Direct electrical readout from plasma display/memory panels

A technique for extracting stored information from an array of plasma display/memory elements uses a direct electrical detection system that senses the charge flow in selectively excited elements. Electronic drive schemes based on this technique and suitable for realizing readout capability in a large-scale plasma display system are described. The design of specially configured sense amplifiers used in these systems, the nature of the noise signals encountered in these systems, and the results of reliability tests on a 128 × 128 line plasma display system with readout are discussed.