JP2000251654A - Airtight container and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily manufacture an airtight container with an inexpensive facility and to prevent the breakage of the container due to heating and the deterioration of internal components due to heat. SOLUTION: This container is composed of a pair of panels 101, 102 facing each other, support members 103 for supporting the distance between the panels 101, 102, and airtight sealing parts 104 for maintaining the airtight condition between the panels 101, 102. In this case, the airtight sealing parts 104 are sealed with a low-melting point metal 105.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an airtight container and an image forming apparatus using the same, and more particularly, to a flat type image forming apparatus using a cold cathode electron-emitting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an active matrix type liquid crystal has been used as a flat panel type image forming apparatus instead of a CRT. Active matrix type liquid crystal is
Since it is not a self-luminous type, display is performed using a backlight. However, since the light use efficiency is low, a brighter image forming apparatus has been desired. For this reason, electrons emitted from a cold cathode electron-emitting device such as a plasma display, a field electron-emitting device, and a surface conduction electron-emitting device (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-235255) are accelerated and collided to cause a phosphor to emit light and display. Development of a self-luminous image forming apparatus has been put to practical use. These flat-panel image forming apparatuses have a large area of several tens of inches, and a highly accurate and easy assembling method is desired.

Conventionally, low-melting glass (frit glass) has been applied to the joint between the front plate and the back plate and sealed at 400 to 500 ° C. for sealing such flat panel image forming apparatuses such as plasma displays and field emission displays. Sealing has been performed by firing. Therefore, the equipment becomes complicated due to the demand for strict alignment accuracy under high temperature at the time of sealing, the glass substrate etc. is damaged due to uneven heating temperature distribution, or the inside of the electron emission element or getter material etc. in the image forming apparatus Various problems such as deterioration of parts due to heat have occurred, and it has been extremely difficult to obtain high-quality display.

To cope with this problem, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-28773 discloses a flat-type image forming apparatus using laser welding, which is an example of a method for sealing at a low temperature. The contents will be described below with reference to FIG.

[0005] First, the metal plate 2 is heat-bonded to the front container 1 via the low melting point glass 7, and then the metal plate 4, the frame 3 and the lead wire 6 are connected to the back plate 5 via the low melting point glass 7. To form a back container 8, and a front container and a back container constituting airtight containers of the image forming apparatus are prepared. Next, an electrode assembly (not shown) to be housed therein is disposed in the back container 8 and each electrode terminal is connected to a lead wire. Then, the front container 1 is disposed. And welding is performed continuously along the edge. By doing so, sealing can be performed accurately and reliably, and at the same time, the high temperature distribution during melting by welding is extremely limited in a narrow range, so that deviations in assembly accuracy and warping and cracking of container parts are minimized. It is described that a high-quality display device can be obtained which can be reduced in size.

Further, the above publication discloses a method by soldering,
Although a method by electric welding is described, all methods are denied in terms of reliability, heat resistance in a later step, and the like.

[0007]

However, in the above conventional example, welding can be performed accurately and reliably by local heating without heating the entire hermetic container. However, the use of a laser beam increases the equipment cost and reduces the cost. It was difficult to provide a simple panel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks and to provide a low-cost and high-quality airtight container and an image forming apparatus by devising and improving a sealing method.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a pair of panels facing each other, a supporting member for supporting a gap between the panels, and a panel between the panels are provided. An airtight container having an airtight attachment portion for keeping airtight, wherein the airtight attachment portion is sealed with a low melting point metal.

[0010] By sealing with a low melting point metal,
An airtight container can be easily manufactured with inexpensive equipment. In addition, since sealing is performed by a local heating method without heating the entire container, breakage of the container due to heating and deterioration of internal components due to heat are prevented.

Further, by appropriately selecting the composition of the low-melting-point metal, it is possible to obtain a seal that can withstand the baking treatment in the subsequent step, and to secure a sufficient life as an airtight container.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the hermetically sealing portion has a pair of metal members bonded to each panel, and the metal members are sealed with a low melting point metal. Since the metal members are sealed with a low melting point metal, the joining can be reliably performed.

