JP2000133136A - Image forming device and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stabilize an electron emitting amount from an electron emitting element, suppress deterioration of an element characteristic, suppress reduction of brightness, and uneveness of brightness. SOLUTION: In a manufacturing method for an image forming device, an envelope 5 is formed in such a way that an electron source substrate 1 in which a plurality of electron emitting elements provided with a conductive film 108 including an electron emitting part are arranged, and a face-plate 4 having a fluorescent screen 7 are disposed opposing to each other; and a liquid including raw material for the conductive film 108 is supplied by ink-jet system, and furthermore baked so as to form the conductive film 108, and thereby non- evaporative getter type 9 is formed on the electron source substrate 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a display device or an exposure device constituted by using an electron source having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a device for irradiating an electron beam emitted from an electron source to a phosphor as an image display member and causing the phosphor to emit light to display an image, a vacuum vessel containing the electron source and the image display member is included. Must be kept in a high vacuum. That is, when gas is generated inside the vacuum vessel and the pressure rises, the degree of the effect depends on the type of gas, but it adversely affects the electron source and reduces the amount of electron emission,
This is because a bright image cannot be displayed. Further, the generated gas is ionized by the electron beam to become ions, which are accelerated by an electric field for accelerating the electrons and collide with the electron source, which may damage the electron source. Further, in some cases, a discharge may be generated inside, and in this case, the device may be destroyed.

Normally, a vacuum container of an image display device is formed by combining glass members and bonding a bonding portion with frit glass or the like. Once the bonding is completed, the pressure is maintained in the vacuum container. Is done by the getter.

In recent years, a flat display using an electron source in which a large number of electron-emitting devices are arranged on a flat substrate has been developed. In order to secure a degree of vacuum, gas generated from an image display member is reduced to a getter. A characteristic problem is that it reaches the electron source before being diffused, causing a local pressure rise and accompanying deterioration of the electron source.

In order to solve this problem, there has been disclosed a structure in which a getter material is arranged in an image display area so that generated gas can be immediately adsorbed in a flat image display device having a specific structure. I have. For example, JP-A-9-8224
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5 (1999) -2005 proposes a specific method of distributing a getter material over the entire image display area in order to suppress a pressure increase due to local gas release in the structure of the planar image display device.

On the other hand, in the formation of a large-sized flat image display device, it is important that the structure has an easy manufacturing process, and a horizontal field emission type electron emission device is used as an electron emission device having such a structure. And a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

The surface conduction type electron-emitting device emits electrons by passing a current through a conductive film partially having a high resistance portion.
One example is shown in Japanese Patent No. 5255.

[0008]

When a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are formed on a substrate, an element film (conductive film) is required.
Since there is a process in which a material or a resist used for patterning directly contacts the substrate on which the wiring, the getter material, and the like are arranged, if the residue remains, there is a risk of contaminating the getter material and deteriorating the exhaust characteristics. Further, when the getter material is formed before the conductive film, the conductive film material and the resist come into direct contact with the getter film, and the deterioration of the exhaust characteristics is unavoidable. In addition, even if only the baking process necessary for the conductive film is considered in addition to the residues, there is a high possibility that the characteristics of the getter film that are sensitive to temperature and atmosphere are affected.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of solving the above-mentioned disadvantages, and more particularly, to provide an image forming apparatus in which the luminance does not change with time (decrease with time). It is another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus in which variation in luminance over time in an image display area is small.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has an electron source substrate having a plurality of electron-emitting devices having a conductive film including an electron-emitting portion, and an image forming member. In a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus in which an image forming substrate and an envelope are formed to be opposed to each other, a liquid containing a raw material of a conductive film is applied by an inkjet method, and further baked to form a conductive film. The method is characterized by including a step of forming a non-evaporable getter on the electron source substrate later.

The present invention includes an image forming apparatus manufactured by the above method.

In the present invention, the provision of the raw material of the conductive film by the ink jet method is described in JP-A-8-17185.
As described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 0-2004 and the like as a surface conduction type electron-emitting device, an electron source substrate having the same, an image forming apparatus, and a method for manufacturing the same, a metal-containing solution that is a base material of a conductive film is dropped. And forming a conductive film for forming an electron-emitting portion by a method that does not require patterning.

According to the ink-jet method, since the formation of the conductive film constituting the electron-emitting device is performed without the need for a patterning step, the conductive film is formed at the place where the non-evaporable getter is arranged and further at the non-evaporable getter itself. Residues such as conductive film material and resist do not remain. Therefore, the risk that the exhaust characteristic of the non-evaporable getter is deteriorated can be avoided, and a high degree of vacuum can be maintained in the image forming apparatus and the life of the element can be extended. Basically, the element forming step can be performed before or after the non-evaporable getter forming step because the element forming step does not contaminate the non-evaporable getter.

