black matrix 52 helps to define the pixels and create a sharper image.

Figures 80a and 80b show a method of controlling the electric field around the address electrodes 31. Contouring the surface 39 of the top fiber 17 allows for tight control of the shape of the electric field lines through the electro-optic material 237. The voltage drop (electric field) from the address electrodes 31 to the electrons in the plasma channel is divided between the glass or plastic in the top fiber 17, between the address electrodes 31 and the surface of the fiber 39, the electro-optic material 237, and the thin glass membrane at the top of the plasma channel 35. In order to obtain close to vertical electric field lines in the electro-optic material 237, the surface 39 of the top fiber is modified, depending on the dielectric constant of the top fiber 17 material and the electro-optic material 237. Figure 80a depicts a concave surface contour 39, which is needed to produce vertical electric field lines if the electro-optic material has the higher dielectric constant. Figure 80b depicts a convex surface contour 39, which is needed to produce

vertical electric field lines if the top fiber 17 material has the higher dielectric constant. Note that although the figures depict two address electrodes 31, any number of address electrodes can be used per pixel.

Figure 81 shows a method of exposing the electrodes to the surface, using a lost glass or polymer process. A sacrificial glass or polymer 95 is optionally co-extruded with the base glass or polymer 27, to form a preform for fiber draw. The wire electrodes 31 are optionally drawn into the fiber, shown in Figure 81a, and the sacrificial glass or polymer 95 is optionally subsequently removed with a wet or dry etch or a thermal process, as shown in Figure 81b. A sacrificial glass or polymer 95 is optionally used to hold the wire electrode in a particular location during the draw process. When the sacrificial glass or polymer 95 is removed, the wires become exposed to the environment outside the fiber. Creating a conductive path between the electrodes 31 and the electro-optic material 237 is necessary for the electrochromic displays.

Figure 82 shows a method of creating a conductive surface by applying a conductive material 31T to the surface of the fiber and in contact to the conductive wire electrodes 31. This conductive material 31T must be transparent. The conductive layer is optionally added to the preform during the draw or extrusion process, or added to the fiber after it has been drawn.

Figure 83 shows two different methods of adding color to the displays. First, the fibers 17R, 17G, and 17B are optionally colored. The fibers 17 are optionally colored by adding a color agent to the base fiber material before forming the fibers 17. The fibers 17 are optionally colored by applying a thin colored film to the surface of the fiber. Adding a color film to the surface is similar to what is done in the liquid crystal display industry to create a color filter.

Another method of adding color to the display is to add color to the electro-optic material 237R, 237G, and 237B. In the bichromal sphere display, one half of the sphere can simply be made from a colored material. In the electrophoretic material the color is optionally added to either the small charged particles or the liquid suspension solution.

Figure 84 shows a reflective display with an array of bottom fibers 217B that form one half of the display, and a top plate 230 forming the other half. The bottom fibers 217B have channels that support an electro-optic material 237, and wire electrodes 31 to address the electro-optic material. The top plate 230 has transparent electrodes 231T to address the electro- optic material 237. To complete the display, a substrate may be required below the bottom fibers 217B, such that the fiber array 217B is sandwiched between the two plates. The plates are

optionally made of glass or plastic. The top plate is optionally replaced with an array of fibers 217T to make a total-fiber display, as shown in Figure 85. This total-fiber display is optionally sandwiched between two plates to add rigidity to the display. Additional structure is optionally added to the top fiber 217T to form a channel to support an electro-optic material 237, as shown in Figure 86. Identical fibers are optionally used for the top 217T and 10 bottom 217B fiber arrays. Note that the fibers are not rigid and are optionally bent around a curved surface, therefore fabricating a curved display.

One problem with using an array of fibers to create the structure of the reflective display is presented by the additional surfaces created between the top plate 230 and the fiber array 17.

These additional surfaces create a reflection, which lowers the contrast ratio of the display. To reduce or eliminate these reflections, a flowable polymer material is optionally included into the structure between the top plate 30 or 230 and the fiber array 17 or 217T. A polymer material, such as, for example ethylvinyl acetate (EVA), is optionally used to remove these reflections.

Figure 87 shows a reflective electro-optic display, similar to that shown in Figure 78 and Figure 81, except the spacers 90 that create a channel for the electro-optic material 237 are contained in the bottom fibers 27. This type of display is operated very similarly to the one in Figure 81. A plasma is ignited in the plasma cell region 35 using the plasma address electrodes 36, and a voltage is applied to the transparent electrodes 31T in the top plate 230. This applied voltage pulls electrons out of the plasma and plates them out on the upper inside surface of the plasma channel 35. After the plasma is extinguished and the voltage removed from the transparent electrodes 31T, an electric field is generated between the plated-out charge and the transparent electrodes 31T. The electric field modulates the electro-optic material 237.

Replacing the top plate 230 with fibers containing wire electrodes 31, as shown in Figure 88, creates a total-fiber plasma display. Creating a total-fiber display not only allows for the fabrication of very large displays, but also allows for fabrication of curved, 3-D, and multiple view displays, if a lens function is built into the top fiber 17, as discussed below. A lens built into the top fiber 17 alters the refection of the light going through the fiber. The lens is used to create a three-dimensional (3-D) image by changing the focus of light passing through the fiber.

