JP2000251689A - Manufacture of electron emission element and electron source substrate using the same, and manufacture of image forming device and droplet application device used for its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a uniform surface conduction type electron emission element easily formed on a large area at a low cost, to provide an electron source substrate and an image formation device using it, and to provide a manufacturing method of them with high reproducibility. SOLUTION: This element is constructed as a surface conductive type with at least a pair of electrodes and a thin film, including an electron emission part formed of a fine particle film on an insulation substrate 1. In this case, in a process for forming the element, a metal containing solution is injected into a nozzle of a droplet application device 9 where the metal containing solution after degassed is injected into the nozzle, the then its droplet is applied.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a surface conduction electron-emitting device, an electron source using the electron-emitting device, an image forming apparatus using the electron source, a method of manufacturing the electron-emitting device, and a droplet used for the same. The present invention relates to an application device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices using a thermionic electron-emitting device and a cold-cathode electron-emitting device have been known. The cold cathode electron-emitting devices include a field emission type (hereinafter, referred to as “FE type”), a metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter, referred to as “MIM type”), a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the like. .

[0003] As an example of the FE type, W. P. Dyke
and W. W. Dolan, "Field Emis
zone ", Advance in Electron
Physics, 8, 89 (1956) or C.I.
A. Spindt, "Physical Proper
ties of thin-film fielddem
issue cathodes with molly
bdenum cones ", J. Appl. Phys.
s. , 47, 5248 (1976).

As an example of the MIM type, C.I. A. Mea
d, “Operation of Tunnel-Em
issue Devices ", J. Appl. Ph.
ys. , 32, 646 (1961).

As an example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device,
M. I. Elinson, RadioEng. Elec
Tron Phys. , 10, 1290 (1965).

[0006] The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes the phenomenon that electron emission occurs when a current flows through a small-area thin film formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include a device using an SnO ₂ thin film by Elinson et al. And a device using an Au thin film [G. Dittmer: “Thin Solid Fi
lms ", 9,317 (1972)] , In 2 O 3 / S
nO ₂ thin film [M. Hartwell and
C. G. FIG. Fonstad: "IEEE Trans.
ED Conf. , 519 (1975)], using a carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1,
No. 22, p. 22 (1983)].

As a typical example of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the above-mentioned M.P. Figure 1 shows the device configuration of Hartwell
6 is schematically shown. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate. Reference numeral 4 denotes a conductive thin film, which is formed of a metal oxide thin film or the like formed in an H-shaped pattern. The electron emitting portion 5 is formed by an energization process called energization forming described below. In the drawing, the element electrode interval L is 0.5 to 1 mm, and W ′ is 0.1
mm.

Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the electron-emitting portion 5 is subjected to an energization process called energization forming in advance before the electron emission.
Is generally formed. That is, the energization forming means applying a direct current voltage or a very slowly increasing voltage to both ends of the conductive thin film 4 and applying a current to locally destroy, deform or alter the conductive thin film 4, thereby changing the structure. This is a process for forming the electron-emitting portion 5 in an electrically 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. In the surface conduction type electron-emitting device subjected to the energization forming process, a voltage is applied to the conductive thin film 4 and a current is caused to flow through the device to cause the electron-emitting portion 5 to emit electrons.

The above surface conduction electron-emitting device has an advantage that a large number of devices can be arranged and formed over a large area since the structure is simple and the production is easy. Therefore, applied researches on charged beam sources, display devices and the like utilizing this feature have been made. As an example in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are formed in an array, a surface conduction electron-emitting device is arranged in parallel in a trapezoidal arrangement, as will be described later, and both ends of each element are interconnected (also referred to as common interconnection). An electron source in which a plurality of connected lines are arranged in a row (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-031332).
JP, JP-A-1-283737, JP-A-2-2-297
No. 57552). In particular, in image forming apparatuses such as display apparatuses, flat panel display apparatuses using liquid crystal have been widely used in place of CRTs in recent years. However, since they are not self-luminous, they must be provided with a backlight. Therefore, development of a self-luminous display device has been desired. An example of the self-luminous display device is an image forming device which is a display device in which an electron source in which a large number of surface conduction type emission elements are arranged and a phosphor that emits visible light by electrons emitted from the power source are combined. (For example, US Pat. No. 5,066,883)
issue).

[0010]

The conductive thin film of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices has been manufactured by using a thin film process. However, in the thin film process, the number of steps is large and the cost is very high due to the large area. Had been lost.

Therefore, the present applicants applied a surface conduction type electron-emitting device, an electron source substrate having the same, an image forming apparatus, and a method of manufacturing the same by applying a metal-containing solution in the form of droplets onto a substrate. We are considering forming a discharge part. As a result, the following problems were found.

[0012] When bubbles are mixed into the nozzle of the droplet applying device, the ejection amount varies, the shape of the applied dot is not a perfect circle, or the landing position is shifted by several μm. In some cases, the film thickness varied.
In such a case, the element resistance varies, and the in-plane uniformity of the image forming apparatus is deteriorated. Therefore, it has been difficult to uniformly form a plurality of elements with a high yield.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a low-cost, easy-to-use, uniform surface-conduction electron-emitting device having a large area, an electron source substrate having the same, an image forming apparatus, and a method of manufacturing them with good reproducibility. Is what you do. Another object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing apparatus used for the manufacturing method.

