JP2004327460A - Manufacturing method of electron source base plate, electron source base plate manufactured by above method, and solution used for manufacturing of above base plate - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To form a serial number, a date of maufacture or the like on each and every base plate by a spray head, and thereby enable to diffrentiate each electron source base plate or each plurality of sheets of base plates after being manufactured. <P>SOLUTION: A pair of electrodes 2, 3 are arranged on the base plate 14, droplets 4 of solution containing a material to be a conductive thin film are given in spray between the electrodes, and the base plate forming a plurality of lots of patterns electrically connecting between the electrodes by the conductive film is manufactured. By giving in spray the droplets of the solution containing the material to be the conductive thin film on the outside (regions Ya, Yb, Xa, Xb) of regions (regions X and Y) where a plurality of combinations of electrodes and patterns are formed, patterns (for instance, a pattern 123 for differentiation of the base plates) capable of differentiating each base plate or each group of the plurality of base plates are formed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an electron source substrate using a surface conduction electron-emitting device, an electron source substrate manufactured by the method, and a solution used for manufacturing the substrate.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron emitting devices, a thermionic electron source and a cold cathode electron source, are known. The cold cathode electron source includes a field emission type (hereinafter, referred to as an FE type), a metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter, referred to as an MIM type), a surface conduction type electron emission element, and the like.
Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2 are known as examples of the FE type.
Non-Patent Document 3 and the like are known as examples of the MIM type.

Non-Patent Document 4 and the like are examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device type. The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which an electron is emitted when a current flows through a small-area thin film formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include a device using an SnO ₂ thin film by Elinson et al., A device using an Au thin film (Non-patent document 5), a device using an In ₂ O ₃ / SnO ₂ thin film (Non-patent document 6), A method using a carbon thin film (Non-Patent Document 7) and the like have been reported.

  As a typical device configuration of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the device configuration of Non-Patent Document 6 described above is shown in FIG. In FIG. 20, 1 is a substrate, 2 and 3 are device electrodes, 4 is a conductive thin film, and the conductive thin film 4 is formed of a metal oxide thin film or the like formed by sputtering in an H-shaped pattern. The electron emission portions 5 are formed by an energization process called energization forming. The distance L1 between the device electrodes 2 and 3 in the figure is set to 0.5 to 1 mm, and W1 is set to 0.1 mm.

  Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the electron-emitting portion 5 is generally formed by subjecting the conductive thin film 4 to an energization process called energization forming before performing electron emission. . The energization forming is to apply a direct current voltage or a very slowly increasing voltage (for example, about 1 V / min) to both ends of the conductive thin film 4 and to energize the conductive thin film 4 to locally destroy, deform or deteriorate the conductive thin film 4. To form the electron-emitting portion 5 in a high resistance state. In the electron emitting portion 5, a crack is generated in a part of the conductive thin film 4, and electrons are emitted from the vicinity of the crack. In the surface conduction type electron-emitting device subjected to the energization forming process, a voltage is applied to the conductive thin film 4 and a current is caused to flow through the device to cause the electron-emitting portion 5 to emit electrons.

  Since the surface conduction electron-emitting device as described above has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture, there is an advantage that a large number of devices can be arranged and formed over a large area. Therefore, applied research on charged beam sources, display devices, and the like utilizing this feature has been made. As an example in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged and arranged, as will be described later, surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel called a trapezoidal arrangement, and both ends of each element are interconnected (also called a common interconnect). ), An electron source in which a number of connected lines are arranged in many rows (for example, Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, Patent Document 3, etc.).

  In addition, in particular, in image forming apparatuses such as display apparatuses, flat panel display apparatuses using liquid crystal have become widespread in place of CRTs in recent years. However, they are not self-luminous and must have a backlight. Therefore, development of a self-luminous display device has been desired. An example of the self-luminous display device is an image forming device which is a display device in which an electron source having a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged thereon and a phosphor that emits visible light by electrons emitted from the electron source are combined. (For example, Patent Document 4).

  However, the method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the above-described conventional example uses a lot of photolithography and etching methods in vacuum film formation and a semiconductor process. However, there is a disadvantage that the production cost of the electron source substrate is high.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventor has disclosed Patent Documents 5, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 in forming a conductive thin film in the element portion of the surface conduction electron-emitting device as described above. , Patent Documents 9 and 10, etc., the above conductive thin film can be stably produced at a high yield and at low cost without using a vacuum film forming method and a photolithographic etching method. I thought it could be formed.

However, unlike ink jet printers that fly and record ink on paper, the functions required for a manufacturing device that manufactures such an electron source substrate in a factory, and the electron source substrate manufactured by it, Is also a part unit that is shipped from the factory, and it is still necessary to devise some ways to actually apply this inkjet technology.
JP-A-64-31332 JP-A-1-283747 JP-A-2-257552 U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,883 U.S. Pat.No. 3,060,429 U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,030 U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,275 U.S. Pat. No. 3,416,153 U.S. Patent No. 3,747,120 U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,257 W. P. Dyke & W. W. Dolan, "Field emission", Advance in Electron Physics, 889 (1956). C. A. Spindt, "Physical Properties of Thin-Film Field Emissions Cathodes with mollybdenium", J. Med. Appl. Phys. , 475248 (1976) C. A. Mead, "The Tunnel-emission amplifier", J. Amer. Appl. Phys. , 32 646 (1961). M. I. Elinson, Radio Eng. Electron Phys. , 1290 (1965) G. FIG. Dittmer: Thin Solid Films, 9 317 (1972) M. Hartwell and C.I. G. FIG. Fonstad: IEEE Trans. ED Conf. , 519 (1975) Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22, (1983)

(Object of the invention)
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an electron source substrate of an image display device using the above-described surface conduction electron-emitting device, and to the electron source substrate and a solution used for manufacturing the electron source substrate.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a pair of electrodes are arranged on a substrate, and a droplet of a solution containing a material to be a conductive thin film is applied between the electrodes by spraying, and the conductive thin film is used to electrically connect the electrodes. A method for manufacturing a substrate, on which a plurality of sets of patterns for performing a connection are formed, wherein a droplet of a solution containing the material to be the conductive thin film is provided outside a region where the plurality of combinations of the electrodes and the patterns are formed. By spraying, a pattern is formed that enables the substrate manufactured by the substrate manufacturing method to be distinguished for each substrate or for each of a plurality of substrate groups.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, fine particles constituting a conductive thin film are included.

  The invention according to claim 3 is a substrate in which a plurality of combinations of a pair of electrodes disposed on a substrate and a pattern of a conductive thin film formed by spraying between the electrodes are formed, wherein the electrode and the pattern The substrate is distinguished for each substrate or each of a plurality of substrate groups by a droplet of a solution containing the material to be the conductive thin film sprayed and applied to the outside of a region where a plurality of combinations of the above are formed. It is characterized in that a pattern that can be formed is formed.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the solution contains fine particles constituting a conductive thin film.

  The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the solution used for manufacturing the substrate according to claim 3 contains a material to be a conductive thin film.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, the solution contains fine particles constituting a conductive thin film.

  According to the present invention, a pair of electrodes are arranged on a substrate, and a droplet of a solution containing a material to be a conductive thin film is applied between the electrodes by spraying, and the conductive thin film is used to electrically connect the electrodes. A plurality of sets of patterns for forming a substrate, wherein droplets of a solution containing a material to be the conductive thin film are ejected outside a region where a plurality of combinations of the electrodes and the patterns are formed. By providing, a pattern that allows the substrate manufactured by the method for manufacturing the substrate to be distinguishable for each substrate or for each of a plurality of substrate groups, so that the manufacturing number, the manufacturing date, and the like are determined by the ejection head. The electron source substrates can be formed one by one, so that the manufactured electron source substrates can be distinguished one by one or a plurality of electron source substrates.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of an electron source substrate constituting a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 (A) is a plan view thereof, and FIG. FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 1A, wherein 1 is a substrate, 2 and 3 are device electrodes, 4 is a conductive thin film, and 5 is an electron-emitting portion. The basic configuration of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention is a plane type, and here, for simplification, the configuration of one flat surface conduction electron-emitting device is schematically shown. As described later, such a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device is configured as a device group in which the devices are arranged in a matrix.