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that a metal film is formed in advance on the low melting point metal joining surface of the hermetic sealing portion, and the low melting point metal and the joining surface of the metal member and the like are formed by the metal film. The affinity, such as wettability, is improved, and a more reliable vacuum container can be obtained.

The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the metal film is formed of a noble metal material.

Noble metal materials such as Ag, Au, and Pd generally have good solderability and are chemically stable, and thus are suitable as metal film materials.

The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the melting point of the low melting point metal is 450 ° C. or less, and thus the sealing treatment is easy.

The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the panel is made of soda-lime glass and the metal member is made of 426 alloy.

In this case, the difference in thermal expansion between the two is small.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, an image is formed by irradiating an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device on the other panel while mounting the electron-emitting device on one of the panels using the airtight container described above. And an image forming unit.

By forming an image forming apparatus using the above-mentioned airtight container, a high-quality image forming apparatus can be obtained easily and inexpensively, and heat resistance and airtightness enough to withstand heat treatment in a later step are ensured. can do.

If this electron-emitting device is a cold cathode electron-emitting device, the structure can be simplified.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on an embodiment shown in the drawings.

The present invention provides a novel configuration of a flat plate type image forming apparatus in which a plurality of electron emitting elements such as a field electron emitting element and a surface conduction type electron emitting element are arranged, and an image forming member such as a phosphor is illuminated and displayed. Is what you do.

First, an example of a main configuration of an image forming apparatus using the airtight container of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1A is a plan view of the image forming apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ of FIG. 1A, and FIG. It is the fragmentary sectional view which expanded b) further.

That is, a front plate 101 and a rear plate 102 as a pair of panels facing each other, and a front plate 101
Frame 103 as a support member for supporting the gap between the front plate 101 and the back plate 102, and first and second metal members 1 forming a hermetically sealed portion for keeping the space between the front plate 101 and the back plate 102 airtight.
04-1 and 104-2, and the first and second metal members 104-1 and 104-2 are connected to the low melting point metal 105.
Sealed by. First and second metal members 104-
A metal film 106 is formed in advance on the bonding surface of 1104-2 as a base treatment of the low melting point metal 105. Also,
Reference numeral 107 denotes an adhesive for bonding the front plate 101, the rear plate 102, the support frame 103, and the first and second metal members 104-1 and 104-2, respectively.

The front plate 101 is a face plate made of glass or the like, and forms a phosphor which emits light by collision of electrons with patterns of electrodes, wirings and the like.

The back plate 102 is a rear plate made of glass or the like, on which electron-emitting devices are formed together with patterns of electrodes, wirings and the like.

The support frame 103 is usually made of the same material as the front plate 101 and the back plate 102. The front plate 101, the back plate 102 and the support frame 103 constitute a basic container. Note that the support frame 103 may use a partition formed by printing, or may be joined to either the front plate 101 or the back plate 102, and furthermore, the front plate 101 and the back plate 10
2 may be integrated with the front plate 101,
It is not necessary to be a separate member from the back plate 102.

The first and second metal members 104-1, 104-
2 is generally a thin-walled hollow frame shape, but the shape only needs to be a structure in which an airtight container is formed by joining both ends of the panel at the periphery of the panel, and the thickness and shape are particularly limited. It is not something to be done. Also, the first and second metal members 10
It is not necessary that 4-1 and 104-2 have the same size and shape.
The material is generally a metal type, considering the adhesiveness with the member,
The front plate, the back plate, and the support have substantially the same coefficient of thermal expansion, must be able to withstand heat, stress, and the like in a later step, and have a surface property that can be joined with the low melting point metal 105. 426 alloy (Fe-Ni-Cr) is particularly preferred from the viewpoint that it can be provided, that is, it can be polished or treated with a metal film on the bonding surface base and can have wettability to the low melting point metal 105. Used but not limited.

