JPH1125852A - Manufacture of electron source, electron source and manufacture of image-forming device and electron source base plate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress variation of amount of material to feed by feeding a material from each output part at least once to each of plural parts, to which material of almost the same quality is fed by plural output parts. SOLUTION: A liquid-drop 7 is fed (n) times (n>1) to each element part by usign a liquid-drop feeding device 6, having (m) (m>1) pieces of nozzles lining up with almost the same interval as an interval between elements in a row direction. At that time, the liquid-drop 7 is discharged from all of the (m) pieces of nozzle and is fed one by one to each element in (m) lines by scanning them one time. The liquid-drop feeding device 6 is then moved for one element length in the nozzle direction, the liquid-drop 7 is discharged from all of the (m) pieces of nozzles and is fed one by one to each element in the (m) lines by scanning one time. The liquid-drop 7 is fed to each element from the (m) pieces of nozzles (n) times for each by repeating the process. Thereby, the variation of an element resistance can be suppressed without relying on the fine adjustment of an amount to discharge. Moreover, n>=m>1 is preferable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an electron source having an electron emitting portion. Further, the present invention relates to an electron source manufactured by the manufacturing method, an image forming apparatus using the electron source, and a manufacturing apparatus of the electron source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices using a thermionic electron-emitting device and a cold cathode electron-emitting device have been known. The cold cathode electron emitting device includes a field emission type (hereinafter, referred to as “FE type”), a metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter, referred to as “MIM type”), a surface conduction type electron emitting device, and the like. As an example of the FE type, W. P. Dyke
& W. W. Doran "Field Emissio
n ", Advanced Electron Phy
sics, 8, 89 (1956) or C.I. A. S
pindt “Physical Properties
of thin-film fieldemissi
on cathodes with mollybden
ium cones ", J. Appl. Phys., 4
7, 5248 (1976) and the like are known. For the MIM type, C.I. A. Mead, “Opera
Tion of Tunnel-Emission D
devices ", J. Appl. Phys., 32, 6
46 (1961) and the like are known.

Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include:
M. I. Elinson, Radio Eng. Ele
ctron Phys. , 10, 1290 (1965)
And the like.

In a surface conduction electron-emitting device, electron emission occurs when a current flows in a small-area thin film formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include a device using an SnO ₂ thin film by Elinson et al. And a device using an Au thin film [G. Dittmer: T
Hin Solid Films, 9, 317 (197)
2)], an In ₂ O ₃ / SnO ₂ thin film [M. H
artwell and C.I. G. FIG. Fonstad: I
EEE Trans. ED Conf. , 519 (19
75)], and those using a carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22, p. 22 (1983)] and the like have been reported.

As a typical example of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the above-mentioned M.E. Figure 16 shows the device configuration of Hartwell
Is shown schematically in FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate. Reference numeral 4 denotes a conductive thin film, which is formed of a metal oxide thin film or the like formed by sputtering in an H-shaped pattern, and the electron emission portion 5 is formed by an energization process called energization forming described later.
In the figure, the device electrode interval L1 is 0.5 to 1 mm, and W 'is 0.
It is set at 1 mm. Since the position and shape of the electron-emitting portion 5 are unknown, they are shown as schematic diagrams.

Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the electron-emitting portion 5 is generally formed by subjecting the conductive thin film 4 to an energization process called energization forming before performing electron emission. is there. The energization forming is to form an electron emission part by energization,
For example, a DC voltage or a very slowly increasing voltage is applied to both ends of the conductive thin film 4 to energize it, thereby locally destroying, deforming or altering the conductive thin film, thereby making the electron emitting portion 5 electrically in a high resistance state. Is to form In addition,
The electron emitting portion 5 generates a crack in a part of the conductive thin film 4 and emits electrons from near the crack. The surface conduction electron-emitting device that has been subjected to the energization forming process is the conductive thin film 4
A voltage is applied to the device and a current is caused to flow through the element to cause the above-described electron emitting portion 5 to emit electrons.

Since the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device has a simple structure and can be manufactured using the conventional semiconductor manufacturing technology, there is an advantage that a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices can be arranged and formed over a large area. Various applications that can take advantage of this feature are being studied. Examples include an image forming apparatus such as a charged beam source and a display device.

FIG. 15 shows the configuration of an electron-emitting device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-56822 by the present applicant. In the figure, 1 is a substrate, 2 and 3 are device electrodes,
4 is a conductive thin film, and 5 is an electron emission part. There are various methods for manufacturing the electron-emitting device. For example, the device electrodes 2 and 3 are formed on the substrate 1 by a vacuum thin film technique or a photolithography / etching technique in a general semiconductor process. Next, the conductive thin film 4 is formed by a dispersion coating method such as spin coating. Thereafter, a voltage is applied to the device electrodes 2 and 3 to perform an energization process, thereby forming the electron-emitting portions 5.

In the conventional manufacturing method, a large-scale photolithography and etching facility is indispensable for forming an element over a large area, and the number of steps is large and the production cost is high. . In view of the above, there has been proposed a method in which a conductive thin film of a surface conduction electron-emitting device is directly applied in the form of droplets of a solution containing a metal element by an ink-jet method (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H8-208).
171850 publication).

[0010]

However, in the conventional ink jet system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-171850, a droplet 7 is applied by a single nozzle droplet applying device 6 as shown in FIG. Therefore, when a droplet is applied to each element a plurality of times, there is a limit in increasing the throughput. In the present application, a method for manufacturing an electron source using a novel method in providing a material for forming an electron-emitting portion is provided.

[0011]

Means for Solving the Problems One invention of a method for manufacturing an electron source according to the present invention is configured as follows. A method for manufacturing an electron source having a plurality of electron-emitting portions, the material for forming the electron-emitting portions by a plurality of output portions each outputting substantially the same material for forming the electron-emitting portions. Applying the material from each of the output units at least once to each of a plurality of applied parts to which the electron source is applied.
By this method, even in a configuration using a plurality of output units, the variation in the material applied to each applied portion, particularly,
Variations in the amount of applied material are suppressed.

In the above invention, it is preferable that the application of the material from the plurality of output units is performed in the same combination on each of the applied sections. Here, the same combination means that, by the plurality of output sections, each given section receives the same number of material assignments, and the breakdown is that the number of assignments from each output section is the same for each given section. Refers to For example, when two output units are used, the application of the material from one output unit is performed p (1 or more) times to each applied unit, and the application of the material from the other output unit is performed to each application unit. Is performed q (one or more) times, and each applied part receives the same number of (p + q) times of material application. Thereby, the variation in the application of the material from the plurality of output units is particularly favorably suppressed.

Further, in each of the above-mentioned inventions, it is preferable that the application of the material from the different output sections is performed substantially simultaneously on the different applied sections. Here, to perform substantially simultaneously means, for example, moving the relative position of the output unit and the application target unit, and then applying the material from a different output unit until the relative position is moved. This is a configuration to be performed on the given part. According to this method, the throughput can be further improved in the present invention in which the material is applied to one applied portion a plurality of times.

The present application also includes the invention of the following method for manufacturing an electron source. A method for manufacturing an electron source having a plurality of electron-emitting portions arranged in a row, wherein the plurality of electron-emitting portions arranged in a row apply a material to a given portion arranged in the row. Is formed by
A material application device in which a plurality of output units are arranged in the column direction corresponding to the application unit intervals in the column direction (for example, a plurality of output units are arranged at intervals equal to the interval of the application units); While moving in the column direction relative to the applied portion,
A method of manufacturing an electron source, characterized in that substantially the same material is applied from the plurality of output sections to each of the sections to be applied. This manufacturing method may be used in the above-described manufacturing method.

[0015] In the present invention, the number of times the material is applied to one applied portion is preferably equal to or more than the number of the output portions. Further, in the above-mentioned invention, the electron source has a plurality of electron-emitting portions located in a matrix,
The row direction is non-parallel to the column direction, and while applying the material applying device in the row direction relatively to the applied portion, applying the material to each of the applied portions. May be performed. Further, in the above invention, the material is applied while sequentially moving in the row direction each time the relative position between the material applying device and the applied portion is moved in the column direction, and the position is set in the row direction. The material may be applied to each of the parts to be applied. Note that the rows and columns referred to here may not only correspond to the rows and columns in the embodiments described below, but may also correspond to the columns and rows, respectively.

In each of the above-mentioned inventions, the application of the material can be performed in a state where the material is in a liquid state. Further, a nozzle can be used as the output unit. The application of the material in the liquid state can be performed by discharging droplets. In each of the above inventions,
The application of the material can be performed by an inkjet method. In each of the above-described inventions, the application of the material is performed by a method of generating bubbles in the material using thermal energy and discharging the material based on the generation of the bubbles, The application of the material may be performed by discharging the material using a piezoelectric element. Further, in each of the above-described inventions, the electron-emitting portion may be provided between device electrodes. Further, for example, each of the electron emission portions may be provided between a pair of device electrodes. Also,
In each of the above-mentioned inventions, the electron-emitting portion may be formed by further processing a material applied to the applied portion. The processing is, for example, energization. The processing is so-called forming or activation. In each of the above-described inventions, the material may include a conductive material. Further, the present application is an invention of an electron source characterized by being manufactured by the method of manufacturing an electron source according to any one of the above-described inventions, and a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus, A method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus, wherein a member on which an image is formed by electrons emitted from an electron emitting portion of the electron source is provided, and an image forming apparatus manufactured by the manufacturing method. Including the invention.

The invention of the apparatus for manufacturing an electron source according to the present invention is configured as follows. An apparatus for manufacturing an electron source having a plurality of electron-emitting portions, wherein a plurality of output portions each outputting substantially the same material for forming the electron-emitting portion, and an output of the material from the output portion. Control means for controlling the application of the material from each of the output units at least once to each of the plurality of applied parts to which the material for forming the electron emission part is applied. An apparatus for manufacturing an electron source, comprising: here,
The control means may include means for relatively moving the output section and the applied section.

Further, the present invention includes the invention of an apparatus for manufacturing an electron source as described below. An electron source manufacturing apparatus that manufactures an electron source having a plurality of electron emitting portions located in a row, wherein the plurality of electron emitting portions located in a row are arranged with respect to a given portion located in the row. A material applying device in which a plurality of output units are arranged in the column direction corresponding to the applied unit interval in the column direction, and Moving means for moving in the column direction, and applying the substantially uniform material from the plurality of output sections to each of the applied sections while performing the relative movement by the moving means. A manufacturing apparatus for an electron source.

Here, the electron source has a plurality of electron-emitting portions located in a matrix, the row direction is not parallel to the column direction, and the moving means is provided with the material applying device. Can also be moved in the row direction relative to the given portion.

As described above, by applying the material in parallel to the plurality of rows at the plurality of output units, the material is applied in a short time, and the application of the material in the row direction is performed by changing the output unit column. By repeating the movement in the column direction while sequentially moving (every one line), the material to be applied is sequentially applied to the given sections by different output sections as the output section row moves in the column direction. Thereby, even if the applied amount of the material is different in each output unit, the variation in the applied amount of the material is suppressed.

[0021]

Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described. 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams showing the configuration of a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to one embodiment of the present invention, where FIG. 5A is a plan view and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view. In FIG. 5, 1 is a substrate, 2 and 3 are device electrodes, 4 is a conductive thin film, and 5 is an electron emitting portion.

The substrate 1 is made of quartz glass, glass with a reduced content of impurities such as Na, blue plate glass, SiO ₂
And a ceramic substrate made of alumina or the like, on the surface of which is deposited.

The materials of the opposing device electrodes 2 and 3 are as follows.
Various conductive materials can be used, such as Ni, Cr, A
metals or alloys such as u, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd, and Pd, As, Ag, Au, RuO ₂ , P
It can be selected from a printed conductor composed of a metal such as d-Ag or a metal oxide and glass, a transparent conductor such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂ and a semiconductor material such as polysilicon.

The element electrode interval L1, the element electrode length W1, the shape of the conductive thin film 4, and the like are designed in consideration of the applied form and the like. The element electrode interval L1 is preferably in the range of several thousand Angstroms to several hundred micrometers, and more preferably 1 in consideration of the voltage applied between the element electrodes.
The range is from micrometer to 100 micrometers.

The element electrode length W is in the range of several micrometers to several hundred micrometers in consideration of the resistance value of the electrode and the electron emission characteristics. The film thickness d of the device electrodes 2 and 3 is
It ranges from 100 angstroms to 1 micrometer. Note that, in addition to the configuration shown in FIG. 5, a configuration in which a conductive thin film 4 and opposing element electrodes 2 and 3 are laminated on the substrate 1 in this order can also be adopted.

As the conductive thin film 4, it is preferable to use a fine particle film composed of fine particles in order to obtain good electron emission characteristics. The film thickness is appropriately set in consideration of the step coverage of the device electrodes 2 and 3, the resistance between the device electrodes 2 and 3, and forming conditions to be described later, but is usually in the range of several angstroms to several thousand angstroms. It is more preferable that the thickness be in the range of 10 Å to 500 Å. The resistance value of Rs is 10 2 to 10 7 Ω. Note that Rs is a value that appears when the resistance R of a thin film having a thickness t, a width w, and a length 1 is R = Rs (l / w). = Ρ / t. In the present specification, the forming process will be described by taking an energizing process as an example, but the forming process is not limited to this, and any method may be used as long as it forms a high resistance state by causing a crack in a film. But it is good.

The material constituting the conductive thin film 4 is Pd, P
t, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, F
e, metal such as Zn, Sn, Ta, W, Pb, PdO, S
oxides such as nO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO, Sb ₂ O ₃ ,
HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ , LaB ₆ , CeB ₆ , YB ₄ , G
borides such as dB ₄ , TiC, ZrC, HfC, TaC,
It is appropriately selected from carbides such as SiC and WC, nitrides such as TiN, ZrN and HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, and carbon.

The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and has a fine structure in a state where the fine particles are individually dispersed or arranged, or in a state where the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (some fine particles are aggregated). And an island-like structure as a whole). The particle size of the fine particles is in the range of several angstroms to 1 μm, preferably in the range of 10 angstroms to 200 angstroms.

Hereinafter, a method for forming a conductive thin film of a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 5, 6, 7, and 14. FIG. 1 is a diagram that best illustrates the features of the present invention. The mechanism of the droplet applying device 6 may be any mechanism as long as it can discharge a given amount of liquid droplets in a fixed amount.
In particular, an inkjet mechanism capable of forming droplets of about several tens ng is desirable. As the ink jet method, any of a piezo jet method using a piezoelectric element, a bubble jet method in which bubbles are generated by using thermal energy of a heater, and the like may be used.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show examples of the droplet applying device 6. FIG. FIG. 6 shows a configuration of a bubble jet type droplet applying apparatus, in which 221 is a substrate, 222 is a heat generating unit,
223 is a support substrate, 224 is a liquid flow path, 225 is a first nozzle, 226 is a second nozzle, 2217 is an ink flow path interval wall, 228 and 229 are ink liquid chambers, 2210 and 2211
Denotes an ink liquid supply port, and 2212 denotes a ceiling plate.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of a piezo-jet type droplet applying apparatus. In FIG. 7, 231 is a first glass nozzle, 232 is a second glass nozzle, 233 is a cylindrical piezo, and 234 is a filter. Reference numerals 235, 236 denote ink liquid supply tubes, and 237 denotes an electric signal input terminal. Although FIGS. 6 and 7 show two nozzles, the present invention is not limited to this.

As the material of the droplet 7, an aqueous solution, an organic solvent, or the like containing the above-described element or compound that becomes a conductive thin film can be used. For example, a palladium-based element or compound as a conductive thin film is described below, for example, a palladium acetate-ethanolamine complex (PA-ME) and a palladium acetate-diethanolamine complex (PA-D).
E), palladium acetate-triethanolamine complex (P
A-TE), aqueous solutions containing ethanolamine-based complexes such as palladium acetate-butylethanolamine complex (PA-BE) and palladium acetate-dimethylethanolamine complex (PA-DME), and palladium-glycine complexes (Pd- Gly), an aqueous solution containing an amino acid-based complex such as a palladium-β-alanine complex (Pd-β-Ala) or a palladium-DL-alanine complex (Pd-DL-Ala); A butylamine solution of a propylamine complex is exemplified.

A method for applying droplets will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 1, 1 is a substrate, 2 and 3 are device electrodes of an electron-emitting device, 6 is an inkjet head or a droplet applying device,
7 is a droplet discharged from the ink jet nozzle, and 8 is a droplet applied to the substrate. As shown in FIG. 1, n times (n> 1) for each element portion using a droplet applying apparatus 6 having m (m> 1) nozzles arranged at substantially the same interval as the element interval in the column direction.
Give. At this time, the droplets are ejected from all m nozzles, and are applied once to the m rows of elements in one scan (FIG. 1 (a)). The nozzles are moved in the direction of the nozzle row, ejected again from all of the m nozzles, and the step of applying once to the elements in m rows in one scan is repeated (FIG. 1B). The liquid is applied n times in total from the nozzle. After applying droplets between all the device electrodes on the electron source substrate, firing at around 350 ° C., depending on the metal-containing solution used,
Conductive thin film.

According to this method, droplets can be applied in about 1 / m of the time required for applying n times with one nozzle. In addition, when scanning is performed n times with m nozzles and application is performed n times from one nozzle in each element, variation in element resistance may occur due to variation in the ejection amount from m individual nozzles. However, with this method of applying droplets to each element from a plurality of nozzles, variation in element resistance can be suppressed without performing fine discharge amount adjustment.
It is preferable that the condition of n ≧ m> 1 is satisfied. Under these conditions, any of the formed conductive thin films:
Since the droplets are applied n times by the m nozzles, a more averaged droplet is formed.

In the present embodiment, the scanning is performed in the row direction (X direction) using the droplet applying device corresponding to the element spacing in the column direction. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It is also possible to apply by scanning in the column direction using a droplet applying device.

The electron-emitting portion 5 shown in FIG. 5 will be described. The electron-emitting portion 5 is constituted by a high-resistance gap formed in a part of the conductive thin film 4.
It depends on the material and the method such as energization forming which will be described later. In some cases, the inside of the electron-emitting portion 5 contains conductive fine particles having a particle size of 1000 angstroms or less. The conductive fine particles contain some or all of the elements of the material constituting the conductive thin film 4. It is preferable that the conductive thin film 4 in the gap and the vicinity thereof has a coating made of carbon or a carbon compound.

In order to form the electron-emitting portion 5, it is preferable to perform a forming process on the conductive thin film 4 formed as described above, and further perform an activation process described later. As an example of the forming processing method, a method by an energization processing will be described. When a current is applied by using a power supply (not shown) between the element electrodes 2 and 3, a portion gap where a structural change such as destruction, deformation or alteration is locally formed in the conductive thin film 4 is formed. The portion becomes the electron emission portion 5. FIG. 8 shows an example of the voltage waveform of the energization forming.

The voltage waveform is preferably a pulse waveform. This is shown in FIG. 8A in which a pulse with a constant pulse peak value is applied continuously, and in FIG. 8B in which a voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value. There are techniques.

T1 and T2 in FIG. 8A are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform. Usually, T1 is set in the range of 1 microsecond to 10 milliseconds, and T2 is set in the range of 10 microseconds to 100 milliseconds. The peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during energization forming) is appropriately selected according to the form of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. Under these conditions,
For example, the voltage is applied for several seconds to several tens minutes. The pulse waveform is not limited to a triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave can be adopted.

T1 and T2 in FIG.
It can be similar to that shown in FIG. The peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during energization forming) can be increased by, for example, about 0.1 V steps.

The end of the energization forming process can be detected by applying a voltage that does not locally destroy or deform the conductive thin film 4 during the pulse interval T2, and measuring the current. For example, an element current flowing by applying a voltage of about 0.1 V is measured, and when a resistance value is obtained and the resistance is 1 M ohm or more, the energization forming is terminated.

It is preferable to perform an activation process on the element after the forming. By performing the activation step, the device current If and the emission current Ie change significantly.

The activation treatment can be performed, for example, by repeating the application of a pulse in an atmosphere containing an organic substance gas, similarly to the energization forming. This atmosphere can be formed by using an organic gas remaining in the atmosphere when the inside of the vacuum vessel is evacuated using, for example, an oil diffusion pump or a rotary pump, or is sufficiently evacuated once by an ion pump or the like. It can also be obtained by introducing a gas of an appropriate organic substance into a vacuum. The preferable gas pressure of the organic substance at this time varies depending on the above-described application form, the shape of the vacuum vessel, the type of the organic substance, and the like, and is appropriately set according to the case. Suitable organic substances include alkane, alkene, alkyne aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, amines, phenols, carboxylic acids, and organic acids such as sulfonic acids. Specific examples thereof include saturated hydrocarbons represented by C _n H _{2n + 2} such as methane, ethane and propane, and unsaturated hydrocarbons represented by a composition formula such as C _n H _2n such as ethylene and propylene. , Benzene, toluene, methanol, ethanol, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methylamine,
Ethylamine, phenol, formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid and the like can be used. By this treatment, carbon or a carbon compound is deposited on the conductive film in and around the gap from the organic substance existing in the atmosphere, and the device current If and the emission current I
e changes significantly. The end of the activation step is determined while measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie. The pulse width, pulse interval, pulse crest value, and the like are set as appropriate.

The carbon or carbon compound includes graphite (both single crystal and polycrystal), amorphous carbon (amorphous carbon and carbon containing a mixture of amorphous carbon and microcrystals of graphite). It is preferable that the film thickness is 500 angstrom or less,
It is more preferable that the thickness be 300 angstroms or less.

The electron-emitting device obtained through the activation step is preferably subjected to a stabilization treatment. In this process, the partial pressure of the organic substance in the vacuum vessel is preferably set to 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ Torr or less, preferably 1 × 10 ⁻¹⁰ Torr or less. The pressure in the vacuum vessel is 1 × 10 ^-6.5 -1
0 ^-7 Torr is preferable, and 1 × 10 ^-8 Torr or less is particularly preferable. It is preferable to use a vacuum-evacuation device that does not use oil so that the oil generated from the device does not affect the characteristics of the element as the vacuum evacuation device that exhausts the inside of the vacuum vessel to the above-described partial pressure of the organic substance. Specifically, a vacuum exhaust device such as a sorption pump and an ion pump can be used. Further, when the inside of the vacuum vessel is evacuated (particularly during the stabilization process), it is preferable that the entire vacuum vessel is heated so that the organic substance molecules adsorbed on the inner wall of the vacuum vessel and the electron-emitting device are easily evacuated. The vacuum evacuation conditions in the heated state at this time are desirably 5 hours or more at 80 to 200 ° C., but are not particularly limited to these conditions, and various conditions such as the size and shape of the vacuum vessel and the configuration of the electron-emitting device. It changes with.
Note that the partial pressure of the organic substance is determined by measuring the partial pressure of organic molecules having a mass number of 10 to 200 and mainly containing carbon and hydrogen using a mass spectrometer, and integrating the partial pressures.

The atmosphere at the time of driving after the stabilization step is preferably the same as the atmosphere at the end of the stabilization treatment. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. Even if the degree of vacuum itself is slightly reduced, sufficiently stable characteristics can be maintained. By employing such a vacuum atmosphere, the deposition of new carbon or carbon compound on the electron-emitting portion can be suppressed, and as a result, the device current I
f, the emission current Ie is stabilized.

Next, the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described. Various arrangements of the electron emission elements of the electron source substrate used in the image forming apparatus can be adopted. First, a large number of electron-emitting devices arranged in parallel are connected at both ends, a large number of rows of electron-emitting devices are arranged (referred to as a row direction), and the rows are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the wiring (referred to as a column direction). There is a ladder-like arrangement in which electrons from the electron-emitting device are controlled and driven by a control electrode (also called a grid) disposed above the electron-emitting device.

Separately, a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix in the row and column directions, and one of the electrodes of the plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged in the same row is commonly used for the wiring in the row direction. One example is a device in which the electrodes of the plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged in the same column are connected and the other electrode is commonly connected to a wiring in the column direction. This is a so-called simple matrix arrangement.
This simple matrix arrangement will be described in detail below.

FIG. 3 shows an electron source substrate obtained by arranging a plurality of electron-emitting devices in a matrix according to the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In these figures, 7
1 is an electron source substrate, 72 is a row direction wiring, and 73 is a column direction wiring. 74 is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and 75 is a connection.

The m row direction wirings 72 are Dx1, Dx
2,... Dxm, and can be made of a conductive metal or the like. The material, thickness, and width of the wiring are appropriately designed. Dy1, Dy2,... Dyn
And is formed in the same manner as the row direction wiring 72. An interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is provided between the m row-directional wirings 72 and the n column-directional wirings 73 to electrically separate them (m and n are both positive). Integer).

The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is made of SiO ₂ or the like. For example, it is formed in a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the substrate 71 on which the row-directional wiring 72 is formed. , Material and manufacturing method are set. Row direction wiring 7
2 and the column wiring 73 are drawn out as external terminals.

Each pair of electrodes (not shown) constituting the surface conduction electron-emitting device 74 is electrically connected by m row-directional wirings 72 and n column-directional wirings 73 and a connection 75 made of a conductive metal or the like. It is connected to the.

The material forming the wiring 72 and the wiring 73, the material forming the connection 75, and the material forming the pair of element electrodes may be the same or different in some or all of the constituent elements. Good. These materials are appropriately selected, for example, from the above-described materials for the device electrodes. When the material forming the element electrode is the same as the wiring material, the wiring connected to the element electrode can also be called an element electrode.

A scanning signal applying means (not shown) for applying a scanning signal for selecting a row of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 74 arranged in the row direction is connected to the row direction wiring 72. On the other hand, a modulation signal generating means (not shown) for modulating each column of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 74 arranged in the column direction according to an input signal is connected to the column direction wiring 73. The drive voltage applied to each electron-emitting device is supplied as a difference voltage between a scanning signal and a modulation signal applied to the device.

In the above configuration, individual elements can be selected and driven independently using simple matrix wiring. An image forming apparatus configured using such an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement will be described with reference to FIGS. 10, 11, and 12. FIG. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a display panel of the image forming apparatus.
11 is a schematic diagram of a fluorescent film used in the image forming apparatus of FIG. FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an example of a driving circuit for performing display according to an NTSC television signal.

In FIG. 10, reference numeral 71 denotes an electron source substrate on which a plurality of the electron-emitting devices shown in FIG. 1 are arranged, 81 denotes a rear plate on which the electron source substrate 71 is fixed, and 86 denotes a glass substrate.
3 is a face plate having a fluorescent film 84 and a metal back 85 formed on the inner surface. Reference numeral 82 denotes a support frame. The support frame 82 includes a rear plate 81, a face plate 8
6 are connected using frit glass or the like. Reference numeral 88 denotes an envelope constituted by these components, which is fired and sealed at a temperature range of 400 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more in the atmosphere or nitrogen.

Reference numeral 74 corresponds to one element of the surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. Reference numerals 72 and 73 denote a row direction wiring and a column direction wiring connected to each pair of device electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

The envelope 88 includes the face plate 86, the support frame 82, and the rear plate 81 as described above. Since the rear plate 81 is mainly provided for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the electron source substrate 71, if the electron source substrate 71 itself has a sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 81 can be unnecessary. That is, the support frame 82 is directly sealed to the substrate 71, and the face plate 86, the support frame 82 and the substrate 7 are sealed.
1, the envelope 88 may be formed. On the other hand, by providing a support (not shown) called a spacer (atmospheric pressure resistant support member) between the face plate 86 and the rear plate 81, an envelope 88 having sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure is formed. You can also.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a fluorescent film. In the case of monochrome, the fluorescent film can be composed of only a phosphor. In the case of a color fluorescent film, it can be composed of a black member 91 called a black stripe or a black matrix and a fluorescent material 92 depending on the arrangement of the fluorescent materials. The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the color separation between the phosphors 92 of the necessary three primary color phosphors black in the case of color display so that color mixing and the like become inconspicuous, and contrast due to external light reflection. Is to suppress the decrease in the temperature. As a material for the black stripe, other than a commonly used material containing graphite as a main component, any material that transmits and reflects less light can be used.

As a method of applying the phosphor on the glass substrate 83, a precipitation method, a printing method, etc. can be adopted regardless of monochrome or color. Usually, a metal back 85 is provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 84. The purpose of providing the metal back is to improve the brightness by reflecting the light on the inner surface side of the light emitted from the phosphor toward the face plate 86 side, to act as an electrode for applying an electron beam acceleration voltage, The purpose is to protect the phosphor from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the envelope. The metal back performs a smoothing process (usually called “filming”) on the inner surface of the phosphor film after the phosphor film is formed,
Thereafter, it can be manufactured by depositing using A1 or the like.

The face plate 86 further includes a fluorescent film 8
A transparent electrode (not shown) may be provided on the outer surface side (the glass substrate 83 side) of the fluorescent film 84 in order to increase the conductivity of the phosphor film 4. When performing the above-described sealing, in the case of color, it is necessary to make each color phosphor correspond to the electron-emitting device, and sufficient alignment is indispensable.

The image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 10 is manufactured, for example, as follows. The envelope 88 is exhausted through an exhaust pipe (not shown) by an exhaust device that does not use oil, such as an ion pump and a sorption pump, while appropriately heating the envelope 88 in the same manner as in the above-described stabilization step.
After setting the atmosphere to a sufficiently low level of an organic substance with a degree of vacuum of the order of the torr, the sealing is performed. In order to maintain a vacuum degree after the envelope 88 is sealed, a getter process may be performed. This is because the getter disposed at a predetermined position (not shown) in the envelope 88 is heated by heating using resistance heating, high-frequency heating, or the like immediately before or after the envelope 88 is sealed. This is a process for forming a deposited film. The getter is usually composed mainly of Ba, etc.,
For example, a degree of vacuum of 1 × 10−5 or 1 × 10−7 [Torr] is maintained.

Next, an example of the configuration of a drive circuit for performing television display based on NTSC television signals on a display panel configured using electron sources in a simple matrix arrangement will be described with reference to FIG. . In FIG.
101 is an image display panel, 102 is a scanning circuit, 103 is a control circuit, and 104 is a shift register. 105 is a line memory, 106 is a synchronization signal separation circuit, 107 is a modulation signal generator, and Vx and Va are DC voltage sources.

The display panel 101 has terminals Dox1 to Dox
oxm, terminals Doy1 to Doyn, and high voltage terminal Hv
Connected to an external electric circuit via Terminal Dox1
Doxm includes scanning for sequentially driving electron sources provided in the display panel, that is, a group of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix of M rows and N columns one by one (N elements). A signal is applied.

To the terminals Doy1 to Doyn, a modulation signal for controlling the output electron beam of each element of the surface conduction electron-emitting device in one row selected by the scanning signal is applied. The high voltage terminal Hv is supplied with a DC voltage of, for example, 10 K [V] from a DC voltage source Va, which is sufficient to excite the phosphor into an electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device. It is an accelerating voltage for applying energy.

The scanning circuit 102 will be described. This circuit includes M switching elements inside (in the drawing, S1 to Sm are schematically shown). Each switching element selects either the output voltage of the DC voltage source Vx or 0 “V” (ground level),
It is electrically connected to terminals Dox1 to Doxm of the display panel 101. Each of the switching elements S1 to Sm operates based on the control signal Tscan output from the control circuit 103, and can be configured by combining switching elements such as FETs, for example.

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

The control circuit 103 has a function of matching the operation of each unit so that appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. The control circuit 103 generates control signals Tscan, Tsft, and Tmry for each unit based on the synchronization signal Tsync sent from the synchronization signal separation circuit 106.

The synchronizing signal separating circuit 106 is a circuit for separating a synchronizing signal component and a luminance signal component from an NTSC television signal input from the outside, and uses a general frequency separating (filter) circuit or the like. Can be configured. The synchronizing signal separated by the synchronizing signal separating circuit 106 includes a vertical synchronizing signal and a horizontal synchronizing signal, but is shown here as a Tsync signal for convenience of explanation. The luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is referred to as a DATA signal for convenience. The DATA signal is input to the shift register 104.

The shift register 104 is for serially / parallel converting the DATA signal input serially in time series for each line of an image, and is based on a control signal Tsft sent from the control circuit 103. (Ie, the control signal Tsft can be said to be a shift clock of the shift register 104).
The data for one line of the serial / parallel-converted image (corresponding to drive data for N electron-emitting devices) is Id
The shift register 104 outputs N parallel signals of 1 to Idn.

The line memory 105 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a required time only, and stores the contents of Id1 to Idn as appropriate according to a control signal Tmry sent from the control circuit 103. The stored contents are output as Id′1 to Id′n and input to the modulation signal generator 107.

The modulation signal generator 107 outputs the image data Id
The signal source is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in accordance with each of '1 to Id'n, and its output signal is transmitted through the terminals Doy1 to Doyn to the surface conduction electron-emitting device in the display panel 101. Applied to the electron-emitting device.

The electron-emitting device according to the present invention has an emission current I
e has the following basic characteristics. That is, electron emission has a clear threshold voltage Vth, and electron emission occurs only when a voltage equal to or higher than Vth is applied. For a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold, the emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the device. From this, when a pulse-like voltage is applied to this element, for example, when a voltage lower than the electron emission threshold is applied, electron emission does not occur, but when a voltage higher than the electron emission threshold is applied, the electron beam is emitted. Is output. At that time, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled by changing the pulse peak value Vm.
Further, by changing the pulse width Pw, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam.
Therefore, a voltage modulation method, a pulse width modulation method, or the like can be adopted as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device according to the input signal. When performing the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 107 generates a voltage pulse of a fixed length,
It is possible to use a voltage modulation type circuit that appropriately modulates the peak value of a pulse according to input data.

When implementing the pulse width modulation method,
As the modulation signal generator 107, a pulse width modulation type circuit that generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value and appropriately modulates the width of the voltage pulse according to input data can be used.

The shift register 104 and the line memory 10
5 can be either a digital signal type or an analog signal type. This is because the serial / parallel conversion and storage of the image signal may be performed at a predetermined speed.

When the digital signal type is used, it is necessary to convert the output signal DATA of the synchronizing signal separation circuit 106 into a digital signal. For this purpose, an A / D converter may be provided at the output of the synchronization signal separation circuit 106. In connection with this, the line memory 10
Depending on whether the output signal of 5 is a digital signal or an analog signal,
The circuit used for modulation signal generator 107 is slightly different. That is, in the case of the voltage modulation method using a digital signal, for example, a D / A conversion circuit is used as the modulation signal generator 107, and an amplification circuit and the like are added as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 107 includes, for example, a high-speed oscillator, a counter for counting the number of waves output from the oscillator, and a comparator for comparing the output value of the counter with the output value of the memory. (Comparator) is used. If necessary, an amplifier for amplifying the voltage of the pulse width modulated signal output from the comparator to the drive voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be added.

In the case of the voltage modulation method using an analog signal, an amplification circuit using, for example, an operational amplifier can be used as the modulation signal generator 107, and a level shift circuit and the like can be added as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, for example, a voltage-controlled oscillation circuit (VCO) can be employed, and an amplifier for amplifying the voltage up to the drive voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be added as necessary.

In the image display device having such a configuration, the external terminals Dox1 to Dox1 are connected to the respective electron-emitting devices.
By applying a voltage via m, Doy1 to Doyn, electron emission occurs. A high voltage is applied to the metal back 85 or a transparent electrode (not shown) via the high voltage terminal Hv to accelerate the electron beam. The accelerated electrons collide with the fluorescent film 84 and emit light to form an image.

The configuration of the image forming apparatus described here is merely an example, and various modifications are possible based on the technical idea of the present invention. For the input signal, the NTSC system has been described, but the input signal is not limited to this, and PAL, SEC
In addition to the AM method, the T
V signal (for example, high quality T including MUSE method)
V) system can also be adopted.

Next, a ladder-type electron source and an image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG.
FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an electron source having a ladder-type arrangement. 4 and 13, reference numeral 110 denotes an electron source substrate;
Denotes an electron-emitting device. 112 (Dx1 to Dx10)
Is a common wiring for connecting the electron-emitting devices 111. A plurality of electron-emitting devices 111 are arranged on the substrate 110 in parallel in the X direction (this is called an element row). A plurality of the element rows are arranged to constitute an electron source. By applying a drive voltage between the common wires of each element row, each element row can be driven independently. That is, a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold is applied to an element row that wants to emit an electron beam, and a voltage equal to or lower than the electron emission threshold is applied to an element row that does not emit an electron beam. The common wirings Dx2 to Dx9 between the element rows, for example, Dx2 and Dx3 may be the same wiring. Using this electron source, an image forming apparatus can be configured in the same manner as described above with reference to FIG.

In the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, a modulation signal for one line of an image is simultaneously applied to the grid electrode rows in synchronization with sequentially driving (scanning) the element rows one by one. This makes it possible to control the irradiation of each electron beam to the phosphor and display an image one line at a time.

Hereinafter, the image forming apparatus manufactured according to the present invention is not limited to a display device for a television broadcast, a display device such as a video conference system or a computer, and also an image forming device using a photosensitive drum or the like as an optical printer. It can also be used as a forming device.

[0083]

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples. Example 1 FIG. 2 shows an electron source substrate in a case where droplets are applied three times to each element using a droplet applying device 6 having three nozzles arranged at the same interval as the element intervals of the electron source substrate. It is a conceptual diagram showing a manufacturing method. A production example of this electron source substrate will be described.

First, a glass substrate 1 was used as an insulating substrate. This was sufficiently washed with an organic solvent or the like, and then dried in a drying oven at 120 ° C. On this substrate, a Pt film (thickness: 500 °) was formed by photolithography using an electrode having a width of 20 μm.
A pair of device electrodes 2 and 3 having 0 μm and an electrode gap interval of 20 μm were formed at a pitch of 500 μm in the column direction and at a pitch of 700 μm in the row direction. As this wiring, a matrix arrangement as shown in FIG. 3 was employed.

Next, an ink jet head 6 (three nozzles 6a, two nozzles 6b, and three nozzles 6 shown in FIG.
c), three drops of solution 7 were applied to each element. At this time, the droplet 8 after application is almost a perfect circle and has a diameter of about 10
It was 0 μm. As the raw material solution for the droplets, an aqueous solution was used, and an aqueous solution of a palladium acetate-ethanol-amine complex was used. The ink jet head 6 used was of a bubble jet type that generates bubbles in a solution using thermal energy and discharges the solution based on the generation of the bubbles.

As an aqueous solution of a palladium acetate-ethanol-amine complex, polyvinyl alcohol is 0.05% by weight, 2-propanol is 15% by weight, ethylene glycol is 1% by weight, palladium acetate-ethanol-amine complex ( Pd (NH ₂ CH ₂ CH ₂ OH)
₄ (CH ₃ COO) ₂ ) at a palladium weight concentration of 0.1
An aqueous solution dissolved in water so as to have a composition of 5% was used.

The application of droplets to the element portion of the substrate was performed specifically as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 2A, the droplet applying device 6 is positioned in the direction in which the nozzles are arranged at the same intervals as the elements on the substrate, and the head is first driven in the row direction (X direction) to No. 1 nozzle was applied drop by drop on the first line only. Next, after a step of 500 μm in the column direction, the head is driven in the row direction, and
No. 1 droplet is applied to the first line from the nozzle No. 1 (FIG. 2B),
Further, after stepping in the column direction by 500 μm, the head is driven in the row direction, and droplets are applied one by one to the third row from the third nozzle, to the second row from the second nozzle, and to the first row from the first nozzle (FIG. 2 (c)). Then, once in the row direction, 3
The nozzles were applied in three rows, and a total of three drops were applied to all the elements in the plane, one drop from each nozzle.

In the last three rows, the driving in the last row direction is performed only from the first nozzle to the 500th row.
The second drive in the row direction from the end is 499 from the first nozzle.
The third row direction drive from the second nozzle to the 500th row from the second nozzle to the 500th row simultaneously,
Droplets were simultaneously applied to the third row and the 500th row from the 3rd nozzle to the 499th row from the 499th nozzle.

Also, regarding the start and end of the beating,
All three nozzles can always apply droplets. In this case, droplets are applied to regions other than the element at the beginning and end of the ejection. What is necessary is just to set it as a board pattern which does not cause a problem.

Thereafter, by baking at 350 ° C. for 20 minutes to remove organic components, a conductive thin film 4 made of fine particles of palladium oxide (PdO) connecting between a pair of device electrodes was formed. When the resistance value of the conductive thin film 4 was measured,
The average of 000 conductive thin films was 3.2 kΩ, and the coefficient of variation (standard deviation / average) σ / R was 5.2%. Compared with the case where three droplets are applied from one nozzle to each element with three nozzles, first, 25 droplets created by the first nozzle are used.
000 conductive thin films have an average element of 3.1 kΩ, σ /
R is 5.3%, 25,000 conductive thin films prepared by the third nozzle have an average of 3.2 kΩ and σ / R of 5.2%.
The average of 75,000 conductive thin films in the plane is 3.2k
Ω and σ / R were 8.4%, and the method of applying each element from a plurality of nozzles as in the present embodiment was able to suppress the variation lower.

According to this embodiment, droplets can be applied to three rows of elements by one driving in the row direction. Therefore, compared with the case where one nozzle drives three times the number of elements in the row direction, it takes about three minutes. The droplet can be applied in one time of the above. In addition, since droplets are sequentially applied to each element from a plurality of nozzles, it is possible to suppress variations in the discharge amount among the elements without finely adjusting the discharge amount for each nozzle.

In this embodiment, the raw material solution of the droplet is
An aqueous solution of an aqueous solution of a palladium acetate-ethanol-amine complex is used. The droplet applying device 6 generates bubbles in the solution by using thermal energy, and discharges the solution based on the generation of the bubbles. Although a jet type inkjet head was used, the invention is not limited thereto, and a solution using the above-described other complex or a solution of an organic solvent may be used.
A head using piezo is also possible. In this embodiment,
The head side was driven to move the substrate and the head relatively,
It is also possible to apply the liquid droplets by driving the substrate side while fixing the head side, and applying the liquid droplets by driving in the column direction using a liquid droplet applying apparatus in which nozzles are arranged at a pitch of 700 μm in the row direction. Is also possible.

Next, the substrate of the present embodiment on which the conductive thin film 4 was formed was set in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. 17 and evacuated to a vacuum of 10 ^-8 Torr by a vacuum pump. The vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. 17 will be described. FIG. 17 is a schematic view showing an example of a vacuum processing apparatus. This vacuum processing apparatus can perform a forming step, an activation step, and a stabilization step. Also in FIG. 17, the same portions as those shown in FIG. 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those denoted in FIG. In FIG. 17, 17
5 is a vacuum container, and 176 is an exhaust pump. An electron-emitting device is provided in the vacuum container 175. That is,
Reference numeral 1 denotes a base constituting an electron-emitting device, 2 and 3 denote device electrodes, 4 denotes a conductive thin film, and 5 denotes an electron-emitting portion. 17
1 is a power supply for applying a device voltage Vf to the electron-emitting device, 170 is an ammeter for measuring a device current If flowing through the conductive thin film 4 between the device electrodes 2 and 3, and 174 is from an electron-emitting portion of the device. An anode electrode for capturing the emitted emission current Ie. 173 is a high-voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 174, and 172 is an ammeter for measuring an emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission section 5 of the device. Reference numeral 177 denotes an organic gas generation source used when performing the activation step. The exhaust pump 176 was constituted by an ultrahigh vacuum device system including a turbo pump, a dry pump, an ion pump, and the like. The entire vacuum processing apparatus provided with the electron source shown here is powered by a heater (not shown).
Can be heated to 0 ° C.

The above-described forming step was performed in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. When current was applied between the device electrodes 2 and 3, a crack was formed at the portion of the conductive thin film 4. The voltage waveform of the energization forming is a pulse waveform, and the pulse peak value is 0.
A voltage pulse increasing from V in 0.1 V steps was applied. The pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform are 1 m each
The rectangular wave was set to 10 msec. The end of the energization forming process was such that the resistance value of the conductive thin film was 1 MΩ or more.

FIG. 18 shows a forming waveform used in this embodiment. A voltage is applied to one of the device electrodes 2 and 3 with one of the electrodes at a low potential and the other at a high potential. The element after the forming was subjected to a process called an activation step. The activation step is a step in which the element current If and the emission current Ie are significantly changed by forming carbon and a carbon compound in the high-resistance portion formed by the forming.

In the activation step, acetone gas was introduced at 10 ^-3 Torr into the vacuum processing apparatus shown in FIG.
The application of a rectangular bipolar pulse having a voltage of 5 V, a pulse width of 1 msec, and a pulse interval of 10 msec was repeated for 20 minutes.

FIG. 19 shows a pulse waveform used in the activation step. In this embodiment, the low and high potentials are applied to the device electrodes 2 and 3 alternately at every pulse interval.

Subsequently, a stabilizing step was performed. The stabilization step is a step of exhausting an organic gas present in the atmosphere in the vacuum vessel or the like, suppressing new deposition of carbon or a carbon compound in the electron emission portion, and stabilizing the device current If and the emission current Ie. The whole vacuum vessel was heated to 250 ° C., and the organic substance molecules adsorbed on the inner wall of the vacuum vessel and the electron-emitting device were exhausted. At this time, the degree of vacuum was 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ Torr. Thus, an electron source having a surface conduction electron-emitting device group was completed.

By applying a plurality of droplets to one element by the method described in the first embodiment, the application time can be shortened, and the variation in the application amount can be suppressed to be low. An electron source substrate using a surface conduction electron-emitting device having the above-mentioned electron emission characteristics could be manufactured.

In the present invention, since one droplet is applied to a given portion a plurality of times, the time between the application of the droplet and the application of the next droplet is short. Too much,
In some cases, the spread of the liquid droplets at the applied portion may exceed an allowable range.

Therefore, the minimum time interval of the droplet application may be determined in consideration of the allowable range of the spread. More preferably, at the time of applying the next droplet, it is desirable that the droplet applied before is sufficiently dry. The time involved should be at least about 2 seconds.

Example 2 Using an electron source substrate (before forming processing) prepared by the same manufacturing method as in Example 1, a face plate 86, a supporting frame 82 and a rear plate 81 as shown in FIG. An envelope was formed. After that, the inside is evacuated, forming, activating, and stabilizing treatments are performed in the same manner as in Example 1, and after performing vacuum sealing, NT as shown in FIG.
An image forming apparatus having a driving circuit for performing television display based on an SC television signal was manufactured.

When the luminance variation of the image forming apparatus manufactured in this example was measured, it was 5.7% at 75000 pixels.
(Standard deviation of luminance / average luminance). On the other hand, as compared with Example 1, the brightness variation of the image forming apparatus manufactured using the electron source substrate manufactured by applying three drops from one nozzle on each element on the substrate with three nozzles was 9.2. %
Thus, the present example was able to suppress the luminance variation more. According to the method described in this embodiment, an image forming apparatus with low luminance variation can be manufactured in a short time.

[0104]

According to the invention of the present application, it is possible to suppress a variation in the amount of applied material when the material is applied from a plurality of output units. Further, it is possible to shorten the time for applying the material as compared with the case where the material is applied by a single output unit. Therefore, the throughput and quality of manufacturing an electron source having an electron emitting portion are improved. In addition, lower prices can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of a droplet applying method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view of a droplet applying method according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a matrix arrangement type electron source substrate that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a ladder arrangement type electron source substrate that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view and a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating an example of an inkjet head that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example of an inkjet head that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a voltage waveform in an energization forming process that can be employed in manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a matrix arrangement type electron source substrate that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a display panel of an image forming apparatus using matrix wiring that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a fluorescent film used in the display panel of FIG.

FIG. 12 shows an NTS that can be used in the image forming apparatus of the present invention.
It is a block diagram which shows an example of the drive circuit for performing a display according to the television signal of C system.

FIG. 13 is a schematic view showing an electron source substrate using ladder-type wiring which can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a conventional droplet application.

FIG. 15 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 16 is a schematic plan view of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 17 shows a vacuum processing apparatus used in Example 1.

FIG. 18 is an energization forming waveform used in Example 1.

FIG. 19 is a pulse waveform used in the activation step of the first embodiment.

[Description of Signs] 1: substrate, 2, 3: element electrode, 4: conductive thin film, 5: electron emitting portion, 6: droplet applying device, 7: droplet, 8: droplet after landing, 61: Electron source substrate before conductive thin film formation, 71: electron source substrate, 72: row direction wiring, 73: column direction wiring, 7
4: surface conduction electron-emitting device, 75: connection, 81: rear plate, 82: support frame, 83: glass substrate, 84: fluorescent film, 85: metal back, 86: face plate,
87: high voltage terminal, 88: envelope, 91: black member, 9
2: phosphor, 101: display panel, 102: scanning circuit,
103: control circuit, 104: shift register, 105:
Line memory, 106: synchronization signal separation circuit, 107: modulation signal generator, Vx, Va: DC voltage source, 110: electron source substrate, 111: electron emission element, 112 (Dx1 to Dx
10): a common wiring for wiring the electron-emitting device;
171, a power supply for applying the device electrode Vf to the electron-emitting device; 172: an ammeter for measuring an emission current Ie flowing between the electron-emitting portion 5 and the anode electrode 174;
A high-voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 174,
174: emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission portion of the device
Electrode for capturing 175, vacuum device, 1
76: exhaust pump, 177: organic gas generation source, 211:
Substrate of bubble jet type droplet applying apparatus, 222: heat generating section, 223: support substrate, 224: liquid flow path, 225:
First nozzle, 226: second nozzle, 227: ink flow path spacing wall, 228, 229: ink liquid chamber, 231: first glass nozzle, 232: second glass nozzle, 233:
Cylindrical piezo, 234: filter, 235, 236:
Ink supply tube, 237: electric signal input terminal, 2
210, 2211: ink liquid supply port, 2212: ceiling plate.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Mitsutoshi Hasegawa 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc.

Claims (22)

[Claims] 1. A method for manufacturing an electron source having a plurality of electron-emitting portions, comprising: a plurality of output portions each outputting substantially the same material for forming the electron-emitting portion;
Manufacturing the electron source, wherein the application of the material from each of the output units is performed at least once for each of a plurality of application targets to which a material for forming the electron emission unit is applied. Method. 2. The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1, wherein the application of the material from the plurality of output units is performed in the same combination on each of the application sections. 3. The application of material from a different said output section,
3. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the method is performed substantially simultaneously on different given parts. 4. The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1, wherein the application of the material is performed while moving a relative position between the output section and the applied section. 5. A method of manufacturing an electron source having a plurality of electron emitting portions arranged in a row, wherein the plurality of electron emitting portions arranged in a row are arranged with respect to a given portion located in the row. A material applying device, in which a plurality of output units are arranged in the column direction corresponding to the applied unit interval in the column direction, relative to the applied unit. A method of manufacturing the electron source, wherein substantially the same material is applied from the plurality of output sections to each of the sections to be applied while being moved in the column direction. 6. The electron source has a plurality of electron-emitting portions located in a matrix, the row direction is non-parallel to the column direction, and the material applying device is provided with the applied portion. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 5, wherein the material is applied to each of the applied parts while moving in the row direction relative to the object. 7. Each time the relative position between the material applying device and the applied portion is moved in the column direction, the material is applied while sequentially moving in the row direction, and the material is applied in the row direction. 7. A material is applied to each applied portion.
3. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1. 8. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 5, wherein the number of times that the material is applied to one of the applied portions is equal to or more than the number of the output portions. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the application of the material is performed in a state where the material is in a liquid state. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the application of the material is performed by an ink jet method. 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the application of the material is performed by a method of generating bubbles in the material using thermal energy and discharging the material based on the generation of the bubbles. Method of manufacturing electron source. 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the application of the material is performed by discharging the material using a piezoelectric element.
A method for manufacturing the electron source according to any one of the above. 13. The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1, wherein said electron-emitting portion is provided between device electrodes. 14. The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1, further comprising a step of forming the electron emitting portion by forming a current by applying a current to a material applied to the applied portion. 15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the material includes a conductive material. 16. An electron source manufactured by the method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1. Description: 17. A method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus, comprising: arranging a member on which an image is formed by electrons emitted from an electron emitting portion of the electron source in opposition to the electron source according to claim 16. A method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. 18. An image forming apparatus manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 17. 19. An apparatus for manufacturing an electron source having a plurality of electron-emitting portions, comprising: a plurality of output portions each of which outputs substantially the same material for forming the electron-emitting portions; The output of the material is controlled such that the application of the material from each of the output units is performed at least once for each of the plurality of applied parts to which the material for forming the electron emission unit is applied. An electron source manufacturing apparatus, comprising: 20. The apparatus for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 19, wherein said control means has means for relatively moving said output section and said given section. 21. An apparatus for manufacturing an electron source for manufacturing an electron source having a plurality of electron emitting portions arranged in a row, wherein the plurality of electron emitting portions arranged in a row are arranged in the row. A material applying device which is formed by applying a material to an applied portion, wherein a material applying device having a plurality of output sections arranged in the column direction corresponding to the applied portion interval in the column direction; Moving means for moving in the column direction relative to the section, and the moving means moves the relative movement from the plurality of output sections to each of the applied sections. An apparatus for manufacturing an electron source, wherein a material of the same quality is provided. 22. The electron source has a plurality of electron-emitting portions located in a matrix, the row direction is non-parallel to the column direction, and the moving means operates the material applying device. ,
22. The apparatus for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 21, wherein the apparatus can be moved in the row direction relative to the applied part.