The lens is also be used to direct the light that passes through the fiber. Directing the light yields a brighter image in a given location, and can optionally create multiple images. Note that 3-D and multiple-view reflective displays may require more than one fiber with a given lens function to create such images.

One problem in the art is addressing the plasma in the bottom fibers over a long distance and creating a vertical electric field through the electro-optic material. The display shown in Figure 89 solves both of these problems. The bottom fibers 27 are used to address the plasma, as explained above. The top fibers 17 are designed to both support the electro-optic material 237 and address the plasma, using the wire address electrodes 31A. The top glass plate 230 has a transparent conductive layer 31T that is used as the ground plane for the plated-out charge in the plasma cells 35, hence creating an electric field through the electro-optic material 237. The extra set of electrodes 31A and ground plane electrode 31T make the display extremely easy to fully write or fully erase the electro-optic material 237. The ground plane electrode 31T is optionally included in the top fiber to create a total-fiber display, as shown in Figure 90. In this case, the ground plane electrodes 31S are optionally individually addressed per each top fiber 17.

Figure 91 illustrates a reflective display where the electro-optic material 237 is totally contained within the fiber 27. The electro-optic material 237 is addressed using a plasma similar to that explained above, but the plasma channel is formed by making a vacuum-tight seal between the fibers 27 and the bottom plate 230B, or between the two plates 230T and 230B.

The plasma electrodes 36 are used to ignite the plasma in the plasma channel 35, and the transparent electrodes 31T on the top plate 230T, are used to pull the electrons out of the plasma and plate them out on the upper top surface of the plasma channel 35. In this display, like the above display, the plasma is addressed one line at a time along the plasma channels.

Figure 92 illustrates a different method of addressing the plasma part of the display. The addressing technique is similar to that of a surface discharge plasma display. In this example, sets of parallel sustain electrodes 11 extend the length of the"top"fibers 17. An AC voltage is applied to the sustain electrodes 11, which is large enough to sustain a plasma, but not large enough to ignite the plasma. A short voltage pulse is then added to the plasma address electrodes 21 at the pixel location where addressing is desired. This short voltage pulse adds to the electric field of the sustain electrodes and locally ignites the plasma. After all the plasma cells are written, a voltage is applied to the top transparent conductive electrode 31T to pull the electrons out to the plasma and plate them out on the upper inside surface of the written plasma channels 35. After the electrons are plated out, the voltage on the transparent electrode 31T is removed, and an electric field is produced across the electro-optic material 237 as a result of the stored charge. A total-fiber display is optionally constructed by including the transparent

electrode 31T into the"bottom"fiber 27, as shown in Figure 93. In this case, wire electrode 31 serves as the address electrode for the electro-optic material.

One potential problem with the reflective display discussed in Figures 91-93 is that the entire display has to be glass frit sealed around the perimeter of the display to contain the plasma gas. This glass frit-sealing step usually requires a process temperature of about 400°C, which could cause harm to the electro-optic material 237, especially if it is composed of an organic material. One method of addressing the plasma at each pixel in the display and containing the plasma in individual tubes is shown in Figure 94. In this figure, sustain electrodes 1 la and 1 lb along with the electro-optic material 237 are contained in one fiber 17. This fiber array 17 is placed over and orthogonal to a second fiber array 27 that contains the address electrode 21 and the plasma cell region 35.

There are two traditional methods used to address a capacitively coupled plasma. The first is to essentially tie electrodes l la and llb together and use them as one electrode and electrode 21 as the other. Applying a voltage between the electrodes (1 la, 1 lb) and 21 ignites the plasma in the plasma cell region 35 at the crossing of the two electrodes. The plasma is sustained by applying an AC voltage between the electrodes. During the AC voltage electrons are swept back and forth between the address electrodes. These electrons plate out on the dielectric material around the electrode and are used to assist the igniting of the plasma in the next cycle of the AC voltage. Therefore, these electrons are used to address the electro-optic material by choosing the proper phase of the AC voltage to stop the plasma addressing. If the pixel is to be ON, i. e. the electro-optic material 237 is to be modulated, then a positive voltage on electrodes 1 la and 1 lb is used as the last plasma addressing of the pixel. Likewise, if the pixel is to be OFF, then the positive voltage is applied to electrode 21 during the last plasma addressing cycle. Choosing the phase to stop the plasma addressing determines whether electrons or positive ions are plated out at the top of the plasma channel 35 to address the electro-optic material 237. These plated-out electrons or positive ions serve to create a field between the electro-optic material by communicating with the electrode 31T above the electro- optic material 237. In addition, the electrode 31T on the top plate 230 can be replaced with wire electrodes 31S at the top of the fiber 17 as shown in Figure 90.

