JP2000251657A - Electron beam device and image forming device using same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a high quality image forming device, causing little luminance variation due to aging, and little beam deviation with a large-capacity getter film arranged in the display region of the image forming device and a spacer. SOLUTION: This electron beam device is composed of a first substrate 1011 having a plurality of electron emission elements 1012 wired by wiring 1013, a second substrate 1017 arranged facing opposite to the first substrate 1011, a spacer 1020 for keeping a distance between the first substrate 1011 and a second substrate 1017, and gas-adsorbing non-evaporation type getter 1021. In this case, the non-evaporation type getters 1021 are formed at a position on the first substrate 1011 or the second substrate 1017 on which the spacer 1020 abuts.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron beam apparatus having a spacer and a getter, and more particularly to an electron beam apparatus suitably used for a flat type image forming apparatus having a plurality of electron-emitting devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A flat display device has been attracting attention as a replacement for a cathode ray tube display device because it is thin and lightweight. In particular, a display device in which an electron-emitting device is combined with a phosphor that emits light upon irradiation with an electron beam is expected to have better characteristics than other conventional display devices. For example, compared to a liquid crystal display device that has become widespread in recent years, it can be said that it is excellent in that it is a self-luminous type and does not require a backlight and has a wide viewing angle.

Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices, a hot cathode device and a cold cathode device, are known. Among these, among the cold cathode devices, for example, a surface conduction type emission device, a field emission type device (hereinafter, referred to as “FE type”), and a metal / insulating layer / metal type emission device (hereinafter, referred to as “MIM type”). Etc. are known.

As a surface conduction electron-emitting device, for example, M.I. I. Elinson, Radio Eng. E
electron Phys. , 10, 1290, (19
65) and other examples described later.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electron emission occurs when a current flows through a small-area thin film formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. As the surface conduction electron-emitting device, in addition to the use of a thin film of SnO ₂ according to the Ellingson, etc., by an Au thin film [G. Dittmer: "Thin SolidF
ilms ", 9,317 (1972)] and In ₂ O ₃ /
According to SnO ₂ thin film [M. Hartwell an
d C.I. G. FIG. Fonstad: "IEEETrans.
ED Conf. , 519 (1975)] and those using carbon thin films [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1
No. 22 (1983)].

[0006] As a typical example of the device configuration of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, FIG. Hartw
FIG. 2 shows a plan view of an element by ell or the like. In FIG.
001 is a substrate and 3004 is a conductive thin film made of metal oxide formed by sputtering. Conductive thin film 3004
Is formed in an H-shaped planar shape as shown. By applying an energization process called energization forming to be described later to the conductive thin film 3004,
Is formed. The distance L between the device electrodes in the figure is 0.5 to 1 m
m and W are set at 0.1 mm. For convenience of illustration, the electron emitting portion 3005 is shown in a rectangular shape at the center of the conductive thin film 3004, but this is a schematic one.
It does not faithfully represent the actual position and shape of the electron-emitting portion.

The above-described cold cathode device can obtain electrons at a lower temperature than the hot cathode device, and therefore does not require a heater for heating. Therefore, the structure is simpler than that of the hot cathode element, and a fine element can be produced. Further, even when a large number of elements are arranged on a substrate at a high density, problems such as thermal melting of the substrate hardly occur. Also, unlike the hot cathode element, which operates by heating the heater, the response speed is slow, and the cold cathode element has the advantage that the response speed is fast.

For this reason, research for applying cold cathode devices has been actively conducted. For example, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has the advantage of being able to form a large number of devices over a large area because it has a particularly simple structure and is easy to manufacture among cold cathode devices. Therefore, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-31332 by the present applicant, a method for arranging and driving a large number of elements has been studied.

As for the application of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, for example, an image forming apparatus such as an image display device and an image recording device, and a charged beam source have been studied.

Particularly, as an application to an image display device, for example, US Pat. No. 5,066,883 by the present applicant,
JP-A-2-257551 and JP-A-4-281
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 37, an image display device using a combination of a surface conduction electron-emitting device and a phosphor that emits light by irradiation with an electron beam has been studied.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing an example of a display panel section constituting a flat-type image display device, and a part of the panel is cut away to show the internal structure. In the figure, 3
115 is a rear plate, 3116 is a side wall, and 3117 is a face plate.
An envelope (airtight container) for maintaining the inside of the display panel at a vacuum by using 116 and the fuse plate 3117.
Is formed.

A substrate 3111 is fixed to the rear plate 3115. On this substrate 3111, n × m cold cathode elements 3112 are formed (n and m are positive integers of 2 or more). It is set appropriately according to the target number of display pixels.) Also, n × m cold cathode elements 3112
Are arranged by m row-directional wirings 3113 and n column-directional wirings 3114 as shown in FIG. These substrate 3111, cold cathode element 3112, row direction wiring 31
The portion constituted by the column 13 and the column direction wiring 3114 is called a multi-electron beam source. Further, the row direction wiring 31
An insulating layer (not shown) is formed between the wiring 13 and at least a portion where the wiring 13 intersects with the column wiring 3114 to maintain electrical insulation.

On the lower surface of the face plate 3117, a phosphor film 3118 made of a phosphor is formed, and phosphors (not shown) of three primary colors of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) are applied. Divided. Further, a black body (not shown) is provided between the respective color phosphors forming the fluorescent film 3118, and a metal back 3119 made of Al or the like is formed on the surface of the fluorescent film 3118 on the rear plate 3115 side. ing.

Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn and Hv are electric connection terminals having an airtight structure provided for electrically connecting the display panel to an electric circuit (not shown). Dx1 to Dxm are electrically connected to the row wiring 3113 of the multi-electron beam source, Dy1 to Dyn are electrically connected to the column wiring 3114 of the multi-electron beam source, and Hv is electrically connected to the metal back 3119.

The inside of the airtight container is 10 ⁻⁶ To.
It is maintained at a vacuum of about rr, and as the display area of the image display device increases, a means for preventing deformation or destruction of the rear plate 3115 and the face plate 3117 due to a pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the airtight container is required. . Rear plate 3115 and face plate 3
The method by increasing the thickness 116 not only increases the weight of the image display device, but also causes image distortion and parallax when viewed from an oblique direction.

On the other hand, in FIG. 13, a structural support (referred to as a spacer or a rib) 3120 made of a relatively thin glass plate and supporting the atmospheric pressure is provided. In this manner, the distance between the substrate 3111 on which the multi-beam electron source is formed and the face plate 3117 on which the fluorescent film 3118 is formed is usually kept at a sub-millimeter to several millimeters. Is held in.

In the image display apparatus using the display panel described above, when a voltage is applied to each cold cathode element 3112 through the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn, electrons are emitted from each cold cathode element 3112. At the same time, a high voltage of several hundred V to several kV is applied to the metal back 3119 through the external terminal Hv to accelerate the emitted electrons to collide with the inner surface of the face plate 3117. As a result, the phosphors of each color forming the fluorescent film 3118 are excited and emit light, and an image is displayed.

The spacer 3 installed in the display panel
120 is a face plate 3117 for the following reason.
It is required to have a high insulating property enough to endure a high voltage applied between the power supply and the rear plate 3115 and a high charge suppressing property.

First, a part of the electrons emitted from the vicinity of the spacer 3120 hits the spacer 3120, or a part of the electrons reaching the face plate 3117 is reflected and a part of the electron hits the spacer 3120, and The emission of secondary electrons may occur, causing spacer charging. According to the knowledge obtained by the present applicant so far, in most cases, positive charging occurs on the spacer surface. The electrons emitted from the cold cathode element 3112 due to the charging of the spacer are bent in their trajectories, reach a position different from the normal position on the phosphor, and the image near the spacer is distorted and displayed.

Second, in order to accelerate electrons emitted from the cold cathode device 3112, a high voltage of several hundred V or more (ie, 1 k) is applied between the multi-electron beam source and the face plate 3117.
V / mm or more), the spacer 3
There is a concern about creeping discharge on the surface of the H.120. In particular, when the spacer is charged as described above, discharge may be induced.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a proposal has been made by the present applicant to remove the charge by causing a minute current to flow through the spacer (JP-A-8-180821 and JP-A-8-250032). ). Here, a high-resistance thin film is formed on the surface of an insulating spacer so that a minute current flows on the surface of the spacer.
The high-resistance film used here is tin oxide, a mixed crystal thin film of tin oxide and indium oxide, an island-shaped metal film, or the like.

Further, in the above proposal by the present applicant, a low-resistance film is formed at the connection portion in order to electrically connect the spacer coated with the high-resistance film to the multi-electron beam source and the face plate satisfactorily. A configuration is also disclosed. Further, a configuration is disclosed in which a spacer coated with a high-resistance film and a low-resistance film is electrically connected and mechanically fixed to a multi-electron beam source and a face plate by using frit glass having conductivity.

When the electron source is driven in the vacuum container to accelerate the generated electron beam to cause the phosphor to emit light, gas is released into the container. This is mainly because the gas that has been adsorbed or occluded on or in the image forming member is released into a vacuum due to the accelerated stimulation of the electrons.

Therefore, in order to operate the above-described image forming apparatus so that a good and bright image can be stably displayed over a long period of time, the gas released during the operation is actively exhausted, and the pressure in the container is reduced. It is necessary to provide a maintenance mechanism.

In an image forming apparatus using an electron source, it is one effective means to arrange a getter in a container and positively exhaust air. In particular, in a flat plate type image forming apparatus in which the distance between the image forming member and the electron source is short, disposing the getter in the image display area suppresses a local pressure rise of gas emitted from the image forming member, thereby improving efficiency. It can be said that this is a desirable form in that the gas can be exhausted.

In consideration of such circumstances, in a flat plate type image forming apparatus having a specific structure, a configuration is disclosed in which a getter material is disposed in an image display area to immediately adsorb generated gas. Have been.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-12436 discloses a method of forming a gate electrode with a getter material in an electron source having a gate electrode for extracting an electron beam. An emission type electron source and a semiconductor electron source having a pn junction are illustrated. The gate electrode is made of Ta, Zr, Ti, Th, Hf.
And is formed by a semiconductor process.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-2278 discloses an electron source flat display device comprising a large number of field emission cathodes, the inner wall surface between the phosphors of the front panel having the phosphors, or the electron source. An evaporable getter such as a Ba film made of BaAl ₄ having a thickness of about 100 nm is formed on a wall surface between the cathode groups by a mask vapor deposition method.

In JP-A-63-181248 and JP-B-6-3714, an electrode (such as a grid) for controlling an electron beam is provided between a cathode group and a face plate of a vacuum vessel. A method of forming a film of a getter material on the control electrode in a flat display having a structure in which a) is disposed is disclosed.

In the example of JP-A-63-181248, the getter material is made of Zr (84%)-Al (16%), and the getter material is formed on the electrode by a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, an ion plating method, a coating method or the like. The film is formed directly.

Also, in the example of Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-3714, a small piece (for example, a ZrVFe alloy such as St707 of St. Setters) obtained by pressing a getter material on a metal plate having a thickness of 0.1 mm is electrode-welded by spot welding. It is fixed on top.

Also, see US Pat. No. 5,453,659.
No., “Anode Plate for Flat Pa
nel Display having Integra
attached Cutter ", issue 26 Se
pt. 1995, to Wallace et al.
Discloses a method in which a getter member is formed in a gap between phosphors on a stripe on an image display member (anode plate).

In this example, the getter material is formed by depositing ZrVFe or Ba with a thickness of 0.1 to 1 μm by ion beam sputtering or electron beam evaporation, and then shaping by photolithography. The getter material is electrically separated from the phosphor and a conductor electrically connected to the phosphor, and by applying an appropriate potential to the getter and irradiating and heating the electrons emitted from the electron source, the getter material is heated. Or activation by energizing and heating the getter.

In addition, the getter material is effectively arranged in an image display area in an image forming apparatus formed by using an electron-emitting device having a simple structure and a simple manufacturing method and having a large area. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-82245
No. has been made.

In this embodiment, an electron source having a large number of horizontal field emission electron-emitting devices or surface conduction electron-emitting devices is used, and a region other than the electron-emitting devices on the electron source substrate, or an image is used. A getter is formed on the metal back of the forming member. The getter material is formed by a vacuum deposition method or a sputtering method, and is made of an alloy containing at least one of Ti and Zr as a main component, or formed of Al,
It is made of an alloy containing one or more of V and Fe as an auxiliary component.

[0036]

As shown in the conventional example, a positively charged spacer attracts electrons flying near the spacer to the spacer, so that a displayed image is distorted near the spacer. To solve this problem, by providing an electrode in the spacer portion near the electron source and connecting it to the wiring portion, it is possible to correct the electron deflection due to charging and make the electrons reach the regular position of the phosphor. (JP-A-10-334833).

In order to more effectively adsorb and exhaust gas molecules in the container for a long period of time, it is preferable to increase the amount of the getter film itself and increase the surface area.

However, JP-A-4-12436, JP-A-8-2278, and JP-A-63-181 described above.
No. 248, U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,659, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-82245, the getter material is formed by a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, or the like. Considering the speed, the upper limit of the thickness of the getter material that can be formed in one process is several μm at most. In order to form a getter material having a larger film thickness by the same method, an increase in the time required for film formation is inevitable, leading to an increase in cost.

The surface area of a film formed by the same method can be controlled somewhat depending on the film forming conditions at the time of vapor deposition. However, in order to form a film having a larger surface area, the surface shape of an object to be vapor-deposited is processed. Requires special steps such as

Further, in an example in which a small piece obtained by compressing a getter material is spot-welded as in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-3714, it is difficult to dispose the getter material in an area smaller than the size of the small piece, and the size of a unit pixel is large. However, this is not a technique suitable for an image forming apparatus that is generally configured with a few millimeters or less.

Further, disposing the getter material in the display area of the image forming apparatus often affects the electron trajectory because the getter material is metal, and may hinder the control of the electron trajectory near the spacer described above. There is.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to arrange a large-capacity getter film capable of solving the above-mentioned disadvantages in a display area of an image forming apparatus, and to provide a temporal change in luminance in an image forming apparatus having a spacer. An object of the present invention is to provide a high-quality image forming apparatus with little (time-dependent deterioration) and little beam deviation.

[0043]

The structure of the present invention to achieve the above object is as follows.

That is, a first substrate having a plurality of electron-emitting devices connected by wiring, a second substrate provided to face the first substrate, a first substrate and a second substrate In an electron beam apparatus having a spacer for maintaining a distance between the first substrate and a non-evaporable getter for adsorbing gas, the first substrate or the second substrate may be used.
A non-evaporable getter is provided at a position where the spacer on the substrate abuts.

The plurality of electron-emitting devices are provided in a first region on a first substrate, and the non-evaporable getter is emitted in the first region or from the plurality of electron-emitting devices. An electron beam apparatus provided in a second region on a second substrate to which electrons reach.

A potential regulating member is provided on the first substrate or the second substrate, and the non-evaporable getter is electrically connected to the potential regulating member. An electron beam device.

Further, in the electron beam apparatus, the non-evaporable getter is provided on a potential regulating member.

The plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected by wiring, and the potential regulating member is a wiring.

In addition, an acceleration electrode for accelerating electrons emitted from the plurality of electron-emitting devices is provided on the second substrate, and the potential regulating member is an acceleration electrode. It is a wire device.

Further, the non-evaporable getter has a smaller area, length or width than the potential regulating member when viewed from a direction perpendicular to the first substrate and the second substrate. Device.

When the non-evaporable getter is disposed on the first substrate side with respect to the distance between the first substrate and the second substrate, the non-evaporable getter is within 10% when viewed from above the first substrate. , When installed on the second substrate side, as viewed from above the first substrate, 4
An electron beam device having a height up to a position within 0%.

Further, the spacer is provided on the first substrate or the second substrate on the side opposite to the side in contact with the non-evaporable getter.
The first substrate or the second substrate
An electron beam apparatus characterized by being adhered to a substrate.

Further, in the electron beam apparatus, there is an adhesive between the first substrate or the second substrate to which the spacer is bonded and the spacer.

[0054] The adhesive has conductivity, and is placed on the first substrate side when placed on the first substrate side with reference to the distance between the first substrate and the second substrate. 1
An electron beam apparatus characterized in that the electron beam device has a height of 0% or less and a height of up to 40% when viewed from above the first substrate when installed on the second substrate side.

