JP2000149768A - Electron beam device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To form a capacitor on a substrate so as not to impose a high electric field on the substrate. SOLUTION: In an electron beam device equipped with a first substrate having a plurality of electron sources disposed thereon and a second substrate 1017 provided with a first conductive film 1019 to which a voltage is applied for accelerating electrons emitted from the electron sources, a capacitance is developed by providing a second conductive film 2 on the second substrate 1017 so as to face the first conductive film with an insulation film 3 between. Or else, a third substrate is disposed on the opposite surface of the second substrate to the side where the first conductive film is disposed, with an air gap interposed between them, and a capacitance is developed by providing a conductive film on each of confronting surfaces of the second and third substrates.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an electron beam apparatus and an image forming apparatus such as an image display apparatus to which the electron beam apparatus is applied.

[0002]

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

[0003] As a surface conduction type emission element, for example,
MIElinson, Radio Eng. Electron Phys., 10, 1290, (196
5) and other examples described later are known.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which an electron is emitted when a current flows in a small-area thin film formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. As this surface conduction type emission element, Sn described by Elinson et al.
In addition to those using O ₂ thin films, those using Au thin films [G.
Dittmer: “Thin Solid Films”, 9,317 (1972)]
₂ O ₃ / SnO ₂ thin film [M. Hartwell and C.
G. Fonstad: “IEEE Trans. ED Conf.”, 519 (1975)], and those using carbon thin films [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, 22 (1983)], etc., have been reported. .

FIG. 18 shows a plan view of a device by M. Hartwell et al. As a typical example of the device configuration of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices. In the figure, reference numeral 3001 denotes a substrate, and reference numeral 3004 denotes a conductive thin film made of a metal oxide formed by sputtering. The conductive thin film 3004 is formed in an H-shaped planar shape as shown. The conductive thin film 3
An electron emission portion 3005 is formed by performing an energization process called energization forming described later on 004. The interval L in the figure is 0.5 to 1 [mm], and W is 0.1 [m].
m]. In addition, for convenience of illustration, the electron emitting portion 3005 is shown in a rectangular shape at the center of the conductive thin film 3004, but this is a schematic one, and the position and shape of the actual electron emitting portion are faithfully represented. Not necessarily.

In the above-described surface conduction electron-emitting device including the device by M. Hartwell et al., An electron emission portion 3005 is formed by performing an energization process called energization forming on the conductive thin film 3004 before electron emission. Was common. That is, energization forming means that a constant DC voltage is applied to both ends of the conductive thin film 3004,
Alternatively, a current is applied by applying a direct current voltage that is boosted at a very slow rate of, for example, about 1 V / min, and locally destroys, deforms, or alters the conductive thin film 3004, and the electrons in an electrically high resistance state That is, forming the emission part 3005. Note that a crack is generated in a part of the conductive thin film 3004 that is locally broken, deformed, or altered. After the energization forming, the conductive thin film 3004
When an appropriate voltage is applied to the above, electrons are emitted in the vicinity of the crack.

An example of the FE type is, for example, WPDyke &
WWDolan, “Field emission”, Advance in Electron Ph
ysics, 8, 89 (1956) or CASpindt, “Physica
lproperties of thin-film field emission cathodes w
ith molybdenium cones ", J. Appl. Phys., 47, 5248 (1976)
Etc. are known.

FIG. 19 shows a cross-sectional view of the above-mentioned device by CASpindt et al. As a typical example of the FE-type device configuration.
In the figure, reference numeral 3010 denotes a substrate; 3011, an emitter wiring made of a conductive material; 3012, an emitter cone;
013 is an insulating layer, and 3014 is a gate electrode. The present device applies an appropriate voltage between the emitter cone 3012 and the gate electrode 3014, thereby forming the emitter cone 3
Field emission is caused from the tip of the 012.

As another element configuration of the FE type, FIG.
There is also an example in which the emitter and the gate electrode are arranged on the substrate almost in parallel with the substrate plane, instead of the laminated structure as shown in FIG.

[0010] Examples of the MIM type include, for example, C.I.
A. Mead, “Operation of tunnel-emission Devices, J. Ap
pl.Phys., 32, 646 (1961). FIG. 20 shows a typical example of the MIM type device configuration. The figure is a sectional view, in which 3020 is a substrate, 3021 is a lower electrode made of a metal, 3022 is a thin insulating layer having a thickness of about 100 Å, and 3023 is an upper layer made of a metal having a thickness of about 80 to 300 Å. Electrodes. MI
In the M-type, by applying an appropriate voltage between the upper electrode 3023 and the lower electrode 3021, electrons are emitted from the surface of the upper electrode 3023.

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

For this reason, research for applying the cold cathode device has been actively conducted.

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

As for the application of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, for example, an image forming apparatus such as an image display device and an image recording device, a charged beam source, and the like have been studied. In particular, as an application to an image display device, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat.No. 5,066,883, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2-257551 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. An image display device using a combination of a phosphor and a phosphor that emits light by irradiation with an electron beam has been studied. An image display device using a combination of a surface conduction electron-emitting device and a phosphor is expected to have better characteristics than other conventional image display devices. For example, compared to a liquid crystal display device that has become widespread in recent years, it can be said that it is superior in that it does not require a backlight because it is a self-luminous type and that it has a wide viewing angle.

A method of driving a plurality of FE types in a row is disclosed in, for example, US Pat. No. 4,904,895 by the present applicant. As an example of applying the FE type to an image display device, for example, a flat panel display device [R. Meyer: “Recent Development on Micr” reported by R. Meyer et al.
o-tips Display at LETI ", Tech.Digest of 4th Int.Vac
uum Microelectronics Conf., Nagahama, pp. 6-9 (199
1)] is known.

An example in which a number of MIM types are arranged and applied to an image display device is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-55-1990 by the present applicant.
No. 738.

Among the image forming apparatuses using the above-described electron-emitting devices, a flat display device having a small depth has been attracting attention as a replacement for a cathode-ray tube display device because of its space saving and light weight. .

FIG. 21 is a perspective view showing an example of a display panel portion forming a flat-panel image display device, in which a part of the panel is cut away to show the internal structure.

In the figure, 3115 is a rear plate, 3116
Denotes a side wall, 3117 denotes a face plate, and a rear plate 3115, a side wall 3116, and a face plate 3
117 forms an envelope (airtight container) for maintaining the inside of the display panel in a vacuum. Rear plate 3
A substrate 3111 is fixed to the substrate 115, and N × M cold cathode elements 3112 are formed on the substrate 3111 (N and M are positive integers of 2 or more, and a target display It is set appropriately according to the number of pixels.) Further, as shown in FIG. 21, the N × M cold cathode elements 3112 include M row direction wirings 3113 and N column direction wirings 31.
14. The part constituted by the substrate 3111, the cold cathode element 3112, the row direction wiring 3113 and the column direction wiring 3114 is called a multi electron beam source. Further, a row direction wiring 3113 and a column direction wiring 311
An insulating layer (not shown) is formed between the two wirings at least at the intersections of 4, so that electrical insulation is maintained.

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

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

The inside of the airtight container is 10 ^-6 Torr.
r, and as the display area of the image display device increases, means for preventing deformation or destruction of the rear plate 3115 and the face plate 3117 due to a pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the airtight container is required. . Rear plate 3115 and face plate 31
The method of increasing the thickness of not only increases the weight of the image display device, but also causes image distortion and parallax when viewed from an oblique direction. On the other hand, in FIG. 21, a structural support (called a spacer or a rib) 31 made of a relatively thin glass plate and supporting the atmospheric pressure is used.
20 are provided. In this manner, the distance between the substrate 3111 on which the multi-beam electron source is formed and the face plate 3117 on which the fluorescent film 3118 is formed is usually kept at a sub-millimeter to several millimeters. ing.

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

[0024]

However, when a multi-electron beam source using a cold cathode device is applied to an actual image forming apparatus, the following problems may occur.

When a multi-electron beam source using a cold cathode device is applied to an actual image forming apparatus, a high voltage generating circuit for accelerating an electron beam is provided, and a circuit for stabilizing the high voltage is provided. Provided. More specifically, a high-voltage smoothing capacitor is provided.

In a cathode ray tube, the smoothing condenser is formed in a funnel portion in the bulb. In a flat type image forming apparatus using a cold cathode multi-electron beam source, the funnel portion of the cathode ray tube is structurally contained in the bulb. Therefore, a high-voltage-resistant smoothing capacitor had to be disposed outside, which hindered the reduction in thickness and weight of the device.

