JP2000243290A - Manufacture of image display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent degradation of a characteristic of an electron emissive element due to aging and to enhance the efficiency of aging process. SOLUTION: In this manufacturing method of an image display device which has a process wherein after forming an airtight container, in which electron emission elements 400, a phosphor 313, and anode electrodes 314 for accelerating electrons emitted from the electron emission elements for image display to irradiate electron beams on the phosphor are formed and which is brought into vacuum condition, the anode electrode and the phosphor are irradiated to with the electron beam release an adsorptive gas by emitting the electrons from the electron emission elements and by applying a voltage to the anode electrode, the voltage applied to the anode electrode in the process for releasing the adsorptive gas is set to such a voltage value, that the diameter of the irradiated electron beam on the anode electrode or the phosphor is set to 120% or less as in the image display from the initial period.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus using an electron-emitting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices using a thermionic electron-emitting device and a cold-cathode electron-emitting device are known. The cold cathode electron emitting device includes a field emission type (hereinafter, referred to as “FE type”), a metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter, referred to as “MIM type”), a surface conduction type electron emitting device, and the like. WPDyke & W.W.Dol is an example of FE type
an, “Field emission”, Advance in ElectoronPhysics,
8,89 (1956) or CASpindt, “PHYSICALProperties
of thin-film field emission cathodes with molybde
nium cones ", J. Appl. Phys., 47, 5248 (1976). An example of the MIM type is CAMea.
d, “Operationof Tunnel-Emission Devices”, J. Appl
Those disclosed in y. Phys., 32, 646 (1961) and the like are known.

Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include:
MIElinson, Recio Eng. Electron Phys., 10, 1290, (196
5) and others. The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which an electron is emitted when a current flows in a small-area thin film formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. As this surface conduction electron-emitting device,
A device using a SnO ₂ thin film by Elinson et al., A
U thin film [G. Dittmer: “ThinSolid Films”, 9,3
17 (1972), using an In ₂ O ₃ / SnO ₂ thin film [M. Hartwe
ll and C.G.Fonstad: “IEEE Trans.EDConf.” 519 (197
5)], using carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, No. 26
Vol. 1, No. 22, p. 22 (1983)].

[0004] A flat panel display device which emits a phosphor by an electron beam generated from these cold cathode electron-emitting devices has been developed. The display device requires an ultra-high vacuum in order to stably operate the cold cathode electron-emitting devices for a long time, so that a substrate having a plurality of electron-emitting devices and a substrate having a phosphor at a position facing the substrate are provided. Are sealed by a method described later with a frame interposed therebetween to form a vacuum confidential container.

In fact, as described above, in order to form an electron-emitting device in an airtight container and maintain it as an image display device, the inside of the airtight container is evacuated by a vacuum device through an exhaust pipe connected to the airtight container. After evacuating to a vacuum and performing an activation process or a means for forming an electron source in the hermetic container, a degassing process in the hermetic container is performed by a baking process of maintaining the hermetic container at a high temperature of 300 ° C to 350 ° C for several hours or more. After sufficiently performing the above, a Ba material is evaporated by high-frequency heating or energizing heating of a Ba-based evaporative getter disposed outside the image display area in the hermetic container to form a getter film (hereinafter, referred to as a getter film). Then, the exhaust pipe is sealed by heating and melting to separate from the exhaust device.
The vacuum in the airtight container is maintained by the getter film.
In addition, by using the non-evaporable getter, it is possible to function as an exhaust device of the hermetically sealed container after sealing, so that a discharge gas and the like at the time of driving can be sucked and exhausted, and the vacuum in the hermetic container can be maintained.

[0006]

However, conventionally,
The following problems occur in the vacuum process for maintaining the vacuum by the evaporable getter or the non-evaporable getter as described above. That is, the adsorbed gas is usually removed from the face plate by baking, but a gas (for example, water) that promotes deterioration of the electron-emitting device in the process of making the hermetic container.
Adhere to the face plate surface. In particular, it is difficult to completely remove the adsorbed gas generated during assembly and sealing in the baking step.

