JP2000251643A - Electron emission element, electron source using the electron emission element, and image forming device using the electron source - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electron emission element which has high efficiency, causes no discharge phenomenon and has high stability over long time. SOLUTION: This electron emission element is provided with an insulating substrate 1, a pair of electrode members formed on the main surface of the substrate 1, and a first and second carbon containing film members 21, 22 arranged oppositely to each other between a pair of the electrode members interlaying a gap 8. The element has such a structure that the first carbon containing film member 21 is electrically connected to one of a pair of the electrode members, the second carbon containing film member 22 is electrically connected to the other of a pair of the electrode members, and the gap 8 between the first and second carbon containing film members 21, 22 includes a position having the maximum gap size of around 5 nm. In this structure, the first and second carbon containing film members 21, 22 may be electrically connected to a pair of the electrode members via a first and second film members formed between a pair of the electrode members, respectively.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron-emitting device, an electron source using the electron-emitting device, and an image forming apparatus using the electron source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron sources using an electron-emitting device, a thermionic source and a cold cathode electron source, are known.
The electron-emitting devices constituting the cold-cathode electron source include a field emission type (FE type), a metal / insulating layer / metal type (MIM type), and a surface conduction type.

[0003] As an example of the FE type electron-emitting device, W.S.
P. Dyke & W. W. Dolan, "Field E
mission ", Advance in Elect
ronPhysics, 8, 89 (1956) or C.I. A. Spindt, "Physical Prop
ersies of Thin-film Field
Emission Cathodes with M
olybdeniumCones ", J. Appl. P
hys. , 47, 5248 (1976).

Examples of MIM type electron-emitting devices include C.I.
A. Mead, “Operation of Tunn
el-Emission Devices ", J. Ap
ply. Phys. 32, 646 (1961) and the like are known.

As an example of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, M. I. Elinson, Radio Eng. E
electron Phys. , 10, 1290 (196
5) and so on.

[0006] The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes the phenomenon that electron emission occurs when a current flows in a small-area thin film formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include a device using an SnO2 thin film by Elinson et al. And a device using an Au thin film [G. Dimmer, Thin Solid Fil
ms, 9, 317 (1972)], In2O3-SnO.
2 Thin film [M. Hartwell and
C. G. FIG. Fonsted, IEEE Trans. ED
Conf. , 519 (1975)], and those based on carbon thin films [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22, p. 22 (1983)] and the like have been reported.

As a typical configuration of these surface conduction type emission devices, the above-mentioned M.D. Figure 1 shows the device configuration of Hartwell
FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an insulating substrate. Reference numeral 4 denotes a conductive thin film, which is formed of a metal oxide thin film or the like formed by sputtering in an H-shaped pattern, and forms a linear electron-emitting portion 5 by an energizing process called forming described later. In the drawing, the element electrode interval L is set to 0.5 to 1 mm, and W is set to 0.1 mm.

Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, before the electron emission, the electron-emitting portion 5 is generally formed by applying a current to the conductive thin film 4 by a process called forming. That is, forming means applying a DC voltage or a very slowly increasing voltage (for example, about 1 V / min) to both ends of the conductive thin film 4 and energizing the conductive thin film 4 to locally destroy, deform or alter the conductive thin film. To form the electron-emitting portion 5 in a high resistance state. In the electron emitting portion 5, a crack is generated in a part of the conductive thin film 4, and electrons are emitted from the vicinity of the crack. The surface conduction type electron-emitting device that has been subjected to the above-described forming process causes the electron-emitting portion 5 to emit electrons by applying a voltage to the conductive thin film 4 and causing a current to flow through the device.

On the other hand, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-235255, there is a case where an element which has been formed is subjected to a process called an activation process. The activation processing step means that the element current I
This is a step in which f and emission current Ie change significantly.

The activation treatment can be performed by applying a voltage to the element in an atmosphere containing an organic substance, as in the forming treatment. By this treatment, carbon or a carbon compound is deposited from the organic substance present in the atmosphere in the electron emission portion of the device and in the vicinity thereof, and the device current If and the emission current Ie are remarkably changed to obtain better electron emission characteristics. be able to.

FIG. 19 shows a cross-sectional shape of the electron-emitting device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-235255. In this figure, reference numerals 1, 4, and 5 are the same as those in FIG. 18, and indicate an insulating substrate, a conductive thin film, and an electron-emitting portion, respectively. Reference numerals 2 and 3 denote element electrodes for applying a voltage to the conductive thin film 4, and a voltage is applied by using 2 as a low potential side electrode and 3 as a high potential side electrode. In the electron emission section 5,
By performing the activation treatment, a structure in which carbon or the carbon compound 6 is deposited is shown, and excellent electron emission characteristics are realized.

An image forming apparatus can be constructed by using an electron source substrate on which a plurality of electron-emitting devices as described above are formed and combining it with an image forming member made of a phosphor or the like.

[0013]

However, with the rapid progress of multimedia with the advancement of information in recent years, higher performance is required for image forming apparatuses such as displays. That is, the screen size of the display device is increased, the power consumption is reduced, the definition is increased, the image quality is increased, and the space is saved.

Therefore, in the above-mentioned electron-emitting device, the image forming apparatus to which the electron-emitting device is applied keeps a stable and high-emission characteristic for a longer period of time so that a bright display image can be stably provided. Technology is desired.

Here, the efficiency refers to a current (emission current Ie) released in a vacuum with respect to a flowing current (element current If) when a voltage is applied between a pair of opposed device electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. Current ratio. That is, it is desirable that the device current If be as small as possible and the emission current Ie be as large as possible.

If high-efficiency electron emission characteristics can be stably controlled over a long period of time, for example, in an image forming apparatus using a phosphor as an image forming member, a low-power and bright high-quality image forming apparatus such as a flat TV can be realized.

However, the above-mentioned M.P. In the case of Hartwell's electron-emitting devices, satisfactory electron-emitting characteristics and electron-emitting efficiencies have not always been obtained. The fact is that it is extremely difficult to provide

In other words, for use in such applications, a sufficient emission current Ie can be obtained at a practical voltage (for example, 10 V to 20 V), and the emission current Ie and the device current If do not fluctuate significantly during driving. In addition, although it is necessary that the emission current Ie and the device current If do not deteriorate for a long time, the conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device has the following problems.

As shown in FIG. 18, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a linear electron-emitting portion 5 substantially perpendicular to the voltage application direction. As described above, the electron-emitting portion 5 is formed by a gap formed in the conductive thin film by forming, but the gap is not always formed with a uniform width over the entire area as shown in FIG. , And the width of the interval also varies. In the case of such a non-uniform electron-emitting portion configuration, a sufficient emission current Ie may not be obtained, or characteristics may fluctuate or deteriorate significantly during driving.

On the other hand, according to the above-mentioned activation treatment step, a film containing carbon consisting of carbon or a carbon compound is deposited on the substrate in the gap formed in the conductive thin film and on the conductive thin film in the vicinity thereof. A narrower gap is formed (FIG. 1).
9). Although the emission current Ie and the device current If are increased by the activation process, the device characteristics such as the amount of emitted electrons and the lifetime are formed by the film containing carbon or carbon made of a carbon compound deposited by the activation process. It depends on the width of the gap.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electron-emitting device having high efficiency, no discharge phenomenon, and high stability for a long time, and an electron source and an image forming apparatus using the electron-emitting device.

[0022]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an electron-emitting device according to the present invention comprises an insulating substrate; a pair of electrode members provided on a main surface of the substrate; and a pair of electrodes. A first and a second carbon-containing film member disposed to face each other with a gap between the members; wherein the first carbon-containing film member is electrically connected to one of the pair of electrode members; A second carbon-containing film member is electrically connected to the other of the pair of electrode members; the gap between the first and second carbon-containing film members includes a portion having a maximum spacing dimension of about 5 nm; is there.

In this configuration, the first and second carbon-containing film members are respectively electrically connected to the pair of electrode members via first and second conductive film members provided between the pair of electrode members. May be connected.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electron-emitting device having ends opposed to each other by a first gap between a pair of electrode members on a main surface of an insulating substrate, and the pair of electrodes. First and second conductive membrane members respectively electrically connected to the member; the first and second carbon-containing membrane members having a maximum gap dimension and a second gap including a location of about 5 nm; It is provided on each of the first and second conductive film members.

Further, an electron-emitting device having another structure according to the present invention includes a base formed of an insulating material; a pair of electrode members provided on a main surface of the base; First and second conductive membrane members electrically connected and having ends facing each other by a first gap; and having a second gap having a smaller spacing dimension than the first gap. A first and a second carbon-containing film member respectively provided near opposing ends of the first and second conductive film members; and the second between the first and the second carbon-containing film members. Includes a portion having a maximum interval dimension of about 5 nm.