On the other hand, a transparent electrode such as ITO is formed on the outer surface of the face plate, and the potential is set to GND.
A method has been proposed in which a capacitance between a metal back on an inner surface of the face plate and a metal back is used as a high-voltage smoothing capacitor.

FIG. 22 is a diagram for explaining the above method.
Is a transparent electrode, 1007 is a face plate, 1008 is a phosphor, 1009 is a metal back, and 1 is a high voltage generator. A capacitor is formed by the transparent electrode 2, the face plate 1007, and the metal back 1009 to form a smoothing circuit.

However, when soda float glass, which has excellent flatness and is relatively inexpensive, is used as the material of the face plate, the alkali component such as Na contained therein moves by an electric field, deposits foreign substances on the surface, and lowers the transparency. In some cases, a decrease in the withstand voltage was caused by a rise in temperature during driving.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus such as an electron beam apparatus, an image display apparatus, and the like, which is high-quality, thin, and lightweight.

[0031]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has the following arrangement.

An electron beam apparatus according to the present invention includes a first substrate on which a plurality of electron sources are arranged, and a first conductive film to which a voltage for accelerating electrons emitted from the electron sources is applied. An electron beam device comprising: a second conductive film provided on the second substrate with an insulating film interposed between the first conductive film and an insulating film on the second substrate. It is characterized by.

The electron beam apparatus according to the present invention includes a first substrate on which a plurality of electron sources are arranged, and a first conductive film to which a voltage for accelerating electrons emitted from the electron sources is applied. An electron beam device comprising a second substrate and a third substrate disposed on a surface of the second substrate opposite to the side on which the first conductive film is disposed, via a gap. A conductive film is provided on each of the opposing surfaces of the second and third substrates to form a capacitor.

An image forming apparatus of the present invention uses the above-described electron beam apparatus of the present invention, and has an image forming member on which an image is formed by electrons emitted from an electron source.

The capacitor constructed according to the present invention can be used as a high-voltage smoothing capacitor for stabilizing a high voltage for electron beam acceleration, for example.

According to the present invention, since only a capacitor electrode is formed on one principal surface side of the substrate, the capacitor can be formed without applying an electric field inside the substrate. By using this capacitor for smoothing the high voltage power supply, even if soda float glass or the like is used for the face plate material, a high quality, thin, lightweight, long life image forming device such as an image display device is realized. it can.

The electron source used in the present invention may be either a cold cathode device or a hot cathode device. As described above, it is possible to obtain an electron emission at a relatively low temperature, and does not require a heater for heating. The response speed is fast, the structure is simple, and a cold cathode device capable of producing a fine device is preferable.
Among the cold cathode devices, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has the advantage of being able to form a large number of devices over a large area because it has a particularly simple structure and is easy to manufacture.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention may have the following configuration.

(1) The image forming apparatus forms an image by irradiating the image forming member with electrons emitted from the electron emitting element in response to an input signal. In particular, an image display device in which the image forming member is a phosphor can be configured.

(2) The electron-emitting devices can be arranged in a simple matrix having a plurality of cold cathode devices arranged in a matrix with a plurality of row wirings and a plurality of column wirings.

(3) In the electron-emitting device, a plurality of rows of cold-cathode devices each having a plurality of cold-cathode devices arranged in parallel and connected at both ends are arranged (referred to as a row direction), and a direction perpendicular to the wiring is provided. A control electrode (also referred to as a grid) disposed above the cold cathode device along the column direction (called a column direction) can form a ladder-like arrangement for controlling electrons from the cold cathode device.

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

Further, according to the concept of the present invention, the present invention is applicable to a case where a member to be irradiated with electrons emitted from an electron source is other than an image forming member such as a phosphor as in an electron microscope. Is applicable. Therefore, the present invention can also take a form as a general electron beam apparatus that does not specify a member to be irradiated.

[0044]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the structure of a face plate according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a transparent electrode layer 2 is provided on the inner surface of the face plate 1017, and the transparent electrode layer 2 is connected to the ground and used as one electrode of a high-voltage smoothing capacitor. The insulating film 3 is made of a thin plate of silica glass or the like, on which a fluorescent film 1018, a black conductor 1010 (not shown), and a metal back 1019, which will be described later, are formed. Finally, a face plate 1017 (including the transparent electrode layer 2) is formed. ) And insulating film 3
1 (including the fluorescent film 1018 and the metal back 1019) with a glass frit (not shown) to bond the parts shown in FIG.
Configuration. Mainly, the metal back 1019, the insulating layer 3 (dielectric layer), and the transparent electrode layer 2 constitute a high-voltage smoothing capacitor.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the structure of a face plate according to a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, a fluorescent film 1018, a black conductor 1010 (not shown), and a metal back 1019 are formed on the inner surface of the face plate 1017 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. On the other hand, the transparent electrode layer 2 is formed on the outer surface of the face plate 1017. As shown in FIG. 2, the transparent electrode 2 is kept at the same potential as the metal back 1019, so that no electric field is applied to the face plate 1017. The transparent electrode 2 also functions as one electrode of a high-voltage smoothing capacitor, and the transparent electrode 2, the gap formed by the frame-shaped insulating member 1021, and the transparent electrode layer 4 constitute a high-voltage smoothing capacitor. .

In this embodiment, the face plate 101
Since only a capacitor electrode is formed on one main surface side of the capacitor 7, a capacitor is formed on the image display unit without applying an electric field to the inside of the face plate. By using this capacitor for smoothing the high voltage power supply,
Even if soda float glass or the like is used for the face plate material, a high-quality, thin, lightweight, and long-life image display device can be realized.

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

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the display panel used in the present embodiment, in which a part of the panel is cut away to show the internal structure.

In the figure, 1015 is a rear plate, 1016
Is a side wall, 1017 is a face plate, and 1015
An airtight container for maintaining the inside of the display panel at a vacuum is formed by 1017 to 1017. When assembling an airtight container, it is necessary to seal the joints of each member to maintain sufficient strength and airtightness.For example, apply frit glass to the joints, and in air or nitrogen atmosphere, Sealing was achieved by baking at 400 to 500 degrees for 10 minutes or more. A method of evacuating the inside of the airtight container to a vacuum will be described later. The inside of the airtight container is 1
Since a vacuum of about 0 ^-6 [Torr] is maintained, a spacer 1020 is provided as an atmospheric pressure resistant structure for the purpose of preventing the hermetic container from being destroyed due to the atmospheric pressure or an unexpected impact.

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

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

Next, the structure of a multi-electron beam source in which a surface conduction electron-emitting device (described later) as a cold cathode device is arranged on a substrate and wired in a simple matrix will be described.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the multi-electron beam source used for the display panel of FIG. On the substrate 1011, surface conduction type emission elements similar to those shown in FIG. 7 to be described later are arranged.
And the column-directional wiring electrodes 1004 are arranged in a simple matrix. An insulating layer (not shown) is formed between the row-directional wiring electrodes 1003 and the column-directional wiring electrodes 1004 where they intersect, so that electrical insulation is maintained.

FIG. 5 shows a cross section along the line BB 'in FIG.

Incidentally, the multi-electron source having such a structure is as follows.
After previously forming a row direction wiring electrode 1003, a column direction wiring electrode 1004, an interelectrode insulating layer (not shown), and a device electrode and a conductive thin film of a surface conduction electron-emitting device on a substrate,
Row direction wiring electrode 1003 and column direction wiring electrode 1004
The device was manufactured by supplying power to each element through the device and performing an energization forming process (described below) and an energization activation process (described below).

In this embodiment, the substrate 1011 of the multi-electron beam source is fixed to the rear plate 1015 of the airtight container.
When 11 has a sufficient strength, the substrate 10 of the multi-electron beam source is used as a rear plate of the hermetic container.
11 itself may be used.