A gas (for example, water) which promotes deterioration of the electron-emitting device when the exhaust pipe is heated and melted for sealing.
Occurs in large quantities. Also, when the evaporable getter is getter-flashed, a large amount of gas which temporarily accelerates the deterioration of the electron-emitting device is generated. Most of these gases are adsorbed and exhausted by the evaporated getter film or the non-evaporable getter, but some of the gases are adsorbed on the surface of the face plate that is hit by the electron beam. If you bake again,
Although it is possible to remove much of this adsorbed gas, after getter flash of the evaporable getter, reheating at high temperature is impossible because the evaporable getter deteriorates when heated at high temperature. .

Therefore, as a final step in the manufacture of a flat panel display device in which a phosphor is emitted by an electron beam generated from a cold cathode electron emission element, gas is emitted to such an extent that the electron emission element is hardly deteriorated. An aging step of applying a power electron beam is often performed.

Aging usually involves passing a current through the electron-emitting device and changing the anode voltage to the phosphor (I on the face plate).
(Eg, a TO film or a metal back), and the electron beam is applied to the surface of the face plate or the phosphor. Also, if a large amount or high-power electron beam is suddenly applied to the surface of the face plate, a large amount of the gas re-adsorbed after the baking described above will be re-emitted into the panel, degrading the characteristics of the electron-emitting device. There is. Therefore, up to now, the amount of the electron beam hitting the surface of the face plate, that is, the emission current (Ie) is controlled by gradually increasing the anode voltage from a low position.

However, as shown in FIG. 1, particularly in the case of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, when the anode voltage Va is low,
The size of the electron beam hitting the surface of the face plate 10 (cross-sectional area of the face plate hitting the electron beam)
Tends to be large. In particular, in the case of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, if the anode voltage is low, the position where the electron beam hits on the face plate may deviate from the position where the electron beam hits when the anode voltage is applied under actual use conditions. . In other words, a large amount of unnecessary gas is released from unnecessary places on the face plate, which may require an aging time and deteriorate the electron emission characteristics of the electron-emitting device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the object of the present invention is to prevent the deterioration of the characteristics of the electron-emitting device due to aging. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing an image display device which can provide the image display device with a wasteful and inexpensive process.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided an electron-emitting device, a phosphor, and an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device for displaying an image for accelerating an electron beam. After forming an airtight container that is provided with an anode electrode for irradiating the electron beam and evacuating the container, an electron is emitted from the electron-emitting device, and a voltage is applied to the anode electrode, so that an electron beam is emitted from the anode electrode and the fluorescent light. In a method for manufacturing an image display device having a step of emitting an adsorbed gas by irradiating a body, a voltage applied to the anode electrode in the step of discharging the adsorbed gas is initially set to the anode electrode of an electron beam to be irradiated or The voltage is such that the diameter on the phosphor is 120% or less of the image display time.

The electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and a voltage applied to the anode electrode in the step of discharging the adsorbed gas is the same as a voltage at the time of displaying an image. .

In the step of discharging the adsorbed gas, the voltage applied to the anode electrode is kept constant, and the duty of the pulse voltage applied to the electron-emitting device for discharging electrons from the electron-emitting device is gradually increased. The method is characterized in that the electron beam is irradiated while raising.

According to this, in the step of releasing the adsorbed gas (aging step), the diameter of the irradiated electron beam on the anode electrode or the phosphor is set to 120% of the diameter at the time of image display from the beginning. Since the voltage is set to be as follows, the electron hits only the portion required by the phosphor or the anode electrode, that is, the portion hit by the electron when actually displaying an image. Therefore,
The amount of gas emitted from the phosphor or the anode electrode in the aging step is reduced, the electron emission characteristics of the electron-emitting device are less deteriorated, and a bright image display device is provided by a lean and inexpensive process.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 3 to 5 are configuration diagrams of a flat panel display using an electron source that can be manufactured according to the present invention, an electron source including a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