The second traditional method of addressing the plasma at each individual pixel is to apply an AC voltage between electrodes 1 la and 1 lb that is high enough to sustain a plasma, but not high enough to ignite a plasma in the plasma cell region 35. Then by applying an address

voltage to electrode 21 the plasma is locally ignited. Each phase of the AC results in electrons, which are plated out on the dielectric layer around one of the sustain electrode, leaving the sustain electrode 11 la, creating a plasma glow, and plating out around the other sustain electrode 1 lb. The only way electrons are plated out around any electrode is if a high enough electric field exists to ignite the plasma and create ionization/electrons. Therefore, if the pixel is written then electrons are plated out on the top of the plasma channel 35 and can be used to address the electro-optic material 237. One potential problem with this second addressing scheme is that the electrons are plated out locally around one of the two sustain electrodes, 11 la or 1 lb, depending on which phase of the AC was last used. This local collection of electrons may result in incomplete addressing of the electro-optic material 237 because of the non-uniform electric field through the electro-optic material 237. One method of combating this problem is to use adjacent pairs of sustain electrodes as single sets of sustain electrodes. Combining the sustain electrodes can be done by simply tying each pair of sustain electrodes 1 la and 1lb together and use them as a single sustain electrode 1 la. The second sustain electrode l lob results by tying an adjacent sustain electrode pair together. Using an interlaced addressing technique is the best method of addressing the entire display, since each fiber 17 only contains one of the sustain electrodes.

However, tying the two sustain electrodes 1 la and l lb together allows for the plasma to spread over the top of the plasma channel 35 in the bottom fiber 27 below and between the sustain electrodes 1 la and 1 lb. These electrons can then be used to address the electro-optic material 237.

Figure 95 represents a fiber-based display that is operated in both a transmissive and reflective mode, referred to as a transflective mode. The display has an array of bottom fibers 27 that have plasma tubes 35 to address the electro-optic material by plating out electrons like stated above, however since the display has to work in a transmissive mode the fibers 27 have to be clear or translucent. The top fibers 17 have at least three sets of electrodes and a channel for the electro-optic material 237. The two set of side electrodes 233a and 233b are used to address the electro-optic material 237 in the plane of the display. Electrode 31 is used to modulate the electro-optic material 237 using the charge from the plasma 35 similar to that discussed above.

A black matrix 52 is preferably designed into the top fiber 17 as shown in Figure 96a. This black matrix creates a sharper image and blocks the light not going through the electro-optic material 237. In addition, a reflective layer 251 is added to the bottom of the top fiber 17. This reflective layer 251 could be included in the top fiber 17 or could be coated on the surface of the fiber. If the top fiber 17 is composed of glass, the bottom of the fiber could be composed of an

opal glass, which reflects the light, but also lets some of the light pass through. The top fiber 17 is preferably fabricated out of plastic because of weight and ease of formation. If a polymer material is used to fabricate the top fiber 17, a reflective material could be used that would allow light to pass through if coming from underneath but reflect light coming through the electro- optic material 237. A coating could also be applied to the fiber preferably on the outer surface.

This coating acts similar to a one-way mirror, where light coming through the fiber is reflected, while light coming from underneath is passed through.

The two preferred electro-optic materials 237 for the transflective display are a bichromal sphere (Gyricon) and an electrophoretic material. One potential operation of the display using an electrophoretic material is to fill the electro-optic channel with a dilute solution of absorbing particles 235p in a colored or clear liquid. By applying a voltage between electrodes 233a and 233b, the absorbing particles 235p move through the liquid to one of the two contacts, as shown in Figure 96b. Moving the absorbing particles to one of the two electrodes, 233a or 233b, opens up the center region of the top fiber 17 for light to pass through.

Assuming the display is being back-lit, the light can pass directly through the display. If the display is being operated in a reflective mode and there is a reflective material 251 on the bottom side of the top fiber 17 or the bottom fiber 27 is reflective, then light traveling through the display will be reflected back out of the display. If color is desired, preferably either the top fiber is coated with a color die, or is composed of a colored material, or the electrophoretic liquid solution is colored. To change the gray scale of the display or make it dark, the absorbing particles 235p are moved to the bottom of the electro-optic cell region, as shown in Figure 96c.

The absorbing particles can be attracted to this surface by addressing the display using the plasma channel 35 and the addressing electrode 31 as discussed above. Voltages are also preferably applied to the side electrodes 233a and 233b to create the proper electric field to assist in moving the absorbing particles to the bottom of the electro-optic cell region 237. Gray scale is achieved by only moving part of the absorbing particles 235p to the bottom of the electro- optic cell region 237.

Creating a transflective display using bichromal spheres is similar in operation to using electrophoretic materials except that bichromal spheres are only rotated and not translated.

Figure 96d shows the position of the bichromal spheres when a voltage is applied in the plane of the display or between electrodes 233a and 233b. In this example, the bichromal spheres 235b are clear or colored with an absorbing material in a slice through the center of the sphere. When

light passes through the display, it is effected little by the spheres 235b since the light is travelling in the same direction as the plane of the absorbing layer. Color is optionally added to the fiber 17 as discussed above or color is added to the spheres 235b. The color could also be added to the liquid solution that suspends the spheres 235b in the electro-optic region 237.

