JP2850108B2 - Electron emitting element, electron source, and method of manufacturing image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron-emitting device, an electron source having a large number of such devices, and a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus such as a display device or an exposure device using the electron source. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices are known, namely, a thermionic electron-emitting device and a cold cathode electron-emitting device. Field emission type (hereinafter, referred to as "FE")
Type ". ), Metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter referred to as “MI
M type ". ) And surface conduction electron-emitting devices.

[0003] As an example of the FE type, W. P. Dyke
and W. W. Dolan, "Field Em
issue ", Advance in Elect
ron Physics, 8, 89 (1956) or C.I. A. Spindt, “Physical
Properties of thin-filmfi
eld emission cathodes wit
h molybdenum cones ", J. Ap
pl. Phys. , 47, 5248 (1976).

As an example of the MIM type, C.I. A. Mea
d, “Operation of Tunnel-Emi
session Devices ", J. Appl. P
hys. , 32, 646 (1961).

As an example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device,
M. I. Elinson, Radio Eng. El
electron Phys. , 10, 1290 (196
5) and the like.

[0006] The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electrons are emitted by passing a current through a small-area thin film formed on an insulating substrate in parallel with the film surface. Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include a device using an SnO ₂ thin film by Elinson et al. And a device using an Au thin film [G. Dittmer: "Thin Solid
Films ", 9, 317 (1972)], In ₂
O ₃ / SnO ₂ thin film [M. Hartwell
and C.I. G. FIG. Fonstad: "IEEE T
rans. ED Conf. ", 519 (197
5)], using a carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum,
26, No. 1, p. 22 (1983)].

The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electron emission occurs when a current flows in a conductive film formed on an insulating substrate in parallel with the film surface.

As a typical configuration example of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, a conductive film such as a metal oxide that connects between a pair of device electrodes provided on an insulating substrate is referred to as forming in advance. One in which an electron-emitting portion is formed by an energization process is exemplified. Forming is performed by applying a DC voltage or a very slowly increasing voltage, for example, 1 V /
A process that is usually performed by applying a voltage increase of about one minute and energizing, and locally destroying, deforming, or altering the conductive film to change the structure, thereby forming an electron emission portion in an electrically high-resistance state. It is. The electron emission is performed from the vicinity of a crack generated in the electron emission portion by applying a voltage to the conductive film on which the electron emission portion is formed and causing a current to flow.

The above-mentioned surface conduction type electron-emitting device has an advantage that a large number of arrays can be formed over a large area since it has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture. Therefore, various applications for utilizing this feature are being studied. For example, it can be used for an image forming apparatus such as a display device.

Conventionally, as an example in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arrayed, surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel, and both ends (both device electrodes) of each surface conduction electron-emitting device are wired. (Also referred to as common wiring). An electron source in which rows each connected by a common line are also arranged in a large number of rows (also referred to as a trapezoidal arrangement) (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 64-31332 and 1-283).
749, and 2-257552). In particular, in the case of a display device, a flat panel display device similar to a display device using liquid crystal can be used, and a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are used as self-luminous display devices that do not require a backlight. A display device has been proposed in which an arranged electron source is combined with a phosphor that emits visible light when irradiated with an electron beam from the electron source (US Pat. No. 506).
No. 6883).

[0011]

However, when driving the electron-emitting device used in the above-mentioned electron source, image forming apparatus or the like for a long time, it is desired to improve the electron emission characteristics in a stable and controlled manner and to improve the efficiency thereof. Was.

The above-mentioned efficiency means, for example, in the case of the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device, a current flowing when a voltage is applied to a pair of opposing device electrodes (hereinafter referred to as “device current If”).
(Hereinafter referred to as "emission current Ie"). That is, it is desirable that the device current If be as small as possible and the emission current Ie be as large as possible.

If stable and controlled electron emission characteristics and improved efficiency are achieved, for example, in an image forming apparatus using a phosphor as an image forming member, a bright and high-quality image forming apparatus with a low current, such as a flat television, can be used. Is achieved. In addition, as the current is reduced, it can be expected that the drive circuits and the like constituting the image forming apparatus will also be reduced in cost.

However, in a general surface conduction electron-emitting device manufactured by a conventional method, a conductive film including an electron-emitting portion is covered with a film containing carbon as a main component.
Alternatively, in many cases, at least a part of the device electrode is covered. The coating containing carbon as a main component is made of graphite or amorphous carbon (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as amorphous carbon) or a mixture thereof.

In the electron-emitting device having such a configuration, the crystallinity of the carbon-based film present in the electron-emitting portion and its vicinity contributes to the stability of the electron source and the image forming apparatus. In other words, it is presumed that if a film containing carbon having high crystallinity as a main component can be formed, the emission current Ie can be increased, and the variation in the electron emission characteristics of each element can be suppressed. You. In addition, long-term driving is possible, and furthermore, stable electron sources and image forming apparatuses can be expected to be manufactured.

In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electron-emitting device capable of maintaining a high electron emission efficiency and driving stably even when driven for a long time, and an electron source and an image forming apparatus using the same. Is to provide.

[0017]

The constitution of the present invention to achieve the above object is as follows.

That is, the first aspect of the present invention is that a pair of
An opposing element electrode and a conductive film communicating between the element electrodes;
Forming an electron beam and applying an electric current to the conductive film to discharge electrons.
Step of forming protrusions and atmosphere of carbon or carbon compound
Applying a voltage between the device electrodes under the air, the conductive film
Forming a film containing carbon as a main component thereon;
A method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device, characterized in that a step of performing heat at localized heating film mainly.

A second aspect of the present invention is that a pair of opposed
Forming a device electrode and a conductive film communicating between the device electrodes
And forming an electron-emitting portion in the conductive film
And the above-mentioned element voltage in an atmosphere of carbon or carbon compound.
A voltage is applied between the poles, and carbon is mainly contained on the conductive film.
Forming a film to be formed and adding the film containing carbon as a main component.
Forming a film containing carbon as a main component.
And the step of heating are alternately repeated at least twice.
A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device, comprising:

The first and second aspects of the present invention are further characterized in that "the step of heating is a step of improving the crystallinity of the film containing carbon as a main component."
" The heating means in the heating step is a laser", "The conductive film is made of fine particles", "The fine particles are metal or metal oxide".
That "the film containing carbon as a main component is mainly composed of amorphous carbon or graphite or a mixture thereof", and that "the electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device". .

[0021]

Further, the third aspect of the present invention, the electron-emitting device and its
In the method for manufacturing an electron source and a driving means, the electron-emitting device, a method of manufacturing an electron source, characterized in that to produce the first or second method of the present invention.

The third feature of the present invention is further characterized in that the electron source is an electron source having at least one or more element rows in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected in parallel. The electron source also includes an "electron source in which a plurality of element rows in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected are arranged in a matrix."

A fourth aspect of the present invention is a method of manufacturing an image forming panel having an electron-emitting device and an image-forming member for forming an image by irradiating an electron beam. This is a method for manufacturing an image forming panel, which is manufactured by the first or second method.

The fourth aspect of the present invention is further characterized as follows. "The image forming panel is an image forming panel having at least one element row in which a plurality of the electron-emitting devices are connected in parallel. "The image forming panel is an image forming panel in which a plurality of rows of element rows in which a plurality of the electron-emitting devices are connected are arranged in a matrix." ”.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is an electron emitting device,
An image forming member, and a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus having a driving unit that controls irradiation of the image forming member with an electron beam emitted from the electron emitting element in accordance with an information signal; wherein a method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus characterized by producing in the first or second method of the present invention.

A fifth feature of the present invention is that the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus having at least one element row in which a plurality of the electron-emitting devices are connected in parallel. "The image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of element rows in which a plurality of the electron-emitting devices are connected are arranged in a matrix," and "The image forming member is a phosphor." , Is also included.

[0028]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As described above, the present invention relates to an electron-emitting device, an electron source having a plurality of the electron-emitting devices, an image forming panel using the same, and a novel method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus. Thus, the configuration and operation of each invention will be further described below.

The electron-emitting device according to the present invention is classified as a cold-cathode type electron-emitting device as described above, and among them, a surface conduction electron-emitting device is particularly preferable from the viewpoint of electron-emitting characteristics and the like. It is. Therefore, a surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described below as an example.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention includes a planar type and a vertical type. First, a basic configuration of a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described.

FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b) are diagrams showing a basic structure of a planar type surface conduction electron-emitting device.
1 is a substrate, 2 is an electron emission portion, 3 is a conductive film, and 4 and 5 are electrodes (device electrodes).

As the substrate 1, for example, quartz glass, Na
And glass having reduced impurity content such as glass, blue plate glass, a laminate obtained by laminating SiO ₂ on a blue plate glass by a sputtering method or the like, and ceramics such as alumina.