On the other hand, since the non-evaporable getter generally utilizes the reaction of the surface, the process after the formation of the non-evaporable getter has a great effect on the exhaust characteristics unless sufficient care is taken. In particular, if the non-evaporable getter comes into contact with the reactive gas while it is being heated, it will rapidly absorb the gas and cause deterioration in the exhaust characteristics thereafter. On the other hand, the formation of the conductive film of the electron-emitting device usually passes through a baking / drying process. For example, when baking / drying is performed in the air, the surface of the non-evaporable getter is oxidized, and exhaust characteristics are impaired.

Therefore, in the present invention, the formation of the non-evaporable getter disposed on the electron source substrate is performed after the formation and firing of the conductive film of the electron-emitting device. Since high-temperature heating in the atmosphere due to drying can be avoided, damage to the exhaust characteristics of the non-evaporable getter can be avoided without significantly restricting the conductive film material and process.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A basic configuration to which the present invention can be applied will be described.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes an electron source in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices including a conductive film 108 including an electron-emitting portion and device electrodes 105 and 106 are arranged on a substrate, and are appropriately wired. 2 is a rear plate, 3 is a support frame,
4 is a face plate. The rear plate 2 to which the electron source 1 is fixed, the support frame 3 and the face plate 4 are adhered to each other using frit glass or the like to form an envelope 5.

The face plate 4 is formed by forming a fluorescent film 7 and a metal back 8 on a glass substrate 6, and includes a region where the fluorescent film 7 is formed (including the thickness of the vacuum space in the envelope 5). ) Is the image display area. The phosphor film 7 is made of only a phosphor in the case of a black-and-white image, but in the case of displaying a color image, pixels are formed by phosphors of three primary colors of red, green and blue, and a black conductive material is used between the pixels. Separate structure. The black conductive material is called a black stripe, a black matrix, or the like, depending on its shape. Details will be described later.

The metal back 8 is formed of a conductive thin film such as Al. The metal back 8 reflects light traveling toward the electron source 1 out of the light emitted from the phosphor toward the glass substrate 6 to improve the brightness, and the gas remaining in the envelope 5 reduces the electron emission. It also serves to prevent the phosphor from being damaged by the impact of ions generated by ionization by the wire. In addition, the image display area of the face plate 4 is provided with conductivity to prevent charge from being accumulated, and
Serves as an anode electrode.

Next, the fluorescent film 7 will be described. FIG.
(A) is a case where the phosphors 13 are arranged in a stripe shape, and the phosphors 1 of three primary colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B).
3 are formed in order, and are separated by a black conductive material 12 therebetween. In this case, the portion of the black conductive material 12 is called a black stripe. FIG. 3B shows the fluorescent substance 13.
Are arranged in a grid pattern, and the dots are separated by the black conductive material 12. In this case, the black conductive material 1
2 is called a black matrix. There are several methods of arranging each color of the phosphor 13, and accordingly, the arrangement of the dots may employ a square lattice or the like in addition to the illustrated triangular lattice.

As a method of patterning the black conductive material 12 and the phosphor 13 on the glass substrate 6, a slurry method, a printing method, or the like can be used. After the fluorescent film 7 is formed,
The metal back 8 is formed.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the electron source 1 to which the present invention can be applied. 4A and 4B show an electron source 1 in which two-dimensionally arranged electron-emitting devices are connected by matrix wiring.
Is schematically shown. FIG. 4A is a plan view, and FIG. 4B shows a cross-sectional configuration along AA ′ in FIG. 4A.

Reference numeral 101 denotes an insulating substrate made of glass or the like;
Reference numeral 102 denotes an X-direction wiring (upper wiring), and reference numeral 103 denotes a Y-direction wiring (lower wiring). X direction wiring 102 and Y direction wiring 1
Reference numeral 03 is connected to the device electrodes 106 and 105 of each electron-emitting device.

The Y-directional wiring 103 is provided on a substrate 101, and further thereon, an insulating layer 104 is formed, on which the X-directional wiring 102, device electrodes 105 and 106, and a conductive film 108 are formed. Wiring 103 and element electrode 105
Are connected via a contact hole 107.

The various wirings and the like are formed by a combination of various thin film deposition methods such as a sputtering method, a vacuum evaporation method, and a plating method and a photolithography technique, or a printing method.