First, a diagram of a surface conduction electron-emitting device is shown.
5 will be described. The surface conduction electron-emitting device 400
Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu, C
metals such as r, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, Pb, Pd
O, SnO_Two, In_TwoO_Three, PbO, Sb_TwoO_ThreeOxides such as
Conductor, HfB_Two, ZrB_Two, LaB₆, CeB₆, Y
B _Four, GdB_FourBoride such as TiC, ZrC, HfC, T
carbides such as aC, SiC, WC, TiN, ZrN, Hf
Nitride such as N, semiconductor such as Si and Ge, carbon etc.
Conductive thin film 507 made of any material, and conductive
N connected to the thin film 507 and disposed at an opposite position
i, Cr, Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu,
Metals or alloys such as Pd and Pd, Ag, Au, R
uO_TwoAnd metals or metal oxides such as Pd-Ag
Printed conductor consisting of_TwoO_Three-SnO_TwoEtc. transparent conduction
Appropriately selected from conductors and semiconductor materials such as polysilicon
It consists of a device electrode 506 that can be formed.

The distance L between the device electrodes 506, the device electrode 50
The length W, the shape of the conductive thin film 507, and the like are designed in consideration of the applied form and the like. The device electrode interval L can be preferably in the range of several hundred nm to several hundred μm,
More preferably, it can be in the range of several μm to several tens μm. The length W of the device electrode can be in the range of several μm to several hundred μm in consideration of the resistance value of the electrode, the electron emission characteristics, and the like. The film thickness of the device electrode 506 can be in the range of several tens nm to several μm. The thickness of the conductive thin film 507 is appropriately determined in consideration of the step coverage to the element electrodes 506, the resistance value between the element electrodes, and the forming conditions, but is usually several times to several hundreds of 0.1 nm. It is preferably in the range of nm, and more preferably in the range of 1 nm to 50 nm. The resistance value of Rs is 102-1.
It is preferably a value of 07Ω / □. Rs represents the resistance value R of a thin film having a thickness t, a width W and a length L, and R = Rs
(L / W).

The conductive thin film 507 and the device electrode 506 can be formed by coating and baking, vacuum deposition, sputtering,
There is a method of processing into a desired shape by a film forming technique such as a chemical vapor deposition method, a patterning technique such as photolithography, and a processing technique such as etching and lift-off, and it can also be manufactured by a printing method. In short, it suffices if the element electrode 506 and the conductive thin film 507 can be formed in a desired shape, and the production method does not matter. The electron emission portion 508 is formed by performing the above-described forming. Here, an activation step for significantly changing the element current and the emission current may be added.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device 400 manufactured as described above has the following three features. That is, first, the present device has a certain voltage (threshold voltage).
When the above device voltage is applied, the emission current increases rapidly,
On the other hand, below the threshold voltage, the emission current is hardly detected. That is, it is a non-linear element having a clear threshold voltage for the emission current. This enables simple matrix driving. Second, since the emission current monotonically increases with the device voltage applied to the device, the emission current can be controlled by the device voltage. Third, the amount of charge captured by the anode electrode depends on the time during which the device voltage is applied, and the amount of charge captured by the anode electrode can be controlled by the time during which the device voltage is applied.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device 400 has been described above. However, the structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 400 is not limited to the structure shown in FIG. Any structure may be used as long as the element electrode 506 and the conductive thin film 507 are electrically connected, and the electron emitting portion 508 is formed in a part of the conductive thin film 507. Absent.

Next, an electron source composed of a surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described with reference to FIG. The electron source includes a plurality of arrayed surface conduction electron-emitting devices 400 and wiring for supplying an electric signal to the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 400. As an example of the wiring, two wirings orthogonal to each other, that is, an upper wiring 402 and a lower wiring 401 (this is called a simple matrix wiring) can be used, and the device electrode 506 of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 400 is connected to the upper wiring 40.
2 is electrically connected directly to the lower wiring 401 through a wiring pad 404. Further, at the intersection of the upper wiring 402 and the lower wiring 401, an interlayer insulating film 403 for electrically insulating them is arranged.