Examples of the substrate 1 include quartz glass, glass having a reduced impurity content such as Na, blue plate glass, a glass substrate having SiO ₂ deposited on its surface, and a ceramic substrate such as alumina. As the material of the device electrodes 2 and 3, a general conductive material can be used. For example, metals or alloys such as Ni, Cr, Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd, Pd, _{as, Ag, Au, RuO 2} , Pd-Ag or the like metal or metal oxide and printed conductor composed of glass or the like, a transparent conductive material such as in ₂ O ₃ -SnO _2, semiconductor material such as polysilicon It is appropriately selected.

  The distance L between the device electrodes 2 and 3 is preferably in the range of several thousand to several hundred μm, and more preferably in the range of 1 to 200 μm in consideration of the voltage applied between the device electrodes 2 and 3. . The length W of the device electrodes 2 and 3 is several μm to several hundred μm in consideration of the resistance value and the electron emission characteristics of the electrodes, and the film thickness d of the device electrodes 2 and 3 is 100 ° to 1 μm. Range. The present invention is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 1, but may be a configuration in which the conductive thin film 4 and the electrodes of the device electrodes 2 and 3 are sequentially formed on the substrate 1.

  2A and 2B are views for explaining a method of manufacturing the flat surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2A is a diagram in which device electrodes 2 and 3 are formed on a substrate 1, and FIG. 2B is a diagram in which the conductive thin film 4 is formed on the device electrodes 2 and 3, and FIG. 2C is a diagram in which the electron emission portion 5 is formed on the conductive thin film 4. The conductive thin film 4 is particularly preferably a fine particle film composed of fine particles in order to obtain good electron emission characteristics. The thickness of the conductive thin film 4 depends on the step coverage of the device electrodes 2 and 3 and the resistance between the device electrodes 2 and 3. It is appropriately set depending on the value and the energizing forming conditions described later, but is preferably several to several thousand degrees, particularly preferably 10 to 500 degrees. In addition, the resistance value of Rs is 10 2 to 10 7 Ω. Note that Rs is a value that appears when the resistance R of a thin film having a thickness t, a width w, and a length of 1 is set as R = Rs (1 / w). = Ρ / t. Here, the forming process will be described by taking an energizing process as an example, but the forming process is not limited to this, and any method may be used as long as it forms a high resistance state by causing a crack in the film. Is also good.

Examples of the material constituting the conductive thin film 4 include metals such as Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, and Pb, PdO, SnO ₂ , and In. Oxides such as ₂ O ₃ , PbO, Sb ₂ O ₃ , borides such as HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ , LaB ₆ , CeB ₆ , YB ₄ , GdB ₄ , and TiC, ZrC, HfC, TaC, SiC, WC, etc. It is appropriately selected from carbides, nitrides such as TiN, ZrN, and HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, and carbon.

  The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and has a fine structure not only in a state in which the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also in a state in which the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (some fine particles are aggregated). (Including the case where an island shape is formed as a whole). The particle size of the fine particles is from several millimeters to 1 micrometer, preferably from 10 millimeters to 200 millimeters.

Hereinafter, an apparatus for manufacturing an electron source substrate on which a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to an embodiment of the present invention is formed will be described.
FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of an apparatus for manufacturing an electron source substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which 11 is an ejection head unit (ejection head), 12 is a carriage, 13 is a substrate holding table, Reference numeral 14 denotes a substrate forming the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device group, 15 denotes a supply tube for a solution containing a conductive thin film material, 16 denotes a signal supply cable, 17 denotes a jet head control box, and 18 denotes the X of the carriage 12. A direction scan motor, 19 is a Y direction scan motor of the carriage 12, 20 is a computer, 21 is a control box, and 22 (22X1, 22Y1, 22X2, 22Y2) is a substrate positioning / holding means.

  The configuration shown in FIG. 3 shows an example in which the ejection head 11 is moved by carriage scanning on the front surface of the substrate 14 placed on the substrate holding table 13 and ejects a solution containing a conductive thin film material. The ejection head 11 may be any mechanism as long as it can discharge a desired amount of liquid droplets, and particularly, an ink jet type mechanism capable of forming droplets of several tens ng is desirable. As the ink jet method, any of a piezo jet method using a piezoelectric element, a bubble ink jet method in which bubbles are generated by using heat energy of a heater, and a charge control method (continuous flow method) may be used.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of the configuration of a droplet applying apparatus according to the apparatus for manufacturing an electron source substrate of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a main part of a discharge head unit of the droplet applying apparatus of FIG. It is a schematic block diagram. The configuration in FIG. 4 differs from the configuration in FIG. 3 in that the electron-emitting device group is formed on the substrate by moving the substrate 14 side. 4 and 5, reference numerals 2 and 3 denote element electrodes, 14 denotes a substrate, 30 denotes a discharge head unit, 31 denotes a head alignment control mechanism, 32 denotes a detection optical system, 33 denotes an inkjet head, 34 denotes a head alignment fine movement mechanism, and 35 denotes a head alignment fine movement mechanism. Is a control computer, 36 is an image identification mechanism, 37 is an XY scanning mechanism, 38 is a position detection mechanism, 39 is a position correction control mechanism, 40 is an inkjet head drive / control mechanism, 41 is an optical axis, 42 is a droplet, 43 Is a droplet landing position.

  As the droplet applying device (ink jet head 33) of the ejection head unit 30, an ink jet type mechanism is desirable, as in the case of FIG. 3, and a piezo jet type using a piezoelectric element, bubbles using the heat energy of a heater are used. Or a charge control method (continuous flow method), which generates turbulence, may be used.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the apparatus for moving the substrate 14 as described above will be described. First, in FIG. 4, the substrate 14 is placed on the XY scanning mechanism 37. The surface conduction electron-emitting device on the substrate 14 has the same configuration as that of FIG. 1. As a single device, the substrate 1, the device electrodes 2, 3 and the conductive thin film (fine particle film) are similar to those shown in FIG. It consists of four. An ejection head unit 30 for applying liquid droplets is located above the substrate 14. In this example, the ejection head unit 30 is fixed, and the relative movement between the ejection head unit 30 and the substrate 14 is realized by moving the substrate 14 to an arbitrary position by the XY direction scanning mechanism 37.

  Next, the configuration of the ejection head unit 30 will be described with reference to FIG. The detection optical system 32 captures image information on the electron source substrate 10, is close to the inkjet head 33 that ejects the droplet 42, and detects the optical axis 41 and the focal position of the detection optical system 32, It is arranged so that the landing position 43 of the droplet 42 matches. In this case, the positional relationship between the detection optical system 32 and the inkjet head 33 can be precisely adjusted by the head alignment fine movement mechanism 34 and the head alignment control mechanism 31. Here, a CCD camera and a lens are used as the detection optical system 32.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the description will be continued. The image identification mechanism 36 identifies image information captured by the detection optical system 32, and has a function of binarizing an image contrast and calculating the position of the center of gravity of a binarized specific contrast portion. It is. Specifically, a high-precision image recognition device manufactured by Keyence Corporation; VX-4210 can be used. A means for providing the obtained image information with position information on the substrate 14 is a position detection mechanism 38. For this, a length measuring device such as a linear encoder provided in the XY direction scanning mechanism 37 can be used. A position correction control mechanism 39 performs position correction based on the image information and the position information on the substrate 14, and the movement of the XY direction scanning mechanism 37 is corrected by this mechanism. Further, the inkjet head 33 is driven by the inkjet head drive / control mechanism 40, and the liquid droplets are applied on the substrate 14. The above-described control mechanisms are centrally controlled by the control computer 35.

  In the above description, the discharge head unit 30 is fixed, and the relative movement between the discharge head unit 30 and the substrate 14 is realized by moving the substrate 14 to an arbitrary position by the XY direction scanning mechanism 37. Needless to say, as shown in FIG. 3, the substrate 14 may be fixed and the ejection head unit 30 may scan in the X and Y directions. In particular, when the present invention is applied to the manufacture of an image forming apparatus having a medium screen of about 200 mm × 200 mm to a large screen of 2000 mm × 2000 mm or more, the substrate 14 is fixed and the X, X It is preferable that the scanning is performed in two directions of Y, and the application of the liquid droplets is sequentially performed in such two orthogonal directions.