Changing the gray scale is achieved by addressing the pixel using the plasma channel 35 and the electro-optic address electrode 31 as discussed above. Different levels of gray scale are achieved by only rotating some of the spheres or by rotating them to a given angle.

One potential difficulty in fabricating these complex-shaped fibers is maintaining the tight tolerances and holding the exact shapes. A lost glass or lost plastic process is optionally used to create the exact desired shape, as shown in Figure 97a and 97b. In this example, an sacrificial material 95 is added to the preform before the fiber draw, to maintain the thin narrow vertical ribs 90 and hold the top of the plasma channel 35 as flat as possible. Figures 97a and 97b also show a contoured glass membrane 39 around the plasma address electrodes 36. This contoured membrane 39 creates a more uniform field upon addressing, and creates a larger surface area for free carrier annihilation after plasma discharge.

Figure 98 shows that the plasma within the tubes is ignited using electrodes 36el and 36e2 at the ends of the tubes 27. In this case, the drawn-in wire electrodes are replaced with two electrodes at each end of the plasma tube. Electrodes 36el and 36e2 at the ends of the plasma tubes are only useful in larger tubes since the firing voltage is too high in small tubes as a result of wall quenching of the ionized gas. The tubes are sealed at the ends by using a glass sealing frit or by locally heating the tube while the inside is at a lower pressure, hence collapsing the tube 88 onto itself and sealing it off. The ribs 90 to support the electro-optic material 237 are optionally designed into the tubes and electrodes 36 sealed into the ends, as shown in Figure 98b.

As is obvious from the above examples there are several different methods of using fibers with wire electrodes to form a reflective display. The above figures are only used as an example and are not intended to limit the scope of using wire in fiber for reflective displays.

Three-Dimensional and Multiple View Displays The invention combines the optical function and part of the electronic function of the display into an array of individual fibers. The individual fibers contain the lens or optical function and at least one set of electrodes. By containing the lens function and the address

electrode in the same fiber, alignment of each pixel with its representative lens system is assured. This technology allows for the fabrication of very large three-dimensional, direct view displays.

Since most of the lens arrays are linear arrays of lenses, such as a lenticular lens array, and most electronic displays are linear arrays of image elements, it is an object of this invention to combine these two functions into an array of individual fibers. The individual fibers contain the lens or optical function and at least one set of electrodes. Containing the lens function and the address electrode in the same fiber assures alignment of each pixel with its representative lens system.

Plasma and plasma addressed liquid crystal displays are the primary focus of most of the following three-dimensional displays. However, the disclosure is applicable to field emission displays (FED), cathode ray tubes (CRT), electroluminescent (EL) displays or any type of similar display.

Figure 99 illustrates the use of a fiber 17 with absorbing regions 58 to form a small slit aperture 57 that is used to form multiple views 353a, 353b, and 353c, when using multiple light generation regions 352a, 352b, 352c. The multiple views can be used to create a stereoscopic display where each eye is placed in separate viewing zones (353a, 353b, or 353c) and right and left eye images are written to the corresponding light generation regions (352a, 352b, or 352c).

Only two of the images 353 and light generation regions 352 are needed to form a stereoscopic image. The images 353 are created by addressing the particular electrodes 11 in the fiber to create a plasma, which in turn generates the light 352 for the image in the display. Assuming the light 352 is generated close to the fiber 17, the image is related to the fiber shape by the equation: S/t=is/Od where s is the separation between light generation points (352a, 352b, 352c), t is the thickness of the fiber 17, is is the image 353 separation distance, and Od is the distance the viewer is from the screen.

Figure 100 shows the width w of the viewing zone from the top fiber 17 with the three sets of sustain electrodes 11. The width w of the viewing zone assumes that the light is generated only between the sustain electrodes 11 in the zone labeled z. In a typical plasma

discharge, the ionized gas forms a Gaussian distribution of light intensity extending out from the sustain electrodes 11. Assuming the light is confined between the sustain electrodes, the width of the viewing zone, w, is: w= d+ (d-z) Od/t where d is the opening of the aperture 57 and z is the separation of the sustain electrodes 11.

Figures 101 and 102 are schematic cross-sectional views of a top fiber 17 for a surface discharge plasma display that generates three separate images. A plasma is generated between the sustain electrodes 11 below the fiber 17. The light generated from the plasma is blocked by the absorbing layer 58 everywhere except in a direction from the point of generation through the slit aperture opening 57 at the top of the fiber 17. The generated light may be blocked only at the slit aperture 57 and at the delineation the three separate generation zones (Figure 101).

Alternatively, the generated light may be blocked everywhere except in the path from the generation to aperture 57 (Figure 102). To increase the collection efficiency, light guiding regions can be built into the fiber 17. Figure 103 schematically illustrates one method of constructing the top fiber 17 from a high index material 360 and a low index material 359 to help collect and guide the light toward the slit aperture opening 57.

Figures 101-103 are examples used to illustrate the use of an absorbing material to block light or combining high and low index optical materials to collect and guide light in a specific direction or desired location. The examples are not intended to limit the scope of the invention, since many different fibers can be constructed in any size, shape or configuration with different blocking layer and wave guides without deviating from the intended scope of the invention.