[0014]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made by intensive studies in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has the following configuration.

That is, a first aspect of the present invention is a surface conduction electron-emitting device including at least a pair of electrodes and a thin film including an electron-emitting portion on an insulating substrate. In the step of forming an element by using, when injecting the metal-containing solution into the nozzle of the droplet applying device, the defoamed metal-containing solution is injected into the nozzle to apply the droplet. A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device.

The first aspect of the present invention includes, as further features, that the droplet applying apparatus is an ink jet system and that the ink jet system is a bubble jet system or a piezo jet system.

A second aspect of the present invention resides in an electron-emitting device manufactured by the first method of the present invention.

A third aspect of the present invention is a thin film including at least a device electrode and an electron-emitting device portion by using m row-direction wires on an insulating substrate and n column-direction wires stacked via an insulating layer. By connecting a pair of device electrodes facing each other of the surface conduction electron-emitting device composed of the above, in an electron source substrate in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix, A method for manufacturing an electron source substrate, characterized by using the first method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, opposed device electrodes of a surface conduction electron-emitting device composed of at least a device electrode and a thin film including an electron-emitting device portion are arranged in parallel on an insulating substrate. An electron source substrate, wherein both ends of the element are connected by wiring, the method of manufacturing an electron source substrate according to the first aspect of the present invention is used.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electron source substrate manufactured by the third or fourth method of the present invention.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electron source substrate having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices and a plurality of wirings, and a face plate disposed opposite to the electron source substrate and having at least a phosphor mounted thereon. In the image forming apparatus, the method of manufacturing the electron source substrate may be the third or fourth aspect of the present invention.
This is a method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus, which is the method of (1).

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus manufactured according to the sixth aspect of the present invention.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a droplet applying apparatus for forming an element by using a metal-containing solution in manufacturing the first surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention. A liquid droplet applying apparatus characterized in that a solution defoaming mechanism is provided inside or in a solution flow path to the liquid droplet applying apparatus.

[0024]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A flat surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are schematic views showing an example of the configuration of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention. FIG. 4A is a plan view and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view.

In FIG. 4, 1 is a substrate, 2 and 3 are device electrodes, 4 is a conductive thin film, and 5 is an electron emitting portion.

Examples of the substrate 1 include quartz glass, glass with a reduced content of impurities such as Na, blue plate glass, a glass substrate obtained by laminating SiO ₂ on a blue plate glass by sputtering or the like, ceramics such as alumina, and a Si substrate. Can be used.

As the material of the device electrodes 2 and 3 facing each other on the substrate 1, a general conductor material can be used. For example, Ni, Cr, Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, C
metals or alloys such as u, Pd and Pd, Ag, Au, R
It is appropriately selected from a printed conductor made of a metal such as uO ₂ or Pd-Ag or a metal oxide and glass, a transparent conductor such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂ , or a semiconductor conductor material such as polysilicon. be able to.

The element electrode interval L1, the element electrode length W1, the shape of the conductive thin film 4 and the like are determined in consideration of the applied form and the like.
Designed. The element electrode interval L1 is preferably in the range of several thousand angstroms to several hundred micrometers.
More preferably, it is in the range of 1 micrometer to 100 micrometers in consideration of the voltage applied between the device electrodes.

The element electrode length W1 is in the range of several micrometers to several hundred micrometers in consideration of the resistance value of the electrode and the electron emission characteristics. Film thickness d of device electrodes 2 and 3
Ranges from 100 Angstroms to 1 micrometer.

In addition to the configuration shown in FIG.
A configuration in which the conductive thin film 4 and the opposing device electrodes 2 and 3 are stacked in this order may be adopted.

The thickness of the conductive thin film 4 is appropriately set in consideration of the step coverage of the device electrodes 2 and 3, the resistance between the device electrodes 2 and 3, and forming conditions to be described later. To several thousand angstroms, and more preferably from 10 angstroms to 500 angstroms. The resistance value of Rs is 10 ² Ω to 10 ⁷ Ω
Is the value of Rs has a thickness t, a width w, and a length l.
Is the value that appears when the resistance R of the thin film is set to R = Rs (1 / W). When the resistance value of the thin film material is ρ, Rs = ρ /
It is represented by t.

In this specification, the forming process will be described by taking an energizing process as an example. However, the forming process is not limited to this, and any forming method may be used as long as it forms a crack in the film to form a high resistance state. Any method may be used.

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

The electron-emitting portion 5 is constituted by a high-resistance crack formed in a part of the conductive thin film 4 and depends on the thickness, film quality, material, and method of energization forming and the like of the conductive thin film 4 described later. It will be. Inside the electron emission unit 5,
In some cases, conductive fine particles having a particle size of 1000 angstroms or less are included. The conductive fine particles contain some or all of the elements of the material constituting the conductive thin film 4. The electron emitting portion 5 and the conductive thin film 4 in the vicinity thereof may contain carbon or a carbon compound.

Hereinafter, an example of a method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a drawing that best illustrates the features of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a defoaming method, and FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the creation of a conductive thin film using a droplet applying device.