The face plate 1017 is
18, a metal back 1019, a transparent electrode made of ITO or the like, etc., which will be described in detail later.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view taken along the line AA 'in FIG. 3, and the numbers of the respective parts correspond to those in FIG. Spacer 10
Reference numeral 20 denotes a high resistance film 1020b formed on the surface of the insulating member 1020a for the purpose of preventing electrification, and the inside of the face plate 1017 (such as the metal back 1019) and the surface of the substrate 1011 (row direction wiring 1013 or column direction wiring). 1014) on the contact surface of the spacer facing the spacer,
It is made of a member on which the film 20c is formed, is arranged by a necessary number and at a necessary interval to achieve the above-mentioned object, and is fixed to the inside of the face plate and the surface of the substrate 1011 by the joining member 1041. . High resistance film 102
Ob is formed on at least the surface of the insulating member 1020a that is exposed to vacuum in the airtight container. Further, as described above, a conductive thin film 1 (not shown) is formed at the joint between the metal back and the face plate.
Through the conductive thin film and the bonding member 1041, the substrate is electrically connected to the inside of the face plate 1017 (the metal back 1019 and the like) and the surface of the substrate 1011 (the row wiring 1013 or the column wiring 1014). In the embodiment described here, the spacer 1020 has a thin plate shape, is arranged in parallel with the row wiring 1013, and is electrically connected to the row wiring 1013.

As the spacer 1020, the substrate 101
1 and the metal wiring 1019 on the inner surface of the face plate 1017.
It is necessary to have an insulating property enough to withstand a high voltage applied between them and a conductivity enough to prevent the surface of the spacer 1020 from being charged.

The insulating member 1020 of the spacer 1020
Examples of a include quartz glass, glass having a reduced impurity content such as Na, soda lime glass, and ceramic members such as alumina. The insulating member 1
020a has a coefficient of thermal expansion of the airtight container and the substrate 1011.
A member close to the member forming the above is preferable.

High resistance film 10 constituting spacer 1020
A current, which is obtained by dividing the acceleration voltage Va applied to the face plate 1017 (such as the metal back 1019) on the high potential side by the resistance value Rs of the high resistance film 1020b serving as the antistatic film, flows through 20b. Therefore, the resistance value Rs of the spacer is set in a desirable range from the viewpoint of antistatic and power consumption. The surface resistance R / □ is preferably 10 ¹² Ω or less from the viewpoint of antistatic. In order to obtain a sufficient antistatic effect, the resistance is more preferably 10 ¹¹ Ω or less. The lower limit of the surface resistance depends on the shape of the spacer and the voltage applied between the spacers, but is preferably at least 10 ⁵ Ω.

The thickness t of the antistatic film formed on the insulating material is preferably in the range of 10 nm to 1 μm. Although it depends on the surface energy of the material, the adhesion to the substrate, and the substrate temperature, a thin film of 10 nm or less is generally formed in an island shape,
Resistance is unstable and poor reproducibility. On the other hand, when the film thickness t is 1 μm
Above, the film stress increases, the risk of film peeling increases, and the film formation time increases, resulting in poor productivity. Therefore, the film thickness is desirably 50 to 500 nm. The surface resistance R / □ is ρ / t, and R / □ and t described above
From the preferred range, the specific resistance ρ of the antistatic film is 0.1
[Ωcm] to 10 ⁸ [Ωcm] is preferable. Further, in order to realize more preferable ranges of the surface resistance and the film thickness, ρ is preferably set to 10 ² to 10 ⁶ Ωcm.

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

High resistance film 1020b having antistatic properties
For example, a metal oxide can be used as the material. Among metal oxides, oxides of chromium, nickel, and copper are preferred materials. The reason is that these oxides have a relatively low secondary electron emission efficiency and the cold cathode device 101
It is considered that even if the electrons emitted from 2 hit the spacer 1020, it is difficult to be charged. In addition to metal oxides, carbon is a preferable material having a low secondary electron emission efficiency. In particular, since amorphous carbon has high resistance,
It is easy to control the spacer resistance to a desired value.

High resistance film 1020b having antistatic properties
As another material, a nitride of aluminum and a transition metal is a suitable material because a resistance value can be controlled in a wide range from a good conductor to an insulator by adjusting the composition of the transition metal. Further, it is a stable material with little change in resistance value in a manufacturing process of a display device described later. Further, the material has a temperature coefficient of resistance of less than -1% and is practically easy to use. Examples of the transition metal element include Ti, Cr, and Ta.

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

Low resistance film 10 constituting spacer 1020
20c is provided for electrically connecting the high-resistance film 1020b to the high-potential-side face plate 1017 (such as the metal back 1019) and the low-potential-side substrate 1011 (such as the wirings 1013 and 1014). Below,
The name of an intermediate electrode layer (intermediate layer) is also used. The intermediate electrode layer (intermediate layer) can have a plurality of functions listed below. The high resistance film 1020b is electrically connected to the face plate 1017 and the substrate 1011.

As described above, the high-resistance film 1020b
Is provided for the purpose of preventing electrification on the surface of the spacer 1020. The high-resistance film 1020b is formed on the face plate 1017 (metal back 1019, etc.) and the substrate 1
In the case of connection with 011 (wirings 1013, 1014, etc.) directly or via the contact material 1041, a large contact resistance is generated at the interface of the connection portion, and there is a possibility that the charge generated on the spacer surface cannot be quickly removed. In order to avoid this, a low resistance intermediate layer is provided on the contact surface 3 or the side surface portion 5 of the spacer 1020 which comes into contact with the face plate 1017, the substrate 1011 and the contact member 1041. The potential distribution of the high resistance film 1020b is made uniform.

Electrons emitted from the cold cathode element 1012 form electron orbits in accordance with a potential distribution formed between the face plate 1017 and the substrate 1011. Spacer 1
In order to prevent disturbance of the electron orbit near 020, it is necessary to control the potential distribution of the high-resistance film 1020b over the entire region. When the high-resistance film 1020b is connected to the face plate 1017 (metal back 1019 or the like) and the substrate 1011 (wirings 1013 or 1014 or the like) directly or via the contact material 1041, the connection state is increased due to the contact resistance at the connection interface. Of the high-resistance film 1
The potential distribution of 020b may deviate from a desired value. In order to avoid this, a low resistance intermediate layer is provided in the entire length region of the spacer end (contact surface 3 or side surface 5) where the spacer 1020 is in contact with the face plate 1017 and the substrate 1011. By applying a potential, the potential of the entire high resistance film 1020b can be controlled. Controls the trajectory of emitted electrons.

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

The low-resistance film 1020c is a high-resistance film 1020
It is sufficient to select a material having a resistance value sufficiently lower than that of b, Ni, Cr, Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al,
Metals or alloys such as Cu and Pd, and Pd, Ag,
A printed conductor composed of a metal such as Au, RuO ₂ , Pd-Ag or a metal oxide and glass, or In ₂ O ₃ −
It is appropriately selected from a transparent conductor such as SnO ₂ and a semiconductor material such as polysilicon.

The bonding material 1041 needs to have conductivity so that the spacer 1020 is electrically connected to the row wiring 1013 and the metal back 1019. That is, frit glass to which a conductive adhesive, metal particles, or a conductive filler is added is preferable.

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

In order to evacuate the inside of the hermetic container to a vacuum, after assembling the hermetic container, an exhaust pipe (not shown) and a vacuum pump are connected, and the inside of the hermetic container is evacuated to a degree of vacuum of about 10 ^-7 [Torr]. Exhaust until After that, the exhaust pipe is sealed,
In order to maintain the degree of vacuum in the airtight container, a getter film (not shown) is formed at a predetermined position in the airtight container immediately before or after sealing. The getter film is, for example, a film formed by heating and depositing a getter material containing Ba as a main component by a heater or high-frequency heating, and the inside of the hermetic container is 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ or 1 × by the adsorption action of the getter film.
The degree of vacuum is maintained at 10 ^-7 [Torr].

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

Normally, when a surface conduction electron-emitting device is used as the cold cathode device 1012, the voltage applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device is about 12 to 16 [V],
The distance d between the metal back 1019 and the cold cathode element 1 is about 0.1 [mm] to 8 [mm].
The voltage between 012 is about 0.1 [kV] to about 10 [kV].