  When the substrate size is about 200 mm × 200 mm or less, the ejection head unit for applying droplets is of a large array multi-nozzle type capable of covering a range of 200 mm, and the relative movement between the ejection head unit and the substrate is perpendicular to two directions ( It is possible to relatively move only in one direction (for example, only in the X direction) without performing in the X direction and the Y direction, and it is possible to increase the mass productivity, but when the substrate size is 200 mm × 200 mm or more. It is difficult to realize a large-array multi-nozzle type ejection head unit that can cover such a range of 200 mm from a technical and cost standpoint, and as described above, the X, Y In two directions, and the application of the solution droplets is sequentially performed in such two orthogonal directions. It is better to have a configuration.

  As a material of the droplet 42, an aqueous solution, an organic solvent, or the like containing the above-described element or compound that becomes a conductive thin film can be used. For example, a palladium-based element or compound as a conductive thin film is shown below, for example, palladium acetate-ethanolamine complex (PA-ME), palladium acetate-diethanol complex (PA-DE), palladium acetate-triethanolamine. An aqueous solution containing an ethanolamine-based complex such as a complex (PA-TE), a palladium acetate-butylethanolamine complex (PA-BE), and a palladium acetate-dimethylethanolamine complex (PA-DME); Aqueous solution containing an amine acid complex such as Pd-Gly), palladium-β-alanine complex (Pd-β-Ala), palladium-DL-alanine complex (pd-DL-Ala); Butyl acetate solution of di-propylamine complex;

  When such a droplet 42 is applied to a desired element electrode portion by the ink jet head 33 of the ejection head unit 30, the position to be applied is measured by the detection optical system 32 and the image identification mechanism 36, and the measurement data and the ink jet Correction coordinates are generated based on the distance between the discharge port surface of the head 33 and the substrate 14 and the relative movement speed of the two, and droplets are applied while the substrate 14 and the inkjet head 33 are relatively moved according to the correction coordinates. As the detection optical system 32, a combination of a CCD camera or the like and a lens is used, and as the image identification mechanism 36, a commercially available one that binarizes an image and obtains the position of the center of gravity can be used.

  As is clear from the above description, the electron source substrate of the present invention is manufactured by flying a solution containing an element or a compound to be a conductive thin film in the air by the principle of ink jet, and applying the solution as droplets on the substrate. Things.

In FIG. 5B described above, an image in which one droplet 42 is attached between the device electrodes 2 and 3 is shown, and the electron emission portion is also shown as a round image (that is, a round image as the droplet landing position 43). showed that.). In other words, if an electron-emitting device that does not require much accuracy is formed, the electron-emitting portion may be formed by a single large dot with a single large droplet between the element electrodes 2 and 3. For example, when the distance between the device electrodes 2 and 3 is 5 to 10 mm and the dot diameter per drop is about Φ8 to 15 mm, the electron emission portion may be formed by attaching one drop. In this case, a highly accurate electron-emitting device cannot be expected, but an electron-emitting device can be formed more efficiently if the electron-emitting device only needs to emit electrons (see FIG. 6).
However, in order to form an electron-emitting device with higher precision, the electron-emitting portion may be formed by a plurality of droplets, and may be formed so as to have a smooth contour.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view for explaining an example in which an electron-emitting device portion is formed by one droplet, and FIG. 7 is an example of a dot pattern of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device formed according to the present invention. FIG. As a preferred example, the distance between the device electrodes 2 and 3 is 140 μm. Then, the dot diameter when only one drop is attached alone is about Φ180 μm (FIG. 6). Next, four droplets are ejected so as to form a pattern filling 140 μm between the device electrodes 2 and 3 (FIG. 7). In the example shown in FIG. 7, one dot diameter in the case where four droplet dot patterns 44 are superposed and adhered is about Φ45 μm.

  In other words, depending on the productivity or the accuracy of the target electron-emitting device, the space between the device electrodes 2 and 3 is filled with only one large droplet, or a highly accurate pattern is formed with a plurality of small droplets (four in this case). What is necessary is just to select suitably. Specific conditions for forming such droplets and dots are shown below.

  The solution used was an aqueous solution of palladium acetate-triethanolamine and was produced as follows. That is, 150 g of palladium acetate was suspended in 3000 cc of isopropyl alcohol, and 610.5 g of triethanolamine was further added, followed by stirring at 35 ° C. for 12 hours. After completion of the reaction, isopropyl alcohol was removed by evaporation, ethyl alcohol was added to the solid to dissolve and filter, and palladium acetate-triethanolamine was recrystallized from the filtrate to obtain. 4 g of the thus obtained palladium acetate-triethanolamine was dissolved in 96 g of pure water to form a solution (4.0 wt%).

  The ejecting head used had a structure equivalent to that of the edge shooter type thermal ink jet system (however, the above solution was used instead of ink). When the diameter of one dot is about Φ45 μm as shown in FIG. 7, the nozzle diameter is Φ25 μm, the heating element size is 25 μm × 90 μm (resistance value 121Ω), and the driving voltage is 22.6V. The pulse width was 6 μs, the driving frequency was 10 kHz, the energy for forming one droplet was about 25.3 μJ, and the jetting speed of the droplet at that time was about 7 m / s.

  The above conditions of the solution and the injection are an example of a case where the distance between the device electrodes 2 and 3 is 140 μm and four drops are adhered thereto, and the present invention is not limited to these conditions. For example, FIG. 8 shows a case where the distance between the device electrodes 2 and 3 is 140 μm, but the electron-emitting device is formed by attaching 12 drops of 6 drops × 2 rows = 12 drops. In this example, the dot diameter is about Φ22 μm. In this case, the ejection head used has a nozzle diameter of Φ14 μm, and the size of the heating element is correspondingly 14 μm × 60 μm (resistance value 102Ω), the driving voltage is 11.5 V, A pulse was driven at a pulse width of 4 μs and a driving frequency of 16 kHz, and droplets were ejected at an energy of forming one droplet of about 5.2 μJ. The ejection speed of the droplet at that time was about 6 m / s.

  Further, the distance between the device electrodes 2 and 3 is not limited to 140 μm. To manufacture a higher definition image display device, it is necessary to arrange the electron-emitting devices on the electron source substrate at a high density. In some cases, the distance between 2 and 3 is 50 μm. In this case as well, the ejection head used has a nozzle diameter of Φ14 μm as described above, and the size of the heating element, the driving conditions, and the like are appropriately selected in accordance therewith.

  That is, in the present invention, the number of droplets to be attached is appropriately selected from about 1 to about 30 drops according to the distance between the device electrodes 2 and 3 and the required accuracy of the electron-emitting device, and the electron-emitting device is formed under optimum conditions. And are not limited to special conditions. The number of droplets to be deposited also depends on the nozzle diameter of the ejection head to be used, but it is desirable to keep the drop to a maximum of about 30 drops from the viewpoint of productivity (it is also possible to deposit more fine droplets). It is possible, but the productivity is reduced and the cost is disadvantageous.)

  9A and 9B are diagrams illustrating an example of an ejection head for performing efficient dot formation. FIG. 9A illustrates an assembled ejection head, and FIG. 9B illustrates an ejection head illustrated in FIG. FIG. 9C is an exploded view of the head, and FIG. 9C is a diagram showing the cover substrate shown in FIG. 9B upside down. The ejection head used in the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Here, an example is shown in which the number of nozzles of the ejection head is four. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 51 denotes a heating element substrate; 52, a lid substrate; 50, an ejection head (ink-jet head) formed by joining the heating element substrate 51 to the lid substrate 52; A silicon substrate used, 54 is an individual electrode, 55 is a common electrode, 56 is a heating element, 57 is a solution inlet, 58 is a nozzle, 59 is a groove, and 60 is a concave area. The heating element substrate 51 is configured by forming an individual electrode 54, a common electrode 55, and a heating element 56 as an energy action section on a silicon substrate 53 by a wafer process.

  On the other hand, the lid substrate 52 has a groove 59 for forming a flow channel into which a solution containing an element or a compound to be a conductive thin film is introduced, and a common liquid chamber (for accommodating the solution introduced into the flow channel). (Not shown) are formed, and the heating element substrate 51 and the lid substrate 52 are joined as shown in FIG. 9 to form the flow path and the common liquid chamber. Is formed. In a state where the heating element substrate 51 and the lid substrate 52 are joined, the heating element 56 is located on the bottom surface of the flow path, and the end of the flow path of the solution introduced into these flow paths. A nozzle 58 for discharging a part as a droplet is formed. The lid substrate 52 is provided with a solution inlet 57 for supplying a solution into the supply liquid chamber by a supply means (not shown).

