JP2002203500A - Display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To carry out high-precision image display by restraining the occurrence of abnormal discharge in a display device using electron emission elements. SOLUTION: Linear electrodes 3 are formed on an element substrate 1 having a plurality of electron emission elements formed by avoiding the electron emission parts 2 of the electron emission elements to expose them, and spacers having conductivity at least on the surfaces thereof are mounted between the linear electrodes 3 and an acceleration electrode 5 of a face plate 4 with one- side ends and the other-side ends thereof brought into contact with the linear electrodes 3 and the acceleration electrode 5, respectively.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flat type electron beam display device using an electron-emitting device, and more particularly, to a structure of a spacer member of such a display device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, in a flat-type electron beam display device, a flying has occurred between an electron-emitting device substrate and a face plate having a phosphor which emits light by irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device. A spacer is used in which each pixel or each region is surrounded by a partition so that the electron beam does not leak out to an adjacent pixel or region. This spacer is also used as an atmospheric pressure resistant structural material when a vacuum is applied between the electron-emitting device substrate and the face plate.

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view of an electron beam display device showing a conventional example. 1 is an element substrate on which electron-emitting devices are arranged in a line, 2 is an electron-emitting portion, 3 is a modulation electrode formed of a line-shaped electrode having an opening orthogonal to the line-shaped electron-emitting device, and 4 is formed of a glass material Face plate, 5
I is a transparent electrode provided on the face plate 4.
The TO film 6 is a phosphor formed on the ITO film. 7
Is an insulating layer for insulating the electron-emitting device from the modulation electrode 3,
21, 22, 23, and 24 are spacers that generally surround each pixel of each phosphor formed of photosensitive glass or the like with partition walls.

Here, the inside of the device is evacuated, a positive voltage is applied to the ITO film 5 on the face plate 4, and electrons are sequentially emitted from the electron emitting portions 2 arranged in a line. By controlling the electron beam 30 irradiated to the phosphor 6 by modulating the emitted electrons, an image by the light emission of the phosphor 6 can be arbitrarily displayed.

[0005] As described above, the conventional electron beam display device has been constituted.

[0006]

However, in the conventional display device, it is necessary to enclose one pixel or one region with a partition wall of the spacer. If the partition wall is removed, the modulated emission is reduced. When the electrons deviate from the fluorescent screen, the fluorescent screen of an adjacent pixel or area is irradiated, and crosstalk on the image occurs.

Therefore, if the pixel pitch is reduced in order to enhance the display image quality of the display device, the size of the opening of the spacer is also reduced, and the processing size approaches the limit. Furthermore, between the face plate and the modulation electrode,
An accelerating voltage for accelerating the emitted electrons is applied by several KV, and an interval of several mm or more is required in order to secure a withstand voltage. Therefore, the height of the spacer does not change even when the pixel pitch dimension decreases, and needs to be several mm or more.

There are few suitable processing methods for spacers that satisfy such conditions. At present, formation of a spacer member using photosensitive glass is the method that can be processed with the highest precision. For example, the pixel pitch, that is, the opening pitch is 1 m.
m (wall thickness 0.1 mm, opening size 0.9 mm square)
, The height of the photosensitive glass spacer is 1.4 m
m. However, when the opening pitch is reduced to, for example, 0.3 mm × 0.6 mm (the partition wall thickness is 0.1 mm and the opening size is 0.2 mm × 0.5 mm),
Workable height of photosensitive glass spacer is 0.5mm
To the extent, it will be lower.

That is, when the distance between the element substrate and the face plate is about 4 mm and the pixel pitch is 1 mm, it is sufficient to laminate three photosensitive glass spacers, whereas the pixel pitch is 0.3 mm × 0.6 mm. In this case, it is necessary to laminate eight photosensitive glass spacers. This leads to an increase in member costs and assembly costs and a decrease in yield.

Furthermore, when a high-quality image display device is formed by further reducing the pixel pitch, the conventional structure has a disadvantage that the device itself is difficult to manufacture because the spacer cannot be finely processed.

[0011]

The structure of the present invention which has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems is as follows.

That is, according to the present invention, in a display device in which a spacer is arranged between an element substrate provided with a plurality of electron-emitting devices and a face plate, the element substrate is provided with an electron-emitting portion of the electron-emitting device. A line-shaped electrode is provided so as to be avoided, and the face plate is provided with a phosphor that emits light by irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device and an acceleration electrode to which a constant voltage is applied. The spacer has at least a surface conductive, one end of which is in contact with the linear electrode, and the other end of which is in contact with the accelerating electrode, and the spacer directly connects a plurality of spacers to each other. A display device, which is a stacked body that is brought into contact with and stacked.

