JP2002298765A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device having a strong supporting structure for the atmospheric pressure, equipped with an enhanced contrast and brightness, and capable of preventing crosstalk, brightness fluctuation with the lapse of time, and electric discharge at a supporting member. SOLUTION: The image forming device includes an envelope which is furnished internally with an electron emitting element, an image forming member to make image formation by irradiation with an electron beam emitted, and the supporting member having electroconductiveness for supporting the envelope, wherein the potential of the supporting member is controlled under the maximum potential impressed on the electron emitting element, or otherwise the supporting member is connected electrically with one of the electrodes of the electron emitting element or the low potential side electrode.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a plurality of electron-emitting devices developed in a plane and an image forming member (for example, a phosphor, a resist material, etc.) for forming an image by irradiating an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device. Light emission, discoloration,
There is a thin image forming apparatus in which a member (e.g., a member that is charged or deteriorated) faces each other. As an example of this image forming apparatus, FIGS. 35 and 36 show the schematic configuration of a conventional electron beam display apparatus. 36. Here, FIG.
It is A 'sectional drawing.

The structure of the conventional electron beam display device shown in FIGS. 35 and 36 will be described in detail.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a rear plate, 111 denotes an outer frame, and 109 denotes a face plate. These form an envelope, and the interior of the envelope is maintained at a vacuum. 103a and 103b are electrodes, 1
Reference numeral 04 denotes an electron-emitting portion, and these are used for the electron-emitting device 1
05 is formed. 102a (scanning electrode) and 1
02b (information signal electrode) is a wiring electrode, which is connected to the electrodes 103a and 103b, respectively. 106 is a glass substrate, 107 is a transparent electrode, 108 is a phosphor (image forming member), and a face plate 109 is formed by these. Reference numeral 112 denotes a luminescent spot of the phosphor,
110 is a support member for supporting the atmospheric pressure. The above-described electron beam display device applies an electron beam corresponding to an information signal to a desired fluorescent material serving as an image forming member by applying a predetermined signal voltage to the scanning electrodes 102a and the information signal electrodes 102b arranged in an XY matrix. The image is displayed by colliding with the body 108. In addition, the above-mentioned electron-emitting device 1
05, a thermionic emission element that emits electrons by heating the electron emission portion 104;
No. 4, US Pat. No. 4,904,895, and a field emission device disclosed in US Pat. No. 5,066,883.

Here, in the above-mentioned flat type electron beam display device, since the inside of the envelope is kept at a vacuum, the rear plate 101 and the face plate 109
Takes atmospheric pressure, and to support this atmospheric pressure,
As shown in FIG. 36, a support member 110 is arranged between the rear plate 101 and the face plate 109. The support member 110 is usually formed of an insulating material in order to have a withstand voltage of a high voltage applied between the phosphor 108 (or the transparent electrode 107) and the electron-emitting device 105. I have. Such a support member becomes an indispensable constituent member for simplifying the configuration of the entire device, reducing the size and weight, because the atmospheric pressure increases as the electron beam display device has a larger screen.

[0005]

However, in the above-described conventional electron beam display device, as shown in FIGS. 35 and 36, the support member 110 is formed of an insulating material. As a result, unexpected electron beams and ions collide with the support member, and the surface of the support member is charged, causing the following problems.
That is, (1) the trajectory of an electron beam is bent, the amount of electron beam irradiation on a desired phosphor in a pixel changes, and luminance unevenness and color unevenness occur. Further, when the charge amount is large, the electron beam does not collide with the desired phosphor, causing unexpected irradiation of the phosphor adjacent thereto, resulting in crosstalk. (2) Since the charge amount of the support member changes with time, the trajectory of the electron beam changes with time, and the luminance fluctuates over time.
(3) A discharge is generated from the charged support member, and the discharge causes damage to the electron-emitting device or lowers the electrical insulation of the support member.

As a method of preventing the support member from being charged by an electron beam, for example, as shown in FIG. 37 (a cross-sectional view), a method of covering the periphery of an insulating material portion of the support member 110 with a metal cover 113 is used. (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 64-64)
No. 41150). In FIG. 37, reference numeral 114 denotes a member for holding the metal cover 113 on the support member 110. The metal cover 113 is electrically connected to the transparent electrode 107. Therefore, the same voltage as the voltage applied to the transparent electrode 107 (phosphor 108) is applied to the metal cover 113. The same potential as that of the transparent electrode 107 is maintained. Here, since a high potential capable of capturing an electron beam is generally applied to the transparent electrode 107, if such a high-potential metal cover is disposed near the electron-emitting device 105, the electron-emitting device 105 emits light. The trajectory of the electron beam to be bent is bent toward the metal cover 113, causing the following new problem. That is, (4) a part of the electron beam is captured by the metal cover, the amount of the electron beam irradiated on the phosphor is reduced, and the phosphor provided in the vicinity of the support member becomes dark, causing uneven brightness. . (5) Since the voltage applied to the transparent electrode (phosphor) cannot be increased to a certain value or more, the luminance is low, and red and blue light-emitting phosphors cannot be used, so that a full-color image cannot be displayed.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to have a sufficient support structure for atmospheric pressure, prevent crosstalk, and
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus with improved image contrast or brightness uniformity. Further, the object of the present invention is
An object of the present invention is to provide a stable image forming apparatus in which luminance fluctuation over time is prevented. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of obtaining a high-contrast or high-brightness color image. It is another object of the present invention to provide a long-life image forming apparatus that prevents discharge of a support member.

[0008]

The above object is achieved by the present invention described below. That is, a first aspect of the present invention provides an electron emitting device, an image forming member for forming an image by irradiating an electron beam emitted from the electron emitting device, and a conductive member for supporting the envelope. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a support member having a function of controlling a potential of the support member to be equal to or less than a maximum potential applied to the electron-emitting device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electron emitting device which emits electrons by applying a voltage between electrodes in an envelope, and an image forming member which forms an image by irradiating an electron beam emitted from the electron emitting device. And an electrically conductive support member for supporting the envelope, wherein the support member is electrically connected to one of the electrodes.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electron emitting device for emitting electrons by applying a voltage between electrodes in an envelope, and an image forming member for forming an image by irradiating an electron beam emitted from the electron emitting device. And an image forming apparatus comprising: a conductive support member for supporting the envelope; wherein the support member is electrically connected to a low-potential electrode of the electrodes. is there.

[0011]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail. The main feature of the present invention is that a support member controlled to a specific potential is disposed as a support member as described above. That is, the support member according to the present invention improves the atmospheric pressure resistance of the envelope, and not only prevents the surface of the support member from being charged, but also enhances the image forming member of the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device. This also has a function of suppressing the fluctuation of the flight trajectory and the flying amount over time, and supplementing the efficient irradiation of the electron beam to a predetermined image forming member.

The present inventors first provide the above functions to the image forming apparatus, and it is necessary to provide such functions as the image forming surface of the apparatus becomes larger (larger screen). In view of the fact that the larger the screen of the device, the more the support member becomes an indispensable constituent member, making the support member have the above-described functions is a simple, compact, and lightweight construction of the entire device. The above was found to be optimal. Furthermore, the present inventors conducted the following study on how much potential should be optimally applied to the support member when the support member also has the above function.

The above examination was conducted using the evaluation apparatus shown in FIG.
Was. In FIG. 3, reference numerals 25a and 25b denote phosphors, 2
4a and 24b are electron beams to the phosphors 25a and 25b.
28 is a transparent electrode for promoting the capture of
V₁ , A power supply for applying the
9a and 29b indicate the current flowing through each phosphor (the phosphor 25a
The flowing current is referred to as the pixel current I.₁ Current flowing through the phosphor 25b
Is the crosstalk current I _Two The following)
Flow meter, 20 is an electron-emitting device, facing the phosphor 25a side
And is arranged on the rear plate 23. Also, 21
Is the voltage V applied to the electron-emitting device 20._Two Power supply for applying
Reference numeral 6 denotes a supporting member, which is appropriately disposed near the electron-emitting device 20.
And, as described later, is formed of an insulating material,
It is either made of a conductive material. 27 is
When the support member is formed of a conductive material,
Electric potential V_Three This is a power supply for applying.