The materials of the opposing device electrodes 4 and 5 are as follows.
Common conductor materials are used, such as Ni, Cr, Au,
Metals or alloys such as Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd, and Pd, Ag, Au, RuO ₂ , Pd-Ag
Printed conductors composed of metals or metal oxides and glass and the like, transparent conductors such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂ , and semiconductor conductor materials such as polysilicon are appropriately selected.

The element electrode interval L, the element electrode length W, the shape of the conductive film 3 and the like are designed depending on the form to be applied.

The distance L between the device electrodes is preferably several hundred angstroms to several hundred micrometers, and more preferably several micrometers to several tens micrometers depending on the voltage applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5. .

The length W of the device electrode is preferably from several micrometers to several hundred micrometers in consideration of the resistance value and the electron emission characteristics of the electrode.
A few hundred angstroms to a few micrometers.

The electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 1 has a structure in which device electrodes 4 and 5 and a conductive film 3 are laminated on a substrate 1 in this order. 3, the device electrodes 4 and 5 may be stacked in this order.

In order to obtain good electron emission characteristics, the conductive film 3 is particularly preferably a fine particle film composed of fine particles. It is appropriately selected according to the resistance value between the electrodes 4 and 5 and the forming conditions described later. The thickness of the conductive film 3 is preferably several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, particularly preferably 10 angstroms to 500 angstroms, and its resistance value is a sheet of 10 3 to 10 7 ohm / □. It is a resistance value.

In the present specification, the term “fine particles” is frequently used, and its meaning will be described.

Small particles are called "fine particles", and smaller ones are called "ultra fine particles". Particles smaller than "ultrafine particles" and having a few hundred atoms or less are widely called "clusters".

However, each boundary is not strict, and changes depending on what kind of property is focused on. Further, “fine particles” and “ultrafine particles” may be collectively referred to as “fine particles”, and the description in this specification is in line with this.

For example, in "Experimental Physics Course 14: Surfaces and Fine Particles" (edited by Kinoshita Yoshio, published by Kyoritsu Shuppan, September 1, 1986), "when referred to as fine particles in this paper, their diameter is about 2-3 μm to 10 nm. And especially when it is referred to as ultrafine particles, the particle size is about 10 nm to 2-3 n.
It means up to about m. It is not exactly strict because both are collectively written as fine particles, but it is a rough guide. When the number of atoms constituting a particle is two to several tens to several hundreds, it is called a cluster. (Page 195, lines 22 to 26).

In addition, the definition of "ultra-fine particles" in the "Hayashi / Ultra-fine Particle Project" of the New Technology Development Corporation has a lower limit of the particle size, which is as follows.

In the “Ultra Fine Particle Project” of the Creative Science and Technology Promotion System (1981 to 1986), a particle having a size (diameter) in the range of about 1 to 100 nm is called “ultra fine particle”. ... was to be then one of the ultra-fine particles is the fact that a collection of about 100 to 10 ⁸ much of the atom if you look at the scale of atoms ultra-fine particles are large - huge particles "(" ultra-fine particles - Creative Science and Technology "Hayashi Tax, Ryoji Ueda, Akira Tazaki; Mita Publishing 198
8 years, page 2, lines 1 to 4) / "one smaller than ultrafine particles, that is, one consisting of several to several hundred atoms
Individual particles are usually called clusters ”(ibid., Page 2, lines 12 to 13).

[0045] Based on the general notation as described above,
In the present specification, “fine particles” are an aggregate of a large number of atoms and molecules, and the lower limit of the particle size is several Å to 10 Å and the upper limit is several μm
It refers to the degree.

As a material constituting the conductive film 3, for example, Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu,
Metals such as Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, and Pb;
oxides such as dO, SnO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO, Sb ₂ O ₃ , HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ , LaB ₆ , CeB ₆ , Y
Borides such as B ₄ and GdB ₄ , TiC, ZrC, HfC,
Carbides such as TaC, SiC and WC, TiN, ZrN,
Examples include nitrides such as HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, and carbon.

The fine particle film 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 overlapped (some). Particles gather,
(Including a case where an island structure is formed as a whole). In the case of a fine particle film, the particle size of the fine particles is preferably from several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, and particularly preferably from 10 angstroms to 200 angstroms.
Angstrom.

The electron emitting portion 2 contains a crack, and the electron emission is performed from the vicinity of the crack. The electron-emitting portion 2 including the crack and the crack itself have a thickness, film quality,
It is formed depending on a material and a manufacturing method such as forming conditions described later. Therefore, the position and shape of the electron-emitting portion 2 are not limited to the position and shape as shown in FIG.

[0049] Inside the crack, conductive fine particles having a particle size of several angstrom to several hundred angstrom may be present. The conductive fine particles are similar to some or all of the elements of the material constituting the conductive film 3. Further, the electron-emitting portion 2 including the crack and the conductive film 3 in the vicinity thereof
Has a film containing carbon as a main component.

Next, the basic structure of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a basic structure of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes a step forming member, and the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 denote the same members.

The substrate 1, the electron-emitting portion 2, the conductive film 3, and the device electrodes 4 and 5 are made of the same material as the above-mentioned flat surface-conduction type electron-emitting device.

The step forming member 21 is formed by, for example, a vacuum evaporation method,
It is made of an insulating material such as SiO ₂ provided by a printing method, a sputtering method or the like. The film thickness of the step forming member 21 corresponds to the element electrode interval L (see FIG. 1) of the above-mentioned flat surface conduction electron-emitting device. , 5 are set, but are preferably several hundred angstroms to several tens of micrometers, particularly preferably several hundred angstroms to several micrometers.

The conductive film 3 is usually formed after the formation of the device electrodes 4 and 5, and thus is laminated on the device electrodes 4 and 5. make,
The device electrodes 4 and 5 may be stacked on the conductive film 3. Further, as described in the description of the planar type surface conduction electron-emitting device, the formation of the electron-emitting portion 2 depends on the thickness, the film quality, the material of the conductive film 3 and the manufacturing method such as the forming conditions described later. Therefore, the position and shape are not limited to the position and shape as shown in FIG.

In the following description, of the above-mentioned planar type surface conduction type electron-emitting device and the vertical type surface conduction type electron-emitting device, the plane type will be described as an example. A vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device may be used instead of the electron-emitting device.

Various methods are conceivable as a method of manufacturing the basic structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device suitable for the present invention. One example will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same members.

1) After sufficiently washing the substrate 1 with a detergent, pure water and an organic solvent, depositing an element electrode material by a vacuum evaporation method, a sputtering method, or the like, and then depositing the device electrode material on the surface of the substrate 1 by a photolithography technique or the like. The device electrodes 4 and 5 are formed (FIG. 3A).

2) An organic metal solution is applied onto the substrate 1 provided with the device electrodes 4 and 5, and the solution is allowed to stand.
And the element electrode 5 are connected to form an organometallic film. still,
The organic metal solution is a solution of an organic compound containing a metal as a constituent element of the conductive film 3 as a main element. Thereafter, the organic metal film is heated and baked to form a conductive film 3 patterned by lift-off, etching, or the like.
(B)).

Although the description has been made with reference to the coating method of the organic metal solution, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, a dispersion coating method, a dipping method, a spinner method, etc. Can form an organometallic film.

3) Subsequently, a forming step is performed. As an example of the method of the forming step, a method by an energization process will be described below, but the forming step according to the present invention is not limited to this, and a crack is generated in the conductive film 3 to form a high resistance state. Any method may be used.

When power is supplied from a power source (not shown) between the device electrodes 4 and 5, an electron-emitting portion 2 having a changed structure is formed at the conductive film 3 (FIG. 3C). The conductive film 3 is locally destroyed, deformed or deteriorated by the energization process, and the portion where the structure is changed is the electron emitting portion 2.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the voltage waveform of the energization forming.

The voltage waveform is particularly preferably a pulse waveform.
There are a case where a voltage pulse with a constant pulse peak value is continuously applied (FIG. 4A) and a case where a voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value (FIG. 4B).

First, the case where the pulse peak value is a constant voltage will be described with reference to FIG.

T1 and T2 in FIG. 4A are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform. For example, T1 is 1 microsecond to 10 milliseconds, and T2 is 10 microseconds to 100 milliseconds.
Milliseconds, and the peak value (peak voltage at the time of forming) is appropriately selected according to the form of the above-described electron-emitting device.
Under a vacuum atmosphere having an appropriate degree of vacuum of about 0 to the power of -5, application is performed for several seconds to several tens of minutes. The voltage waveform to be applied is not limited to the triangular wave shown in the figure, but may be a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave, and the peak value, pulse width, pulse interval, and the like are also limited to the values described above. Instead, a desired value can be selected according to the resistance value of the electron-emitting device or the like so that the electron-emitting portion 2 is formed favorably.

Next, a case where a voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value will be described with reference to FIG.