As described above, in the display device according to the present invention, for example, the acceleration electrode of the face plate having a light emitting means such as a fluorescent material and the linear electrode used as a modulation electrode (control electrode) are used. In the meantime, an acceleration voltage of several KV for accelerating the emitted electrons is applied, and the interval between the light emitting means and the control electrode is several mm in order to secure the dielectric strength.
The above is required. For this reason, the height of the spacer arranged between the linear electrode and the light emitting means must be several mm or more. Also, the smaller the pixel pitch, the lower the height of the spacer that can be processed, and it is necessary to laminate the spacer in multiple layers.

Therefore, in the present invention, a spacer having at least a surface having high-resistance conductivity is used as a spacer of the laminate disposed between the element substrate and the face plate, and one end of the spacer is connected to the element substrate side. To the line-shaped electrode, the other end to the acceleration electrode on the face plate side,
They are arranged so that they are in contact with each other, and the spacers of the laminate are made by stacking a plurality of spacers in direct contact with each other, so that the creepage withstand voltage of the spacer surface can be improved. is there.

Further, by forming a structure in which spacer members having openings are stacked and arranged in a staggered manner, one pixel or one region (a certain area) surrounded by the partition walls of the spacer can be formed without reducing the size of the opening of the spacer member. It is possible to reduce the size of the region (the region including the number of pixels) to a smaller size. That is, in the display device, a plurality of spacers having barrier ribs at a pitch equal to or more than twice the size of one pixel or one region are staggered at a pitch of one pixel or one region. As a result, even if the size of the opening of the spacer is large, a spacer having barrier ribs having a substantially fine pitch can be formed, and the pixel density of the display device can be improved.

Further, when the spacers are stacked, the spacers are stacked so as to intersect with each other.
The creepage distance can be increased as compared with the conventional case where the layers are linearly stacked without crossing each other, and the creepage withstand voltage of the spacer surface can be more effectively improved.

[0017]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of the display device of the present invention. In this figure, 1 is an element substrate on which electron-emitting devices are arranged in a line, 2 is an electron-emitting portion, 3 is a modulation electrode composed of a linear electrode having an opening and orthogonal to the line-shaped electron-emitting device, 4 is a face plate made of a glass material, 5 is an ITO film made of a transparent electrode provided on the face plate 4, 6 is a phosphor formed on the ITO film 5,
Reference numeral 7 denotes an insulating layer for insulating the electron-emitting device from the modulation electrode 3. Reference numerals 8, 9, 10, and 11 shift # -shaped members made of photosensitive glass in accordance with the arrangement pitch of the electron-emitting portions 2. Spacers stacked in a staggered pattern.

FIG. 2 shows spacers 8 stacked in a staggered manner.
FIG. 9 is a plan view when only 9, 10, and 11 are viewed from the upper surface of the display device. The spacers 8 and 10, 9 and 11 are in an overlapping state in this figure. Each of the spacers has a # shape in which partition walls are provided at a pitch twice the arrangement pitch of the electron emission portions 2. Further, spacers 8 and 9, 10 and 11
Are stacked by being shifted in the X and Y directions in the figure by the arrangement pitch dimension of the electron emitting portions 2.

As for the image formation by the above-described apparatus, as in the prior art, in FIG. 1, the apparatus is evacuated, a positive voltage is applied to the ITO film 5 on the face plate 4,
Electrons are sequentially emitted from the electron-emitting portions 2 arranged in a line, and the emitted electrons are modulated by the modulation electrode 3, thereby controlling the electron beam 30 irradiated to the phosphor 6, thereby producing an image based on the emission of the phosphor. Can be arbitrarily displayed.

Further, the surface of the partition walls of the spacers 8, 9, 10, and 11 has conductivity while having very high resistance.
Even if the modulated emitted electrons fall off the phosphor screen 6 and irradiate the partition walls of the spacer, the spacer itself has a surface state in which it is difficult to charge up.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the electron beam 30 emitted from the electron emitting section 2 changes the irradiation direction of the modulating electrode 3 or the emission angle of the emitted electrons itself, thereby excluding the phosphor 6 above the phosphor 6 vertically above. It is feared to fly to the place. However, when the spacers are arranged in a zigzag pattern as shown in FIG. 1, the electron emission portion 2 has a structure in which the phosphors of the adjacent pixels are hidden, so that the electron beams fly in directions other than the phosphors 6. Also, there is no possibility that the phosphor of the adjacent pixel is erroneously illuminated by the spacer portion and emits light.