The following evaluation was performed using the evaluation apparatus shown in FIG. First, as the electron-emitting device, (a) a surface-conduction type emission device described later in the embodiment, and (b) USP 3,75
No. 5,704, vertical field emission device, (c) USP
No. 4,904,895 was used. Here, FIGS. 4 and 5 show schematic configuration diagrams of the electron-emitting devices (b) and (c), respectively. The vertical field emission device shown in FIG. 4 (cross-sectional view) includes a pair of a low potential side electrode 31a and a high potential side electrode 31b laminated on a substrate 30 with an insulating layer 32 interposed therebetween. And insulating layer 3
2 is formed by an electron emission portion 33 which is electrically connected to the low potential side electrode 31a in the opening portion 34, and a predetermined voltage is applied between the electrodes 31a and 31b. This is an element that emits an electron beam from the emission unit 33. The horizontal field emission device shown in FIG. 5 has a pair of low-potential electrodes 41a and high-potential electrodes 41b juxtaposed on a substrate 40, and is electrically connected to the low-potential electrodes 41a. This is an element formed by an electron emitting portion 43 arranged in parallel and in a non-contact manner, and emitting an electron beam from the electron emitting portion by applying a predetermined voltage between the electrodes 41a and 41b. Also, an electron-emitting device (b),
(C) is generally between 50 V and 200 V between the pair of electrodes.
When a voltage as high as V is applied, electrons are emitted from the sharp end of the electron emitting portion. Since the applied voltage is high, a velocity component is obtained in the direction of the high potential side electrodes 31b and 41b, and the electron beam flies.

(Evaluation I-1) The electron-emitting device of the above (a)
20 and a support member 26 made of an insulating material.
Yes, V₁ Is 1 kV to 4 kV, V_Two 5V to 30V, device
The degree of vacuum inside is 2 × 10 ^-Five~ 3 × 10^-7each of torr
Is set arbitrarily within the range, and the pixel current I
₁ And the crosstalk current I_Two Over time
And evaluated. FIG. 6 shows the evaluation results.

As is clear from FIG. 6, the insulating support member is
When used, a certain time (T₁ ) With the above drive,
Pixel current I₁ Causes a sharp decrease, and for a certain time (T
_Two After the elapse, the crosstalk current I_Two A sharp increase in
I did Where T₁ And T _Two Is the degree of vacuum in the device, V
₁ , And V_Two Depends on the above setting values, but the above range
At these settings in₁ Is 1 second to 60 minutes, T_Two 
Is in the range of several minutes to 120 minutes, almost the same as shown in FIG.
Showed a tendency. Such a pixel current I₁ Decrease and
And crosstalk current I_Two (B), (c)
In the electron-emitting device of the above, the same was confirmed.

[0017] As (Evaluation I-2) support member 26, a conductive supporting member, except for setting the V ₃ arbitrarily from the range of -30V~30V, similarly to the evaluation I-1, the pixel The current I ₁ and the above-mentioned crosstalk current I ₂ were evaluated with time. FIG. 6 shows the evaluation results.

As is apparent from FIG. 6, when the conductive support member is used, the pixel current I _{1 is} set regardless of the above-mentioned set values of the degree of vacuum, V ₁ , V ₂ and V _{3 in} the apparatus. No change with time of the crosstalk current I ₂ was observed. This is because, in the image forming apparatus, the time-dependent change in the irradiation amount of the electron beam to each pixel forming an image and the unexpected irradiation of the electron beam to the pixels do not occur. It means that the uniformity is excellent and that no crosstalk occurs.

(Evaluation II-1) Using the electron-emitting device 20 of (a) and the support member 26 made of a conductive material, the degree of vacuum, V ₁ and V ₂ in the apparatus were evaluated.
Arbitrarily set from within the same range as -1, -30 V and V ₃
The pixel current I ₁ when the voltage was changed from to 30 V was measured. FIG. 7 shows the results.

[0020] As (Evaluation II-2) electron-emitting devices 20, an electron emitting element of (b), 50V～ the V ₂
Set arbitrarily from the range of 200V, except for changing the V ₃ from -50V to 200V were measured the pixel current I ₁ in the same manner as Evaluation II-1. FIG. 7 shows the results.

(Evaluation II-3) Evaluation II except that the electron-emitting device of (c) was used as the electron-emitting device 20.
Like -2 were measured the pixel current I _1. Fig. 7 shows the results.
Shown in

FIG. 7 shows the results of the above evaluations II-1 to II-1. In this figure, Ie is the maximum pixel current value obtained under each of the above conditions, and Vd is the V ₃ value set under each of the above conditions (that is, in the present invention, the electron-emitting device Is set to 0 V, this value is equal to the maximum potential value applied to the electron-emitting device used).

As is apparent from FIG. 7, each curve in the graph indicates the type of the electron-emitting device, the degree of vacuum in the device, and V
There are two inflection points at V ₃ = 0 V and V ₃ = Vd irrespective of the set values of ₁ and V ₂ within the above ranges. That is, when V ₃ is 0 V or less, the pixel current I ₁ is almost equal to I
e and does not change, and when V ₃ is in the range of 0 V to Vd, the pixel current I
While staying in exhibiting a slight reduction of _1, the V ₃ exceeds Vd, so exhibits a significant reduction of the pixel current I _1.

As described above, the inventors of the present invention consider that the problem of the efficiency of irradiation of the electron beam to the image forming member and the unexpected electron beam irradiation (cross talk) to the adjacent image forming member is caused by the problem of the electron-emitting device used. It has been found that this is largely due to the relationship between the applied electron emission voltage (V ₂ ) and the potential (V ₃ ) applied to the support member, and as described above, the support member is applied to at least the electron emission element. The present inventors have found that controlling the potential to be equal to or lower than the maximum potential (Vd) can drastically improve the problems of the above-described irradiation efficiency and crosstalk, and have reached the present invention.

The means for controlling the potential of the supporting member includes (a) voltage applying means for applying an electron emission voltage to the electron-emitting device, and (b) means for applying the electron emission voltage to the electron-emitting device. It is roughly classified into another voltage applying means provided independently of the voltage applying means.

In the above (a), by electrically connecting the support member to one of the electron-emitting device electrodes (a pair of electrodes for applying a voltage to the electron-emitting portion), the potential of the support member is reduced. Is controlled to the desired potential. Further, in this case, as is apparent from the above-described examination results, it is preferable to connect to the lower potential side electrode of the electron-emitting device electrodes.

In the above (b), another voltage applying means in the apparatus which can control the support member to the desired potential may be used, but a dedicated voltage applying means is independently arranged,
This and the support member may be electrically connected.
Further, in these cases, as is apparent from the above-described examination results, it is preferable that the means apply a voltage of 0 V or less (less than the potential of the low potential side electrode of the electron-emitting device).

Other components of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail below. In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, first, the electron-emitting device may be either a hot cathode or a cold cathode as long as it has been conventionally used as an electron source of the image forming apparatus. In this case, the electron emission efficiency and the response speed are reduced due to thermal diffusion to the substrate on which it is disposed. Further, since the quality of the image forming member may be changed by heat, there is a limit in arranging the hot cathode and the image forming member at a high density. In consideration of the above points, in the present invention, it is preferable that the electron-emitting device is a cold cathode such as a surface conduction electron-emitting device, a semiconductor electron-emitting device, and a field electron-emitting device described below. Among the cold cathodes, the use of an electron-emitting device called a surface conduction electron-emitting device can provide (1) a high electron emission efficiency and (2) a simple device structure in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. It is easy to manufacture and can form a large number of elements on the same substrate. (3) The response speed is fast.
(4) It is particularly preferable because it has advantages such as better brightness contrast.