In each of the electron-emitting devices of the present invention,
A configuration in which the gap between the first and second carbon-containing film members includes a portion having a minimum spacing dimension of about 2 nm, wherein the base has a groove in the gap corresponding portion between the first and second carbon-containing film members; A configuration having a shape portion can be adopted.

Here, the base is formed from a material containing SiO 2, and the groove-shaped portion is formed by the deterioration of the material at the time of an activation treatment performed in an atmosphere containing an organic substance. Further, the groove-shaped portion of the base is V-shaped, U-shaped or any of these modified shapes, and the depth thereof is 30 nm.
５０50 nm, and the width is 5 nm〜50 nm.

The electron source of the present invention is an electron source in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged and formed on a substrate, and the electron-emitting device having the above-mentioned configuration is applied to these electron-emitting devices.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus having an electron source and an image forming member for forming an image by irradiating electrons emitted from the electron source. An electron-emitting device having a structure is applied.

[0030]

According to the electron-emitting device of the present invention, the gap formed in the carbon-containing film (carbon-containing film member) has a width of 5 nm or less. A high electric field can be obtained, and a phenomenon such as discharge near the electron emission portion, which occurs when the voltage is increased, can be avoided.

Further, since the substrate (substrate) exposed to the gap corresponding portion has a concave portion (groove-shaped portion), the surface between the carbon-containing films opposed to each other across the gap depends on the depth of the concave portion. Distance increases. As a result, a discharge phenomenon, which is considered to be caused by a strong electric field applied between the films having carbon opposed to each other with a narrow gap therebetween (gap portion), and a current flowing on the substrate surface or inside the substrate are suppressed.

Further, the above-mentioned gap has an interval dimension of 2
When the thickness is not less than nm, deformation of the gap due to a strong electric field during driving, that is, a build-up phenomenon is suppressed, and a short circuit in the gap and an abnormal current increase (rush current) are less likely to occur.

As described above, according to the present invention, with high efficiency,
An electron-emitting device having no discharge phenomenon and having high stability for a long time can be obtained.

[0034]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

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

FIGS. 1A and 1B are a plan view and a sectional view, respectively, showing the structure of a basic planar conduction electron-emitting device 10 according to the present invention. 2 (a), (b),
(C) and (d) are an enlarged schematic plan view (a), a cross-sectional view (b), and (b) schematically showing the structure near the electron emission portion 5 of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 10 according to the present invention. c),
(D).

In FIG. 1, 1 is an insulating substrate, 2 and 3
Denotes an element electrode, 4 denotes a conductive thin film, and 5 denotes an electron emitting portion.
In FIG. 2, 1 is an insulating substrate, 4 is a conductive thin film, 5 is an electron-emitting portion, and 21 and 22 are carbons disposed on the substrate and the conductive thin film in the gap formed in the conductive thin film. Reference numeral 23 denotes a substrate altered portion (concave portion) having carbon. Note that the deposit is schematically shown as being laterally opposed to the substrate surface with the gap 8 as a boundary, and divided into right and left deposits 21 and 22. In some cases, they are connected by unaffected parts. The deposit 21 is also deposited on the conductive thin film 4 on the device electrode 2 side, and the deposit 22 is formed on the conductive thin film 4 on the device electrode 3 side.
It is also deposited on top. Here, the film 21 having carbon,
One of the forms 22 is a deposit.

With this configuration, the deposits 21 and 22 are electrically connected to the electrodes 2 and 3. In the drawing, the deposits 21 and 22 which are films containing carbon are connected to the electrodes 2 and 3 via the conductive thin film 4. In some cases, they are deposited and directly electrically connected.

As the insulating substrate 1, an S substrate formed by sputtering or the like on quartz glass, blue plate glass, blue plate glass or the like is used.
A glass substrate laminated with iO2 and a ceramic substrate such as alumina are exemplified. These substrates are preferably made of a material containing SiO2, and have an electron emitting portion 5 having a substrate altered portion 23 more suitable for the present invention in an activation process described later.
Can be formed.

The material of the opposing device electrodes 2 and 3 is as follows.
Any material may be used as long as it has conductivity. For example, Ni, Cr, Au, Mo, W, P
metals or alloys such as t, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd, Pd,
A printed conductor composed of a metal such as Ag, Au, RuO2, Pd-Ag or a metal oxide and glass; ln2 O3
A transparent conductor such as -SnO2; and a semiconductor material such as polysilicon.

The distance L between the device electrodes 2 and 3 and the device electrodes 2 and 3
The length W and the shape thereof are appropriately designed depending on the application form of the electron-emitting device, and, for example, in a display device such as a television described later, a pixel size corresponding to a screen size is designed. In this case, the pixel size is small and high definition is required. Therefore, in order to obtain sufficient luminance in a limited size of the electron-emitting device,
It is designed to obtain a sufficient emission current.

The distance L between the device electrodes is several tens nm to several hundred μm.
Yes, the photolithography technology that is the basis of the method for manufacturing the device electrodes, that is, the performance of the exposure machine and the etching method, etc., is further set by the voltage applied between the device electrodes, but is preferably from several μm to several tens μm. is there.

The length W of the device electrodes 2 and 3 and the device electrode 2
The film thickness d of 3 is appropriately designed in consideration of the resistance value of the electrode, the connection with the X and Y wirings described later, and the arrangement of a large number of electron sources. μm to several hundred μm, and the film thickness d of the device electrodes 2 and 3 is several μm to several μm.

In addition to the structure shown in FIG.
A configuration in which the conductive thin film 4 and the opposing device electrodes 2 and 3 are laminated on the above in this order can also be adopted. Further, the arrangement of the conductive thin film 4 may be omitted, and the device electrodes 2 and 3 may be extended to the thin film portion.

The thickness of the conductive thin film 4 is appropriately set in consideration of step coverage for the device electrodes 2 and 3, a resistance value between the device electrodes 2 and 3, a forming condition described later, and the like.

Further, since the magnitudes of the device current If and the emission current Ie depend on the width W ′ of the conductive thin film 4, they are sufficient in the case where the size of the electron-emitting device is limited, similarly to the shape of the device electrode. It is designed to obtain a high emission current.

In general, the thermal stability of the conductive thin film 4 may dominate the life of the electron emission characteristics, and it is desirable to use a material having a higher melting point as the material of the conductive thin film 4. However, usually, as the melting point of the conductive thin film 4 is higher, larger electric power is required for energization forming described later. Further, depending on the shape of the resulting electron-emitting portion, a problem may occur in the electron-emitting characteristics, such as an increase in the applied voltage (threshold voltage) at which electrons can be emitted.

In the present invention, the material of the conductive thin film 4 is not particularly required to have a high melting point, and a material capable of forming a good electron emitting portion 5 with a relatively low forming power.
You can choose the form.

Examples of materials satisfying the above conditions include Ni,
It is preferable to use a conductive material such as Au, PdO, Pd, or Pt formed with a film thickness having a resistance value of Rs (sheet resistance) of 10 <2> to 10 <7> Ω / □.
Rs is a value that appears when a resistance R measured in the length direction of a thin film having a thickness t, a width w, and a length 1 is R = Rs (l / w). Then, Rs = ρ /
t. The film thickness showing the above resistance value is about 5 nm to 5 nm.
It is in the range of 0 nm.

Now, among the materials exemplified above, Pd
O can be easily formed into a thin film by baking an organic Pd compound in the air, has a relatively low electric conductivity because it is a semiconductor, has a wide process margin of film thickness for obtaining the resistance value Rs in the above range, and has a conductive thin film. This is a preferable material because it can be easily reduced to metal Pd after forming a gap in the film, and the film resistance can be reduced. However, the effect of the present invention is not limited to PdO,
Further, the material is not limited to the above-mentioned materials.

The length of the electron emitting portion 5 is substantially determined by the width W ′ of the conductive thin film 4. The electron-emitting portion 5 undergoes an activation process described below, and as shown in FIG. 2, films 21 and 22 having carbon opposed to each other with a gap 8 narrower than a gap formed in the conductive thin film 4. It is composed of a substrate recess 23 having carbon atoms. Here, the gap 8 has a portion having a width (interval) dimension of 5 nm or less. Preferably, 2n
It has a location in the range of m to 5 nm. Substrate recess is V-shaped, U
And any of these deformed shapes, the depth of which is 30 nm to 50 nm, and the width of which is 5 nm to 50 nm.

The films 21 and 22 containing carbon are mainly made of graphite-like carbon, but may contain elements constituting the conductive thin film 4.

As shown in FIGS. 2B, 2C, and 2D, the width of the gap 8 formed by the deposits 21 and 22 containing carbon as a main component is determined. 21 and 22 are the distances between the two at the closest location. Sediment 2
In the case where 1, 2 are approaching on the substrate surface (b), and when they are approaching higher than the substrate surface (c), the deposit 2
There is a case (d) where the heights 1 and 22 are not the same height and one is approaching so as to cover the other.