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

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

However, under the circumstances where a display device having a large surface screen and an inexpensive display device is required, among these cold cathode devices, the surface conduction type emission device is particularly preferable. That is, in the FE type, since the relative position and shape of the emitter cone and the gate electrode greatly affect the electron emission characteristics, extremely high-precision manufacturing technology is required, but this achieves a large area and a reduction in manufacturing cost. Is a disadvantageous factor. In the MIM type, it is necessary to make the thickness of the insulating layer and the upper electrode thin and uniform, which is also a disadvantageous factor in achieving a large area and a reduction in manufacturing cost. On the other hand, since the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a relatively simple manufacturing method, it is easy to increase the area and reduce the manufacturing cost. In addition, the inventors have found that among the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, those in which the electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film have particularly excellent electron-emitting characteristics and can be easily manufactured. Therefore, it can be said that it is most suitable for use in a multi-electron beam source of a high-luminance, large-screen image display device. Therefore, in the display panel of the above embodiment, a surface conduction electron-emitting device in which the electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film is used. Therefore, the basic configuration, manufacturing method and characteristics of a suitable surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described first, and then the structure of a multi-electron beam source in which a large number of devices are arranged in a simple matrix will be described. (Suitable device configuration and manufacturing method of surface conduction type emission device) The typical configuration of the surface conduction type emission device in which the electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed from a fine particle film is a flat type or a vertical type.
Kinds are given. (Flat-type surface conduction electron-emitting device) First, an element configuration and a manufacturing method of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described.

FIG. 7A is a plan view for explaining the structure of a plane type surface conduction electron-emitting device, and FIG. 7B is a sectional view thereof. In the figure, 1101 is a substrate, 1102 and 1103
Denotes an element electrode, 1104 denotes a conductive thin film, 1105 denotes an electron emitting portion formed by an energization forming process, and 1113 denotes a thin film formed by an energization activation process.

As the substrate 1101, for example, various glass substrates such as quartz glass or blue plate glass, various ceramics substrates such as alumina, or an insulating layer made of, for example, SiO ₂ is formed on the various substrates described above. A laminated substrate or the like can be used.

The device electrodes 1102 and 1103 provided on the substrate 1101 in parallel with the substrate surface are formed of a conductive material. For example, N
i, Cr, Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Cu, Pd,
Materials such as Ag or the like, alloys of these metals, or metal oxides such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂ , semiconductors such as polysilicon, and the like are appropriately selected and used. Good. To form the electrodes, for example, film forming technology such as vacuum evaporation and photolithography,
Although it can be easily formed by using a combination of patterning techniques such as etching, it may be formed by other methods (for example, printing technique).

The shapes of the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 are appropriately designed according to the application purpose of the electron-emitting device.
Generally, the electrode interval L is usually designed by selecting an appropriate numerical value from the range of several hundreds of angstroms to several hundreds of μm. Range. Also, the thickness d of the device electrode is usually from several hundred angstroms to several μm.
An appropriate numerical value is selected from the range.

A fine particle film is used for the conductive thin film 1104. The fine particle film mentioned here is a film containing many fine particles as a constituent element (including an island-shaped aggregate).
I mean If you examine the microparticle film microscopically, usually
A structure in which the individual fine particles are spaced apart, a structure in which the fine particles are adjacent to each other, or a structure in which the fine particles overlap each other is observed.

The particle size of the fine particles used in the fine particle film is in the range of several Angstroms to several thousand Angstroms, and preferably in the range of 10 Angstroms to 200 Angstroms. Further, the thickness of the fine particle film is appropriately set in consideration of various conditions described below. That is, the device electrode 11
02, or 1103, conditions necessary for satisfactorily performing energization forming described later, conditions necessary for setting the electric resistance of the fine particle film itself to an appropriate value described later. , And so on. In particular,
The setting is made in the range of several Angstroms to several thousand Angstroms, and a preferable value is between 10 Angstroms and 500 Angstroms.

Materials that can be used to form the fine particle film include, for example, Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag,
Au, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, T
a, W, Pb, and other metals, PdO, S
Oxides such as nO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO, Sb ₂ O ₃ , etc .; HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ , LaB ₆ , C
Borides such as eB ₆ , YB ₄ , GdB ₄ , etc., TiC, ZrC, HfC, TaC, SiC, WC,
And other carbides, TiN, ZrN, Hf
Nitrides such as N, etc., semiconductors such as Si, Ge, etc., carbon, and the like are listed, and are appropriately selected from these.

As described above, the conductive thin film 1104 is formed of a fine particle film.
It was set to be included from 10 ³ to a range of 10 ⁷ [Ω / sq].

The conductive thin film 1104 and the device electrode 11
Since it is desirable that the wires 02 and 1103 be electrically connected well, they have a structure in which a part of each overlaps with the other. In the example of FIG. 7, the overlapping manner is such that the substrate, the device electrode, and the conductive thin film are stacked in this order from the bottom. I can't wait.

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

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

The thin film 1113 is made of any one of single crystal graphite, polycrystalline graphite and amorphous carbon, or a mixture thereof, and preferably has a thickness of 500 [Å] or less, and 300 [Å] or less. More preferably, Since it is difficult to accurately show the actual position and shape of the thin film 1113, it is schematically shown in FIG.

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

That is, blue glass was used for the substrate 1101, and Ni thin films were used for the device electrodes 1102 and 1103. The thickness d of the device electrode was 1000 [angstrom], and the electrode interval L was 2 [μm].

Pd or P is used as the main material of the fine particle film.
Using dO, the thickness of the fine particle film was about 100 [angstrom], and the width W was 100 [μm].

Next, a description will be given of a method of manufacturing a suitable flat surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIGS. 8A to 8D are cross-sectional views for explaining a manufacturing process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. The notation of each member is the same as that of FIG. 1) First, as shown in FIG. 8A, element electrodes 1102 and 1
103 is formed.

Before forming, the substrate 1
After sufficiently washing 101 with a detergent, pure water and an organic solvent,
The material of the device electrode is deposited. As a method of depositing,
For example, a vacuum film forming technique such as an evaporation method or a sputtering method may be used. After that, the deposited electrode material is patterned using photolithography and etching technology,
A pair of device electrodes 1102 and 1103 shown in FIG.
To form 2) Next, as shown in FIG. 8B, a conductive thin film 1104 is formed.

In forming the fine particles, first, an organic metal solution is applied to the substrate on which the pair of device electrodes 1102 and 1103 shown in FIG. 8A is formed, dried and heated and baked to form a fine particle film. Is patterned into a predetermined shape by photolithography and etching. Here, the organometallic solution is a solution of an organometallic compound whose main element is a material of fine particles used for the conductive thin film. Specifically, in this embodiment, Pd is used as a main element. In the embodiment, the dipping method is used as the coating method.
For example, a spinner method or a spray method may be used.

As a method for forming a conductive thin film made of a fine particle film, a method other than the method of applying an organometallic solution used in the present embodiment, for example, a vacuum evaporation method, a sputtering method, or a chemical vapor deposition method Method may be used. 3) Next, as shown in FIG. 8C, an appropriate voltage is applied between the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 from the forming power supply 1110, and an energization forming process is performed to form the electron emission portions 1105.

The energization forming treatment is to energize the conductive thin film 1104 made of a fine particle film and to appropriately break, deform, or alter a part of the conductive thin film 1104 to change into a structure suitable for emitting electrons. This is the process that causes A portion of the conductive thin film made of a fine particle film that has been changed to a structure suitable for emitting electrons (that is, the electron emitting portion 110
In 5), an appropriate crack is formed in the thin film.
Note that the electrical resistance measured between the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 is significantly increased after the formation of the electron emission portions 1105 as compared to before the formation.

FIG. 9 shows an example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from the forming power supply 1110 in order to explain the energization method in more detail. When forming a conductive thin film made of a fine particle film, a pulse-like voltage is preferable. In the case of this embodiment, a triangular wave pulse having a pulse width T1 is continuously generated at a pulse interval T2 as shown in FIG. Was applied. At that time, the peak value Vpf of the triangular wave pulse was sequentially increased. Also, monitor pulses Pm for monitoring the state of formation of the electron-emitting portion 1105 are inserted at appropriate intervals between the triangular-wave pulses, and the current flowing at that time is measured by the ammeter 1.
It was measured at 111.

In this embodiment, for example, 10
Under a vacuum atmosphere of about ^-5 [torr], for example, the pulse width T1 is 1 [millisecond] and the pulse interval T2 is 10
[Milliseconds], and the peak value Vpf is set to 0.1 for each pulse.
The voltage was increased by [V]. Then, the monitor pulse Pm was inserted at a rate of one every time five triangular waves were applied. The monitor pulse voltage Vpm was set to 0.1 [V] so as not to adversely affect the forming process. Then, when the electric resistance between the element electrodes 1102 and 1103 becomes 1 × 10 ⁶ [Ω], that is, when the current measured by the ammeter 1111 when the monitor pulse is applied becomes 1
At the stage where the current became less than × 10 ⁻⁷ [A], the energization related to the forming process was terminated.

