JP2976175B2 - Electron emitting element, electron source, manufacturing method thereof, and image forming apparatus using the electron source - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which an electron is emitted by passing a current through a conductive thin 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 thin film such as a metal oxide which connects 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 on both ends of the conductive thin film.
It is usually performed by applying a voltage and energizing, locally breaking, deforming or altering the conductive thin film to change the structure,
This is a process for forming an electron emission portion in an electrically high resistance state. The electron emission is performed from the vicinity of a crack generated in the electron emission portion by applying a voltage to the conductive thin film on which the electron emission portion is formed and causing a current to flow.

The above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device has an advantage that a large number of arrays can be formed over a large area because of its simple structure and easy 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 charged beam source and a display device.

Conventionally, as an example of arranging a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, a surface conduction electron-emitting device is arranged in parallel, and both ends (both device electrodes) of each surface conduction electron-emitting device are wired. (Also referred to as a common wiring). An electron source in which rows connected by a plurality of rows (also referred to as a common wiring) are arranged in a large number of rows (also referred to as a trapezoidal arrangement) (JP-A-64-31332, JP-A-1-2302).
83749, JP-A-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 self-luminous display device that does not require a backlight is used as a surface conduction electron emission device. There has been proposed a display device in which an electron source in which a number of elements are arranged and a phosphor that emits visible light when irradiated with an electron beam from the electron source are combined (US Pat. No. 5,066,883).

[0007]

In the case of a surface conduction electron-emitting device in which an electron-emitting portion is formed on a part of a conductive thin film by the above-described forming process, the power required for the forming and the power of the electron-emitting portion are reduced. The properties and the like greatly depend on the film quality (thickness, resistance, etc.) of the conductive thin film.

Regarding the forming power, especially in the case of an electron source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged and arranged, if a large current is required for forming per element, a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are simultaneously energized. It is difficult to carry out forming, and requires an expensive forming device to require a large amount of power,
At the same time, it is necessary to use expensive wiring materials having high electrical conductivity in order to increase the electric capacity of the wiring.

Regarding the electron emission characteristics of the device, which is influenced by the properties of the electron emission portion, the above-mentioned crack shape changes due to the concentration of current in the electron emission portion during device driving, and the electron emission characteristics change with time. Sometimes changed.

In view of the above circumstances, it is a primary object of the present invention to reduce the forming power in the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device and to improve the stability of the electron emission characteristics.

[0011]

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

A first aspect of the present invention is a method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device having an electron-emitting portion in a conductive thin film extending between a pair of device electrodes provided on a substrate, wherein the device electrode is formed on the substrate. with, as the conductive thin film, possess a step of forming a mixed fine particle film consisting of a mixture of different melting points of at least two types of particles each other and a forming step of energizing the mixture fine particle film to form the electron emitting portion, The four
The step of trimming includes the step of finely melting the high melting point near the electron emitting portion.
The existence ratio of the particles to the low melting point fine particles is
Performed under conditions that are larger than those of the rest of the membrane
A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electron-emitting device having an electron-emitting portion in a conductive thin film extending between a pair of device electrodes provided on a substrate, wherein the conductive thin films have at least two different melting points. A mixed fine particle film comprising a mixture of different types of fine particles, wherein the mixed fine particle film has a higher abundance ratio of high melting point fine particles to low melting point fine particles in the vicinity of the electron emitting portion than in other portions. It is in.

The second aspect of the present invention is further characterized in that carbon and a carbon compound are deposited on the electron-emitting portion.
The mixed fine particle film is composed of W fine particles and Au fine particles.
Be composed of a, the mixed fine particle film is, Ir particles and P
It consisting of dO particles, that device electrodes one pair is a flat type formed on the same surface, adjacent to one of the device electrodes
The other element electrode is located on the insulating layer provided as a vertical type in which a conductive thin film including an electron emitting portion is formed on a side surface of the insulating layer, and the electron emitting element is a surface conduction type. This includes an electron-emitting device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an electron source including a plurality of electron-emitting devices each having an electron-emitting portion on a conductive thin film extending between a pair of device electrodes. Forming a plurality of pairs of element electrodes and forming a mixed fine particle film made of a mixture of at least two types of fine particles having different melting points as a conductive thin film spanning between each pair of element electrodes; by energizing the membrane possess a forming step of forming the electron emitting portion, the Fomi
The high melting point fine particles in the vicinity of the electron emitting portion.
The ratio of particles to low melting point fine particles is
Done under conditions that are larger than those of the other parts of
In the manufacturing method of the electron source, characterized in that that. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electron source comprising a plurality of the second electron-emitting devices of the present invention on a substrate.