For example, the upper wiring 402, the lower wiring 401, and the wiring pad 404 are formed by a printing method such as a screen printing method and an offset printing method. The conductive paste to be used contains a metal such as Ag, Au, Pt, Pb, Cu, Ni or a combination thereof singly or arbitrarily, and is formed by printing a wiring pattern with a printing machine and then firing at a temperature of 400 ° C. or more. Similarly, the interlayer insulating film 403 can be formed by printing and baking a glass paste. Also, for example, the upper wiring 402 side is the row direction,
Assuming that the 01 side is a column direction, an end of the upper wiring 402 is a scanning drive unit (not shown) for scanning a row according to an input signal.
And an end of the lower wiring 401 is electrically connected to modulation driving means (not shown) for modulating according to an input signal.

Next, the flat panel display will be described with reference to FIG. The face plate 310 is provided with holes for evacuating, and exhaust pipes 311 and 312 are provided for connection to an electron source vacuum processing apparatus. A phosphor 313 is applied to the face plate 310. The phosphor 313 is composed of only a single phosphor in the case of a monochrome image. However, in the case of displaying a color image, the phosphor emitting three primary colors of red, green and blue is bounded by a black stripe or a black matrix (not shown). It is desirable to form a pixel in the following manner. The phosphor 313 can be applied and formed by a precipitation method or a printing method. Usually, a metal back 314 is provided on the inner surface side of the phosphor 313. The metal back 314 is used to improve the brightness by mirror-reflecting light toward the inner surface side of the phosphor emission toward the face plate 310 side, to serve as an electrode for applying an electron beam acceleration voltage, and in the image display device. This has the effect of protecting the phosphor 313 from damage caused by the collision of the generated negative ions. After the phosphor 313 is formed, the metal back 314 performs a smoothing process (usually called “filming”) on the inner surface of the phosphor 313, and then deposits Al using a vacuum deposition method or the like. Can be made.

The material of the outer frame 315 may be the same material as the face plate 310 or the rear plate 316, or glass having a thermal expansion coefficient substantially equal to those of the same.
Ceramics or metals are used. Further outer frame 3
15 is provided with an evaporable getter 1 or a non-evaporable getter 1. The rear plate 316, the outer frame 315, and the face plate 310 are sandwiched in this order, and frit glass or the like is placed between the face plate 310, the rear plate 316, and the outer frame 31.
5 and then heated and sealed in an electric furnace or the like to form an image display device that is surrounded by the rear plate 316, the face plate 310, and the outer frame 315 and can be evacuated through an exhaust pipe. An envelope can be formed.

Next, an example of a method for manufacturing the image display device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As a process for producing an electron source composed of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the envelope (airtight container) may be produced first, and then the electron-emitting device may be produced by an electron source process. An example of a process of forming an electron-emitting device by an electron source process after forming an envelope (airtight container) will be described below.

First, electron emission is performed by an electron source vacuum process.
Create an output element. That is, created as described above
The enclosure or the airtight container on the faceplate.
Connect the trachea 311 and 312 to a vacuum pump and
Evacuate the container. And the pressure inside the airtight container
When the pressure becomes 0.1 Pa or less, terminals Dox1 to Do
xm and voltage to the electron-emitting device through Doy1 to Doyn
To form the conductive thin film 507 with a forming process.
You. Subsequently, the pressure in the airtight container was 1 × 10^-3 Below Pa
Benzonitrile as an activating gas
1 Pa was introduced into the airtight container through 11 and 312,
External terminals Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn
Voltage to the electron-emitting device to perform the activation process.
U.

Next, a degassing step in the airtight container is performed. That is, first, the activation gas is sufficiently exhausted, and then the baking degassing process of the airtight container is performed. Baking temperature is 30
The temperature is set to 0 ° C., and the heating rate is set to 2 ° C. per minute. After maintaining the temperature of the airtight container at 300 ° C. for 10 hours, the airtight container is kept at 2 ° C./min.
And cool to room temperature. Next, the exhaust pipes 311 and 3
12 is heated and melted, and sealing is performed. Then, the evaporable getter or the non-evaporable getter is additionally activated.