The above method is a preferable method for the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present embodiment. For example, the design of the surface conduction electron-emitting device such as the material and film thickness of the fine particle film or the element electrode interval L is changed. In such a case, it is desirable to appropriately change the energization conditions accordingly. 4) Next, as shown in FIG. 8D, an appropriate voltage is applied between the element electrodes 1102 and 1103 from the activation power supply 1112, and a current activation process is performed to improve the electron emission characteristics. Do.

The energization activation process is a process of energizing the electron-emitting portion 1105 formed by the energization forming process under appropriate conditions and depositing carbon or a carbon compound in the vicinity thereof (in the figure). Shows a deposit made of carbon or a carbon compound as a member 1113.) Note that by performing the energization activation process, the emission current at the same applied voltage can be typically increased by 100 times or more as compared with before the energization activation process.

Specifically, 10 ⁻⁴ to 10 ⁻⁵ [tor
r], a voltage pulse is periodically applied in a vacuum atmosphere to deposit carbon or a carbon compound originating from an organic compound existing in the vacuum atmosphere.
The deposit 1113 is one of single-crystal graphite, polycrystalline graphite, and amorphous carbon, or a mixture thereof, and has a thickness of 500 Å or less, and more preferably 300 Å or less.

FIG. 10A shows an example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from the activation power supply 1112 in order to explain the energization method in more detail. In the present embodiment, the energization activation process is performed by applying a rectangular wave of a constant voltage periodically. Specifically, the voltage Vac of the rectangular wave is 14 [V],
The pulse width T3 is 1 [millisecond], and the pulse interval T4 is 10
[Milliseconds]. Note that the above-described energization conditions are preferable conditions for the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present embodiment,
When the design of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is changed, it is desirable to appropriately change the conditions accordingly.

Reference numeral 1114 shown in FIG. 8D denotes an anode electrode for capturing the emission current Ie emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device. The anode electrode 1114 is connected to a DC high-voltage power supply 1115 and an ammeter 1116. Note that the substrate 1101 is
When the activation process is performed after being incorporated in the display panel, the phosphor screen of the display panel is used as the anode electrode 1114. While the voltage is applied from the activation power supply 1112, the emission current Ie is measured by the ammeter 1116 to monitor the progress of the energization activation process, and the activation power supply 1112 is used.
Control the operation of. An example of the emission current Ie measured by the ammeter 1116 is shown in FIG.
When the application of the pulse voltage starts from 12, the emission current Ie increases with the passage of time, but eventually saturates and hardly increases. As described above, when the emission current Ie is substantially saturated, the application of the voltage from the activation power supply 1112 is stopped, and the energization activation process ends.

The above-described energization conditions are preferable conditions for the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present embodiment, and when the design of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is changed, the conditions should be changed accordingly. desirable.

As described above, the planar surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 8E was manufactured. (Vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device) Next, another typical structure of a surface conduction electron-emitting device in which an electron-emitting portion or its periphery is formed of a fine particle film, that is, the structure of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device Will be described.

FIG. 11 is a schematic sectional view for explaining the basic structure of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device. In FIG. 11, reference numeral 1201 denotes a substrate; 1202 and 1203 denote device electrodes;
206 is a step forming member, 1204 is a conductive thin film using a fine particle film, 1205 is an electron emitting portion formed by energization forming process, and 1213 is a thin film formed by energization activation process.

The difference between the vertical type and the flat type described above is that one of the element electrodes 1202 is provided on the step forming member 1206 and the conductive thin film 120
4 covers the side surface of the step forming member 1206. Therefore, the element electrode interval L in the planar type shown in FIG. 7 is set as the step height Ls of the step forming member 1206 in the vertical type. Note that for the substrate 1201, the element electrodes 1202 and 1203, and the conductive thin film 1204 using a fine particle film, the materials listed in the description of the planar type can be used in the same manner. For the step forming member 1206, an electrically insulating material such as SiO ₂ is used.

Next, a method of manufacturing a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described. FIGS. 12A to 12F are cross-sectional views for explaining a manufacturing process.
Is the same as 1) First, as shown in FIG.
An element electrode 1203 is formed thereover. 2) Next, as shown in FIG. 12B, an insulating layer for forming a step forming member is laminated. The insulating layer may be formed by stacking, for example, SiO ₂ by a sputtering method, but another film forming method such as a vacuum evaporation method or a printing method may be used. 3) Next, as shown in FIG. 12C, an element electrode 1202 is formed on the insulating layer. 4) Next, as shown in FIG. 12D, a part of the insulating layer is removed by using, for example, an etching method, and the element electrode 1 is removed.
Expose 203. 5) Next, as shown in FIG. 12E, a conductive thin film 1204 using a fine particle film is formed. For the formation, as in the case of the flat type, a film forming technique such as a coating method may be used. 6) Next, similarly to the case of the planar type, the energization forming process is performed to form an electron emission portion (the same process as the planar type energization forming process described with reference to FIG. 8C may be performed). .). 7) Next, in the same manner as in the case of the planar type, an energization activation process is performed, and carbon or a carbon compound is deposited near the electron emission portion (the planar energization activation process described with reference to FIG. 8D). The same processing as described above may be performed.)

As described above, the vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 12F was manufactured. (Characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the display device)
The device configuration and manufacturing method of the planar and vertical surface conduction electron-emitting devices have been described. Next, the characteristics of the devices used in the display device will be described.

FIG. 13 shows typical examples of (emission current Ie) versus (device applied voltage Vf) characteristics and (device current If) versus (device applied voltage Vf) characteristics of the device used in the display device. . Note that the emission current Ie is significantly smaller than the element current If, and it is difficult to show the same current on the same scale.
Since these characteristics are changed by changing design parameters such as the size and shape of the element, the two graphs are shown in arbitrary units.

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

First, when a voltage higher than a certain voltage (hereinafter referred to as a threshold voltage Vth) is applied to the element, the emission current Ie sharply increases. On the other hand, when the voltage is lower than the threshold voltage Vth, the emission current Ie increases. Ie is hardly detected.

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

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

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

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

Further, since the emission luminance can be controlled by using the second characteristic or the third characteristic, gradation display can be performed.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a driving circuit for performing television display based on an NTSC television signal. In the figure, a display panel 1701 corresponds to the above-described display panel, and is manufactured and operates as described above. Also, the scanning circuit 170
2 scans the display line, and the control circuit 1703 generates a signal or the like to be input to the scanning circuit. Shift register 1704
Shifts the data for each line, and
5 inputs one line of data from the shift register 1704 to the modulation signal generator 1707. The synchronization signal separation circuit 1706 separates the synchronization signal from the NTSC signal.

Hereinafter, the function of each unit of the apparatus shown in FIG. 14 will be described in detail.

First, the display panel 1701 is connected to an external electric circuit via terminals Dx1 to Dxm, terminals Dy1 to Dyn, and a high voltage terminal Hv. Among them, the terminals Dx1 to Dxm are connected to the display panel 1701.
A scanning signal for sequentially driving the multi-electron beam sources provided therein, that is, the cold-cathode devices arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns in a matrix manner is sequentially applied one row (n element) at a time. On the other hand, to the terminals Dy1 to Dyn, a modulation signal for controlling the output electron beams of the n elements for one row selected by the scanning signal is applied. Also,
The high voltage terminal Hv is connected to a DC voltage source Va, for example, 5
A DC voltage of [kV] is supplied, which is an accelerating voltage for applying sufficient energy to the electron beam output from the multi-electron beam source to excite the phosphor.

Next, the scanning circuit 1702 will be described. This circuit has m switching elements inside (in the figure,
S1 to Sm), each switching element selects either the output voltage of the DC voltage source Vx or 0 [V] (ground level), and the switching element of the display panel 1701 Terminals Dx1 to Dxm
It is electrically connected to. Each of the switching elements S1 to Sm operates based on the control signal Tscan output from the control circuit 1703. However, in practice, the switching elements can be easily configured by combining switching elements such as FETs. . Note that the DC voltage source Vx outputs a constant voltage so that the driving voltage applied to an element that is not scanned based on the characteristics of the electron-emitting device illustrated in FIG. 13 is lower than the electron emission threshold voltage Vth. Is set.