Further, a film is formed on the surface of the spacer corresponding to the first region, which is exposed in vacuum, to a film having less charge than the surface of the substrate material forming the spacer. It is a wire device.

At least a part of the film having little charge has a secondary electron emission coefficient of 2 or less.

Further, the electron beam device is characterized in that the film with less charge is a conductive film electrically connected to the first substrate and / or the second substrate.

The electron beam apparatus is characterized in that the conductive film includes a high resistance film of 10 ⁷ Ω / □ or more.

Further, the electron beam device is characterized in that the high resistance film has a resistivity of 10 ¹⁴ Ω / □ or less.

In the region electrically connected to the first substrate and / or the second substrate, the film with less charge has a low-resistance film having a sheet resistance smaller by at least one order of magnitude than the high-resistance film. An electron beam apparatus characterized by the following.

In addition, when the low-resistance film is disposed on the first substrate side with respect to the distance between the first substrate and the second substrate, the low-resistance film is within 10% when viewed from above the first substrate. An electron beam apparatus having a height up to a position within 40% as viewed from above the second substrate when installed on the second substrate side.

[0062] In the electron beam apparatus, the wiring to which the plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected is a matrix wiring composed of a plurality of row-direction wirings and a plurality of column-direction wirings.

Further, in the electron beam apparatus, the wiring to which the plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected includes a plurality of row-direction wirings, and the electron-emitting devices are connected to adjacent row-direction wirings.

Further, the electron emitting device is characterized in that the electron emitting device has a conductive thin film including an electron emitting portion between device electrodes.

Further, in the electron beam apparatus, the electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

The present invention also provides an image forming apparatus comprising the above-mentioned electron beam apparatus and an image forming member on which an image is formed by collision of electrons emitted from a plurality of electron-emitting devices.

Further, the present invention may be in the following device form.

The electron source is provided with a plurality of rows of cold cathode elements each having a plurality of cold cathode elements arranged in parallel and connected at both ends (referred to as a “row direction”), and a direction orthogonal to the wiring (referred to as “row direction”). A control electrode (also referred to as a “grid”) disposed along the “cold cathode element” along the “column direction” forms a ladder-shaped electron source for controlling electrons from the cold cathode element.

According to the concept of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to an image forming apparatus suitable for display, but may be used as an alternative light source such as a light emitting diode of an optical printer comprising a photosensitive drum and a light emitting diode. Alternatively, the above-described image forming apparatus can be used. At this time, by appropriately selecting the above-mentioned m row-directional wirings and n column-directional wirings, the present invention can be applied not only to a linear light emitting source but also to a two-dimensional light emitting source. In this case, the image forming member is not limited to a substance that emits light directly, such as a phosphor used in the following embodiments, and a member that forms a latent image by electron charging can also be used.

[0070]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display panel used in the present embodiment, in which a part of the panel is cut away to show the internal structure. FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a cross section taken along line AA ′ of FIG. 1, and the reference numerals of the respective parts correspond to FIG. 1.

1 and 6, reference numeral 1015 denotes a rear plate, reference numeral 1016 denotes a side wall, and reference numeral 1017 denotes a face plate. The rear plate 1015, the side wall 1016 and the face plate 1017 serve to maintain the inside of the display panel at a vacuum. An enclosure (airtight container) is formed. Further, a spacer 1020 for supporting the atmospheric pressure is provided inside the airtight container.

The face plate 1017 has the fluorescent film 10
18 and a metal back 1019 are formed. A substrate 1011 is fixed to the rear plate 1015, and a cold cathode element 1012 is provided on the substrate 1011 by nx.
m pieces are formed, and m row-direction (X-direction) wirings 10 are formed.
13 and n column-direction (Y-direction) wirings 1014.

Reference numeral 1013a denotes a row-direction wiring on which the spacer 1020 is installed, 1021 denotes a non-evaporable getter formed on the wiring 1013a, 1022 denotes an adhesive for bonding the face plate 1017 and the spacer 1020 via a metal back, and 1101 denotes an adhesive. Electron emitting element 101 near spacer
The electron trajectory 1102a of the electron emitted from 2a indicates an equipotential line near the spacer.

The spacer 1020 is formed by forming the high-resistance film 11 on the surface of the thin insulating member 1, and forming the inside of the face plate 1017 (metal back 1019) and the substrate 1.
The low resistance film 21 is formed on the contact surface 3 of the spacer facing the surface (row direction wiring 1013) of the substrate 011. The thin plate-like spacers 1020 are arranged along the row direction (X direction).

The high resistance film 11 is electrically connected to the row wiring 1013 via the low resistance film 21 and the non-evaporable getter 1021 on the substrate 1011 side, and is connected to the low resistance film 21 and the adhesive on the face plate 1017 side. It is electrically connected to the metal back 1019 via the agent 1022.

Non-evaporable getter 1021 and adhesive 102
2 has a buffer function between the wiring 1013a, the metal back 1019 and the spacer 1020 when the spacer 1020 makes mechanical contact and electrical connection with the wiring 1013a or the metal back 1019.

That is, a very thin metal back 101
In the case of a spacer made of a fragile material, an effect of preventing the 9 from peeling or tearing, an effect of preventing the wiring 1013a requiring a small specific resistance from being cracked and increasing the resistance, This has the effect of preventing the spacer from being damaged.

The non-evaporable getter 1021 and the adhesive 1
The buffering effect can be obtained by using 022 on either the face plate 101 side or the substrate 1011 side forming the electron source.

The buffering effect is also effective in areas other than the area where an image is displayed (for example, a wiring lead portion).

Further, from the viewpoint of electron trajectory control in the vicinity of the spacer, the height a of the electrode formed on the spacer is determined by correcting the height a of the electrode formed on the spacer to correct the trajectory of the electrons attracted by the positive charging of the spacer 1020. If there is no getter, the height is larger than the height b up to the upper surface of the wiring). The size of “a” can be arbitrarily selected according to the height “b” to the upper surface of the getter, the structure of the image forming apparatus, the driving conditions, and the ability to remove the charge of the high-resistance film.
In order to correct the electron trajectory for being attracted to the side, it is necessary that at least a> b. However, it is possible to select substantially equal values of a and b in a situation where the charging of the spacer can be removed. Also, an arbitrary value can be selected for the height b to the upper surface of the getter.

For the formation of the non-evaporable getter, various manufacturing methods such as sputtering and spraying can be applied.

According to the present invention, it is easy to form the getter film in the display area of the image forming apparatus without disturbing the electron trajectory in the vicinity of the spacer, and there is little change over time (decrease over time) in luminance. In addition, it is possible to provide a high quality image forming apparatus with less beam shift.

Various methods can be applied to the electron trajectory correction near the electron emitting portion. In addition to the above-described method of increasing the height of the spacer electrode (low resistance film), it is also possible to increase the height of the wiring connected to the spacer. The wiring can be formed collectively on the electron source substrate using a high-precision forming method such as patterning using photolithography technology or screen printing. It is possible to further reduce all the positional deviations.

Various conductive materials can be used as the wiring material. For example, when wiring is formed using a screen printing method, a coating material mixed with a metal and a glass paste, and when a metal is deposited using a plating method, a plating bath material is applicable. . As for the raised wiring portion near the connection with the spacer, if the portion to be height-corrected and the portion formed thereunder are electrically connected, the same height as other wiring is used in the same way as other wiring And other manufacturing methods can be applied only for the height correction.

As the shape of the spacer, it is possible to apply various shapes such as a column in addition to a plate shape.

FIG. 3 is a manufacturing process diagram showing a typical manufacturing method of the non-evaporable getter used in the present invention, and comprises the following steps. Of course, the non-evaporable getter of the present invention is not limited to this manufacturing method, and various manufacturing methods are possible. In FIG. 3, 31 is an electron source substrate, 32 is a Y-direction wiring, 33 is an X-direction wiring, 35 is a getter, 41 and 42 are device electrodes,
3 is a conductive thin film, 44 is a contact hole, 45 is an interlayer insulating layer, 51 is an adhesion layer, and 52 is a mask.