As the material of the element electrodes 105 and 106 facing each other, a general conductor material can be used. This includes, for example, Ni, Cr, Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, A
metals or alloys such as l, Cu, Pd and Pd, Ag, A
a printed conductor composed of a metal such as u, RuO ₂ , Pd—Ag or a metal oxide and glass, In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂
And the like and a semiconductor conductor material such as polysilicon.

As the conductive film 108, it is preferable to use a fine particle film composed of fine particles in order to obtain good electron emission characteristics. The film thickness is appropriately set in consideration of the step coverage of the device electrodes 105 and 106, the resistance value between the device electrodes, forming conditions described later, and the like. The thickness is preferably in the range of several times 1 nm to several hundred nm, more preferably in the range of 1 nm to 50 nm. The resistance value is such that Rs is 10 ² to 10 ⁷ Ω /
The value of □. Note that Rs is an amount that appears when the resistance R of a thin film having a width w and a length 1 is set as R = Rs (l / w).

The material forming the conductive film 108 is Pd,
Pt, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, F
metals such as e, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, Pd, PdO, S
oxides such as nO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO, Sb ₂ O ₃ ,
HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ , LaB ₆ , CeB ₆ , YB ₄ , G
dB醐化matter such as _{4, TiC, ZrC, HfC,} TaC,
It is appropriately selected from carbides such as SiC and WC, nitrides such as TiN, ZrN and HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, and carbon.

The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and has a fine structure in a state in which the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, or in a state in which the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (some fine particles are formed). To form an island-like structure as a whole). The particle size of the fine particles is in the range of several times to several hundred nm of 0.1 nm, preferably in the range of 1 nm to 20 nm.

The electron-emitting portion 109 is constituted by a high-resistance crack formed in a part of the conductive film 108, and depends on the thickness, film quality, and material of the conductive film 108, a method such as energization forming described later, and the like. It will be. Electron emission unit 109
In some cases, conductive fine particles having a particle size in the range of several times 0.1 nm to several tens of nm are present inside. The conductive fine particles are part of the elements of the material forming the conductive film 108,
Alternatively, it contains all elements. The electron emitting portion 109 and the conductive film 108 near the electron emitting portion 109 can also contain carbon and a carbon compound.

In the manufacturing method of the present invention, the conductive film 108 is formed by an ink jet method. As the ink jet device, any device can be used as long as it can form an arbitrary droplet. In particular, it can be controlled in a range of about several tens of ng to several tens of ng, and has a fineness of about tens of ng or more. An apparatus that can easily form an amount of droplets is preferable. The material of the droplet may be in any state as long as the droplet can be formed, and examples thereof include a solution in which the above-described metal or the like is dispersed and dissolved in water, a solvent, or the like, an organic metal solution, or the like. .

Using the above-described ink jet device,
After a solution of the organometallic compound is applied as droplets only at predetermined positions and dried, the organometallic compound is thermally decomposed by heat treatment to form a conductive film 108 such as a metal or metal oxide. .

In the manufacturing method of the present invention, after the conductive film 108 is formed as described above, the non-evaporable getter 9 is formed on the electron source substrate, particularly, in the image display area.
(See FIG. 1).

As a position where the non-evaporable getter (NEG) 9 is installed, for example, as shown in FIG.
Above. Further, it is desirable that the installation areas are uniformly distributed throughout the image display area (in this sense, the present getter is referred to as an in-plane getter).

The non-evaporable getter 9 is made of Ti, Zr, Cr, Al, V, Nb, Ta, W, Mo,
One or more metals selected from Th, Ni, Fe, and Mn or alloys thereof are used.

The non-evaporable getter 9 is formed by a combination of various thin film deposition methods such as a sputtering method, a vacuum evaporation method and a plating method, and a photolithography technique.

In the electron source 1 configured as described above, since the non-evaporable getter 9 and the conductive film 108 are arranged close to each other on the same substrate, the electron source 1 is provided for forming the conductive film 108. When the droplets are heated in the atmosphere, the non-evaporable getter is necessarily heated in the atmosphere.

FIG. 2 shows the characteristics obtained when the non-evaporable getter is formed in a fixed area and heated in air and then activated in vacuum. This is shown in comparison. Although the exhaust characteristics of the non-evaporable getter do not deteriorate up to a heating temperature of about 150 ° C.,
Deterioration is seen above ℃. Generally, in a process of forming a conductive film for forming an electron-emitting portion, heating at about 200 ° C. or more in the air is required. Therefore, it is necessary to form the conductive film 108 before forming the non-evaporable getter and complete the heating in the atmosphere such as baking / drying.