First, the substrate 1 is sufficiently washed with a detergent, pure water, an organic solvent, and the like, and a device electrode material is deposited by a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, or the like, and then, is deposited on the substrate 1 by using, for example, a photolithography technique. The device electrodes 2 and 3 are formed (FIGS. 3A and 3B).

A solution containing a conductive material is applied to the substrate 1 provided with the device electrodes 2 and 3 by using a droplet applying device 9.
It is applied in the form of a droplet between the three (FIG. 3 (c)).

As the droplet applying device 9, any device can be used as long as it can form an arbitrary droplet. In particular, the device can be controlled in a range of about several tens to several tens of ng, and It is preferable to use an ink jet type apparatus which can easily form a small amount of droplets of about several tens ng or more.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show an example of an ink jet head which can be used in the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to this.

FIG. 7 shows an ink jet apparatus using a piezo jet method, wherein 21 is a first glass nozzle, 22 is a second glass nozzle, 23 is a cylindrical piezo, and 25 and 26.
Denotes a supply tube for a liquid to be discharged, for example, a solution of an organometallic compound, and 27 denotes an electric signal input terminal. By applying a predetermined voltage to the electric signal input terminal, the cylindrical piezo 23 contracts and discharges liquid as liquid droplets.

FIG. 8 shows an ink jet apparatus using a bubble jet method, in which 31 is a substrate, 32 is a heating resistor, 33 is a support plate, 34 is a fluid flow path, 35 is a first nozzle, 36 is a second nozzle, 37 is an ink flow path partition, 38,
Reference numeral 39 denotes a liquid chamber having a predetermined liquid therein;
1 is a fluid supply port and 312 is a ceiling plate. The heating resistor 32 generates heat, and thereby a droplet is ejected from the nozzle.

In each of the above examples, the case where there are two nozzles is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this.

The material of the droplet may be in any state as long as the droplet can be formed.
There are solutions, organometallic solutions, and the like in which the above-mentioned metals and the like are dispersed and dissolved in water, a solvent, and the like.

At this time, if bubbles exist in the solution in the nozzle of the droplet applying device, the ejection of the solution from the nozzle becomes unstable, the ejection amount varies, the shape of the landed dot varies, and the landing position changes. There were times when it shifted.
Therefore, before injecting the solution into the nozzle of the droplet applying device 9,
It is preferred that the solution be defoamed and a bubble-free solution is injected into the nozzle.

In FIG. 1, a solution flows from a solution tank 13 of the above-mentioned organic metal-containing solution into a vacuum vessel 10 and the degree of vacuum in the vacuum vessel 10 is measured by a vacuum gauge 11.
The pressure is kept at -600 mmHg at 2. The solution is defoamed in the vacuum vessel 10, and then the organic metal-containing solution is injected from the vacuum vessel 10 to the droplet applying device 9 by using a tube made of a material such as a glass that hardly allows gas to pass. As a method of defoaming the solution, a method of passing the solution through the above-mentioned vacuum container (FIG. 2A), a method of heating, and particularly, in the case of a solution in which a solvent or the like is easily evaporated, a material through which gas is easily passed tube,
For example, a method in which polytetrafluoroethylene is passed through a vacuum vessel and the solution is passed through the tube (FIG. 2B),
Further, a combination of these methods can be considered. When the defoamed ink is injected into the nozzle of the droplet applying device by the above-described method and droplets are applied, variations in the ejection amount, dot shape, and landing position can be suppressed to a small value.

After the droplets are applied by the above method, a heat treatment is performed at a temperature of 300 to 600 degrees to evaporate the solvent to form the conductive thin film 4. Variations in the resistance value of the conductive thin film 4 can be suppressed by the solution injection method described above.

A defoaming mechanism such as a vacuum vessel 10 is provided in the flow path of the solution tank 13 and the droplet applying device 9 for defoaming the organic metal-containing solution. It suffices that the process be performed before the droplet is applied from the application device 9, and the position is not limited.

Subsequently, a forming process is performed. As an example of the forming processing method, a method by an energization processing will be described. When current is applied between the device electrodes 2 and 3 using a power supply (not shown), an electron-emitting portion 5 having a changed structure is formed at the portion of the conductive thin film 4 (FIG. 4). According to the energization forming, a portion of the conductive thin film 4 having a structural change such as local destruction, deformation or alteration is formed. The portion becomes the electron emission portion 5. FIG. 9 shows an example of the voltage waveform of the energization forming.

The voltage waveform is preferably a pulse waveform. The method shown in FIG. 9A in which a pulse having a pulse peak value of a constant voltage is continuously applied and the method shown in FIG. 9B in which a voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value are used. There is.

T ₁ and T ₂ in FIG. 9A are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform. Usually T ₁ 1 microsecond to 10 milliseconds, T ₂ is set in a range of 10 microseconds to 100 milliseconds. The peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during energization forming) is appropriately selected according to the form of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. Under such conditions, for example, a voltage is applied for several seconds to several tens minutes. The pulse waveform is not limited to a triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave can be adopted.

T ₁ and T ₂ in FIG.
It can be similar to that shown in FIG. The peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during energization forming) can be increased by, for example, about 0.1 V steps.