In this manufacturing method, the getter 35 (1021 in FIG. 1) is formed on the electron source substrate 1011 as follows.

First, as shown in FIG. 3A, an adhesion layer 51 is formed on the electron source substrate 31 on which no getter is formed. The formation of the adhesion layer 51 is intended to ensure the adhesion between the mask and the electron source substrate 31 described later. This prevents the getter during film formation from entering the space formed between the mask and the electron source substrate 31 and preventing the getter film from being formed in a region other than a desired region.

As the adhesion layer 51, for example, a photoresist, a dry film, a photosensitive dry film, a polyimide film or other resin can be used, and can be formed by a method such as spin coating, printing, spraying, dipping or the like.

Next, as shown in FIG.
A mask 52 having an opening at a desired position is attached to the substrate on which the substrate 1 has been formed, the adhesive layer 51 exposed from the opening is further removed, and the surface of the electron source substrate on which a getter film is to be formed underneath. To expose.

The mask 52 is preferably made of a material having heat resistance and high mechanical strength. This is because it is preferable that the material be able to withstand heat and impact from the molten particles of the getter material that collide at high temperature and at high speed. For example, a metal mask generally used for industry is one of the masks suitable for this purpose.
In addition, a glass plate having an opening, a ceramic plate, a heat-resistant resin, or the like can be used.

The bonding of the adhesive layer 51 and the mask 52 and the bonding of the adhesive layer 51 and the electron source substrate are performed by the bonding layer 5
If 1 itself has an adhesive ability, it may be used as it is. If it does not have an adhesive ability, it may be fixed by applying an adhesive to the surface or using a jig that presses the mask 52 mechanically.

The removal of the adhesive layer 51 exposed from the opening is performed by
It can be appropriately selected according to the material of the adhesion layer 51. Adhesion layer 51
Is made of a photosensitive material, and if it is a so-called positive photosensitive material that can remove the region irradiated with light by development, exposure is performed using the mask 52 itself as a photomask, so as to correspond to the opening. The region of the adhesion layer 51 can be removed. Further, even if the material is other than a photosensitive material, it can be removed by etching or mechanical polishing such as sandblasting.

The procedure for forming the adhesion layer 51 and the mask 52 on the electron source substrate has been described above with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. A method in which the adhesion layer 51 is formed in advance on the mask 52 having the adhesion layer 51 and then bonded to the electron source substrate, or a mask material having no adhesion layer 51 and the opening is formed on the electron source substrate, and then the opening is formed. There are methods and the like, which can be selected as appropriate according to the material and the configuration.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, a non-evaporable getter 35 is formed on the surface on which the mask is formed. A vacuum plasma spraying method is used for the film formation of the getter 35. With reduced pressure plasma spraying, a plasma jet is generated in a container under reduced pressure filled with an inert gas such as argon,
The raw material powder is melted by putting the raw material powder into the flame of the plasma jet, and the momentum is given to the molten raw material powder by the intense flow rate of the plasma jet,
The film is formed by spraying a molten raw material powder onto a target object.

The quality of the film formed by this method is hard to be oxidized because the film is formed in a reduced pressure atmosphere of an inert gas, and is generally a porous film, and the surface area of the film is large. In addition, the film forming speed is higher than that of a vapor deposition method, and a film of several tens of μm is formed. However, depending on a material to be sprayed, plasma conditions, a sprayed area, etc., the spraying is performed for several seconds to several tens seconds. Is just enough. This film forming method is a method suitable for forming a non-evaporable getter with a large surface area and a large capacity while maintaining an active surface state in which gas is adsorbed while preventing oxidation.

Next, as shown in FIG.
2 and the adhesion layer 51 are removed to obtain an electron source substrate having the non-evaporable getter 35 formed at a desired position. This can be achieved by using a peeling means suitable for the material of the adhesion layer 51. For example, if the adhesive layer 51 is a photoresist, a dedicated stripping solution can be used. If the resin is a resin such as polyimide, a strong alkaline solution may be used. When the mask 52 and the adhesive layer 51 are mechanically pressed and fixed, the fixing jig may be removed.

According to the manufacturing method of the present invention described above, a non-evaporable getter film having a large capacity and a large surface area can be formed on a desired region of the electron source surface.

Normally, when manufacturing an image forming apparatus for maintaining the vacuum inside the envelope, frit glass as a sealing material is applied or arranged between glass members, and the entire image forming apparatus is placed in an electric furnace or the like. Is heated to the melting temperature of the frit glass to fuse the glass member at the sealing portion.

On the other hand, when the non-evaporable getter is heated to a high temperature, the gas adsorbed on the getter surface is diffused into the getter, and the active portion is newly exposed on the surface. This is called getter activation. If such activation of the getter is performed in an atmosphere having a high oxygen partial pressure, such as the air, oxidation of the getter progresses violently, and a new active surface cannot be obtained.

Therefore, when an envelope is formed using an electron source having a getter formed by the manufacturing method of the present invention, in order to prevent loss of function due to oxidation of the getter, the envelope is made in an inert gas such as argon or in a vacuum. Preferably, sealing is performed.

Also, as shown in FIG.
In some cases, an auxiliary getter 1023 is arranged as an auxiliary pump for keeping the inside of the envelope at a vacuum. In this case, the getter material scatters in the image display area, and the auxiliary getter 1023 and the electron-emitting device 1012,
A shield 10 is provided between the wiring groups 1013 and 1014 and a region including the metal back 1019 serving as an anode electrode.
24 may be provided. When the inside of the envelope can be sufficiently maintained in a vacuum by only the getter 1021 formed in the image display area, the auxiliary getter 1023 and the shield 1024 may not be formed.

After that, when the electron source 1 includes a surface conduction electron-emitting device, necessary processing such as forming and activation of the electron-emitting device is performed, and the inside of the envelope is sufficiently evacuated. After heating the entire envelope at a high temperature of about 350 ° C. for several hours to several tens of hours to activate the non-evaporable getter 1021 in the image display area, the exhaust pipe (not shown) is heated and closed by a burner. . Finally, if necessary, the auxiliary getter 1023 provided in the envelope is heated to deposit a getter material on the inner wall of the envelope to form a film of the getter material. The getter film thus formed is located outside the image display area in the envelope.

Next, the configuration and manufacturing method of the display panel of the image display device to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to specific examples.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display panel used in the present embodiment, in which a part of the panel is cut away to show the internal structure. In the figure, 1015 is a rear plate, 1016 is a side wall, 1017 is a face plate, and 1015 to 1017 form an airtight container for maintaining the inside of the display panel at a vacuum.

When assembling the airtight container, it is necessary to seal the joints of the members in order to maintain sufficient strength and airtightness. For example, frit glass is applied to the joints, and the joints are exposed to air or a nitrogen atmosphere. In, 400-degree Celsius
Sealing was achieved by baking at 500 degrees for 10 minutes or more. A method of evacuating the inside of the airtight container to a vacuum will be described later. The inside of the airtight container is 1.3 × 10 ^-4 P
A spacer 1020 is provided as an atmospheric pressure resistant structure for the purpose of preventing the hermetic container from being destroyed due to the atmospheric pressure or an unexpected impact because the vacuum is maintained at about a.

The rear plate 1015 has a substrate 1011
Is fixed, but the cold cathode element 1012 is provided on the substrate.
Are formed n × m. (N and m are positive integers of 2 or more, and are appropriately set according to the target number of display pixels. For example, in a display device for displaying high-definition television, n = 3000, m It is desirable to set the number to be equal to or greater than 1000.) The n × m cold cathode elements are arranged in a simple matrix by m row-directional wirings 1013 and n column-directional wirings 1014. Said 1
The portion constituted by 011 to 1014 is called a multi-electron beam source.

The multi-electron beam source used in the image display device of the present invention is not limited in the material, shape or manufacturing method of the cold cathode device. Therefore, for example, a cold cathode device such as a surface conduction electron-emitting device, an FE type, or an MIM type can be used.

Next, the structure of a multi-electron beam source in which surface conduction electron-emitting devices as cold cathode devices are arranged on a substrate and arranged in a simple matrix will be described.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the multi-electron beam source used for the display panel of FIG. Substrate 1011
On the top, surface conduction electron-emitting devices similar to those shown in FIG. 10 described later are arranged.
13 and column direction wiring 1014 are arranged in a simple matrix. Row direction wiring 1013 and column direction wiring 101
An insulating layer (not shown) is formed between the device electrodes at the intersections of 4, so that electrical insulation is maintained.

FIG. 5 shows a cross section taken along line BB ′ of FIG.
In the multi-electron source having such a structure, a row direction wiring 1013, a column direction wiring 1014, an interelectrode insulating layer (not shown), a device electrode of a surface conduction electron-emitting device and a conductive thin film are previously formed on a substrate. After forming, the row direction wiring 101
The device was manufactured by supplying power to each element via the third and column direction wirings 1014 and performing an energization forming process and an energization activation process described later.

In this embodiment, the substrate 1011 of the multi-electron beam source is provided on the rear plate 1015 of the hermetic container.
Is fixed, but the substrate 1 of the multi-electron beam source is
When 011 has sufficient strength, the substrate 1 of the multi-electron beam source is used as a rear plate of an airtight container.
011 itself may be used.

A fluorescent film 1018 is formed on the lower surface of the face plate 1017. Since the present embodiment is a color display device, a CR film
Phosphors of three primary colors of red, green, and blue used in the field of T are separately applied. The phosphor of each color is, for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3A, a black body 1010 is provided between stripes of the fluorescent material.
The purpose of providing the black body 1010 is to prevent the display color from being shifted even if the irradiation position of the electron beam is slightly shifted, and to prevent the reflection of external light to prevent the display contrast from being lowered. It is.

A metal back 1019 known in the CRT field is provided on the surface of the fluorescent film 1018 on the rear plate side.
Is provided. The purpose of providing the metal back 1019 is
A part of the light emitted from the fluorescent film 1018 is specularly reflected to improve the light utilization rate, and the fluorescent film 101
8 to protect it, to act as an electrode for applying an electron beam acceleration voltage, and to act as a conductive path for excited electrons of the fluorescent film 1018. The metal back 1019 was formed by forming the fluorescent film 1018 on the face plate substrate 1017, smoothing the surface of the fluorescent film, and vacuum-depositing Al thereon.
Note that when a fluorescent material for low voltage is used for the fluorescent film 1018, the metal back 1019 is not used.

Although not used in the present embodiment,
For the purpose of applying acceleration voltage and improving the conductivity of the fluorescent film,
A transparent electrode made of, for example, ITO may be provided between the face plate substrate 1017 and the fluorescent film 1018.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a cross section taken along line AA ′ of FIG. 1, and reference numerals of the respective parts correspond to those of FIG. The spacer 1020 is formed by forming a high-resistance film 11 on the surface of the insulating member 1 for the purpose of preventing electrification, and
Inside (metal back 1019 etc.) and the surface of substrate 1011 (row direction wiring 1013 or column direction wiring 1014)
The low-resistance film 21 is joined to the contact surface 3 of the spacer facing the surface plate, and is arranged in a necessary number and at a necessary interval to achieve the atmospheric pressure resistance function. And the surface of the substrate 1011.

The high-resistance film is formed on at least the surface of the insulating member 1 that is exposed to vacuum in the hermetic container.
And the inside of the face plate 1017 (the metal back 1) via the non-evaporable getter 1021 and the adhesive 1022.
019 etc.) and the surface of the substrate 1011 (the row direction wiring 101).
3 or the column direction wiring 1014).
In the embodiment described here, the shape of the spacer 1020 is a thin plate, is arranged in parallel with the row wiring 1013, and is electrically connected to the row wiring 1013.

As the spacer 1020, the substrate 1011
Has insulating properties enough to withstand high voltage applied between the upper row direction wiring 1013 and column direction wiring 1014 and the metal back 1019 on the inner surface of the face plate 1017;
In addition, it is necessary to have conductivity enough to prevent the surface of the spacer 1020 from being charged.

Examples of the insulating member 1 of the spacer 1020 include quartz glass, glass having a reduced impurity content such as Na, soda lime glass, and ceramic members such as alumina. It is preferable that the insulating member 1 has a coefficient of thermal expansion close to that of the member forming the airtight container and the substrate 1011.

High resistance film 11 constituting spacer 1020
A current obtained by dividing the acceleration voltage Va applied to the face plate 1017 (such as the metal back 1019) on the high potential side by the resistance value Rs of the high resistance film 21 serving as the antistatic film flows through the high potential side. Therefore, the resistance value Rs of the spacer is set in a desirable range from the viewpoint of antistatic and power consumption. The surface resistance R / □ is preferably 10 ¹² Ω or less from the viewpoint of antistatic. 10 ¹¹ Ω to obtain a sufficient antistatic effect
The following are more preferred. The lower limit of the surface resistance depends on the spacer shape and the voltage applied between the spacers.
It is preferably 0 ⁵ Omega more.

The thickness t of the antistatic film formed on the insulating material is preferably in the range of 10 nm to 1 μm. Although it depends on the surface energy of the material, the adhesion to the substrate, and the substrate temperature, a thin film of 10 nm or less is generally formed in the shape of an island, and has an unstable resistance and poor reproducibility. On the other hand, when the film thickness t is 1
If it is more than μm, the film stress increases and the risk of film peeling increases, and the film formation time becomes longer, resulting in poor productivity. Therefore, the film thickness is desirably 50 to 500 nm.

The surface resistance R / □ is ρ / t, and the specific resistance ρ of the antistatic film is preferably from 0.1 Ωcm to 10 ⁸ Ωcm from the preferable range of R / □ and t described above. Further, in order to realize more preferable ranges of the surface resistance and the film thickness, it is preferable that ρ is set to 10 ^{2 to} 10 ⁶ Ωcm.

As described above, the temperature of the spacer rises when current flows through the antistatic film formed thereon or when the entire display generates heat during operation. If the resistance temperature coefficient of the antistatic film is a large negative value, the resistance decreases when the temperature increases, the current flowing through the spacer increases, and the temperature further increases. Then, the current continues to increase until it exceeds the limit of the power supply. The value of the temperature coefficient of resistance at which such a runaway of current occurs is empirically a negative value and the absolute value is 1% or more. That is, the resistance temperature coefficient of the antistatic film is desirably less than -1%.

As a material of the high resistance film 11 having the antistatic property, for example, a metal oxide can be used.
Among metal oxides, oxides of chromium, nickel, and copper are preferred materials. The reason is considered to be that these oxides have a relatively low secondary electron emission efficiency and are difficult to be charged even when electrons emitted from the cold cathode element 1012 hit the spacer 1020. In addition to metal oxides, carbon is a preferable material having a low secondary electron emission efficiency. In particular, since amorphous carbon has high resistance, it is easy to control the spacer resistance to a desired value.

As another material of the high resistance film 11 having the antistatic property, the nitride of aluminum and a transition metal alloy can adjust the resistance of the transition metal from a good conductor to an insulator by adjusting the composition of the transition metal. It is a suitable material because it can be controlled.
Further, it is a stable material with little change in resistance value in a manufacturing process of a display device described later. Further, the material has a temperature coefficient of resistance of less than -1% and is practically easy to use. Examples of the transition metal element include Ti, Cr, and Ta.

The alloy nitride film is formed on the insulating member by thin film forming means such as sputtering, reactive sputtering in a nitrogen gas atmosphere, electron beam evaporation, ion plating, and ion assisted evaporation. The metal oxide film can be formed by the same thin film formation method, but in this case, oxygen gas is used instead of nitrogen gas. In addition, a metal oxide film can be formed by a CVD method or an alkoxide coating method. The carbon film is formed by a vapor deposition method, a sputtering method, a CVD method, or a plasma CVD method. In particular, when forming amorphous carbon, make sure that the atmosphere during the film formation contains hydrogen or the film formation gas is used. Use hydrocarbon gas.

Low resistance film 21 constituting spacer 1020
A high-resistance side face plate 101
7 (metal back 1019 etc.) and substrate 10 on the low potential side
11 (wirings 1013, 1014, etc.), and the low resistance film 21 can have a plurality of functions listed below.

The high-resistance film 11 is formed on the face plate 101.
7 and the substrate 1011. As described above, the high resistance film 11 is formed by the spacer 1020.
Although provided for the purpose of preventing charging on the surface, the high-resistance film 11 is made of a face plate 1017 (metal back 1019 and the like) and a substrate 1011 (wiring 1013,
1014) directly or via the contact material 1041, a large contact resistance is generated at the interface of the connection portion, and there is a possibility that the charge generated on the spacer surface cannot be quickly removed. In order to avoid this, face plate 10
17, a low-resistance intermediate layer is provided on the contact surface 3 or the side surface portion 5 of the spacer 1020 that comes into contact with the substrate 1011 and the contact material 1041.

The potential distribution of the high resistance film 11 is made uniform. Electrons emitted from the cold cathode element 1012 form electron orbits according to a potential distribution formed between the face plate 1017 and the substrate 1011. In order to prevent the electron orbit from being disturbed near the spacer 1020, it is necessary to control the potential distribution of the high resistance film 11 over the entire region.
The high-resistance film 11 is coated with a face plate 1017 (metal back 1019 and the like) and a substrate 1011 (wirings 1013,
14) directly or via the contact material 1041, the connection state becomes uneven due to the contact resistance at the connection interface, and the potential distribution of the high resistance film 11 may deviate from a desired value. There is. To avoid this, the spacer 10
By providing a low-resistance intermediate layer in the entire length region of the spacer end (contact surface 3 or side surface 5) in contact with the face plate 1017 and the substrate 1011, by applying a desired potential to the intermediate layer, The potential of the entire high resistance film 11 can be controlled.

The trajectory of electron emission electrons is controlled. Electrons emitted from the cold cathode element 1012 form electron orbits according to a potential distribution formed between the face plate 1017 and the substrate 1011. Regarding the electrons emitted from the cold cathode devices near the spacers, there may be restrictions (such as changes in wiring and device positions) associated with the installation of the spacers. In such a case, in order to form an image without distortion or unevenness, it is necessary to control the trajectory of the emitted electrons to irradiate a desired position on the face plate 1017 with the electrons. By providing a low-resistance intermediate layer on the side surface portion 5 of the surface in contact with the face plate 1017 and the substrate 1011, the potential distribution near the spacer 1020 can have desired characteristics and the trajectory of emitted electrons can be controlled. I can do it.

The low resistance film 21 may be made of any material having a sufficiently lower resistance than the high resistance film 11.

The above description has been made in detail on the spacer 1020.

Also, Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dy
n and Hv are electric connection terminals of an airtight structure provided for electrically connecting the display panel and an air circuit (not shown). Dx1 to Dxm are electrically connected to the row wiring 1013 of the multi-electron beam source, Dy1 to Dyn are electrically connected to the column wiring 1014 of the multi-electron beam source, and Hv is electrically connected to the metal back 1019 of the faceplate. are doing.

In order to evacuate the inside of the hermetic container, after assembling the hermetic container, an exhaust pipe (not shown) and a vacuum pump are connected, and the inside of the hermetic container is evacuated to a degree of vacuum of about 10 ⁷ Torr. . The processing method of the non-evaporable getter 1021 and the evaporable auxiliary getter is as described above. The inside of the hermetic container is 1 × 10
The vacuum degree is maintained at ^-5 or 1 × 10 ^-7 Torr.

In the image display apparatus using the display panel described above, when a voltage is applied to each cold cathode element 1012 through the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn, electrons are emitted from each cold cathode element 1012. At the same time, a high voltage of several hundred V to several kV is applied to the metal back 1019 through the external terminal Hv to accelerate the emitted electrons and collide with the inner surface of the face plate 1017. As a result, the phosphor of each color forming the fluorescent film 1018 is excited and emits light, and an image is displayed.

Normally, the voltage applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device 1012 of the present invention, which is a cold cathode device, is about 12 to 16 V,
Distance d between metal back 1019 and cold cathode element 1012
Is about 1 mm to 5 mm, and the voltage between the metal back 1019 and the cold cathode element 1012 is about 3 kV to 10 kV.

The basic configuration and manufacturing method of the display panel according to the embodiment of the present invention and the outline of the image display device have been described above.

Next, a method of manufacturing the multi-electron beam source used for the display panel of the above embodiment will be described. The multi-electron beam source used in the image display device of the present invention is not limited in the material, shape, or manufacturing method of the cold cathode device. Therefore, for example, a cold cathode device such as a surface conduction electron-emitting device, an FE type, or an MIM type can be used.

However, since the surface conduction electron-emitting device is manufactured by a relatively simple manufacturing method, it is easy to increase the area and reduce the manufacturing cost. The inventors have found that among the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, those in which the electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film have particularly excellent electron-emitting characteristics and can be easily manufactured. Therefore, it can be said that it is most suitable for use in a multi-electron beam source of a high-luminance, large-screen image display device.

Therefore, in the display panels of the embodiments and examples, a surface conduction electron-emitting device having the electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion formed of a fine particle film was used. First,
The basic configuration and characteristics of a preferred surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described, and then the structure of a multi-electron beam source in which many devices are arranged in a simple matrix will be described.

There are two typical configurations of a surface conduction electron-emitting device in which an electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film, a flat type and a vertical type.

Here, as an example, only the device configuration of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described. In FIG. 10, (a) is a plan view for explaining the configuration of a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device, and (b) is a cross-sectional view thereof. In the figure, 1101 is a substrate, 1102 and 1103 are device electrodes,
Reference numeral 1104 denotes a conductive thin film, 1105 denotes an electron emitting portion formed by an energization forming process, and 1113 denotes a thin film formed by an energization activation process.

The sheet resistance value of the conductive thin film 1104 was set to be in the range of 10 ³ to 10 ⁷ Ω / □.

The electron-emitting portion 1105 is a crack-like portion formed in a part of the conductive thin film 1104, and has a higher electrical property than the surrounding conductive thin film. The crack is formed by performing a later-described energization forming process on the conductive thin film 1104. Fine particles having a particle size of several to several hundreds of mm may be arranged in the crack. Since it is difficult to accurately and accurately show the actual position and shape of the electron-emitting portion, they are schematically shown in FIG.

The thin film 1113 is a thin film made of carbon or a carbon compound, and covers the electron emitting portion 1105 and its vicinity. The thin film 1113 is formed by performing an energization activation process described later after the energization forming process.

The basic structure of the preferred device has been described above. In the present embodiment, the following device is used.

That is, blue glass was used for the substrate 1101, and Ni thin films were used for the device electrodes 1102 and 1103. The thickness d of the device electrode is 1000 °, and the distance L between the device electrodes is L.
Was 2 μm.

As the main material of the conductive film, Pd or P
Using dO, the thickness of the conductive film is about 100 °, and the width W is 10
It was 0 μm.

The element structure and manufacturing method of the planar type surface conduction electron-emitting device have been described above. Next, the characteristics of the device used in the display device will be described.

FIG. 7 shows typical examples of (emission current Ie) versus (element applied voltage Vf) characteristics and (element current If) versus (element applied voltage Vf) characteristics of an element used in a display device. Note that the emission current Ie is significantly smaller than the element current If, and it is difficult to show them on the same scale. In addition, these characteristics are changed by changing design parameters such as the size and shape of the element. Therefore, each of the two graphs is shown in arbitrary units.

The element used in the display device has the following three characteristics regarding the emission current Ie.

First, a certain voltage (this is referred to as a “threshold voltage Vt
h ". )) When a voltage of the above magnitude is applied to the device, the emission current Ie sharply increases, while the threshold voltage Vt
At a voltage less than h, the emission current Ie is hardly detected.

That is, the non-linear element has a clear threshold voltage Vth with respect to the emission current Ie.

Secondly, since the emission current Ie changes depending on the voltage Vf applied to the element, the emission current Ie varies with the voltage Vf.
The magnitude of e can be controlled.

Third, since the response speed of the current Ie emitted from the element is faster than the voltage Vf applied to the element, the amount of charge of the electrons emitted from the element depends on the length of time for applying the voltage Vf. Can control.

Because of the above characteristics, the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be suitably used for a display device. For example, in a display device in which a large number of elements are provided corresponding to pixels of a display screen, if the first characteristic is used, display can be performed by sequentially scanning the display screen. That is,
The driving element has a threshold voltage Vt according to a desired light emission luminance.
h or higher, and a voltage lower than the threshold voltage Vth is applied to the non-selected elements. By sequentially switching the elements to be driven, the display screen can be sequentially scanned and displayed.

In addition, by using the second characteristic or the third characteristic, the light emission luminance can be controlled, so that a gradation display can be performed.

Next, the structure of a multi-electron beam source in which the above surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged on a substrate and arranged in a simple matrix will be described.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the multi-electron beam source used for the display panel of FIG. Substrate 1011
On the upper side, surface conduction electron-emitting devices similar to those shown in FIG. 10 are arranged, and these devices are wired in a simple matrix by row-direction wiring 1013 and column-direction wiring 1014. At a portion where the row wiring 1013 and the column wiring 1014 intersect, an insulating layer (not shown) is formed between the electrodes, so that electrical insulation is maintained.

FIG. 5 shows a cross section taken along line BB ′ of FIG.
In the multi-electron source having such a structure, a row-directional wiring 1013, a column-directional wiring 1014, an interelectrode insulating layer (not shown), a device electrode of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and a conductive thin film are previously formed on a substrate. After that, power was supplied to each element via a row-directional wiring 1013 and a column-directional wiring 1014 to perform an energization forming process and an energization activation process.

[0162]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples.

In each of the embodiments described below, n × m (n = 3072, n = 3072) of a type having an electron emission portion in the conductive film between the device electrodes described above is used as a multi-electron beam source.
(m = 1024) was used in which the surface conduction electron-emitting devices were arranged in a matrix with m row-directional wirings and n column-directional wirings (see FIGS. 1 and 11).

[Example 1] Here, details of getters and spacers, which are the most characteristic parts of the present invention, will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.
It is sectional drawing of the display panel which comprises an electron beam apparatus.

The low resistance film 21 of the spacer 1020 is made of aluminum by a sputtering method using a mask jig.
A film having a thickness of 1 μm was formed on the face plate 1017 side and the electron source substrate 1011 side. Electron source substrate 1
The low-resistance film 21 on the 011 side was formed only on the surface 3 that was in contact with the electron source substrate 1011.

Next, as a high resistance film 11, an alloy nitride film of W and Ge is formed to a thickness of about 0.2 μm by a reactive sputtering method in which a W target and a Ge target are simultaneously sputtered in a mixed gas of argon gas and nitrogen gas. It was formed to a thickness. At this time, the sheet resistance value of the high resistance film 11 is about 10 ¹⁰ Ω / □
Met. It has been confirmed by our research that a conductive W and Ge alloy nitride film has excellent antistatic properties.

The non-evaporable getter 1 used in this embodiment
No. 021 was formed as follows. The getter formation is performed after the wiring is formed, and the row direction wiring 10 is formed using a mask.
A non-evaporable getter was formed on the substrate 13 by a low pressure plasma spraying method. The film was formed in a low-pressure argon atmosphere, and the getter material was HS-4 manufactured by Nippon Getters Co., Ltd.
05 (325 mesh) powder was used.

The thickness of the getter material formed in this embodiment is about 40 μm on average. Getter 10
It is desirable that the formation region 21 is formed to be approximately the same as or slightly smaller than the width of the spacer. This is to prevent the electron orbit from protruding from the wiring and being largely deflected, and an arbitrary value can be selected.

In this embodiment, all the row wirings 1
A non-evaporable getter 1021 (width 200 μm, thickness 40 μm) was formed on O13 with a length substantially equal to the length of the row direction wiring.

In this embodiment, after forming the column wiring (not shown) and the insulating layer (not shown) on the electron source substrate 1011, an Ag paste is applied by a screen printing method, and the row wiring 1013 ( (Thickness: 20 μm).
Each wiring width was formed to be 300 μm. Note that the pitch of the electron-emitting devices 1012 in the row-direction wiring direction is 630 μm,
The pitch was 305 μm in the column wiring direction.

Further, in this embodiment, the spacer 1
020 is an adhesive 1022 for the face plate 101
7, the electron source substrate 1011 and the face plate 1017 were arranged by assembling. In addition,
As the adhesive 1022, a material obtained by dispersing metal plating on a spherical glass insulating filler in frit glass is used. The electrical connection between the face plate 1017 and the face plate side low-resistance film 21 and the spacer are used. 102
0 was fixed.

The inside of the airtight container completed as described above is evacuated by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, the terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dx1
A multi-electron beam source was manufactured by supplying power to each element via the row wiring electrode 1013 and the column wiring electrode 1014 through yn to perform the above-described energization forming process and energization activation process.

Next, at a degree of vacuum of about 10 ⁻⁶ Torr, an exhaust pipe (not shown) was heated by a gas burner and welded to seal the envelope (airtight container). In order to maintain the degree of vacuum after the sealing, the getter processing as described above was performed.

In the image display apparatus using the display panel as shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 completed as described above, each cold cathode element (surface conduction electron-emitting element) 1012
, The scanning signal and the modulation signal are applied from signal generating means (not shown) through the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn, respectively, to release electrons. The metal back 1019 is supplied with a high voltage through the high voltage terminal Hv. The application accelerates the emitted electron beam, and the fluorescent film 1018
An image was displayed by causing electrons to collide with each other to excite and emit the phosphors 21a of each color (R, G, B in FIGS. 4 and 8).

The voltage Va applied to the high voltage terminal Hv is 3
kV to 10 kV, and the applied voltage Vf between the wirings 1013 and 1014 was 14 V.

[Embodiment 2] The structure of the spacer 1020 differs from that of Embodiment 1. In this example, an aluminum nitride film was used as the high resistance film 11. The aluminum nitride film is formed by a reactive sputtering method in which an Al target is sputtered in a mixed gas of argon gas and nitrogen gas.
It was formed to a thickness of 2 μm. At this time, the sheet resistance of the high resistance film 11 was 10 ¹⁵ Ω / □ or more.

Next, aluminum was formed to a thickness of about 0.1 μm using a mask jig to form a low resistance film 21 on the electron source substrate side. This is shown in FIG.

Here, the height a of the low resistance film 21 on the electron source side of the spacer 1020 (the wiring 1013a and the getter 102).
2 is 200 μm, and the height of the row direction wiring 1013 without the spacer is 60 μm.

The aluminum nitride used as the high resistance film 11 in this embodiment is a material having a relatively small secondary electron emission coefficient, and can suppress the charging of the spacer 1020.

The inner thickness d of the panel was 2.2 mm and the accelerating voltage was 6
When the image forming apparatus having the above-described configuration was driven at kV, an image with little characteristic deterioration could be displayed. Also, the spacer 1020, the metal back 1018, the row direction wiring 10
At 13, no problematic damage occurred.

[Embodiment 3] The difference from Embodiment 1 is the manufacturing parameters of the row-directional wiring and the non-evaporable getter.

In the present embodiment, after forming the column direction wiring (not shown) and the insulating layer (not shown) on the electron source substrate 1011, an Ag paste is applied by a screen printing method.
A row direction wiring 1013 was formed. Also, the spacer 102
The row wirings 1013 other than the row wirings 1013a where 0 is set were formed in the same manner as the row wirings 1013a, and then formed by multi-layer printing using a different screen. In this embodiment, after forming each row-directional wiring 1013 with a thickness of 20 μm, printing was performed three more times to obtain a correction amount of a height of 25 μm. Each wiring width is 3
It was formed as 00 μm.

Thereafter, a non-evaporable getter 1022 (thickness: 30 μm) was formed only on the row wiring 1013a on which the spacer 1020 was to be set. At this time, a value is 50 μm, b
The value was 55 μm. These are shown in FIG.

The thickness d in the panel is 2 mm, and the acceleration voltage is 8 kV.
As a result, when the image forming apparatus having the above-described configuration is driven, it is possible to provide an extremely high-quality image without color shift.

[Embodiment 4] In this embodiment, a columnar spacer is used as the spacer in the same configuration as in Embodiment 1. Although not shown, the spacer includes the low-resistance film 21 and the high-resistance film 11 and was formed as follows.

First, regarding the low resistance film 21, an Ag paste is spread on a flat plate to a uniform thickness using a bar coater.
Next, the Ag paste as an electrode material was transferred to the cylindrical side by pressing the end face of the cylindrical spacer substantially vertically against the developed Ag paste. After drying the column at 120 ° C., the Ag paste was transferred in the same manner by turning the column upside down, and after drying, baking was performed at 450 ° C. for 2 hours to form electrodes on the top and bottom of the column. The high-resistance film 11 was formed on the entire surface of the spacer by performing the same sputtering twice as in Example 2.

The other constituent materials such as the getter 101 were formed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

In this embodiment, the size of the element pitch is 550 μm in the row wiring direction and 2 μm in the column wiring direction.
The pitch was 50 μm.

The panel inner thickness d was 1.4 mm, and the accelerating voltage was 6
When the image forming apparatus having the above-described configuration was driven at kV, it was possible to display an image with little characteristic deterioration in this embodiment.

[Embodiment 5] The present invention can be applied to any of the cold cathode type electron emission devices other than the surface conduction electron emission device. As a specific example, there is a field emission type electron-emitting device in which a pair of opposing device electrodes are formed along a substrate surface forming an electron source as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-27047 by the present applicant. .

The present invention is also applicable to an image forming apparatus using an electron source other than the simple matrix type. For example, in an image forming apparatus for selecting a surface-conduction electron-emitting device using a control electrode as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-257551 by the present applicant, the above-described device is provided between an electron source and a control electrode. This is the case where such a supporting member is used.

According to the concept of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to an image forming apparatus suitable for display, but may be used as an alternative light source such as a light emitting diode of an optical printer comprising a photosensitive drum and a light emitting diode. Alternatively, the above-described image forming apparatus can be used. In this case, by appropriately selecting the above-mentioned m row-directional wirings and n column-directional wirings, the present invention can be applied not only to a linear light emitting source but also to a two-dimensional light emitting source.

Further, according to the concept of the present invention, the present invention can be applied to a case where a member to be irradiated with electrons emitted from an electron source is a member other than an image forming member, such as an electron microscope. . Therefore, the present invention can be embodied as an electron beam generator that does not specify a member to be irradiated.

[0194]

As described above, in the image display device according to the present invention, by arranging the getter in the screen area and arranging the spacer so as to be in contact with the getter, the characteristic deterioration is reduced and the luminance is uneven. It has become possible to provide a high-quality image device with little color misregistration.

Further, the same effect can be exerted in an electron generator constituting a multi-plane electron source without specifying the electron irradiation object.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view in which a part of a display panel of an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention is cut away.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a main part of the display panel according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a manufacturing process diagram of a non-evaporable getter according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating a phosphor array of a face plate of a display panel in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of a substrate of the multi-electron beam source used in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a main part showing a display panel according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing typical characteristics of a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a plan view illustrating a phosphor array of a face plate of a display panel in the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a main part of a display panel according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a partial plan view of a substrate of the multi-electron beam source used in the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing an example of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a display panel of a conventional image display device with a part thereof cut away.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 Contact surface 5 Side surface part 11 High resistance film 20 Spacer 21 Low resistance film 21a Phosphor 31 Electron source substrate 32 Y direction wiring 33 X direction wiring 35 Getter 41, 42 Element electrode 43 Conductive thin film 44 Contact hole 45 Interlayer insulating layer Reference Signs List 51 adhesion layer 52 mask 101 getter 1010 black conductive material 1011 substrate 1012 cold cathode element 1012a electron emission element 1013 row direction wiring 1013a wiring 1014 column direction wiring 1015 rear plate 1016 side wall 1017 face plate 1018 fluorescent film 1019 metal back 1020 spacer 1021 non-evaporation Mold getter 1022 adhesive 1023 auxiliary getter 1024 shield 1041 contact material 1101 substrate 1102, 1103 device electrode 1102a equipotential line 1104 conductive thin film 1105 electron emission unit 1113 Thin film

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5C032 AA01 AA07 JJ08 JJ11 5C035 AA01 AA20 JJ10 JJ13 5C036 EE02 EE17 EF01 EF06 EF08 EG02 EG05 EG06 EG31 EG50 EH02

Claims (23)

[Claims] A first substrate having a plurality of electron-emitting devices connected by wiring; a second substrate provided to face the first substrate; a first substrate and a second substrate; An electron beam apparatus having a spacer for maintaining the distance between the first substrate and the non-evaporable getter for adsorbing gas, wherein the non-evaporable getter is provided at a position where the spacer on the first substrate or the second substrate abuts. An electron beam apparatus, comprising: 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electron-emitting devices are provided in a first region on a first substrate, and the non-evaporable getter is emitted from the first region or from the plurality of electron-emitting devices. The electron beam apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electron beam apparatus is provided in a second region on a second substrate to which electrons reach. 3. A potential regulating member is provided on the first substrate or the second substrate, and the non-evaporable getter is electrically connected to the potential regulating member. The electron beam device according to claim 1. 4. The electron beam apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the non-evaporable getter is provided on a potential regulating member. 5. The electron beam apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected by wiring, and the potential regulating member is a wiring. 6. An accelerating electrode for accelerating electrons emitted from a plurality of electron-emitting devices is provided on the second substrate, and the potential regulating member is an accelerating electrode. The electron beam device according to 3 or 4. 7. The non-evaporable getter has a smaller area, length, or width than the potential regulating member when viewed from a direction perpendicular to the first substrate and the second substrate. An electron beam apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 6. 8. The non-evaporable getter, when placed on the first substrate side, within 10% of the distance between the first substrate and the second substrate when viewed from above the first substrate. Wherein when installed on the side of the second substrate, it has a height up to a position within 40% when viewed from above the first substrate.
8. The electron beam device according to any one of items 7. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the spacer is bonded to the first substrate or the second substrate at a position where the spacer is in contact with the first substrate or the second substrate on the side opposite to the side that contacts the non-evaporable getter. The electron beam device according to claim 1, wherein 10. The electron beam apparatus according to claim 9, wherein an adhesive is provided between the spacer and the first substrate or the second substrate to which the spacer is bonded. 11. The adhesive has conductivity, and is disposed on the first substrate when the adhesive is disposed on the first substrate with reference to the distance between the first substrate and the second substrate. 11. The electron beam apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the height of the electron beam device is within 10% when viewed from the side, and when installed on the second substrate, up to a position within 40% when viewed from above the first substrate. 12. A film, which is less charged than a surface of a substrate material forming the spacer, is formed on a surface of the spacer corresponding to the first region exposed in a vacuum. Item 12. The electron beam device according to any one of Items 1 to 11. 13. The electron beam apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least a part of the low-charged film has a secondary electron emission coefficient of 2 or less. 14. The electronic device according to claim 12, wherein the film having a small charge is a conductive film electrically connected to the first substrate and / or the second substrate. Line equipment. 15. The electron beam apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the conductive film includes a high resistance film of 10 ⁷ Ω / □ or more. 16. The electron beam apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the high resistance film has a resistance of 10 ¹⁴ Ω / □ or less. 17. In a region that is electrically connected to the first substrate and / or the second substrate, the film with less charge has a low-resistance film having a sheet resistance smaller by at least one digit than the high-resistance film. 17. The method according to claim 14, wherein
An electron beam apparatus according to any one of the above. 18. The low-resistance film, when placed on the first substrate side, based on the distance between the first substrate and the second substrate, within 10% when viewed from above the first substrate; 18. The electron beam apparatus according to claim 17, wherein when installed on the second substrate side, the height is up to a position within 40% when viewed from above the second substrate. 19. The wiring according to claim 1, wherein the wiring to which the plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected is a matrix wiring including a plurality of row-direction wirings and a plurality of column-direction wirings.
An electron beam apparatus according to any one of the above. 20. The wiring according to claim 1, wherein the wiring to which the plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected comprises a plurality of row-direction wirings, and the electron-emitting devices are connected to adjacent row-direction wirings.
10. The electron beam device according to 9. 21. The electron beam apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said electron-emitting device has a conductive thin film including an electron-emitting portion between device electrodes. 22. The electron beam apparatus according to claim 21, wherein said electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device. 23. An electron beam apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising an image forming member on which an image is formed by collision of electrons emitted from the plurality of electron-emitting devices. Image forming device.