JP2002008569A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device capable of surely keeping vacuum in an envelope (container) without causing exfoliation at the part joined to a metal member even at reduced pressure. SOLUTION: The image forming device is equipped with an image forming member which forms an image by using a back plate comprising a plurality of electron emission elements and the first metal member bonded to its peripheral part, and electron beam emitted from the electron emission elements, further, the image forming device comprises at least a front plate with the second metal member bonded at a peripheral part opposing to the peripheral part of the back plate, a support member arranged between both peripheral parts, surrounding and prescribing the distance between them, and a spacer arranged between the back panel and the front panel as an atmospheric pressure supporting structure. The height of the spacer is shorter than the distance subscribed by the support member, and at least one end part of the spacer is fixed to the back plate or the front plate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flat panel type image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a flat panel type image forming apparatus using cold cathode electron-emitting devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an active matrix type liquid crystal has been used as a flat panel type image forming apparatus instead of a CRT. Since this active matrix liquid crystal is not self-luminous, it uses a backlight to
For display, there is a problem that light utilization efficiency is low, and a brighter image forming apparatus has been desired.

For this reason, electrons emitted from cold cathode electron-emitting devices such as plasma displays, field electron-emitting devices, and surface conduction electron-emitting devices (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-235255) are accelerated and collided. Development of a self-luminous image forming apparatus for displaying an image by causing a phosphor to emit light has been proposed and has already been put to practical use. In addition, these flat plate type image forming apparatuses have been realized to have a large area of several tens of inches, and corresponding high-precision and easy assembling methods have been studied.

Conventionally, a low melting glass (frit glass) is applied to a joint between a front plate and a back plate to seal an envelope in a flat type image forming apparatus such as a plasma display and a field emission display. , 400-
A method of baking under pressure at 500 ° C. is adopted, and therefore, strict alignment accuracy is required at a high temperature during sealing. Therefore, the complexity of the image forming apparatus,
Various problems occur, such as breakage of a glass substrate due to uneven heating temperature distribution, or deterioration of internal components such as electron-emitting devices and getter materials in an image forming apparatus due to heat. It was extremely difficult to obtain a high-quality display.

[0005] To deal with this problem, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-28773.
In the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-260, a method of sealing at low temperature has been proposed, and a flat-type image forming apparatus using laser welding as one example is disclosed.

The contents will be described below with reference to FIG. First, the metal plate 92 is heated and joined to the front container 91 via the low-melting glass 97, and then the metal plate 94 and the frame 93, the lead wire 96, and the back plate 95 are respectively connected to the low-melting glass 97. Heating and bonding. In this way, a front container 91 and a back container 98 composed of a frame 93 and a back plate 95 are sealed as a container (envelope) of the image display device.

Next, an electrode assembly (not shown) to be accommodated in the back container 98 is provided on the back plate 95, and the electrode terminals of these electrode assemblies are connected to the lead wires 96.
4, the front container 91 and the rear container 98 face each other, and finally, the peripheral edges of the metal plates 92 and 94 are irradiated with a laser beam to perform continuous welding for sealing. .

By doing so, the sealing can be performed accurately and reliably, and the high temperature distribution due to the heat during welding falls within a very limited narrow range. It is considered that warpage and cracking can be minimized, and as a result, a high-quality image display device can be obtained.

[0009]

However, in the image forming apparatus described above, the metal plates 92, 9
4 may occur, and when the inside of the image forming apparatus (envelope) is decompressed, the joint between the front container (or the back container) and the metal plate, or the joint between the metal plates, Atmospheric pressure is applied, and there is a fear that peeling of an adhesive portion and micro cracks may occur, and it has been difficult to maintain a certain degree of vacuum for all products.

[0010] The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent the peeling from occurring at a joint portion with a metal member even under reduced pressure without causing peeling in a container (envelope). An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of surely maintaining a vacuum.

[0011]

Therefore, in the present invention,
A back plate having a plurality of electron-emitting devices formed on a flat substrate, a first metal member being adhered to a peripheral portion, and a back plate disposed so as to face the back plate, and A front plate on which an image forming member on which an image is formed by irradiation of the emitted electron beam is mounted, and a second metal member is adhered to a peripheral portion facing the peripheral portion; and the rear plate and the front plate. An image forming apparatus comprising at least a support member interposed between the rear plate and the front plate to surround the peripheral edges of the two and define the distance between the two, and a spacer disposed between the back plate and the front plate as an anti-atmospheric pressure support structure. The height of the spacer is shorter than the distance between the back plate and the front plate defined by the support member, and at least one end of the spacer is fixed to the back plate or the front plate. I do.

In this case, as an embodiment of the present invention, the difference between the distance between the back plate and the front plate defined by the support member and the height of the spacer is 50 to 500 μm.
, The difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion between the metal member and the rear plate and the front plate is within 10%, and the joining of the metal member and the rear plate or the front plate has a low melting point. It is effective to use glass, that the plurality of electron-emitting devices formed on the back plate are cold cathode electron-emitting devices, and that the image forming member is a phosphor.

As described above, according to the structure of the image forming apparatus of the present invention, since the height of the spacer is shorter than the distance between the back plate and the front plate defined by the support member, the spacer is bonded to the back plate. When the first metal member is bonded to the second metal member bonded to the front plate, a gap generated between the metal members can be minimized, and when the inside of the image forming apparatus is evacuated to vacuum. In addition, the deformation of the back plate and the front plate is suppressed by the spacer, the load due to the atmospheric pressure does not act on the metal member, and the occurrence of peeling of the bonding portion, micro cracks, and the like can be reduced.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As described in the following embodiments, the present invention arranges a plurality of electron-emitting devices such as a field electron-emitting device and a surface conduction electron-emitting device to form an image forming member such as a phosphor. A novel configuration of a flat plate type image forming apparatus that emits light and displays an image is provided. Therefore, first, a main configuration example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 shows an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, and shows a state before the pressure inside a container (envelope) is reduced. Here, FIG. 1A is a plan view, and FIG.
It is sectional drawing which follows the AA part of (a). Also, FIG.
It is the fragmentary sectional view which expanded (b) of FIG. 1 further.

In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a front plate, 2 denotes a rear plate, 3 denotes a support frame (support member), 4-1 and 4-2 denote metal members, 5 denotes an atmospheric pressure resistant support member, and 6 denotes a front plate 1. , Back plate 2, support frame 3
And an adhesive for joining the metal members 4-1 and 4-2.

As shown in FIG. 1, before the inside of the image forming apparatus is depressurized, a gap exists between the front plate 1 and the atmospheric pressure supporting member 5. The front plate 1 is a face plate made of glass or the like, and forms a phosphor that emits light by colliding with electrons along with patterns such as electrodes and wirings. The back plate 2 is a rear plate made of glass or the like, on which electron-emitting devices are formed together with patterns such as electrodes and wiring.

The support frame 3 is usually made of the same material as the front plate and the back plate, and the front plate, the back plate and the support frame constitute a basic container (envelope). In addition, the support frame 3 may use a partition formed by printing, and is bonded to either the front plate or the back plate.
Furthermore, a structure integrated with the front plate and the back plate may be used, and it is not always necessary to be a separate member from the front plate and the back plate.

The anti-atmospheric pressure support member 5 is desired to have the same thermal expansion coefficient as the front plate, the back plate, and the support frame, and to have no influence on the trajectory of the electron beam. There is no particular limitation.

The adhesive 6 is not limited to an inorganic or organic adhesive, but can maintain vacuum tightness, emit less gas, and have heat resistance in a post heat treatment step. It is necessary to satisfy conditions such as sufficient mechanical strength after joining. Also, usually, low melting glass is often used, but in addition,
By using two types of adhesives to share functions, it is possible to adopt a configuration that satisfies the above conditions.

FIG. 2 shows the relationship between the distance L 1 between the front plate 1 and the rear plate 2 defined by the support member 3 and the height L 2 of the atmospheric pressure resistant support member 5. Image forming device (envelope)
Before vacuuming the inside of the device, a gap defined by L1-L2 is provided in order to minimize a gap generated between the metal members 4-1 and 4-2. This gap depends on the thickness of the member used,
Although it depends on the material and the like, it is preferably 50 to 500 μm.

If the gap becomes 50 μm or less, there is a fear that the gaps cannot be provided in all the atmospheric pressure supporting members due to the undulation of the front plate and the back plate and the processing accuracy of the atmospheric pressure supporting members. It is. Also, if the gap is 500
μm or more, when the inside of the image forming apparatus (envelope) is decompressed, the front plate and the rear plate are deformed,
This is because there is a fear that the back plate and the anti-atmospheric pressure support member may be broken.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic views showing the structure of a surface conduction electron-emitting device applicable to the present invention, wherein FIG. 3A is a plan view and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view. In FIG.
1 is a substrate, 32 and 33 are device electrodes, 34 is a conductive thin film,
Reference numeral 35 denotes an electron emission unit.

An electron emitting portion in which the conductive thin film 34 is locally broken, deformed or deteriorated by subjecting the conductive thin film 34 to a forming process through the device electrodes 32 and 33, thereby bringing the conductive thin film 34 into an electrically high-resistance state. Then, an activation step for significantly improving the emission current is performed. This is a step in which a voltage is applied to the conductive thin film 34 of the surface conduction electron-emitting device and a current flows through the device, so that the above-described electron-emitting portion 35 emits electrons.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an image forming member used in the present invention. An image display section comprising a fluorescent film and a metal back is formed on a front plate, that is, a lower surface of the face plate 1. In this embodiment, the display device uses color for image display. For this reason, phosphors of three primary colors of red, green, and blue used in the field of CRT are separately applied to the fluorescent film portion. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the phosphor of each color is separately applied in a stripe shape, and a black conductor is provided between the stripes of the phosphor. The purpose of providing the black conductor is to prevent the display color from being shifted even if the electron beam irradiation position is slightly shifted, and to prevent the reflection of external light to prevent the display contrast from being lowered. And preventing charge-up of the fluorescent film by an electron beam. Although graphite is used as a main component of the black conductor, any other material may be used as long as it is suitable for the above purpose.

The method of applying the three primary color phosphors is not limited to the stripe arrangement shown in FIG. 4A, but may be, for example, a delta as shown in FIG. 4B. It may be a state arrangement or another arrangement. When a monochrome display panel is manufactured, a monochromatic phosphor material may be used for the phosphor film, and a black conductive material is not necessarily used.

Also, the surface of the phosphor film on the rear plate side is
A known metal back is provided in the field of CRT. The purpose of the metal back is to improve the light utilization rate by mirror-reflecting a part of the light emitted from the fluorescent film, to protect the fluorescent film from the collision of negative ions, and to apply the electron beam acceleration voltage. The function may be to function as an electrode, or to function as a conductive path for excited electrons of the fluorescent film. When a low-voltage fluorescent material is used for the fluorescent film,
Do not use metal back.

Although not used in this embodiment, for example, ITO is used as a material between the face plate substrate 1 and the fluorescent film for the purpose of applying an acceleration voltage and improving the conductivity of the fluorescent film. A transparent electrode may be provided.

Next, an example of a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be schematically described with reference to FIG.

(1) The metal member 4-1 is bonded to the front plate 1 and the metal member 4-2 is bonded to the back plate 2 via the support frame 3 (see FIG. 5A).

(2) The front plate 1 and the back plate 2 are overlapped while being positioned and fixed (see FIG. 5B).

(3) The peripheral edges of the metal members 4-1 and 4-2 are
Adhesion is performed using joining means. The joining means here may be any one as long as it can bond the metal members 4-1 and 4-2, and includes laser welding, but is not limited thereto.

(4) The inside of the image forming apparatus is evacuated by an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after a vacuum is formed, a method of sealing the exhaust pipe or an exhaust for sealing a container in a vacuum chamber. Seal in a tubeless manner (see FIG. 5 (c)).

Thus, the container of the image forming apparatus is prepared. Note that a step for forming an electron-emitting device, a step for performing an activation process, and the like are appropriately inserted into the above-described forming process.

[0035]

Embodiment (Embodiment 1) Here, the configuration shown in FIG. 1 is adopted. Note that FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view of FIG.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1A, where a gap is provided between a face plate 1 and a spacer 5 after assembly. FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. Face plate (front plate) 1, metal member 4-1, rear plate (back plate) 2
And the support frame 3, and the support frame 3 and the metal member 4-2 are respectively
It is fixed by the adhesive 6. Reference numeral 7 denotes an image forming member, and reference numeral 8 denotes an electron emitting portion including wiring.

In this embodiment, a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, which are cold cathode electron-emitting devices, are formed on the rear plate as the electron-emitting devices, and a phosphor is provided on the face plate. A color image forming apparatus having an effective display area of 10 inches diagonally and a length: width ratio of 3: 4 was prepared.

Next, a method for producing the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Step-1 (formation of a rear plate): After forming a silicon oxide film on a soda lime glass by a sputtering method, an element electrode, a lower wiring, an interlayer insulating layer, and an upper wiring are sequentially printed thereon. Formed by the method. Note that the lower wiring and the upper wiring are formed so as to be connected to the device electrodes. The conductive thin film is a metal oxide thin film obtained by applying a droplet of an aqueous solution of an organometallic compound by an ink jet method, baking the substrate at 350 ° C., and thermally decomposing the organometallic compound.

Further, a frit glass layer for fixing the spacer 5 was formed by applying a pre-treatment (pre-baking) at 380 ° C. for 10 minutes to a specified place on the upper wiring with a dispenser. In addition, the frit glass has
Conductive frit glass was used.

Step-2 (creation of face plate):
A phosphor and a black conductor were formed on a blue plate glass substrate by a printing method. On the inner surface side of the fluorescent film, a surface smoothing process is performed, and then, Al is deposited using vacuum evaporation or the like,
A metal back was formed. Further, a frit glass layer for fixing the metal member is applied to the joint at the periphery of the face plate with a dispenser,
Perform pretreatment (temporary firing) for one minute. The frit glass used was LS-3081 manufactured by NEC Corporation as a paste.

Step-3 (preparation of support frame): A frit glass layer for bonding to a rear plate and a metal member is applied by a dispenser to both sides of a support frame having a thickness of 1 mm and made of soda lime glass. Pretreatment (temporary firing) was performed for 10 minutes. As the frit glass, LS-3081 manufactured by Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd. was used as a paste similarly to the face plate.

Step-4 (formation of metal film of metal member): The outer dimension is 1.2 cm over the entire circumference of the face plate.
Large, the inner size is 0.5c over the entire circumference than the inner size of the support frame
A 426 alloy plate (metal member for face plate) having a thickness of 0.2 mm and a thickness of 0.2 mm, and the outer dimension is 1.5 cm larger than the outer dimension of the face plate and the inner dimension is greater than the inner dimension of the support frame. At 0.5 cm smaller, thickness: 0.2
A 426 alloy (metal member for a rear plate) having a thickness of 426 mm was prepared, and an Au film with a Ni film as a base was formed in advance on each low-melting-point metal sealing portion by electrolytic plating.
These film thicknesses were about 2 to 4 μm for the underlying Ni film and about 1 to 3 μm for the Au film.

Step-5 (Attachment of spacer): The spacer was aligned with the spacer joint on the upper wiring of the rear plate, and the spacer was joined by heating under pressure. The joining temperature is 450 ° C. The spacer is made of glass, is a flat spacer having a thickness of 200 μm and a height of 1.8 mm, and has a surface with a low secondary electron emission efficiency and high resistance (CrOx is used in this embodiment). ) Formed.

Step-6 (joining of the face plate and the metal member): As shown in FIG. 5 (a), the face plate and the metal member for the face plate are arranged at predetermined positions and pressurized. By heating, they were joined via the frit glass. Bonding was performed at a temperature of 410 ° C., and uniform pressing was performed so that the metal member was not bent as much as possible.

Step-7 (Joining the rear plate with the support frame and the metal member): Similarly, as shown in FIG. 5A, the rear plate joined with the spacer, the support frame, and the metal member for the rear plate. Are arranged at predetermined positions, and
As in the case of No. 6, each was joined via the frit glass by heating under pressure. The bonding was performed at a temperature of 410 ° C.

Step-8 (sealing by beam welding): As shown in FIG. 5B, after the face plate portion and the rear plate portion are positioned and overlapped, the laser beam is applied to the metal member. Irradiation was performed on the bonded portion, and welding was performed continuously along the edge.

According to the present invention, after the face plate and the rear plate are positioned and overlapped, a gap (1 in this embodiment) is provided between the face plate and the spacer.
(Set to 00 μm), it was possible to easily prevent a gap from being formed in the bonded portion of the metal member by applying a load from above the face plate.
In this example, welding was performed using a YAG laser.

Step-9: Further, as shown in FIG. 5C, the atmosphere in the completed image forming apparatus is evacuated by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown) to provide a sufficient vacuum. After the temperature reached, a voltage was applied to the electron-emitting device through an external terminal (not shown) of the image forming apparatus, and an electron-emitting portion was formed through a conductive thin film forming step and an activation step. Further, after a series of steps is completed, at 250 ° C., 1
Baking was performed for 0 hours.

Step-10: Next, an exhaust pipe (not shown)
Was heated by a gas burner to fuse and seal the image forming apparatus (envelope). Finally, gettering was performed by a high-frequency heating method in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus of the present invention, in which a part of the panel is cut away to show the internal structure. Here, the base 64 is a rear plate made of glass or the like, on which patterns such as electrodes and wirings are formed. Further, in the image forming apparatus using the electron-emitting device, the surface-conduction electron-emitting device 61 is provided.

The base 69 is a face plate made of glass or the like, and a phosphor 67 and a metal back 68 are formed on a glass substrate 66. The support frame 65 is made of the same material as the bases 64 and 69,
9. An image display device (envelope) is constituted by the three members of the support frame 65.

On the rear plate 64, N × M surface conduction type emission elements 61 are formed. N and M are positive integers of 2 or more, which 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 a number equal to or greater than 1000. N × M
The surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix by M row-directional wirings 62 (sometimes described as upper wirings) and N column-directional wirings 63 (sometimes described as lower wirings). .

A surface conduction electron-emitting device having M rows and N columns and arranged in a matrix in a matrix is driven by applying a scanning signal to terminals Dx1 to Dxm and terminals Dy1 to Dyn to form an image. it can.

The spacer 60 is a support that supports the atmospheric pressure when the container of the image forming apparatus is evacuated, and is designed to withstand the atmospheric pressure. In addition, various forms, such as a linear arrangement and a spot arrangement, are applied to the spacer. Also,
The material constituting the spacer is a single layer or a glass, an organic polymer, a ceramic, a semiconductor such as a conductive material such as Si, CrO ₂ , CuO, or a metal oxide having a secondary electron emission coefficient close to 1 on the surface thereof. Multiple layers are stacked.

In the image display device of the present invention completed as described above, each electron-emitting device transmits a scanning signal and a modulation signal to signal generating means (not shown) through terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn outside the container. To apply electrons to emit electrons, respectively, and the high voltage terminal Hv
, A high voltage of several kV or more was applied to the metal back 68 to accelerate the electron beam, collide with the fluorescent film 67, and excite and emit light to display an image.

In this embodiment, since a gap is formed between the face plate and the spacer during assembly, the spacer damages the image forming member (such as a phosphor) when positioning the face plate and the rear plate. Positioning could be performed without any problems. (Embodiment 2) FIG. 7 is a view showing Embodiment 2 of the present invention, and shows an image forming apparatus after assembly (before evacuation). The same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the present embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which a gap is formed between the rear plate 2 and the spacer 5 after assembly.

That is, in this embodiment, a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, which are cold cathode electron-emitting devices, are formed on the rear plate as the electron-emitting devices, and a phosphor is disposed on the face plate. A color image forming apparatus having an effective display area of 33 inches diagonally and an aspect ratio of 9:16 was produced.

Next, a method for producing the image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

Step-1 (formation of rear plate): After forming a silicon oxide film on a blue sheet glass by a sputtering method, an element electrode is formed thereon, and then a lower wiring is formed by screen printing. did. Next, an interlayer insulating layer is formed,
Further, an upper wiring was formed. The lower wiring and the upper wiring were formed so as to be connected to the device electrodes. Thereafter, a conductive thin film was formed by a sputtering method, and then patterned to form an electron-emitting device group as a desired form.

Further, a frit glass layer for fixing the metal member is applied to the joint at the peripheral edge of the rear plate by a dispenser, and pre-treated at 380 ° C. for 10 minutes (temporary firing).
I do. The frit glass is manufactured by Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd.
S-3081 was used as a paste.

Step-2 (creation of face plate):
A phosphor and a black conductor were formed on a blue plate glass substrate by a printing method. A smoothing treatment was performed on the inner surface of the fluorescent film, and thereafter, Al was deposited using vacuum evaporation or the like to form a metal back. Further, a frit glass layer for fixing the spacer 5 was applied to a predetermined portion of the metal back with a dispenser, and pre-treated (pre-baked) at 380 ° C. for 10 minutes. The frit glass used was conductive frit glass.

Step-3 (preparation of support frame): A frit glass layer for bonding to a rear plate and a metal member is applied to both surfaces of a support frame having a thickness of 1 mm and made of blue sheet glass with a dispenser. 10 minutes at 380 ° C,
Pretreatment (temporary firing) was performed. As the frit glass, LS-3081 manufactured by NEC Corporation was used as a paste similarly to the rear plate.

Step-4 (formation of metal film of metal member): The outer dimension is 1.2 cm over the entire circumference from the outer dimension of the face plate.
Large, the inner dimension is 0.5c over the entire circumference than the inner dimension of the support frame
426 alloy plate (metal member for face plate) with a thickness of 0.2 mm and a thickness of 0.2 mm, the outer dimension is 1.5 cm larger than the outer dimension of the face plate, and the inner dimension is greater than the inner dimension of the support frame. About 0.5 cm smaller, thickness: 0.2
426 alloy (metal member for rear plate) having a thickness of 2 mm was prepared, and an Au film with a Ni film as a base was formed in advance on each low-melting-point metal sealing portion by electrolytic plating. In addition, these film thicknesses can be obtained by forming the underlying Ni film by 2 to 4 μm.
m, Au film is about 1 to 3 μm.

Step-5 (Attachment of spacer): The spacer was aligned with the spacer joint on the metal back of the face plate, and the spacer was joined by heating under pressure. The joining temperature is 450 ° C.
The spacer is a flat spacer having a thickness of 200 μm and a height of 1.8 mm made of glass.
A film having a small secondary electron emission efficiency and a high resistance (in this embodiment, C
(using rOx).

Step-6 (Joining of the face plate and the metal member): As shown in FIG. 8A, the face plate and the metal member for the face plate which are joined by the spacer are arranged at predetermined positions. By heating under pressure, they were joined via the frit glass. This bonding was performed at 410 ° C., and a uniform pressure was applied so that the metal member was not bent as much as possible in the same manner as in Example 1.

Step-7 (Joining the rear plate, the support frame, and the metal member): Similarly, as shown in FIG. 8A, the rear plate, the support frame, and the rear plate metal member are connected to each other. They were arranged at predetermined positions, and each was joined through a frit glass by applying pressure and heating in the same manner as in Step-6. Bonding was performed at 410 ° C.

Step-8 (sealing by beam welding): As shown in FIG. 8B, after the face plate portion and the rear plate portion are aligned and overlapped, a laser beam is attached to a metal member. The joint was irradiated and welded continuously along the edge.

In the present invention, after the face plate and the rear plate are positioned and overlapped, a gap (set to 100 μm in the present embodiment) is generated between the rear plate and the spacer. Therefore, by applying a load from above the face plate, it was possible to easily prevent a gap from being generated in the bonded portion of the metal member. In this example, welding was performed using a carbon dioxide laser.

Step-9: As shown in FIG. 8C,
The atmosphere in the completed image forming apparatus is
After exhausting through an exhaust pipe (not shown) and reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, through an external terminal (not shown) of the image forming apparatus,
A voltage was applied to the electron-emitting device, and an electron-emitting portion was formed through a conductive thin film forming step and an activation step.
Furthermore, after a series of steps was completed, baking was performed at 250 ° C. for 10 hours.

Step-10: Next, an exhaust pipe (not shown)
Were welded by heating with a gas burner, and the image forming apparatus was sealed. Finally, gettering was performed by a high-frequency heating method in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing. Then, an image forming apparatus was created using the creation method described in the first embodiment.

In this embodiment, since a gap is formed between the rear plate and the spacer at the time of assembling, when positioning the face plate and the rear plate, the spacer causes the electron-emitting device group (electron-emitting device, Positioning could be performed without damaging the device electrodes and wiring).

[0072]

According to the structure of the image forming apparatus of the present invention,
Because the height of the spacer is shorter than the distance between the back plate and the front plate defined by the support member, when the inside of the image forming apparatus is evacuated, the atmospheric pressure does not act on the metal member, and the peeling of the adhesive portion, The occurrence of microcracks and the like can be avoided. Also, at the time of assembly, an image forming member and an electron-emitting device group (electron-emitting device, device electrode, wiring, etc.) using spacers
Can be positioned without damaging the camera. Therefore, an image forming apparatus with a high yield can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a cold cathode surface conduction electron-emitting device used in Examples 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a fluorescent film used in Examples 1 and 2.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a method for producing the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged view of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a method for creating the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 face plate (front plate) 2 rear plate (rear plate) 3 support frame 4-1, 4-2 metal member 5 spacer (atmospheric pressure-resistant support member) 6 adhesive 7 image forming member 8 electron emission section 31 substrate 32 Reference Signs List 33 element electrode 34 conductive thin film 35 electron emitting portion 60 spacer 61 surface conduction electron emitting element 62 upper wiring 63 lower wiring 64 rear plate 65 support frame 66 glass substrate 67 phosphor 68 metal back 69 face plate

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Matsuya Hayashida 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor ▲ Taka ▼ Nobuyuki Bridge 3-30 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo No.2 Canon Corporation F term (reference) 5C032 AA01 BB16 BB18 CC10 CD04 5C036 EE17 EF01 EF06 EF09 EG01 EG05 EH01 EH23 5C094 AA32 AA42 AA43 BA21 CA19 EC04 FA02 FB02 FB15 FB20 JA08

Claims (6)

[Claims] A back plate having a plurality of electron-emitting devices formed on a flat substrate and having a first metal member adhered to a peripheral portion thereof; a back plate disposed to face the back plate; A front plate on which an image forming member on which an image is formed by irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device is mounted, and a second metal member is adhered to a peripheral portion facing the peripheral portion; A support member is provided between the face plate and the front plate, surrounding the peripheral edges of the two and defining the space therebetween, and at least a spacer disposed between the back plate and the front plate as an atmospheric pressure resistant support structure. In the image forming apparatus, the height of the spacer is shorter than the distance between the back plate and the front plate defined by the support member, and at least one end of the spacer is fixed to the back plate or the front plate. Being An image forming apparatus comprising. 2. The difference between the distance between the back plate and the front plate defined by the support member and the height of the spacer is:
2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the distance is in a range of 50 to 500 [mu] m. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a difference in a coefficient of thermal expansion between the metal member and the rear plate and the front plate is within 10%. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a low melting point glass is used for joining the metal member and the back plate or the front plate. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electron-emitting devices formed on the back plate are cold cathode electron-emitting devices. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming member is a phosphor.