Here, the surface conduction electron-emitting device is, for example, MI Elinson.
n) and the like are known [Radio Eng. Electron Phys.
s. ) Vol. 10, pp. 1290-1296, 1965
Year]. This utilizes a phenomenon in which electrons are emitted when a current flows in a thin film having a small area formed on a substrate in parallel with the film, and is generally called a surface conduction electron-emitting device. . As this surface conduction electron-emitting device, SnO ₂ (S
b) Using a thin film, using an Au thin film [G. Ditmer "Sin Solid Films" (G. Dit
tmer: “ThinSolid Films”) No. 9
Vol., 317, 1972], using an ITO thin film [M. Hartwell and CG Fon, M. Hartwell and C. G. Fon]
std; "IEEE Trans. ED Con.
f. ") P. 519, 1983].

FIG. 8 shows a typical device configuration of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices. In the figure, 51a and 5
1b is an electrode for obtaining electrical connection, 52 is a thin film formed of an electron emitting material, 54 is a substrate, and 53 is an electron emitting portion. Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, an electron-emitting portion is formed in advance by an electric heating process called a forming process before performing electron emission. That is, when a voltage is applied between the electrode 51a and the electrode 51b, the thin film 52 is energized, and the thin film 52 is locally destroyed, deformed or deteriorated by the generated Joule heat, and has a high electrical resistance. An electron emission function is obtained by forming the electron emission portion 53 in the state. Note that the electrically high resistance state means that a part of the thin film 52 has a thickness of 0.5 μm or more.
A discontinuous film having a crack having a length of 5 μm and having a so-called island structure in the crack. In general, the island structure means fine particles having a diameter of several tens of angstroms to several micrometers on a substrate, and each fine particle is a film that is spatially discontinuous and electrically continuous. Conventionally, in the surface conduction electron-emitting device, a voltage is applied to the above-described high-resistance discontinuous film by the electrodes 51a and 51b, and a current is caused to flow through the surface of the device, whereby electrons are emitted from the fine particles.

Further, the present inventors have disclosed USP 5,066,
No. 883, a new surface conduction electron-emitting device in which fine particles capable of emitting electrons are dispersed between electrodes is disclosed. This electron-emitting device has advantages such as higher electron emission efficiency than the conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device. FIG. 9 shows a typical device configuration of this surface conduction electron-emitting device. In FIG. 9, 51a and 51b are electrodes for obtaining an electrical connection, 55 is a thin film (electron emitting portion) in which fine particles 56 having a particle diameter in a range of 10 to 10 μm are dispersed and arranged, and electrons are emitted.
Reference numeral 54 denotes an insulating flat substrate. In particular, in FIG.
The thin film 55 has a sheet resistance of 10 ³ Ω / □ to 10 ⁹ Ω / □, and the electrode interval is desirably 0.01 μm to 100 μm.

As described above, various forms of electron-emitting devices can be used in the present invention. In particular, the above-mentioned cold cathodes, especially, the surface-emitting type electron-emitting devices and the field-emission devices, etc. An electron-emitting device with a large initial speed
In particular, an electron beam emitted from an electron emitting portion formed between electrodes, such as an electron emitting device having an initial velocity of emitted electrons of 4.0 eV to 200 eV, or a surface conduction type emitting device or a field emitting device. In the electron-emitting device in which the electron beam trajectory is deflected in the direction of the high-potential electrode with respect to the vertical direction, The reduction in electron emission efficiency and crosstalk occur as more prominent problems. Therefore, in an image forming apparatus using such an electron emission element, the potential control technique of the support member of the present invention is extremely effective.

Further, in the present invention, the image forming member emits light by irradiation with the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device.
Any material may be used as long as it is formed of a material that causes discoloration, charging, alteration, deformation, or the like, and examples thereof include a phosphor and a resist material. In particular, when a phosphor is used as the image forming member,
The image to be formed is a light-emitting (fluorescent) image. In forming a full-color light-emitting image, the image forming member is formed by three primary color light-emitting members of red, green, and blue.

Next, for example, (A) As shown in FIG. 1, the electron emitting element 5 and the image forming member 8 are They are arranged on the opposing base surfaces 6 and 1 respectively. Alternatively, (B) as shown in FIG. 17, the electron-emitting device 75 and the image forming member 7
8 are arranged side by side on the same base 71 surface in the envelope. Here, particularly in the case of (B), the collision of the positive ions generated by the collision of the emitted electrons with the residual gas in the envelope to the electron-emitting device is small, so that the deterioration of the electron-emitting device is reduced. Since this can be considerably prevented, an electron-emitting device life longer than that of the above (A) can be obtained. In the case of (B), the trajectory of the electron beam is deflected in the direction of the high-potential-side electrode with respect to the vertical direction, as in the case of a surface-conduction emission device or a field emission device. This is a preferable embodiment in the electron-emitting device.

In the present invention, the support member may be a member made of a conductive material or a member obtained by coating the surface of an insulating member such as glass with a conductive material. Further, the support member may have a part provided with conductivity. In this case, the support member is arranged so that the conductivity-provided region is located at least in the vicinity of the electron-emitting portion of the electron-emitting device.

In the present invention, the support member may be arranged in any manner as long as it can support the envelope with respect to the atmospheric pressure, and it is not necessary to arrange the support member for each electron-emitting portion. Absent.

Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device is modulated according to the information signal (control of the amount of emitted electrons including ON / OFF of the emitted electrons).
Is performed, modulation means is further provided. Such a modulating means includes (I) a modulating electrode 18a disposed on the same substrate 1 as the electron-emitting device 5 as shown in FIG. 11 or an insulating layer provided on the electron-emitting device 5 as shown in FIG. Means for controlling the amount of emitted electrons by applying a voltage in accordance with an image information signal to the modulation electrode 60 laminated via 62 and forming a desired potential surface near the electron emission portion, (II)
As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of electron-emitting portions 4 arranged in an XY matrix on the surface of
By applying a desired voltage in accordance with an image information signal to the scanning electrodes 2a and the information signal electrodes 2b arranged in a matrix and connected to each of the electron emitting portions, the desired voltage can be selectively applied to the desired electron emitting portions. Means for emitting electrons.

The above components are arranged in an envelope, and the inside of the envelope is set to a degree of vacuum of 10 ^-5 to 10 ^-9 torr in view of the electron emission characteristics of the electron-emitting device. The members are arranged so as to take a sufficient support structure with respect to the atmospheric pressure applied to the vacuum envelope, and the shape, arrangement position, and the like are appropriately determined.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention also includes the following optical printer. As shown in FIGS. 31 to 33, the optical printer according to the present invention uses, as the light emitting source 83, a device in which the image forming member of the above-described image forming apparatus is formed of a light emitting body, and emits light according to the information signal as described above. By forming a pattern and irradiating the recording medium (86, 88, 89) with a light beam emitted from the luminous body according to the light emitting pattern, the photosensitive pattern is formed when the recording medium is a photosensitive material, When the recording medium is a heat-sensitive material, a heat-sensitive pattern is formed on the surface of the recording medium. The optical printer has a support (for example, a drum 87 and a transport roller 85 in FIGS. 31 and 32) for supporting or transporting a recording medium.
The recording medium may be a photosensitive drum 89 as shown in FIG.

Further, the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific examples.

[0041]

Embodiment 1 FIGS. 1 and 2 show an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA ′ of FIG. In the figure, 1 is a rear plate,
11 is an outer frame, 9 is a face plate, and these form an envelope. 4 is an electron-emitting portion, 3a and 3b are electrodes for applying a voltage to the electron-emitting portion,
These form the electron-emitting device 5. 2a and 2b are wiring electrodes, in particular, 2a is a scanning electrode, 2b
Are used as information signal electrodes, which are electrically connected to the electrodes 3a and 3b, respectively. Reference numeral 6 denotes a glass substrate, 8 denotes a phosphor (image forming member), 7 denotes a transparent electrode for applying a voltage to the phosphor, and these constitute the face plate 9. Reference numeral 12 denotes a luminescent spot of the phosphor, 10 denotes a conductive support member for supporting the atmospheric pressure applied to the envelope, and 13 denotes a power supply for applying a predetermined potential to the conductive support member.

