A new type of AC PDP with shadow mask (shadow mask PDP. SMPDP) has been presented for its effective structures with lower cost. In order to improve the image quality and reduce the cost further, a single-scan driving scheme is applied to 42-inch WXGA SMPDP. High-speed address is successfully obtained by offsetting the scan voltage from the final voltage of the ramp-down waveform. A new erase pulse is used before the sustain pulses to eliminate the misfiring. The two distinguished characters of the new driving waveform can realize 1.2 mu s to 0.9 mu s high speed addressing in 42-inch WXGA SMPDP prototypes. New MgO materials and the optimized process conditions provide 50 ns statistical delay time. A high speed image intensified charge coupled device (ICCD) camera and a photosensor amplifier are used to investigate the discharge of the ON and OFF cells in the reset, address, erase-before-sustain and sustain periods. The experimental results demonstrate that the stable high-speed addressing and valid sustaining can be obtained in the new driving waveforms in 42-inch WXGA SMPDP. The experimental results can help us to understand the discharge and help us to optimize the driving scheme of SMPDP. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.