In order to describe the above-mentioned electron-emitting device 10 in more detail, a measurement and evaluation device will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a measurement evaluation apparatus for measuring the electron emission characteristics of the electron-emitting device 10 having the configuration shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, 1 is a substrate, 2 and 3 are device electrodes, 4 is a conductive thin film, and 5 is an electron emitting portion. Reference numeral 31 denotes a power supply for applying a device voltage Vf to the device, reference numeral 30 denotes an ammeter for measuring a device current If flowing through the conductive thin film 4 between the device electrodes 2 and 3, and reference numeral 34 denotes an electron emission portion of the device. An anode electrode for capturing the emission current Ie emitted, 33 is a high-voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 34, and 32 is a current for measuring the emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission portion 5 of the device. It is total.

In measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie of the electron-emitting device 10, the power supply 31 is connected to the device electrodes 2 and 3.
And an ammeter 30, and an anode 34 connected to a power supply 33 and an ammeter 32 is disposed above the electron-emitting device 10. Further, the electron-emitting device 10 and the anode electrode 34 are provided in a vacuum device 35.

In FIG. 3, when a voltage is applied between the device electrodes 2 and 3 so that the device electrode 3 has a high potential, the deposits 21 and 22 shown in FIG.
And a potential difference is generated according to the voltage applied between them. At this time, a strong electric field is generated around the closest position between the deposit 21 and the deposit 22. If this electric field is large enough to allow tunneling of electrons from the deposit 21 to the deposit 22, it is considered that electrons tunnel from the deposit 21 to the deposit 22. Symbol e in FIG. 3 is an electron emitted by the tunneling effect, elastically scattered at the end of the opposite electrode (strictly, the opposite end of the conductive thin film 4), and drawn out into a vacuum.

The dependence of the device current If and the emission current Ie observed at this time on the applied voltage (Vf) is qualitatively shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the logarithm of the value obtained by dividing the current (If, Ie) by the square of the voltage (Vf2 <square>) with respect to the reciprocal of the voltage (1 / Vf) (log (If / Vf2)). <Square>) and log (Ie / Vf2 <square>)) have substantially linear regions. That is, If / Vf2 <square> ≒ Aexp (−B / Vf) (1) Ie / Vf2 <square> ≒ A′exp (−B ′ / Vf) (2) ) And (2) are generally known as Fowler-Nordheim relational expressions that describe the tunneling current.
Current (If + Ie) from the surface to the deposit 22
Indicate that the emission current (Ie) is partly emitted into a vacuum. Here, Vf is a voltage applied to the element, but strictly speaking, is an effective voltage applied to both ends of the deposit 21 and the deposit 22. Therefore, when there is a series resistance component in the element electrodes 2 and 3 and the conductive thin film 4 and the like, and a voltage drop due to the resistance component cannot be ignored,
The voltage drop may be corrected.

In the equation (1), A = 1.4 × 10 −6
<-6th power> αβ2 <square power> / φexp (9.87φ-1
/ 2 <-1/2 power>), B = 6.53 × 107 <7 power>
φ3 / 2 <3/2 power> / β. In the equation (2), A ′ = 1.4 × 10 −6 <−6 power> α′β2 <2
Power> / φexp (9.87φ−1 / 2 <−1/2 power>), B ′ = 6.53 × 107 <7 power> φ3 / 2 <3 /
The square is> / β. Here, α corresponds to the area where electrons are emitted from the deposit 21 to the deposit 22, β corresponds to the reciprocal of the distance between the deposit 21 and the deposit 22 where the electrons are tunneling, and φ is Deposit 2 at the site where electrons are emitted
1 corresponds to the work function of the surface. Α ′ is the above α
Multiplied by the electron emission efficiency.

Therefore, the slope of the graph shown in FIG.
From the value of B or −B ′, the distance between the deposit 21 and the deposit 22 where the electron is tunneling, that is, the gap 8 can be obtained.

However, in the element current If, in addition to the tunnel current, if there is a current flowing on the substrate surface or the inside of the substrate, or a region where the deposits 21 and 22 are connected to each other and there is a current flowing in that region, Applied voltage V
The relation of the element current If to f deviates from the relation of the above equation (1). In general, the voltage dependence of the current other than the tunnel current is smaller than the voltage dependence of the tunnel current, so that the deviation particularly in a region where the voltage is small increases.

On the other hand, the emission current Ie is because a part of the current flowing by the tunnel current is emitted into a vacuum,
It is not affected by currents other than the tunnel current. Therefore, the deviation of the emission current Ie from the relationship of the above equation is smaller than the element current If. Therefore, the emission current Ie
In contrast, when β is obtained from the value of −B ′ in Expression (2), the error is small, and the interval of the gap 8 can be calculated more accurately in many cases.

As an example, when the inclination of the emission current Ie in equation (2) is −B ′ = − 210, the work function of carbon is 4.5 to 5.0 as the work function φ of the surface of the deposit 21.
Substituting eV, the interval d of the gap 8 becomes d = 1 / β =
It becomes 2.9 nm to 3.4 nm.

The interval d of the gap 8 can be directly observed using an electron microscope or the like. As an example of the observation method, a cross section including the gap 8 can be observed with a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The above equation (2) of the emission current Ie
The cross-section (plurality) of the element showing the inclination −B ′ = − 210 at, was observed by TEM, and as a result, (b), (c),
An image corresponding to the schematic diagram shown in (d) was obtained, and it was confirmed that the interval d of the gap 8 was 3 nm.

The plane of the element (corresponding to FIG. 2A)
Is observed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), the interval d of the gap 8 can be measured. In this case, A
Irradiation of r ions and O2 ions, deposits 2 little by little
Observing the SEM while shaving the first and the second 22, the gap 8 in the thickness direction of the deposits 21 and 22 over the entire area of the device.
Can be examined in detail. In the device showing the slope −B ′ = − 210 in the above expression (2) of the emission current Ie, a region where the gap d of the gap 8 was 3 nm was observed in a considerable portion.

As described above, the gap 8 of the electron-emitting device 10
Can be measured by voltage dependence of emission current or observation by an electron microscope. The value obtained from the voltage dependence of the emission current is compared with the observation result obtained by electron microscopy, and the most appropriate value of the work function of the surface of the deposit 21 can be obtained. In the above example, 4.8
eV.

Various methods are conceivable as a method for manufacturing the above-mentioned electron-emitting device. One example is shown in FIG. Less than,
The manufacturing method will be described with reference to FIGS.

After the substrate 1 is sufficiently washed with a detergent, pure water and an organic solvent, an element electrode material is deposited by a vacuum evaporation method, a sputtering method or the like, and then the element electrodes 2 and 3 are formed by a photolithography technique (FIG. 5). (A)).

An organic metal solution is applied and dried between the element electrodes 2 and 3 provided on the substrate 1 to form an organic metal film. The organic metal solution is a solution of an organic metal compound containing a metal such as Pd, Ni, Au, or Pt as a main element. Thereafter, the organic metal film is heated and baked, and is patterned by lift-off, etching, or the like to form a conductive thin film 4 (FIG. 5B).
Note that, here, the description has been given of the method of applying the organometallic solution, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a vacuum evaporation method, a sputtering method,
It may be formed by a CVD method, a dispersion coating method, a dipping method, a spinner method, an inkjet method, or the like.

Subsequently, when an energizing process called forming is performed by applying a pulsed voltage or a rising voltage between the element electrodes 2 and 3 from a power supply (not shown), a gap 7 is formed in a part of the conductive thin film 4. Is formed, and a conductive thin film is disposed to face the substrate surface laterally across the gap 7 (FIG. 5C). As described above, the gap 7 may be partially connected.

The electrical processing after the forming processing is performed in the measurement and evaluation apparatus shown in FIG.

Although the measurement and evaluation apparatus shown in FIG. 3 is a vacuum apparatus, the vacuum apparatus is provided with equipment necessary for a vacuum apparatus such as an exhaust pump (not shown) and a vacuum gauge, and is provided with a desired vacuum. The device can be measured and evaluated. The exhaust pump includes a high-vacuum system such as a magnetic levitation turbo pump and a dry pump that does not use oil, and an ultra-high vacuum system including an ion pump. Further, the present measuring apparatus is provided with a gas introducing device (not shown) so that a vapor of a desired organic substance can be introduced into the vacuum device at a desired pressure. The entire vacuum device and the electron-emitting device can be heated by a heater (not shown).

The forming process includes a case where a pulse having a constant pulse height is applied and a case where a voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse height. First, FIG. 6A shows a voltage waveform when a pulse having a pulse crest value of a constant voltage is applied. In FIG. 6A, T1 and T2 are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, and T1 is 1 μsec.
c to 10 msec, T2 is 10 μsec to 100 msec
As c, the peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage at the time of forming) is appropriately selected.