One potential problem is fabricating fibers 17 containing more than one material. A method of forming these fibers 17 is to use hot glass or plastic extrusion to form preforms then draw the preforms into fiber using a fiber draw process. More than one material can be co- extruded to form the preforms. During the hot glass or plastic extrusion process, two or more materials are forced to flow through an intricately shaped extrusion die where they flow together to form the preform with at least two dissimilar materials. Hot glass or plastic extrusion is a preferred method of forming preforms for the fiber draw containing multiple materials because tight tolerances can be held on both shape and size. In addition, both internal and external complicated shapes can be formed, which include apertures and lenses.

Figures 104 and 105 are examples of how the top PALC fibers 17 are used to create a multiple view or stereoscopic display. The examples are similar to those of the plasma top fibers 17 in Figure 102 except the liquid crystal spacer 90 is also built into the fiber 17. In Figure 104, the address electrodes 11 are composed of two wire electrodes 11 that are used to create the electric field to modulate the liquid crystal. In Figure 105, the address electrode contains a conductive wire electrode 11, which is connected to a thin transparent conductive electrode 361. The fibers 17 are preferably constructed from either glass or plastic (polymer). A top PALC fiber is shown as another example of a multiple view display constructed using a fiber array with slit and electrodes. The technology is not limited to plasma and PALC displays; it can also be used to create FED, CRT, electroluminescent, and types of similar displays.

Figure 106 illustrates building a lenticular lens function into the top fibers 17 of a surface discharge plasma display. By adding at least two pairs of sustain electrodes 11 to each fiber 17, which contain a lenticular lens on the opposite side of the electrodes, a three-dimensional stereoscopic image is generated. To sharpen the image in the viewing zones, an aperture is added to the fiber to block the light generated outside sustain electrode 11 region. The generated light is slightly blocked by the sustain electrodes 11, however additional blocking material 58 has to be added to the fiber. This blocking material 58 is preferably an absorbing black material or a reflecting material, such as opal glass. An advantage to adding the lens function to the top fiber is that the lens is always aligned with both the aperture grill and the light generating region (i. e. the address electrodes). This integration eliminates any requirements for alignment and since each stereopair is contained within each individual fiber, lateral run out of the top fiber is not an issue. Also, since very long fibers can be drawn, very large three-dimensional displays can be manufactured.

In order to generate more than one stereopair or more than two views across the viewing zone in front of the display, more than two sets of sustain electrodes are added to each top fiber 17. As an example, Figure 107 shows a top fiber 17 with eight sets of sustain electrodes 11.

The eight sets of sustain electrodes 11 generate eight separate side-by-side views in front of the display. Fibers with several lenticular lenses with a corresponding multitude of sustain electrodes can be drawn in a single fiber without deviating from the spirit of the invention.

Figure 108 schematically shows a cross-section of a lenticular lens top fiber 17 with ray traces (dotted lines) from light generation points to an image separation distance, is, at points

labeled with an X. Light going through the fiber refracts at the surface of the lens at an angle, 0, givenby: tan 0 = s/2f where s is the separation between the plasma sustain electrode pairs and f is the focal length of the lenticular lens. The radius of curvature of the lens, rc, is related to the focal length by: rc= (n-l) f where n is the refractive index of the fiber material. 0 is related to the observer distance, Od, and the image separation distance, is, by: tan 6 = is/20d Therefore, the image is related to the fiber geometry by the equation: is/Od = s (n-l)/rc As an example, assuming a fiber index (n) of 1.5 and a plasma separation (s) of 0.4 mm, to view a stereoscopic image at 20 inches away from the display the radius of curvature of the top fiber lenticular lens has to be 1.6 mm Figures 109 through 115 represent schematic cross-sections of the top fiber lenticular lens 17 in accordance with the present invention. Figure 109 shows a top lenticular lens fiber 17 with three sets of sustain electrodes 11, which generates three separate images. The image generation region is highlighted by adding an aperture 58 to the system, which defines a point light source generation. Figure 110 shows a similar fiber except the three sustain electrode 11 regions are separated by the aperture 58 that extends the entire height of the fiber 17.

The lens function in the previously described lenticular lens fibers is formed by shaping the surface of the fiber to a specific radius of curvature. Although all of the previous examples depict a convex shape fiber surface, a concave fiber shape is also an object of the invention.

Another method of forming a fiber 17 with a lens 359 is to contain the lens within the fiber. Figure 111 shows a rectangular top fiber 17 with a lens 359 formed inside the fiber. If the refractive index of the lens material 359 is higher than the surrounding glass fiber material 360, then the lens 359 functions as a convex lens. However, if the surrounding material 360 is higher

in refractive index than the lens material 359, the lens functions as a concave lens. The shape of the lens 359 within the fiber 17 may also be concave. Creating the lens 359 within the fiber 17 allows for a rectangular shaped fiber, which is easier to process as an array to build a display.