T1 and T2 in FIG.
As in (a), the peak value (peak voltage at the time of forming) is increased by, for example, about 0.1 V steps,
The voltage is applied in an appropriate vacuum atmosphere similar to that described with reference to FIG.

During the pulse interval T2, the element current is measured at a voltage that does not locally destroy, deform or alter the conductive film 3, for example, a voltage of about 0.1 V, and the resistance value is obtained. It is preferable that the forming be terminated when the resistance exceeds ohms.

The steps after the forming step can be performed in a measurement evaluation system as shown in FIG. This measurement evaluation system will be described.

In FIG. 5, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 denote the same members. Reference numeral 51 denotes a power supply for applying a device voltage Vf to the device; 50, an ammeter for measuring a device current If flowing through the conductive film 3 between the device electrodes 4 and 5; An anode electrode for capturing the emission current Ie to be emitted; 53, a high-voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 54; 52, an ammeter for measuring the emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission section 2; Is a vacuum device,
56 is an exhaust pump.

The electron-emitting device, the anode electrode 54 and the like are installed in a vacuum device 55. The vacuum device 55 is provided with necessary equipment such as a vacuum gauge (not shown). Can be measured and evaluated.

The exhaust pump 56 is composed of a normal high vacuum system such as a turbo pump and a rotary pump, and an ultrahigh vacuum system such as an ion pump.
The entire vacuum device 55 and the substrate 1 of the electron-emitting device are
The heater can heat up to about 200 ° C. In this measurement evaluation system, the display panel and its inside are configured as a vacuum device 55 and its inside at the stage of assembling the display panel as described below, so that the measurement and evaluation in the forming step and the subsequent steps described later are performed. It is applied to processing.

4) Next, an activation step is performed.

The activation step can be performed, for example, by repeatedly applying a pulse between the device electrodes 4 and 5 in an atmosphere containing an organic substance gas, similarly to the energization forming. The atmosphere can be formed by using an organic gas remaining in the atmosphere when the inside of the vacuum vessel is evacuated by using, for example, an oil diffusion pump or a rotary pump, or is sufficiently evacuated once by an ion pump or the like. It can also be obtained by introducing a gas of an appropriate organic substance into a vacuum. The preferable gas pressure of the organic substance at this time varies depending on the above-described application form, the shape of the vacuum vessel, the type of the organic substance, and the like, and thus is appropriately set.

Suitable organic substances include organic acids such as aliphatic hydrocarbons of alkane, alkene and alkyne, aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, amines, phenols, carboxylic acids, sulfonic acids and the like. And specifically, a saturated hydrocarbon represented by C _n H _{2n + 2} such as methane, ethane, and propane;
Ethylene, propylene C _n H _2n such unsaturated hydrocarbon represented by composition formula such as benzene, toluene, methanol, ethanol, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methylamine, ethylamine, phenol, formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid Etc. 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 based on the element current I
The measurement is appropriately performed while measuring f and emission current Ie. Note that the pulse width, pulse interval,
The pulse peak value and the like are set as appropriate.

The carbon and carbon compound deposited on the device include, for example, graphite (so-called HOPG, PG, G
C is included, HOPG is an almost perfect graphite crystal structure, PG is a crystal having a crystal grain of about 200 ° and slightly disordered, and GC is a crystal having a grain of about 20 ° and disordered crystal structure is further increased. Point. ), Amorphous carbon (refers to amorphous carbon and a mixture of amorphous carbon and microcrystals of the graphite);
The film thickness is preferably within a range of 500 ° or less,
It is more preferable to set the range to 300 ° or less.

5) Next, a local heating step, which is the greatest feature of the present invention, is performed.

This local heating step means that a film containing carbon as a main component formed on the conductive film 3 of the device after the activation step, in particular, the electron emitting portion 2 and the conductive film 3 in the vicinity thereof This is a step of selectively performing a sufficient heat treatment on the formed film to improve the crystallinity of the carbonaceous film.

That is, a method in which local heating can be performed only on the carbon-based portion formed on the conductive film 3, more specifically, local heating is performed using a laser or the like.

According to this method, the crystallinity of a carbon film made of graphite, amorphous carbon, or a mixture thereof can be improved to a film formed of graphite-based carbon.

As a laser, Ar ⁺ laser, He
-Ne laser, Kr ⁺ laser, He-Cd laser, YAG laser, etc. as long as local heating is possible,
Any laser may be used.

The laser beam diameter, laser power, and irradiation time are appropriately set according to the laser used.

For example, when heating is performed using an Ar ⁺ laser, the laser beam diameter is reduced to about 100 to 1 μm to a beam diameter corresponding to the region where the crystallinity is to be improved, and the laser power for irradiation is as described above. When such a conductive film is used, it is desirable to irradiate in the range of 10 mW to 40 mW. This is preferably performed in the absence of oxygen, that is, under a vacuum or an inert gas atmosphere. If the process is performed in an oxygen atmosphere or the like, the oxidation of the electron-emitting portion proceeds, and a problem such as evaporation occurs.

The irradiation time is determined in accordance with the laser power to be used as described above, in order to improve the crystallinity of the carbon component. For example, when irradiating within the above laser power range, a range of about 3 to 10 minutes is desirable.

The laser power and the irradiation time are determined by the material of the conductive film 3 on the substrate used and the initial crystallinity of the film covering the electron-emitting portion 2 containing carbon as a main component. Also depends. Further, when the input energy per unit time, which is determined by the laser beam diameter and the laser power, is low, a relatively long time is required. When the input energy is high, a relatively short time is sufficient.

The parameters for determining the improvement of the crystallinity are determined by three products of the laser power (P) to be used, the irradiation time (t), and the factors (A) other than the laser power including the catalytic activity and the irradiation time. Energy (W)
Depends on the value.

W = APt The crystallinity changes depending on the W value. Therefore, even if the laser power (P) is increased and the time t is shortened, the same improvement in crystallinity is performed in addition to the preferable range described above.

The material of the conductive film 3 to be used, which is one of the factors for determining the optimum energy value (W) at this time, is generally Pd, Pt, Ni, Co and these materials. It is formed from a mixture or a material containing these as a main component.

When a material having high catalytic ability is used, a desired object can be achieved even if the values of the laser power (P) and the irradiation time (t) are small.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram in which the W value and the crystallinity were evaluated by Raman spectroscopy using a Pt film as the conductive film.

The evaluation of the crystallinity can also be estimated from the intensity ratio between the peak observed at around 1580 cm ^-1 and the peak observed at around 1350 cm ^{-1 of} the spectrum measured at the irradiation point with a microscopic Raman spectrophotometer.

As is clear from FIG. 16, increasing the W value (for example, increasing the laser power for a certain period of time or irradiating with a constant laser power for a long period of time) improves the crystallinity. It can be seen that it is possible to promote an increase in crystallite size. Furthermore, (in the figure, W ₁₎ a certain degree of W values from Figure 16 in the above, even if the more heat treatment, since no observed improvement in crystallinity, suitable values (W ₁₎ to the extent This process is sufficient, and it can be seen that the present invention has an optimum value.

6) It is preferable to perform a stabilizing step of operating the electron-emitting device thus manufactured in a vacuum atmosphere having a higher degree of vacuum than the forming step and the activating step. More preferably, operation is performed after heating at 80 to 250 ° C. in this high vacuum degree vacuum atmosphere. The heating temperature is not limited to this.

Incidentally, the vacuum atmosphere having a degree of vacuum higher than the degree of vacuum in the forming step and the activation step is, for example, about 10 −
A vacuum atmosphere having a degree of vacuum of 6 torr or more;
More preferably, it is an ultrahigh vacuum system, and has a degree of vacuum at which carbon and carbon compounds are not substantially newly deposited.

That is, by enclosing the electron-emitting device in the above-mentioned vacuum atmosphere, it is possible to suppress further deposition of carbon and carbon compounds, thereby stabilizing the device current If and the emission current Ie. .

The basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device obtained as described above will be described below.

The basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device described below are as follows. In the measurement and evaluation system shown in FIG. 5, the voltage of the anode electrode 54 is 1 kV to 10 kV, and the distance H between the anode electrode 54 and the surface conduction electron-emitting device is 2 Normally, the measurement is performed with the length set to ８8 mm.

First, the emission current Ie and the device current If,
FIG. 6 shows a typical example of the relationship with the element voltage Vf. still,
In FIG. 6A, the emission current Ie is shown in arbitrary units because it is significantly smaller than the device current If.
The vertical axis is a linear scale.

As is clear from FIG. 6A, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has the following three characteristic characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie.

First, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a certain voltage (referred to as a threshold voltage: Vt in FIG. 6A).
When the device voltage Vf exceeding h) is applied, the emission current Ie sharply increases. On the other hand, when the device voltage Vf exceeds the threshold voltage Vth, the emission current Ie is hardly detected. That is, it is a nonlinear element having a clear threshold voltage Vth with respect to the emission current Ie.