As shown in the figure, an electron-emitting device 5 and a phosphor 8 as an image forming member are disposed on opposing substrates (rear plate 1 and glass substrate 6) in an envelope. The conductive support member 10 is arranged between the bases so as to support the atmospheric pressure applied to the rear plate 1 and the face plate 9. However, as shown in FIG. 2, the support member 10 is disposed between the electron-emitting devices 5 on the rear plate side, and is electrically connected to the phosphor 8 and the transparent electrode 7 on the face plate side. It is arranged in a non-contact state. That is, the potential of the support member 10 is
Indeed, it is defined by the potential applied from the power supply 13.

The electron-emitting devices 5 are the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting devices. These electron-emitting devices are arranged in an XY matrix, and the electrodes 3a of all the electron-emitting devices are connected to the scanning electrode 2a. 3b is an information signal electrode 2b
And emits electrons by applying a voltage between the electrodes 2a and 2b in accordance with the information signal.
It has a so-called simple matrix structure.

Transparent electrode 7 forming face plate 9
Is connected to an external power source (not shown), and a predetermined voltage is applied to the phosphor 8 disposed adjacent to the transparent electrode 7 through the transparent electrode 7. This voltage is typically 80
It is 0 V to 6 kV, but is not limited to such a range. When displaying a color image, the phosphor 8 is replaced with a red, green, and blue primary color phosphor.

Next, a method for manufacturing the image forming apparatus of this embodiment will be described.
This will be briefly described. The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment includes:
. First, the insulating substrate as the rear plate 1 is sufficiently washed.
Clean and commonly used deposition techniques and photolithography
-Electrodes 3a and 3b are created by the technique, and then the information
The signal electrode 2b is similarly created. . Next, the information signal
In order to obtain electrical insulation between the electrode 2b and the scanning electrode 2a,
An insulating layer (not shown) is formed at the intersection of
And evaporation technology and patterning technology (photolithography
Scan electrode 2a using
You. Here, in the above steps, the electrode material is
Ni, gold, or aluminum with sufficiently low air resistance
It is made of a material mainly containing
As SiO_Two Are used. In addition, surface conduction type
In the case of an output device, in particular, in terms of its electron emission efficiency,
Thus, the width G (electrode gap) between the electrodes 3a and 3b is
0.01 μm to 100 μm, especially 0.1 μm to 10 μm
m, preferably 2 μm in this embodiment.
did. The length L of the electron emitting portion 4 is 300 μm,
The arrangement pitch of the child emitting elements 5 was 1.2 mm. next,
. The electrodes 3a facing each other are formed by using a gas deposition method.
Between Pb and 3b to form a Pd ultrafine particle film with a particle size of about 100 °
To achieve. As the material of the ultrafine particles, Ag, A
metal materials such as u and SnO_Two , In_Two O_Three Oxide materials such as
Material is suitable, and in the surface conduction type emission device.
In particular, the particle size is 10 mm in view of its electron emission efficiency.
It is preferably set within the range of 10 μm to 10 μm.
The particle membrane is 10^Three Ω / □ -10⁹ Ω / □ sheet resistance
It is preferably adjusted to be In addition, the above gas
In addition to the position method, for example, organic metal is dispersed and applied
And then heat-treated to form an ultrafine particle film between the electrodes.
The desired characteristics can be obtained by forming . Next
Then, the face plate 9 is placed on the glass
ITO is used for vacuum deposition technology and patterning technology
A transparent electrode 7 is made of a material, and a fluorescent material is further formed on the transparent electrode 7.
It is created by laminating the optical bodies 8. . Next, the conductive support
The holding member 10 is arranged as shown in FIG. Where the conductive
The photosensitive support member is formed by processing the photosensitive glass 10a,
The one provided with the conductive film 10b was used. In addition, the conductive
Thickness of flexible support member T_Two Is 150 μm, height T₁ Is 150
It was formed to have a thickness of 0 μm. . As described above,
Rear plate 1 and face plate on which output elements are arranged
9 and an outer frame 11 having a thickness of 1.5 mm is arranged.
Between the base plate 9 and the outer frame 11 and the rear plate 1
Frit glass is applied between the frame 11 and at 410 ° C.
Bake for 0 minutes or more to bond between them. At this time,
The electrically conductive support member 10 is perpendicular to the rear plate 1.
Face play with rear plate 1
And to be an atmospheric pressure support column between them. . next,
The atmosphere inside the envelope created as described above is used as a vacuum pump
Therefore, exhaust^-6-10 ^-7torr vacuum
Thereafter, a forming process is performed, and the envelope is sealed.
Do.

Next, a driving method of the above-described image forming apparatus of the present embodiment will be described. First, of a plurality of scan electrodes 2a to which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected, an electron emission voltage of 14V is applied to a desired one line, and a half (7V) of an electron emission voltage to another line. An information signal electrode 2b to which a voltage is applied and to which an element for emitting electrons is connected in accordance with the information signal for one line of the image.
To the information signal electrode 2b to which another electron-emitting device is connected, and a voltage of 1/2 (7V) of the electron-emitting voltage. This operation is performed by the adjacent scanning electrode 2a.
Are sequentially performed to emit electrons for one image, and a light emission image by the phosphor 8 is obtained. Here, the conductive support member 10 in the apparatus is preset by the power supply 13 to a potential of 14 V or less, which is the maximum potential applied to the electron-emitting device.

According to the above-described image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, an extremely stable luminescent image having no luminance unevenness and no change in luminance over time was formed. In addition, during the operation of the apparatus, no discharge that would cause fatal damage to the electron-emitting device occurred, and a long-life image display was possible. Further, the phosphor voltage can be set to 1 kV or more, and a color image can be displayed by replacing the phosphor 8 in the device with a phosphor of three primary colors.

Embodiment 2 The image forming apparatus of this embodiment is manufactured in the same manner as in Embodiment 1 except that the configuration of the conductive support member 10 of Embodiment 1 is changed as shown in FIG. 10 (cross-sectional view). Was done. That is, the conductive support member 15 of the present embodiment is provided with a conductive imparting region (conductive film 1).
5b) is formed so as to be located only in the vicinity of the electron-emitting device 5, and the conductive film 15b is not covered in the vicinity of the phosphor 8.

In this embodiment, the same effect as in the first embodiment was confirmed. Furthermore, since the vicinity of the phosphor 8 of the conductive support member 15 is an insulating region (photosensitive glass 15a), the phosphor voltage by the transparent electrode 7 can be set higher than in the first embodiment. Accordingly, an image with higher luminance can be displayed, and a color image can be obtained more easily.

Embodiment 3 FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken along line AA 'of FIG.

In FIGS. 11 and 12, 17a and 17b
Is a wiring electrode of the electron-emitting device 5, and each of the electrodes 3
a, 3b. Further, the wiring electrodes 17a,
A plurality of electron-emitting devices (surface-conduction-type emission devices) 5 are arranged between 17b, and a plurality of linear electron sources are formed on the rear plate 1. Reference numeral 18a denotes ON / O of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device in response to the information signal.
A modulation electrode for controlling the FF, which is arranged in an XY matrix with respect to the linear electron source. Here, although not shown, the wiring electrodes 17a and 17b and the modulation electrode 18a are electrically insulated by an insulating material. Reference numeral 16 denotes a conductive support member, which is disposed on the electrode 3b and is electrically connected so that the surface of the conductive support member 16 has the same potential as the electrode 3b.
Note that the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment described above was created in substantially the same manner as in the first embodiment.

Next, a driving method of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment will be described. The fluorescent material 8 is provided with a transparent electrode 7 through a transparent electrode 7.
A voltage of 8 to 6.0 kV is applied. Further, the wiring electrode 17a is set to 0 V to the desired linear electron source,
A voltage is applied by setting 7b to 14V, and a predetermined voltage is applied to a plurality of modulation electrodes 18a in accordance with an information signal for one line of a display image, and a desired electron-emitting device corresponding to the information signal is applied. More electron beams are emitted. Here, the potential of the conductive support member 16 is set to the maximum potential 14 applied to the electron-emitting device 5 through the wiring electrode 17b and the electrode 3b.
V. Further, with respect to the voltage applied to the modulation electrode, the electron beam can be turned off at -50 V or less,
Thus, the on-control was possible. In addition, -60V-40
The electron emission amount of the electron beam could be continuously changed between V, and gradation display was also possible.