  In this example, a four-nozzle ejection head is shown, but if such a multi-nozzle ejection head is used, an electron-emitting device can be formed very efficiently. Although this example shows a four-nozzle ejection head, it is not necessarily limited to four nozzles. Needless to say, the more nozzles, the more efficient the formation of electron-emitting devices. However, this does not mean simply increasing the number of nozzles. Increasing the number increases the cost of the ejection head and increases the probability of clogging of the ejection nozzles. (A balance of element manufacturing efficiency).

  In addition to the number of nozzles, the same consideration is required for the nozzle array length (effective ejection width of the ejection head). That is, it is not necessary to simply increase the length of the nozzle array (effective ejection width of the ejection head), but this is also determined in consideration of the balance of the entire apparatus (the balance between the apparatus cost and the manufacturing efficiency of the electron-emitting device). Can be

  As an example, in the present invention, the number of nozzles and the array density thereof are set so that the nozzle row arrangement length (effective ejection width of the ejection head) of the multi-nozzle is equal to or larger than the distance between the element electrodes 2 and 3. Have decided. However, to be larger than this is not limited to a large value, but is slightly larger than the distance between the device electrodes 2 and 3. In other words, the basic idea of the present invention is to minimize the cost of the ejection head by using an ejection head having a nozzle array arrangement length (effective ejection width of the ejection head) equivalent to the distance between the element electrodes 2 and 3. The electron emission element can be efficiently manufactured by setting the nozzle array length (effective ejection width of the ejection head) to be equal to the distance between the element electrodes 2 and 3 while keeping the nozzle width.

  A more specific numerical value will be described in the case where four droplets are ejected so as to form a pattern filling 140 μm between the device electrodes 2 and 3 as described above. In this case, in the present invention, the nozzle row array length of four nozzles shown in FIG. 9 (effective ejection width of the ejection head, in other words, the distance between the nozzles at both ends) is about 127 μm (140 μm between the element electrodes 2 and 3). And the distance between the nozzles is about 42.3 μm. In other words, in this case, a jet head having a nozzle array density equivalent to 600 dpi (dot per inch) in a so-called ink jet printer is used.

  Although the above description has been made with reference to the four-nozzle ejection head shown in FIG. 9, a six-nozzle ejection head having a distance between nozzles of about 42.3 μm may be used. In this case, the length of the nozzle array of the six nozzles (the effective ejection width of the ejection head, in other words, the distance between the nozzles at both ends) is about 212 μm (which can be considered to be larger than the interval between 140 μm of the element electrodes 2 and 3). The distance between the electrodes 2 and 3 is sufficiently covered by the length of the array of nozzles, so that the electron-emitting device can be manufactured efficiently.

  FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view for explaining an electron source substrate and a method for manufacturing the same according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the example shown in FIG. 10, a region where a surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed is shown. The electron source substrate 10 has a plurality of pairs of device electrodes 2 and 3 disposed on the substrate 10 and a plurality of pairs of device electrodes 2 as shown in FIG. And a conductive thin film 4 formed by spraying between the electron source substrate and the electron source substrate. In the electron source substrate, the area to be sprayed is the surface conductive electron emitting device group. Is formed wider than the region where is formed.

  The electron source substrate 10 has, in particular, a surface conduction having a plurality of pairs of device electrodes 2 and 3 arranged on the substrate 10 and a conductive thin film 4 formed by spraying between each pair of device electrodes 2 and 3. Of the solution sprayed onto the electron source substrate on which the surface-conduction electron-emitting device group is formed, and outside Xa, Xb, Ya, and Yb of the regions X and Y where the surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed. A pattern is formed by the droplets so that the electron source substrate 10 can be distinguished for each substrate or for each of a plurality of substrate groups.

  In the manufacturing method, a plurality of pairs of device electrodes 2 and 3 are arranged on a substrate 10, and a droplet of a solution containing the material of the conductive thin film 4 is sprayed between each pair of device electrodes 2 and 3. A method of manufacturing an electron source substrate for forming a surface conduction type electron-emitting device group by the conductive thin film 4, wherein Xa, Xb, outside the regions X, Y where the surface conduction type electron-emitting device group is formed. By spraying droplets of the solution onto Ya and Yb, a pattern is formed so that the electron source substrate 10 manufactured by the method for manufacturing an electron source substrate can be distinguished for each substrate or for each of a plurality of substrate groups. It was done.

  FIG. 10A is a diagram showing the arrangement of electron-emitting devices on the electron source substrate and a pattern for spraying, FIG. 10B is an enlarged view of the pair of electron-emitting devices shown in FIG. ) Is a diagram showing the nozzle arrangement of the ejection head, in which 58 is the nozzle of the ejection head.

  As described above with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, in the present invention, the ejection head applies droplets while relatively moving with respect to the substrate 14 (electron source substrate 10) to form an electron-emitting device group. FIG. 10 shows the device electrodes 2 and 3 formed on the electron source substrate 10 and the electron-emitting device group formed by applying four droplets between the device electrodes 2 and 3 in the vertical direction (sub-scanning direction). The drawing also shows the ejection head as viewed from the nozzle surface. Here, the horizontal direction is defined as the main scanning direction.

  For the sake of simplicity, here, the relative movement between the ejection head and the substrate 14 (electron source substrate 10) is set on the front surface of the substrate 14 as shown in FIG. An example in which droplets are applied while moving in the scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction to form an electron-emitting device group will be described.

  As described above, FIG. 10 shows an electron-emitting device group formed by applying four droplets 4 in the vertical direction (sub-scanning direction) between the device electrodes 2 and 3. In addition to forming the electron-emitting device group on the substrate 14 (electron source substrate 10), other patterns are to be formed using the same ejection head.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, the region X and the region Y are the electron-emitting element group formation regions in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, respectively, but other than these, the region Xa, the region Xb, the region Ya, and the region Yb. In the case where a small space is provided outside the electron-emitting device group formation region to apply the droplet while the ejection head mounted on the carriage moves in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, these regions Xa, Xb, A method of manufacturing an electron source substrate that enables carriage scanning to be performed even in the area Ya and the area Yb, and in which the same solution as the solution sprayed for forming the electron-emitting device group can be applied even in those areas. Equipment. In addition, the substrate 14 (electron source substrate 10) used is not limited to the formation of the electron-emitting device group, but is a substrate in which a small space is provided outside the electron-emitting device group formation region.

  By using the electron source substrate manufacturing apparatus, the manufacturing method used in the manufacturing apparatus, and the substrate as described above, the ejection head performs not only the pattern formation for forming the electron emission element group but also the other patterns. It becomes possible. For example, pattern formation for distinguishing each substrate from other substrates can be performed. As a more specific example, FIG. 10 shows “123” as the substrate discrimination pattern, but the production number, production date, and the like can be formed on each substrate by the ejection head. In this manner, the manufactured electron source substrate may be a symbol or design that can distinguish one by one or a plurality of electron source substrates.

  Usually, such a serial number or the like is affixed or engraved on the completed component unit with a nameplate. However, as in the present invention, a component unit (e.g. In the manufacture of a source emission substrate, if a process such as attaching a nameplate or engraving is performed later, the original performance of the electron source emission substrate may be reduced due to contamination during the work or contamination due to dust in the air. May not be maintained. However, in the present invention, such a serial number or the like can be given at the same time when the electron-emitting device group is formed. Therefore, the same environment as the environment in which the electron-emitting device group is formed (normally, a clean room of a class of about 100 to 1000) is maintained. Since such a process (a process of assigning a serial number or the like) can be performed as it is, there is no problem such as contamination of the manufactured electron source substrate, and a very high-performance electron source substrate can be manufactured. In addition, since it is not necessary to perform engraving with another device later as in the related art, it is very efficient and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  FIG. 11 is a schematic plan view for explaining another electron source substrate and a method for manufacturing the same. In the example shown in FIG. 11, the performance is higher than the region where the surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed. A pattern for checking is formed, and the electron source substrate 10 has a plurality of pairs of element electrodes 2 and 3 arranged on the substrate 10 as shown in FIG. An electron source substrate on which a surface conduction electron-emitting device group having the applied and formed conductive thin film 4 is formed, wherein Xa, Xa outside the regions X and Y where the surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed. One or more pairs of device electrodes 2 and 3 are arranged on Xb, Ya and Yb, and another surface conduction type electron-emitting device or electron by the conductive thin film 4 between each pair of device electrodes 2 and 3. The emission device group is determined by the properties of the surface conduction type electron emission device group. In which was formed for the check.