Second, since the emission current Ie has a characteristic (referred to as MI characteristic) that monotonically increases with respect to the device voltage Vf, the emission current Ie can be controlled by the device voltage Vf.

Thirdly, the amount of charge emitted by the anode electrode 54 (see FIG. 5) depends on the time during which the device voltage Vf is applied. That is, the amount of charge captured by the anode electrode 54 can be controlled by the time during which the device voltage Vf is applied.

When the emission current Ie is smaller than the device voltage Vf by MI
At the same time as having the characteristics, the device current If may also have the MI characteristics with respect to the device voltage Vf. An example of the characteristics of such a surface conduction electron-emitting device is the characteristic shown in FIG. On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
f is a voltage control type negative resistance characteristic (V
CNR characteristic). Which characteristic is exhibited depends on the manufacturing method of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, measurement conditions at the time of measurement, and the like. However, even in a surface conduction electron-emitting device in which the device current If has VCNR characteristics with respect to the device voltage Vf, the emission current Ie has MI characteristics with respect to the device voltage Vf.

Due to the characteristic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention as described above, even in an electron source or an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of devices are arranged, the amount of emitted electrons can be easily controlled according to an input signal. It can be applied to various fields.

Next, as one example of the electron source according to the present invention, an electron source in which a plurality of the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged will be described. First, the arrangement of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices will be described.

As the arrangement of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the electron source according to the present invention, in addition to the ladder arrangement as described in the section of the prior art, n-wires are provided on m X-directional wirings. There is an arrangement method in which a Y-directional wiring is provided via an interlayer insulating layer, and an X-directional wiring and a Y-directional wiring are connected to a pair of device electrodes of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, respectively. This is hereinafter referred to as a simple matrix arrangement. First, the simple matrix arrangement will be described in detail.

According to the above-mentioned basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the emitted electrons in the surface conduction electron-emitting device arranged in a simple matrix are generated between the opposing device electrodes at a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage. It can be controlled by the peak value and pulse width of the pulsed voltage to be applied. On the other hand, below the threshold voltage, almost no electrons are emitted. Therefore, even when a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged, if the pulse-like voltage is appropriately applied to each of the devices, the surface conduction electron-emitting device is selected according to the input signal, and the electron emission amount is determined. , And individual surface conduction electron-emitting devices can be selected and driven independently with only a simple matrix wiring.

The simple matrix arrangement is based on such a principle, and the configuration of the electron source having the simple matrix arrangement, which is an example of the electron source according to the present invention, will be further described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 7, the substrate 1 is a glass plate or the like as described above, and the number and shape of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 according to the present invention arranged on the substrate 1 are appropriately set according to the application. Things.

The m X-direction wirings 102 have external terminals Dx1, Dx2,..., Dxm, respectively.
A conductive metal or the like formed thereon by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. In addition, the material and the material are so set that the voltage is supplied to the many surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 almost uniformly.
The film thickness and the wiring width are set.

The n Y-directional wirings 103 have external terminals Dy1, Dy2,..., Dyn, respectively, and are formed in the same manner as the X-directional wiring 102.

The m X-directional wires 102 and the n Y wires 102
An interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is provided between the direction wirings 103, and is electrically separated to form a matrix wiring. Note that both m and n are positive integers.

The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is, for example, SiO ₂ formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like, and has a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the substrate 1 on which the X-directional wiring 102 is formed. In particular, the film thickness, material, and manufacturing method are appropriately set so as to withstand the potential difference at the intersection of the X-direction wiring 102 and the Y-direction wiring 103. The X-direction wiring 102 and the Y-direction wiring 103 are respectively drawn out as external terminals.

Further, the device electrodes (not shown) facing the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 are provided with m X-direction wirings 102.
, N Y-directional wirings 103, a vacuum deposition method, a printing method,
Connection 1 made of conductive metal or the like formed by sputtering or the like
05 are electrically connected.

Here, the m X-directional wires 102, the n Y-directional wires 103, the connection 105, and the opposing element electrodes may have some or all of the same constituent elements. Further, they may be different from each other, and are appropriately selected from the above-described materials of the device electrodes and the like. The wires to these device electrodes may be collectively referred to as device electrodes when the material is the same as the device electrodes. Further, the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104
May be formed on the substrate 1 or on an interlayer insulating layer (not shown).

As will be described in detail later, a scanning signal is applied to the X-direction wiring 102 in order to scan a row of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 arranged in the X-direction in accordance with an input signal. A scanning signal applying unit (not shown) is electrically connected.

On the other hand, a modulation signal (not shown) for applying a modulation signal is applied to the Y-direction wiring 103 in order to modulate each of the rows of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 arranged in the Y direction according to an input signal. The signal generating means is electrically connected. Further, the driving voltage applied to each surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 is supplied as a difference voltage between a scanning signal and a modulation signal applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104.

Next, an example of an image forming panel (display panel) and an image forming apparatus according to the present invention constituted by using the electron sources having the simple matrix arrangement as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. explain. 8 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of the display panel 201, FIG. 9 is a view showing the fluorescent film 114, and FIG. 10 is a display panel 201 shown in FIG. 8, which displays a television display according to an NTSC television signal. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a driving circuit for performing the driving.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 1 denotes an electron source substrate on which the surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged as described above, 111 denotes a rear plate on which the substrate 1 is fixed, and 116 denotes a glass substrate.
13 is a face plate in which a fluorescent film 114 and a metal back 115 are formed on the inner surface. Reference numeral 112 denotes a support frame, and frit glass or the like is applied to the rear plate 111, the support frame 112, and the face plate 116, and is applied in the air or in nitrogen. Then, the envelope 118 is formed by baking at 400 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more for sealing.

In FIG. 8, reference numerals 102 and 103 denote a pair of device electrodes 4 and 5 of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 (FIG. 1).
) And external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn, respectively.

The envelope 118 is composed of the face-plate 116, the support frame 112, and the rear plate 111, as described above. However, the rear plate 111 is provided mainly for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the substrate 1. If the substrate 1 itself has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 111 is unnecessary, and the support frame is directly attached to the substrate 1. Seal 112,
The envelope 118 may be constituted by the face plate 116, the support frame 112, and the substrate 1. Further, by further providing a support (not shown) called a spacer between the face plate 116 and the rear plate 111, the envelope 118 having sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure can be obtained.

The phosphor film 114 is composed of only the phosphor 122 in the case of monochrome, but in the case of the color phosphor film 114, depending on the arrangement of the phosphor 122, a black stripe (FIG. 9A) or a black matrix (FIG. 9A) is used. 9
(B)) a black conductive material 121 and a phosphor 122 called
It is composed of The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the mixed portions between the phosphors 122 of the three primary colors necessary for color display black so that mixed colors and the like are not noticeable, and to reflect external light on the fluorescent film 114. Is to suppress a decrease in contrast due to As a material of the black conductive material 121, not only a material mainly containing graphite, which is often used, but also a material having conductivity and low light transmission and reflection may be used. it can.

As a method of applying the phosphor 122 to the glass substrate 113, a precipitation method or a printing method is used regardless of monochrome or color.

Further, as shown in FIG.
A metal back 115 is usually provided on the inner surface side of 4.
The purpose of the metal back 115 is to convert the light emitted from the phosphor 122 (see FIG. 9) toward the inner surface into the face plate 11.
Improving the brightness by specular reflection to the 6 side, acting as an electrode for applying an electron beam acceleration voltage, and protecting the phosphor 122 from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the envelope 118 And so on. The metal back 115 can be manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film 114 after manufacturing the fluorescent film 114, and then depositing Al by vacuum evaporation or the like.

The face plate 116 may be provided with a transparent electrode (not shown) on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 114 in order to further enhance the conductivity of the fluorescent film 114.

When performing the above-described sealing, in the case of color, since the phosphors 122 of each color must correspond to the surface-conduction electron-emitting devices 104, it is necessary to perform sufficient alignment.

The inside of the envelope 118 is evacuated through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and is sealed after reaching a predetermined degree of vacuum. Further, a getter process can be performed to maintain the degree of vacuum of the envelope 118 after sealing. This is because the envelope 118
Immediately before or after sealing, a getter (not shown) disposed at a predetermined position in the envelope 118 is heated by resistance heating or high-frequency heating to form a vapor-deposited film. The getter is usually composed mainly of Ba or the like, and is used for maintaining a vacuum degree of, for example, 1 × 10 −5 or 1 × 10 −7 torr by the adsorption action of the deposited film.

The manufacturing steps of the surface conduction electron-emitting device after the above-described forming process are usually performed in the envelope 11
This is performed immediately before or after sealing of No. 8 and the contents thereof are as described above.