By sequentially performing such an operation for the adjacent linear electron sources, one image of electrons is emitted.
An emission image by the phosphor was obtained.

According to the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment described above, an extremely stable luminescent image having no luminance unevenness and no change in luminance over time was formed in substantially the same manner as in the first embodiment. In addition, during the operation of the apparatus, no discharge that would cause fatal damage to the electron-emitting device occurred, and a long-life image display was possible. Further, the phosphor voltage can be set to 1 kV or more, and a color image can be displayed by replacing the phosphor in the device with a phosphor of three primary colors. Furthermore, the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment does not require a separate power supply for regulating the potential of the conductive support member 16 as compared with the first embodiment, so that the apparatus can be simplified and the cost can be reduced. Can be created.

Embodiment 4 In this embodiment, the image forming of the third embodiment is performed in exactly the same manner as in the third embodiment except that the voltage applied to the wiring electrode 17b is set to 0V and the wiring electrode 17a is set to 14V. The device was driven. That is, in this embodiment, the potential of the conductive support member 16 is controlled to 0 V through the wiring electrode 17b and the electrode 3b (low-potential-side electrode).

According to the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, almost the same effects as those of the third embodiment can be confirmed, and the voltage applied to the modulation electrode 18a is set to be lower than that of the third embodiment. However, a display image of almost the same quality could be obtained.

Embodiment 5 FIG. 13 is a schematic perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA ′ of FIG. In the figure, 18
b is a modulation electrode, and 19 is a conductive support member. The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment is different from the modulation electrode 18a according to the third embodiment.
13 is arranged so as to surround both sides of the electron-emitting device as shown by 18b in FIG. 13, and the conductive support member in the third embodiment is placed on the wiring electrode 17a as shown by 19 in FIG. Example 3 except that the surface of the conductive support member was electrically connected to have the same potential as the wiring electrode 17a.
It has the same configuration as

The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment is similar to the image forming apparatus according to the third embodiment.
It is driven in the same manner as. Here, the potential of the conductive support member 19 is applied to the electron-emitting device 5 through the wiring electrode 17a.
Is controlled to the maximum potential of 14V applied to the.

According to the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment described above, an extremely stable luminescent image having no luminance unevenness and no change in luminance over time was formed in substantially the same manner as in the third embodiment. In addition, during the operation of the apparatus, no discharge that would cause fatal damage to the electron-emitting device occurred, and a long-life image display was possible. Further, the phosphor voltage can be set to 1 kV or more, and a color image can be displayed by replacing the phosphor 8 in the device with a phosphor of three primary colors. Furthermore, compared to the third embodiment, a display image of substantially the same quality could be obtained even when the voltage applied to the modulation electrode 18b was set lower overall.

Embodiment 6 In this embodiment, the voltage applied to the wiring electrode in the embodiment 5 is set to 14 V,
The image forming apparatus of Example 5 was driven in exactly the same manner except that the voltage was set to 0V. That is, in this embodiment, the potential of the conductive support member 19 is controlled to 0 V through the wiring electrode 17a (low-potential side electrode). According to the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, substantially the same effects as those of the fifth embodiment can be confirmed, and a more uniform display image can be obtained as compared with the fifth embodiment.

Embodiment 7 FIG. 15 is a schematic perspective view of an image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, and FIG. 16 is a sectional view taken along line AA 'of FIG. In the figure, 60
Is a modulation electrode, 62 is an insulating layer, and 61 is a conductive support member. The image forming apparatus of the present embodiment has the same configuration as that of the fifth embodiment except that the modulation electrode 60 is provided below the electron-emitting device 5 with the insulating layer 62 interposed therebetween. It is driven in the same manner as. Here, the conductive support member 61
Is controlled to a maximum potential of 14 V applied to the electron-emitting device 5 through the wiring electrode 17a.

According to the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment described above, an extremely stable luminescent image having no luminance unevenness and no change in luminance over time was formed, almost in the same manner as in the fifth embodiment. In addition, during the operation of the apparatus, no discharge that would cause fatal damage to the electron-emitting device occurred, and a long-life image display was possible. Further, the phosphor voltage can be set to 1 kV or more, and a color image can be displayed by replacing the phosphor 8 in the device with a phosphor of three primary colors.

Embodiment 8 In this embodiment, the voltage applied to the wiring electrode in the embodiment 7 is set to 14 V,
The image forming apparatus of Example 7 was driven in exactly the same manner except that was set to 0V. That is, in this embodiment, the potential of the conductive support member 61 is controlled to 0 V through the wiring electrode 17a (low-potential-side electrode). According to the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, substantially the same effects as those of the seventh embodiment can be confirmed, and a more uniform display image can be obtained as compared with the seventh embodiment.

Embodiment 9 FIG. 17 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to a ninth embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 18 is a sectional view of FIG. 17, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of one electron-emitting device portion of FIG. As shown in these figures, the device includes opposing positive (high potential) and negative (low potential) electrodes 73a and 73b.
An electron-emitting device 75 that emits electrons when a voltage is applied between the electrodes, and an image-forming member 78 that forms an image by irradiating the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device 75, The element 75 and the image forming member 78 are juxtaposed on the insulating substrate 71, and the atmospheric pressure applied to a vacuum container (outer unit) including the insulating substrate 71, the support frame 80, and the face plate 79. A conductive member wall (atmospheric pressure support member) 76 for supporting a component substantially perpendicular to the substrate 71 is provided so that at least a part of its end is located above a part of the negative electrode 73b.
Since the conductive member wall 76 is electrically connected to the negative electrode 73b, it is set to the same potential (0 V) as the negative electrode 73b.

A plurality of electron-emitting devices 75 are arranged in a matrix, and the positive and negative electrodes 73a and 73
b are connected by element wiring electrodes 72a and 72b, respectively. Then, one electron emission element row driven simultaneously is formed by each electron emission element 75 connected by one element wiring electrode 72a and 72b.

The image forming member 78 is made of a phosphor.
It is formed corresponding to each electron-emitting device. In the direction orthogonal to the electron emission element rows, image forming member rows are connected for each row. The connection for each column is performed by an image forming member wiring electrode 77 disposed below each image forming member 78 so that a voltage is applied to each image forming member 78 via the image forming member wiring electrode 77. Has become. Image forming member wiring electrode 77 and element wiring electrode 72
An insulator film for maintaining electrical insulation between them is disposed between the a and 72b. When a color image is formed, R (red), G (green), B
(Blue) phosphor image forming members 78 are sequentially arranged.

The electron-emitting device 75 has an electron-emitting portion 74 between the positive and negative electrodes 73a and 73b, and emits electrons from the electron-emitting portion 74 by applying a voltage between these electrodes. There is a cold cathode type surface conduction type. The face plate 79 is transparent, and is supported by the outer frame 80 with respect to the insulating substrate 71. These face plate 79, insulating substrate 71 and outer frame 8
0 constitutes a panel container (envelope), and the inside of the container is 10 ^-5 to 10 in view of the electron emission characteristics of the electron-emitting device.
^The degree of vacuum is set to ^-7 torr.

Next, a method of manufacturing the device will be described. First, the insulating substrate 71 is sufficiently washed, and the device electrodes 73a and 73b and the image forming member wiring electrode 77 are removed by N using a commonly-used deposition technique and photolithography technique.
It is made of a material containing i as a main component. These electrodes may be made of any material as long as they are manufactured so that the electric resistance is sufficiently small.

Next, an insulating layer for providing electrical insulation between the image forming member wiring electrode 77 and the element wiring electrodes 72a and 72b corresponds to the element wiring electrodes 72a and 72b on the image forming member wiring electrode 77. At the position, a thin film and a thick film forming technique are used to form SiO ₂ . Here, the thickness of the insulating layer is 5 μm.