FIG. 6B shows a voltage waveform when a voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value. In FIG. 6B, T1 and T2 are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, and T1 is 1 μsec to 10 ms.
ec and T2 are set to 10 μsec to 100 msec, and the peak value of the triangular wave (the peak voltage at the time of forming) is increased by, for example, about 0.1 V step.

Note that the forming process ends when the conductive thin film 4 is locally destroyed during the forming pulse.
A voltage that does not deform, for example, a pulse voltage of about 0.1 V is inserted, and the element current is measured to obtain a resistance value.
When the resistance is 1 MΩ or more, the forming is terminated.

When the gap 7 described above is formed, a forming process is performed by applying a triangular wave pulse between the electrodes of the device. However, the waveform applied between the electrodes of the device is not limited to the triangular wave. A desired waveform such as a rectangular wave may be used, and the peak value, pulse width, pulse interval, and the like are not limited to the above-described values. Select an appropriate value according to.

Next, an activation process is performed on the element for which the forming has been completed. The activation treatment is performed by introducing a gas of an organic substance into the vacuum device shown in FIG. 3 and applying a voltage between the electrodes of the element in an atmosphere containing organic molecules. By this treatment, a film containing carbon is deposited on the element from the organic substance existing in the atmosphere with the deterioration of the substrate, and the element current If and the emission current Ie change remarkably.

In the present invention, a film having carbon is formed by the activation treatment, and the gap 8 having a desired value interval is formed.
Must be formed with good control. The interval of the gap 8 depends on the voltage waveform applied to the element, the pressure of the organic substance to be introduced, the diffusion mobility on the element surface, the average residence time on the element surface, and the like. It is also important to have easy handling such as easy introduction into a vacuum device and easy exhaustion after activation. From the above viewpoints, as a result of examining various organic substances, it was found that nitrile compounds were effective. The reason why the nitrile compound is preferably used is presumed to be that the state of adsorption to the element surface via the nitrile group (-C≡N) meets the above conditions.

Next, a process of forming a deposit, which is a film containing carbon, in the activation process will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 7, 1 is a substrate, 2 and 3 are device electrodes, 4 is a conductive thin film, 7 is a gap formed in the conductive thin film, 21,
22 is a film containing carbon, 8 is films 21 and 22 containing carbon
The narrower gap 23 formed inside the gap 7 is a deteriorated portion (recess) of the substrate.

FIG. 7A schematically shows the vicinity of the electron emission portion of the electron emission element before the activation process. Note that the element is once reduced in pressure to the order of 10 −6 <−6> Pa, and then placed in a vacuum device into which a gas of an organic substance is introduced (FIG. 3). Here, a case where tolunitrile is used as an organic substance will be described as an example. The preferred pressure of tolunitrile to be introduced is slightly affected by the shape of the vacuum device, the members used for the vacuum device, etc.
It is about −5 <−5 power> Pa to 1 × 10−3 <−3 power> Pa.

In the activation step (the step of forming a film containing carbon), a voltage is applied between the device electrodes 2 and 3 (gap 7). As a result, organic substances in the atmosphere begin to deposit on the conductive thin film 4 in and around the gap 7 (FIG. 7).
(B)). In this process, the deposits 21 and 22 are simultaneously deposited in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface. Further, if the activation process is continued, the interval of the gap 8 is substantially fixed with the deterioration of the substrate (digging described later) (FIG. 7C), and the activation process is terminated.

Here, the interval between the gaps 8 tends to increase as the voltage applied for the activation process increases.
The size of the interval varies depending on the type and partial pressure of the organic substance introduced during the activation process.

In the present invention, the interval of the gap 8 is 5 nm or less,
Preferably, in order to form a region of 2 to 5 nm, the applied voltage for the activation treatment and the partial pressure of the organic substance are preferably adjusted.

On the other hand, the alteration (digging) of the substrate is considered as follows. When the temperature rises under the condition where SiO2 (substrate material) exists near carbon, Si is consumed (SiO2 + C → SiO {+ CO}). It is considered that the Si in the substrate is consumed by the occurrence of such a reaction, and the substrate may have a hollow (recess or groove) shape. The electron-emitting portion 5 has a structure in which the substrate is cut off and forms a shape having a carbon deposit protruding upward, so that the electric field is concentrated on the tip portion and more stable electron emission is possible.

The recesses 23 formed in the substrate are separated from the deposits 21 and 22 by the gap 8 formed in the deposit.
The creepage distance between them has been increased. It is considered that an increase in the creepage distance suppresses a discharge phenomenon between the deposits 21 and 22 even under a high electric field applied between the deposits 21 and 22.

Next, a deposit 21, which is a film containing carbon,
The carbon of No. 22 will be described.

Graphite-like carbon has a perfect graphite crystal structure (a so-called HOPG), and has a crystal grain of about 20 nm and a slightly disordered crystal structure (P
G), those having crystal grains of about 2 nm and further disordering of the crystal structure (GC), and amorphous carbon (referring to amorphous carbon and a mixture of amorphous carbon and microcrystals of graphite). That is, it can be preferably used even if there is a layer disorder such as a grain boundary between graphite particles.

The electron-emitting device thus manufactured is preferably subjected to a stabilization process. This step is a step of exhausting the organic substance in the vacuum container. It is desirable to remove the organic substance in the vacuum vessel as much as possible, but the partial pressure of the organic substance is preferably 1 to 3 × 10 −8 <−8 power> or less. Further, the pressure including other gases is 1-3 × 10 −6 <−
Sixth power> Pa or less is preferable, and 1 × 10−7 <−7
It is particularly preferable that the power is> Pa.

As the vacuum exhaust device for exhausting the vacuum vessel, a device that does not use oil is used so that the oil generated from the device does not affect the characteristics of the element. Specifically, a vacuum exhaust device such as a sorption pump or an ion pump can be used. Further, when the inside of the vacuum vessel is evacuated, the entire vacuum vessel is heated so that the organic substance molecules adsorbed on the inner wall of the vacuum vessel and the electron-emitting device are easily evacuated. The heating condition at this time is 150-350 ° C., preferably 2 ° C.
It is desirable to carry out the treatment at a temperature of at least 00 ° C. for as long as possible. However, the treatment is not particularly limited to this condition.

It is preferable that the atmosphere at the time of driving after performing the stabilization treatment is the same as that at the end of the stabilization treatment, but the present invention is not limited to this. Even if the pressure itself increases somewhat, it is possible to maintain sufficiently stable characteristics.

By adopting such a vacuum atmosphere, the deposition of new carbon or a carbon compound can be suppressed, so that the shape of the film having carbon of the present invention is maintained. As a result, the device current If and the emission current Ie are reduced. Stabilize.

The basic characteristics of the electron-emitting device manufactured by the above-described manufacturing method will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 shows that the characteristic shown in FIG.
It has been rewritten as voltage characteristics.

The emission current Ie and the device current I of the device after the stabilization process were measured by the measurement and evaluation device shown in FIG.
FIG. 8 shows a typical example of f and the device voltage Vf. In FIG. 8, since the emission current Ie is significantly smaller than the element current If, the emission current Ie is shown in an arbitrary unit, and each is a linear scale. As is clear from FIG. 8, the electron-emitting device has three properties with respect to the emission current Ie.

First, when an element voltage higher than a certain voltage (called a threshold voltage, Vth in FIG. 8) is applied to the present element, the emission current Ie sharply increases, while the threshold voltage Ve is increased.
Below th, the emission current Ie is hardly detected. That is, a clear threshold voltage Vt for the emission current Ie
h is a non-linear element.

Second, since the emission current Ie depends on the device voltage Vf, the emission current Ie can be controlled by the device voltage Vf.

Third, the amount of charge discharged to the anode electrode 34 depends on the time during which the device voltage Vf is applied. That is, the amount of charge captured by the anode electrode 34 can be controlled by the time during which the device voltage Vf is applied.

By using the characteristics of the electron-emitting device as described above, the electron-emitting characteristics can be easily controlled according to the input signal. Furthermore, since the electron-emitting device according to the present invention has stable and high-luminance electron-emitting characteristics, it can be expected to be applied to various fields.

Next, an application example of the above-described electron-emitting device will be described. That is, by arranging a plurality of electron-emitting devices on a substrate, for example, an electron source or an image forming apparatus can be configured.

For the arrangement of the elements on the substrate, for example,
A large number of electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel, and both ends of each device are connected by wiring. A large number of rows of electron-emitting devices are arranged (row direction), and a direction perpendicular to this wiring (column direction). An array configuration (ladder type) in which electrons are controlled and driven by a control electrode (grid) installed in a space above the electron source, and m
An arrangement in which n Y-directional wirings are disposed on the X-directional wirings via an interlayer insulating layer, and the X-directional wiring and the Y-directional wiring are connected to a pair of device electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, respectively. Form (simple matrix arrangement).