The display panel 201 described above is, for example, shown in FIG.
Can be driven by a driving circuit as shown in FIG.
In FIG. 10, 201 is a display panel, 202 is a scanning circuit, 203 is a control circuit, 204 is a shift register,
205 is a line memory, 206 is a synchronization signal separation circuit, 2
07 is a modulation signal generator, and Vx and Va are DC voltage sources.

As shown in FIG. 10, the display panel 20
1 is connected to an external electric circuit via external terminals Dx1 to Dxm, external terminals Dy1 to Dyn, and a high voltage terminal Hv. Of these, the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm
The surface conduction electron-emitting devices provided in the display panel 201, that is, a group of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns are sequentially driven by one row (each n element). The scanning signal for going forward is applied.

On the other hand, a modulation signal for controlling the output electron beam of each surface conduction electron-emitting device in one row selected by the scanning signal is applied to the terminal Dy1 to the external terminal Dyn. Further, a DC voltage of, for example, 10 kV is supplied to the high voltage terminal Hv from the DC voltage source Va. This is an accelerating voltage for applying sufficient energy to the electron beam output from the surface conduction electron-emitting device to excite the phosphor.

The scanning circuit 202 includes m switching elements (indicated schematically by S1 to Sm in FIG. 10) therein. Each of the switching elements S1 to Sm outputs the output voltage of the DC voltage power supply Vx or 0V. (Ground level) to be electrically connected to the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm of the display panel 201. Each of the switching elements S1 to Sm includes a control circuit 203
Operates on the basis of the control signal Tscan output by the device, and in fact, it can be easily configured by combining elements having a switching function such as an FET, for example.

In the present embodiment, the DC voltage source Vx has a driving voltage applied to the unscanned surface conduction electron-emitting device based on the characteristics (threshold voltage) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. It is set to output a constant voltage that is equal to or lower than the value voltage.

The control circuit 203 has a function of coordinating the operation of each part so that an appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. A synchronization signal Tsyn sent from a synchronization signal separation circuit 206 described below.
Based on c, each control signal of Tscan, Tsft, and Tmry is generated for each unit.

The synchronizing signal separating circuit 206 is a circuit for separating a synchronizing signal component and a luminance signal component from an NTSC television signal input from the outside. As is well known, a frequency separating (filter) is used. With the circuit,
It can be easily configured. Sync signal separation circuit 206
The sync signal separated by is composed of a vertical sync signal and a horizontal sync signal, as is well known. here,
It is illustrated as Tsync for convenience of explanation. On the other hand, the luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is referred to as D for convenience.
This is illustrated as an ATA signal. This DATA signal is input to the shift register 204.

The shift register 204 is for serially / parallel-converting the DATA signal input serially in time series for each line of an image, and is based on a control signal Tsft sent from the control circuit 203. Operate. This control signal Tsft is supplied to the shift register 20
4 may be rephrased as the shift clock. Also,
One line of serial / parallel converted image (equivalent to drive data for n elements of surface conduction electron-emitting device)
Are output from the shift register 204 as n parallel signals of Id1 to Idn.

The line memory 205 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a required time.
The contents of Id1 to Idn are stored as appropriate according to the control signal Tmry sent from the control circuit 203. The stored contents are output as Id′1 to Id′n and input to the modulation signal generator 207.

The modulation signal generator 207 is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices according to each of the image data Id′1 to Id′n. Are applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the display panel 201 through the terminals Dy1 to Dyn.

As described above, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a distinct threshold voltage for electron emission, and electron emission occurs only when a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage is applied. Also, for a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage, the emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device. Materials for surface conduction electron-emitting devices,
By changing the configuration and the manufacturing method, the value of the threshold voltage and the degree of change of the emission current with respect to the applied voltage may change, but in any case, the following can be said.

That is, when a pulsed voltage is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device, for example, even if a voltage lower than the threshold voltage is applied, electron emission does not occur, but a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage is applied. In this case, electron emission occurs. At that time, first, it is possible to control the intensity of the output electron beam by changing the peak value of the voltage pulse. Second, by changing the width of the voltage pulse, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam.

Accordingly, as a method of modulating the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to an input signal, there are a voltage modulation method and a pulse width modulation method. In the case of performing the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 207 generates a voltage pulse having a fixed length, and uses a voltage modulation circuit capable of appropriately modulating the pulse peak value according to input data. In the case of performing the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 207 generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value, but a pulse width modulation method circuit capable of appropriately modulating the pulse width according to input data. Used.

The shift register 204 and the line memory 20
Reference numeral 5 may be a digital signal type or an analog signal type, as long as it can perform serial / parallel conversion and storage of an image signal at a predetermined speed.

When the digital signal type is used, it is necessary to convert the output signal DATA of the synchronization signal separation circuit 206 into a digital signal. This can be achieved by providing an A / D converter at the output of the synchronization signal separation circuit 206.

In connection with this, the line memory 20
Depending on whether the output signal of 5 is a digital signal or an analog signal,
The circuit provided in modulation signal generator 207 is slightly different.

That is, in the case of a voltage modulation system using a digital signal, for example, a well-known D / A conversion circuit may be used as the modulation signal generator 207, and an amplification circuit or the like may be added as necessary. In the case of a pulse width modulation method using a digital signal, the modulation signal generator 207 includes, for example, a high-speed oscillator, a counter (counter) for counting the number of waves output from the oscillator, and an output value of the counter and an output value of the memory. It can be easily configured by using a circuit in which comparators for comparison are combined. Further, if necessary, an amplifier may be added for amplifying the voltage of the pulse-width-modulated signal output from the comparator to the drive voltage of the surface-conduction electron-emitting device.

On the other hand, in the case of a voltage modulation method using an analog signal, an amplification circuit using a well-known operational amplifier or the like may be used as the modulation signal generator 207, and a level shift circuit or the like may be added if necessary. You may. In the case of a pulse width modulation method using an analog signal, for example, a well-known voltage-controlled oscillation circuit (VCO) may be used, and a voltage is amplified to a drive voltage of a surface conduction electron-emitting device as necessary. May be added.

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention having the display panel 201 and the driving circuit as described above has terminals Dx1 to Dx1.
By applying a voltage from Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn, electrons can be emitted from the necessary surface conduction electron-emitting device.
15 or a transparent electrode (not shown) to apply a high voltage to accelerate the electron beam, and apply the accelerated electron beam to the fluorescent film 114.
Excitation and emission caused by collision with
The television display can be performed according to the television signal of the C system.

The configuration described above is a schematic configuration necessary for obtaining the image forming apparatus according to the present invention used for display and the like. For example, detailed portions such as materials of each member are limited to the above-described contents. However, it is appropriately selected so as to be suitable for the use of the image forming apparatus. Although the NTSC system has been described as an input signal, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to this, and PAL, SECA
Other systems such as the M system may be used, and a TV signal including a larger number of scanning lines than these systems, for example, a high-definition TV system such as the MUSE system may be used.

Next, an example of the above-described ladder-shaped electron source, an image forming panel (display panel) and an image forming apparatus according to the present invention constituted by using the same will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. I do.

In FIG. 11, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate; 104, a surface conduction electron-emitting device; and 304, common wirings for connecting the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104, each having ten external terminals D1 to D10. doing.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 is
A plurality is arranged in parallel above. This is called an element row. These element rows are arranged in a plurality of rows to constitute an electron source.

By applying an appropriate drive voltage between the common wiring 304 of each element row (for example, the common wiring 304 of the external terminals D1 and D2), each element row can be driven independently. That is, a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage may be applied to an element row where electron beams are to be emitted, and a voltage lower than the threshold voltage may be applied to an element row where electron beams are not desired to be emitted. The application of such a drive voltage is performed by applying common lines 304 adjacent to each other between the element rows, that is, common lines 304 adjacent to each other, that is, external terminals D2 and D3 and D4 and D5 and D6 and D7 and D8 respectively adjacent to each other. The common wiring 304 of D9 and D9 can be formed as a single integrated wiring.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the structure of a display panel 301 provided with the above-described trapezoidal arrangement of electron sources.

In FIG. 12, reference numeral 302 denotes a grid electrode; 303, an opening through which electrons pass; D1 to Dm, external terminals for applying a voltage to each surface conduction electron-emitting device;
Gn is an external terminal connected to the grid electrode 302. Further, the common wiring 304 between each element row is formed on the substrate 1 as an integral same wiring.

In FIG. 12, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 8 denote the same members, and the main difference between the display panel 201 using the electron sources in the simple matrix arrangement shown in FIG. The point is that a grid electrode 302 is provided between the electrodes 116.

The grid electrode 302 is provided between the substrate 1 and the face plate 116 as described above. The grid electrode 302 is capable of modulating the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104, and applies the electron beam to a stripe-shaped electrode provided orthogonal to the ladder-shaped device row. In order to pass
One circular opening 303 is provided for each surface conduction electron-emitting device 104.

The shape and arrangement position of the grid electrode 302
It is not always necessary that the openings 303 are as shown in FIG. 12. A large number of openings 303 may be provided in a mesh shape, and the grid electrodes 302 may be provided, for example, around or near the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104. Good.