Next, the element wiring electrodes 72a and 72b are made of a material containing Ni as a main component by a vapor deposition technique and an etching technique. At this time, the device electrodes 73a and 73b
Are connected by device wiring electrodes 72a and 72b so that the device electrodes 73a and 73b form an electron emission portion 74 facing each other. The electrode gap G between the device electrodes 73a and 73b (see FIG. 19) is 0.01 μm to 1 μm in the surface conduction type emission device in view of the electron emission efficiency.
The thickness is preferably 00 μm, particularly 0.1 to 10 μm, and is 2 μm here. The length L (see FIG. 17) of the facing portion corresponding to the electron emitting portion 74 is formed to be 300 μm. The width S2 of the device electrodes 73a and 73b (FIG. 19)
Is preferably narrower, but in practice, it is 1 to 100 μm.
m is more preferable, and 1 to 50 μm is most preferable. Here, the distance S1 between the element electrode 73a and the adjacent image forming member 78 shown in FIG.
The width S2 of the device electrodes 73a and 73b is 50 μm, and the distance S3 between the device electrode 73b and the adjacent image forming member 78 is 200 μm. The arrangement pitch of the element wiring electrodes 72a and 72b is 1 mm, and the arrangement pitch of the electron emission portions 74 is 1 mm.

Next, an electron emission portion 74 is formed by providing an ultrafine particle film between the electrodes facing each other by using a gas deposition method. Pd is used as the material of the ultrafine particles. As other materials, metal materials such as Ag and Au, SnO ₂ ,
An oxide material such as In ₂ O ₃ is suitable, but not limited thereto. Further, in the surface conduction electron-emitting device, in particular, the particle diameter is 10 in terms of the electron emission efficiency.
The thickness is preferably set in the range of Å to 1.0 μm, and the ultrafine particle film is adjusted to have a sheet resistance of 10 ³ Ω / □ to 10 ⁹ Ω / □. In this embodiment, the diameter of the Pd particles is set to about 100 °. In addition to the gas deposition method, desired characteristics can be obtained even when an ultrafine particle film is formed between electrodes by, for example, dispersing and coating an organic metal and then performing heat treatment.

Next, an image forming member 78 made of a phosphor is formed by a printing method to a thickness of about 10 μm. The image forming member 78 made of a phosphor may be formed by another method such as a slurry method or a precipitation method.

Next, the conductive member wall 76 is disposed on the element electrode 73b on the negative electrode side. The atmospheric pressure supporting member 76 is made of a conductive material. Here, a material obtained by processing commonly used photosensitive glass and providing electrodes on the entire surface is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a metal member processed to a predetermined size may be used. The thickness T ₂ of the conductive member wall 76 is 150 μm, and the height T ₁ is 1200 μm.
(See FIG. 18).

Then, an outer frame 80 having a thickness of about 1.2 mm is arranged between the insulating substrate 71 on which the electron-emitting devices and the like are formed and the face plate 79. 80 and the insulating substrate 71
Frit glass is applied between the outer frame 80 and
Bake at 30 ° C for 10 minutes or more to bond them. At this time, as shown in FIG. 18, the conductive support member 76 is disposed so as to be perpendicular to the insulating substrate 71, and serves as an atmospheric pressure support column between the insulating substrate 71 and the face plate 79. I do.

When the glass container is completed in this way,
After the atmosphere in the container is evacuated by a vacuum pump to a sufficient degree of vacuum, a forming process is performed, and the glass container is sealed. At this time, the degree of vacuum is set to 10 ⁻⁶ to 10 ⁻⁷ torr which is sufficient to obtain a more stable operation.

Next, the operation of the apparatus will be described. In the above configuration, the device wiring electrode 72 of a certain electron-emitting device row
When a voltage pulse of 0V is applied to b and a voltage pulse of 14V is applied to the corresponding device wiring electrode 72a, electrons are emitted from the electron-emitting device 75 connected to them. At this time, a voltage of 0 V is applied to the conductive support member 76 via the negative element electrode 73b. Further, a voltage corresponding to the information signal of the electron-emitting device row is applied to each image forming member 78 via the image forming member wiring electrode 77.

The electron beam emitted from each electron-emitting device 75 is deflected in the direction of the positive electrode 73a, flies, and is further applied to the image forming member 78 adjacent to the positive electrode 73a. ON / OFF control. That is, if a positive high voltage is applied to the corresponding image forming member 78, it is attracted to the image forming member 78 side and collides with the image forming member 78 to cause its luminous body to emit light, thereby generating an ON state. Let it. Further, the image forming member 7
Assuming that a relatively low positive voltage is applied to 8, the image forming member 78 does not emit light, indicating an OFF state. Here, the voltage applied to the image forming member 78 is 10 to 10.
Although it has a value in the range of 1000 V, it is a value determined by the type of phosphor used and the required luminance.
It is not particularly limited to the above range of values. As a result, the image forming member 78 corresponding to the electron-emitting device row displays one line according to the information signal.

Next, a voltage pulse of 14V is applied to the element wiring electrodes 72b and 72a of the adjacent electron-emitting element row, and display of the next one line is performed in the same manner. This is sequentially performed, and an image for one screen is formed. That is,
An element wiring electrode group is used as a scanning electrode, and an XY matrix is formed by this and an image forming member row, and an image is displayed.

Here, when the definition is increased or the voltage applied to the image forming member 78 is increased as in the case of the present embodiment, it is assumed that the conductive member wall 76 is not provided, and that the other parts are the same as the above-described structure. Can be driven in the same manner as in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 0, a problem of so-called crosstalk occurs in that the electron beam e emitted from the electron-emitting device 75 collides with the image forming member 78 for two pixels. However, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 18, since the conductive support members 76 are arranged between the pixels, crosstalk does not occur. Moreover, since the conductive support member 76 is connected to the device electrode 73b on the negative electrode side, the electron-emitting device 7
The electron beam e emitted from the image forming member 5 is effectively
8 is hit. Therefore, an image with higher definition can be obtained.

According to this, the surface conduction electron-emitting device 75
Can be driven in response to a voltage pulse of 100 picoseconds or less, so that if an image for one screen is displayed in 1/30 second, 10,000 or more scanning lines can be formed.

The electron-emitting device 75 and the image forming member 7
8 is formed on the same substrate 71, and the electron beam collides with the image forming member by the voltage applied to the image forming member 78, so that the electron emission element 75 is destroyed by ion bombardment and uneven brightness occurs. The uniform image display is performed for a long time without any problem. That is, in a surface conduction electron-emitting device, electrons having an initial velocity of several electron volts are emitted into a vacuum, and modulation using such a device is extremely effectively performed.

In the manufacture of the device, the alignment between the electron-emitting device 75 and the image forming member 78 is easy,
In addition, since a thin film manufacturing technique can be used, a large-screen, high-definition display can be obtained at low cost. In addition, since the interval between the electron-emitting portion 74 and the image forming member 78 can be manufactured with extremely high precision, an extremely uniform image display device without uneven brightness can be obtained.

When the inside of the container is evacuated to vacuum, the face plate 79 and the insulating substrate 71 are pressed at atmospheric pressure. A conductive support member is provided between the face plate 79 and the insulating substrate 71 to which the pressing force is applied. It is supported by 76 against the pressing force. Therefore, the face plate 79 and the insulating substrate 71 can be formed by using thinner members, whereby the device can be manufactured more lightweight and the screen can be easily enlarged.

Embodiment 10 FIG. 21 is a perspective view of an image display apparatus according to a tenth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 22 is a sectional view thereof. This apparatus is different from the apparatus of the ninth embodiment in that a face plate 7
9, a transparent electrode 81 is provided on a surface facing the substrate 71,
In addition, an insulator 82 is provided between the conductive support member 76 and the transparent electrode 81. Although not shown, a power supply for applying a voltage to the transparent electrode 81 is provided. The transparent electrode 81 is made of ITO (Indium Tin Oxid).
e) A film is used, but is not limited to this. Further, the insulator 82 provides electrical insulation between the transparent electrode 81 and the conductive member wall 76, and is desirably about the same size as the width T2 of the conductive member wall 76. Other components have the same configuration as the device of the ninth embodiment and are manufactured in the same manner.