As described above, after the hermetic container is made, the surface conduction electron-emitting device may be made by the electron source vacuum process, or the outer periphery may be made after the electron source made of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is made. You may make a container (airtight container) and make it vacuum.

Next, an aging step after sealing is performed. Aging is performed using terminals outside the container Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1.
Through Doyn to apply a voltage to the electron-emitting device to cause a current to flow through the electron-emitting device, apply an anode voltage from the high-voltage terminal Hv to a phosphor (such as an ITO film on a face plate or a metal back), and apply an electron beam to the face. This is performed by contacting the surface of the plate or the phosphor. It is desirable that the voltage applied to the electron-emitting device be a voltage Vf close to the drive voltage under image display conditions, and that the anode voltage Va be as high as 5 kV. Further, the timing (frequency) and the width of the applied pulse to be applied to the electron-emitting device are limited so as not to cause rapid gas emission.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are a perspective view and a side view schematically showing the trajectory of electrons flowing from the electron-emitting device to the face plate. When the same voltage Vf is applied to the electron-emitting device, the anode voltage Va is set to 2 k
When V is set, the trajectory of the electron beam is widened, and gas is emitted from the face plate 10 having a large area. However, when the anode voltage Va is set to 4 kV or more, the size of the electron beam impinging on the face plate 10 becomes considerably narrow. At 5 kV or more, the size of the electric beam under the image display condition is substantially equal, and the position where the beam hits is also the same. Although the beam diameter also depends on the distance from the electron-emitting device to the face plate 10 and the driving voltage Vf, the driving voltage Vf applied between the device electrodes is 14 V, and the distance from the electron-emitting device to the face plate 10 is 2 mm. In this case, the beam diameter becomes 3 when the anode voltage Va is 2 kV.
90 μm, 220 μm at 4 kV, 195 μm at 5 kV,
It is 170 μm at 8 kV. Here, for example, when the anode voltage Va is 5 kV, the beam diameter is 195 μm.
Is 120% of the beam diameter at the time of actual image display.

That is, when the anode voltage Va is low, under normal image display conditions on the face plate 10, aging is performed by applying an electron beam to a place where the electron beam does not hit, and unnecessary gas is released. Must be evacuated, which leads to an extra aging time. Further, when a high anode voltage Va is applied and driving is suddenly performed at a high duty, a large amount of gas is suddenly released, damaging the electron-emitting device and deteriorating the electron-emitting characteristics of the electron-emitting device.

In view of the above, according to the present invention, the anode voltage Va in the aging step is initially set to a voltage at which the beam diameter becomes 120% or less of the image display time, for example, 5 kV or more in the above example. In this product, a voltage close to the voltage applied for image display is applied. Also, as a condition of the aging step, the trajectory of the electron beam changes even when the voltage applied to the electron-emitting device is low. Therefore, the voltage applied to the electron-emitting device is preferably a voltage close to the image display condition. However, it is desirable that the pulse width and the drive frequency are increased after the aging is started from a small value.

[0034]

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 3 shows the configuration of an image display apparatus created in this embodiment. As shown in the figure, in this device, 240 × 720 surface conduction electron-emitting devices 400 are formed on the rear plate 316. The surface conduction electron-emitting device 400 is formed as follows. That is, by forming the conductive thin film 507 through the element electrode 506 (FIG. 5) while evacuating the airtight container through the exhaust pipes 311 and 312, the conductive thin film 507 is locally broken, deformed or deteriorated. Forming an electron emitting portion 508 in a state of high resistance, and further reducing the pressure in the hermetic container to 1 × 10
^-3 Pa or less, benzonitrile is introduced as an activating gas of about 0.1 Pa into the hermetic container through the exhaust pipe 311 and a current is caused to flow through the device electrode 506, whereby the above-described activation for significantly improving the emission current is performed. Electron emission unit 508
For the surface conduction electron-emitting device 400
Are formed. This technique is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-235255.
This is the same as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No.