The external terminals D1 to Dm and G1 to Gn are connected to a drive circuit (not shown). Then, by applying a modulation signal for one image line to the column of the grid electrode 302 in synchronization with sequentially driving (scanning) the element rows one by one, each electron beam is irradiated on the fluorescent film 114. And images can be displayed line by line.

As described above, the image forming panel and the image forming apparatus according to the present invention can be obtained by using the electron source according to the present invention in any of the simple matrix arrangement and the ladder arrangement. An image forming apparatus suitable as a display device of a television conference system, a computer or the like as well as a display device of a John Broadcasting System can be obtained. Furthermore, the present invention can be used as an exposure device of an optical printer including a photosensitive drum.

[0161]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific examples. However, the present invention is not limited to these examples, and each of the examples is set within a range in which the object of the present invention is achieved. This includes the case where the element is replaced or the design is changed.

Example 1 The structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this example is the same as that shown in FIG. 1, and a method of manufacturing the same will be described below with reference to the manufacturing process diagram of FIG. Incidentally, two elements having the same shape were formed on the substrate 1.

Step-1 A 0.5 μm thick silicon oxide film was formed on a cleaned blue plate glass by a sputtering method on a substrate 1.
A photoresist (RD-2000N-41, manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.) is formed with a pattern to be a gap between device electrodes, and a 5 nm-thick Ti, 100 mm-thickness is formed by a vacuum deposition method.
Nanometers of Ni were sequentially deposited.

The photoresist pattern was dissolved with an organic solvent, and the Ni / Ti deposited film was lifted off.
Was 3 micrometers, and the device electrodes 4 and 5 having a width W of the device electrode of 300 micrometers were formed (FIG. 3).
(A)).

Step-2 A Cr film having a thickness of 100 nm is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation using a mask (not shown), and organic Pd (CCP4230, manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) is spin-coated thereon with a spinner. A heating and baking treatment was performed at 10 ° C. for 10 minutes. The thickness of the conductive film 3 formed from fine particles of Pd as the main element thus formed was 10 nm, and the sheet resistance was 2 × 10 ⁴ Ω / □.

The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated as described above. The fine structure thereof is not limited to a state in which the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, and the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other. State (including islands)
And the particle diameter means the diameter of the fine particles whose particle shape can be recognized in the above state.

The Cr film and the fired conductive film 3 were etched with an acid etchant to form a desired pattern (FIG. 3B).

The device electrodes 4 and 5 and the conductive film 3 were formed on the substrate 1 by the above steps.

Step-3 Next, the substrate 1 was placed in the vacuum vessel 55 of the measurement / evaluation system shown in FIG.
Is installed and evacuated by a vacuum pump to 2 × 10 ⁻⁵ torr.
After the vacuum degree was reached, a voltage was applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 from the power supply 51, and an energizing process (forming process) was performed to form the electron-emitting portion 2 (FIG. 3C). The voltage waveform of the forming process conformed to FIG. In this embodiment, the pulse width T1 is 1 millisecond, the pulse interval T2 is 10 milliseconds, a rectangular wave is used instead of a triangular wave, and the peak value (peak voltage) of the rectangular wave is raised in steps of 0.1 V to perform the forming process. went.

Also, during the forming process, 0.1
A resistance measurement pulse was inserted between T2 at a voltage of V, and the resistance was measured. The forming process was terminated when the measured value of the resistance measurement pulse became about 1 M ohm or more, and the application of the voltage to the element was terminated at the same time. 2 prepared in this example
The forming voltage VF of each element is 5.1 V,
It was 5.0V.

Step-4 Subsequently, each of the devices subjected to the energization forming process was subjected to an activation process at a peak value of a rectangular wave having a waveform of FIG. Specifically, while measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie in the vacuum vessel 55, the device electrodes 4,
The measurement was performed by applying a pulse voltage between 5 points. The vacuum container 55
The degree of vacuum was 1.5 × 10 ⁻⁵ torr, and the activation process was completed in about 30 minutes.

Step-5 Subsequently, a visible light Ar.sup. ⁺ Laser (not shown) was applied on the carbon-based film coated on the conductive film 3 including the electron-emitting portion 2 by the activation treatment. 51
4.5 nm), and adjusted so that the laser power at the irradiation point was 20 mW, while sweeping at a speed of 1 m.
The electron emission portion 2 and the carbon coating on the conductive film 3 were selectively irradiated at m / min and heated. The laser beam diameter used at this time was about 1 micrometer. This operation was performed for only one of the two elements.

Step-6 Subsequently, after the inside of the vacuum vessel 55 was evacuated to 10 ^-7 torr,
A stabilization step of baking at 180 ° C. for 5 hours was performed.

Next, the characteristics and form of the two surface conduction electron-emitting devices manufactured by the above steps were observed.

First, the measurement of the electron emission characteristics of the device was performed using the above-described measurement evaluation system shown in FIG. Specifically, the distance between the anode electrode 54 and the electron-emitting device is 4 mm,
The potential of the anode electrode 54 is set to 1 kV, the degree of vacuum in the vacuum chamber 55 at the time of measuring the electron emission characteristics is set to 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ torr,
An element voltage of 14 V was applied between the element electrodes 4 and 5, and an element current If and an emission current Ie flowing at that time were measured.

As a result, in the device according to the present invention in which the electron-emitting portion 2 and the carbon film in the vicinity thereof were heated by the laser, stable device current If and emission current Ie were observed from the initial stage of measurement, and the device voltage was 14 V In this case, the device current If was 2.0 mA, the emission current Ie was 4.0 μA, and the electron emission efficiency η = Ie / If was 0.20%.

On the other hand, the element not heated by the laser has an element current If of 1.0 V at an element voltage of 14 V.
mA, the emission current Ie was 0.5 μA, and the electron emission efficiency η = Ie / If was 0.05%.

From the above, it can be seen that the device according to the present invention is a stable and efficient electron-emitting device from the beginning of the measurement. In addition, through the stabilization process, the device current If and the emission current Ie are larger than those of the conventional device.
It is estimated that thermal stability is high.

Next, when the two devices manufactured according to the present example were observed with an electron microscope, the shape of the devices was changed from the deteriorated portion of the conductive film 3 between the device electrodes 4 and 5, that is, from the electron emitting portion 2. A thicker film was formed on the higher potential side. Also, this coating seemed to be formed around the metal fine particles and between the fine particles.

Further, when these devices were measured by a Raman spectrophotometer, it was found that the crystallinity of the device irradiated with the laser was higher than that of the device simply subjected to the activation treatment.

As described above, by selectively irradiating the electron-emitting portion 2 with a laser after activation, the crystallinity of the coated carbon film can be improved, and the device current If and the emission current Ie can be stabilized. Thus, an efficient and efficient electron-emitting device was manufactured.

Further, after applying a device voltage of 14 V between the device electrodes 4 and 5 to these devices and driving them for a predetermined time, the device current If and the emission current Ie were measured.
In the device manufactured by the method according to the present invention, If is 1.5.
mA, the emission current Ie was 2.4 μA, and the electron emission efficiency η = Ie / If was 0.16%, which was 80% of the initial value. On the other hand, in the device which was subjected to normal activation only, If was 1.0 mA, emission current Ie was 0.2 μA, electron emission efficiency η = Ie / If was 0.02%, and 40% of the initial value.
Met.

From the above, it was found that the device manufactured according to the present invention was a device having a high degree of deterioration after long-time driving and a high stability due to the improved crystallinity of the carbon film. .

Embodiment 2 The structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this embodiment is the same as that shown in FIG. 1, and the manufacturing method will be described below with reference to the manufacturing process diagram of FIG. Incidentally, two elements having the same shape were formed on the substrate 1.

Step-1 On a substrate 1 in which a 0.5 μm thick silicon oxide film was formed on a cleaned blue plate glass by a sputtering method,
A photoresist (RD-2000N-41, manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.) is formed with a pattern to be a gap between device electrodes, and a 5 nm-thick Ti, 100 mm-thickness is formed by a vacuum deposition method.
Nanometers of Ni were sequentially deposited.

The photoresist pattern was dissolved with an organic solvent, and the Ni / Ti deposited film was lifted off.
Was 3 micrometers, and the device electrodes 4 and 5 having a width W of the device electrode of 300 micrometers were formed (FIG. 3).
(A)).

Step-2 A Cr film having a thickness of 100 nm is deposited by vacuum evaporation using a mask (not shown) and patterned, and organic Pd (CCP4230, manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) is spin-coated thereon with a spinner. A heating and baking treatment was performed at 10 ° C. for 10 minutes. The thickness of the conductive film 3 formed from fine particles of Pd as the main element thus formed was 10 nm, and the sheet resistance was 2 × 10 ⁴ Ω / □.