The control circuit 1703 has a function of coordinating the operation of each unit so that appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. The synchronization signal T sent from the synchronization signal separation circuit 1706 described next
Tscan, Tsft and Tm for each part based on sync
Generate each control signal of ry. Synchronous signal separation circuit 1706
Is a circuit for separating a synchronizing signal component and a luminance signal component from an NTSC television signal input from the outside. As is well known, a frequency separation (filter) is used.
It can be easily configured by using a circuit. The synchronization signal separated by the synchronization signal separation circuit 1706 includes a vertical synchronization signal and a horizontal synchronization signal, as is well known.
Here, it is illustrated as a Tsync signal for convenience of explanation. On the other hand, a luminance signal component of an image separated from the television signal is referred to as a DATA signal for convenience, and this signal is input to a shift register 1704.

A shift register 1704 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 1703. Works. That is, the control signal Tsft can be rephrased as a shift clock of the shift register 1704. The data for one line of the image subjected to the serial / parallel conversion (corresponding to drive data for n electron-emitting devices) is output from the shift register 1704 as n signals Id1 to Idn.

A line memory 1705 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 a control circuit 1703.
The stored contents are output as I'd1 to I'dn and input to modulation signal generator 1707.

A modulation signal generator 1707 is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the electron-emitting devices 1012 in accordance with each of the image data I'd1 to I'dn. The voltage is applied to the electron-emitting devices 1012 in the display panel 1701 through Dy1 to Dyn.

As described with reference to FIG. 13, the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention has the following basic characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie. That is, electron emission has a clear threshold voltage Vth (8 [V] in the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the embodiment described later), and electron emission occurs only when a voltage equal to or higher than the threshold Vth is applied. For a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold Vth, the emission current Ie also changes according to the change in the voltage as shown in the graph of FIG. From this, when a pulse-like voltage is applied to this element, for example, when a voltage lower than the electron emission threshold Vth is applied, no electron emission occurs, but when a voltage higher than the electron emission threshold Vth is applied, the surface is An electron beam is output from the conduction type emission device. At this time, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled by changing the pulse peak value Vm. In addition, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam by changing the pulse width Pw.

Accordingly, as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device in accordance with the input signal, a voltage modulation method, a pulse width modulation method, or the like can be employed. When performing the voltage modulation method, a circuit of the voltage modulation method that generates a voltage pulse of a fixed length and modulates the peak value of the pulse appropriately according to input data is used as the modulation signal generator 1707. be able to. When implementing the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 1707 generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value and modulates the width of the voltage pulse appropriately according to input data. Circuit can be used.

The shift register 1704 and the line memory 1
Reference numeral 705 may be a digital signal type or an analog signal type. That is, the serial /
This is because parallel conversion and storage may be performed at a predetermined speed.

When the digital signal type is used, the output signal DATA of the synchronization signal separation circuit 1706 needs to be converted into a digital signal.
An A / D converter may be provided at the output unit 6. In this connection, the circuit used for the modulation signal generator differs slightly depending on whether the output signal of the line memory 1705 is a digital signal or an analog signal. That is, in the case of the voltage modulation method using a digital signal, the modulation signal generator 1707
For example, a D / A conversion circuit is used, and an amplification circuit and the like are added as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 1707 includes, for example, a high-speed oscillator, a counter (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 pulse width modulated signal output from the comparator to the drive voltage of the 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 1707, and a shift level 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 (VC
O) can be adopted, and if necessary, an amplifier for amplifying the voltage up to the drive voltage of the electron-emitting device can be added.

In the image display apparatus to which the present invention can be applied in such a configuration, by applying a voltage to each of the electron-emitting devices via the terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn outside the container, the electron-emitting device can emit electrons. Occurs. A high voltage is applied to the metal back 1019 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 1018 and emit light to form an image.

The configuration of the image display apparatus described here is an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, and various modifications can be made based on the concept of the present invention. The input signal is described in the NTSC system. However, the input signal is not limited to this. In addition to the PAL and SECAM systems, a TV signal including a larger number of scanning lines (high-definition TV including the MUSE system) A method can also be adopted.

FIG. 15 shows a display panel using the above-described surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source so that image information provided from various image information sources such as television broadcasting can be displayed. It is a figure for showing an example of the constituted multifunctional display.

In the figure, reference numeral 2100 denotes a display panel;
01 is a display panel driving circuit, 2102 is a display controller, 2103 is a multiplexer, 2
104 is a decoder, 2105 is an input / output interface circuit, 2106 is a CPU, 2107 is an image generation circuit,
108, 2109 and 2110 are image memory interface circuits, 2111 is an image input interface circuit, 2112 and 2113 are TV signal receiving circuits, and 2114 is an input unit.

When the present display device receives a signal containing both video information and audio information, such as a television signal, it naturally reproduces the audio simultaneously with the display of the video. Descriptions of circuits, speakers, and the like relating to reception, separation, reproduction, processing, storage, and the like of information are omitted.

Hereinafter, the function of each unit will be described along the flow of the image signal.

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 2113 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wireless transmission system such as radio waves or spatial optical communication. The format of the received TV signal is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, various systems such as the NTSC system, the PAL system, and the SECAM system. A TV signal (for example, a so-called high-definition TV such as the MUSE system) composed of a larger number of scanning lines is suitable for taking advantage of the display panel suitable for a large area and a large number of pixels. Signal source. The TV signal received by the TV signal receiving circuit 2113 is output to the decoder 2104.

The TV signal receiving circuit 2112 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wired transmission system such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. As with the TV signal receiving circuit 2113, the type of the TV signal to be received is not particularly limited, and the TV signal received by this circuit is also output to the decoder 2104.

The image input interface circuit 21
Reference numeral 11 denotes a circuit for taking in an image signal supplied from an image input device such as a TV camera or an image reading scanner.
4 is output.

An image memory interface circuit 2110 is a circuit for taking in an image signal stored in a video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR). The taken-in image signal is output to a decoder 2104.

An image memory interface circuit 2109 is a circuit for taking in an image signal stored in a video disk. The taken image signal is output to a decoder 2104.

An image memory interface circuit 2108 is a circuit for taking in an image signal from a device storing still image data, such as a so-called still image disk.
Output to 104.

The input / output interface circuit 210
Reference numeral 5 denotes a circuit for connecting the display device to an external computer, a computer network, or an output device such as a printer. Image data and text
It is possible not only to input and output graphic information, but also to input and output control signals and numerical data between the CPU 2106 included in the display device and the outside in some cases.

Further, the image generation circuit 2107 is provided with image data, character / graphic information input from the outside via the input / output interface circuit 2105, or a CPU.
A circuit for generating display image data based on the image data and character / graphic information output from 2106. Within this circuit, for example, a rewritable memory for storing image data and character / graphic information, a read-only memory for storing image patterns corresponding to character codes, and a processor for image processing And other circuits necessary for generating an image.

The display image data generated by this circuit is output to the decoder 2104. In some cases, the display image data can be output to an external computer network or printer via the input / output interface circuit 2105.

The CPU 2106 mainly performs operations related to operation control of the display device and generation, selection, and editing of a display image.

For example, a control signal is output to multiplexer 2103, and image signals to be displayed on the display panel are appropriately selected or combined. In this case, a control signal is generated for the display panel controller 2102 in accordance with the image signal to be displayed, and the display frequency, the scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced), the number of scanning lines on one screen, and the like are displayed. The operation of the device is appropriately controlled.

Further, image data and character / graphic information are directly output to the image generation circuit 2107, or an external computer or memory is accessed via the input / output interface circuit 2105 to access the image data or character / graphic information. Enter graphic information. Note that the CPU 2106
May, of course, relate to work for other purposes. For example, it may directly relate to a function of generating and processing information, such as a personal computer or a word processor.

Alternatively, the computer may be connected to an external computer network via the input / output interface circuit 2105 as described above, and operations such as numerical calculation may be performed in cooperation with an external device.

The input unit 2114 is connected to the CPU 21.
06 is for the user to input commands, programs, data, and the like. For example, in addition to a keyboard and a mouse, a joystick, a barcode reader,
Various input devices such as a voice recognition device can be used.

Also, the decoder 2104 has the
2 to 3113 are circuits for inversely converting various image signals input from 3113 to three primary color signals or a luminance signal and an I signal and a Q signal. It is to be noted that the decoder 2104 desirably includes an image memory therein, as indicated by a dotted line in FIG. This includes, for example, the MUSE method,
This is for handling a television signal that requires an image memory when performing the inverse conversion. Further, the provision of the image memory facilitates the display of a still image, or enables image processing and editing including image thinning, interpolation, enlargement, reduction, and synthesis in cooperation with the image generation circuit 2107 and the CPU 2106. This is because there is an advantage that it can be easily performed.