The surface shape of the lenticular lens can also be broken down into a Fresnel lens as shown in Figures 112 and 115. A Fresnel lens has the same surface curvature as a lenticular lens, but the surface of the lens is cut at specific intervals and collapsed down into a plane.

Figures 112a and 112b show the formation of this top Fresnel fiber 17 using a lost glass process.

The method of forming the fiber initially forms a much larger size replica of the fiber in a preform, which is drawn down into fiber while adding the wire electrodes. During this draw process, the fiber changes shape at sharp points or steep side walls. By adding an additional sacrificial glass 95 to the fiber during the draw process, the proper shape is maintained during the draw process. After the fiber 17 has been formed (Figure 112a), the sacrificial glass section 95 is removed using a wet etch solution. The remaining fiber (Figure 112b) has the exact size and shape needed to perform the desired function. The lost glass process is applicable when forming any desired surface structure or any lens shape.

Figure 113 is an example of a Fresnel lens top fiber 17 for a surface discharge plasma display with five different viewing zones. The viewing zones are sharpened by the aperture grill 58 in the top fiber 17 array. Other types of three-dimensional electronic fiber-based displays, including a PALC display, may also be formed using the lenticular lens system. Potential lenticular lens top fibers for a PALC display are shown in Figures 114 and 115. The figures represent the Fresnel lens method of forming the top fibers 17. Figure 114 shows a five viewing zone display where the liquid crystal in the display is modulated by a single wire electrode 11.

In Figure 115, the electric field is spread over a wider region by connecting the wire electrode 11 to a transparent conductor pad 361. The top fibers are preferably fabricated using glass or plastic (polymer).

A lens function may also be built into the bottom fibers 27 of the display. Figures 116a through 116c schematically show how a lens function is built into the bottom fiber 27 by controlling the shape of the channel/lens 366 for the plasma display. Since the channel/lens 366 is coated with phosphor, which is the point of generation of the light, channels with different curvatures tend to focus the light at different depths. Many of the emissive displays, such as the plasma display, have a lens function built into the location where the phosphor or electroluminescent material is deposited.

Figures 117 through 119 show a lens function designed into the hollow bottom fibers of a PALC display. Figure 117 shows the lens 366 built into the fiber inside the plasma discharge cell 35. As light passes through the bottom of the plasma discharge cell 35, light travelling through the fiber 27 from the bottom to the top will experience a concave lens in Figure 117a and a convex lens in Figure 117b. In Figure 118, the lens function is added outside the bottom fiber 27. In this fiber, the lens is representative of a Fresnel lens which focuses the light as it pass through the fiber. Figure 119 shows a combination of lenses, one inside the fiber and one outside the fiber (Fresnel lens), added to the bottom fiber 27 of a PALC display.

Another aspect of building a lens function into the fiber is shown in Figure 120. In this figure a"Fresnel lens"370 is added to the bottom of the bottom PALC fiber to redirect the light initially coming through the sides of the fiber toward the center of the fiber. Since the only region where the liquid crystal can be modulated is above the plasma discharge cell 35, any light outside this region is lost, especially the light incident on the plasma electrode 36 or the black matrix material 58. Building a focusing lens into the bottom sides of the PALC fiber increases the overall light transmission by approximately 25%.

Figure 121 illustrates another three-dimensional display in accordance with the present invention. A lens function is added to the top fiber of a fiber-based electronic display to vary the apparent distance of the image 381 from the viewer 385 on a pixel by pixel basis. The three separate lenses in Figure 121 represent a single pixel in a plasma display. The three lenses are contained within a single fiber 17 and are aligned to the sustain electrodes during the fiber draw process. The pixel image is written on one of the three discharge cells, 380a, 380b, or 380c.

Depending on the chosen discharge cell, the viewer experiences the image at 381a, 381b, or 381c. Therefore, in a given pixel, if plasma cell 380b is ignited, the image is perceived to have originated at a depth at 381b in that pixel location. The lenses and electrodes are part of each top fiber 17 and the fibers are arrayed across the surface of a display, which is used to create the image on the screen. The image is written on either of the three different focal points at each and every pixel across the display, therefore the focus of each pixel is controlled across the display. Controlling the apparent distance from which the image is viewed at each pixel creates a three-dimensional image. Assembling the top fibers 17 such that they run horizontally allows the viewer to have about a 160° viewing angle without affecting the three-dimensional image.

The vertical viewing angle should be greater than 90° with little effect on the three-dimensional

image, but the vertical viewing angle does not have a viewing cone as large as the viewing cone in the horizontal direction.

Figure 122 shows the top fiber 17 broken down into individual fibers 317a, 317b and 317c. Individual fibers with different lens functions are combined in a display to yield many different depths of field. If not as much depth of field is needed in certain locations in the display, different numbers of individual fibers 17 with varying focal lengths are used across the display, for example at the top to the display, which is mainly far focused sky. Many different pixel lines can be included in a single fiber. Each one of the pixel lines has several sets of sustain electrodes with different lens designs above each.