The end of the energization forming process can be detected by applying a voltage that does not locally destroy or deform the conductive thin film 4 during the pulse interval T ₂ and measuring the current. For example, an element current flowing by applying a voltage of about 0.1 V is measured, and a resistance value is obtained. When the resistance value indicates 1 M ohm or more, the energization forming is terminated.

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

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

The end of the activation step is determined while measuring the device current _If and the emission current _Ie . The pulse width, pulse interval, pulse crest value, and the like are set as appropriate.

Carbon or a carbon compound is HOPG
(Highly Oriented Pyrolytic
Graphite), PG (Pyrolytic G)
raphite), GC (Glassy Carbo)
n) and the like, and amorphous carbon. The thickness is preferably 500 Å or less, and more preferably 300 Å or less. Here, HOPG refers to graphite having an almost perfect crystal structure, PG refers to graphite having a crystal grain of about 200 ° and a slightly disordered crystal structure, and GC refers to graphite having a crystal grain of about 20 ° and further disordered crystal structure. . The amorphous carbon is carbon containing amorphous carbon and a mixture of the amorphous carbon and the microcrystals of the graphite.

It is preferable that the electron-emitting device obtained through the activation step is subjected to a stabilization treatment. In this treatment, the partial pressure of the organic substance in the vacuum vessel is 1.3 × 10 ⁻⁶ Pa or less.
Desirably, the pressure is set to 1.3 × 10 ⁻⁸ Pa or less.
The pressure in the vacuum vessel is preferably 1.3 × 10 ⁻⁵ Pa or less, particularly preferably 1.3 × 10 ⁻⁶ Pa or less. It is preferable to use a vacuum exhaust device that does not use oil 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, it is preferable that the entire vacuum vessel is heated so that the organic substance molecules adsorbed on the inner wall of the vacuum vessel and the electron-emitting device are easily evacuated. The evacuation conditions in the heated state at this time are 80 to 200
Although it is desirable that the heating time is 5 hours or more at ° C., it is not particularly limited to this condition, and it changes depending on various conditions such as the size and shape of the vacuum vessel and the configuration of the electron-emitting device. Note that the partial pressure of the organic substance is determined by measuring the partial pressure of organic molecules having a mass number of 10 to 200 and mainly containing carbon and hydrogen using a mass spectrometer, and integrating the partial pressures.

The atmosphere at the time of driving after the stabilization step is preferably the same as that at the end of the stabilization process, but is not limited to this. If the organic substance is sufficiently removed, Even if the degree of vacuum itself is slightly reduced, sufficiently stable characteristics can be maintained.

By adopting such a vacuum atmosphere, the deposition of new carbon or carbon compound can be suppressed.
As a result, the device current _If emission current _Ie is stabilized.

Various arrangements of the electron-emitting devices can be adopted.

As an example, each of a large number of electron-emitting devices arranged in parallel is connected at both ends, a large number of rows of electron-emitting devices are arranged (referred to as a row direction), and a direction orthogonal to this wiring (a column direction). In some cases, a control electrode (also referred to as a grid) disposed above the electron-emitting device controls the electrons from the electron-emitting device in a ladder-like arrangement (FIG. 6).

Separately, a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged in rows and columns in the X and Y directions, and one of the electrodes of the plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged in the same row is commonly used for wiring in the X direction. One in which the other electrodes of the plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged in the same column are connected in common to a wiring in the Y direction (FIG. 5). This is a so-called simple matrix arrangement. First, the simple matrix arrangement will be described in detail below.

An electron source substrate obtained by arranging a plurality of electron-emitting devices of the present invention in a matrix will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 10, reference numeral 71 denotes an electron source substrate;
Denotes an X-direction wiring, and 73 denotes a Y-direction wiring. 74 is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and 75 is a connection.

The m X-direction wirings 72 include D _X1 , D _X2,.
.., D _Xm , and can be made of a conductive metal or the like formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. The material, thickness, and width of the wiring are appropriately designed. The Y-direction wiring 73 includes n wirings D _Y1 , D _Y2 ,..., D _Yn , and is formed in the same manner as the X-direction wiring 72. An interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is provided between the m X-directional wirings 72 and the n Y-directional wirings 73 to electrically separate them (m and n are both positive). Integer).

The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is made of SiO ₂ or the like formed by using a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. For example, it is formed in a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the substrate 71 on which the X-directional wiring 72 is formed. The manufacturing method is set. X direction wiring 72 and Y
The directional wiring 73 is drawn out as an external terminal.

A pair of electrodes (not shown) constituting the surface conduction electron-emitting device 74 are electrically connected to m X-directional wires 72 and n Y-directional wires 73 by a connection 75 made of a conductive metal or the like. Have been.

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

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

In the above configuration, individual elements can be selected and driven independently using simple matrix wiring.

FIGS. 11 and 12 show an image forming apparatus constructed using such an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a display panel of the image forming apparatus, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a fluorescent film used in one image forming apparatus.
FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing an example of a drive circuit for performing display according to a television signal of the NTSC method.