Although the shape and dimensions of one spacer member are the same as those of the conventional example shown in FIG. 7, in the present embodiment, such a spacer member is arranged in a staggered manner so that the pixel portion surrounded by the partition walls can be formed. Can be quadrupled, and the arrangement pitch dimension can be halved. Therefore, the number of electron emitting portions can be arranged four times in the same area, and a high-quality image can be displayed.

Further, in FIG. 1, the modulation electrode 3 and the IT
The vertical distance between the O films 5 passing through the spacers 8, 9, 10, and 11 is longer than that of the conventional linear one surface by the staggered spacer because of the bending. Therefore, the creeping breakdown voltage between the modulation electrode 3 and the ITO film 5 when the acceleration voltage is applied to the ITO film 5 is increased.

Furthermore, since the space radiated by each electron beam is continuous with the adjacent space region in the X direction, when the space between the element substrate 1 and the face plate 4 is evacuated, the partition wall of the spacer is used. The vacuum evacuation conductance is larger than that of the conventional structure in which each space is closed.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are plan views showing the arrangement of the spacers when the display device of this embodiment has a large screen.

In FIG. 3, reference numerals 12 and 12A, 12B,
Reference numeral 12C denotes a spacer group stacked in a staggered manner, and reference numeral 13 denotes a reference surface which is in abutting state with the spacer 12 and the like. FIG.
Is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 3, and 12A, 12B, 1
2C is a spacer group stacked in a staggered manner, and 14 and 15 are spacer groups 12A and 12B and 12A and 1B.
This is the abutment surface between 2B and 12C.

As described above, the spacers formed of the photosensitive glass as shown in FIG. 2 which is the basis of the above-mentioned spacer group are formed with a size of 30 cm square or less, so that the processing yield and the assembling time can be improved. It is effective in terms of handling and the like. Therefore, for a large-screen display device as shown in FIG.
Can be dealt with by arranging them in a plane direction on the electron-emitting device substrate, for example, in a staggered manner. At this time, positioning between the spacers can be performed by abutting the partition wall end portions of the spacers to the partition walls (for example, the abutting surfaces 14 and 15) of the adjacent spacers as shown in FIG.

A reference surface 13 is provided on the outer periphery of the display section of the display device.
And the end of the partition wall of the spacer group 12 is first abutted against such a surface, and another spacer is sequentially abutted to assemble.

In the embodiment described above, the shape of the spacer member is a # -shape, the opening is a square, and the size of the opening is twice the pixel pitch. However, the present invention is limited to this shape. Not something.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are plan views showing a case where spacer members different in shape from those in FIG. 2 are laminated. In FIG.
The figure shows a case where the opening dimension of the # -shaped spacer member is three times the pixel pitch, which is a three-stage staggered stacked arrangement. FIG. 6 shows the case where the opening shape of the # -shaped spacer member is rectangular, and the region surrounded by the partition can be rectangular.

The display device shown in FIG. 1 has one electron emission portion per pixel. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a deflection electrode may be provided near the electron emission portion. And an image may be displayed by scanning an electron beam on the phosphor surface in a region surrounded by the spacer.

[0032]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments.

[Embodiment 1] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4. FIG.

In FIG. 1, 0.5 mm
The electron-emitting portions 2 are arranged in a line at a pitch, and a linear modulation electrode 3 having an opening is interposed at right angles to the line-shaped electron-emitting portion 2 via an insulating layer 7 (that is, a line-shaped line extending in the X direction). At). Next, # -shaped spacers 8, 9, 10, and 11 having an opening pitch of 1.0 mm, a partition wall thickness of 0.1 mm, and a height of 1.4 mm shown in FIG. 2 are processed by photosensitive glass (made by HOYA or Corning). Then, an antistatic agent was coated on the side surfaces of the partition walls to perform a high resistance conductive treatment. This spacer is connected to X, Y as shown in FIG.
The layers were staggered by 0.5 mm in the direction and arranged on the modulation electrode 3 as shown in FIG. After that, the face plate 4 on which the ITO film 5 and the phosphor 6 were formed was arranged on the spacer 11, necessary electrodes were taken out around the spacer 11, a port for evacuation was provided, and the element substrate 1 was sealed. Then, the space between the sealed element substrate 1 and the face plate 4 was evacuated by a vacuum pump. At this time, the degree of vacuum evacuation was examined by measuring the emission current value emitted from the electron-emitting portion and applied to the ITO film. As a result, the surface of the partition wall of the conventional spacer shown in FIG. The same amount of emission current could be obtained in 2/3 or less of the evacuation time as compared with the structure provided with.