Figure 123 illustrates that the lenses above the sustain electrodes 11 or plasma generation regions are preferably convex, flat or concave. Using lenses with different focal lengths, i. e. radii of curvature, allows the image to be perceived to reside inside the display or pop out of the display. The horizontal viewing distance is limited if the lenses are designed such that the image comes out of the display. Figure 124 shows a cross-sectional schematic of the top fiber 17 with an aperture grill 58 placed at the bottom of the fiber 17. This aperture grill 58 blocks some of the light, but the optical system is cleaner since the light is only emanating from a single point.

Figures 125 and 126 illustrate a continuously varying lens function on the surface of the top fiber 17. Notice that the curvature of the fiber 17 changes from convex on the left side to concave on the right side. Figure 125 illustrates a fiber 17 with four different focal lengths, where each zone is separated by an absorbing material 58. Figure 126 shows a fiber with six possible focal distances. Since only one set of electrodes 11 are used for each pixel, placing the sustain electrodes 11 on the same pitch allows the plasma to be ignited between any pair of the electrodes. Placing the electrodes 11 on the same pitch not only reduces the number of wire electrodes by almost one half, it also reduces the number of high voltage driver chips by one half. Reducing the amount of high voltage drive electronics results in a large reduction in cost.

Figure 127 illustrates that the lens function on the surface can be created using a binary lens. One method of forming the binary lens in the surface of the fiber 17 requires a lost glass process, as discussed above, to hold the tight tolerances needed to achieve a high efficiency lens.

Alternatively, the lens function on the surface is created using a Fresnel lens, as shown in Figure 128. A Fresnel like lens can also be constructed to represent a continuously varying lens

function to replicate a shape similar to that shown in Figure 125. The Fresnel lenses may also be created using a lost glass or polymer process as discussed above.

Figures 129 and 130 illustrate a"lenticular lens"array across each zone of the top fiber 17. Depending on the requirements of the focal length of the lens function, many small lenses across the surface of the fiber may be required. Figure 129 and Figure 130 show these lenses as concave and convex, respectively.

Figures 131 and 132 illustrate the concept of building the lens inside the fiber 17 using a material 359 with a different index of refraction than that of the base glass 360 of the fiber. If the index of the lens glass 359 is higher than the base glass 360, then the lenses in Figure 131 are convex and are concave in Figure 132. Whereas, if the index of the lens glass 359 is lower than the base glass 360, then the lenses in Figure 131 are concave and are convex in Figure 132. The continuously varying focal length lens, shown in Figure 125, can also be created inside the fiber 17 using a two-index material glass fiber. Creating the lenses inside the fiber allows the fibers 17 to rest tightly against the top glass plate, such that the top glass plate does not interfere with the lens.

Figure 133 illustrates how a two index material fiber is used to collimate the light passing through the fiber 17. Using a high 359 and a low 360 index glass (or vise versa), any askew light is channeled straight through the fiber 17 by the high index material. The two different index materials can also be used to collect or redirect light, as shown in Figure 134.

Figure 134 is a cross-sectional schematic of a bottom fiber 27 of a PALC display. The high index material 359 interleaved with a low index material 360 is used to redirect the light going through the sides of the bottom fiber 27 so that it passes through the hollow plasma region 35.

Any light travelling through the fiber 17 outside the hollow plasma region 35 will be lost since the liquid crystal is not modulated in that region. The bottom of the high index of refraction material 359 can be fanned out to capture all of the incident light.

All of the above examples revolve around adding lenses to the top fiber 17 of a plasma display to create a three-dimensional display by varying the apparent depth of the image from the viewer. Creating a three-dimensional display using fibers 17 with the lens function and electrodes 11 is also realized in many other types of electronic displays without deviating from the general scope of the invention. Other displays include PALC displays, FEDs, CRTs, electroluminescent displays, and types of similar displays.

Examples of how the technology is used to create a three-dimensional PALC display are shown in Figures 135 and 136. Figure 135 shows a top fiber 17 of a PALC display with three separate Fresnel lenses directly aligned with the electrodes 11 and 361. The wire electrode 11 is used to carry the current for the display and the transparent electrode 361 is used to spread the charge across the pixel. The liquid crystal spacers 90 and the black matrix function 58 are also built into the top fiber 17. In a standard PALC display, the color filter is placed over the top plate of the display. To add color to the fiber display, the fibers 17 are simply made from a colored material or coated with a colored coating.

Figure 136 shows an array of three top fibers composed of red 17R, green 17G, and blue 17B material. Each of the individual subpixels (17R, 17G, 17B) has a continuously varying lens and seven wire electrodes 11 to modulate the light through the liquid crystal which creates depth for the three-dimensional display. The curvature of the lens for each of the three individual colors are slightly altered to correct for the chromatic aberration of the red, green and blue light.

The fibers 17 are preferably fabricated out of glass or plastic.

To display an image with varying depth on the PALC display, voltages have to be applied to different electrodes 11 at the different pixel locations. The resolution of the depth map is increased by applying voltages to adjacent wire electrodes 11 in a given pixel location.

Therefore, to increase the resolution of depth in the top fiber 17 in Figure 136, the address electrode voltage which modulates the liquid crystal is applied to adjacent wire electrodes 11.

Therefore, the liquid crystal is turned on at any location between 11 la to 1 lg by choosing to apply an address voltage to one or more of the electrodes 1 la tol lg. For instance, if the depth map corresponds to a location between electrodes l ld and 1 le, the address voltage is placed on both 1 ld and 1 le. If the depth map corresponds to a location closer to electrode 1 ld than 1 le, a higher voltage is applied to l lad than lie. This generates a larger electric field closer to electrode 1 ld than 1 le, hence turning the liquid crystal on closer to 1 ld. By using this voltage dividing scheme between adjacent top fiber electrodes 11, an almost continuous variation in image depth is achieved at each pixel.

To display an image with varying depth on a plasma display, a plasma discharge is created between different electrodes 11 at different pixel locations across the top fiber 17.

However, referring back to Figure 126, if a discharge is only formed between adjacent electrodes 11, only six bits of depth can be created in the plasma display. The intensity of a pixel is determined by turning the pixel on for a given length of time during each video frame in a

plasma display. This intensity is applied to any one of the sustain electrode pairs 11 in the top fiber 17 to yield an image at the corresponding focus. The plasma is ignited in adjacent plasma cells during a single video frame to create more resolution in the depth map. Dividing the plasma discharge time up between two adjacent sustain electrodes 11 during a single video frame (1/60 sec) is equivalent to overlaying the depth map with the intensity map. In the case of the intensity, the eye integrates the light during each video frame and the viewer observes an overall brightness. By dividing the depth at a given pixel in a single video frame between two adjacent sustain electrode pairs, the eye integrates the focus of the image at that pixel and the viewer observes an image with a focus between the two focal points of the plasma cells. For instance, if the depth map corresponds to a location at electrode lie then the plasma is ignited for half of the video frame time (intensity) between sustain electrodes 1 lb and 1 lc and is ignited between 1 lc and 1 ld for the other half of time (intensity). If the depth map corresponds to a location closer to 11 d than l lc, then more of the intensity is generated between 1 lc and l ld than 1 lb and 1 lc. If the intensity map is broken down into the 256 bits of gray scale and there are four different pairs of sustain electrodes to create a plasma, then 256x4 or 1024 bits of depth can be created.

Examples of how the technology is used to create a three-dimensional FED display are shown in Figures 137A and 137B. Details on the construction of these fiber-based FED displays is disclosed above. Electrons which are extracted using address electrodes 110 are accelerated toward the high voltage electrodes 120a and 120b. These high-energy electrons impinge upon the phosphor 130 and cause cathodoluminescense, which generates visible light. The light generation region is determinate on the location of the impinging electron beam. Varying the high voltage potential between electrodes 120a and 120b shifts the impinging location of the electron beam. The generated light is modeled as a point light source located in the phosphor layer 130. Knowing the curvature of the lenticular lens 370 in Figure 137A allows for the calculation of the projection of the light out of the display. Shifting the light generation region shifts the projection of light out of the display. Multiplexing each pixel within the display allows for the displaying of multiple images. The lens 370 in Figure 137B has a continuously varying lens function. Therefore, depending on the location of light generation under the lens 370 determines the focus of the light out in front of the display. Multiplexing the location of the light generation at every pixel creates an image with perceived depth. The fiber-based method of constructing displays is unique and innovative compared to the standard panel construction because it has fewer and simpler process steps, no multi-level alignment steps, intra-pixel

control, greater addressability over longer distances, and much larger displays and curved displays can be constructed.

Constructing displays using fibers has many different benefits and advantages. The economic benefits of the fiber-based plasma display technology compared to the standard plasma display technology is that fibers result in approximately 70% lower capital costs, 50% lower manufacturing costs, and 20% lower materials costs. These lower costs are realized as a result of the manufacturing advantages. Fiber-based displays have 50% fewer process steps, no multi-level alignment steps, higher yields, simpler process steps, no large vacuum process equipment or photolithography steps, no size limit, and no shape limit.

The fiber-based technology also yields performance advantages. Tight control of the fiber size and shape (intra-pixel control) along with the location of the wire electrodes leads to a fine control of the electric fields within the display. Creating the optimum electric field increases the discharge efficiency in a plasma display by a factor of two. Controlling the electric field also allows a reduction of ion bombardment on the phosphors, hence increasing the lifetime of the display. It is very easy to control the intra-pixel dimensions in a fiber plasma display; however, it is quite difficult and requires several extra steps for the standard process to achieve such control.

The fiber-based technology also provides environmental advantages. Since the glass fibers can be made from a lead-free glass, there is a large reduction in the lead content of the display compared to standard plasma displays and CRTs. A completely lead-free display could even be realized if lead-free frits are used. The innovative fiber-based technology eliminates the waste products associated with traditional photolithographic processes and the associated problems of treating the etching solution-contaminated rinse liquids. Also, there are none of the by-products from sand blasting glass. The bottom line is the fiber plasma technology is a cleaner, more environmentally safe manufacturing operation.

Accordingly, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention herein described are merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. Reference herein to details of the illustrated embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the claims, which themselves recite those features regarded as essential to the invention.