It is desirable that the voltage applied to the transparent electrode 81 be set to a value such that the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device 75 uniformly collides with the image forming member 78.
Although it differs depending on the voltage applied to the electron-emitting device 75 and the image forming member 78 and the structure of the electron-emitting device 75, generally, 0 V
To the voltage applied to the image forming member 78.

When this apparatus was driven and evaluated in the same manner as in the ninth embodiment, not only the same effect as in the ninth embodiment was obtained, but also uniform electrons collided with the image forming member 78. , Higher-definition, higher-quality image display was performed.

Embodiment 11 FIG. 23 is a perspective view of an image display device according to an eleventh embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 24 is a sectional view of FIG. 23, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of one electron-emitting element portion of FIG. In this device, the conductive member wall 76 has a lower end formed with a negative electrode 73.
b and not on the insulating substrate 71 between the negative electrode 73b and the image forming member 78 adjacent thereto, and the upper end is directly
Except for contact with the transparent electrode (potential regulating electrode) 81, the device has the same configuration as that of the device of Example 10 and is manufactured in the same manner. Therefore, the conductive support member 76 has the same potential as the transparent electrode 81.

At the time of driving, the transparent electrode 81 is in the same range as that of the tenth embodiment in advance by an external power supply (not shown). Is set to a voltage value at which the voltage becomes good. Then, driving can be performed in the same manner as in the ninth embodiment. At this time, similarly to the case of the ninth embodiment, the trajectory of the electron beam e is as shown in FIG. 24, and there is no crosstalk as compared with the case of FIG. In addition, the same effect as that of the tenth embodiment can be obtained.

Embodiment 12 FIG. 27 is a sectional view of an image display apparatus according to a twelfth embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, in the image display apparatus of the tenth embodiment, the voltage applying means of the insulator 82 and the conductive support member is removed (the transparent electrode 81 and the conductive support member 76 are connected).
The conductive support member 76 and the transparent electrode 81 are connected to the element electrode 73b.
And the same potential of 0V. When the same driving as in the tenth embodiment was performed in this embodiment, the same effect was confirmed.

Embodiment 13 FIG. 28 is a perspective view of an image display apparatus according to a thirteenth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 29 is a sectional view thereof. This device is the same as that of the ninth embodiment except that the position of the conductive support member 76 is on the negative electrode 73b, and the insulator 82 is arranged between the conductive support member 76 and the negative electrode 73b. It has the same configuration as the device of the eleventh embodiment and is manufactured in the same manner.

The insulator 82 is for maintaining electrical insulation between the conductive support member 76 and the negative element electrode 73b, and is made of SiO ₂ , glass or any other insulator. However, here, SiO ₂ is used.
The size of the insulator 82 is preferably as small as possible as long as electrical insulation can be maintained. This is because if the size of the insulator 82 is significantly larger than that of the conductive support member 76, the insulator 82 is charged up by a charged beam of ions, electrons, or the like, causing image instability. Therefore, the insulator 8
2 is preferably smaller than the thickness T2 of the conductive support member 76.

When this device was driven and evaluated in the same manner as in the ninth embodiment, the same effect as that in the ninth embodiment was obtained. In addition, the arrangement pitch of the image forming member 78 and the electron-emitting device 75 was not changed. Even when was smaller, no crosstalk occurred and a bright image was displayed.

Embodiment 14 FIG. 30 is a schematic structural view of an optical printer according to a fourteenth embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, the parts denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 17 indicate the same parts as those in FIG. This device comprises a light source 83,
A lens array 84 and a recording medium 86 are provided. The lens array 84 is generally formed by a selfoc lens, is disposed between the light emitting source 83 and the recording medium 86, and controls the pattern of light emitted from the image forming member 78 of the light emitting source 83 to the recording medium 86. An image is formed on the top. Light source 83
Is a one-dimensional light emitting source having only one electron emitting element array, and is manufactured in substantially the same manner as in the ninth embodiment.
The conductive support member 76 has a comb-like shape as shown in FIG. In the figure, 99 is a glass vacuum container (envelope), 97 is a rear plate, 121 is an electron-emitting device 7
5, an electrode for applying a voltage to the element wiring electrode 72 on the negative electrode side, an electrode 120 for applying a voltage to the element electrode 73a on the positive electrode side, and 98 connected to each image forming member 78 made of a phosphor. The image forming member wiring electrode 123 is an electrode for applying a voltage to the image forming member wiring electrode 98.

The recording medium 86 is produced by uniformly applying the photosensitive composition to a polyethylene terephthalate film with a thickness of 2 μm. The photosensitive composition comprises: a. Binder: 10 parts by weight of polyethylene methacrylate (trade name: Dianal BR, Mitsubishi Rayon), b. Monomer: 10 parts by weight of trimethylolpropane triacrylate (trade name: TMPTA, Shin-Nakamura Chemical), c. Polymerization initiator: 2-methyl-2-morpholino (4-thiomethylphenyl) propan-1-one (trade name; Irgacure 9)
07, Ciba-Geigy) and 2.2 parts by weight, and is prepared using 70 parts by weight of methyl ethyl ketone as a solvent. The phosphor constituting the image forming member 78 is a silicate phosphor (Ba, Mg, Zn) ₃ Si ₂ O ₇ : Pb ²⁺
Is the main material.

In this configuration, a voltage of 10 to 500 V is applied to the image forming member 78 through the electrode 123 in advance. Further, 0 V is applied to the negative electrode 73 b of the electron-emitting device 75, and thus 0 V is applied to the conductive support member 76.

In this state, the modulation voltage for one line of the image according to the information signal of the image to be formed is applied to each electron-emitting device 75.
Is applied to the positive side element electrode 73a via the electrode 120, a light emission pattern for one line of an image is formed. The light beam of this light emission pattern forms an image on the recording medium 86 via the lens array 84 and irradiates the recording medium 86. Thus, the recording medium 86 is cured by photopolymerization according to the light emission pattern, and an image for one line is formed. Next, the light emitting source 83 and the recording medium 86 are relatively moved by one line, and the next one line of image is formed in the same manner. Then, such image formation and relative movement are repeated to form an image.

The relative movement between the light emitting source 83 and the recording medium 86 in synchronization with the image forming timing for one line is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the recording can be performed by driving the transport roller 85 while supporting the recording medium 86 with the support 87. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 32, the light emitting source 83 may be moved. In any case, by performing this synchronized driving, a photopolymerization pattern corresponding to the information signal is formed on the recording medium. Then, by developing this photopolymerization pattern with methyl ethyl ketone, an optical recording pattern corresponding to the information signal is formed on polyethylene terephthalate.

According to this, a uniform, high-speed, high-contrast, clear optical recording pattern can be obtained. Further, since the conductive support portion 76 is provided, a high-definition image without crosstalk is formed. Further, an optical printer having the same effect can be formed by using the configuration of the first to fourth embodiments as the light emitting source of the optical printer of the present embodiment.

Embodiment 15 FIG. 33 is a schematic structural view of an optical printer according to a fifteenth embodiment of the present invention. This apparatus has a light-emitting source 83 and a lens array 84 which operate in the same manner as in the fourteenth embodiment, a drum-shaped electrophotographic photosensitive member 89 as a recording medium, a charger 94, and a developing device 90. , A static eliminator 91, and a cleaner 93, and finally forms an image on the paper 95. As the phosphor used for the light emitting source 83, a yellow-green emitting phosphor of Zn ₂ SiO ₄ : Mn (P1 phosphor) is used. As the electrophotographic photoconductor 89, an amorphous silicon photoconductor is used.