The low-melting point metal 105 is generally a Pb-Sn-based material having a melting point of 250 ° C. to 450 ° C. as shown in Table 1;
An n-Ag-based or Au-based material is used, and is appropriately determined depending on the compatibility (such as wettability) with the first and second metal members 104-1 and 104-2 and the heat resistance required in a later step. It is selected but not particularly limited. In general, the use of additives such as flux, which can be a source of contamination in a vacuum atmosphere, is avoided in order to improve the life inside the image forming apparatus.

[0032]

[Table 1] The metal film 106 is formed with a thickness of several μm in order to improve the affinity such as wettability between the low melting point metal 105 and the first and second metal members 104-1 and 104-2. A noble metal material such as Au, Ag, or Pd which has good attachment properties and is chemically stable is used. Since Ag, Au, and the like are easily dissolved in the low melting point metal, it is particularly preferable to previously form a metal film 106, such as Ni, which is difficult to dissolve as a base.
The metal film 106 is formed by a plating method, an evaporation method, or the like, but the manufacturing method is not particularly limited.

The adhesive 107 is not limited, such as an inorganic or organic adhesive, but can maintain vacuum tightness, emit less gas, and have heat resistance in a post-heat treatment step. It is necessary to satisfy conditions such as sufficient mechanical strength after joining. In particular, low melting point glass is often used, but it is also possible to adopt a configuration that satisfies the above conditions by sharing functions using two types of adhesives.

In the image forming apparatus, after the inside of the container is evacuated from an exhaust pipe (not shown) and a vacuum is formed, a method of sealing the exhaust pipe or an exhaust pipe-less method of sealing the container in a vacuum chamber is used. Completed by the method.

Next, an example of a method for manufacturing the above-described image forming apparatus of the present invention will be schematically described with reference to FIG.

The first and second metal members 104-1, 104-
The metal film 106 is formed on the surface of the joint portion where the two phases are joined.

The first metal member 104-1 is attached to the front plate 101.
Then, the second metal members 104-2 are bonded to the back plate 102 via the support frames 103, respectively.

The front plate 101 and the rear plate 102 are overlapped and fixed while being positioned.

The first and second metal members 104-1, 104-
The periphery of No. 2 is joined with the low melting point metal 105 one round. Thus, the container of the image forming apparatus is manufactured.

[0040]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[Embodiment 1] Embodiment 1 of the present invention is the same as the above embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and will be described with reference to FIG.

In the first embodiment, a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, which are cold cathode electron-emitting devices, are formed on the back plate 102 as electron-emitting devices, and a phosphor is disposed on the front plate 1.
A color image forming apparatus having an effective display area of 3 inches diagonally and an aspect ratio of 3: 4 was manufactured.

That is, a front plate 101 and a back plate 102 as a pair of panels facing each other, and a front plate 101
Frame 103 as a support member for supporting the gap between the front plate 101 and the back plate 102, and first and second metal members 1 forming a hermetically sealed portion for keeping the space between the front plate 101 and the back plate 102 airtight.
04-1 and 104-2, and the first and second metal members 104-1 and 104-2 are connected to the low melting point metal 105.
Sealed by. First and second metal members 104-
A metal film 106 is formed in advance on the bonding surface of 1104-2 as a base treatment of the low melting point metal 105. Also,
Reference numeral 107 denotes an adhesive for bonding the front plate 101, the rear plate 102, the support frame 103, and the first and second metal members 104-1 and 104-2, respectively.

The front plate 101 is a face plate made of glass or the like, and has an image forming section 109 which emits light by colliding with electrons along with patterns of electrodes, wirings and the like.

The back plate 102 is a rear plate made of glass or the like, on which an electron-emitting device 108 is formed together with patterns of electrodes, wirings and the like.

On the rear plate 101, N × M surface conduction electron-emitting devices 108 are formed. (N, M
Is a positive integer of 2 or more, and is appropriately selected according to the target number of display pixels. For example, in a display device for displaying high-definition television, N = 3000 and M = 1
It is desirable to set the number to 000 or more. (In this embodiment, N = 100 and M = 100.) The N × M surface conduction electron-emitting devices are composed of M row-directional wirings (sometimes referred to as upper wirings) and N column-directional wirings. Simple matrix wiring is performed by wiring (sometimes referred to as lower wiring).