The multiplexer 2103 is connected to the C
A display image is appropriately selected based on a control signal input from the PU 2106. That is, the multiplexer 2103 selects a desired image signal from the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 2104 and outputs the selected image signal to the drive circuit 2101. In that case, by switching and selecting an image signal within one screen display time, it is possible to divide one screen into a plurality of areas and display different images depending on the areas, as in a so-called multi-screen TV. .

The display panel controller 2
Reference numeral 102 denotes a circuit for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 2101 based on a control signal input from the CPU 2106.

First, as a signal related to the basic operation of the display panel, a signal for controlling, for example, an operation sequence of a drive power source (not shown) for the display panel is output to the drive circuit 2101.

Further, as a signal relating to the driving method of the display panel, a signal for controlling, for example, a screen display frequency and a scanning method (for example, interlace or non-interlace) is output to the drive circuit 2101.

In some cases, a control signal related to image quality adjustment such as brightness, contrast, color tone, and sharpness of a display image may be output to the drive circuit 2101.

The driving circuit 2101 is a circuit for generating a driving signal to be applied to the display panel 2100. The driving circuit 2101 is a circuit for generating an image signal input from the multiplexer 2103 and the display panel controller 21.
The operation is based on a control signal input from the input terminal 02.

The function of each part has been described above. With the configuration illustrated in FIG. 15, in the present display device, image information input from various image information sources is displayed on the display panel 2.
100 can be displayed.

That is, various image signals such as television broadcasts are inversely converted by the decoder 2104, appropriately selected by the multiplexer 2103, and input to the drive circuit 2101. On the other hand, the display controller 2102 generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 2101 according to the image signal to be displayed. The drive circuit 2101 applies a drive signal to the display panel 2100 based on the image signal and the control signal.

Thus, the display panel 2100
Displays an image. A series of these operations is C
It is totally controlled by the PU 2106.

In the present display device, the image memory incorporated in the decoder 2104, the image generation circuit 21
07 and the CPU 2106 involve not only displaying a selected one of a plurality of pieces of image information but also enlarging, reducing, rotating, moving, edge emphasizing, thinning out, and interpolating the displayed image information. , Color conversion,
It is also possible to perform image processing such as image aspect ratio conversion and the like, and image editing such as synthesis, deletion, connection, replacement, and fitting. Although not particularly described in the description of the present embodiment, a dedicated circuit for processing and editing audio information may be provided as in the above-described image processing and image editing.

Therefore, the present display device can be used as a television broadcast display device, a video conference terminal device, an image editing device that handles still and moving images, a computer terminal device, an office terminal device such as a word processor,
It is possible to combine functions such as game machines with one unit,
Extremely wide range of applications for industrial or consumer use.

FIG. 15 shows only an example of the configuration of a display device using a display panel using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source, and it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this. No. For example, FIG.
Circuits related to functions unnecessary for the intended use among the five constituent elements may be omitted. Conversely, additional components may be added depending on the purpose of use. For example, when the present display device is applied to a videophone, it is preferable to add a television camera, an audio microphone, a lighting device, a transmission / reception circuit including a modem, and the like to the components.

In the present display device, in particular, since the display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device as the electron beam source can be easily thinned, the depth of the entire display device can be reduced. In addition, the display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device as the electron beam source is easy to enlarge the screen, has high brightness, and has excellent viewing angle characteristics. It is possible to display well.

[0169]

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

In each of the embodiments described below, as the multi-electron beam source, N × M (N = 307) of the above-described type having an electron emission portion in the conductive fine particle film between the electrodes is used.
A multi-electron beam source was used in which the surface conduction electron-emitting devices (2, M = 1024) were matrix-wired (see FIGS. 3 and 4) by M row-directional wirings and N column-directional wirings. (Embodiment 1) The structure of a face plate which is a feature of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The transparent electrode layer 2 is formed on the inner surface of the face plate 1017 by vacuum-depositing ITO. As shown in FIG. 1, the transparent electrode layer 2 is connected to the ground, and is used as one electrode of a high-voltage smoothing capacitor.

The insulating film 3 is made of thin silica glass.
A fluorescent film 1018 and a metal back 101 described later are further formed thereon.
9 was formed, and finally, the face plate 1017 (including the transparent electrode layer 2) and the insulating film 3 (including the fluorescent film 1018 and the metal back 1019) were bonded together with a glass frit to obtain the configuration shown in FIG. This adhesive frit part
It is simultaneously adhered when sealing the face plate and the rear plate.

Since this embodiment is a color display device, the fluorescent film 1018 is provided with red and red colors used in the field of CRT.
Phosphors of three primary colors of green and blue are separately applied. The phosphor of each color is separately applied in a stripe shape as shown in FIG. 16A, for example, and a black conductor 1010 is provided between the stripes of the phosphor. Black conductor 101
The purpose of providing 0 is to prevent the display color from being shifted even if the irradiation position of the electron beam is slightly shifted,
The purpose is to prevent reflection of external light to prevent a decrease in display contrast, and to prevent charge-up of a fluorescent film by an electron beam. Although graphite is used as a main component for the black conductor 1010, any other material may be used as long as it is suitable for the above purpose. Black conductor 101
A black body having no conductivity may be used instead of 0.

The method of applying the phosphors of the three primary colors is not limited to the stripe arrangement shown in FIG. 16A, but may be, for example, a delta arrangement as shown in FIG. Other arrangements may be used (for example, FIG. 17).

When a monochrome display panel is manufactured, a monochromatic phosphor material may be used for the phosphor film 1018, and a black conductive material may not be necessarily used.

A metal back 1019 known in the CRT field is provided on the surface of the fluorescent film 1018 on the rear plate side.
Is provided. The purpose of providing the metal back 1019 is
A part of the light emitted from the fluorescent film 1018 is specularly reflected to improve the light utilization rate, or the fluorescent film
The protective film 18 serves as an electrode for applying an electron beam acceleration voltage, and serves as a conductive path for excited electrons of the fluorescent film 1018. The metal back 1019 was formed by forming the fluorescent film 1018 on the face plate substrate 1017, smoothing the surface of the fluorescent film, and vacuum-depositing Al thereon. In this embodiment, the metal back 1019, the insulating layer 3 (dielectric layer), the metal back 1019, the electrode for applying the electron beam accelerating voltage, and also function as the other electrode of the high-voltage smoothing capacitor. Transparent electrode layer 2
Thus, a capacitor for high-pressure smoothing is formed.

In this embodiment, a capacity of about 12 nF was obtained with an image display size (face plate size) of 40 inches and a thickness of the insulating film 3 of 1 mm.

The materials and manufacturing methods of the transparent electrode film 2 and the insulating film 3 are not limited to those described above, and are appropriately selected.

The capacitance is an appropriate value in the present embodiment, and is designed by a high voltage generating circuit, a high voltage value, a high voltage maximum current value, and the like. And the material of the face plate are appropriately changed.

In this example, a display panel having the face plate portion shown in FIG. 1 described above was manufactured. Less than,
This will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. First, a row direction wiring electrode 1013 and a column direction wiring electrode 101 are previously formed on a substrate.
4. The substrate 1011 on which the interelectrode insulating layer (not shown), the device electrode of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the conductive thin film were formed was fixed to the rear plate 1015. Next, among the surfaces of the insulating member 1020a made of soda-lime glass, a high-resistance film 1020b, which will be described later, is formed on four surfaces exposed in the airtight container, and a spacer 1 having a conductive film 1020c formed on the contact surface.
020 (height 5 [mm], plate thickness 200 [μm], length 2
0 [mm]) are fixed on the row-directional wiring 1013 of the substrate 1011 at regular intervals in parallel with the row-directional wiring 1013. Thereafter, a face plate portion provided with the above-described smoothing capacitor is disposed 5 mm above the substrate 1011 via a side wall 1016, and the rear plate 1015 and the face plate 1
017, insulating layer 3, side wall 1016 and spacer 1020
Were fixed. Substrate 1011 and rear plate 1
015, rear plate 1015 and side wall 1016
Frit glass (not shown) is applied to the joint between the face plate 1017 and the insulating layer 3 and the joint between the insulating layer 3 and the side wall 1016.
It sealed by baking at 00 degreeC for 10 minutes or more.

The spacer 1020 is formed on the substrate 1011.
On the row direction wiring 1013 (line width 300 [μm]), and on the face plate 1017 side, the metal back 1010.
On the 19th surface, a conductive filler or a conductive frit glass (not shown) in which a conductive material such as metal is mixed is disposed via a frit glass (not shown).
By baking at 500 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more, bonding and electrical connection were also performed.

In this embodiment, the fluorescent film 101 is used.
Reference numeral 8 denotes each color phosphor (R, G, B) as shown in FIG.
Adopts a stripe shape extending in the column direction (Y direction),
As the black conductor 1010, a phosphor film arranged so as to separate not only between the respective color phosphors (R, G, B) but also between the pixels in the Y direction is used, and the spacer 1020 is arranged in the row direction (X Direction) (area of line 3)
00 [μm]) via a metal back 1019. When performing the above-described sealing, since the phosphors of each color must correspond to the elements arranged on the substrate 1011, the rear plate 1015, the face plate 1017, and the spacer 1020 are sufficiently aligned. Was done.

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

Next, at a degree of vacuum of about 10 ^-6 [Torr], an exhaust pipe (not shown) was heated by a gas burner and welded to seal the envelope (airtight container).

Finally, a getter process was performed to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing.

In the image display device using the display panel as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 completed as described above, each cold cathode element (surface conduction type emission element) 1012 has terminals outside the container Dx1 to Dx1. A scanning signal and a modulation signal are applied from Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn by a signal generation unit (not shown) to emit electrons, and an emitted electron beam is applied to the metal back 1019 by applying a high voltage through a high voltage terminal Hv. Accelerates the fluorescent film 1018
To each color phosphor (R, G, B in FIG. 16)
An image was displayed by exciting and emitting light. The applied voltage Va to the high voltage terminal Hv is 3 [kV] to 10 [k].
V], and the applied voltage Vf between the wirings 1013 and 1014 was 14 [V].

At this time, when the potential of the transparent electrode layer 2 is set to GND through a GND terminal (not shown), a sufficiently smooth high-voltage output can be obtained, and a high-quality, thin, lightweight image display can be obtained. The device could be built. (Embodiment 2) The face plate portion of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Phosphor film 1018, black conductor 1
010 and the metal back 1019 are the same as those in the first embodiment, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

On the inner surface of the face plate 1017, a fluorescent film 1018, a black conductor 1010, a metal back 1010
19 is formed in the same manner as in the first embodiment. On the other hand, on the outer surface of the face plate 1017, the transparent electrode layer 2 is
It is formed by vacuum evaporation of TO. Transparent electrode 2
2 is maintained at the same potential as the metal back 1019 as shown in FIG. 2, so that no electric field is applied to the face plate 1017. Therefore, the face plate 1017
As in the first embodiment, inexpensive soda lime glass can be used.

The transparent electrode 2 also functions as one electrode of a high-voltage smoothing capacitor, and a high-pressure smoothing capacitor is constituted by a gap portion and a transparent electrode layer 4 described later.

Using this face plate portion, a display panel was produced in the same manner as in Example 1. The difference from the first embodiment is that there is no insulating layer 3 in the display panel.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, an additional panel 1022 is disposed on the outer surface of the face plate portion of the panel which has been subjected to the gettering process, via a frame-shaped insulating member 1021 so that the display portion becomes a gap. I do.

The insulating member 1021 is made of polycarbonate.
The additional panel 1022 is made of soda lime glass,
These adhesives used the photocurable adhesive. Additional panel 1
022, a transparent electrode layer 4 is provided on the inner surface of the substrate before bonding.
It is formed by vacuum-depositing TO.

The transparent electrode layer 4 is maintained at the GND potential during operation, and functions as one electrode of a high-voltage smoothing capacitor.

In this embodiment, a capacity of about 1 nF was obtained with an image display size (size of the face plate) of 40 inches and a thickness of the gap of 3 mm.

The materials of the transparent electrode film 2 and the transparent electrode layer 4
The production method and the like are not limited to those described above, and are appropriately selected. The capacitance is an appropriate value in the present embodiment, and is designed by a high voltage generating circuit, a high voltage value, a high voltage maximum current value, and the like, whereby the capacitor electrode area, the distance between the electrodes, the face plate The material is appropriately changed. Further, a dielectric, a filter, or the like may be inserted into the gap as necessary, for example, to increase the capacity or to improve the contrast.

In the image display device using the display panel as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 completed as described above, each cold cathode element (surface conduction type emission element) 1012 has external terminals Dx1 to Dx1. A scanning signal and a modulation signal are applied from Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn by a signal generation unit (not shown) to emit electrons, and an emitted electron beam is applied to the metal back 1019 by applying a high voltage through a high voltage terminal Hv. Accelerates the fluorescent film 1018
To each color phosphor (R, G, B in FIG. 16)
An image was displayed by exciting and emitting light. The applied voltage Va to the high voltage terminal Hv is 3 [kV] to 10 [k].
V], and the applied voltage Vf between the wirings 1013 and 1014 was 14 [V].

At this time, when the potential of the transparent electrode layer 3 is set to GND through a GND terminal (not shown), a sufficiently smooth high-voltage output can be obtained, and a high-quality, thin, and lightweight image display can be obtained. The device could be built.

[0198]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, since only the capacitor electrode is formed on one main surface side of the substrate, the capacitor can be formed without applying an electric field inside the substrate. it can. By using this capacitor for smoothing the high voltage power supply, even if soda float glass or the like is used for the face plate material, a high quality, thin, lightweight, long life image forming device such as an image display device is realized. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a face plate configuration of a first embodiment and a first example of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a face plate configuration according to a second embodiment and a second example of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the image display device according to the embodiment of the present invention, in which a part of a display panel is cut away.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a substrate of the multi-electron beam source used in the embodiment.

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

FIG. 6 is a view showing an AA ′ of the display panel according to the embodiment of the present invention
It is sectional drawing.

FIG. 7A is a plan view of a planar type surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the embodiment, and FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a manufacturing process of the planar type surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 9 is a waveform diagram of an applied voltage during energization forming processing.

10A is a diagram showing an applied voltage waveform at the time of the activation process, and FIG. 10B is a diagram showing a change in emission current Ie.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device used in an example.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view showing a manufacturing process of the vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 13 is a graph showing typical characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a driving circuit of the image display device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a multi-function image display device using the image display device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a plan view illustrating a phosphor array of a face plate of a display panel.

FIG. 17 is a plan view illustrating a phosphor array of a face plate of a display panel.

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

FIG. 19 is a view showing an example of a conventional FE element.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional MIM element.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view in which a part of a display panel of the image display device is cut away.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating a face plate configuration that the inventors have tried but have problems.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 transparent electrode layer 3 insulating film 4 transparent electrode layer 1017 face plate 1018 fluorescent film 1019 metal back 1021 insulating member 1022 additional panel

Claims (7)

[Claims] A first substrate provided with a plurality of electron sources; a second substrate provided with a first conductive film to which a voltage for accelerating electrons emitted from the electron sources is applied; An electron beam device comprising: a second conductive film provided on the second substrate with an insulating film interposed between the first conductive film and an insulating film to form a capacitor; apparatus. A first substrate on which a plurality of electron sources are arranged; a second substrate on which a first conductive film to which a voltage for accelerating electrons emitted from the electron sources is applied is provided; An electron beam apparatus comprising: a third substrate disposed on a surface of the second substrate opposite to a side on which the first conductive film is disposed, with a gap therebetween; An electron beam apparatus, wherein a conductive film is provided on each of opposing surfaces of a substrate to form a capacitor. 3. The electron beam apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electron source is composed of a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices. 4. A first substrate on which a plurality of electron sources are arranged, an image forming member on which an image is formed by electrons emitted from the electron sources, and a first member to which a voltage for accelerating the electrons is applied. An image forming apparatus comprising: a second substrate provided with a conductive film; and a second conductive film, which is transparent to the first conductive film via a transparent insulating film, on the second substrate. An image forming apparatus comprising a film and a capacitor. 5. A first substrate on which a plurality of electron sources are arranged, an image forming member on which an image is formed by electrons emitted from the electron sources, and a first member to which a voltage for accelerating the electrons is applied. An image forming apparatus comprising: a second substrate provided with a conductive film; and a third substrate having a third space therebetween on a surface of the second substrate opposite to the first conductive film disposed side. An image forming apparatus comprising: a substrate; and a transparent conductive film provided on each of opposing surfaces of the second and third substrates to form a capacitor. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the image forming member is a phosphor. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said electron source comprises a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices.