EP0354750B1 - Appareil de visualisation d'image of procédé de fabrication dudit appareil - Google Patents

Appareil de visualisation d'image of procédé de fabrication dudit appareil Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0354750B1
EP0354750B1 EP19890308020 EP89308020A EP0354750B1 EP 0354750 B1 EP0354750 B1 EP 0354750B1 EP 19890308020 EP19890308020 EP 19890308020 EP 89308020 A EP89308020 A EP 89308020A EP 0354750 B1 EP0354750 B1 EP 0354750B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
display apparatus
image display
electrodes
control electrodes
cold
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP19890308020
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0354750A3 (en
EP0354750A2 (fr
Inventor
Masanori Watanabe
Michio Okajima
Kazuyuki Sakiyama
Kinzou Nonomura
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Panasonic Holdings Corp
Original Assignee
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd filed Critical Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd
Publication of EP0354750A2 publication Critical patent/EP0354750A2/fr
Publication of EP0354750A3 publication Critical patent/EP0354750A3/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0354750B1 publication Critical patent/EP0354750B1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J1/00—Details of electrodes, of magnetic control means, of screens, or of the mounting or spacing thereof, common to two or more basic types of discharge tubes or lamps
    • H01J1/02—Main electrodes
    • H01J1/30—Cold cathodes, e.g. field-emissive cathode
    • H01J1/304—Field-emissive cathodes
    • H01J1/3042—Field-emissive cathodes microengineered, e.g. Spindt-type
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J31/00—Cathode ray tubes; Electron beam tubes
    • H01J31/08—Cathode ray tubes; Electron beam tubes having a screen on or from which an image or pattern is formed, picked up, converted, or stored
    • H01J31/10—Image or pattern display tubes, i.e. having electrical input and optical output; Flying-spot tubes for scanning purposes
    • H01J31/12—Image or pattern display tubes, i.e. having electrical input and optical output; Flying-spot tubes for scanning purposes with luminescent screen
    • H01J31/123—Flat display tubes
    • H01J31/125—Flat display tubes provided with control means permitting the electron beam to reach selected parts of the screen, e.g. digital selection
    • H01J31/127—Flat display tubes provided with control means permitting the electron beam to reach selected parts of the screen, e.g. digital selection using large area or array sources, i.e. essentially a source for each pixel group