The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated as described above, and has a fine structure not only in a state where the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also when the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other. State (including islands)
And the particle diameter means the diameter of the fine particles whose particle shape can be recognized in the above state.

The Cr film and the baked conductive film 3 were etched with an acid etchant to form a desired pattern (FIG. 3B).

The device electrodes 4 and 5 and the conductive film 3 were formed on the substrate 1 by the above steps.

Step-3 Next, the substrate 1 was placed in the vacuum vessel 55 of the measurement and evaluation system shown in FIG.
Is installed and evacuated by a vacuum pump to 2 × 10 ⁻⁵ torr.
After the vacuum degree was reached, a voltage was applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 from the power supply 51, and an energizing process (forming process) was performed to form the electron-emitting portion 2 (FIG. 3C). The voltage waveform of the forming process conformed to FIG. In this embodiment, the pulse width T1 is 1 millisecond, the pulse interval T2 is 10 milliseconds, a rectangular wave is used instead of a triangular wave, and the peak value (peak voltage) of the rectangular wave is raised in steps of 0.1 V to perform the forming process. went.

Further, during the forming process, 0.1 at the same time.
A resistance measurement pulse was inserted between T2 at a voltage of V, and the resistance was measured. The forming process was terminated when the measured value of the resistance measurement pulse became about 1 M ohm or more, and the application of the voltage to the element was terminated at the same time. 2 prepared in this example
The forming voltages VF of the two devices are 5.2 V,
It was 4.9V.

Step-4 Subsequently, each of the devices subjected to the energization forming process was subjected to an activation process at a peak value of a rectangular wave having a waveform of FIG. Specifically, 1.0 × 10 ⁻⁴ torr of acetone was introduced into the above-described vacuum vessel 55, and a pulse voltage was applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 while measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie. went. The activation process was completed in about 20 minutes.

Step-5 Subsequently, a visible light Ar.sup. ⁺ Laser (not shown) (not shown) was applied on the coating mainly composed of carbon, which was coated on the conductive film 3 including the electron-emitting portion 2 by the activation treatment. 51
4.5 nanometers) while adjusting the laser power at the irradiation point to be 30 mW,
The carbon film on the electron-emitting portion 2 and the conductive film 3 was selectively irradiated at a rate of mm / minute and heated. The laser beam diameter used at this time was about 1 micrometer.

Step-6 The activation treatment of the above step-4 and the laser irradiation treatment of the step-5 were further sequentially repeated twice.

The reason why the same treatment is performed three times is that the irradiation laser power is stronger than that in the first embodiment, and in addition to the effect of improving the crystallinity of the coating film formed on the conductive film 3, partial irradiation is also performed. Since the evaporation proceeds, the above operation is repeatedly performed to compensate for the reduced amount, which has the effect of increasing the thickness of the highly crystalline carbon film.

The operations in the above-mentioned Step-5 and Step-6 are as follows.
The test was performed for only one of the two devices.

Step-7 Subsequently, the inside of the vacuum vessel 55 was evacuated to 10 ^-7 torr.
A stabilization step of baking at 180 ° C. for 5 hours was performed.

Next, the characteristics and morphology of the two surface conduction electron-emitting devices manufactured by the above steps were observed.

First, the measurement of the electron emission characteristics of the device was performed using the above-described measurement evaluation system shown in FIG. Specifically, the distance between the anode electrode 54 and the electron-emitting device is 4 mm,
The potential of the anode electrode 54 is set to 1 kV, the degree of vacuum in the vacuum chamber 55 at the time of measuring the electron emission characteristics is set to 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ torr,
An element voltage of 14 V was applied between the element electrodes 4 and 5, and an element current If and an emission current Ie flowing at that time were measured.

As a result, in the device according to the present invention which has been subjected to the above-mentioned steps 5 and 6, stable device current If and emission current Ie are observed from the initial stage of the measurement. 5 mA, emission current Ie is 4.3 μ
A, and the electron emission efficiency η = Ie / If was 0.17%.

On the other hand, in the element not subjected to the steps -5 and -6, the element current If is 0. 0 at the element voltage of 14V.
95 mA, the emission current Ie was 0.6 μA, and the electron emission efficiency η = Ie / If was 0.06%.

From the above, it can be seen that the device according to the present invention is a stable and efficient electron-emitting device from the beginning of the measurement. Further, it is estimated that the thermal stability is high as in the device according to the present invention of Example 1.

Next, when the two devices manufactured according to the present example were observed with an electron microscope, the shape of the devices was changed from the deteriorated portion of the conductive film 3 between the device electrodes 4 and 5, that is, from the electron emitting portion 2. A thicker film was formed on the higher potential side. Also, this coating seemed to be formed around the metal fine particles and between the fine particles.

Further, when these elements were measured with a Raman spectrophotometer, it was found that the crystallinity of the element irradiated with the laser was higher than that of the element simply subjected to the activation treatment.

As described above, by selectively irradiating the electron-emitting portion 2 with a laser after activation, the crystallinity of the coated carbon film can be improved, and the device current If and the emission current Ie can be stabilized. Thus, an efficient and efficient electron-emitting device was manufactured.

(Example 3) An example in which an image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. 8 is manufactured by using an electron source as shown in FIG. 7 in which many surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix. I do.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of a part of the substrate 1 on which a plurality of conductive films are arranged in a matrix. FIG. 14 is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG. However, in FIGS. 7, 8, 13 and 14, the same reference numerals indicate the same members.

Here, 1 is a substrate, 102 is an X-direction wiring (also referred to as a lower wiring), 103 is a Y-direction wiring (also referred to as an upper wiring), 3 is a conductive film, 4 and 5 are device electrodes, and 401 is an interlayer insulating film. A layer 402 is a contact hole for electrical connection between the element electrode 4 and the lower wiring 102.

First, a method for manufacturing an electron source will be specifically described in the order of steps with reference to FIG. The following steps a to h correspond to (a) to (h) in FIG.

Step-a A substrate 1 in which a 0.5 μm thick silicon oxide film was formed on a sufficiently cleaned blue plate glass by a sputtering method
After vacuum-depositing 5 nm thick Cr and 600 nm thick Au in this order by vacuum evaporation, a photoresist (AZ1370, manufactured by Hoechst) is spin-coated with a spinner, baked, and then a photomask image is formed. exposure,
Developing to form a resist pattern of the lower wiring 102,
The Au / Cr deposited film was wet-etched to form the lower wiring 102 having a desired shape.

Step-b Next, an interlayer insulating layer 401 made of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 μm was deposited by RF sputtering.

Step-c Contact holes 4 were formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in step b.
A photoresist pattern for forming the second layer 02 was formed, and the interlayer insulating layer 401 was etched using the photoresist pattern as a mask to form a contact hole 402. Etching is CF ₄
(Reactive Ion) using H2 and H ₂ gas
Etching) method.

Step-d Thereafter, the device electrode pattern was changed to a photoresist (RD-20).
00N-41, manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.), and ITO having a thickness of 100 nm was deposited by a sputtering method. The photoresist pattern was dissolved in an organic solvent, and the ITO film was lifted off to form device electrodes 4 and 5 having a device electrode interval L of 3 micrometers and a width W of 300 micrometers.

Step-e After forming a photoresist pattern of the upper wiring 103 on the device electrodes 4 and 5, a Ti having a thickness of 5 nanometers and a thickness of 5
00 nanometers of Au are sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation,
Unnecessary portions were removed by lift-off, and upper wires 103 having a desired shape were formed.

Step-f Next, a 1000 .ANG.-thick Cr film 403 is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation, and an organic Pd (ccp42
30, Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) was spin-coated with a spinner and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes. The conductive film 3 formed of fine particles of PdO as the main element thus formed has a thickness of about 10 nm and a sheet resistance of 3 × 1.
0 was ^{4 Ω} / □. In addition, the fine particle film described here is
As described above, this film 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 overlapped (including an island shape). The particle diameter refers to the diameter of fine particles whose particle shape can be recognized in the above state.

Step-g The Cr film 403 and the fired conductive film 3 were etched with an acid etchant to form a desired pattern.

Step-h A resist was applied to portions other than the contact hole 402 to form a pattern, and 5 nm thick Ti and 500 nm thick Au were sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation. Unnecessary portions were removed by lift-off to bury the contact holes 402.

By the above steps, the lower wiring 10 is formed on the substrate 1.
2, interlayer insulating layer 401, upper wiring 103, element electrode 4,
5. The conductive film 3 and the like were formed.

Next, an example in which an image forming apparatus is configured using the substrate 1 (FIG. 13) on which a plurality of conductive films 3 manufactured as described above are arranged in a matrix will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. explain.