  In the manufacturing method, a plurality of pairs of device electrodes 2 and 3 are arranged on a substrate 10, and a droplet of a solution containing the material of the conductive thin film 4 is sprayed and applied between each pair of device electrodes 2 and 3. A method for manufacturing an electron source substrate for forming a surface conduction electron-emitting device group using a conductive thin film 4, comprising: Xa, Xb, Ya, outside the regions X and Y where the surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed. By arranging one or more pairs of device electrodes 2 and 3 on Yb and spraying droplets of a solution containing the material of the conductive thin film 4 between each pair of device electrodes 2 and 3, Another surface conduction type electron-emitting device or an electron-emitting device group for checking the performance of the surface conduction type electron-emitting device group is formed.

  FIG. 11 shows an electron-emitting device group formed by applying four droplets in the vertical direction (sub-scanning direction) between the device electrodes 2 and 3. The example shown in FIG. A small space is provided outside the region X, the region Xb, the region Ya, and the region Yb other than the region X and the region Y that are the group forming regions, that is, outside the electron-emitting device group forming region. While forming the electrodes, by spraying droplets of a solution containing the material of the conductive thin film between the device electrodes, by forming a pattern of the device electrode and the conductive thin film similar to the electron-emitting device, The device electrode and the conductive thin film pattern are provided at four locations.

  As described above, the reason why the same pattern of the device electrode and the conductive thin film as the electron-emitting device is formed outside the electron-emitting device group formation region is that the function of the device when the electron-emitting portion is formed by the forming process described later. Is performed using this pattern. Although it is certain that all the formed electron-emitting devices are checked, it takes a very long time and is very costly. However, in the present invention, such a check-only pattern is provided, and not all elements are checked, but the check is performed using this pattern. Therefore, the check is completed in a short time. What is checked is, for example, the current flowing when a voltage is applied between the electrodes of the pattern after the completion of the energization forming process.

In this example, the pattern for checking is described as an example of the same element as the electron-emitting device group. However, it is not always necessary to make the pattern exactly the same, and a pattern having a simplified shape may be used as a pattern dedicated to checking. .
Also, the number does not necessarily have to be four. However, rather than forming a check pattern at only one place and checking, forming such a check pattern at the four corners as in this example and checking it is a better way to check the performance of a large-area board. Is advantageous. In particular, in the case of an electron source substrate smaller than about 200 mm × 200 mm, it may be located at one location, but for a substrate larger than 200 mm × 200 mm, a plurality of check patterns are dispersed in order to secure a constant quality of the entire substrate over a wide range. It is desirable to arrange. The reason for providing such a check pattern in the first place is to check whether a plurality of elements manufactured over a wide area are made uniform regardless of the location.

  As is clear from the above description, the electron source substrate according to the present invention is manufactured by spraying droplets of a solution containing the material of the conductive thin film between a plurality of pairs of device electrodes on the substrate, and manufacturing the electron source substrate. The source substrate is configured to be slightly larger than the area where the surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed, and the outside of the area is sprayed with a droplet of such a solution so that various patterns can be formed. The method and the apparatus for manufacturing the same are also a manufacturing method and an apparatus capable of spraying the liquid droplet onto the outside of the region. Then, after the droplets of the solution containing the material of the conductive thin film are sprayed and applied, the electron-emitting portion 5 is formed by a forming process described below in the present invention (see FIGS. 1 and 2). .

  The electron-emitting portion 5 is constituted by a high-resistance crack formed in a part of the conductive thin film 4 and depends on the film thickness, film quality, material, etc. of the conductive thin film 4 or the forming processing conditions. In some cases, the inside of the electron-emitting portion 5 contains conductive fine particles having a particle size of 1000 ° or less. The conductive fine particles contain some or all of the elements of the material constituting the conductive thin film 4. The electron-emitting portion 5 and the conductive thin film 4 in the vicinity thereof may contain carbon or a carbon compound.

  As an example of the forming method applied to the conductive thin film 4, a method using an energization process will be described. When an electric current is applied between the device electrodes 2 and 3 using a power supply (not shown), an electron emitting portion 5 having a changed structure is formed at the portion of the conductive thin film 4. That is, according to the energization forming, a portion of the conductive thin film 4 where a structural change such as destruction, deformation or alteration is locally formed, and this portion becomes the electron emission portion 5.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a voltage waveform of the energization forming process as described above applied to the present invention. The voltage waveform is particularly preferably a pulse waveform. A voltage pulse having a constant pulse peak value is continuously applied (FIG. 13A), and a voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value (FIG. 13). (B)). First, the case where the pulse crest value is a constant voltage (FIG. 13A) will be described.

  T1 and T2 in FIG. 13A are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, respectively, T1 is 1 μs to 10 ms, T2 is 10 μs to 100 ms, and the peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage at the time of energization forming) is surface conduction. It is appropriately selected according to the form of the electron-emitting device. Under such conditions, for example, a voltage is applied for several seconds to tens of minutes. Further, the pulse waveform is not limited to a triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave may be used.

  T1 and T2 in FIG. 13B indicate the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, respectively, as in FIG. 13A, and the peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during energization forming) is, for example, It can be increased by about 0.1 V steps.

  The end of the energization forming process can be detected by applying a voltage that does not locally destroy or deform the conductive thin film 4 during the pulse interval T2, and measuring the current. For example, an element current flowing by applying a voltage of about 0.1 V is measured, a resistance value is obtained, and when a resistance of 1 MΩ or more is indicated, the energization forming is terminated.

It is desirable to apply a process called an activation process to the element after the energization forming. By performing the activation process, the element current If and the emission current Ie change significantly.
The activation step can be performed, for example, by repeating the application of a pulse in an atmosphere containing an organic substance gas, similarly to the energization forming. The above atmosphere can be formed by utilizing an organic gas remaining in the atmosphere when the inside of the vacuum vessel is discarded using, for example, an oil diffusion pump or a rotary pump, or sufficiently exhausted once by an ion pump or the like. It can also be obtained by introducing a gas of an appropriate organic substance into a vacuum. The preferable gas pressure of the organic substance at this time varies depending on the above-described application form, the shape of the vacuum vessel, the type of the organic substance, and the like, and is appropriately set according to the case.

Examples of the organic substance include alkane, alkene, alkyne aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, amines, phenols, carboxylic acids, and organic acids such as sulfonic acids. Specifically, specifically, saturated hydrocarbons represented by C _n H _{2n + 2} such as methane, ethane, and propane; unsaturated hydrocarbons represented by a composition formula such as C _n H _2n such as ethylene and propylene; benzene; Toluene, methanol, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methylamine, ethylamine, phenol, formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid and the like can be used. By this treatment, carbon or a carbon compound is deposited on the device from the organic substance existing in the atmosphere, and the device current If and the emission current Ie are significantly changed. The end of the activation step is determined while measuring the element current If and the emission current Ie. The pulse width, pulse interval, pulse crest value, and the like are set as appropriate.

  The carbon or carbon compound includes graphite (both single crystal and polycrystal) and amorphous carbon (carbon including amorphous carbon and a mixture of amorphous carbon and the fine crystals of graphite). The film thickness is preferably not more than 500 °, more preferably not more than 300 °.

It is preferable that the electron-emitting device thus manufactured is subjected to a stabilization process. This treatment is preferably performed at a partial pressure of the organic substance in the vacuum vessel of 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ Torr or less, preferably 1 × 10 ⁻¹⁰ Torr or less. The pressure in the vacuum vessel is preferably 10 ^-6 to 10 ^-7 Torr or less, particularly preferably 1 × 10 ^-8 Torr or less. It is preferable to use a vacuum evacuation device that does not use oil so that the oil generated from the device does not affect the characteristics of the element. Specifically, a vacuum exhaust device such as a sorption pump or an ion pump can be used. Further, when evacuating the inside of the vacuum vessel, it is preferable to overheat the entire vacuum vessel to facilitate evacuating the organic substance molecules adsorbed on the inner wall of the vacuum vessel and the electron-emitting device. The vacuum evacuation conditions in the heated state at this time are desirably 5 hours or more at 80 to 200 ° C., but are not particularly limited to these conditions, and various conditions such as the size and shape of the vacuum vessel and the configuration of the electron-emitting device. It changes with.

  The partial pressure of the organic substance is determined by measuring partial pressures of organic molecules having carbon and hydrogen having a mass number of 10 to 200 as a main component by a mass spectrometer, and integrating the partial pressures. After the stabilization step, it is preferable that the atmosphere at the time of driving maintain the atmosphere at the end of the stabilization treatment.However, the present invention is not limited to this.If the organic substance is sufficiently removed, the degree of vacuum itself is reduced. Even if it is slightly reduced, it is possible to maintain sufficiently stable characteristics. By adopting such a vacuum atmosphere, the deposition of new carbon or a carbon compound can be suppressed, and as a result, the device current If and the emission current Ie are stabilized.

Next, the image display device of the present invention will be described.
An image display device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes an electron source substrate 10 according to some of the above-described embodiments, and a face plate (a plate to be described later) that is disposed to face the electron source substrate 10 and has a phosphor mounted thereon. 76).

  Various arrangements of the electron-emitting devices of the electron source substrate used in the image display device can be adopted. First, each of a large number of electron-emitting devices arranged in parallel is connected at both ends, a large number of rows of electron-emitting devices are arranged (referred to as a row direction), and electrons are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the wiring (referred to as a column direction). There is a ladder-like arrangement in which electrons from the electron-emitting device are controlled and driven by a control electrode (also called a grid) arranged above the emitting device. Separately, a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix in the X and Y directions, and one of the electrodes of the plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged in the same row is commonly connected to a wiring in the X direction, One in which the other of the electrodes of the plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged in the same column is commonly connected to a wiring in the Y direction. Such is the so-called simple matrix arrangement. First, the simple matrix arrangement will be described in detail below.

  FIG. 14 is a view showing an example of an electron source substrate obtained by arranging a plurality of electron-emitting devices of the present invention in a matrix. In the drawing, 10 is an electron source substrate, 14 is a substrate, 61 is an X-direction wiring, 62 is a Y-direction wiring, 63 is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and 64 is a connection. The X-direction wiring 61 is composed of m wirings DX1, DX2,... DXm, and the Y-directional wiring 62 is composed of n wirings DY1, DY2,. Further, the material, the film thickness, and the wiring width are appropriately set so that a substantially uniform voltage is supplied to many surface conduction type elements 63. These m X-directional wirings 61 and n Y-directional wirings 62 are electrically separated by an interlayer insulating layer (not shown) to form a matrix wiring (m and n are both positive integers). ).

  The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is formed on the entire surface of the substrate 14 on which the X-directional wiring 61 is formed or on a part of a desired region. The X-direction wiring 61 and the Y-direction wiring 62 are led out as external terminals. Further, the device electrodes (not shown) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 63 are electrically connected to the m X-directional wires 61 and the n Y-directional wires 62 by a connection 64. The material forming the X-direction wiring 61 and the Y-direction wiring 62, the material forming the connection 64, and the material forming the pair of element electrodes are different even if some or all of the constituent elements are the same. May be. These materials are appropriately selected, for example, from the above-described materials for the device electrodes. When the material forming the element electrode is the same as the wiring material, the element electrode can be referred to as the element electrode including the wiring connected to the element electrode.

  The X-direction wiring 61 is electrically connected to a scanning signal generating means (not shown) for applying a scanning signal for scanning a row of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 63 arranged in the X direction according to an input signal. . On the other hand, the Y-direction wiring 62 is electrically connected to a modulation signal generating means (not shown) for applying a modulation signal for modulating each column of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 63 arranged in the Y direction according to an input signal. Have been. Further, the driving voltage applied to each element of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 63 is supplied as a difference voltage between a scanning signal and a modulation signal applied to the element. As a result, individual elements can be selected and driven independently using only a simple matrix wiring.

  Next, an image display device using an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement created as described above will be described. FIG. 15 is a view for explaining an example of the basic configuration of a display panel of an image display device. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes an electron source substrate in which an electron-emitting device 63 is formed on a substrate; A rear plate 72 is a support frame, and 76 is a face plate in which a fluorescent film 74 and a metal back 75 are formed on the inner surface of a glass substrate 73. Frit glass or the like is applied to the rear plate 71, the support frame 72 and the face plate 76. The envelope 78 is formed by baking in air or nitrogen at 400 to 500 degrees for 10 minutes or more to seal. In FIG. 15, reference numeral 63 denotes an electron-emitting device corresponding to the structure shown in FIG. 1, and reference numerals 61 and 62 denote an X-direction wiring and a Y-direction wiring connected to a pair of device electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, respectively.

  The envelope 78 includes the face plate 76, the support frame 72, and the rear plate 71 as described above. However, since the rear plate 71 is provided mainly for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the electron source substrate 10, the If it has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 71 is unnecessary, and the support frame 71 is directly sealed to the electron source substrate 10 and surrounded by the face plate 76, the support frame 72, and the electron source substrate 10. The device 78 may be configured. Further, by installing an anti-atmospheric pressure support member called a spacer between the face plate 76 and the rear plate 71, an envelope 78 having sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure can be formed.

  FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of a fluorescent film used in the image display device of FIG. 15, in which a black stripe type fluorescent film is shown in FIG. 16A and a black matrix type fluorescent film is shown in FIG. It is shown in FIG. In FIG. 16, 74 is a fluorescent film, 81 is a black conductive material, and 82 is a phosphor.

  The fluorescent film 74 is made of only a phosphor in the case of a monochrome, but is composed of a black conductive material 81 called a black stripe or a black matrix and a phosphor 82 depending on the arrangement of the phosphor in the case of a color fluorescent film. . The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the color separation between the phosphors 82 of the necessary three primary color phosphors black in the case of color display so that color mixing and the like become inconspicuous. The purpose is to suppress a decrease in contrast due to light reflection. The material of the black stripe is not limited to the commonly used material containing graphite as a main component, as long as it is conductive and has little light transmission and reflection.

  In the present invention, the directions of the stripes of the matrix 82 of the phosphors 82 or the two orthogonal directions of the matrix and the two orthogonal directions of the electron-emitting device 63 are parallel to each other. The phosphors 82 are positioned and laminated so as to coincide with the electron-emitting devices 63 to constitute an image display device. In the image display device having such a configuration, since the directions and positions of the matrices are the same, an image display device with extremely high image quality can be realized.

  As a method of applying the phosphor on the glass substrate 73, a precipitation method or a printing method is used regardless of monochrome or color. A metal back 75 is usually provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 74 (FIG. 15). The metal back 75 improves the brightness by mirror-reflecting the light toward the inner surface side of the light emitted from the phosphor toward the face plate 76, acts as an electrode for applying an electron beam acceleration voltage, It has a role of protecting the phosphor from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the vessel. The metal back 75 can be manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film 74 after manufacturing the fluorescent film 74, and then depositing Al by vacuum evaporation or the like. Further, a transparent electrode (not shown) may be provided on the face plate 76 on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 74 in order to further increase the conductivity of the fluorescent film 74.

  When performing sealing for forming the above-described envelope 78, in the case of color, the phosphors 82 of each color must correspond to the electron-emitting devices 63, and it is necessary to perform sufficient alignment. In order to perform this sufficient alignment, according to the present invention, as described above, the phosphor 82 is arranged at a position facing the electron-emitting device 63, and the matrix of the electron-emitting device 63 and the phosphor 82 are orthogonal to each other. The two directions are parallel to each other. In order to obtain a highly accurate image display device having such a configuration, it is desirable that the phosphor substrate also employs the same positioning method as the electron source substrate of the present invention.

The image display device shown in FIG. 15 is specifically manufactured as follows. The envelope 78 is evacuated through an exhaust pipe (not shown) by an exhaust device that does not use oil, such as an ion pump or a sorption pump, while appropriately heating the envelope 78 in the same manner as in the above-described stabilization process, and a vacuum degree of about 10 ⁻⁷ Torr After the atmosphere of the organic substance is made sufficiently small, it is sealed. In some cases, getter processing is performed to maintain the degree of vacuum after the envelope 78 is sealed. This is done by heating a getter disposed at a predetermined position (not shown) in the envelope 78 by a heating method such as resistance heating or high-frequency heating immediately before or after the sealing of the envelope 78, and performing vapor deposition. This is a process for forming a film. The getter usually contains Ba or the like as a main component, and maintains a degree of vacuum of, for example, 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ Torr to 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ Torr by the adsorption action of the deposited film.

  Next, a schematic configuration of a driving circuit for driving a display panel configured using an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement type substrate and performing television display based on an NTSC television signal will be described. FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a driving circuit for performing display according to an NTSC television signal, and illustrates an image display device including the driving circuit. 17, reference numeral 91 denotes an image display panel, 92 denotes a scanning circuit, 93 denotes a control circuit, 94 denotes a shift register, 95 denotes a line memory, 96 denotes a synchronization signal separation circuit, 97 denotes a modulation signal generator, and Vx and Va denote DC. Voltage source.

  Hereinafter, the function of each unit illustrated in FIG. 17 will be described. The display panel 91 is connected to an external electric circuit via terminals Dox1 to Doxm, terminals Doy1 to Doyn, and a high voltage terminal Hv. Of these terminals, the terminals Dox1 to Doxm sequentially drive electron sources provided in the display panel 91, that is, a group of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix of M rows and N columns, one row at a time (N elements). A scanning signal for moving is applied. On the other hand, to the terminals Doy1 to Doyn, a modulation signal for controlling the output electron beam of each element of the one row of surface conduction electron-emitting devices selected by the scanning signal is applied. A DC voltage of, for example, 10 kV is supplied to the high voltage terminal Hv from the DC voltage source Va. This applies sufficient energy to the electron beam output from the surface conduction electron-emitting device to excite the phosphor. Is the accelerating voltage for

  Next, the scanning circuit 92 will be described. This circuit has M switching elements inside (in the figure, S1 to Sm are schematically shown), and each switching element is either an output voltage of a DC voltage source Vx or 0 V (ground level). One is selected and electrically connected to the terminals Dox1 to Doxm of the display panel 91. Each of the switching elements S1 to Sm operates based on the control signal Tscan output from the control circuit 93, but can be actually configured by combining switching elements such as FETs. In the DC voltage source Vx, the drive voltage applied to an unscanned element becomes equal to or lower than the electron emission threshold voltage based on the characteristics (electron emission threshold voltage) of the surface conduction type electron emission element. It is set to output such a constant voltage.

  The control circuit 93 has a function of matching the operation of each unit so that appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. Based on a synchronizing signal Tsync sent from a synchronizing signal separating circuit 96 described later, each control signal of Tscan, Tsft and Tmry is generated for each unit.

  The synchronizing signal separating circuit 96 is a circuit for separating a synchronizing signal component and a luminance signal component from an NTSC television signal input from the outside, and can be configured by using a frequency separating (filter) circuit. The synchronizing signal separated by the synchronizing signal separating circuit 96 is composed of a vertical synchronizing signal and a horizontal synchronizing signal as is well known, but is shown here as a Tsync signal for convenience of explanation. On the other hand, the luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is referred to as a DATA signal for convenience, and the signal is input to the shift register 94.

  The shift register 94 performs serial / parallel conversion of the DATA signal input serially in time series for each line of an image, and operates based on a control signal Tsft sent from the control circuit 93. That is, the control signal Tsft may be rephrased as a shift clock of the shift register 94. The data of one line of the serial / parallel-converted image (corresponding to the drive data of N electron-emitting devices) is output from the shift register 94 as N parallel signals Id1 to Idn.

  The line memory 95 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a required time only, and stores the contents of Id1 to Idn as appropriate according to a control signal Tmry sent from the control circuit 93. The stored contents are output as Id'1 to Id'n and input to the modulation signal generator 97.

  The modulation signal generator 97 is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices according to each of the image data Id1 to Idn, and the output signal thereof is supplied to the display panel through terminals Doy1 to Doyn. The voltage is applied to the surface conduction type electron-emitting device 91.

  As described above, the electron-emitting device according to the present invention has the following basic characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie. That is, as described above, electron emission has a clear threshold voltage Vth, and electron emission occurs only when a voltage higher than Vth is applied. For a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold, the emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the element. In some cases, the value of the electron emission threshold voltage Vth or the degree of change of the emission current with respect to the applied voltage may be changed by changing the material, configuration, or manufacturing method of the electron emission element. I can say that.

  In other words, when a pulse-like voltage is applied to the device, for example, when a voltage lower than the electron emission threshold is applied, electron emission does not occur. A beam is output. At that time, first, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled by changing the peak value Vm of the pulse, and second, the electron beam output by changing the width Pw of the pulse can be controlled. Can be controlled.

  Therefore, as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device in accordance with the input signal, there are a voltage modulation method, a pulse width modulation method, and the like. To implement the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 97 must have a fixed length. The voltage pulse is generated by using a voltage modulation type circuit that modulates the peak value of the pulse appropriately according to the input data. In order to implement the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 97 generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value, but a pulse width that modulates the width of the voltage pulse appropriately according to input data. A modulation type circuit is used.

  The shift register 94 and the line memory 95 may be of a digital signal type or an analog signal type, as long as the serial / parallel conversion and storage of the image signal are performed at a predetermined speed.

  When a digital signal type is used, the output signal DATA of the synchronization signal separation circuit 96 needs to be converted into a digital signal. This can be achieved by providing an A / D converter at the output of the synchronization signal separation circuit 96. It is possible. In connection with this, the circuit used for the modulation signal generator 97 is slightly different depending on whether the output signal of the line memory 95 is a digital signal or an analog signal.

  First, the case of a digital signal will be described. In the voltage modulation method, for example, a well-known D / A conversion circuit may be used as the modulation signal generator 97, and an amplification circuit or the like may be added as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 97 compares, for example, a high-speed oscillator, a counter (counter) for counting the number of waves output by the oscillator, and the output value of the counter with the output value of the line memory 95. It can be configured by using a circuit in which a comparator (comparator) is combined. If necessary, an amplifier for amplifying the pulse width modulated signal output from the comparator to the drive voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device may be added.

  Next, the case of an analog signal will be described. In the voltage modulation method, for example, an amplification circuit using a well-known operational amplifier may be used as the modulation signal generator 97, and a level shift circuit or the like may be added as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, for example, a well-known voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) may be used. If necessary, an amplifier for amplifying the voltage up to the driving voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device may be used. May be added.

  In the image display device having the above-described configuration, by applying a voltage to each electron-emitting device of the display panel 91 through the external terminals Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn, electrons are emitted, and the high-voltage terminal Hv , A high voltage is applied to the metal back 75 or a transparent electrode (not shown) to accelerate the electron beam, collide with the fluorescent film 74, and excite and emit light to display an image.

  The configuration described here is a schematic configuration necessary for manufacturing a suitable image display device used for display and the like, and detailed portions such as materials of each member are not limited to the above-described contents. It is appropriately selected so as to be suitable for the use of the display device. Although the NTSC system has been described as an example of the input signal, the present invention is not limited to this, and various systems such as the PAL and SECAM systems may be used, and a TV signal (for example, MUSE) comprising a larger number of scanning lines may be used. And other high-definition TV) systems.

  Next, the ladder-type arranged electron source substrate and the image display device will be described. FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of an electron source substrate in which the electron-emitting devices are arranged in a ladder shape. In the drawing, 10 is an electron source substrate, 14 is a substrate, 63 is an electron-emitting device, and 98 is an electron-emitting device 63 Is a common wiring composed of Dx1 to Dx10 connected to the common wiring. A plurality of electron-emitting devices 63 are arranged on the substrate 14 in parallel in the X direction (this arrangement is called an element row). A plurality of the element rows are arranged on a substrate to form an electron source substrate 10. By applying a drive voltage between the common wires of each element row, each element row can be driven independently. That is, a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold may be applied to an element row in which an electron beam is to be emitted, and a voltage equal to or lower than the electron emission threshold may be applied to an element row in which an electron beam is not emitted. Further, the common wirings Dx2 to Dx9 between the element rows, for example, Dx2 and Dx3 may be the same wiring.

  FIG. 19 is a view for explaining a panel structure in an image display device provided with a ladder-type arrangement electron source substrate as shown in FIG. 18. In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes an electron in which a common wiring between element rows is the same wiring. A source substrate, 101 is a grid electrode, 102 is an opening through which electrons pass, 103 is an external terminal made of Dox1, Dox2,... Doxm, and 104 is a G1, G2,. The same reference numerals are given to portions having the same functions as those in FIG. 15 or FIG. 18 in the external terminal made of Gn. The difference between the image display device shown in FIG. 19 and the image display device having the simple matrix arrangement (FIG. 15) is that a grid electrode 101 is provided between the electron source substrate 100 and the face plate 76.

  The grid electrode 101 is for modulating an electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and is for passing the electron beam through a stripe-shaped electrode provided orthogonally to the ladder-type element row. , One circular opening 102 is provided corresponding to each element. The shape and installation position of the grid are not limited to those shown in FIG. For example, a large number of openings can be provided in the form of a mesh as openings, and a grid can be provided around or near the surface conduction electron-emitting device. The outer container terminal 103 and the outer grid container terminal 104 are electrically connected to a control circuit (not shown).

  In this image display device, a modulation signal for one line of an image is simultaneously applied to the grid electrode columns in synchronization with sequentially driving (scanning) the element rows one by one. Thus, irradiation of each electron beam to the phosphor can be controlled, and an image can be displayed line by line. According to this, in addition to a display device of a television broadcast, a video conference system, a display device of a computer, etc., it can also be used as an image display device as an optical printer configured using a photosensitive drum or the like.

  FIG. 12 is a schematic plan view illustrating the configuration of an electron source substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a second surface conduction electron-emitting device is provided outside a region where a surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a light emitting element group is formed. As described above, the electron source substrate used in the present invention has a droplet of the solution containing the material of the conductive thin film also in a region wider (outer) than the region where the surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed. Is sprayed to form a surface conduction type electronic element using a conductive thin film.

  The image display device according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of pairs of element electrodes 2 and 3 arranged on a substrate, and a conductive thin film formed by spraying a conductive solution between the pair of element electrodes 2 and 3. 4. The electron source substrates 10 and 100 on which the surface conduction electron-emitting device group having the surface conduction electron-emitting device group 4 is formed. A second plurality of pairs of device electrodes are arranged, and a droplet of a conductive solution is sprayed between the second plurality of pairs of device electrodes 2 and 3 to form a second surface of the conductive thin film 4 An image display device comprising: electron source substrates 10 and 100 on which a group of conductive electron-emitting devices are formed; and a face plate 76 disposed opposite to the electron source substrate and having a phosphor mounted thereon. The two surface conduction electron-emitting devices are connected to the electron source substrates 10 and 10. By performing display in the image display apparatus inputs to drive the different signal information to each, but which enables distinguishing the image display device for each image display device.

  In other words, this is an electron source substrate in which a second surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed in a region outside the surface conduction electron device group used for the original image display. FIG. 12 shows an example thereof. In this example, the second surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed in the region Ya.

  In the present invention, the second surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed as described above, and the electron-emitting device includes such an electron source substrate and a face plate which is disposed to face the electron source substrate and has a phosphor mounted thereon. An image display device is configured. By inputting and driving signal information to the second surface conduction electron-emitting device group, an image can be displayed even in the region of the second surface conduction electron-emitting device group.

  Therefore, the signal information input to the second surface-conduction type electron-emitting device group is made different for each completed image display device, and for example, a serial number is displayed for each image display device, By changing the display color, the image display device after manufacture can be easily distinguished. In particular, by displaying the serial number as an image, there is no need to engrave with a separate device later, which is very efficient.

  In the above description, an example is described in which the second surface conduction electron-emitting device group is provided separately from the original surface conduction electron-emitting device group, but these are not particularly distinguished. A signal input for switching the display signal to the original display signal and changing the display color for each manufacturing lot, and displaying the serial number or the like may be input to the group of electron-emitting devices. Alternatively, a display for changing a display color for each manufacturing lot and a display of a serial number or the like may be performed simultaneously with the original display without performing the switching.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining a method of manufacturing the flat surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of an apparatus for manufacturing an electron source substrate used in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an example of a configuration of a droplet applying apparatus according to the apparatus for manufacturing an electron source substrate. FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a main part of a discharge head unit of the droplet applying device in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view for explaining an example in which an electron-emitting device section is formed by one droplet. FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing an example of a dot pattern of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device. It is a schematic plan view which shows the example of another dot pattern of a plane surface conduction type electron emission element. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an ejection head used in a device for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view for explaining an electron source substrate and a method of manufacturing the same according to the present invention, and shows an example in which a spray application pattern with a solution is formed outside a region where a surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed. FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view for explaining an electron source substrate and a method of manufacturing the same, showing an example in which a pattern for performance check is formed outside a region where a surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed. is there. FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view for explaining an electron source substrate and a method of manufacturing the same, in which a second surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed outside a region where a surface conduction electron-emitting device group is formed. FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a voltage waveform in a current forming process that can be employed for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a matrix-disposed electron source substrate to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of a basic configuration of a display panel of an image display device using a matrix arrangement type electron source substrate to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration example of a fluorescent film used in an image display device to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a driving circuit for performing display on an image display device according to an NTSC television signal. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the ladder-type arrangement type | mold electron source board which can apply this invention. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of a basic configuration of a display panel of an image display device using a ladder-type arrangement type electron source substrate to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a conventional electron-emitting device.

Explanation of reference numerals

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Substrate, 2, 3 ... Element electrode, 4 ... Conductive thin film, 5 ... Electron emission part, 10 ... Electron source board, 11 ... Discharge head unit (ejection head), 12 ... Carriage, 13 ... Substrate holding stand, 14 ... substrate, 15 ... supply tube, 16 ... signal supply cable, 17 ... ejection head control box, 18 ... X direction scan motor of carriage 12, 19 ... Y direction scan motor of carriage 12, 20 ... computer, 21 ... control box, 22 (22X1, 22Y1, 22X2, 22Y2): substrate positioning / holding means, 30: ejection head unit, 31: head alignment control mechanism, 32: detection optical system, 33: inkjet head, 34: head alignment fine movement mechanism, 35 ... Control computer, 36 ... Image identification mechanism, 37 ... XY direction scanning mechanism, 3 ... Position detection mechanism, 39 ... Position correction control mechanism, 40 ... Inkjet head drive / control mechanism, 41 ... Optical axis, 42 ... Droplet, 43 ... Drop landing position, 44 ... Dot by jetted droplet, 50 ... Ejection Head (ink-jet head), 51: heating element substrate, 52: lid substrate, 53: silicon substrate, 54: individual electrode, 55: common electrode, 56: heating element, 57: solution inlet, 58: nozzle, 59: groove , 60: recessed area, 61: X-directional wiring, 62: Y-directional wiring, 63: surface conduction electron-emitting device, 64: connection, 71: rear plate, 72: support frame, 73: glass substrate, 74: fluorescent film , 75: metal back, 76: face plate, 78: envelope, 81: black conductive material, 82: phosphor, 91: image display panel, 92: scanning circuit, 93: control circuit, 94: shift register 95, a line memory, 96, a synchronizing signal separating circuit, 97, a modulation signal generator, 98, a common wiring, 100, an electron source substrate, 101, a grid electrode, 102, an opening, 103, 104, a terminal outside a container, Vx And Va: DC voltage source.

Claims (6)

  A pair of electrodes are arranged on a substrate, and a plurality of patterns for electrically connecting the electrodes by the conductive thin film by spraying and applying droplets of a solution containing a material to be a conductive thin film between the electrodes. A method of manufacturing a set of substrates, wherein the combination of the electrode and the pattern is applied to the outside of a region where a plurality of sets are formed by spraying droplets of a solution containing a material to become the conductive thin film, A method for manufacturing a substrate, comprising forming a pattern that allows the substrate manufactured by the method for manufacturing a substrate to be distinguished for each substrate or for each of a plurality of substrate groups.   The method according to claim 1, wherein the solution includes fine particles constituting a conductive thin film.   A substrate formed with a plurality of combinations of a pair of electrodes disposed on a substrate and a pattern of a conductive thin film formed by spraying between the electrodes, wherein a plurality of combinations of the electrodes and the patterns are formed. A pattern that allows the substrate to be distinguished for each substrate or for each of a plurality of substrate groups by droplets of a solution containing the material to be the conductive thin film that is sprayed is formed outside the region where the pair is formed. A substrate characterized in that:   The substrate according to claim 3, wherein the solution includes fine particles constituting a conductive thin film.   4. A solution used for producing the substrate according to claim 3, wherein the solution contains a material to be a conductive thin film.   The solution according to claim 5, wherein the solution contains fine particles constituting a conductive thin film.