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a thin image display apparatus using a plurality of cold cathodes.
  • a number of thin display apparatuses comprising a plurality of cold cathodes arranged two-dimensinally for displaying an image using X-Y matrix electrodes have been disclosed in the related art (cf. EP-A-0172089).
  • Such a known thin display apparatus as shown in Fig. 5A, has a substrate with the surface thereof formed of a plurality of cold cathodes of field emission type in a density as high as 106 to 107 units/cm2.
  • these cathodes are formed on an X electrode 22 as one part of the matrix electrodes on the surface of a substrate 21, on which a Y electrode 24 is formed as the other part of the matrix electrodes together with an insulating layer 23.
  • a minute aperture 25 one »m to 1.5 »m in diameter is formed in the Y electrode at each inter-section of the X-Y electrodes, and the insulating layer 23 is etched.
  • a substrate assembly thus formed is rotated, while a high melting point metal such as tungsten or molybdenum is diagonally deposited by evaporation thereby to form a conical cold-cathode tip 26.
  • the metal layer on the surface not wanted is removed to produce a plurality of electron sources of cold cathodes of thin film field emission type.
  • These X-Y matrix electron sources are arranged in opposed relationship with a face plate 27 coated with a phosphor material 28 to configure an image display apparatus.
  • This image display apparatus which comprises as many as more than 1000 minute electron sources in each pixel, generally has a uniform characteristic in spite of possible variations in the characteristics of individual minute electron sources, thus producing a comparatively uniform brightness over the whole screen.
  • the present invention eliminates these disadvantages by providing a thin image display apparatus comprising an insulating substrate having two-dimensionally arranged electron source units controlled by X-Y matrix control electrodes and a face plate coated with a phosphor material and arranged in opposed relationship with the insulating substrate, wherein the said electron source unit corresponding to each intersection of X-Y matrix control electrodes includes a cold planar field emission cathode connected to an X-control electrode and a planar gate electrode connected to a Y-control electrode opposed to the cold cathode in the same plane, the electron source units being formed in the part of the substrate surface not occupied by the X- and/or Y- control electrodes.
  • a high electric field of approximately 107 V/cm is formed at the forward end of the cold cathode and electrons are emitted. A part of the electrons thus emitted enters the anode directly. Another part of the electrons flow into the opposite gate electrode thereby to generate secondary electrons in the surface of the gate electrode.
  • the secondary electrons thus generated are accelerated by a positive voltage (hereinafter called the "anode voltage") applied to the phosphor face of the opposed face plate and bombarded on the phosphor material to emit light.
  • the apparatus according to the present invention in which a plurality of cold cathodes of planar field emission type are formed on the surface of an insulating substrate defined by X-control electrodes and Y-control electrodes, has the advantages (1) that the electric capacity between the electrodes is extremely reduced (to 1/20 to 1/30 of the related art), (2) that the production cost is low since cold cathodes and gate electrodes are capable of being formed at the same time, and (3) that crosstalks are very small.
  • Fig. 1 is a partial sectional view of an image display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the essential parts of an electron source section according to the same embodiment.
  • Fig. 3 is a plan view schematically showing an electrode arrangement according to the same embodiment.
  • Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the essential parts of two-dimensional electron sources as configured according to another embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figs. 5A and 5B are a perspective view and an enlarged perspective view of the essential parts respectively of a matrix display apparatus of electric field emission type related to the present invention.
  • FIG. 1 A partial sectional view of an image display apparatus according to the present invention is shown in Fig. 1.
  • the image display apparatus comprises a glass substrate 1 having an electron source for electric field emission at each intersection of X-Y matrix electrodes, and a face plate 4 coated with phosphor material in opposed relationship with the glass substrate 1.
  • the glass substrate 1 has cold cathode 2 and gate electrodes 3 arranged face to face on the surface.
  • a positive voltage of, say, 100 V is applied to the gate electrodes 3 with respect to the cold cathodes 2
  • electron beams 7 are emitted.
  • a part of electrons thus emitted flows into the gate electrodes 3, while the other part is accelerated by a high voltage of, say, 500 V applied to an anode 5 and hits a phosphor surface 6 thereby to cause the phosphor to emit light.
  • FIG. 2 An enlarged perspective view of an electron source is shown in Fig. 2.
  • a multiplicity of sawtoothed protrusions 8 are formed in the surface of the cold cathode 2 opposed to the gate electrode 3. Further, the surface of the glass substrate 1 has a recess 9 between the cold cathode 2 and the gate electrode 3 to facilitate formation of a high electric field at the forward end of the cold cathode 2.
  • Fig. 3 shows a part of the electrode arrangement.
  • X-control electrodes X1, X2, X3, ... X n and Y-control electrodes Y1, Y2, Y3, ... Y n make up matrix control electrodes.
  • a plurality of electron sources 13 are formed on the substrate surface defined by these control electrodes.
  • Each electron source 13, which is configured as shown in Fig. 2, includes a cold cathode 2 connected to an X-control electrode and a gate electrode 3 connected to a Y-control electrode.
  • This construction of the electron sources 13 not overlaid on the X- or Y-control electrodes is a reduction of 1/20 to 1/30 of the area required by the prior art for superposing the electrodes on each other through an insulating layer. As a result, the probability of short-circuiting between electrodes due to a pinhole in the insulating layer and the electric capacity are decreased to 1/20 to 1/30.
  • a film of a metal as nickel is deposited by evaporation to the thickness of 0.5 »m over the whole surface of the glass substrate, and formed in stripes by photolithography.
  • the electrodes are formed to the width of 0.1 mm.
  • An SiO2 film as thick as 1 »m is deposited as an insulating layer by the CVD process, and a part of the insulating film over an X-control electrode is removed to form a window for allowing connection to a cold cathode.
  • a tungsten film is deposited by evaporation to a thickness of 0.2 »m and a cold cathode 2, a gate electrode 3 and a Y-control electrode are formed simultaneously by photolithography.
  • the Y-control electrode is made as wide as 0.5 mm.
  • the protrusions of the cold cathode are set at an interval of 2 »m from the gate electrode. There are approximately 500 protrusions 8 per electron source unit (which correspond to one pixel). As the next process, the whole substrate is immersed in a buffer etching solution to form a recess 9 at the forward end of the cold cathode as shown in Fig. 2.
  • the electrode material for forming an X-control electrode is not limited to nickel metal, but may preferably take the form of aluminum, titanium, gold-chromium alloy or other metal material which has a high adhesion with the glass substrate and is low in resistivity. Also, a silver electrode or a gold electrode may be formed by a screen printing process or the like.
  • the SiO2 film used as an insulating layer may be replaced by another material of high insulation characteristic such as SiN, SiO or Al2O3. Instead of tungsten, on the other hand, tantalum, molybdenum or an alloy or carbide thereof having a high melting point may be used as the material of the cold cathode with equal effect.
  • a glass substrate having electron sources units 13 in the number of 480 x 660 arranged in matrix are disposed in opposed relations with a face plate coated with a ZnO:Zn phosphor material at intervals of 0.3 mm, and the surrounding parts are sealed with frit glass of a low melting point.
  • the resulting assembly is evacuated to produce an image display apparatus with a screen size of 25,4cm (10 inches).
  • the three primary colors of red, green and blue may be arranged in stripes to produce a color image.
  • An electrode configuration of a two-dimensional electron source according to another embodiment is shown as a perspective view in Fig. 4.
  • Stripe electrodes 10 having a width of 0.1 mm and thickness of 3 »m are formed by the screen printing method on the surface of the glass substrate 1.
  • frit glass of low melting point is laid to a thickness of 1 »m by screen printing at intersections of the stripe electrodes 10 and Y-control electrodes to form an insulating layer 12.
  • Y-control electrodes 11 having a width of 0.05 mm and thickness of 1 »m are formed in stripes.
  • a cold cathode material WSi2 is formed by sputtering over the whole surface, and cold cathodes 2 and gate electrodes 3 are formed at the same time by photolithograhy.
  • the cold cathodes 2 and the gate electrodes 3 are engaged in the form of comb teeth engaged with each other, and the sides of these electrodes opposed to each other are arranged in parallel to the X-control electrodes (perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the Y-control electrodes).
  • This arrangement causes emitted electron beams to widen somewhat along the longitudinal direction of the Y-control electrodes but not substantially along the perpendicular direction thereof.
  • electron beams are prevented from hitting the phosphor material corresponding to adjacent Y-control electrodes, so that what are called crosstalks rarely occur, thus producing a high-definition image display apparatus.
  • color mixing is effectively prevented in a color image display apparatus configured by three-color phosphor materials in stripes.
  • a glass substrate 1 making up a two-dimensional electron source and a face plate coated with a phosphor material are sealed with each other in opposed relations and evacuated in the same manner as in the first embodiment thereby to produce an image display apparatus, which is capable of displaying a clear image substantially free of crosstalks like the first embodiment.

Claims (7)

  1. Appareil de visualisation d'image comprenant un substrat isolant (1) ayant des sources élémentaires d'électrons disposées selon deux dimensions et commandées par des électrodes (10, 11) de commande matricielles X-Y, et une dalle (4) recouverte d'une matière luminophore et disposée en face du substrat isolant, dans lequel la source élémentaire d'électrons correspondant à chaque intersection des électrodes de commande matricielles X-Y comporte une cathode froide plane (2) à émission de champ connectée à une électrode de commande X et une électrode de grille plane (3) connectée à une électrode de commande Y et disposée en ragard de la cathode froide dans le même plan, les sources élémentaires d'électrons étant formées dans la partie de la surface du substrat non occupée par les électrodes de commande X et/ou Y.
  2. Appareil de visualisation d'image selon la revendication 1, dans lequel une multiplicité de saillies (8) est formée sur la partie de la cathode froide qui fait face à l'électrode de grille.
  3. Appareil de visualisation d'image selon la revendication 1, dans lequel au moins une partie du substrat isolant (1) est retirée aux extrémités avant des saillies de la cathode froide.
  4. Appareil de visualisation d'image selon l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 3, dans lequel les cathodes froides et les électrodes de grille sont formées à la manière de dents de peigne imbriquées les unes dans les autres.
  5. Appareil de visualisation d'image selon la revendication 4, dans lequel les côtés des électrodes qui se font mutuellement face sont perpendiculaires à la direction longitudinale de l'électrode de commande Y.
  6. Procédé de fabrication d'un appareil de visualisation d'image selon la revendication 1, comprenant les étapes consistant à former des électrodes de commande X sous forme de bandes à la surface d'un substrat isolant, à former une couche isolante et à former des cathodes froides, des électrodes de grille et des électrodes de commande Y en même temps par photolithographie.
  7. Procédé de fabrication d'un appareil de visualisation d'image selon la revendication 1, comprenant les étapes consistant à former des électrodes de commande X et des électrodes de commande Y, à déposer une pellicule de matières de cathode froide sur toute la surface, et à former des cathodes froides et des électrodes de grille simultanément par photolithographie.
EP19890308020 1988-08-08 1989-08-07 Appareil de visualisation d'image of procédé de fabrication dudit appareil Expired - Lifetime EP0354750B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP197411/88 1988-08-08
JP63197411A JP2623738B2 (ja) 1988-08-08 1988-08-08 画像表示装置

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0354750A2 EP0354750A2 (fr) 1990-02-14
EP0354750A3 EP0354750A3 (en) 1990-10-17
EP0354750B1 true EP0354750B1 (fr) 1994-07-20

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Family Applications (1)

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EP19890308020 Expired - Lifetime EP0354750B1 (fr) 1988-08-08 1989-08-07 Appareil de visualisation d'image of procédé de fabrication dudit appareil

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0354750B1 (fr)
JP (1) JP2623738B2 (fr)
CA (1) CA1323901C (fr)
DE (1) DE68916875T2 (fr)

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JP2981751B2 (ja) * 1989-03-23 1999-11-22 キヤノン株式会社 電子線発生装置及びこれを用いた画像形成装置、並びに電子線発生装置の製造方法
US5217401A (en) * 1989-07-07 1993-06-08 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Method of manufacturing a field-emission type switching device
EP0500543A4 (en) * 1989-09-29 1992-11-19 Motorola, Inc. Flat panel display using field emission devices
US5267884A (en) * 1990-01-29 1993-12-07 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Microminiature vacuum tube and production method
JP2968014B2 (ja) * 1990-01-29 1999-10-25 三菱電機株式会社 微小真空管及びその製造方法
JP2656843B2 (ja) * 1990-04-12 1997-09-24 双葉電子工業株式会社 表示装置
JP2553377Y2 (ja) * 1990-05-01 1997-11-05 双葉電子工業株式会社 蛍光表示装置
JP2634295B2 (ja) * 1990-05-17 1997-07-23 双葉電子工業株式会社 電子放出素子
JP2656851B2 (ja) * 1990-09-27 1997-09-24 工業技術院長 画像表示装置
JP2601085B2 (ja) * 1990-11-28 1997-04-16 松下電器産業株式会社 機能性電子放出素子およびその製造方法
US5075595A (en) * 1991-01-24 1991-12-24 Motorola, Inc. Field emission device with vertically integrated active control
JP2601091B2 (ja) * 1991-02-22 1997-04-16 松下電器産業株式会社 電子放出素子
US5140219A (en) * 1991-02-28 1992-08-18 Motorola, Inc. Field emission display device employing an integral planar field emission control device
GB2259184B (en) * 1991-03-06 1995-01-18 Sony Corp Flat image-display apparatus
US5382867A (en) * 1991-10-02 1995-01-17 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Field-emission type electronic device
AU655677B2 (en) 1991-10-08 1995-01-05 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Electron-emitting device, and electron beam-generating apparatus and image-forming apparatus employing the device
JP2669749B2 (ja) * 1992-03-27 1997-10-29 工業技術院長 電界放出素子
US5455597A (en) * 1992-12-29 1995-10-03 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Image-forming apparatus, and designation of electron beam diameter at image-forming member in image-forming apparatus
CA2112431C (fr) * 1992-12-29 2000-05-09 Masato Yamanobe Source d'electrons et appareil d'imagerie et methode d'alimentation de cet appareil
CA2112733C (fr) * 1993-01-07 1999-03-30 Naoto Nakamura Canon electronique et appareil d'imagerie et leurs methodes d'alimentation
JP3599765B2 (ja) * 1993-04-20 2004-12-08 株式会社東芝 陰極線管装置
US6121942A (en) * 1993-12-22 2000-09-19 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Image-forming apparatus with correction in accordance with positional deviations between electron-emitting devices and image-forming members
JPH07254354A (ja) * 1994-01-28 1995-10-03 Toshiba Corp 電界電子放出素子、電界電子放出素子の製造方法およびこの電界電子放出素子を用いた平面ディスプレイ装置
US5831387A (en) 1994-05-20 1998-11-03 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Image forming apparatus and a method for manufacturing the same
JP3062990B2 (ja) * 1994-07-12 2000-07-12 キヤノン株式会社 電子放出素子及びそれを用いた電子源並びに画像形成装置の製造方法と、電子放出素子の活性化装置
US6246168B1 (en) 1994-08-29 2001-06-12 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Electron-emitting device, electron source and image-forming apparatus as well as method of manufacturing the same
AU721994C (en) * 1995-03-13 2002-12-05 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Electron-emitting device and electron source and image- forming apparatus using the same as well as method of manufacturing the same
KR100211945B1 (ko) * 1995-12-20 1999-08-02 정선종 광게이트 트랜지스터를 이용한 mux 및 demux 회로
JP3647436B2 (ja) 2001-12-25 2005-05-11 キヤノン株式会社 電子放出素子、電子源、画像表示装置、及び電子放出素子の製造方法
JP2009272097A (ja) 2008-05-02 2009-11-19 Canon Inc 電子源及び画像表示装置
JP2010262898A (ja) 2009-05-11 2010-11-18 Canon Inc 電子線装置及び画像表示装置

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Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0354750A3 (en) 1990-10-17
DE68916875T2 (de) 1995-01-12
DE68916875D1 (de) 1994-08-25
CA1323901C (fr) 1993-11-02
JPH0246636A (ja) 1990-02-16
EP0354750A2 (fr) 1990-02-14
JP2623738B2 (ja) 1997-06-25

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