The substrate 1 (FIG. 13) on which a plurality of conductive films 3 are arranged in a matrix as described above is
After fixing the fluorescent film 114 on the inner surface of the glass plate 113, 5 mm above the substrate 1.
And a metal back 115 are formed via a support frame 112, and frit glass is applied to the joint between the face plate 116, the support frame 112, and the rear plate 111. It was sealed by baking for more than a minute. The fixing of the substrate 1 to the rear plate 111 was also performed using frit glass.

The phosphor film 114 is composed of only the phosphor 122 in the case of monochrome, but in this embodiment, the phosphor 122 is used.
Adopts a stripe shape (FIG. 9A), a black stripe is formed first, and each color phosphor 122
Was applied to form a fluorescent film 114. As a material of the black stripe, a material mainly containing graphite, which is generally used, was used.

As a method of applying the phosphor 122 to the glass substrate 113, a slurry method was used. Also, the fluorescent film 11
4 was provided with a metal back 115 on the inner surface side. The metal back 115 was manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film 114 after the fluorescent film 114 was manufactured, and then performing vacuum deposition of Al.

In the face plate 116, a transparent electrode (not shown) may be provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 114 in order to further increase the conductivity of the fluorescent film 114. In this embodiment, only the metal back 115 is provided. Was omitted because sufficient conductivity was obtained.

At the time of performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of color, the phosphors 122 of each color must correspond to the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104, so that sufficient alignment was performed.

The atmosphere in the envelope 118 completed as described above is evacuated by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown).
After evacuating to a degree of vacuum of about 0 −5 torr, the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn
A voltage was applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5, and the conductive film 3 was subjected to a forming process to form the electron-emitting portion 2. The voltage waveform of the forming process was the same as in the previous embodiment.

In the electron-emitting portion 2 thus formed, fine particles mainly composed of palladium element were dispersed and arranged, and the average particle size of the fine particles was 3 nanometers.

Next, activation was performed using a rectangular wave having a peak value of 14V. At this time, the degree of vacuum in the envelope 118 in FIG. 5 was 1.5 × 10 ⁻⁵ torr. The activation process was completed in about 40 minutes.

Subsequently, the visible light Ar ⁺ laser (wavelength used was 51 nm) was applied onto the carbon-based film coated on the conductive film 3 including the electron-emitting portion 2 by the activation treatment.
4.5 nm), and adjusted so that the laser power at the irradiation point was 20 mW, while sweeping at a speed of 1 m.
The electron emission portion 2 and the carbon coating on the conductive film 3 were selectively irradiated from the back surface of the substrate 1 at a rate of m / min and heated. The laser beam diameter used at this time was about 1 micrometer.

Finally, after performing a stabilization step at 150 ° C. for 10 hours, a getter treatment was performed by a high frequency heating method in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing.

In the image forming apparatus completed as described above, the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn
, A scanning signal and a modulation signal are applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 from a signal generation unit (not shown) to emit electrons, and a high voltage of several kV or more is applied to the metal back 114 through the high voltage terminal Hv. Then, an image was displayed by accelerating the electron beam, colliding with the fluorescent film 115, exciting and emitting light.

[0232]

As described above, according to the present invention, a graphite film or an amorphous carbon is obtained by locally heating a carbon film covering a region including a gap (crack) of a conductive film. Alternatively, it is possible to improve the crystallinity of the film mainly composed of carbon composed of a mixture thereof, and to obtain an electron-emitting device having higher electron emission efficiency and higher stability than before.

In the electron source including the electron-emitting device and the driving means for the electron-emitting device, stable and controlled electron-emitting characteristics can be obtained, and the device can be manufactured with a high yield.

Also, in the image forming panel and the image forming apparatus, stable and controlled electron emission characteristics can be obtained. For example, in the case of an image forming apparatus using a phosphor as an image forming member, low current and bright high quality are obtained. An image forming apparatus, for example, a color flat television has been realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B are a plan view and a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device which is an example of an electron-emitting device suitable for the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device which is an example of an electron-emitting device suitable for the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining a method of manufacturing a basic configuration of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a forming waveform.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an example of a measurement evaluation system for a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing emission current-device voltage characteristics (IV characteristics) of a surface conduction electron-emitting device suitable for the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of a display panel used in an image forming apparatus using an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a fluorescent film in the display panel of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a drive circuit that drives the display panel of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a schematic plan view of an electron source in a trapezoidal arrangement.

FIG. 12 is a schematic configuration diagram of a display panel used in an image forming apparatus using a trapezoidal arrangement of electron sources.

FIG. 13 is a partial plan view of the electron source according to the embodiment of the present invention.

14 is a sectional view taken along line A-A 'in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a manufacturing process of the electron source according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram showing W values and crystallinity evaluation by Raman spectroscopy in a local heating step of the carbon coating according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2 Electron emission part 3 Conductive film 4, 5 Element electrode 21 Step forming material 50 Ammeter for measuring element current If 51 Power supply 52 Ammeter for measuring emission current Ie 53 High voltage power supply 54 Anode electrode 55 Vacuum device 56 Exhaust pump 102 X-direction wiring (lower wiring) 103 Y-direction wiring (upper wiring) 104 Surface conduction electron-emitting device 105 connection 111 rear plate 112 support frame 113 glass substrate 114 fluorescent film 115 metal back 116 faceplate 118 outside Enclosure 121 Black conductive material 122 Phosphor 201 Display panel 202 Scanning circuit 203 Control circuit 204 Shift register 205 Line memory 206 Synchronous signal separation circuit 207 Modulation signal generator 301 Display panel 302 Grid electrode 303 Opening 304 Common wiring 401 Interlayer insulation Layer 402 Contact hole 403 Cr film

Claims (19)

(57) [Claims] A pair of opposing device electrodes on a substrate;
Forming a conductive film communicating between the device electrodes;
Step of forming an electron-emitting portion on a conductive film by applying a current
And the above-mentioned element voltage in an atmosphere of carbon or carbon compound.
A step of applying a voltage between the electrodes to form a film containing carbon as a main component on the conductive film; and heating the film containing carbon as a main component by local heating. And a step of performing electron emission. 2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a pair of opposing device electrodes are provided on the substrate.
Forming a conductive film communicating between the device electrodes;
Forming an electron emitting portion on the conductive film;
Forming a film by applying a voltage <br/> between the device electrodes in an atmosphere, mainly of carbon-containing in said conductive film of a carbon compound, a film mainly containing the carbon And the step of applying heating.
Having a step of forming a film containing carbon as a main component and heating.
And a step of alternately repeating the applying step two or more times . 3. A step of performing the heating, also claim 1 is a process to improve the crystallinity of the film mainly containing carbon
3. The method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to item 2 . (4)Heating means in the step of applying the heating
Is a laser.3Of any of the
Method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device. Wherein said conductive film, method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 made of fine particles. 6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the fine particles are a metal or a metal oxide. 7. A film mainly containing carbon, method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 6 comprising the amorphous carbon or graphite or mixtures thereof as a main component. 8. The method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein said electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device. 9. An electron emitting device and manufacturing method of the electron source and a driving unit, an electron source, characterized in that said electron-emitting devices produced by a method described in any one of claims 1-8 Manufacturing method. Wherein said electron source manufacturing method of the electron source according to claim 9 plurality of electron-emitting devices is an electron source having at least one row or more-connected element array in parallel. Wherein said electron source manufacturing method of the electron source according to claim 9 plurality of electron-emitting devices is an electron source in which a plurality of rows are arranged in a matrix of-connected element array. 12. A method for manufacturing an image forming panel having an electron-emitting device and an image-forming member for forming an image by irradiating an electron beam, wherein the electron-emitting device comprises:
9. A method for manufacturing an image forming panel, which is manufactured by the method according to any one of 8 . 13. The image forming panel according to claim 13, wherein at least one element row in which a plurality of the electron-emitting devices are connected in parallel.
Method of manufacturing an image-forming panel as claimed in claim 1 2, which is an image forming panel having more columns. 14. The image forming panel, an image forming panel as claimed in claim 1 2 more is an image forming panel for a plurality of rows of-connected element array is arranged in a matrix of the electron-emitting devices Manufacturing method. 15. The image forming member, a manufacturing method of an image forming panel according to claim 1 2-1 4 a phosphor. 16. An image forming apparatus comprising: an electron-emitting device; an image forming member; and a driving unit that controls irradiation of the image forming member with an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device in accordance with an information signal. in the manufacturing method, the electron-emitting device, method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus, characterized by producing by the method according to any one of claims 1-8. 17. The image forming apparatus, a manufacturing method of an image forming apparatus according to claim 1 6 more is an image forming apparatus having at least one row or more-connected element array in parallel of the electron-emitting device. 18. The image forming apparatus, a manufacturing method of a plurality of image forming apparatus according to claim 1 6 is an image forming apparatus in which a plurality columns of-connected element array is arranged in a matrix of the electron-emitting devices . 19. The image forming member, a manufacturing method of an image forming apparatus according to claim 1 6-1 8 is a phosphor.