The face plate 4, the support frame 3, and the rear plate 2 formed as described above are combined with the electron source 1 and other structures, and the support frame 3, the face plate 4, and the rear plate 2 are joined. I do. The bonding is performed by attaching frit glass to the bonding portion and heating the glass to 400 to 450 ° C. in a vacuum (referred to as a sealing step).

Thereafter, the inside of the envelope 5 is evacuated once,
Necessary processing such as activation processing of the electron source 1 is performed. Subsequently, a sufficient vacuum is secured inside the envelope 5 by exhausting and heating and degassing (baking), and the exhaust pipe (not shown) is heated and closed by a burner. Finally, a getter process is performed, which heats an evaporable getter 14 (in FIG. 1, a ring-shaped getter is schematically shown) provided in the envelope 5 and deposits it on the inner wall of the envelope 5. This is a process of forming a film of the getter material (referred to as “flash” of the getter). The getter film thus formed is located outside the image display area in the envelope 5.

In the above-described baking step, degassing processing is performed in the image forming apparatus. However, in order to sufficiently perform degassing processing from each member constituting the image forming apparatus, 200 ° C.
The heating is carried out at a temperature of at least 300 ° C.

Next, NTS is performed by the above-described image forming apparatus.
An example of a configuration of a driving circuit for performing television display based on a C-system television signal will be described with reference to FIG. 5, reference numeral 81 denotes an image forming apparatus, 82 denotes a scanning circuit, 83 denotes a control circuit, 84 denotes a shift register, 85 denotes a line memory, 86 denotes a synchronizing signal separation circuit, 87 denotes a modulation signal generator, and Vx and Va denote DC voltages. Source.

The image forming apparatus 81 has terminals D _ox1 through D _ox
oxm , terminals _{Doy1 to Doyn,} and a high voltage terminal Hv are connected to an external electric circuit.

Terminals D _{ox1 to} D _oxm are connected to an electron source provided in the image forming apparatus 81, that is, a group of surface-conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns in one row. A scanning signal for sequentially driving each (n elements) is applied.

[0045] The terminal D _Oy1 to _D oyn, modulation signal for controlling the output electron beam of each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of one row selected by a scan signal.

The high voltage terminal Hv is connected to a DC voltage source Va.
For example, a DC voltage of 10 kV is supplied, which is an accelerating voltage for applying sufficient energy to the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device to excite the phosphor.

The scanning circuit 82 will be described. The circuit includes m switching elements (S _{1 to} S
_m is schematically shown). Each switching element selects either the output voltage of the DC voltage power supply Vx or 0 [V] (ground level),
To terminal D _ox1 of the image forming apparatus 81 is connected to D _oxm and electrically. Each of the switching elements S _{1 to} S _m operates based on the control signal T _scan output from the control circuit 83, and can be configured by combining switching elements such as FETs, for example.

In the case of this embodiment, the DC voltage source Vx is based on the characteristics (electron emission threshold voltage) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the driving voltage applied to the unscanned device is an electron emission threshold. It is set to output a constant voltage that is equal to or lower than the value voltage.

The control circuit 83 has a function of matching the operation of each unit so that appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. The control circuit 83 in accordance with the synchronization signal T _sync sent from the synchronous signal separating circuit 86, T _scan, generating a respective control signal T _sft and T _mry to each unit.

The synchronizing signal separating circuit 86 is a circuit for separating a synchronizing signal component and a luminance signal component from an NTSC television signal input from the outside, and uses a general frequency separating (filter) circuit or the like. Can be configured. The synchronizing signal separated by the synchronizing signal separating circuit 86 is composed of a vertical synchronizing signal and a horizontal synchronizing signal, but is shown here as a _Tsync signal for convenience of explanation. The luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is represented as a DATA signal for convenience. This DATA signal is input to the shift register 84.

The shift register 84 converts the DATA signal input serially in time series into a serial / parallel format for each line of an image, and converts the DATA signal into a control signal _Tsft sent from the control circuit 83. (Ie, the control signal _Tsft may be rephrased as a shift clock of the shift register 84). The data for one line of the serial / parallel-converted image (corresponding to the driving data for n electron-emitting devices) are I _{d1 to} I _dn.
Are output from the shift register 84 as n parallel signals.

The line memory 85 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a required time only.
Stores the contents of the appropriate I _d1 to I _dn according to the control signal T _mry sent from the control circuit 83. The stored content is I
_d'1 to be output as I _d'n, it is input to the modulation signal generator 87.

The modulation signal generator 87 outputs the image data I _{d′ 1}
To I _d'n , which is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the electron-emitting devices, and the output signal of which is _{supplied to} the surface conduction type in the image forming apparatus 81 through terminals _{Doy1 to Doyn.} Applied to the electron-emitting device.

The electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied has the following basic characteristics regarding the emission current _Ie . That is, electron emission has a clear threshold voltage _Vth , and electron emission occurs only when a voltage equal to or higher than _Vth is applied. For a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold, the emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the device. Therefore, when a pulse-like voltage is applied to the device, for example, when a voltage lower than the electron emission threshold is applied, electron emission does not occur, but when a voltage higher than the electron emission threshold is applied. Outputs an electron beam. At that time, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled by changing the peak value Vm of the pulse. Further, by changing the pulse width Pw, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam.

Therefore, as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device according to the input signal, a voltage modulation method, a pulse width modulation method, or the like can be adopted. When implementing the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 87 generates a voltage pulse of a fixed length, and a voltage modulation circuit capable of appropriately modulating the peak value of the voltage pulse according to input data. Can be used.

When implementing the pulse width modulation method,
As the modulation signal generator 87, a pulse width modulation circuit that generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value and appropriately modulates the width of the voltage pulse according to input data can be used.

The shift register 84 and the line memory 85
Can be adopted as a digital signal type or an analog signal type. This is because the serial / parallel conversion and storage of the image signal may be performed at a predetermined speed.

When the digital signal type is used, it is necessary to convert the output signal DATA of the synchronization signal separation circuit 86 into a digital signal. For this purpose, an A / D converter is provided at the output of the synchronization signal separation circuit 86. Just do it. In connection with this, the circuit used for the modulation signal generator 87 differs slightly depending on whether the output signal of the line memory 85 is a digital signal or an analog signal. That is, in the case of the voltage modulation method using a digital signal, for example, the D /
An A conversion circuit is used, and an amplification circuit and the like are added as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 87 includes, for example, a high-speed oscillator, a counter for counting the number of waves output from the oscillator, and a comparator for comparing the output value of the counter with the output value of the memory. (Comparator) is used. If necessary, an amplifier for amplifying the pulse width modulated signal output from the comparator to the drive voltage of the electron-emitting device can be added.

In the case of the voltage modulation method using an analog signal, the modulation signal generator 87 can employ, for example, an amplifier circuit using an operational amplifier or the like, and can add a level shift circuit or the like as needed. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, for example, a voltage-controlled oscillation circuit (VCO) can be employed, and an amplifier for amplifying the voltage up to the driving voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be added as necessary.

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention which can take such a configuration, each of the electron-emitting devices is provided with an external terminal D
_ox1 to D _oxm, by applying a voltage via the D _Oy1 to _D oyn, electron emission occurs. A high voltage is applied to the metal back 8 or the transparent electrode (not shown) via the high voltage terminal Hv to accelerate the electron beam. The accelerated electrons are
The light collides with the fluorescent film 7 and emits light to form an image.

The configuration of the image forming apparatus described here is an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention. The input signal has been described in the NTSC system. However, the input signal is not limited to this. In addition to the PAL and SECAM systems,
A TV signal composed of more scanning lines than these (for example,
A high-definition TV system such as the MUSE system can also be adopted.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention can be used not only as a display device for a television broadcast, a display device such as a video conference system or a computer, but also as an image forming device as an optical printer using a photosensitive drum or the like. Can be used.

[0063]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to preferred embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and each element within a range in which the object of the present invention is achieved. This also includes those in which substitutions or design changes have been made.

[Embodiment 1] The image forming apparatus of this embodiment is
It has the same configuration as the device schematically shown in FIG. However, the non-evaporable getter film is formed not only on the X-direction wiring (upper wiring) 102 but also along the Y-direction wiring (lower wiring) 103 in the image display area.

The image forming apparatus of this embodiment has an electron source 1 in which a plurality of (100 rows × 300 columns) surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix on a substrate.

FIG. 6 is a partial plan view of the electron source 1. FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line BB 'in FIG. However, in FIGS. 6 and 7, the same reference numerals denote the same components. Here, 101 is an electron source substrate made of a glass substrate, 102 is an X-direction wiring (also called an upper wiring), 103 is a Y-direction wiring (also called a lower wiring), 104 is an interlayer insulating layer, and 105 and 1
06 is the device electrode, 107 is the device electrode 105 and the lower wiring 10.
A contact hole 108 for electrical connection with the third electrode 3 is a conductive film including an electron emitting portion 109. Also, 110
Is a wiring for activating a non-evaporable getter.

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

Step-a The glass substrate was sufficiently washed with a detergent, pure water and an organic solvent. A 0.5 μm thick silicon oxide film was formed thereon by a sputtering method to form an electron source substrate 101. A photoresist (AZl370 / Hoechst) was spin-coated and baked thereon, and then a photomask image was exposed and developed to form a resist pattern of the lower wiring 103. Furthermore, 5 nm thick Cr,
After sequentially depositing Au having a thickness of 600 nm, unnecessary portions of the Au / Cr deposited film were removed by lift-off, and a lower wiring 103 having a desired shape was formed (FIG. 8A).

Step-b Next, an interlayer insulating film 104 made of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 μm was deposited by RF sputtering (FIG. 8).
(B)).

Step-c A photoresist pattern for forming the contact hole 107 is formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in the step-b, and the interlayer insulating layer 104 is etched using the photoresist pattern as a mask to form the contact hole 107. Etching is performed by RIE (Reactive) using CF ₄ and H ₂ gas.
Ion Etching) method (FIG. 8 (c)).

Step-d A pattern was formed such that a resist was applied to portions other than the contact hole 107, and 5 nm thick Ti and 500 nm thick Au were sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation. Unnecessary portions were removed by lift-off to bury the contact holes 107 (FIG. 8D).

Step-e After that, a pattern to become the device electrodes 105 and 106 is formed by a photoresist (RD-2000N-41 / manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.), and a 5 nm-thick Ti,
Ni having a thickness of 100 nm was sequentially deposited. The photoresist pattern was dissolved with an organic solvent, the Ni / Ti deposited film was lifted off, and the device electrode interval G was 3 μm and the device electrode width was 30.
The device electrodes 105 and 106 of 0 μm were formed (FIG. 8).
(E)).

Step-f After forming a photoresist pattern of the upper wiring 102 and the activating wiring 110 on the device electrodes 105 and 106, 5 nm thick Ti and 500 nm thick Au are sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation. Unnecessary portions are removed by lift-off, and the upper wiring 102 and the activation wiring 110 having a desired shape are removed.
Was formed (FIG. 8F).

Step-g Subsequently, a solution of an organoamine palladium ethanolamine complex is applied as droplets by a bubble jet type ink jet apparatus, and a film to be a precursor of the conductive film 108 is formed. At this time, the interval between the X-direction wirings 102 is about 400
μm, the interval between the Y-directional wirings 103 is about 300 μm, and the precursor film is substantially circular and has a diameter of about 50 μm. Subsequently, heat treatment was performed at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes to change the precursor film into a conductive film 108 made of PdO fine particles (FIG. 8G).

Through the above steps, a plurality (100 rows × 300 columns) of conductive films 108 for forming electron-emitting portions are connected on the electron source substrate 101 in a simple matrix including the upper wiring 102 and the lower wiring 103. It was taken.

Step-h A metal mask having an opening corresponding to the shape of the non-evaporable getter films 9a and 9b is put on the electron source substrate 101, aligned and fixed, and set in a sputtering apparatus. Zr-V-Fe = 70wt%: 25w for target
An alloy layer having a thickness of 300 nm was formed by a sputtering method using an alloy of t%: 5 wt% to obtain non-evaporable getter films 9a and 9b (FIG. 8 (h)).

As described above, the electron source 1 having the in-plane getter
Was formed.

Step-i Next, the face plate 4 shown in FIG. 1 was prepared as follows.

The glass substrate 6 was sufficiently washed with a detergent, pure water and an organic solvent. On top of this, 0.1 μm of ITO was deposited by a sputtering method to form a transparent electrode (not shown). Subsequently, a phosphor film 7 was applied by a printing method, and the surface was smoothed (generally called “filming”) to form a phosphor portion. The fluorescent film 7 is a fluorescent film shown in FIG. 3A in which stripe-shaped phosphors (R, G, B) 13 and black conductive materials (black stripes) 12 are alternately arranged. Further, a metal back 8 made of an Al thin film was formed on the fluorescent film 7 to a thickness of 0.1 μm by a sputtering method.

Step-j Next, the envelope 5 shown in FIG. 1 was prepared as follows.

After fixing the electron source 1 formed by the above-described process to the rear plate 2, the support frame 3 and the face plate 4 are combined, and the lower wiring 103 and the upper wiring 102 of the electron source 1 are connected to the row selection terminals 10. And the signal input terminal 11 were connected to each other, the positions of the electron source 1 and the face plate 4 were adjusted, and sealing was performed to form the envelope 5. The method of sealing is to apply frit glass to the joint and apply it in a vacuum chamber.
Heat treatment was performed at 50 ° C. for 30 minutes to perform bonding. The fixing of the electron source 1 and the rear plate 2 was performed in the same manner.
When the rear plate and the face plate were arranged, a ring getter (evaporation type getter) 14 of Ba was arranged at a predetermined position at the same time.

Before describing the next step, the vacuum apparatus used in the subsequent steps will be described with reference to FIG.

The image forming apparatus 121 is connected to a vacuum container 123 via an exhaust pipe 122, and an exhaust device 125 is connected to the vacuum container 123, and a gate valve 124 is provided therebetween. In the vacuum container 123,
Pressure gauge 126, quadrupole mass analyzer (Q-mass) 12
7 is attached so that the internal pressure and each partial pressure of the residual gas can be monitored. Since it is difficult to directly measure the pressure and the partial pressure in the envelope 5, the pressure and the partial pressure of the vacuum vessel 123 are measured, and these values are regarded as those in the envelope 5. The exhaust device 125 is an ultra-high vacuum exhaust device including a sorption pump and an ion pump. A plurality of gas introduction devices are connected to the vacuum container 123,
The substance stored in the substance source 129 can be introduced. The introduced substance is filled in a cylinder or an ampoule according to the type, and the introduced amount can be controlled by the gas introduction amount control device 128. The gas introduction amount control means 128
Depending on the type of introduced substance, flow rate, required control accuracy, etc.,
Needle valves, mass flow controllers and the like are used. In this embodiment, benzonitrile contained in a glass ampoule was used as the substance source 129, and the gas introduction amount control means 128 was a slow leak valve.

The following steps were performed using the above vacuum processing apparatus.

Step-k The inside of the envelope 5 is evacuated, the pressure is reduced to 1 × 10 ⁻³ Pa or less, and the above-described conductive films 108 for forming a plurality of electron emission portions arranged on the electron source substrate 101 are formed. The following processing (called forming) for forming an electron-emitting portion was performed.

As shown in FIG. 10, the Y direction wiring 103 is connected in common and connected to the ground. A control device 131 controls the pulse generator 132 and the line selection device 134. 133 is an ammeter. The line selection device 134 selects one line from the X-direction wiring 102 and applies a pulse voltage to it. The forming process was performed for each element row in the X direction (300 elements). The waveform of the applied pulse was a triangular wave pulse as shown in FIG. 11A, and the peak value was gradually increased. Pulse width T ₁ = 1ms
ec. , Pulse interval T ₂ = 10 msec. And Further, a rectangular wave pulse having a peak value of 0.1 V was inserted between the triangular wave pulses, and the current was measured to measure the resistance value of each row. When the resistance value exceeded 3.3 kΩ (1 MΩ per element), the forming of the row was terminated, and the process of the next row was started. This was performed for all the rows, and the forming of all the conductive films (the conductive films 108 for forming the electron emission portions) was completed, and the electron emission portions 109 were formed on each of the conductive films 108 (FIG. 8 (k)). )).

Step-1 Benzonitrile is introduced into the vacuum vessel 123 shown in FIG.
The pressure is adjusted to 1.3 × 10 ⁻³ Pa, and a pulse is applied to the conductive film 108 constituting each electron-emitting device while measuring the device current _If to activate each electron-emitting device. Processing was performed. The pulse waveform generated by the pulse generator 132 (see FIG. 10) is the rectangular wave shown in FIG. 11B, with a peak value of 14 V and a pulse width T ₁ = 100 μsec.
c. The pulse interval is 167 μsec. It is. 167 μsec. The selection line is sequentially switched from D _x1 to D _x100 every time, and as a result, T ₁ = 100 μsec. , T ₂ = 16.7 mse
c. Is applied with a slightly shifted phase for each row.

The ammeter 133 is used in a mode for detecting the average of the current value in the ON state of the rectangular pulse (when the voltage is 14 V), and this value becomes 600 mA (2 mA per element). At this point, the activation process ends,
The inside of the envelope 5 was evacuated.

Step-m While continuing the evacuation, the entire image forming apparatus 121 and the vacuum vessel 123 are heated to 250 ° C. by a heating device (not shown).
Hold for 0 hours. By this treatment, benzonitrile and its decomposed products, which are considered to have been adsorbed on the envelope 5 and the inner wall of the vacuum vessel 123, were removed. This is Q-ma
It was confirmed by observation with ss127. In this step, gas is removed from the inside by heating / exhaust holding of the image forming apparatus.

Step-n The non-evaporable getter 9b is activated. A pulse similar to that used in the activation process of the electron source (described in step-l) is applied to emit an electron beam from the electron-emitting device. High voltage terminal Hv
-1 kV is applied to the wiring 1 for activating the non-evaporable getter.
To +10, +50 V was applied. As a result, the electrons emitted from each electron-emitting device are transferred to the getter layer 9b placed nearby.
Are attracted to and collide, giving energy. As a result, the non-evaporable getter 9b is activated.