Here, the electron acceleration voltage is applied to the ITO film 5 by +
By applying 3 KV, electrons are sequentially emitted from the electron emitting portions 2 arranged in a line, and the modulation electrode 3 modulates and controls the electron beam to irradiate the phosphor 6 to emit light, thereby displaying an arbitrary image. . At this time, there was no case where the electron beam of the adjacent pixel erroneously irradiated the phosphor and crosstalk on the image occurred. When the voltage applied to the ITO film 5 is increased, the modulation electrode 3 or the element substrate 1 and the ITO film 5
An abnormal discharge was generated between the spacers, but the generated voltage could be increased about 1.2 times as compared with the conventional structure of FIG. 7 in which the surface of the partition wall was subjected to a high-resistance conductive treatment.

Next, an example in which the display device of this embodiment is a large-screen display device will be described below. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 13 denotes a reference surface formed of a glass block having a side wall with very high surface precision, which is disposed at the screen end on the element substrate 1. This reference plane was correctly arranged and fixed at the arrangement pitch position of the electron emission portions 2. The end faces of the spacer group 12 stacked in a staggered pattern are arranged so as to abut this reference plane. further,
A plurality of spacers were arranged and fixed as shown in FIG. 3 by sequentially abutting the spacers. The ends of the spacers are abutted against each other in a shape as shown in FIG. That is, the spacer groups 12A and 12B are in contact with each other by the abutting surface 14, and the spacer groups 12A, 12B and 12C are in contact by the abutting surface 15, and mutual positioning is performed. The shapes of the spacer groups 12A, 12B, and 12C are the same as those in FIG. 2, but there are surfaces with and without partition walls at the ends, and positioning by abutment is correctly overlapped with the arrangement pitch of the electron emission portions. I have. The size of one spacer in FIG. 3 was about 10 cm square.
Using the spacers arranged according to the present embodiment, FIG.
When a display device having the same structure as that of Example 1 was produced, an image display similar to that of the above-described embodiment could be obtained.

Further, the positioning by abutting as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is performed by the spacers 8, 9 and 1 shown in FIG.
It can also be used for positioning when laminating 0,11.

Example 2 As shown in FIG. 5, spacers 16, 17, and 18 having # -shape having an opening pitch of 1.2 mm, a partition wall thickness of 0.07 mm, and a height of 0.5 mm were formed by processing photosensitive glass. . Each spacer was shifted in a pitch of 0.4 mm and stacked in a three-stage staggered pattern. Similarly, the laminated spacer group was further laminated to form a spacer group having a total of nine spacers and a total height of 4.5 mm. The pixel pitch of the formed spacer was 0.4 mm square. When a display device having the same structure as in Example 1 was manufactured, a higher definition image could be displayed.

Example 3 As shown in FIG. 6, a # -shaped spacer 19, 20 having a rectangular opening having an opening pitch of 1.0 mm × 3.0 mm, a partition wall thickness of 0.1 mm, and a height of 1.4 mm was exposed. It was formed by the processing of functional glass. Each spacer was shifted in the X direction by 0.5 mm and in the Y direction by 1.5 mm in the figure to be stacked in a two-stage staggered pattern. Similarly, the stacked spacer group was further stacked, and a total of four spacers and a total height of 5.6 were used.
mm spacer groups were formed. The pixel pitch of the formed spacer is a rectangle of 0.5 mm × 1.5 mm.

Next, the phosphor of the display device is set to R, G, and R in units of 1.5 mm square by arranging three rectangular pixels in parallel.
B3 colors were arranged. Except for this, a display device having the same structure as in Example 1 was able to display a color image whose color and brightness could be controlled at a 1.5 mm square pitch.

[0041]

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

(1) In a display device using an electron-emitting device, as a spacer disposed between an element substrate and a face plate, a spacer of a laminated body in which a plurality of spacers are laminated in direct contact with each other. By using a material having high-resistance conductivity and arranging one end of the spacer so as to be in contact with the linear electrode on the element substrate side and the other end so as to be in contact with the acceleration electrode on the face plate side, respectively, Can be improved. As a result, it is possible to increase the emission luminance of the light emitting means by increasing the acceleration voltage of the electrons, to reduce the diameter of the irradiation spot of the electron beam on the light emitting surface, to obtain a high-definition image, and to cause abnormal discharge. It becomes difficult.