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the structure of a surface conduction electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 3 (a) is a plan view and FIG. 3 (b) is a cross-sectional view.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes a substrate;
03 is a device electrode formed on the substrate 301, 304 is formed on the substrate 301 and has device electrodes 302 and 303.
A conductive thin film 305 that connects between them is an electron emission portion formed at the center of the conductive thin film 304. Device electrode 302,
By subjecting the conductive thin film 304 to a forming process through the step 303, the conductive thin film 304 is locally broken, deformed or deteriorated, thereby forming an electron emitting portion 305 having a high electrical resistance state. An activation step for significantly improving the current is to apply a voltage to the conductive thin film 304 of the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device and to cause a current to flow through the device, thereby causing the above-described electron-emitting portion 305 to emit electrons. . This point is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
It is the same as that described in JP-A-235255.

An image forming section 109 made of a fluorescent film and a metal back is formed on the lower surface of the front plate 101 constituting the face plate. Since this embodiment is a color display device, phosphors R, G, and B of three primary colors of red, green, and blue used in the field of CRT are separately applied to a portion of the phosphor film. The phosphors R, G, and B of each color are separately applied in a stripe shape as shown in FIG.
Black conductor BL between stripes of phosphors R, G, B
Is provided. The purpose of providing the black conductor BL is to prevent the display color from being shifted even if the irradiation position of the electron beam is slightly shifted, and to prevent the reflection of external light to reduce the display contrast. To prevent the fluorescent film from being charged up by the electron beam. Black conductor B
Although graphite is used as a main component for L, any other material may be used as long as it is suitable for the above purpose.

The method of applying the three primary color phosphors R, G, and B is not limited to the stripe arrangement shown in FIG. 4A, but may be, for example, as shown in FIG. 4B. It may be a delta-like arrangement or another arrangement.

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

The surface of the fluorescent film on the front plate 101 side includes:
A known metal back is provided in the field of CRT. The purpose of the metal back is to improve the light utilization rate by mirror-reflecting a part of the light emitted from the fluorescent film, to protect the fluorescent film from the collision of negative ions, and to reduce the electron beam acceleration voltage. It may be used as an electrode for application or as a conductive path for the excited electrons of the fluorescent film. When a low-voltage fluorescent material is used for the fluorescent film,
No metal back is used.

Although not used in this embodiment, a transparent electrode made of, for example, ITO is provided between the front plate 101 and the fluorescent film for the purpose of applying an acceleration voltage and improving the conductivity of the fluorescent film. It may be provided.

The basic configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention has been described.

Next, a method of manufacturing the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described in order.

Step-1 (Preparation of Back Plate 102) After a silicon oxide film was formed on a blue plate glass by a sputtering method, device electrodes 302 and 303 were formed thereon. Next, the lower wiring was formed by screen printing. Next, an interlayer insulating layer was formed between the lower wiring and the upper wiring, and further, an upper wiring was formed. The lower wiring and the upper wiring were formed so as to be connected to the device electrodes. Next, after a conductive thin film is formed by a sputtering method, patterning is performed to obtain a desired shape, and the electron-emitting device group 108 is formed.
Was formed.

Step-2 (Preparation of Front Plate 101) A phosphor and a black conductor were formed on a blue plate glass substrate by a printing method. Further, a smoothing process is performed on the inner surface of the fluorescent film,
Thereafter, Al was deposited using vacuum evaporation or the like to form a metal back.

Further, the first and second metal members 104-1 and 104-1
An adhesive 107 made of a frit glass layer for fixing 4-2 was applied to a joint at the periphery of the face plate 101 using a dispenser, and pre-treated (pre-baked) at 380 ° C. for 10 minutes. The frit glass used was LS-3081 manufactured by NEC Corporation as a paste.

