Because of their thermal, dielectric, and optical properties, new glass compositions and thick-filmed transparent dielectrics containing neodymium oxide (Nd2O3) were studied as a source of purer images in plasma display panels. In the present study, PbO-B2O3-SiO2 and PbO-B2O3-SiO2-ZnO-Al2O3 were used as starting glass compositions, to which up to 25 wt% of Nd2O3 then was added. Increased amounts of Nd2O3 increased the glass transition temperature and dielectric constant of the bulk glasses and decreased the coefficient of thermal expansion. The fired thick films (around 30 mum) allowed selectively visible light to penetrate and showed deep absorption properties at 585 nm that were related to an extraneous gas from neon discharge.