In FIG. 11, reference numeral 71 denotes an electron source substrate on which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged; 81, a rear plate on which the electron source substrate 71 is fixed; 86, a fluorescent film 84 on the inner surface of a glass substrate 83;
And a face plate on which a metal back 85 and the like are formed. Reference numeral 82 denotes a support frame, and a rear plate 81 and a face plate 86 are connected to the support frame 82 using frit glass or the like. Reference numeral 88 denotes an envelope which is baked for 10 minutes or more in the temperature range of 400 to 500 degrees in the air or nitrogen and sealed.

Reference numeral 74 denotes a surface conduction electron-emitting device;
Are X-direction wiring and Y-direction wiring connected to a pair of device electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. The envelope 88 is
As described above, it is composed of the face plate 86, the support frame 82, and the rear plate 81. Since the rear plate 81 is provided mainly for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the electron source substrate 71,
If the electron source substrate 71 itself has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 81 can be dispensed with. That is, the support frame 82 is directly sealed to the substrate 71 and the face plate 8
6. The envelope 88 may be composed of the support frame 82 and the substrate 71. On the other hand, the face plate 86 and the rear plate 8
By providing a support (not shown) called a spacer (atmospheric pressure-resistant support member) between the two, an envelope 88 having sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure can be formed.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing a fluorescent film. The fluorescent film 84 can be composed of only a phosphor in the case of monochrome. In the case of a color fluorescent film, it can be composed of a black member 91 called a black stripe or a black matrix and a fluorescent material 92 depending on the arrangement of the fluorescent materials. The purpose of providing a black stripe and a plaque matrix is that, in the case of color display, the color separation between the phosphors 92 of the necessary three primary color phosphors is made black to make color mixing less noticeable, and the contrast due to external light reflection is obtained. Is to suppress the decrease in the temperature. As a material for the black stripe, other than a commonly used material containing graphite as a main component, any material that transmits and reflects less light can be used.

The method of applying the fluorescent substance to the glass substrate 93 can employ a precipitation method, a printing method, etc., irrespective of monochrome or color. Usually, a metal back 85 is provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 84. The purpose of providing a metal back is
The light emitted from the phosphor toward the inner surface is converted into a face plate 8.
Improve the brightness by specular reflection on the 6 side, act as an electrode for applying electron beam acceleration voltage, protect the phosphor from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the envelope, etc. It is.

The metal back is manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called “filming”) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film after the fluorescent film is manufactured, and then depositing Al using vacuum evaporation or the like. it can.

The face plate 86 further has a fluorescent film 8
A transparent electrode (not shown) may be provided on the outer surface side (the glass substrate 83 side) of the fluorescent film 84 in order to increase the conductivity of the phosphor film 4.

When performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of color, it is necessary to make each color phosphor correspond to the electron-emitting device.
Sufficient alignment is essential.

The image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 11 is manufactured, for example, as follows.

The envelope 88 is evacuated through an exhaust pipe (not shown) by an exhaust device that does not use oil, such as an ion pump and a sorption pump, while appropriately heating, similarly to the above-described stabilization step. After the atmosphere of a vacuum degree of about ^10-5 Pa and a sufficiently small amount of the organic substance is set, the sealing is performed. In order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing the envelope 88, a getter process may be performed. This is the envelope 88
Immediately before or after sealing, a getter disposed at a predetermined position (not shown) in the envelope 88 is heated by heating using resistance heating, high-frequency heating, or the like to form a deposition film. Processing. The getter is usually composed mainly of Ba or the like.
The vacuum degree of × 10 ⁻³ Pa or 1.3 × 10 ⁻⁵ Pa is maintained.

Next, an example of the configuration of a drive circuit for performing television display based on a television signal of the NTSC method on a display panel configured using electron sources in a simple matrix arrangement will be described with reference to FIG. . In FIG. 13, 1
01 is an image display panel, 102 is a scanning circuit, 103
Is a control circuit, and 104 is a shift register. 105 is a line memory, 106 is a synchronization signal separation circuit, 107 is a modulation signal generator, and Vx and Va are DC voltage sources.

The display panel 101 has terminals D _{ox1 to} D _{ox1 to} D
_oxm , terminals _{Doyl to Doyn} , and a high-voltage terminal Hv are connected to an external electric circuit. Terminals D _ox1 through D _ox
oxm is a scanning signal 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). There is applied to the terminal D _Oy1 to D _Oyn,
A modulation signal for controlling an output electron beam of each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in one row selected by the scanning signal is applied. The high-voltage terminal Hv is supplied with a DC voltage of, for example, 10 kV from a DC voltage source Va, which applies sufficient energy to an electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device to excite the phosphor. This is the accelerating voltage to perform.

The scanning circuit 102 will be described. This circuit is a that comprises M switching devices inside (in the figure, is schematically shown in to no S ₁ S _m) is. Each switching element selects either the output voltage of the DC voltage source Vx or 0 [V] (ground level),
It is no terminal D _ox1 of the display panel 101 is connected to D _oxm and electrically. Each switching element S ₁ to S _m, the control circuit 103 operates based on a control signal T _scan that outputs can be configured by combining switching elements such as FET.

In the case of the present embodiment, the DC voltage source Vx uses a drive voltage applied to an element that is not scanned based on the characteristics (electron emission threshold voltage) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. It is set to output a constant voltage that is equal to or lower than the voltage.

The control circuit 103 has a function of matching the operation of each unit so that an appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. Control circuit 103 in accordance with the synchronization signal T _sync sent from the synchronous signal separating circuit 106, generates the respective control signals of T _scan and T _sft and T _mry to each unit.

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

The shift register 104 is for serially / parallel converting the DATA signal input serially in time series for each line of an image. The shift register 104 converts the data into a control signal _Tsft sent from the control circuit 103. (The control signal _Tsft can be said to be a shift clock of the shift register 104). Cereal/
The data of one line of the parallel-converted image (corresponding to drive data for N electron-emitting devices) is output from the shift register 104 as N parallel signals I _{d1 to} I _dn .

The line memory 105 is a storage device for storing data of one line of an image for a required time only, and stores the contents of I _{d1 to} I _dn as appropriate according to a control signal T _mry sent from the control circuit 103. I do. The stored contents are output as I _{d′ 1 to} I _{d′ n} and input to the modulation signal generator 107.

The modulation signal generator 107 outputs the image data I
_d'1 to a signal source for appropriately driving modulating each of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to each of the I _d'n, the output signal is displayed through the terminal D _Oy1 to D _Oyn panel 1
01 is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

The electron-emitting device of the present invention has the following basic characteristics with respect to the emission current _Ie . That is, electron emission has a clear threshold voltage _Vth , and electron emission occurs only when a voltage equal to or higher than _Vth is applied. For a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold, the emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the device. Therefore, when a pulse-like voltage is applied to the device, 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. Outputs an electron beam. At that time, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled by changing the pulse peak value Vm. In addition, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam by changing the pulse width Pw.

Therefore, as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device according to the input signal, a voltage modulation method, a pulse width modulation method, or the like can be employed. When performing the voltage modulation method, a circuit of the voltage modulation method that generates a voltage pulse of a fixed length and modulates the peak value of the pulse appropriately according to input data is used as the modulation signal generator 107. be able to.

When performing the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 107 generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value, and modulates the width of the voltage pulse appropriately according to input data. Modulation circuits can be used.

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

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

In the image display device of the present invention which can take such a configuration, each of the electron-emitting devices is provided with an external terminal D
_ox1 to D _oxm, by applying a voltage via the D _Oy1 to _D oyn, electron emission occurs. A high voltage is applied to the metal back 85 or a transparent electrode (not shown) via the high voltage terminal Hv to accelerate the electron beam. The accelerated electrons collide with the fluorescent film 84 and emit light to form an image.

The configuration of the image forming apparatus described here is merely an example, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention. For the input signal, the NTSC method has been described, but the input signal is not limited to this, and PAL, SECA
In addition to the M method, a TV signal (for example, a high-definition TV such as the MUSE method) including a larger number of scanning lines can be employed.

Next, the ladder-type arrangement of the electron source and the image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view showing an example of a ladder-type electron source. In FIG. 14, reference numeral 110 denotes an electron source substrate, and 111 denotes an electron-emitting device. 112, D _{x1 to} D
_x10 is a common wiring for connecting the electron-emitting devices 111. A plurality of electron-emitting devices 111 are arranged on the substrate 110 in parallel in the X direction (this is called an element row). A plurality of the element rows are arranged to constitute an electron source. By applying a drive voltage between the common wires of each element row, each element row can be driven independently. That is,
A voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold is applied to an element row that wants to emit an electron beam.
A voltage lower than the electron emission threshold is applied. In the common wirings D _{x2 to} D _x9 between the element rows, for example, D _x2 and D _x3 can be the same wiring.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a panel structure in an image forming apparatus having a ladder-type electron source. _{Reference numeral} 120 denotes a grid electrode, 121 denotes a hole through which electrons pass, and 122 denotes an external terminal _{formed of Dox1} , _Dox2 , ..., _Doxm . 123 is a grid electrode 12
0 G ₁ which is connected to, G _2, ···, vessel terminals consisting of G _n, 124 is an electron source substrate having the same wiring common wiring for each element rows.

In FIG. 15, the same parts as those shown in FIGS. 11 and 14 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those shown in these figures. The major difference between the image forming apparatus shown here and the image forming apparatus having the simple matrix arrangement shown in FIG.
Between the grid electrodes 120.

In FIG. 15, a grid electrode 120 is provided between the substrate 110 and the face plate 86. The grid electrode 120 is for modulating the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device,
One circular opening 121 is provided for each element in order to allow an electron beam to pass through a striped electrode provided orthogonal to the ladder-shaped element rows. The shape and installation position of the grid are not limited to those shown in FIG. For example, a large number of passage openings may be provided in a mesh shape as openings, and a grid may be provided around or near the surface conduction electron-emitting device. The outer container terminal 122 and the grid outer terminal 123 are electrically connected to a control circuit (not shown).

In the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, a modulation signal for one line of an image is simultaneously applied to the grid electrode rows in synchronization with sequentially driving (scanning) the element rows one by one. Thus, the irradiation of each electron beam to the phosphor can be controlled, and the image can be displayed line by line.

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.

[0105]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

(Example 1) FIG. 1 is a drawing showing the features of the present invention best, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a defoaming method, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a drawing of a thin film. A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. A droplet applying apparatus 9 using a piezo jet method or a bubble jet method, a solution tank 13, and a solution from the solution tank 13 to the droplet applying apparatus 9. A vacuum vessel 10 for defoaming a solution in a flow path portion when supplied, a vacuum pump 12 for evacuating the vacuum vessel 10 and a vacuum gauge 11 for measuring the degree of vacuum
Consisting of

First, the device electrodes 2 and 3 made of Ni were formed on the cleaned substrate 1 made of blue sheet glass by using a general vacuum film forming technique and a photolithography technique (FIG. 3B). At this time, the gap L1 between the device electrodes is 2
0 μm, electrode width W1 is 500 μm, and its thickness is 100
0 °.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, an aqueous solution of a palladium acetate-ethanol-amine complex (Pd 0.15 wt.
%, IPA 15%, ethylene glycol 1%, PVA
One droplet of 0.05% aqueous solution) was applied to both element electrodes by using an ink jet ejecting apparatus using a piezoelectric element as the liquid drop applying apparatus 9. Then at 350 ° C 2
By baking for 0 minutes and removing the organic components, a conductive thin film 4 made of palladium oxide (PdO) was formed on the device electrode portion (FIG. 3D).

At this time, the defoamed organic palladium-containing solution was injected from the solution tank 13 containing the palladium acetate-containing solution through the vacuum vessel 10 into the nozzle of the ink jet injection device using the piezoelectric element (FIG. 1). . At this time, a vacuum gauge 11 is provided in the vacuum vessel 10, and the degree of vacuum in the vacuum vessel is maintained at −700 mmHg or less by using the vacuum pump 12, and the organic palladium-containing solution 15 stays in the vacuum vessel 10 for 5 minutes or more. Thus, the size of the vacuum vessel 10 and the size of the flow path were determined. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a droplet amount of 50 pl and a frequency of 1 kHz is applied.
A small vacuum vessel capable of defoaming 1 solution was used.

In the apparatus of the present invention, since the vacuum container and the flow path for defoaming can be made small, useless consumption of the solution can be suppressed. In addition, the compact defoaming device of the present invention can be used for a device that arranges a plurality of droplet applying devices and simultaneously creates a plurality of elements, and a device that fixes a substrate and drives the droplet applying device in the XY directions. .

The variation in the resistance value of the element prepared by the droplet applying device became smaller in proportion to the degree of vacuum in the vacuum vessel, and was substantially constant at -600 mmHg or less. In addition, the effect of the time for holding the solution in a vacuum is as follows.
It was almost constant after 5 minutes. From the above -600 mm
It is preferable to maintain the solution in vacuum at a degree of vacuum of Hg or less for 5 minutes or more.

By using the above-described injection method, a conductive thin film with little variation in element resistance, element shape, and landing position could be produced with good reproducibility.

Thereafter, as described above, a voltage was applied between the device electrodes 2 and 3 on which the conductive thin film was formed, and an energizing process (forming process) was performed to form an electron emitting portion.

In this embodiment, as a method for defoaming, the solution was directly placed in a vacuum vessel and kept in vacuum (FIG. 2A).
The method is not limited to this, and a method of heating the solution to easily remove dissolved gas, a method of removing bubbles in a container that revolves around itself, a method of easily passing gas through a vacuum container, for example, poly The same effect can be obtained by using a method of passing a solution through tetrafluoroethylene (FIG. 2B).

(Embodiment 2) As shown in FIG.
100 elements in the column direction and 100 elements in the row direction are arranged in a matrix, and using photolithography technology, a matrix type in which one side is connected to each other via a column wiring and an insulating layer, and the other side is connected to a row wiring. On the electron source substrate, the palladium acetate-containing solution of Example 1 was used in the same manner as in Example 1,
One droplet was applied to each element portion by a droplet applying device 9 using a piezoelectric element.

At this time, at the time of injecting the solution, a polytetrafluoroethylene tube 14 is passed through a vacuum vessel (FIG. 2B), and the solution from the solution tank 13 is degassed therein. It injected into the nozzle of the applicator 9. The degree of vacuum in the vacuum vessel 10 was maintained at -600 mmHg or less using the vacuum pump 12, and the length of the tube was determined so that the solution stayed in the tube 14 in the vacuum vessel 10 for 5 minutes or more. The flow path of the solution from the vacuum container 10 to the inside of the nozzle of the liquid droplet applying device 9 was a material such as a glass tube, through which gas was difficult to pass.

In this type of defoaming method, the solvent in the palladium acetate-containing solution, such as IPA, is difficult to evaporate, the change in the composition of the solvent is small, and the discharge characteristics of the droplet applying device and the dispersion of the conductive thin film after application are reduced. There is an advantage that the control of is easy.

The substrate provided with the palladium acetate-containing solution as described above was baked at 350 ° C. for 20 minutes in the same manner as in Example 1 to form a conductive thin film 4.
From about 8%. Variations in element shape and landing position were reduced, element resistance variations were reduced, and elements could be produced with good reproducibility.

Further, the above-described energization treatment was performed to prepare an electron source substrate. Using the electron source substrate thus manufactured,
As shown in FIG. 11, an envelope 88 is formed by the face plate 86, the support frame 82, and the rear plate 81,
Sealing was performed, and an image forming apparatus having a display panel and a drive circuit for performing television display was manufactured. As a result, unevenness in luminance and defects were small. Further, since photolithography is not used to form the element, the cost can be reduced.

In this embodiment, the device electrode is formed first, but the wiring and the insulating layer may be formed first.

(Embodiment 3) As shown in FIGS.
100 elements in Example 1 in the column direction and 100 elements in the row direction
In a ladder-type electron source substrate and an image forming apparatus, which are arranged in a matrix and connected by row-directional wiring, a process using a droplet applying apparatus having a defoaming device similar to that of the second embodiment is performed, and an image forming apparatus is formed. As a result, as in the case of the second embodiment, the effect of reducing uneven brightness and defects was obtained.

[0123]

As described above, by using the manufacturing method of the present invention, the ejection from the droplet applying device is stabilized, the variation in the ejection amount, the element shape, the landing position, etc. is reduced, and the element resistance is reduced. Variation has also been reduced. As described above, the electron-emitting device can be manufactured with good reproducibility, the in-plane variation of the electron source substrate can be reduced, and the yield of the image forming apparatus using the same can be improved.

Since the photolithography technique is not used for the device, there is an effect that the cost can be reduced. In addition, since the defoaming device can be miniaturized in accordance with the amount of the solution used, a case where a plurality of droplet applying devices are provided, or a case where the
This device is also effective when driving in the direction

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a defoaming method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating a method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view and a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a part of a matrix arrangement type electron source substrate of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a part of a ladder arrangement type electron source substrate of the present invention.

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

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another example of an ink jet head that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a voltage waveform in an energization forming process that can be employed in manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing an example of a matrix arrangement type electron source substrate of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a display panel of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a fluorescent film.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a driving circuit for performing display on an image forming apparatus according to a television signal of the NTSC method.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view showing an example of a ladder-positioned electron source substrate of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a display panel of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a plan view showing an example of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2, 3 Element electrode 4 Conductive thin film 5 Electron emission part 9 Droplet applying device 10 Vacuum container 11 Vacuum gauge 12 Vacuum pump 13 Solution tank 14 Tube 15 Solution in a vacuum container 21 Glass first nozzle 22 Glass 2 nozzle 23 cylindrical piezo 25, 26 liquid supply tube 27 electric signal input terminal 31 substrate 32 heating resistor 33 support plate 34 liquid flow path 35 first nozzle 36 second nozzle 37 ink flow path partition 38, 39 liquid chamber 7l electron Source substrate 72 X-direction wiring 73 Y-direction wiring 74 Surface conduction electron-emitting device 75 Connection 81 Rear plate 82 Support frame 83 Glass substrate 84 Fluorescent film 85 Metal back 86 Face plate 87 High voltage terminal 88 Envelope 91 Black member 92 Phosphor 101 display panel 102 scanning circuit 103 control circuit 104 system Shift register 105 Line memory 106 Synchronous signal separation circuit 107 Modulation signal generator Vx, Va DC voltage source 110 Electron source substrate 111 Electron emitting element 112, Dx1 to Dx10 Common wiring for wiring the electron emitting element 120 Grid electrode 121 The holes 122 Dox1, Dox2,. . . Terminal outside container made of Doxm 123 Terminal outside grid container

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Mitsutoshi Hasegawa 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Seiji Mishima 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Non-corporation F term (reference) 5C036 EE01 EE02 EE14 EF01 EF06 EF09 EG12 EH08 EH26

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A surface conduction electron-emitting device comprising at least a pair of electrodes and a conductive thin film including an electron-emitting portion on an insulating substrate. In the step of forming, when the metal-containing solution is injected into the nozzle of the droplet applying apparatus, the defoamed metal-containing solution is injected into the nozzle to apply a droplet, thereby manufacturing the electron-emitting device. Method. 2. The method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the droplet applying device is of an ink jet type. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the ink jet method is a bubble jet method or a piezo jet method. 4. An electron-emitting device manufactured by the method according to claim 1. 5. A conductive thin film including at least a device electrode and an electron emitting portion, comprising m row-directional wirings on an insulating substrate and n column-directional wirings laminated via an insulating layer. An electron source substrate in which a number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix by connecting a pair of opposing device electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device to each other. A method for manufacturing an electron source substrate, comprising using the method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to any one of the above. 6. Opposing device electrodes of a surface conduction electron-emitting device composed of at least a device electrode and a conductive thin film including an electron-emitting portion are arranged in parallel on an insulating substrate. A method for manufacturing an electron source substrate, comprising using the method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 in an electron source substrate that connects the electrodes by wiring. 7. An electron source substrate manufactured by the method according to claim 5. Description: 8. An image forming apparatus comprising: an electron source substrate having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices and a plurality of wirings; and a face plate disposed opposite to the electron source substrate and having at least a phosphor mounted thereon. 7. A method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus, wherein the method for manufacturing the electron source substrate is the method according to claim 5 or 6. 9. An image forming apparatus manufactured by the method according to claim 8. 10. A method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the device is formed by using a metal-containing solution. Wherein a solution defoaming mechanism is provided in the solution flow path.