On the lower surface of the face plate 310, a phosphor 313 is formed. Since the present embodiment is a color display device, the fluorescent film 313 has C
Phosphors of three primary colors of red, green, and blue used in the field of RT are separately applied. On the surface of the fluorescent film 313 on the rear plate side, a metal back 3 known in the field of CRT is provided.
14 are provided. The purpose of providing the metal back 314 is to improve the light efficiency by mirror-reflecting a part of the light emitted from the fluorescent film 313 and to prevent the fluorescent film 313 from colliding with negative ions.
13 to protect it, use it as an electrode for applying an electron beam accelerating voltage, and make the fluorescent film 313 act as a conductive path for excited electrons. The metal back 314 forms the fluorescent film 313 on the face plate substrate 3.
After being formed on the fluorescent layer 10, the fluorescent film 313 is formed by a smoothing process, and Al is vacuum-deposited thereon.

Next, a method of manufacturing the image display device according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, a rear plate 316 was prepared. That is, the blue plate glass was washed, the element electrode 506 was formed on a plate on which a silicon oxide film was formed by a sputtering method, and the lower wiring 401 was formed by screen printing. Further, an interlayer insulating film 403 between the lower wiring 401 and the upper wiring 402 was formed, and the upper wiring 402 was formed. Then, Pd organometallic compound 0.15%, isopropyl alcohol 15%, ethylene glycol 1
%, Polyvinyl alcohol 0.05% aqueous solution is applied between the device electrodes 506 by an ink-jet method and then fired in the air to form a conductive thin film 50 made of PdO.
7 was formed. Further, frit glass for fixing the support frame was formed at a desired position by printing. Through the above steps, the rear plate 3 on which the surface conduction electron-emitting device and the adhesive for the support frame and the like formed by the simple matrix wiring are formed.
16 were created.

Next, a face plate 310 was prepared. That is, a phosphor and a black conductor are formed on a blue glass substrate by a printing method, a smoothing process is performed on the inner surface of the phosphor film, and a metal back is formed by depositing Al using a vacuum deposition method or the like. Formed. Further, frit glass 317 for fixing the support frame was formed at a desired position by a printing method. Through the above steps, the face plate 310 in which the phosphors of the three primary colors are arranged in stripes and the support frame adhesive or the like is provided.

Next, an airtight container was produced by sealing the rear plate 316 and the face plate 310.
That is, first, the rear plate was held on the hot plate on the adjustment stage in the X, Y, and θ directions, and the rear plate and the face plate were heated to the sealing temperature while aligning the face plate. The sealing temperature is determined by the frit glass.
° C. At the stage when the temperature was raised to the sealing temperature, the support stage was brought into contact with and pressurized while adjusting the position of the rear plate and the face plate by the adjustment stage, and held for 10 minutes. Thereafter, the temperature was lowered at 3 ° C. per minute, and when the temperature was lowered by 100 ° C. from the sealing temperature, the alignment was stopped, and the stage was freed and lowered to room temperature. Thereby, an airtight container was created.

Next, an electron-emitting device was prepared by a vacuum process. That is, first, the exhaust pipes 311 and 312 on the face plate of the created airtight container were connected to a vacuum exhaust device, and the inside of the airtight container was evacuated to a vacuum. When the pressure in the hermetic container became 0.1 Pa or less, a voltage was applied to the electron-emitting device through terminals Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn outside the container, and a forming process was performed on the conductive thin film 507. Then, the pressure inside the airtight container is 1 ×
When the pressure becomes 10 ⁻³ Pa or less, 1 Pa of benzonitrile as an activating gas is introduced into the hermetic container through the exhaust pipes 311 and 312, and terminals Dox1 to Doxm and Dox outside the container are introduced.
applying a voltage to the electron-emitting device through y1 to Doyn;
An activation process was performed.

Next, a degassing / sealing step in the airtight container was performed. That is, first, the activation gas was sufficiently exhausted, and then the baking degassing treatment of the airtight container was performed. The baking temperature was 300 ° C., and the heating rate was 2 ° C./min. After keeping the temperature of the airtight container at 300 ° C for 10 hours,
And cooled to room temperature. Then, a part of the exhaust pipes 311 and 312 is heated and melted for sealing, and further,
An evaporable getter or a non-evaporable getter was activated in addition to the getter.

Next, an aging step after sealing was performed.
In this embodiment, a voltage of 8 kV, which is an actual image display condition, is applied to the high-voltage introduction terminal Hv. Further, aging was performed by applying a voltage Vf to the electron-emitting device through the external terminals Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn, flowing a current to the electron-emitting device, and applying an electron beam to the surface of the face plate or the phosphor. . The voltage Vf applied to the electron-emitting device is a voltage (Vf = 14 V) close to the driving voltage at the time of the product, and the anode voltage Va, the timing (frequency) to be applied to the electron-emitting device, and the width of the applied pulse are such that a rapid gas emission occurs. I went there with restrictions.

More specifically, external terminals Dox1 to Dox
A constant voltage (7 V) is given to m and Doy1 to Doy
A pulse of a constant voltage (-7 V) was applied in order to n. Then, the anode voltage Va was set to 8 kV, the width of the applied pulse was set to 5 μsec, and the frequency was increased from 5 Hz to 10 Hz every 5 minutes, to 60 Hz. Next, the pulse width was gradually increased from 5 μsec to 30 μsec.

FIG. 2A shows the change in the current flowing through the anode (emission current Ie) at this time. The vertical axis of the graph in FIG. 2 indicates the emission current Ie as its initial value Ie0.
And the change in the emission current Ie in the aging step. The horizontal axis is the aging time.

Also, the curve of Comparative Example 1 in the figure shows the case where the anode voltage Va is 1 kV, the frequency is increased from 5 Hz to 60 Hz in increments of 5 Hz every 10 minutes, and then the anode voltage Va is increased from 1 kV to 8 kV. 3 shows the change in Ie. However, since the anode current Ie changes when the anode voltage Va is changed, when the anode voltage Va was changed, the anode voltage Va was returned to 1 kV every 5 minutes, and the anode current Ie was measured.

As a comparative example 2, the anode voltage Va
Is set to 8 kV, the pulse width is set to 15 μsec, the frequency is increased from 5 Hz to 60 Hz in increments of 5 Hz every 10 minutes, and then the pulse width is gradually increased from 15 μsec to 30 μsec.
FIG. 2B shows a change in the emission current Ie when the emission current is increased up to c.

FIG. 2A shows that the anode voltage Va is increased by 1 k.
In the case of Comparative Example 1 where V was V, the anode current Ie value was decreased, and it can be seen that the electron emission characteristics of the electron-emitting device were degraded. On the other hand, in the case of the first embodiment in which the aging is performed with the anode voltage Va set to 8 kV, the anode current I
There is no significant deterioration of e. The time required for aging was as follows: Example 1 where the anode current Va was 8 kV from the beginning.
In this case, it is possible to reduce the number to half or less than in the case of Comparative Example 1.

FIG. 2B shows that the anode voltage Va
Is 8 kV, which is the image display condition, and in the case of Comparative Example 2 in which the pulse width is 15 μsec from the beginning, the anode current I
It can be seen that e was significantly reduced. This is presumably because when the duty is large, the deteriorated gas is rapidly released in the initial stage, and the electron-emitting device is deteriorated.

Example 2 An image display device was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except for the aging step. That is, the image display device as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 is produced by performing the same steps as in Example 1 up to the degassing / sealing step in the airtight container, and then performing aging as follows. did.

In this embodiment, the anode voltage Va was applied to the high voltage introducing terminal Hv while changing it from 5 kV to 8 kV. In addition, external terminals Dox1-Doxm and Doy1-
A current was applied to the electron-emitting device by applying a voltage to the electron-emitting device through Doyn, and aging was performed by applying an electron beam to the surface of the face plate or the phosphor. Also, the voltage V applied to the electron-emitting device
f is a voltage (Vf = 14 V) close to the drive voltage in the product.

Specifically, first, the external terminals Dox1 to Dox1
A constant voltage (7 V) is given to Doxm, and pulses (−7) of a constant voltage are sequentially applied to the outer terminals Doy1 to Doyn.
V) was applied. At this time, first, the anode voltage Va is set to 5 kV, and the pulse width of the applied pulse is set to 10 μs
The anode voltage Va was gradually increased from 5 kV to 8 kV. Next, the frequency of the applied pulse is changed from 5 Hz to 10
The frequency was increased by 5 Hz to 60 Hz every minute. Subsequently, the pulse width was increased from 10 μsec to 30 μsec, and the aging step was completed. During this time, the anode current Ie changes when the anode voltage Va is changed.
a, the anode voltage Va is increased by 5 k every 5 minutes.
After returning to V, the anode current Ie was measured.

As Comparative Example 3, the pulse width was 10 μm.
sec and the anode voltage Va is gradually increased from 1 kV to 8 kV.
Aging was performed in the same manner as in Example 2 except that the temperature was increased to V. Also in this case, the anode current Ie changes when the anode voltage Va is changed.
Is changed, the anode voltage Va is changed to 1 kV every 5 minutes.
And the anode current Ie was measured.

FIG. 6 shows a change in the anode current Ie in Example 2 and Comparative Example 3. As shown in the figure,
In the case of Comparative Example 2 in which the anode voltage Va was increased from 1 kV, the anode current Ie was lower than the initial value. In the case of Example 2 in which the anode voltage Va was increased from 5 kV, No significant deterioration of the current Ie was observed.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention, the voltage applied to the anode electrode is set to a voltage at which the diameter of the electron beam becomes 120% or less of that at the time of displaying an image. Electrons can be applied only to the portion to eliminate gas emission from unnecessary portions. Therefore, it is possible to provide a bright image display device having excellent electron emission characteristics of the electron emission element. In addition, since the voltage applied to the anode electrode is a high voltage close to the voltage applied to an actual product, the aging process can be completed in a shorter time than in the conventional case.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view and a side view showing the concept of a voltage applied to an anode and an electron beam trajectory.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing a change in an anode current Ie in an aging step in Example 1 of the present invention, together with that in a comparative example.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an image display device using a surface conduction electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a surface conduction electron-emitting device and wiring in the device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a surface conduction electron-emitting device in the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a change in an anode current Ie in an aging step in Example 2 of the present invention together with a comparative example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: non-evaporable getter, 11, 400: surface conduction electron-emitting device, 401: row direction wiring (lower wiring), 304, 40
2: column direction wiring (upper wiring), 403: interlayer insulating film, 1
6,316: rear plate, 315: support frame, 317:
Frit glass, 10, 310: face plate, 1
5,506: device electrode, 17,507: conductive thin film, 5
08: electron emission portion.

Claims (3)

[Claims] An electron emission device, a phosphor, and an anode electrode for accelerating electrons emitted by the electron emission device for image display and irradiating the phosphor with an electron beam are provided, and are evacuated. After forming an airtight container, an image having a step of emitting electrons from the electron-emitting device and applying a voltage to the anode electrode to irradiate the anode electrode and the phosphor with an electron beam to release an adsorbed gas. In the method of manufacturing a display device, the voltage applied to the anode electrode in the step of releasing the adsorbed gas may be such that the diameter of the irradiated electron beam on the anode electrode or the phosphor is 120% or less of that at the time of image display. A method for manufacturing an image display device, comprising: 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the electron emitting device is a surface conduction electron emitting device, and a voltage applied to the anode electrode in the step of releasing the adsorbed gas is the same as a voltage at the time of displaying an image. A method for manufacturing the image display device according to claim 1. 3. In the step of discharging the adsorbed gas, a voltage applied to the anode electrode is kept constant, and a duty of a pulse voltage applied to the electron-emitting device for discharging electrons from the electron-emitting device is gradually increased. The method according to claim 1, wherein the irradiation of the electron beam is performed while raising.