| 摘要 |
<p>An apparatus for addressing data storage elements (16) uses an ionizable gas excited by an AC energy source to store data in and read data out of the storage elements. The storage elements are defined by the overlapping areas of multiple column electrodes (19) extending in a common direction on a first substrate (48) and multiple channels (20) extending in a common direction on a second substrate (54). A layer of dielectric material (46) separates the first and the second substrates, which are positioned face-to-face and spaced-apart with the direction of the channels transverse to that of the column electrodes. Each of the channels is filled with an ionizable gas and includes two row electrodes electrically isolated from each other. The ionizable gas functions as an electrical switch that changes between a conducting or plasma state and a nonconducting or nonionized state in response to phase-displaced AC pulse signals. If the storage element includes a layer (44) of material having electro-optic properties and receives incident image-carrying light, the ionizable gas functions to select and store image data across the layer and thereby provide a display system having gray scale capability. <IMAGE></p> |