In this configuration, the recording medium 89 is rotated in the direction of the arrow 92b in synchronization with the light emission source 83 as described above, and the paper 95 is also moved in the direction of the arrow 92a in synchronization. During this time, the recording medium 89 is charged to a positive voltage by the charger 94, and the light irradiation unit is discharged by the image formation irradiation of the light emission pattern from the light emission source 83 via the lens array 84, so that the electrostatic latent image pattern is changed. It is formed. The charging voltage is suitably from 100 to 500 V, but is not limited thereto. This latent image pattern is developed by the developing device 90 with toner particles. The adsorbed toner moves with the rotation of the recording medium 89 and drops on the paper 95 located between the recording medium 89 and the static eliminator 91 when the charge is released by the static eliminator 91. The paper 95 that has received the toner is subjected to a fixing process in a fixing device (not shown), whereby an image represented by the light emitting source 83 is reproduced and recorded on the paper 95. At this time, the toner remaining on the photoreceptor 89 moves below the cleaner 93 and is removed by the cleaner, and the portion is charged again by the charger 94.

According to this, a high-contrast, clear and high-resolution image is formed at a high speed without uneven exposure due to the above-mentioned advantages of the light emitting source 83. Further, by the above-described operation of the conductive support member 76, a high-quality toner image without blurring of an image can be recorded. Also,
A printer having the same effect can be formed by using the configurations of the first to fourth embodiments as the light source of the optical printer of the present embodiment.

Embodiment 16 FIG. 34 is a schematic structural view of an optical printer according to a sixteenth embodiment of the present invention. This device is different from the device of Example 14 in that a transparent electrode 81 is further provided on the face plate 79 surface so that the conductive support member 76 is in contact with the transparent electrode 81. The device has the same configuration as that of the device of Example 14 except that an insulator 96 is disposed between the device 73b and the device 73b. However, although not shown, a power supply for applying a voltage to the transparent electrode 81 via the electrode 122 is provided.

The transparent electrode 8 is formed in advance through the electrode 122.
The driving is performed in the same manner as in Example 14 except that an appropriate voltage is applied to 1, but the conductive support member 76 has the same potential (0 V) as the transparent electrode 81 here.

In this case as well, the same effect as that of the fourteenth embodiment can be obtained. In addition, since uniform electrons collide with the image forming member 78, higher definition and higher quality image display is performed. Further, by using this device 131 as the light emitting source 83 in the fifteenth embodiment, higher definition and higher image quality can be achieved.

[0105]

According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention described in detail above, a uniform and stable image without crosstalk or change over time can be obtained. Things. In particular, a display device having a phosphor as an image forming member is a device capable of obtaining an image faithful to an information signal with extremely little variation in brightness, change in brightness, and uneven color tone.

In particular, in an apparatus in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on a substrate, positive ions do not collide with the electron-emitting device and damage to the electron-emitting device can be prevented. Further, strict alignment between the electron-emitting device and the image forming member is not required, and the image forming member can be extremely easily arranged. Therefore, the positional relationship between the electron-emitting device and the image forming member does not change after the device is manufactured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an evaluation device for a potential value applied to a conductive support member.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a conventional vertical field emission device.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a conventional horizontal field emission device.

6 is a graph showing an evaluation result regarding a potential value applied to a conductive support member using the device of FIG.

7 is a graph showing an evaluation result regarding a potential value applied to a conductive support member using the device of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 13 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 16 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are juxtaposed on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 18 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are juxtaposed on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 19 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are juxtaposed on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining an emitted electron trajectory.

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are juxtaposed on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 22 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are juxtaposed on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 23 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are juxtaposed on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 24 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are juxtaposed on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 25 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are juxtaposed on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 26 is a diagram for explaining an emitted electron trajectory.

FIG. 27 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are juxtaposed on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 28 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are juxtaposed on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 29 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are juxtaposed on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 30 illustrates an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an optical printer.

FIG. 31 illustrates an image forming apparatus according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an optical printer.

FIG. 32 illustrates an image forming apparatus according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an optical printer.

FIG. 33 illustrates an image forming apparatus according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an optical printer.

FIG. 34 particularly illustrates an image forming apparatus according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an optical printer.

FIG. 35 is a schematic view of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 36 is a schematic view of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 37 is a schematic view of a conventional image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 97: rear plate, 2a: scanning electrode, 2b: information signal electrode, 3a, 3b, 73a, 73b: electrode, 74,
4: electron-emitting portion, 5, 75: electron-emitting device, 6: glass substrate, 7: transparent electrode, 8: phosphor, 9, 79: face plate, 10, 15, 16, 19, 61, 76: conductive Support member, 11: outer frame, 17a, 17b: wiring electrode,
18a, 60: modulation electrode, 71: insulating substrate, 72a,
72b: element wiring electrode, 77: image forming member wiring electrode
78: image forming member, 81: transparent electrode, 82: insulator,
99: vacuum container, 89, 125: recording medium.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Hidetoshi Suzuki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Shinya Shinya 3-30-2 Shimomaruko 3-chome, Ota-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Tetsuya Kaneko 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term in Canon Inc. (reference) 5C032 AA01 CC10 5C036 EE02 EF01 EF06 EG02 EG50

Claims (28)

[Claims] An enclosure has an electron-emitting device, an image-forming member for forming an image by irradiating an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device, and a conductivity for supporting the envelope. An image forming apparatus comprising: a support member; and a unit configured to control a potential of the support member to be equal to or lower than a maximum potential applied to the electron-emitting device. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said potential control means is a voltage applying means connected to said support member for applying a voltage to said support member. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said voltage applying means is means for applying a voltage of 0 V or less. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device and the image forming member are arranged on opposing base surfaces in the envelope. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device and the image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface in the envelope. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device has a plurality of electron-emitting portions arranged in an XY matrix, and the support member is disposed between the electron-emitting portions. . 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a modulator for modulating an electron beam emitted from said electron-emitting device in accordance with an information signal. 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said modulating means has a modulating electrode arranged on the same substrate surface as said electron-emitting device. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said modulating means has a modulating electrode laminated on said electron-emitting device via an insulating layer. 10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said modulating means has a scanning electrode and an information signal electrode arranged in an XY matrix and connected to an electron emitting portion of said electron emitting element. 11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming member is a luminous body that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam. 12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the light-emitting members include light-emitting members of three primary colors of red, green, and blue. 13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming member is a luminous body that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam, and further includes a recording medium on which an image is recorded by irradiating light from the luminous body. apparatus. 14. The image forming member is a luminous body that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam, and further includes a support for a recording medium on which an image is recorded by irradiating light from the luminous body. Image forming apparatus. 15. An electron-emitting device that emits electrons by applying a voltage between electrodes in an envelope, an image-forming member that forms an image by irradiating an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device, An image forming apparatus comprising: a conductive support member for supporting an envelope; and the support member is electrically connected to one of the electrodes. 16. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said support member is disposed on said electrode surface. 17. The method according to claim 17, wherein the supporting member is provided with 0 V of the electrodes.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the image forming apparatus is electrically connected to an electrode to which the following voltage is applied. 18. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the electron-emitting device and the image forming member are arranged on opposing base surfaces in the envelope. 19. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the electron-emitting device and the image forming member are juxtaposed on the same substrate surface in the envelope. 20. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the electron-emitting device has a plurality of electron-emitting portions arranged in an XY matrix, and the support member is disposed between the electron-emitting portions. . 21. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising modulating means for modulating an electron beam emitted from said electron-emitting device according to an information signal. 22. The modulating means has a modulating electrode disposed on the same substrate surface as the electron-emitting device.
The image forming apparatus as described in the above. 23. The modulating means has a modulating electrode laminated on the electron-emitting device via an insulating layer.
The image forming apparatus as described in the above. 24. The modulating means has a scanning electrode and an information signal electrode arranged in an XY matrix and connected to an electron emitting portion of the electron emitting element.
The image forming apparatus as described in the above. 25. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the image forming member is a luminous body that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam. 26. The image forming apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the illuminants include illuminants of three primary colors of red, green, and blue. 27. The image forming member is a luminous body that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam, and further has a recording medium on which an image is recorded by irradiating light from the luminous body.
The image forming apparatus as described in the above. 28. The image forming member is a luminous body that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam, and further has a support for a recording medium on which an image is recorded by irradiating light from the luminous body. Image forming apparatus.