Step-3 (Production of Support Frame) An adhesive using a frit glass layer for bonding to the back plate 102 and the second metal member 104-2 is supported on a support frame 103 made of blue sheet glass and having a thickness of 3 mm. It was applied to both sides of the frame by a dispenser and formed by performing a pretreatment (temporary firing) at 380 ° C. for 10 minutes. As the frit glass, LS-3081 manufactured by Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd. was used as a paste similarly to the front plate 101.

Step-4 (Formation of Metal Member, Metal Film) The outer diameter is 0.7 cm larger than the outer diameter of front plate 101 and 0.5 cm smaller than the inner diameter of support frame 103.
Second metal member 104-2 made of 2 mm 426 alloy plate
And the outer dimension is 1cm around the circumference of the face plate face plate
A first metal member 104- made of a 426 alloy having a thickness of 0.2 mm, which is much smaller in inner diameter than the inner diameter of the support frame by 0.5 cm on the entire circumference.
Twelve types were prepared, and a Pd film was formed as a metal film 106 on each low-melting-point metal-sealed portion in advance by electrolytic plating. The film thickness was about 1-3 μm.

Step-5 (front plate 101 and first metal member 1)
04-1) The front plate 101 and the first metal member 104-1 having the smaller outer dimension are arranged at predetermined positions and are heated and pressurized to join via the frit glass as the adhesive 107. did. Bonding was performed at 410 ° C., and uniform pressing was performed so that the metal member was not bent as much as possible.

Step-6 (back plate 102 and support frame 103,
Bonding of the second metal member 104-2) The back plate 102, the support frame 103, and the second metal member 104-2 having the larger outer dimension are disposed at prescribed positions.
Similarly to the process-5, by heating under pressure, each was joined via the frit glass as the adhesive 107. Adhesion is 410
C. was performed.

Step-7 (sealing with low melting point metal 105) Front plate 101 with first metal member 104-1 produced in step-5, support frame 103 and second metal member produced in step-6 Back plate 102 with 104-2
And the first and second metal members 104-1 and 104-1 using a three-axis soldering robot.
The bonded portions of No. 04-2 were sequentially joined with a low melting point metal, and the container was sealed. Low melting point metal is Pb-3wt% Sn
When soldering was performed using -0.2 wt% Ni solder, preheating of the metal member and prevention of oxidation of the solder were performed by heating nitrogen blowing near the solder melting portion at the tip of the iron.

Step-8 The atmosphere in the container completed as described above is evacuated by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after a sufficient degree of vacuum is reached, the container is passed through a terminal outside the container (not shown). A voltage was applied to the electron-emitting device, and an electron-emitting portion was formed by performing a forming step and an activating step of a conductive thin film. further,
After a series of steps, baking was performed at 250 degrees for 10 hours.

Step-9 Next, the chamber was evacuated to a degree of vacuum of about 10-7 Pa at room temperature, and the envelope was sealed by heating an exhaust pipe (not shown) by heating with a gas burner. Finally, in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing, getter processing was performed by a high-frequency heating method.

In the image display device of the present invention completed as described above, a scanning signal and a modulation signal are applied to each electron-emitting device from signal generating means (not shown) through an external terminal (not shown). As a result, electrons are emitted, a high voltage of several kV or more is applied to a metal back or a transparent electrode (not shown) through a high-voltage terminal (not shown), and the electron beam is accelerated to collide with a fluorescent film, thereby exciting and emitting light. The image was displayed.

As a result, a high-quality display with high reliability and a sufficient life was obtained at a low cost with little deterioration of the internal parts due to heat.

[Embodiment 2] Next, Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described.

The second embodiment of the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus in which a spacer is installed as an anti-atmospheric member in order to reduce the weight, and the process after sealing is performed in a vacuum to eliminate an exhaust pipe. belongs to.

As in Example 1, a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, which are cold cathode electron-emitting devices, were formed on the back plate as electron-emitting devices, and a fluorescent material was provided on the face plate.
An aspect ratio of 3: 4 for an effective display area of 10 inches diagonally
Was produced.

First, an image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 5, and then a manufacturing method thereof will be described.

FIG. 5A is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus used in the second embodiment, in which a part of the panel is cut out to show the internal structure. FIG. 5B is a partial cross-sectional view of the panel.

In the figure, reference numeral 502 denotes a rear plate, 510 denotes a spacer which is an atmospheric pressure resistant member, 503 denotes a support, 501 denotes a face plate, 504-1 and 504-2 denote metal members, and 501, 502, 503 and 510. , 504-1,
An airtight container for maintaining the inside of the display panel at a vacuum is formed by 504-2.

That is, the front plate 501 and the back plate 502 as a pair of panels facing each other, and the front plate 501
Frame 503 as a support member for supporting the gap between the front plate 501 and the rear plate 502, a spacer 510 as an anti-atmospheric member, and a hermetic sealing portion for keeping the space between the front plate 501 and the rear plate 502 airtight. 1, the second metal member 504-1, 504
-2, and the first and second metal members 504.
-1, 504-2 are sealed with a low melting point metal 505. A metal film 506 is previously formed on the joint surface between the first and second metal members 504-1 and 504-2 as a base treatment for the low-melting metal 505. 507 is the front panel 5
01, back plate 502, spacer 110 second metal member 50
4-1 and 504-2.

The front plate 501 is a face plate made of glass or the like, and forms an image forming portion 509 such as a phosphor which emits light upon collision with electrons together with patterns of electrodes, wirings and the like. The back plate 502 is a rear plate made of glass or the like, on which the electron-emitting devices 508 are arranged together with patterns such as electrodes and wiring.

On the back plate 502, 720 × 240 surface conduction electron-emitting devices 508 are formed.
0 row direction wirings 511 and 240 column direction wirings 512
Are arranged in a simple matrix.

The image forming section 5 on the lower surface of the front plate 501
Reference numeral 09 includes a fluorescent film 509a that is painted in three primary colors of red, green, and blue, and a metal back 509b that covers the surface of the fluorescent film 509a on the back plate 502 side. Also,
Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn and Hv are lead-out wirings drawn out of the container in order to electrically connect the display panel to an electric circuit (not shown). Dx
1 to Dxm are row wirings 511 of the multi-electron beam source.
Dy1 to Dyn are column direction wirings 512 of a multi-electron beam source, and Hv is a metal back 50 of a face plate.
9b.

The basic configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention has been described.

Next, a method for manufacturing the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described in order.

Step-1 (Preparation of Back Plate) After forming a silicon oxide film on a blue plate glass by a sputtering method, a device electrode, a lower wiring, an upper wiring, an interlayer insulating layer, and an upper wiring are sequentially printed thereon. Formed. The lower wiring and the upper wiring are formed so as to be connected to the device electrodes. The conductive thin film was prepared by applying droplets of an aqueous solution of an organometallic compound by an inkjet method, and then firing the substrate at 350 ° C. to thermally decompose the organometallic compound to produce a conductive thin film of a metal oxide. In this case, a patterning step of the conductive thin film applied by the ink jet method is not required.

Further, a frit glass layer for fixing the spacer 510 was formed by applying a pre-process (pre-baking) at 380 ° C. for 10 minutes at a specified place on the upper wiring by a dispenser. The frit glass used was a conductive frit glass.

Step-2 (Preparation of Front Plate 501) A phosphor and a black conductor were formed on a blue glass substrate by a printing method. A smoothing process was performed on the inner surface of the fluorescent film 509a, and then Al was deposited by vacuum evaporation or the like to form a metal back 509b.

Further, a frit glass layer for fixing the first metal member 504-1 was formed by applying a dispenser to the joint at the peripheral edge of the front plate 501 and performing a pretreatment (pre-baking) at 380 ° C. for 10 minutes. The frit glass used was LS-3081 manufactured by NEC Corporation as a paste.

Step-3 (Preparation of Support Frame 503) A frit glass layer for bonding to the back plate 502 and the second metal member 504-2 is provided on both sides of the support frame 503 on a support frame 503 made of blue sheet glass and having a thickness of 1 mm. It was applied by a dispenser and formed by performing a pretreatment (temporary firing) at 380 ° C. for 10 minutes. As the frit glass, LS-3081 manufactured by Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd. was used as a paste similarly to the front plate 501.

Step-4 (Formation of Metal Member and Metal Film) The outer dimensions are 1.2 cm larger than the outer dimensions of the front plate 501 and 0.5 cm smaller than the inner dimensions of the support frame 503.
First metal member 504-1 made of 2 mm 426 alloy plate
And a second metal frame 504-2 made of a 0.2 mm thick 426 alloy having an outer dimension 1.5 cm larger than the outer dimension of the front frame 501 and a smaller inner dimension 0.5 cm than the inner dimension of the support frame 503.
Were prepared, and an Au film having a Nii film as a base was previously formed as a metal film 506 on each low-melting-point metal sealing portion by electrolytic plating. The thickness of the underlying Ni film is 2-4 μm.
m, Au film is about 1 to 3 μm.

Step-5 (Attaching of Spacer 510) The spacer 510 was aligned with the spacer bonding portion on the upper wiring 511 of the rear plate 502, and the spacer 510 was bonded by heating under pressure. The bonding temperature was 450 ° C.
The spacer 510 is made of glass and is a plate-shaped spacer having a thickness of 200 μm and a height of 1.8 mm. On the surface thereof, a film having a low secondary electron emission efficiency and a high resistance (CrOx in this embodiment)
Was used.

Step-6 (Front plate 501 and first metal member 5
04-1) The face plate 501 and the first metal member 504-1 having the smaller outer dimension were arranged at predetermined positions, and were heated and pressurized to be bonded via frit glass. Adhesion is 410
As in Example 1, uniform pressure was applied so that the metal member was not bent as much as possible.

Step-7 (Joining the Back Plate 502 with the Support Frame 503 and the Second Metal Member 504-2) The back plate 502 with the spacer 510 joined, the support frame 503, and the second metal having the larger outer dimension Member 504-
2 was disposed at a prescribed position, and similarly as in the process-6, each was bonded via a frit glass as an adhesive 507 by heating under pressure. Bonding was performed at 410 ° C.

Step-8 (Placement in Chamber, Preparation of Electron Source, and Pretreatment) A front plate 501 with the first metal member 504-1 prepared in Step-6 in the chamber and a front plate 501 were prepared in Step-7. A second metal member 504-2, a back plate 502 with a support frame 503 and a spacer 510 are installed, and 10-7
After exhausting to about Pa, the electron source and each member were processed in the following order.

The front plate 501 and the back plate 502 are baked at 250 degrees for 10 hours.

A voltage is applied to the electron-emitting device through the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn to form the conductive thin film 502. Activate the electron source. At this time, acetone is introduced as an activating gas, and the gas is exhausted after the activating process.

After the end of a series of steps, at 250 ° C., 10
Time baking is performed to degas the adsorbed gas of each member.

Step-9 (Sealing with Low Melting Point Metal 505) The front plate 501 and the back plate 502 are positioned and superimposed, and then the first and the second plates are placed using a three-axis soldering robot installed in the chamber. Second metal member 504-1, 50
The bonded portions of 4-2 were sequentially bonded with the low melting point metal 505 to seal the container. Low melting point metal 505 is Pb-2
A wt% Sn-3 wt% Ag solder was used. At this time, the display panel was heated at about 100 ° C. by a hot plate heater installed in the chamber.

Step-10 (Cooling-Removal) After cooling, the panel was removed from the chamber, and finally, a getter process was performed by a high-frequency heating method to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing.

In the image display device of the present invention completed as described above, the scanning signals and the modulation signals are respectively supplied to the respective electron-emitting devices by signal generating means (not shown) through the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn. , The electron is emitted by applying, through the high voltage terminal Hv,
An image was displayed by applying a high voltage of several kV or more to the metal back 509b or the transparent electrode (not shown), accelerating the electron beam, colliding with the fluorescent film 68, exciting and emitting light.

As a result, a high-quality display with high reliability and a sufficient life was obtained at a low cost with little deterioration of the internal parts due to heat. In this embodiment, the spacer 510 is fixed to the rear plate 502 first. However, the spacer 510 may be attached after the support frame 503 and the second metal member 504-2 are attached, or the spacer 510 may be attached to the front plate 501 side.

[0097]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the hermetically sealed portion is sealed with a low melting point metal, so that an airtight container can be easily manufactured with inexpensive equipment. Further, since sealing is performed by a local heating method without heating the entire container, damage to the container due to heating and deterioration of internal components due to heat can be prevented.

Further, by appropriately selecting the composition of the low-melting-point metal, it is possible to obtain a seal that can withstand the baking treatment in the subsequent step and to secure a sufficient life as an airtight container.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the metal members are sealed with the low melting point metal in the hermetically sealed portion, the joining can be reliably performed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the metal film is provided on the bonding surface, the affinity such as wettability with the low melting point metal is improved, and a more reliable vacuum container can be obtained. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the metal film is made of a noble metal, it generally has good solderability and is chemically stable.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the melting point of the low melting point metal is set to 450 ° C. or less, the sealing process becomes easy.

According to the invention of claim 6, since the panel is made of soda-lime glass and the metal member is made of 426 alloy, the difference in thermal expansion can be reduced.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the image forming apparatus is constituted by using the airtight container, a high-quality image forming apparatus can be obtained easily and inexpensively, and it can sufficiently withstand heat treatment in a later step. Heat resistance and airtightness can be ensured.

According to the eighth aspect of the invention, the structure can be simplified by using the cold cathode electron emitting device as the electron emitting device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B show a main configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a plan view, FIG. 1B is a sectional view, and FIG. () Is a partially enlarged view.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus according to the present invention;
It is explanatory drawing of each process of.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are a plan view and a sectional view of a cold cathode surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing an example of a fluorescent film used in Examples 1 and 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 5A is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5B is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are views showing an example of assembling a conventional image forming apparatus.

[Brief description of reference numerals]

101, 201, 501: Front plate and face play and 102, 202, 502: Back plate and rear plate 103, 503: Support frame 107, 507: Adhesive (frit glass) 104-1, 104-2, 204-1 , 204-2, 5
04-1, 504-2: Metal members 206, 506: Metal film 109: Image display unit 108: Electron emission element group 105, 205, 505: Low melting point metal 508: Surface conduction type emission element 401: Substrate 402, 403: Device electrode 404: Conductive thin film 405: Electron emitting portion 81: Black conductor 509a: Phosphor 509b: Metal back 510: Spacer 511: Lower wiring 512: Upper wiring

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page F term (reference) 5C032 AA01 BB18 5C036 EE14 EE17 EF01 EF06 EF09 EG05 EG06 EH11 5C094 AA31 AA36 AA43 AA44 BA12 BA32 BA34 CA19 CA24 DA12 EB02 EC02 FA01 FA02 FB02 FB12 GB01

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An airtight container comprising: a pair of panels facing each other; a support member for supporting a space between the panels; and a hermetically sealing portion for keeping the panels airtight. An airtight container characterized in that a part is sealed with a low melting point metal. 2. The hermetic seal according to claim 1, wherein the hermetic sealing portion has a pair of metal members bonded to each panel, and the metal members are sealed with a low melting point metal. container. 3. The hermetic container according to claim 1, wherein a metal film is formed in advance on a low-melting-point metal bonding surface of the hermetic sealing portion. 4. The airtight container according to claim 1, wherein the metal film is formed of a noble metal material. 5. The airtight container according to claim 1, wherein the low melting point metal has a melting point of 450 ° C. or lower. 6. The airtight container according to claim 1, wherein the panel is made of soda lime glass and the metal member is formed of a 426 alloy. 7. An electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein an electron-emitting device is mounted on one of the panels, and the other panel is irradiated with an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device. An image forming apparatus comprising an image forming unit on which an image is formed by using the image forming apparatus. 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the electron-emitting device is a cold cathode electron-emitting device.