(2) In particular, a plate-like spacer having partition walls at a size pitch of twice or more the size of one pixel or one region is used, and such a spacer is shifted at a size pitch of one pixel or one region. In the case where the spacers intersect each other, the creepage distance of the spacer can be increased, and the creepage withstand voltage of the spacer surface can be more effectively improved. In addition, since the space radiated by each electron beam surrounded by the spacers is connected to the adjacent space area, the evacuation conductance in the display device is increased, the evacuation time is shortened, and productivity is improved. I do.

(3) As the spacer, a spacer having a partition having the same size pitch, for example, a partition having a partition having a size pitch of twice or more the size of one pixel or one region is used. When the layers are stacked so as to be shifted from each other at the dimensional pitch of the regions, the size of one pixel or one region surrounded by the partition walls of the spacers can be determined by crosstalk on the image without reducing the size of the openings as individual spacer shapes. It can be miniaturized without. Therefore, a display device with higher definition of an image is realized.

(4) When the spacers are stacked or arranged in a plane, if a structure is employed in which a certain reference surface or the spacer ends abut against each other, it is relatively easy to arrange the spacers even in a large-screen display device. Positioning can be performed, and there is also an effect that the production yield is improved as compared with the case where a single spacer for a large screen is formed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural sectional view of a display device showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a spacer used in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an arrangement of spacers used in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged plan view showing an arrangement of spacers used in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a spacer used in a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a spacer used in a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a structural sectional view of a display device showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Element board 2 Electron emission part 3 Modulation electrode 4 Face plate 5 ITO film 6 Phosphor 7 Insulating layer 8, 9, 10, 11 Spacer 12, 12A, 12B, 12C Spacer group 13 Reference surface 14, 15 Butt surface 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 2
4 Spacer 30 Electron beam

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] January 28, 2002 (2002.1.2
8)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Claims]

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0012

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

That is, according to the present invention, in a display device in which a spacer is arranged between an element substrate provided with a plurality of electron-emitting devices and a face plate, the element substrate is provided with an electron-emitting portion of the electron-emitting device. A line-shaped electrode is provided so as to be avoided, and the face plate is provided with a phosphor that emits light by irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device and an acceleration electrode to which a constant voltage is applied. The spacer is a laminate in which one end is in contact with the linear electrode and the other end is in contact with the acceleration electrode.

[Procedure amendment 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0014

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Therefore, in the present invention, one end of the spacer of the laminate disposed between the element substrate and the face plate is in contact with the linear electrode on the element substrate side, and the other end is in contact with the acceleration electrode on the face plate side. By arranging as described above, the creeping pressure resistance of the surface of the spacer can be improved.

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0045

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

(4) When the spacers are stacked or arranged in a plane, if a structure is employed in which a certain reference surface or the spacer ends abut against each other, it is relatively easy to arrange the spacers even in a large-screen display device. Positioning can be performed, and there is also an effect that the production yield is improved as compared with the case where a single spacer for a large screen is formed. (5) In the case of a spacer in which a plurality of spacers are laminated,
Offset height errors between the stacked spacers.
So a single layer with the same height as the stacked spacer
Stochastically higher accuracy than when using spacers
Easy to maintain the degree. In particular, as in the present invention, the spacer
One end to a linear electrode and the other end to an acceleration electrode.
When it is provided in contact with, for example, the other end of the spacer is
If there is a gap between the poles, release through this gap
However, according to the present invention, this gap is
It is easy to prevent occurrence and abnormal discharge.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hidetoshi Suzumi 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Kohei Nakata 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inside (72) Inventor Ichiro Nomura 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Toshihiko Takeda 3-30-2, Shimomaruko 3-chome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. 72) Inventor Yoshikazu Banno 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term within Canon Inc. (reference) 5C032 AA01 AA07 CC05 CC10 5C036 EE03 EE19 EF01 EF06 EF09 EG31 EH04 EH08

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A display device in which a spacer is arranged between an element substrate provided with a plurality of electron-emitting devices and a face plate, wherein the element substrate has a line avoiding an electron-emitting portion of the electron-emitting device. The shape electrode is provided to be exposed, The face plate is provided with a phosphor that emits light by irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device, and an acceleration electrode to which a constant voltage is applied, At least the surface of the spacer has conductivity, one end of the spacer is the linear electrode, the other end is the acceleration electrode,
A display device which is in contact with each other.