This simple matrix arrangement will be described in detail. According to the characteristics of the above three basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention, the emitted electrons from the surface conduction electron-emitting device are applied between the opposing device electrodes at a threshold voltage or higher. It can be controlled by the peak value and width of the pulsed voltage. On the other hand, when the voltage is equal to or lower than the threshold voltage, it is hardly emitted. According to this characteristic, even when a large number of electron-emitting devices are arranged, if the pulse-like voltage is appropriately applied to each of the devices, the surface-conduction electron-emitting device is selected according to an input signal, and the electron is selected. The amount of release can be controlled.

The structure of the electron source substrate formed based on this principle will be described with reference to FIG. The m X-directional wirings 102 are made of DX1, DX2,..., DXm, and are formed on the substrate 1 by a vacuum evaporation method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like, and are made of a conductive metal or the like having a desired pattern. The material, film thickness, wiring width, and the like are designed so that a substantially uniform voltage is supplied to many surface conduction electron-emitting devices. An interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is provided between the m X-directional wirings 102 and the n Y-directional wirings 103, and is electrically separated to form a matrix wiring. Positive integer).

The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is made of SiO 2 or the like formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like, and has a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the substrate 101 on which the X-direction wiring 102 is formed. In particular, the film thickness and the thickness are set so as to withstand the potential difference at the intersection of the X-direction wiring 102 and the Y-direction wiring 103.
The material and manufacturing method are appropriately set. X direction wiring 102 and Y
The direction wirings 103 are respectively drawn as external terminals.

Further, in the same manner as described above, one of the opposing electrodes (not shown) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 is connected to the m X-direction wirings 102 (DX1, DX2,..., DXm).
, And the other has n Y-direction wirings 103 (DY1, DY
, DYn) are electrically connected to each other by a connection 105 made of a conductive metal or the like.

Here, even if some or all of the constituent elements are the same, the conductive metal of the m electrodes in the X direction 102, the n lines in the Y direction 103, and the element electrode facing the connection 105 is the same. And each may be different. These materials are appropriately selected, for example, from the above-described materials for the device electrodes.

As will be described in detail later, the X-direction wiring 1
Numeral 02 is electrically connected to a scanning signal applying unit (not shown) for applying a scanning signal for scanning a row of the surface conduction electron-emitting elements 94 arranged in the X direction according to an input signal. On the other hand, the Y-direction wiring 103 is electrically connected to a modulation signal generating means (not shown) for applying a modulation signal for modulating each column of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 arranged in the Y direction according to an input signal. Connected to.

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

Next, an example of an electron source using the electron source substrate manufactured as described above and an image forming apparatus used for display and the like will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 10 is a basic configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 11 shows a fluorescent film.

In FIG. 10, reference numeral 101 denotes an electron source substrate on which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged; 111, a rear plate on which the electron source substrate 101 is fixed; 116, a fluorescent film 114 and a metal back 115 formed on the inner surface of a glass substrate 113; This is the finished face plate. Reference numeral 112 denotes a support frame, and the rear plate 111, the support frame 112, and the face plate 1
16 is coated with frit glass and baked in air or nitrogen at 400 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more to be sealed to form an envelope 118. Also, 104
Corresponds to the surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. Reference numerals 102 and 103 are X-direction wiring and Y-direction wiring connected to a pair of device electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. Further, the wiring to these device electrodes may be referred to as a device electrode when the material of the device electrode and the wiring material are the same.

As described above, the envelope 118 is composed of the face-plate 116, the support frame 112, and the rear plate 111. Since the rear plate 111 is provided mainly for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the substrate 101, In the case where the substrate 91 itself has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 111 is unnecessary, and the support frame 112 is directly sealed to the substrate 101, and the envelope 118 is formed by the face plate 116, the support frame 112, and the substrate 101. May be. Face plate 116,
By providing a support (not shown) called a spacer between the rear plates 111, an envelope 118 having sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure can be formed.

The fluorescent film 114 shown in FIG. 11 is made of only a fluorescent material in the case of a monochrome image. However, in the case of a color fluorescent film, a black conductive material 121 called a black stripe or a black matrix is used depending on the arrangement of the fluorescent materials. And a body 122. The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the color separation portions between the respective phosphors 122 of the three primary color phosphors necessary for color display black to make color mixing less noticeable,
The object is to suppress a decrease in contrast due to reflection of external light on the fluorescent film 114. The material of the black stripe is not limited to the commonly used material containing graphite as a main component, as long as it is conductive and has little light transmission and reflection.

The method of applying the phosphor on the glass substrate 113 is not limited to monochrome or color, but a precipitation method, a printing method, or the like is used.

Further, a metal back 115 is usually provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 114. The purpose of metal back is
The face plate 1 emits light toward the inner surface side of the phosphor emission.
To improve the brightness by specular reflection to the 16 side, to act as an electrode for applying electron beam acceleration voltage, to protect the phosphor from damage due to the collision of negative ions generated in the envelope, etc. is there. The metal back can be produced by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the phosphor film after producing the phosphor film, and then depositing Al by vacuum evaporation or the like.

The face plate 116 may be provided with a transparent electrode (not shown) on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 114 in order to further increase the conductivity of the fluorescent film 114.

When the above-mentioned sealing is performed, in the case of color, the phosphors of each color must correspond to the electron-emitting devices, so that it is necessary to perform sufficient alignment.

The envelope 118 passes through an exhaust pipe (not shown),
After reducing the degree of vacuum to about 1 × 10 −7 <−7 power> Torr, sealing is performed. In addition, getter processing may be performed in order to maintain the degree of vacuum of the envelope 118 after sealing. This is because the getter disposed at a predetermined position (not shown) in the envelope 118 is heated by a heating method such as resistance heating or high-frequency heating immediately before or after the envelope 118 is sealed. This is a process for forming a deposited film. The getter is usually composed mainly of Ba or the like, and is, for example, 1 × 10 −5 <−5 power> or 1 × 10 5
The vacuum degree of 10-7 <-7th power> Torr is maintained.

In the image forming apparatus (image display apparatus) completed as described above, each of the electron-emitting devices has a terminal D outside the container.
By applying a voltage through ox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn, electrons are emitted, and a high voltage of several kV or more is applied to the metal back 115 or a transparent electrode (not shown) through the high voltage terminal 117 to accelerate the electron beam. The image is displayed by colliding with the fluorescent film 114 to excite and emit light.

The configuration described above is a schematic configuration necessary for manufacturing a suitable image forming apparatus used for display and the like, and detailed portions such as materials of each member are limited to those described above. Instead, it is appropriately selected so as to be suitable for the use of the image forming apparatus.

Next, an example of the configuration of a drive circuit for performing a television display based on an NTSC television signal on a display panel configured using electron sources in a simple matrix arrangement will be described with reference to FIG. I do.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an example of a drive circuit for performing display according to an NTSC television signal. In FIG. 12, 131 is a display panel, 132 is a scanning signal generation circuit, 133 is a timing control circuit, and 134 is a shift register. 135 is a line memory,
136 is a synchronization signal separation circuit, 137 is a modulation signal generation circuit, and Vx and Va are DC voltage sources.

The display panel 131 has terminals Dox1 to Dox
oxm, terminals Doy1 to Doyn, and high voltage terminal Hv
Connected to an external electric circuit via Terminal Dox1
Scanning for sequentially driving electron sources provided in the display panel, that is, a group of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns, one row at a time (n elements). A signal is applied. Terminals Doy1 to Do
To yn, a modulation signal for controlling an output electron beam of one row of surface conduction electron-emitting devices selected by the scanning signal is applied. A DC voltage source Va is connected to the high voltage terminal Hv.
Thus, for example, a DC voltage of 10 kV is supplied, which is an accelerating voltage for applying sufficient energy to the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device to excite the phosphor.

The scanning signal generating circuit 132 includes m switching elements inside (in the figure, S1 to S1).
m). Each switching element selects either the output voltage of the DC voltage source Vx or 0 V (ground level) and is electrically connected to the terminals Dox1 to Doxm of the display panel 131. S
Each of the switching elements 1 to Sm operates based on the control signal Tscan output from the control circuit 133, and can be configured by combining switching elements such as FETs, for example.

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

The timing control circuit 133 has a function of matching the operation of each unit so that appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. The timing control circuit 133 sends Tsca to each unit based on the synchronization signal Tsync sent from the synchronization signal separation circuit 136.
n, Tsft and Tmry control signals.

The synchronizing signal separation circuit 136 is a circuit for separating a synchronizing signal component and a luminance signal component from an NTSC television signal input from the outside, and uses a general frequency separation (filter) circuit or the like. Can be configured. The synchronization signal separated by the synchronization signal separation circuit 136 is composed of a vertical synchronization signal and a horizontal synchronization signal, but is shown here as a Tsync signal for convenience of explanation. The luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is represented as a DATA signal for convenience. This DATA signal is supplied to the shift register 134
Is input to

The shift register 134 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 timing control circuit 133. (Ie, the control signal Tsft can be said to be a shift clock of the shift register 134). The data for one line of the image that has been subjected to the serial / parallel conversion (corresponding to drive data for N electron-emitting devices) is output from the shift register 134 as N parallel signals ld1 to ldn.

The line memory 135 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a necessary time only, and is a control signal T sent from the timing control circuit 133.
The contents of ld1 to ldn are stored as appropriate according to mry. The stored contents are output as l'd1 to l'dn and input to the modulation signal generator 137.

The modulation signal generator 137 outputs the image data l '
The signal source is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in accordance with each of d1 to l'dn. Applied to the emitting element.

As described above, the electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied has the following basic characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie. That is, a clear threshold voltage Vth is required for electron emission.
And electron emission occurs only when a voltage higher than Vth is applied. For a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold, the emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the device. From this, when applying a pulsed voltage to this element,
For example, when a voltage lower than the electron emission threshold is applied, electron emission does not occur, but when a voltage higher than the electron emission threshold is applied, an electron beam is output. At this time, the pulse peak value V
By changing m, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled. In addition, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam by changing the pulse width Pw. Therefore, a voltage modulation method, a pulse width modulation method, or the like can be adopted as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device according to the input signal.

When implementing the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 137 generates a voltage pulse of a fixed length and modulates the peak value of the pulse appropriately according to input data. A circuit can be used.

When implementing the pulse width modulation method,
As the modulation signal generator 137, a pulse width modulation type circuit that generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value and appropriately modulates the width of the voltage pulse according to input data can be used.

The shift register 134 and the line memory 13
5 can be a digital signal type or an analog signal type. This is because the serial / parallel conversion and storage of the image signal may be performed at a predetermined speed.

When the digital signal type is used, it is necessary to convert the output signal DATA of the synchronization signal separation circuit 136 into a digital signal. For this purpose, an A / D converter is provided at the output of the synchronization signal separation circuit 136. Just do it. In this connection, the circuit used for the modulation signal generator 137 is slightly different depending on whether the output signal of the line memory 135 is a digital signal or an analog signal.

That is, in the case of the voltage modulation method using a digital signal, for example, a D / A conversion circuit is used as the modulation signal generator 137, and an amplification circuit and the like are added as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 137 includes, for example, a high-speed oscillator, a counter for counting the number of waves output from the oscillator, and a comparator for comparing the output value of the counter with the output value of the memory. (Comparator) is used. If necessary, an amplifier for voltage-amplifying the pulse width modulated signal output from the comparator to the drive voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be added.

In the case of the voltage modulation method using an analog signal, the modulation signal generator 137 can employ, for example, an amplifier circuit using an operational amplifier or the like, and can add a bell shift circuit or the like as needed. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, for example, a voltage-controlled oscillation circuit (VCO) can be employed, and an amplifier for amplifying the voltage up to the drive voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be added as necessary.

In the image display apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, which has such a configuration, by applying a voltage to each of the electron-emitting devices through the external terminals Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn, the electron-emitting devices can emit electrons. Occurs.
A high voltage is applied to the metal back 115 (see FIG. 10) or a transparent electrode (not shown) via the high voltage terminal Hv to accelerate the electron beam. The accelerated electrons are transferred to the fluorescent film 114
(See FIG. 10), light emission occurs, and an image is formed.

The configuration of the image forming 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 technical idea 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 (for example, the MUSE system and the like) High-definition TV).

The image forming apparatus of the present invention can be used not only as a display device for a television broadcast, a display device such as a video conference system or a computer, but also as an image forming device as an optical printer using a photosensitive drum or the like. Can be used.

[0138]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Examples.

(Examples 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2) The basic structure of an electron-emitting device according to this example is a plan view of FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b). 2A and 2B are the same as the enlarged plan view and the cross-sectional view of FIGS.

The method for manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to this embodiment is basically the same as that shown in FIGS. Hereinafter, a basic configuration and a manufacturing method of the device according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 5, and 7. FIG.

Step-a: First, a cleaned quartz substrate 1
A pattern to be a gap L between the device electrodes 2 and 3 and a desired device electrode is formed on a photoresist (RD-2000N-
41: manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.), and 5 nm thick Ti and 30 nm thick Pt were sequentially deposited by electron beam evaporation. Dissolve the photoresist pattern with an organic solvent and add Pt
-The element electrode 2 having the element electrode interval L of 3 μm and the element electrode width W of 500 μm;
No. 3 was formed (FIG. 5A).

Step-b: A 100 nm-thick Cr film is deposited by vacuum evaporation, patterned so as to have an opening corresponding to the shape of a conductive thin film described later, and an organic palladium compound solution (ccp4230: Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) )
Co., Ltd.) was spin-coated with a spinner and baked at 300 ° C. for 12 minutes. The thus formed conductive thin film 4 composed of fine particles of PdO as a main component has a thickness of 12 nm and a sheet resistance Rs of 1.5 × 104 <4>.
Ω / mouth.

Step-c: The Cr film and the baked conductive thin film 4 were etched with an acid etchant to form the conductive thin film 4 having a desired pattern such that the width W ′ of the conductive thin film 4 was 300 μm ( FIG. 5 (b)).

The device electrodes 2 and 3 and the conductive thin film 4 were formed on the substrate 1 by the above steps.

Note that, in the same manner as in Example 2,
The devices of 3, 4, and 5 and the devices of Comparative Examples 1 and 2 were produced.

Step-d: Next, the apparatus is set in the measurement and evaluation apparatus shown in FIG. 3, evacuated by a vacuum pump, and 1 × 10 −6 <−6 power>
After reaching a degree of vacuum of Pa, a voltage is applied between the device electrodes 2 and 3 of the device from a power supply 31 for applying a device voltage Vf to the device, forming is performed, and a gap 7 is formed in the conductive thin film. did. The voltage waveform of the forming process is shown in FIG. 6B (FIGS. 5C and 7).
(A)).

In FIG. 6B, T1 and T2 are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, and in this embodiment, T1 is 1
msec, T2 was set to 16.7 msec, the peak value of the rectangular wave was raised in 0.1 V steps, and the forming process was performed. Also, during the forming process, at the same time, 0.1 V
At a voltage of, a resistance measurement pulse was inserted between the forming pulses, and the resistance was measured. The forming process was terminated when the measured value of the resistance measurement pulse became about 1 MΩ or more, and at the same time, the application of the voltage to the element was terminated.
The maximum voltage applied during the forming was about 5V. Further, 100 Pa of hydrogen was introduced into the measurement and evaluation device, and the conductive thin film of the device was reduced to reduce the resistance.

Step-e: Subsequently, after sufficiently exhausting the hydrogen introduced in the above step, the measurement and evaluation apparatus and the
Baking for 2 hours at ° C. When the temperature returned to room temperature, the degree of vacuum in the measurement / evaluation apparatus was measured.
<-6th power> Pa had been reached. Here, in order to perform the activation process, tolunitrile is introduced into the vacuum device through a slow leak valve, and 1.3 × 10 −4 <−4> P
a was maintained. One hour after the introduction of tolunitrile, a voltage pulse was applied to the formed element through element electrodes 2 and 3. FIG. 13 shows the waveform of the applied voltage. In Example 1, the applied voltage value was 15 V. Approximately 60 minutes after the start of voltage application, energization was stopped, the slow leak valve was closed, and the activation process was terminated.

On the other hand, activation was performed by applying a voltage under the following conditions to the devices of Examples 2, 3, 4, and 5 and the devices of Comparative Examples 1 and 2 in which the same forming step as that of the device of Example 1 was performed. Was given.

Element of Comparative Example 1 Under the same conditions as the element of this example, a current was applied for 40 minutes at an applied voltage of 15 V, and thereafter, the voltage was gradually reduced to 10 V over 20 minutes to complete the activation step.

Element of Example 2: Under the same conditions as the element of this example, an electric current was applied for 40 minutes at an applied voltage of 15 V, and thereafter, the voltage was gradually reduced to 12 V over 20 minutes to complete the activation step.

Device of Example 3: Under the same conditions as in the device of this example, a current was applied for 40 minutes at an applied voltage of 15 V, and thereafter, the voltage was gradually increased to 18 V over 20 minutes to complete the activation step.

Device of Example 4 The device was energized with an applied voltage of 15 V for 40 minutes under the same conditions as the device of this example, and thereafter the voltage was gradually increased to 20 V over 20 minutes to complete the activation step.

Device of Example 5: The device was energized with an applied voltage of 15 V for 40 minutes under the same conditions as the device of this example, and thereafter the voltage was gradually increased to 22 V over 20 minutes to complete the activation step.

Element of Comparative Example 2: Under the same conditions as in the element of this example, an electric current was applied for 40 minutes at an applied voltage of 15 V, and thereafter the voltage was gradually increased to 25 V over 20 minutes to complete the activation step. The voltage dependence of the emission current Ie shown in FIG. 4 was measured for the element for analysis manufactured under the same conditions as those of the element of the present example and the element of the comparative example. Was calculated. Note that the measurement was performed with an anode voltage of 1
The test was performed under the condition of kV. Further, cross-sectional TEM observation and planar SEM observation were performed, and the calculated gap 8 was confirmed. The intervals of the gap 8 measured by each element are as follows.

Element under the condition of Example 1: 3.0 nm Element under the condition of Comparative Example 1: 1.8 nm Element under the condition of Example 2: 2.3 nm Element under the condition of Example 3: 3.8 nm Example 4 Element under the condition of: 4.2 nm Element under the condition of Example 5: 4.5 nm Element under the condition of Comparative Example 2: 5.2 nm Note that any of the elements is shown in FIG. Such a deteriorated portion (concave portion) of the substrate was observed. Deposits near the gap are analyzed by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (X
PS), and further, elemental analysis by Auger electron spectroscopy, it was confirmed that the deposits consisted mainly of carbon in any of the devices.

Step-f: Subsequently, a stabilizing treatment is performed. The vacuum device and the electron-emitting device are heated by a heater to about 3
While maintaining the temperature at 00 ° C., the evacuation of the vacuum apparatus was continued. 20
After a lapse of time, the heating by the heater was stopped and the temperature was returned to room temperature, and the pressure in the vacuum device reached about 1 × 10 −8 <−8 power> Pa.

Subsequently, the electron emission characteristics were measured. The distance H between the anode 34 and the electron-emitting device was 4 mm, and a potential of 5 kV was applied to the anode 34 by the high-voltage power supply 33. In this state, a rectangular pulse voltage having a peak value of the final voltage applied during the activation process is applied between the device electrodes 2 and 3 using the power supply 31 and driven, and the ammeter 30 and the ammeter 32 The device characteristics of this example and the comparative example were evaluated.

As a result, in the device in which the interval of the gap 8 is from 2.3 nm to 4.5 nm, that is, in the devices of Examples 1 to 5, both If and Ie are stable, and the temporal change due to the driving of the characteristics is small. there were. On the other hand, in the device of Comparative Example 1, If and Ie were unstable, and a phenomenon in which only If suddenly increased as a change with time due to driving of the characteristics was observed.
In the device of Comparative Example 2, If and Ie were unstable, and deterioration with time due to driving of characteristics was large. In particular, a phenomenon in which both If and Ie suddenly decreased was observed.

Embodiment 6 This embodiment is an example of an image forming apparatus using an electron source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix.

FIG. 14 is a plan view of a part of the electron source. FIG. 15 is a sectional view taken along the line AA 'in the figure. However, FIG.
4. In FIG. 15, the same symbols indicate the same components. Here, 101 is a substrate, 102 is an X-direction wiring (also referred to as a lower wiring) corresponding to DXm in FIG. 9, and 103 is a D in FIG.
Y direction wiring corresponding to Yn (also referred to as upper wiring), 4 is a conductive thin film, 2, 3 is an element electrode, 171 is an interlayer insulating layer,
Reference numeral 72 denotes a contact hole for electrical connection between the element electrode 2 and the lower wiring 102.

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

Step-a: On a substrate 1 in which a 0.5 mm-thick silicon oxide film was formed on a cleaned blue plate glass by a sputtering method, 5 nm-thick Cr, 0.
After sequentially laminating 6 mm of Au, the photoresist (AZ1
370: manufactured by Hoechst Co.) and spin-coated with a spinner.
After baking, the photomask image is exposed and developed to form a resist pattern of the lower wiring 102, and the Au-Cr deposited film is wet-etched to form the lower wiring 102 having a desired shape.
Is formed (FIG. 16A).

Step-b: Next, an interlayer insulating layer 171 made of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 μm is deposited by RF sputtering (FIG. 16B).

Step-c: A photoresist pattern for forming a contact hole 172 is formed in the interlayer insulating layer 171 deposited in the step-b, and the interlayer insulating layer 171 is etched using the photoresist pattern as a mask to form the contact hole 172 ( FIG. 16 (c)).

Step-d: Thereafter, a pattern to be a gap L between the device electrode 2 and the device electrode is formed by photoresist (RD).
-2000N-41: manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.), and 5 nm thick Ti and 0.1 mm thick Pt are formed by sputtering.
Were sequentially deposited. The photoresist pattern was dissolved with an organic solvent, and the Pt / Ti deposited film was lifted off to form device electrodes 2 and 3 having a device electrode interval L = 3 mm and a device electrode width W = 0.3 mm (FIG. 16 (d) )).

Step-e: Upper wiring 1 on device electrodes 2 and 3
03 after forming a photoresist pattern of 5 nm thick
Ti and Au having a thickness of 0.5 mm were sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation, and unnecessary portions were removed by lift-off to form an upper wiring 103 having a desired shape (FIG. 17A).

Step-f: Cr film 191 having a thickness of 0.1 mm
Was deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation, and an organic palladium compound solution (ccp4230: manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) was spin-coated thereon with a spinner and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes (FIG. 17 (b) )). The thus formed conductive thin film 4 composed of fine particles of Pd as a main element has a thickness of 10 nm and a sheet resistance of 2 nm.
× 104 <4th power> Ω / mouth.

Step-g: The Cr film 191 and the baked conductive thin film 4 were etched off with an acid etchant and lifted off to form a conductive thin film 4 having a desired pattern (FIG. 17C).

Step-h: A pattern in which a resist was applied to portions other than the contact hole 172 was formed, and 5 nm thick Ti and 0.5 mm thick Au were sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation. Unnecessary portions were removed by lift-off to bury the contact holes 172 (FIG. 17D).

Through the above steps, the lower wiring 102, the interlayer insulating layer 171, the upper wiring 103, the device electrodes 2, 3, and the conductive thin film 4 were formed on the insulating substrate 1.

Next, an example in which an electron source and an image forming apparatus (display device) are configured using the electron source substrate manufactured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

After fixing the substrate 1 on which the device was manufactured as described above on the rear plate 111, a face plate 116 (a fluorescent film 114 and a metal back 115 were formed on the inner surface of the glass substrate 113) 5 mm above the substrate 1. Is arranged via a support frame 112, frit glass is applied to the joint between the face plate 116, the support frame 112, and the rear plate 111, and 10 f at 400 ° C. in the air.
It was sealed by baking for a minute. The fixing of the substrate 1 to the rear plate 111 was also performed using frit glass.

In this embodiment, reference numeral 104 in FIG.
Denotes an electron-emitting device (corresponding to, for example, FIG. 5B) before the electron-emitting portion is formed, and 102 and 103 denote device wirings in the X and Y directions, respectively.

The fluorescent film 114 is composed of only a phosphor in the case of monochrome, but in this embodiment, the phosphor has a stripe shape. First, a black stripe was formed, and a phosphor of each color was applied to the gap, thereby forming a phosphor film 114. As the material for the black stripe, a material mainly containing graphite, which is generally used, was used. Glass substrate 1
A slurry method was used to apply the phosphor to the substrate 13.

A metal back 115 is usually provided on the inner side of the fluorescent film 114. The metal back was manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film after the fluorescent film was manufactured, and then vacuum-depositing Al.

In the face plate 116, a transparent electrode (not shown) may be provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 114 in order to further increase the conductivity of the fluorescent film 114. In the present embodiment, only a metal back is used. Omitted because sufficient conductivity was obtained.

At the time of performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of color, the phosphors of each color must correspond to the electron-emitting devices, so that sufficient alignment was performed.

The atmosphere in the glass container completed as described above is exhausted by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, external terminals Doxl to Doxm and Doyl to Doyn. A voltage is applied between the electrodes 2 and 3 of the electron-emitting device 104 through the
Was formed. The voltage waveform of the forming process is the same as that shown in FIG. The maximum voltage applied during the forming was about 5V.

In this embodiment, T1 is 1 msec, and T2 is 1
The process was performed at 0 msec in a vacuum atmosphere of about 1.3 × 10 −3 <-3 power> Pa. Thereafter, a mixed gas obtained by diluting hydrogen to 2% with nitrogen was introduced into the container to atmospheric pressure, and the conductive thin films of all the elements on the electron source substrate were reduced to reduce the resistance.

Subsequently, after the mixed gas of hydrogen and nitrogen introduced in the above step was sufficiently exhausted, the entire panel was baked at 200 ° C. for 2 hours. When the temperature returned to room temperature, the pressure in the panel was measured.
a had been reached.

Next, the total pressure was set to 1.3 from the exhaust pipe of the panel.
Tolunitrile was introduced into the panel and maintained so as to be × 10−4 <−4 power> Pa. Two hours after the introduction of tolunitrile, a voltage similar to that shown in FIG. 13 is applied between the electrodes 2 and 3 of the electron-emitting device 104 through the external terminals Doxl to Doxm and Doyl to Doyn.
The application of voltage was started from 0 V, the voltage was increased to 16 V, and then the voltage was maintained at a constant voltage of 16 V for 60 minutes, and the process was terminated.

As described above, the electron-emitting device 104 was manufactured by performing the forming and activation processes.

Next, the entire panel was evacuated while being heated to 300 ° C., cooled to room temperature, and the inside was cooled to 10 −7 <−7> P.
After the pressure was set at about a, the exhaust pipe (not shown) was welded by heating with a gas burner, and the envelope was sealed. Finally, in order to maintain the pressure after sealing, getter processing was performed by a high-frequency heating method.

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention completed as described above, each of the electron-emitting devices has a terminal Doxl outside the container.
The scanning signal and the modulation signal are applied from signal generation means (not shown) through Doxm and Doyl to Doyn, respectively, to emit electrons, and the metal back 115 or the transparent electrode (not shown) through the high voltage terminal 117.
An image was displayed by applying a high voltage of 5 kV or more to the electron beam, accelerating the electron beam, colliding with the fluorescent film 114, exciting and emitting light.

The image forming apparatus of this embodiment was able to display a stable and good image with high luminance for a long time.

In the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, the dependence of the emission current Ie of each electron-emitting device on the applied voltage was measured, and the value corresponding to the interval of the gap 8 was obtained from equation (2). It was confirmed that all the devices had a range of 2 to 5 nm.

(Embodiment 7) In this embodiment, an example of a display device configured to display image information provided from various image information sources such as television broadcasting will be described. Display was performed on the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 10 using the driving circuit shown in FIG. 12 according to an NTSC television signal.

In the present display device, in particular, it is easy to make the display panel thin using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source, so that the depth of the 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 with good visibility.

The display device of this example was able to display a television image according to the NTSC television signal in an excellent and stable manner.

[0191]

As described above, according to the electron-emitting device of the present invention, since the gap formed in the carbon-containing film member includes a portion having a maximum interval dimension of about 5 nm, the gap is relatively low, for example, about 20 V or less. Since electrons can be sufficiently emitted at a low voltage and the driving voltage is low, stable electron emission characteristics can be obtained.

Further, since the base exposed at the gap corresponding portion of the carbon-containing film member has a groove-shaped portion (substrate-altered portion), the creeping distance between the carbon-containing film members facing each other with the gap therebetween increases. As a result, a highly efficient device in which the device current If is suppressed can be obtained, and even under a strong electric field applied between the carbon-containing film members, a stable device in which deterioration of characteristics which is considered to be caused by the discharge phenomenon between the gaps is suppressed. Is obtained.

Further, the minimum gap dimension of the gap is about 2n.
Because of m, a short circuit in a gap portion during driving and an abnormal increase in current (rush current) are suppressed, and a device having stable electron emission characteristics over a long time can be obtained.

Further, as described above, in an electron source or an image forming apparatus using an electron-emitting device whose characteristics are stable over a long period of time, even if a large number of electron-emitting devices are arranged, it is very stable. An image forming apparatus (display apparatus) using a phosphor has high luminance, is stable for a long time, and can reduce power consumption.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electron-emitting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic enlarged view of the vicinity of an electron emission portion of the electron emission element according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a vacuum device having a measurement evaluation function.

FIG. 4 shows an emission current I of the electron-emitting device of one embodiment.
FIG. 6E is a characteristic diagram showing a relationship between an element current If and an element voltage Vf.

FIG. 5 shows a part of the manufacturing process of the electron-emitting device of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a voltage waveform that can be used in a forming step which is a part of the manufacturing process of the electron-emitting device of one embodiment.

FIG. 7 shows an activation processing step which is a part of the manufacturing process of the electron-emitting device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows an emission current I of the electron-emitting device according to one embodiment.
FIG. 7E is another characteristic diagram illustrating a relationship between the element current If and the element voltage Vf.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example in which the electron-emitting device of one embodiment is applied to an electron source in which a simple matrix is arranged.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example in which the electron-emitting device according to the embodiment is applied to an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a fluorescent film.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a drive circuit for performing display in accordance with an NTSC television signal when the electron-emitting device of one embodiment is applied to an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 13 shows a voltage waveform used in an activation process which is a part of the manufacturing process of the electron-emitting device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram showing an example in which the electron-emitting device of one embodiment is applied to an electron source in which a simple matrix is arranged.

FIG. 15 is a partial cross-sectional view along a cutting line AA ′ in FIG.

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

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining a manufacturing process of the electron source according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 schematically shows a configuration of a conventional electron-emitting device.

FIG. 19 schematically shows the configuration of another conventional electron-emitting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2, 3 Electrode 4 Conductive thin film 5 Electron emission part 6 Carbon or carbon compound 7 Gap formed in conductive thin film 8 Gap formed in deposit narrower than gap 7 10 Electron emitting elements 21 and 22 Deposit as a main component 23 Depression formed in the substrate near the gap between the deposits 30 Ammeter for measuring the device current If flowing through the conductive thin film 4 between the device electrodes 2 and 3 31 Device voltage for the electron-emitting device A power supply for applying Vf 32 An ammeter for measuring an emission current Ie emitted from the electron-emitting device 33 A voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 34 Accelerates electrons emitted from the electron-emitting device and Anode electrode for capturing 101 Electron source substrate 102 X direction wiring 103 Y direction wiring 104 Electron emitting element 112 Support frame 113 Glass substrate 114 Fluorescence Film 115 Metal back 116 Face plate 117 High voltage terminal 118 Enclosure 121 Black member 122 Phosphor 131 Display panel 132 Scan circuit 133 Control circuit 134 Shift register 135 Line memory 136 Synchronous signal separation circuit 137 Modulation signal generator Vx, Va DC power supply 171 interlayer insulating layer 172 contact hole

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Toshiaki Toshiaki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Kumi Nakamura 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Kia Non-corp. F-term (reference) 5C031 DD09 DD17 5C036 EE01 EF01 EF06 EF09 EG12 EH08 EH11

Claims (13)

[Claims] An insulating substrate; a pair of electrode members provided on a main surface of the substrate; and first and second carbon-containing members disposed to face each other with a gap between the pair of electrode members. A first carbon-containing film member is electrically connected to one of the pair of electrode members, and the second carbon-containing film member is electrically connected to the other of the pair of electrode members. The gap between the first and second carbon-containing film members includes a portion having a maximum spacing dimension of about 5 nm. 2. The first and second carbon-containing film members are electrically connected to the pair of electrode members via first and second conductive film members provided between the pair of electrode members, respectively. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device is connected. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second conductive film members are opposed to each other with a gap having a larger dimension than the gap between the first and second carbon-containing film members. The electron-emitting device according to claim 2, wherein 4. A first and a second pair of electrode members on a main surface of an insulating substrate, the first and second electrode members having ends opposed to each other by a first gap and being electrically connected to the pair of electrode members, respectively. A second conductive film member is provided;
An electron-emitting device, wherein first and second carbon-containing film members each having a second gap including a position of nm are provided on the first and second conductive film members, respectively. 5. A base formed of an insulating material; a pair of electrode members provided on a main surface of the base; and a first gap electrically connected to the pair of electrode members, respectively. First and second conductive film members having ends facing each other; facing the first and second conductive film members with a second gap having a smaller spacing dimension than the first gap A first and a second carbon-containing film member respectively provided near an end portion; wherein the second gap between the first and the second carbon-containing film members has a maximum spacing dimension of about 5 nm. An electron-emitting device comprising: 6. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the gap between the first and second carbon-containing film members includes a portion having a minimum interval dimension of about 2 nm. 7. The first and second carbon-containing film members are deposits containing carbon as a main component, and are formed at the time of activation treatment performed in an atmosphere containing an organic substance. 6. The electron-emitting device according to 1, 4, or 5. 8. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the base has a groove-shaped portion in a portion corresponding to the gap between the first and second carbon-containing film members. 9. The semiconductor device according to claim 8, wherein the base is formed of a material containing SiO2, and the groove-shaped portion is formed by the deterioration of the material during an activation process performed in an atmosphere containing an organic substance. An electron-emitting device according to claim 1. 10. The electron-emitting device according to claim 8, wherein the groove-shaped portion of the base is one of a V-shape, a U-shape, and a modified shape thereof. 11. The groove-shaped portion of the base has a depth of 30n.
9. The electron-emitting device according to claim 8, wherein the width is 5 to 50 nm and the width is 5 to 50 nm. 12. An electron source in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged and formed on a substrate, wherein the electron-emitting device is the electron-emitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 11. 13. An image forming apparatus having an electron source and an image forming member that forms an image by irradiating electrons emitted from the electron source, wherein the electron source is the electron source according to claim 12. An image forming apparatus, comprising: