JPH07235255A - Electron emission element and its manufacture, and electron source using that electron emission element, and image formation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make possible stable control, and lessen an element current as far as possible, and besides, enlarge an emission element as far as possible so as to improve efficiency by having a deposit, which has carbon for its main ingredient, at a high- resistance part. CONSTITUTION:The material constituting a film (conductive film) 4 including an electron emission part 3 is a metal such as Pd, Ru, etc., an oxide such as PdO, etc., a boride such a HfB2, etc., a carbide such as TiC, etc., a nitride such as TiN, etc., a semiconductor such as Si, etc., carbon, or the like, and it consists of fine particles. Moreover, the part 3 is made at one part of a film 4. For example, it is a high- resistance part such as a crack or the like, and has many pieces of conductive fine particles with specified diameters. Moreover, carbon or a carbon compound (graphite, amorphous carbon) is deposited on one part of the part 3, further on the film 4 in the vicinity of the section 3. Hereby, an electron emission element can be made, in which the control of the electron emission property, which was unclear in vacuum in the past, becomes possible and also the property becomes more staple than the initial stage of the drive of the electron emission element and besides the element current is small and the efficiency is high.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron source and an image forming apparatus such as a display device, which is an application thereof, and particularly to a surface conduction electron-emitting device having a novel structure, an electron source using the same, and The present invention relates to an applied image forming apparatus such as a display device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron emitters, a thermoelectron source and a cold cathode electron source, are known. The cold cathode electrons include an electron emission type (hereinafter abbreviated as FE type), a metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter abbreviated as MIM type), a surface conduction type electron emission element, and the like.

As an example of the FE type, W. P. Dyke &
W. W. Dolan, "Fielddemissio
n ”, Advance in Electron Ph
ysics, 8, 89 (1956) or C.I. A. S
pindt, “PHYSICAL Properties”
of thin-filmfield emissi
on cathodes with mollybden
ium cones ”, J. Appl. Phys., 4
7, 5248 (1976) and the like are known.

An example of the MIM type is C.I. A. Mead,
"The tunnel-emission ampl
ifier, J.M. Appl. Phys. , 32,646
(1961) and the like are known.

As an example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device,
M. I. Elinson, Radio Eng. Elec
tron Pys. 10, (1965) and so on.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electron emission occurs by causing a current to flow in parallel to a film surface of a thin film having a small area formed on a substrate. As the surface conduction electron-emitting device, one using the SnO ₂ thin film by Erinson et al., One using the Au thin film [G. Dittmer: "Thin Solid Fi
lms ”, 9, 317 (1972)], In ₂ O ₃ / S.
nO ₂ thin film [M. Hartwe11 and
C. G. Fonstad: “IEEE Trans.
ED Conf. , 519 (1975)], by a carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1,
22 (1983)] and the like are reported.

As a typical element structure of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the above-mentioned M. The Hartwell device configuration is shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is an insulating substrate. Two
Is a thin film for forming an electron emitting portion, which is composed of a metal oxide thin film or the like formed by sputtering on an H-shaped pattern, and the electron emitting portion 3 is formed by an energization process called forming described later. 4 will be referred to as a thin film including an electron emitting portion. In the figure, L1 is 0.5 to 1 mm, and W is 0.1.
It is set in mm.

Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the electron-emitting portion forming thin film 2 is formed before electron emission.
It was general that the electron emitting portion 3 was formed in advance by an energization process called forming. That is, the forming means that a direct current voltage or a very slow rising voltage, for example, about 1 V / min is applied and passed across the electron emission part forming thin film 2 to locally destroy the electron emission forming thin film.
This is to form the electron emitting portion 3 which is deformed or altered to have a high electrical resistance. The electron emission unit 3
A crack is generated in a part of the electron emission portion forming thin film 2, and electrons are emitted from the vicinity of the crack. Hereinafter, the electron emitting portion forming thin film 2 including the electron emitting portion formed by forming will be referred to as a thin film 4 including the electron emitting portion. The surface-conduction electron-emitting device that has undergone the forming process is one in which electrons are emitted from the electron-emitting unit 3 by applying a voltage to the thin film 4 including the electron-emitting unit and passing a current through the device.

However, although these conventional surface conduction electron-emitting devices have various problems in practical use, the applicants of the present invention diligently studied various improvements as described later and put them into practical use. We have solved various problems above.

Since the surface conduction electron-emitting device described above has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture, it has an advantage that many devices can be arrayed and formed over a large area. Therefore, various applications that can make full use of this feature are being studied. Examples thereof include a charged beam source and a display device.

As an example in which a large number of surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices are formed in an array, the surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel, and a large number of rows in which both ends of each element are connected by wiring are arranged. The source is raised. (For example, JP-A-64-31332, JP-A-1-283749, and JP-A-1-257552) In recent years, particularly in image forming apparatuses such as display devices, flat panel display using liquid crystal has been recently used. The device has become popular instead of the CRT,
Since it is not a self-luminous type, there is a problem that it must have a backlight or the like, and development of a self-luminous display device has been desired. An image forming apparatus, which is a display device in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged and a phosphor that emits visible light by the electrons emitted from the electron source, is relatively easy to use in an image forming apparatus. It is a self-luminous display device that can be manufactured according to the present invention and has excellent display quality (for example, USP 5066883).

Conventionally, the selection of the element which emits electrons from the electron source composed of a large number of surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices and causes the phosphor to emit light is performed by the above-mentioned large number of surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices. Wirings arranged and connected in parallel (referred to as row-direction wirings), control electrodes (referred to as grids) installed in a space between the electron source and the fluorescent pair in a direction orthogonal to the row wirings (referred to as column direction). This is due to an appropriate drive signal to the column direction wiring (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-283749).

[0013]

However, the behavior of the surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the electron source, the image forming apparatus and the like in a vacuum is hardly known, and stable and controlled electron emission characteristics, And the improvement of the efficiency has been desired.

The term "efficiency" as used herein means the current (hereinafter referred to as "device current If") emitted in a vacuum when a voltage is applied to a pair of opposed device electrodes of a surface conduction electron-emitting device (hereinafter referred to as "device current If"). , Emission current Ie).

That is, it is desirable that the device current be as small as possible and the emission current be as large as possible.

If stable and controlled electron emission characteristics and efficiency are improved, in an image forming apparatus using, for example, a phosphor as an image forming member, a bright and high quality image forming apparatus with a low current, such as a flat television. Is realized. Also,
It can be expected that the drive circuit and the like that form the image forming apparatus will become cheaper as the current becomes lower. In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a novel structure of a highly efficient electron-emitting device that is stable and controlled, a device current is as small as possible and an emission current is as large as possible, a manufacturing method thereof, and an electron using the same. A source and an image forming apparatus are provided.

[0017]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an electron-emitting device of the present invention is an electron-emitting device having a conductive film including a high resistance portion between opposing electrodes, wherein the high resistance portion is An electron-emitting device having a deposit containing carbon as a main component, preferably the deposit containing carbon as a main component is present on a part of the high resistance portion on the conductive film. An electron-emitting device, more preferably, the deposit containing carbon as a main component is an electron-emitting device unevenly distributed from a part of the high resistance portion on the conductive film on the high potential electrode side of the electrodes. is there.

Further, the above-described method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device is the method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device having a conductive film including an electron-emitting portion between opposing electrodes, characterized in that it has an element activation step. A method for manufacturing an emitting device, wherein the activation step referred to here has a step of depositing a deposit containing carbon as a main component on the element, and preferably, the above activation step is performed in a vacuum. Then, there is a step of applying a voltage to the conductive film provided between the electrodes.

Further, preferably, the voltage application is a pulsed voltage application, and particularly preferably a drive voltage for the electron-emitting device.

Furthermore, the present invention is an electron source which has the above-mentioned electron-emitting device and emits electrons in response to an input signal. Preferably, a plurality of the above-mentioned electron-emitting devices are arranged on a substrate. And a plurality of rows of electron-emitting devices in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel on a substrate and both ends of each device are connected to a wiring, and a modulation means is further provided. A pair of device electrodes of the electron-emitting device are connected to m arrangements of X-direction wirings and n wirings of Y-directions electrically insulated from each other in the arrangement form or the substrate. This is an electron source having an arrangement form in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged.

Further, the present invention is an image forming apparatus which forms an image based on an input signal, and is characterized by having at least an image forming member and the electron source of the present invention. The image forming apparatus.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

First, the basic structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention will be described.

1 (a) and 1 (b) are a plan view and a cross-sectional view, respectively, showing the structure of a basic planar type surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention. Using Figure 1,
The basic configuration of the device according to the present invention will be described.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a substrate, 5 and 6 are device electrodes, 4 is a thin film (conductive film) including an electron emitting portion, and 3 is an electron emitting portion.

Examples of the substrate 1 include quartz glass, glass having a reduced content of impurities such as Na, soda lime glass, a soda lime glass substrate laminated with SiO ₂ formed by a sputtering method, and ceramics such as alumina. To be

Any material may be used as the material of the opposing device electrodes 5 and 6 as long as it has conductivity. For example, Ni, Cr, Au, Mo, W, Pt,
Metals or alloys such as Ti, Al, Cu, Pd and Pd, A
g, Au, printed conductors composed of RuO _2, metal or metal oxide such as Pd-Ag and glass, etc., In ₂ O ₃ -S
Examples include transparent conductors such as nO ₂ and semiconductor materials such as polysilicon.

The element electrode interval L1, the element electrode length W1, the shape of the conductive film 4 and the like are appropriately designed according to the application form of this element. For example, in a display device described later, in a television or the like, the screen size is changed. Corresponding pixel size is designed, especially in high definition TV, the pixel size is small,
High definition is required. Therefore, in order to obtain sufficient brightness, the size of the electron-emitting device is limited.
It is designed to obtain a sufficient emission current.

The element electrode interval L1 is several hundreds of angstroms to several hundreds of micrometers, and the photolithography technology that is the basis of the manufacturing method of the element electrodes, that is, the performance of the exposure device and the etching method, and the application between the element electrodes are applied. The voltage is set depending on the voltage and the electric field strength capable of emitting electrons, but is preferably several micrometers to several tens of micrometers.

The length W1 of the device electrode and the device electrode 5,
The film thickness d of 6 is appropriately designed in consideration of the resistance value of the electrode, the connection with the X and Y wirings described above, and the arrangement problem of a large number of arranged electron sources. Usually, the length W1 of the device electrode is several It is several hundreds of micrometers rather than micrometers, and the device electrode 5,
The film thickness d of 6 is several micrometers to several hundred angstroms.

Opposing element electrodes 5 provided on the substrate 1
The thin film 4 including the electron emitting portion provided between the device electrode 6 and the device electrodes 5, 6 includes the electron emitting portion 3, but not only in the case shown in FIG. , 6 may not be installed. That is, on the insulating substrate 1, the electron emission portion forming thin film 2 and the opposing device electrodes 5 and 6 are formed.
This is the case where the layers are laminated in this order. Further, depending on the manufacturing method, the entire space between the opposing device electrodes 5 and 6 may function as an electron emitting portion. The film thickness of the thin film 4 including the electron emitting portion is preferably several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, particularly preferably 10 angstroms to 500 angstroms.
It is appropriately set depending on the step coverage to 6, the resistance value between the electron emitting portion 3 and the device electrodes 5 and 6, the particle size of the conductive fine particles in the electron emitting portion 3, the energization processing condition described later, and the like. The resistance value is 10 7 to 10 7 ohm /
The sheet resistance value of □ is shown.

Specific examples of the material forming the thin film (conductive film) 4 including the electron emitting portion are Pd, Ru, Ag,
Au, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, T
a, W, Pb and other metals, PdO, SnO ₂ , In ₂ O
₃ , oxides such as PbO and Sb ₂ O ₃ , HfB ₂ , ZrB
_{2, LaB 6, CeB 6,} YB 4, GdB borides such as _{4, TiC, ZrC, HfC,} TaC, SiC, and WC, etc., TiN, ZrN, nitrides such as HfN, Si,
Semiconductors such as Ge, carbon, AgMg, NiCu, P
b, Sn, etc., and are composed of fine particles.

The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and its fine structure is not only a state in which the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged but also a state in which the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other ( (Including island-shaped) film.

The particle size of the fine particles is from several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, preferably from 10 angstroms to 200 angstroms.

The electron emitting portion 3 is a high resistance portion such as a crack formed in a part of the conductive film 4, and more preferably several angstroms to several hundred angstroms, particularly preferably 10 angstroms. 500 from Angstrom
There may be a large number of conductive fine particles having a particle diameter of angstrom, and it depends on the film thickness of the thin film (conductive film) 4 including the electron emitting portion and the manufacturing method such as the energization processing condition described later.
It is set appropriately.

The conductive fine particles are the same as some or all of the elements of the material forming the thin film (conductive film) 4 including the electron emitting portion.

Carbon or a carbon compound is deposited on a part of the electron emitting portion 3 and further on the conductive film 4 near the electron emitting portion 3.

Next, a vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device which is a surface conduction electron emission device having another structure according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing the structure of a basic vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device.

In FIG. 12, the same symbols as those in FIG. 1 are the same. Reference numeral 21 is a step forming portion. Substrate 1, device electrodes 5 and 6, thin film 4 including electron emitting portion, electron emitting portion 3
Is made of a material similar to that of the above-mentioned planar surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the step forming portion 21 is made of an insulating material such as SiO ₂ formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method or the like. Made of a conductive material, and the film thickness of the step forming portion 21 is equal to the device electrode interval L of the planar surface conduction electron-emitting device described above.
Corresponding to tens of nanometers to tens of micrometers, and is set by the manufacturing method of the step forming portion and the voltage applied between the device electrodes and the electric field strength capable of emitting electrons.
It is preferably several tens of nanometers to several micrometers. Since the thin film 4 including the electron emitting portion is formed after the device electrodes 5 and 6 and the step forming portion 21 are formed,
6 is laminated on top. Although the electron emitting portion 3 is shown as a linear shape in the step forming portion 21 in FIG. 12, the shape and position are not limited to this, depending on the production conditions, energization forming conditions, and the like.

Various methods are conceivable as a method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device having the electron-emitting portion 3, one example of which is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 2 denotes a thin film (electroconductive film) for forming an electron emitting portion, which is, for example, a fine particle film.

Hereinafter, the manufacturing method will be described step by step with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. 1) After thoroughly cleaning the substrate 1 with a detergent, pure water, and an organic solvent, depositing an element electrode material by a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, or the like, and then using a photolithography technique, an element electrode 5 on the surface of the insulating substrate 1, 6 is formed ((a) of FIG. 2). 2) The organic metal solution is applied between the element electrodes 5 and 6 provided on the insulating substrate 1 on the insulating substrate on which the element electrodes 5 and 6 are formed. Form a thin film. The organometallic solution means the Pd,
Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, Fe, Z
It is a solution of an organic compound containing a metal such as n, Sn, Ta, W, or Pb as a main element. After that, the organic metal thin film is heat-fired and patterned by lift-off, etching, etc. to form the electron emission portion forming thin film 2 ((b) of FIG. 2). In addition, although the description has been given here by using the coating method of the organic metal solution, the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be formed by a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, a dispersion coating method, a dipping method, a spinner method, or the like. There are also cases. 3) Subsequently, when an energization process called forming is performed by applying a voltage between the element electrodes 5 and 6 in a pulsed manner by a power source (not shown) or by a rising voltage, a thin film (electroconductive film) for forming an electron emission portion is formed. An electron emitting portion 3 having a changed structure is formed at the portion 2 (FIG. 2 (c)). This energization process locally destroys, deforms, or modifies the electron-emitting-portion-forming thin film (conductive film) 2, and the portion where the structure is changed (high-resistance portion) is called the electron-emitting portion 3.

The electrical processing after the forming processing is carried out in the measurement / evaluation apparatus shown in FIG. The measurement / evaluation apparatus will be described below.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a measurement / evaluation apparatus for measuring the electron emission characteristics of the device having the configuration shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, 1 is a substrate, 5 and 6 are device electrodes, 4 is a thin film including an electron emitting portion, and 3 is an electron emitting portion. Further, 31 is a power supply for applying a device voltage Vf to the device, 30 is an ammeter for measuring a device current If flowing through the thin film 4 including the electron emitting portion between the device electrodes 5 and 6, and 34 is an ammeter.
Is an anode electrode for capturing the emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission portion of the device, 33 is a high-voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 34, and 32 is an emission current emitted from the electron emission portion 3 of the device It is an ammeter for measuring Ie.

When measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie of the electron-emitting device, the power supply 31 is applied to the device electrodes 5 and 6.
And an ammeter 30 are connected to each other, and an anode electrode 34 to which a power source 33 and an ammeter 32 are connected is arranged above the electron-emitting device. Further, the electron-emitting device and the anode electrode 34 are installed in a vacuum device, and the vacuum device is equipped with equipment necessary for the vacuum device such as an exhaust pump and a vacuum gauge (not shown), and the device is operated under a desired vacuum. The measurement and evaluation of can be performed. The exhaust pump is a normal high vacuum device system including a turbo pump or a rotary pump, or a high vacuum device system such as a magnetic levitation turbo pump or a dry pump that does not use oil, and an ultra high vacuum device including an ion pump. It consists of a system. Further, the entire vacuum device and the electron source substrate can be heated to 200 ° C. by a heater (not shown).

The voltage of the anode electrode is 1 kV to 10 kV.
kV, the distance H between the anode electrode and the electron-emitting device is 2 mm
It was measured in the range of ~ 8 mm.

In the forming process, there are a case of applying a pulse having a constant pulse peak value and a case of applying a voltage pulse while increasing the pulse peak value. First, FIG. 4A shows a voltage waveform when a pulse having a constant pulse peak value is applied.

In FIG. 4A, T1 and T2 are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, where T1 is 1 microsecond to
10 ms, T2 is 10 microseconds to 100 ms, the peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during forming) is appropriately selected, and application is performed in a vacuum atmosphere.

Next, FIG. 4B shows a voltage waveform when a voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse crest value.

In FIG. 4B, T1 and T2 are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, and T1 is 1 microsecond to
10 milliseconds, T2 is 10 microseconds to 100 milliseconds, and the peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during forming)
Is increased in steps of, for example, about 0.1 V and applied in a vacuum atmosphere.

The end of the forming process is to locally destroy the electron emission portion forming thin film 2 during the pulse interval T2.
The element current was measured at a voltage that did not deform, for example, a voltage of about 0.1 V, and the resistance value was obtained. When the resistance was 1 M ohm or more, the forming was terminated. The voltage at this time will be referred to as a forming voltage Vform.

When forming the electron emitting portion described above,
Although the triangular wave pulse is applied between the electrodes of the element to perform the forming process, the waveform applied between the electrodes of the element is not limited to the triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave may be used. The high value, the pulse width, the pulse interval, and the like are not limited to the above values, and a desired value is selected according to the resistance value of the electron-emitting device so that the electron-emitting portion can be formed well.

Since this forming voltage is uniquely determined by the material, structure, etc. of the element, it is better to apply a voltage pulse while increasing the pulse crest value as shown in FIG. 4 (b). However, it is preferable because proper forming energy can be easily obtained for each element and good electron emission characteristics can be obtained. 4) Next, a process called an activation process is performed on the element for which forming has been completed. The activation process is a process in which a vacuum degree of about 10 −4 to 10 −5 torr is applied, and like in forming, a pulse wave whose peak value is a constant voltage is repeatedly applied and exists in a vacuum. By depositing carbon or a carbon compound from an organic substance, the device current If and the emission current Ie are significantly changed. While measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie, for example, when the emission current Ie is saturated, the activation process ends. FIG. 5 shows an example of activation processing time dependence of the device current If and the emission current Ie.

The activation process depends on the degree of vacuum, the pulse voltage applied to the device, etc., and the device current If and emission current I
The time dependency of e changes, and the forming state of the film (deposit) on the deformed and altered thin film changes due to the forming process.

The activation processing voltage is the forming voltage V.
_The case of applying a sufficiently higher pulse than the _form and performing the activation process will be referred to as a high resistance activation process. On the other hand, a case where the activation processing voltage is applied by applying a pulse sufficiently lower than the forming voltage V _form is referred to as low resistance activation processing. In addition, the activation process is classified almost as a boundary except for a start voltage VP indicating a voltage control type negative resistance described later.

FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b) are schematic views of morphological changes of the element observed in the high resistance activation process and the low resistance activation process. In addition, the above-mentioned observation was conducted by FESEM,
It was performed by TEM or the like.

FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B are cross sections of the element when subjected to the high resistance activation treatment and the low resistance activation treatment, respectively. The voltage was applied with 5 as the high potential side electrode and 6 as the low potential side electrode. In (a) of FIG. 6 showing the case of the high resistance activation treatment, the high potential electrode is mainly formed than a part of the portion (high resistance portion) 3 in which the conductive film 4 is deformed or altered by forming, such as a crack. Carbon or carbon compound 61 is deposited on the conductive film 4 on the fifth side. When observed at a higher magnification, particles are deposited around and around the particles. Depending on the distance between the opposing device electrodes, carbon or carbon compound 61 may also be deposited on the device electrodes. The film thickness is preferably 500 angstroms or less, and more preferably 300 angstroms or less.

Here, the term carbon or carbon compound means
As a result of TEM, Raman, and the like, graphite (refers to both single and polycrystalline) and amorphous carbon (refers to a mixture of amorphous carbon and polycrystalline graphite).

On the other hand, FIG. 6 showing the case of low resistance activation processing.
In (b), carbon or a carbon compound 61 is deposited on a part of the portion 3 which is deformed and altered by forming. When observed at a higher magnification, particles are deposited around and around the particles.

Here, the carbon or carbon compound is the same as the above, as a result of TEM, Raman, etc., graphite (indicating both single and polycrystalline), amorphous carbon (amorphous carbon and polycrystalline graphite). And refers to the mixture). 5) The electron-emitting device thus produced is preferably driven in a vacuum atmosphere having a vacuum degree higher than the vacuum degree subjected to the forming treatment and the activation treatment. The vacuum atmosphere having a higher vacuum degree than the vacuum degree subjected to the forming treatment and the activation treatment is preferably a vacuum degree having a vacuum degree of about 10 −6 torr or more, more preferably an ultra-high vacuum system. Thus, the degree of vacuum at which carbon and carbon compounds are newly deposited is almost non-deposited.

Therefore, it becomes possible to suppress further deposition of carbon and carbon compounds, and the device current If and emission current Ie are stabilized constantly.

The elements in the high resistance activation treatment and the low resistance activation treatment have different stability in the initial driving stage.
More preferably, the high resistance activation treatment is selected as the activation treatment.

The basic characteristics of the electron-emitting device according to the present invention produced by the above-described device structure and manufacturing method will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 7 shows a typical example of the relationship between the emission voltage Ie and the device current If and the device voltage Vf measured by the measurement / evaluation apparatus shown in FIG. It should be noted that FIG. 7 shows the emission current Ie in an arbitrary unit because it is significantly smaller than the device current If. As is clear from FIG. 7, this electron-emitting device has three characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie.

First, in the present device, when a device voltage higher than a certain voltage (called threshold voltage, Vth in FIG. 7) is applied, the emission current Ie rapidly increases, while the threshold voltage V
Below th, the emission current Ie is hardly detected. That is, a clear threshold voltage Vt with respect to the emission current Ie
It is a non-linear element having h.

Secondly, since the emission current Ie depends on the element voltage Vf, the emission current Ie can be controlled by the element voltage Vf.

Thirdly, the emitted charges captured by the anode electrode 34 depend on the time for which the device voltage Vf is applied. That is, the amount of charge captured by the anode electrode 34 can be controlled by the time for which the device voltage Vf is applied.

On the other hand, the element current If increases monotonically with the element voltage Vf (called MI characteristic) (solid line in FIG. 7).
And a voltage-controlled negative resistance (referred to as VCNR characteristic) characteristic (broken line in FIG. 7) may be shown, but the characteristic of these device currents depends on the manufacturing method. The boundary voltage showing the VCNR characteristic is called Vp.

That is, the VCNR characteristic of the device current If occurs when forming is performed in an ordinary vacuum system,
The characteristics are the electrical conditions at the time of forming, the vacuum atmosphere conditions of the vacuum system, etc., the vacuum atmosphere conditions of the vacuum system at the time of measuring the electron-emitting device that has already been formed, the electrical measurement conditions at the time of measurement ( For example, in order to obtain the current-voltage characteristics of the electron-emitting device, the sweeping speed when the voltage applied to the device is swept from a low voltage to a high voltage, etc.) The time for which the electron-emitting device is left in the vacuum device until the measurement, etc. It turned out to vary greatly depending on. At this time, the emission current Ie shows MI characteristics.

Since the surface conduction electron-emitting device has the characteristics as described above, that is, the characteristics of the device current If and the emission current Ie monotonically increasing with respect to the applied voltage of the device, the electron-emitting device according to the present invention can be applied to various fields. Application can be expected.

In the case of the surface conduction electron-emitting device in which the conductive fine particles are dispersed in advance, a part of the basic manufacturing method of the basic device structure of the present invention may be modified. .

Although the basic structure and manufacturing method of the surface conduction electron-emitting device have been described above, according to the concept of the present invention, if the characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device have the above-mentioned three characteristics, The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned configuration, but can be applied to an image forming apparatus such as an electron source and a display device described later.

Next, the electron source and the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described.

By arranging a plurality of electron-emitting devices of the present invention on a substrate, an electron source or an image forming apparatus can be constructed.

As the arrangement method on the substrate, for example, as described in the conventional example, a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel, and both ends of each device are connected by wirings. A large number of rows are arranged (called a row direction), electrons are controlled and driven by a control electrode (called a grid) installed in a space above the electron source in a direction orthogonal to this wiring (called a column direction). Arrangement form (hereinafter referred to as a ladder type), and n Y-direction wirings on m X-direction wirings described below,
There is an arrangement mode in which an X-direction wiring and a Y-direction wiring are connected to a pair of device electrodes of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, which are arranged via an interlayer insulating layer. This will be referred to as a simple matrix arrangement hereinafter.

Next, this simple matrix will be described in detail.

According to the characteristics of the above-mentioned three basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention, the emitted electrons from the surface conduction electron-emitting device are opposed to each other at the device electrodes above the threshold voltage. It is controlled by the peak value and the width of the pulse voltage applied in between. On the other hand, below the threshold voltage, it is hardly emitted. According to this characteristic, even when a large number of electron-emitting devices are arranged, if the pulsed voltage is appropriately applied to each device, the surface conduction electron-emitting device is selected according to the input signal, and The electron emission amount can be controlled.

The configuration of the electron source substrate constructed based on this principle will be described below with reference to FIG.

The m X-direction wirings 82 are DX1 and DX.
2, ... DXm, which is formed on the insulating substrate 1 by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like, and is made of a conductive metal or the like with a desired pattern, and is formed into a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices. The material, film thickness, and wiring width are set so that a uniform voltage is supplied. The Y-direction wiring 83 is DY1,
DY2, ... DYn consisting of n wires, X-direction wire 8
As in the case of 2, it is formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like, and is made of a conductive metal or the like with a desired pattern, so that a substantially uniform voltage is supplied to many surface conduction electron-emitting devices. , Material, film thickness, wiring width, etc. are set. Between the m X-direction wirings 82 and the n Y-direction wirings 83,
An interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is installed and electrically separated,
A matrix wiring is formed (both m and n are positive integers).

The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is SiO ₂ or the like formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method or the like, and is formed on the entire surface or a part of the insulating substrate 1 on which the X-direction wiring 82 is formed. The film thickness, the material, and the manufacturing method are appropriately set so as to withstand the potential difference at the intersection of the X-direction wiring 82 and the Y-direction wiring 83, in particular. The X-direction wiring 82 and the Y-direction wiring 83 are drawn out as external terminals.

Further, in the same manner as described above, the opposing electrodes (not shown) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 84 have m X-direction wirings 82 (DX1, DX2, ... DXm) and n Y-direction wirings. 83 (DY1, DY2, ... DYn) are electrically connected to each other by a connecting wire 85 made of a conductive metal or the like formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method or the like.

Here, m X-direction wirings 82 and n Y-direction wirings are provided.
The conductive metal of the element electrode facing the direction wiring 83 and the connection 85 may be the same or different in some or all of the constituent elements, and may be Ni, Cr, Au,
Metals or alloys such as Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd and Pd, Ag, Au, RuO2, Pd-Ag
And the like, or a printed conductor composed of metal or metal oxide and glass, a transparent conductor such as In2O3-SnO2, a semiconductor material such as polysilicon, and the like. The surface conduction electron-emitting device may be formed either on the insulating substrate 1 or on an interlayer insulating layer (not shown).

Further, as will be described in detail later, a scanning signal for scanning the row of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 84 arranged in the X direction according to the input signal is applied to the X-direction wiring 82. Is electrically connected to a scanning signal applying means (not shown), and the Y-direction wiring 83 is provided with each of the columns of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 84 arranged in the Y-direction in accordance with an input signal. It is electrically connected to a modulation signal generating means (not shown) for applying a modulation signal for modulation.

Further, the drive voltage applied to each element of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is supplied as a difference voltage between the scanning signal applied to the element and the modulation signal.

Next, an electron source using the electron source substrate produced as described above and an image forming apparatus used for display will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. FIG. 9 is a basic configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 10 is a fluorescent film.

In FIG. 9, 1 is a substrate, 91 is a rear plate to which the substrate 1 is fixed, 96 is a face plate in which a fluorescent film 94 and a metal back 95 are formed on the inner surface of a glass substrate 93, and 92 is a support frame. And the rear plate 9
1, the support frame 92 and the face plate 96 are coated with frit glass or the like, and 400 to 400 in the air or nitrogen.
By firing at 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more, they are sealed to form the envelope 98.

In FIG. 9, reference numeral 84 designates FIG. 1 or FIG.
This corresponds to the surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in 2. 8
Reference numerals 2 and 83 are an X-direction wiring and a Y-direction wiring connected to a pair of device electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. Also,
Wiring to these element electrodes may be called element electrodes when the same wiring material is used for the element electrodes.

The envelope 98 includes the face plate 96, the support frame 92, and the rear plate 91 as described above.
However, since the rear plate 91 is provided mainly for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the substrate 1, if the substrate 1 itself has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 91 is unnecessary, and Alternatively, the support frame 92 may be directly sealed, and the face plate 96, the support frame 92, and the substrate 1 may constitute the envelope 98.

FIG. 10 shows a fluorescent film. The fluorescent film 94 is
In the case of monochrome, it is composed of only the phosphor, but in the case of a color phosphor film, it is composed of a black conductive material 101 and a phosphor 102 called a black stripe or a black matrix depending on the arrangement of the phosphors. The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to provide each of the phosphors 10 of the three primary color phosphors required for color display.
It is to make the color-separated portion between the two black so as to make the color mixture inconspicuous and to suppress the deterioration of the contrast due to the reflection of external light on the fluorescent film 94. The material of the black stripe is not limited to the commonly used material containing graphite as a main component, but is not limited to this as long as it is a material having conductivity and little light transmission and reflection.

As a method of applying the phosphor to the glass substrate 93, a precipitation method or a printing method is used regardless of monochrome or color.

A metal back 95 is usually provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 94. The purpose of the metal back is to improve the brightness by specularly reflecting the light toward the inner surface side of the generation of the phosphor to the face plate 96 side, to act as an electrode for applying an electron beam acceleration voltage, and to This is to protect the phosphor from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the enclosure. The metal back can be produced by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film after producing the fluorescent film, and then depositing A1 by vacuum evaporation or the like.

The face plate 96 further includes a fluorescent film 9
In order to improve the conductivity of No. 4, a transparent electrode (not shown) may be provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 94.

At the time of performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of color, it is necessary to sufficiently align the phosphors of the respective colors with the electron-emitting devices.

The envelope 98 is provided with an exhaust pipe (not shown)
A vacuum degree of 0 minus 6 torr is applied, and the envelope 9
8 is sealed.

The electron source substrate may be one in which the element of FIG. 1 or FIG. 12 in which the electron emitting portion is formed as described above is arranged and wired on the substrate as described above, but the electron emitting portion is preferable. The element before formation, for example, the element in the state shown in FIG. 2B is arranged and wired on the substrate as described above,
After arranging this in the envelope 98 shown in FIG. 9, the inside of the envelope is passed through an exhaust pipe (not shown) by an ordinary vacuum system such as a rotary pump or a turbo pump. The degree of vacuum is about 10 −6 torr, and terminals outside the container Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doy
A voltage is applied between the device electrodes 5 and 6 ((b) of FIG. 2) through n to perform the above-described forming, and then the activation process is performed inside the envelope by about 10 <-6> torr. Then, the electron emission portion 3 is formed by performing the vacuum treatment as described above, and the electron source substrate is manufactured.

After manufacturing as described above, particularly, after that, 8
While baking is performed at 0 to 150 degrees for 3 to 15 hours, the system is switched to an ultra-high vacuum apparatus system that is a pump system such as an ion pump. Switching of the ultra-high vacuum system and baking are performed by the device current I of the surface conduction electron-emitting device described above.
This is because f and the monotonically increasing characteristic (MI characteristic) of the emission current Ie are satisfied, and the method and conditions are not limited to this. Further, a getter process may be performed in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after the envelope 98 is sealed. This is the envelope 9
Immediately before or after the sealing of No. 8, a getter arranged at a predetermined position (not shown) in the envelope 98 is heated by a heating method such as resistance heating or high frequency heating to form a vapor deposition film. Processing. The getter usually has Ba or the like as a main component, and is, for example, 1 × 10 5 due to the adsorption action of the deposited film.
Minus 5th power or 1 × 10 Minus 7th power [Tor
The vacuum degree of r] is maintained.

In the image display device of the present invention completed as described above, each electron-emitting device is caused to emit electrons by applying a voltage through terminals outside the container Dox1 to Doxm, Doy1 to Doyn, and through the high voltage terminal Hv. An image is displayed by applying a high voltage of several kV or more to the metal back 95 or a transparent electrode (not shown), accelerating the electron beam, causing the electron beam to collide with the fluorescent film 94, and exciting and emitting light.

The above-described structure is a schematic structure necessary for producing a suitable image forming apparatus used for display and the like, and the detailed parts such as the material of each member are not limited to those described above. , As appropriate for the application of the image device.

[0099]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples.

(Embodiment 1) The structure of a basic surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention is as shown in FIGS.
It is similar to the plan view and cross-sectional view of FIG.

On the substrate 1, elements of the same shape are shown in FIG.
Four are formed as shown in FIG. In FIG. 11, the same numbers as in FIG. 1 indicate the same items.

The method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention is basically the same as that shown in FIG. Below, FIG.
The basic structure and manufacturing method of the device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a substrate, 5 and 6 are device electrodes, 4 is a thin film including an electron emitting portion, and 3 is an electron emitting portion.

The manufacturing method will be sequentially described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

Step-a: On the substrate 1 in which a 0.5 μm thick silicon oxide film is formed on the cleaned soda-lime glass by the sputtering method, a pattern for forming the device electrode 5 and the device electrode gap G is formed by photoresist. (RD-2000N-4
1 made by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.), and the thickness is 5 by the vacuum deposition method.
0 Å Ti and 1000 Å Ni having a thickness were sequentially deposited. The photoresist pattern is dissolved in an organic solvent, the Ni / Ti deposition film is lifted off, and the device electrode gap G is set to 3 μm.
Device electrodes 5 and 6 having a device electrode width W1 of 300 μm were formed ((a) of FIG. 2).

Step-b: C having a film thickness of 1000 Å by a mask having an inter-element electrode gap G and an opening in the vicinity thereof.
The r film 121 was deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation, and then organic Pd (ccp4230 manufactured by Okuno Chemical Industries Co., Ltd.) was spin-coated by a spinner and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes. The thickness of the electron emission part forming thin film 2 formed of fine particles of Pb as the main element thus formed was 100 angstrom, and the sheet resistance value was 2 × 10 4 Ω / □. Note that the fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated as described above, and as a fine structure, not only the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other. A film in a state (including an island shape) is referred to, and the particle diameter thereof means a diameter of fine particles whose particle shape can be recognized in the above state.

Step-c: The Cr film and the electron emission part forming thin film 2 after firing were etched by an acid etchant to form a desired pattern. Through the above steps, the device electrodes 5 and 6, the electron emission portion forming thin film 2 and the like were formed on the substrate 1 ((b) of FIG. 2).

Step-d: Next, the device is installed in the measurement / evaluation apparatus of FIG. 3, evacuated by a vacuum pump, and after reaching a vacuum degree of 2 × 10 −5 torr, the device voltage Vf is applied to the device. From the power supply 31 for
A voltage was applied to each of 6 and an energization process (forming process) was performed. The voltage waveform of the forming process is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 4B, T1 and T2 are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, and in this embodiment T1 is 1
With the millisecond and T2 set to 10 milliseconds, the peak value of the rectangular wave (peak voltage during forming) was increased in 0.1 V steps to perform the forming process. Further, during the forming process, a resistance measuring pulse was inserted between T2 at a voltage of 0.1 V at the same time to measure the resistance. The forming process was terminated when the measured value by the resistance measurement pulse became about 1 M ohm or more, and at the same time, the application of the voltage to the element was terminated. Forming voltage V of each element
_{The form} was 5.1V, 5.0V, 5.0V, 5.15V.

Step-e: Subsequently, each of the four elements subjected to the forming treatment was subjected to an activation treatment with two crest values of the rectangular wave having the waveform of FIG. 4B at 4 V and 14 V, respectively. An element sample that has undergone low resistance activation processing, that is, activation processing at 4V is referred to as element A, and an element sample that has performed high resistance activation processing, that is, activation processing at 14V, is referred to as element B.

As described above, the activation process is performed by applying the pulse voltage between the device electrodes and the device current I in the measurement and evaluation device of FIG.
It was applied while measuring f and emission current Ie. At this time, the degree of vacuum in the measurement and evaluation device of FIG.
It was minus 5 torr. The activation treatment was completed in about 30 minutes.

Thus, the electron emitting portion 3 was formed and the electron emitting device was manufactured.

In order to understand the characteristics and morphology of the surface conduction electron-emitting device manufactured in the above process, the above devices A and B were used.
One by one, and the electron emission characteristics thereof were measured by using the above-described measurement and evaluation apparatus of FIG. The remaining ones were observed with an electron microscope.

The distance between the anode electrode and the electron-emitting device was 4 mm, the potential of the anode electrode was 1 kV, and the degree of vacuum in the vacuum apparatus at the time of measuring the electron emission characteristics was 1 × 10 minus 6.
The power was torr. In both the devices A and B, a device voltage of 14 V is applied between the electrodes 5 and 6, and a device current I flowing at that time is applied.
f and the emission current Ie were measured. In the device A, a device current If of about 10 mA flows immediately after the start of the measurement, and the device current If gradually decreases, and accordingly, the emission current Ie was observed. On the other hand, in the element B, a stable element current I is obtained from the initial measurement.
f, the emission current Ie was observed, the device current If was 2.0 mA and the emission current Ie was 1.0 μA at the device voltage of 14 V, and the electron emission efficiency η = Ie / If × 100 (%) was 0.
It was 05%. From the above, the element A has the element current If
However, in the initial measurement, it is significantly large and unstable.
It can be seen that the electron-emitting device has a good electron emission.

Regarding the element B, the degree of vacuum in the activation treatment was returned to 1.5 × 10 to the power of −5, and the element was adjusted to 0.005.
While sweeping the voltage with a triangular wave of about 5 Hz, the device current I
When f and the emission current Ie were measured, the characteristic of the broken line shown in FIG. 7 was shown. As shown in FIG. 7, up to about 5V,
The element current If monotonically increases and then exhibits a voltage control type negative resistance at 5 V or higher. At this time, the voltage at which the device current If is maximum (called VP) is 5V. At 10 V or higher, the device current If is 1/1 of the maximum device current.
It was about mA. The forms of the elements A and B observed with an electron microscope are the same as those shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. From FIG. 6B, it can be seen that in the device A, many coatings (deposits) 61 are formed on a part of the altered portion 3 of the thin film (conductive film) 4 between the device electrodes. On the other hand, in the element B, as shown in FIG. 6A, the conductive film 4 closer to the high potential electrode 5 than a part of the altered portion 3 depends on the direction of voltage application to the element during the activation process. Mainly on top, film (deposit)
61 was formed. Furthermore, high magnification FESEM (2
When observed with a secondary electron microscope), this coating appeared to be formed around the metal fine particles and between the fine particles.

When observed by TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope) Raman or the like, a carbon film made of graphite or amorphous carbon was observed.

Further, from these observations, since the element A was activated at the voltage Vp or lower indicating the voltage controlled negative resistance described above, the element A was partially formed on the altered portion of the thin film generated by the forming process. More carbon is formed than B,
A remarkably large element current flows, and at the measurement voltage, the carbon film formed between the high potential side and the low potential side of the thin film alteration portion becomes a current path, and the element current several times that of the element B flows. Is thought to have fluctuated.

On the other hand, in the element B which has been subjected to the high resistance activation processing, the voltage Vp showing the voltage control type negative resistance described above.
Since it is activated as described above, it is considered that, like the element A, although the carbon coating is formed on a part of the altered portion, the carbon coating is more electrically partially cut than the element A. Therefore, it is considered that the current became stable from the initial stage of driving.

As described above, by the high resistance activation treatment, the device current If and the emission current Ie were stabilized, and efficient electron emission was produced.

(Embodiment 2) This embodiment is an example of an image forming apparatus in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix.

A plan view of a part of the electron source is shown in FIG. 14 is a sectional view taken along the line AA 'in FIG. However, in FIG.
3, FIG. 14, FIG. 15, and FIG. 16, the same symbols indicate the same items. Here, 1 is a substrate, and 82 is D in FIG.
X-direction wiring (also called lower wiring) corresponding to xm, 83 Y-direction wiring corresponding to Dyn in FIG. 8 (also called upper wiring), 4 is a thin film including an electron emitting portion, 5 and 6 are device electrodes,
141 is an interlayer insulating layer, 142 is the element electrode 5 and the lower wiring 82.
And a contact hole for electrical connection.

Next, the manufacturing method will be specifically described in the order of steps with reference to FIGS.

Step-a: 50 angstroms thick by vacuum deposition on a substrate 1 formed by sputtering a 0.5 μm thick silicon oxide film on a cleaned soda lime glass.
After sequentially laminating Cr of Cr and Au of 6000 Å in thickness, spin coating a photoresist (manufactured by AZ1370 Hoechst) with a spinner and baking, exposing and developing a photomask image, and a resist pattern of the lower wiring 82. Is formed, and the Au / Cr deposited film is wet-etched to form the lower wiring 82 having a desired shape ((a) of FIG. 15).

Step-b: Next, an interlayer insulating layer 141 made of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 micron is deposited by the RF sputtering method ((b) of FIG. 15).

Step-c: A photoresist pattern for forming the contact hole 142 is formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in the step b, and the interlayer insulating layer 141 is etched using this as a mask to form the contact hole 142. RIE using CF4 and H2 gas for etching
(Reactive Ion Etching) method ((c) of FIG. 15).

Step-d: After that, a pattern which is to be the device electrode 5 and the device electrode gap G is formed with a photoresist (RD).
-2000N-41 manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.), Ti of 50 angstrom in thickness and 10 in thickness by vacuum evaporation method.
00 Angstrom of Ni was sequentially deposited. The photoresist pattern was dissolved in an organic solvent, the Ni / Ti deposited film was lifted off, the device electrode spacing G was 3 μm, and the device electrode width W1 was 300 μm to form the device electrodes 5 and 6 ((d in FIG. 15). )).

Process-e: Upper wiring 8 on the device electrodes 5 and 6
After forming the photoresist pattern of No. 3, Ti with a thickness of 50 Å and Au with a thickness of 5000 Å are sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation, and unnecessary portions are removed by lift-off to obtain a desired shape. The wiring 84 was formed ((e) of FIG. 16).

Step-f: A Cr film 151 having a film thickness of 1000 Å is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation, and organic Pd (ccp4230 Okuno Seiyaku Co., Ltd.) is formed thereon.
Was manufactured by spin coating with a spinner and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes. Further, the film thickness of the electron emission portion forming thin film 2 formed of fine particles of Pd as the main element thus formed was 85 angstrom, and the sheet resistance value was 3.9 × 10 4 Ω / □. Note that the fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated as described above, and as a fine structure, not only the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other. A film in a state (including an island shape) is referred to, and the particle diameter thereof means a diameter of fine particles whose particle shape can be recognized in the above state ((f) in FIG. 16).

Step-g: The Cr film 151 and the electron emission portion forming thin film 2 after firing were etched by an acid etchant to form a desired pattern ((g) of FIG. 16).

Step-h: A pattern is formed such that a resist is applied to a portion other than the contact hole 142 portion, and Ti having a thickness of 50 Å and a thickness of 50 are formed by vacuum evaporation.
00 angstrom of Au was sequentially deposited. The contact hole 142 was buried by removing unnecessary portions by lift-off ((h) of FIG. 16).

Through the above steps, the lower wiring 82, the interlayer insulating layer 141, the upper wiring 83, the element wiring 5, and the like are formed on the insulating substrate 1.
6. A thin film 2 for forming an electron emitting portion and the like were formed.

Next, an example in which an electron source and a display device are constructed by using the electron source substrate created as described above is shown in FIG.
Will be described with reference to FIG.

Substrate 1 on which the device is manufactured as described above
Is fixed on the rear plate 91, and then 5 mm of the substrate 1
A face plate 96 (which is formed by forming a fluorescent film 94 and a metal back 95 on the inner surface of a glass substrate 93) is arranged above the support frame 92, and the face plate 9 is provided.
6, frit glass is applied to the joint portion of the support frame 92 and the rear plate 91, and 400
It was sealed by baking at 10 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more. The frit glass was also used to fix the substrate 1 to the rear plate 91.

In the present embodiment, 84 in FIG. 9 is an electron-emitting device before the formation of an electron-emitting portion (eg, corresponds to (b) in FIG. 2), and 82 and 83 are devices in the X and Y directions, respectively. Wiring.

In the case of monochrome, the fluorescent film 94 is composed of only the fluorescent material, but in this embodiment, the fluorescent material adopts a stripe shape ((a) of FIG. 10), and a black stripe is formed first, and the gap is formed. Each part was coated with a phosphor of each color to form a phosphor film 94. As a material for the black stripe, a material containing graphite as a main component, which is often used, was used.
A slurry method was used to apply the phosphor to the glass substrate 93.

A metal back 95 is usually provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 94. The metal back was produced by performing a smoothing treatment (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film after producing the fluorescent film, and then vacuum-depositing A1.

The face plate 96 further includes a fluorescent film 9
In order to improve the conductivity of No. 4, a transparent electrode (not shown) may be provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 94, but in this embodiment,
It was omitted because sufficient conductivity was obtained only with the metal back.

When performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of a color, the phosphors of the respective colors and the electron-emitting devices must correspond to each other, so that sufficient alignment was performed.

The atmosphere in the glass container completed as described above is exhausted by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, the external terminals Dxo1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn. A voltage was applied between the electrodes 5 and 6 of the electron-emitting device 74 through the film to form the electron-emitting portion forming thin film 2. The voltage waveform of the forming process is similar to that of FIG.

In this embodiment, T1 is 1 millisecond and T2 is 10
It was performed in a vacuum atmosphere of about 1 × 10 minus 5 torr.

In the electron-emitting portion 3 thus formed, fine particles containing palladium as a main component were dispersed and arranged, and the average particle diameter of the fine particles was 30 Å.

Next, while measuring the element current If and the emission current Ie with the same rectangular wave as the forming, a wave height of 14 V, and a vacuum degree of 2 × 10 minus 5 torr.
High resistance activation treatment was performed.

Forming and activation treatments were performed to form the electron emitting portion 3 and the electron emitting device 84 was manufactured.

Next, the vacuum was evacuated to about 10 −6 torr, and the exhaust pipe (not shown) was heated by a gas burner to be welded to seal the envelope.

Finally, in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing,
Getter processing was performed by the high frequency heating method.

In the image display device of the present invention completed as described above, the scanning signal and the modulation signal are supplied to each electron-emitting device through the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn from the signal generating means (not shown). By applying each, electrons are emitted, and a high voltage of 5 kV or more is applied to the metal back 95 through the high voltage terminal Hv, the electron beam is accelerated, collided with the fluorescent film 99, excited and emitted to display an image. . Also, the device current If and the emission current I
Both e indicate the solid line in FIG. 7 and were stable from the initial stage of driving. Also, at this time, the brightness 10 required for the television
The emission current was compatible with 0 fL to 150 fL.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 17 shows a display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device described above as an electron source, and image information provided from various image information sources such as television broadcasting. It is a figure for showing an example of a display constituted so that it can display. Figure 1
In FIG. 7, 17100 is a display panel, 17101 is a display panel drive circuit, 17102 is a display controller, 17103 is a macyplexer, 171.
Reference numeral 04 is a decoder, 17105 is an input / output interface circuit, 17106 is a CPU, 17107 is an image generation circuit, 17108 and 17109 and 17110 are image memory interface circuits, 17111 is an image input interface circuit, and 17112 and 17113 are TVs.
The signal receiving circuit 17114 is an input unit (note that when the display device receives a signal including both video information and audio information, such as a television signal, of course, the audio is simultaneously displayed with the video. Receiving, separation, reproduction of audio information that is to be reproduced but is not directly related to the features of the present invention.
Descriptions of circuits and speakers related to memory are omitted. ).

The function of each section will be described below along the flow of the image signal.

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 17113 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wireless transmission system such as radio waves or spatial optical communication. The system of the TV signal to be received is not particularly limited, and various systems such as NTSC system, PAL system and SECAM system may be used. Further, a TV signal (for example, a so-called high-definition TV such as the MUSE system) including a larger number of scanning lines than these is suitable for taking advantage of the display panel suitable for a large area and a large number of pixels. It is a signal source. T received by the TV signal receiving circuit 17113
The V signal is output to the decoder 17104.

The TV signal receiving circuit 17112 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wire transmission system such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. Similar to the TV signal receiving circuit 17113, the TV signal system to be received is not particularly limited, and the TV signal received by this circuit is also output to the decoder 17104.

Further, the image input interface circuit 17
Reference numeral 111 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal supplied from an image input device such as a TV camera or an image reading scanner. The captured image signal is a decoder 1710.
4 is output.

The image memory interface circuit 17110 is a circuit for capturing the image signal stored in the video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR), and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 17104.

The image memory interface circuit 17109 is a circuit for fetching the image signal stored in the video disc, and the fetched image signal is output to the decoder 17104.

The image memory interface circuit 17108 is a circuit for capturing an image signal from a device that stores still image data, such as a so-called still image disc. The captured still image data is input to the decoder 17104. To be done. The input / output interface circuit 17105 is a circuit for connecting the display device to an external computer, a computer network, or an output device such as a printer. In addition to inputting / outputting image data and character / graphic information, in some cases, the CPU 171 provided in the display device.
It is also possible to input and output control signals and numerical data between 06 and the outside.

Further, the image generation circuit 17107 is provided with image data, character / graphic information, or C data inputted from the outside through the input / output interface circuit 17105.
This is a circuit for generating display image data based on image data and character / graphic information output from the PU 17106. Inside this circuit, for example, a rewritable memory for storing image data and character / graphic information, a read-only memory that stores image patterns corresponding to character codes, a processor for image processing, etc. And the circuits necessary for image generation are incorporated.

The display image data generated by this circuit is output to the decoder 17104, but in some cases, it may be output to an external computer network or printer via the input / output interface circuit 17105.

Further, the CPU 17106 mainly performs operations related to operation control of the display device and generation, selection and editing of a display image.

For example, a control signal is output to the multiplexer 17103 to appropriately select or combine image signals to be displayed on the display panel. At that time, a control signal is generated to the display panel controller 17102 according to the image signal to be displayed, and the screen display frequency, the scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced), the number of scanning lines in one screen, etc. are displayed. The operation of the device is controlled appropriately.

Image data and character / graphic information may be directly output to the image generation circuit 17107, or an external computer or memory may be accessed via the input / output interface circuit 17105 to access the image data and character / figure information. Enter graphic information. The CPU 171
Of course, 06 may be related to work for other purposes. For example, it may be directly related to a function of generating and processing information, such as a personal computer or a word processor. Alternatively, as described above, the computer may be connected to an external computer network via the input / output interface circuit 17105, and work such as numerical calculation may be performed in cooperation with an external device.

The input unit 17114 is the CPU 1
7106 is for a user to input commands, programs, data, etc., such as a keyboard, a mouse, a joystick, a bar code reader,
It is possible to use various input devices such as a voice recognition device.

Further, the decoder 17104 has the above-mentioned 171
This is a circuit for inversely converting various image signals input from 07 to 17113 into three primary color signals, or a luminance signal and an I signal and a Q signal. It is desirable that the decoder 17104 has an image memory therein, as indicated by a dotted line in the figure. This is to handle a television signal that requires an image memory for reverse conversion, such as the MUSE method.

Further, the provision of the image memory facilitates the display of a still image, or the image generation circuit 1 described above.
This is because, in cooperation with the 7107 and the CPU 17106, there is an advantage that image processing and editing such as image thinning, interpolation, enlargement, reduction, and composition can be easily performed.

Further, the multiplexer 17103 is for appropriately selecting the display image based on the control signal inputted from the CPU 17106. That is, the multiplexer 17103 selects a desired image signal from the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 17104 and outputs it to the drive circuit 17101. In that case, by switching and selecting image signals within one screen display time, it is possible to divide one screen into a plurality of areas and display different images depending on the areas, as in a so-called multi-screen television. .

Also, the display panel controller 1
Reference numeral 7102 is a circuit for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 17101 based on a control signal input from the CPU 17106.

First, regarding the basic operation of the display panel, for example, a signal for controlling the operation sequence of the power source (not shown) for driving the display panel is output to the drive circuit 17101. Further, as a signal relating to the display panel driving method, for example, a signal for controlling the screen display frequency and the scanning method (for example, interlace or non-interlace) is output to the drive circuit 17101.

In some cases, control signals relating to image quality adjustment such as brightness, contrast, color tone and sharpness of a display image may be output to the drive circuit 17101.

The drive circuit 17101 is a circuit for generating a drive signal to be applied to the display panel 17100, and is based on the image signal input from the multiplexer 17103 and the control signal input from the display panel controller 17102. It works.

The functions of the respective parts have been described above. With the configuration illustrated in FIG. 17, the display panel 1 displays image information input from various image information sources in this display device.
7100 can be displayed. That is, various image signals such as television broadcasting are transmitted to the decoder 1
After inverse conversion at 7104, multiplexer 17
It is appropriately selected in 103 and input to the drive circuit 17101. On the other hand, the display controller 17102
Generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 17101 according to the image signal to be displayed. Drive circuit 17
Reference numeral 101 applies a drive signal to the display panel 17100 based on the image signal and the control signal. As a result, the image is displayed on the display panel 17100. A series of these operations is controlled by the CPU 17106 as a whole.

Further, in this display device, the image memory built in the decoder 17104 and the image generation circuit 1 are provided.
7107 and not only the one selected from the information is displayed, but the image information to be displayed is enlarged, for example,
Image processing such as reduction, rotation, movement, edge enhancement, thinning, interpolation, color conversion, image aspect ratio conversion, etc.
It is also possible to perform image editing such as composition, deletion, connection, replacement, and fitting. Further, although not particularly mentioned in the description of the present embodiment, a dedicated circuit for processing and editing voice information may be provided as in the above-mentioned image processing and image editing.

Therefore, the present display device is a display device for television broadcasting, a terminal device for a video conference, an image editing device for handling still images and moving images, a terminal device for a computer,
It is possible to combine the functions of office terminals such as word processors, game consoles, etc., with a very wide range of applications for industrial or consumer use.

It is needless to say that FIG. 17 shows only an example of the structure of a display device using a display panel having a display conduction type emission element as an electron beam source, and is not limited to this. . For example, of the constituent elements of FIG. 17, circuits relating to functions that are unnecessary for the purpose of use may be omitted. On the contrary, the constituent elements may be added depending on the purpose of use. For example, when the display device is applied as a video telephone, it is preferable to add a television camera, a voice microphone, an illuminator, a transmission / reception circuit including a modem, and the like to the components.

In this display device, the depth of the display device can be reduced because the display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source can be easily thinned. In addition, a display panel using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source can easily enlarge the screen, has high brightness, and has excellent viewing angle characteristics, so that this display device can display a realistic image and a powerful image. It is possible to display with good visibility.

(Embodiment 4) This embodiment is an example of an image forming apparatus having a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices and control electrodes (grids).

The method of manufacturing the image forming apparatus according to this embodiment is almost the same as that of the second embodiment, and thus the description will be described in detail.

First, an embodiment of an electron source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are provided on a substrate and a display device to which the electron source is applied will be described. 19 and 20 are schematic diagrams for explaining two examples of electron sources in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are formed on a substrate.

First, in FIG. 19, S is an insulating substrate made of, for example, glass, ES surrounded by a dotted line is a surface conduction electron-emitting device provided on the substrate S, E1 to E.
Reference numeral 10 represents a wiring electrode for wiring the surface conduction electron-emitting device. The surface conduction electron-emitting devices are formed on the substrate in rows along the X direction (hereinafter referred to as element rows). The surface conduction electron-emitting devices that form each device row are electrically wired in parallel by the wiring electrodes on both sides sandwiching the device (for example, the first
The columns are wired by the wiring electrodes E1 and E2 on both sides).

The electron source of this embodiment can drive each element array independently by applying an appropriate drive voltage between the wiring electrodes. That is, an appropriate voltage higher than the electron emission threshold is applied to the element array from which the electron beam is to be emitted,
Further, an appropriate voltage (for example, 0 [V]) that does not exceed the electron emission threshold may be applied to the element array that does not emit the electron beam (in the following description, an appropriate drive voltage that exceeds the electron emission threshold is VE). [V].).

Next, FIG. 20 shows another example of the electron source, where S is an insulating substrate made of glass, for example.
ES surrounded by a dotted line represents a surface conduction electron-emitting device provided on the substrate S, and E'1 to E'6 represent wiring electrodes for common wiring of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. Similar to the example of FIG. 19, also in this embodiment, the surface conduction electron-emitting devices are formed in rows along the X direction, and the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of each device row are electrically connected in parallel by the wiring electrodes. Are commonly wired to. Further, in this embodiment, for example, one common wiring on the adjacent side of the adjacent element row is used so that the wiring electrode E'2 also serves as the common wiring on one side of the first row and the second row of the element row. This is done with the wiring electrodes. The electron source of this embodiment has an advantage that the arrangement interval in the Y direction can be reduced when the surface conduction electron-emitting devices and the wiring electrodes having the same shape are used as compared with the column of FIG.

The electron source of this embodiment can independently drive each element array by applying an appropriate drive voltage between the wiring electrodes. That is, VE [V] may be applied to the electron-emitting device column from which electrons are desired to be emitted, and 0 [V] may be applied to the device column from which electrons are not to be emitted. For example, if it is desired to drive only the third column, E'1 to E'3
A potential of 0 [V] is applied to each wiring electrode of, and E'4 to E '
A potential of VE [V] is applied to each wiring electrode of No. 6. As a result, a voltage of VE-0 = VE [V] is applied to the third element row, but 0-0 = 0 to other element rows.
0 such as [V] or VE-VE = 0 [V]
A voltage of [V] will be applied. When the second and fifth columns are simultaneously driven, for example, a potential of 0 [V] is applied to the wiring electrodes E′1, E′2, and E′6, and the wiring electrodes E′3 and E′4. And VE [V] for E'5
It is sufficient to apply the potential of As described above, also in this embodiment, it is possible to selectively drive an arbitrary element array.

In the electron sources shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, the surface conduction electron-emitting device is an X-type electron emission device for convenience of illustration.
Although 12 elements are arranged in one row in the direction, the number of elements is not limited to this, and a larger number may be arranged. Further, although five element rows are arranged in the Y direction, the number of element rows is not limited to this, and a larger number may be arranged.

Next, a flat plate type CRT using the above electron source
This will be described with an example.

FIG. 21 is a view showing a panel structure of a flat plate type CRT equipped with the electron source shown in FIG.
Is a vacuum container made of glass, and FP which is a part of it is a face plate on the display surface side. A transparent electrode made of, for example, ITO is formed on the inner surface of the face plate FP, and red, green, and blue phosphors are applied in a mosaic or stripe pattern on the transparent electrode. In order to avoid complication of the drawing, the transparent electrode and the phosphor are shown together as PH in the drawing. A black matrix or a black stripe known in the field of CRT may be provided between the phosphors of the respective colors, and it is also possible to form a known metal back layer on the phosphors. The transparent electrode is electrically connected to the outside of the vacuum container through a terminal EV so that an acceleration voltage of an electron beam can be applied.

Further, S is a substrate of an electron source fixed to the bottom surface of the vacuum container VC, on which surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arrayed as described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, 200 element rows are provided in which 200 elements are wired in parallel per row. The two wiring electrodes of each element row are electrode terminals Dp provided on the side surfaces of the panel on both sides.
1 to Dp200 and Dm1 to Dm200 are alternately connected, and a drive electric signal can be applied from outside the vacuum container.

A stripe-shaped grid electrode GR is provided between the substrate S and the face plate FP. 200 grid electrodes GR are provided independently orthogonal to the element row (that is, along the Y direction), and each grid electrode is provided with an opening Gh for passing an electron beam. . Although one circular opening Gh is provided corresponding to each surface conduction electron-emitting device, a large number of passage openings may be formed in a mesh in some cases. Each grid electrode has an electronic terminal G1
~ G200 electrically connects to the outside of the vacuum container. The grid electrode need not necessarily have the shape and installation position shown in FIG. 21 as long as it can modulate the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device. It may be provided around or in the vicinity of the emitting element.

In the present display panel, a 200 × 200 XY matrix is formed by the element columns of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices and the grid electrodes. Therefore, the irradiation of each electron beam to the phosphor is controlled by simultaneously applying the modulation signal for one line of the image to the grid electrode row in synchronization with the sequential driving (scanning) of the element rows one by one. And then the image 1
It is displayed line by line.

Next, FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing an electric circuit for driving the display panel of FIG. 21. In FIG. 22, 1000 is the display panel of FIG.
001 is a decoding circuit for decoding a composite image signal input from the outside, 1002 is a serial / para conversion circuit,
Reference numeral 1003 is a line memory, 1004 is a modulation signal generation circuit, 1005 is a timing control circuit, and 1006 is a scanning signal generation circuit. The electrode terminals of the display panel 1000 are each connected to an electric circuit, and the terminal EV is 10 [kV].
Voltage source HV that generates the acceleration voltage of the terminals and terminals G1 to G20
0 is the modulation signal generation circuit 1004 and terminals Dp1 to Dp2
00 is a scanning signal generation circuit 1006 and terminals Dm1 to Dm
200 is connected to the ground.

The function of each section will be described below. First, the decoding circuit 1001 is input from the outside, for example, NTSC.
A circuit for decoding a composite image signal such as a television signal separates a luminance signal component and a synchronization signal component from the composite image signal, and uses the former as a Data signal for the serial / para conversion circuit 1002 and the latter as a Tsync signal for timing. Output to the control circuit 1005. That is, the decoding circuit 1001 arranges the brightness of each of the RGB color components according to the color pixel arrangement of the display panel 1000, and sequentially outputs the brightness to the serial / para conversion circuit 1002. Further, the timing control circuit 1005 extracts the vertical synchronizing signal and the horizontal synchronizing signal.
Output to. The timing control circuit 1005 generates various timing control signals for matching the operation timings of the respective parts with the synchronization signal Tsync as a reference. That is, for the serial / parallel conversion circuit 1002, Tsp
, Tmody to the line memory 1003, Tmod to the modulation signal generation circuit 1004, and Tscan to the scanning signal generation circuit 1006.

The serial / parallel conversion circuit 1002 receives the luminance signal Data input from the decoding circuit 1001 and the timing signal Ts input from the timing control circuit 1005.
Sequential sampling is performed based on p, and 200 parallel signals I1 to I200 are output to the line memory 1003. The timing control circuit 1005 writes a write timing control signal Tmry to the line memory 1003 at the time when one line of image data is serial / para-converted.
Is output. Upon receiving Tmry, the line memory 1003 stores the contents of I1 to I200 and stores it in I'1.
.About.I'200 is output to the modulation signal generation circuit 1004, which is held until the next write timing control signal Tmry is input to the line memory.

The modulation signal generation circuit 1004 is a circuit for generating a modulation signal to be applied to the grid electrodes of the display panel 1000 based on the brightness data for one line of the image input from the line memory 1003, and is a timing control circuit. Timing control signal Tm generated by 1005
The modulation signal terminals G1 to G200 are simultaneously applied in accordance with odd. The modulation signal uses a voltage modulation method that changes the magnitude of the voltage according to the brightness data of the image, but it is also possible to use a pulse width modulation method that changes the length of the voltage pulse according to the brightness data.

Further, the scanning signal generating circuit 1006 is a circuit for generating a voltage pulse for appropriately driving the element array of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1000. An appropriate drive voltage VE [V] exceeding the threshold of the surface conduction electron-emitting device generated by the constant voltage source DV is switched by appropriately switching the internal switching circuit according to the timing control signal Tscan generated by the timing control circuit 1005.
Or the ground level (that is, 0 [V]) is selected and applied to the terminals Dp1 to Dp200.

With the above circuit, the drive signal is applied to the display panel 1000 at the timing shown in the time chart of FIG. 23A to 23D show the terminals Dp1 to Dp2 of the display panel from the scanning signal generating circuit 1006.
A part of the signal applied to the signal 00 is shown. As can be seen from the figure, the voltage pulse of the amplitude VE [V] is applied sequentially in the order of Dp1, Dp2, Dp3, ... For each line display time of the image. On the other hand, since the terminals Dm1 to Dm200 are always connected to the ground level (0 [V]), the element train is sequentially driven from the first train by the voltage pulse and the electron beam is output.

Further, in synchronization with this, the modulation signal generation circuit 1
From 004, the modulation signal for one line of the image is simultaneously applied to the terminals G1 to G200 at the timing shown by the dotted line in FIG. The modulation signal is sequentially switched in synchronization with the switching of the scanning signal, and an image for one screen is displayed. By continuously repeating this, it is possible to display a television moving image.

As described above, the flat plate type CR provided with the electron source shown in FIG.
Having described T, the flat plate type CRT having the electron source shown in FIG. 20 will be described next with reference to FIG.

The flat panel CRT of FIG. 24 is basically the flat panel CRT of FIG. 21 in which the electron source portion is replaced by the type of FIG. 20, and the electron emitting element array and the grid electrode are 200 × 200. Of the XY matrix. However, the wiring of the 200-row surface conduction electron-emitting device is E1
Since it is made with 201 wiring electrodes of ~ E201,
The vacuum container is provided with 201 electrode terminals Ex1 to Ex201.

FIG. 25 shows a drive circuit for driving the present display panel 1008, which is basically the same as the circuit shown in FIG. G4 except for the scanning signal generating circuit 1007. The scanning signal generation circuit 1007 appropriately selects an appropriate drive voltage VE [V] that exceeds the electron emission threshold of the surface conduction electron-emitting device generated by the constant voltage source DV, or a ground level (0 [V]). Output to the terminals of the display panel, the timing is shown in the time chart of FIG. The display panel performs the display operation at the timing shown in (a), and therefore the scanning signal generating circuit 100 is connected to the electrode terminals Ex1 to Ex4.
7, drive signals as shown in (b) to (e) are applied. Therefore, (f)-
A voltage as shown in (h) is applied and the cells are sequentially driven one by one. In synchronization with this, the modulation signal generation circuit 1004 outputs the modulation signal at the timing as shown in (i), and the images are sequentially displayed.

The image forming apparatus of this embodiment also has the same effect as that of the second embodiment.

[0197]

As described above, according to the present invention, carbon, which is graphite or amorphous carbon or a mixture thereof, is used as a main component in a part of the electron emission portion by the activation process of the electron emission device. Since the above coating was controlled and coated, it was possible to control the electron emission characteristics, which was conventionally unknown in vacuum.

More preferably, the activation step is a step of coating the thin film with a film containing carbon as a main component, and the pair of electrodes of the electron-emitting device is applied with a voltage higher than a voltage control type negative resistance characteristic region in vacuum. By applying the step of applying, by coating with a film containing carbon as a main component on the higher potential side than a part of the electron-emitting portion, the characteristics are stable from the initial driving of the electron-emitting device and the device current is small. It is now possible to create highly efficient electron-emitting devices.

Furthermore, an electron source that emits electrons in response to an input signal is stable and can be manufactured with high yield. Further, due to the improved efficiency, it is possible to provide an inexpensive device that consumes less power and reduces the burden on peripheral circuits and the like.

Further, in the image forming apparatus, stable and controlled electron emission characteristics and efficiency are improved. For example, in an image forming apparatus using a phosphor as an image forming member, bright and high quality image formation with low current is formed. Devices, eg color flat televisions, have been realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a basic surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a basic manufacturing method of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a measurement / evaluation apparatus used for characteristic evaluation of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a voltage waveform in a forming process according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the dependence of the device current and the emission current of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention on the activation processing time.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a morphological change due to activation treatment of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a typical example of the relationship between the emission current, the device current, and the device voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of an electron source substrate according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

10 is a diagram showing a fluorescent film used in the image forming apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the configuration of another aspect of the basic surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a part of a configuration of an electron source according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

14 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A ′ in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a sectional view for explaining a manufacturing process of the electron source according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a sectional view for explaining a manufacturing process of the electron source according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a display device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 19 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electron source substrate of an image forming apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electron source substrate of an image forming apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 21 is a panel configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating an electric circuit for driving the image forming apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 23 is a time chart for explaining driving of the image forming apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 24 is a panel configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating an electric circuit for driving an image forming apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 26 is a time chart for explaining driving of the image forming apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2 Electron emission part forming thin film 3 Electron emission part 4 Thin film including electron emission part 5,6 Element electrode 84,74 Electron emission element 82,83 Wiring 85 Connection 91 Rear plate 92 Support frame 93 Transparent substrate 94 Fluorescent film 95 metal back 96 face plate 98 envelope 141 interlayer insulating layer 142 contact hole

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yoshikazu Sakano 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (30)

[Claims] 1. An electron-emitting device having a conductive film including a high-resistance portion between opposed electrodes, wherein the high-resistance portion has a deposit containing carbon as a main component. . 2. The electron emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the deposit containing carbon as a main component is further present in the vicinity of the high resistance portion. 3. The deposit containing carbon as a main component is present on the conductive film from a part of the high resistance portion.
The electron-emitting device according to item 1. 4. The electron-emitting device according to claim 3, wherein the deposit containing carbon as a main component is unevenly distributed from a part of the high resistance portion on a conductive film on one electrode side of the electrodes. . 5. The electron emitting device according to claim 4, wherein the deposit containing carbon as a main component is unevenly distributed from a part of the high resistance portion on a conductive film on a high potential electrode side of the electrode. . 6. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the conductive film is made of conductive fine particles. 7. The electron-emitting device according to claim 6, wherein the conductive fine particles are metal or metal oxide. 8. The electron-emitting device according to claim 6, wherein at least a part of the conductive fine particles is covered with the deposit. 9. The electron emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the high resistance portion includes conductive fine particles. 10. The electron-emitting device according to claim 9, wherein at least a part of the conductive fine particles is covered with the deposit. 11. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the deposit containing carbon as a main component covers at least a part of the electrode. 12. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the deposit containing carbon as a main component is graphite, amorphous carbon, or a mixture thereof. 13. The electron emission device according to claim 1, wherein the electron emission current has a monotonically increasing characteristic with respect to a voltage applied between the electrodes. 14. An electron source having an electron-emitting device for emitting electrons according to an input signal, wherein the electron-emitting device is the electron-emitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 13. An electron source to do. 15. A plurality of rows of electron-emitting devices having a plurality of the electron-emitting devices, wherein both ends of each of the plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected by wiring, and an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting devices. 15. The electron source according to claim 14, further comprising a modulation unit that modulates the. 16. A plurality of the electron-emitting devices are provided, and the plurality of the electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel so as to be connected to the m X-direction wirings and the n-direction wirings electrically insulated from each other.
4. The electron source according to item 4. 17. An image forming apparatus having an electron source and an image forming member for forming an image in response to an input signal, wherein the electron source has an electron emitting element, and the electron emitting element is an electron emitting element. An image forming apparatus comprising the electron-emitting device according to any one of 1. 18. The electron source has a plurality of the electron-emitting devices, and a plurality of rows of the electron-emitting devices in which both ends of each of the plurality of the electron-emitting devices are connected by wiring are provided. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the image forming apparatus is an electron source having a modulating unit that modulates an emitted electron beam. 19. The electron source has a plurality of the electron-emitting devices, and the plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected in parallel and connected to m X-direction wirings and n-direction wirings electrically insulated from each other. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the image forming apparatus is an electron source. 20. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the emission current and the device current of the electron source have a monotonically increasing characteristic with respect to the device applied voltage. 21. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the inside of the image forming apparatus is maintained at a vacuum degree that prevents new deposition of the deposit containing carbon as a main component. 22. A method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device having a conductive film including an electron-emitting portion between opposing electrodes, comprising a step of activating the device. 23. The activation step is a step of depositing a deposit containing carbon as a main component on the device.
A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to item 1. 24. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 23, wherein the activation step includes a step of applying a voltage to a conductive film provided between electrodes in a vacuum. 25. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 24, wherein the voltage is applied in pulses. 26. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 25, wherein the voltage is equal to or higher than a voltage control type negative resistance characteristic region. 27. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 26, wherein the voltage is a driving voltage of the electron-emitting device. 28. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 22, further comprising a forming step. 29. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 28, wherein the forming step is a step of forming a high resistance portion on a conductive film provided between electrodes. 30. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 22, wherein the activation step is performed after the forming step.