Step-o Subsequently, the non-evaporable getter 9a is activated. The process is the same as the process -n except that -50 V is applied to the activation wiring 110. The electrons emitted from each electron-emitting device are attracted to and collide with the getter layer 9a formed on the X-directional wiring 102, and give energy. As a result, activation of the non-evaporable getter 9a is performed.

Step-p After confirming that the pressure was 1.3 × 10 ⁻⁵ Pa or less, the exhaust pipe was heated and closed with a burner. continue,
The evaporable getter 14 previously set outside the image display area is reflashed by high-frequency heating.

Thus, the image forming apparatus of this embodiment was prepared.

[Comparative Example 1] In this comparative example, the above-described step-g
Example 1 except that the following step -g 'was performed instead of
An image forming apparatus was prepared in the same manner as described above.

Step-g 'A 100 nm-thick Cr film is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation, and a Pd amine complex solution (ccp42
30 / Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) was spin-coated with a spinner and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes. Subsequently, the Cr film and the conductive film for forming the electron-emitting portion after firing were re-etched with an acid etchant to form a conductive film 108 having a desired pattern (FIG. 8G).

In the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention,
The decrease in luminance was suppressed lower than that of the image forming apparatus of Comparative Example 1. As a result, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention can form an image with high luminance and excellent operation stability.

[0097]

As described above, according to the present invention, an electron source substrate having a plurality of electron-emitting devices having a conductive film including an electron-emitting portion and an image forming substrate having an image forming member are provided.
When manufacturing an image forming apparatus in which an envelope is formed oppositely disposed, a liquid containing a raw material of a conductive film is applied by an inkjet method, and further baked to form a conductive film. By forming the non-evaporable getter, the risk of deteriorating the exhaust characteristics of the non-evaporable getter can be avoided, the high vacuum degree in the image forming apparatus can be maintained, and the life of the electron-emitting device can be extended. As a result, it is possible to suppress a decrease in brightness and uneven brightness when the device is operated for a long time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing exhaust characteristics when a non-evaporable getter used in the present invention is heated in the atmosphere.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an arrangement pattern of a phosphor and a black conductive material used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an electron source to which the present invention is applied, in which surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of a driving circuit for performing display in accordance with an NTSC television signal in the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view schematically showing an example of electron sources arranged in a simple matrix and formed by applying the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an example of an electron source arranged in a simple matrix and formed by applying the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a process for forming an electron source in which surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix by applying the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a vacuum evacuation apparatus for performing a forming and activating step in the manufacturing process of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a wiring method for forming and activating steps in the manufacturing process of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing voltage waveforms used in forming and activating steps in the manufacturing process of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 electron source 2 rear plate 3 support frame 4 face plate 5 envelope 6 glass substrate 7 fluorescent film 8 metal back 9, 9a, 9b non-evaporable getter 10 row selection terminal 11 signal input terminal 12 black conductive material 13 phosphor Pattern 14 Evaporation type getter 81 Image forming device 82 Scanning circuit 83 Control circuit 84 Shift register 85 Line memory 86 Synchronous signal separation circuit 87 Modulation signal generator Vx, Va DC voltage source 101 Electron source substrate 102 Upper wiring (X direction wiring) 103 Lower wiring (Y-direction wiring) 104 Interlayer insulating layer 105, 106 Device electrode 107 Contact hole 108 Conductive film 109 Electron emission section 110 Wiring for activation of non-evaporable getter 121 Image forming device 122 Exhaust pipe 123 Vacuum container 124 Gate valve 125 exhaust device 126 pressure gauge 127 -Mass 128 gas introduction amount control means 129 material source 131 controller 132 pulse generator 133 ammeter 134 line selection device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Hamamoto 3- 30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Kazuya Shigeoka 3- 30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Within Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Yoshitaka Arai 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term within Canon Inc. (reference) 5C012 AA05 5C032 AA06 JJ08 5C036 EE01 EE02 EE14 EE17 EF01 EF06 EF09 EG50 EH08 EH26

Claims (2)

[Claims] An image in which an envelope is formed by arranging an electron source substrate having a plurality of electron-emitting devices having a conductive film including an electron-emitting portion and an image-forming substrate having an image-forming member opposed to each other. The method for manufacturing a forming apparatus includes a step of applying a liquid containing a raw material of a conductive film by an ink jet method, forming the conductive film by firing, and then forming a non-evaporable getter on the electron source substrate. A method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus, comprising: 2. An image forming apparatus manufactured by the method according to claim 1.