[0015] The present invention Fourth, as further its features, the electron source includes element array in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices at least one row or more, the wiring for driving the electron-emitting devices There it has been arranged in a matrix, the electron source includes element array in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices at least one row or more, the wiring for driving the electron-emitting devices are arranged ladder-like Including.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising the electron source according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, and an image forming member for forming an image by irradiating an electron beam from the electron source. In the device.

As described above, the present invention provides a surface conduction electron-emitting device, an electron source using the surface conduction electron-emitting device,
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using the electron source, and the configuration and operation of each invention will be further described below.

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

FIG. 1 shows a basic structure of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device. In FIG.
2 is an electron emitting portion, 3 is a conductive thin film including the electron emitting portion 2,
4 and 5 are 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.
A general conductor material is used, for example, Ni, Cr, Au,
Metals or alloys such as Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd, and Pd, Ag, Au, RuO ₂ , Pd-A
It is appropriately selected from a printed conductor composed of a metal such as g or a metal oxide and glass, a transparent conductor such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂ , and a semiconductor conductor material such as polysilicon.

The element electrode interval L, the element electrode length W 1 , the shape of the conductive thin film 3 and the like are appropriately designed depending on the form to be applied.

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

The device electrodes length W 1, considering the resistance value and electron emission characteristic of the electrode is preferably several μm~ several hundred [mu] m, also the device electrode thickness d is several hundred Å~ number [mu] m.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 1 is formed by laminating device electrodes 4 and 5 and a conductive thin film 3 on a substrate 1 in this order. The conductive thin film 3 and the device electrodes 4 and 5 may be stacked in this order.

The conductive thin film 3 is composed of a mixture of at least two kinds of fine particles having different melting points. Examples of the material of the high melting point fine particles as the first component include metals such as W, Ta, Mo, Ir, and Cr, alloys thereof, and metal oxides and metal carbides thereof. Further, as a material of the low melting point fine particles as the second component, for example, Au, Ag, Cu, Ni, Zn,
Examples include metals such as Pd, Sn, and Pb, alloys thereof, and metal oxides thereof. The particle size of these fine particles is preferably 1 nm to 50 nm.

The thickness of the conductive thin film 3 is appropriately set according to the step coverage of the device electrodes 4 and 5, the electric resistance between the device electrodes 4 and 5, the forming conditions described later, and the like.

The electric resistance value of the conductive thin film 3 can be controlled by the number of fine particles per unit area and the mixing ratio of the high melting point fine particles and the low melting point fine particles, and can be set to a value suitable for forming.

The thickness of the conductive thin film 3 is preferably 1
0 ° to 1000 °, particularly preferably 100 ° to 300 °
Å, and the resistance value is a sheet resistance value of 10 ³ to 10 ⁷ Ω / □.

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 are formed depending on the thickness, the film quality, the material of the conductive thin film 3 and the 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.

The crack may have conductive fine particles having a particle size of several to several hundreds of mm. The conductive fine particles are similar to some or all of the elements of the material constituting the conductive thin film 3. Further, the electron emitting portion 2 including the crack and the conductive thin film 3 in the vicinity thereof may include carbon and a carbon compound.

Next, the basic structure of the 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.
Other reference numerals the same as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same members.

The substrate 1, the electron-emitting portion 2, the conductive thin 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, for example, by 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 thickness of the step forming member 21 corresponds to the element electrode interval L (see FIG. 1) of the flat surface conduction electron-emitting device described above. Although it is set by the voltage applied between the five and the electric field intensity capable of emitting electrons, it is preferably several hundreds to several tens μm, and particularly preferably several hundreds to several μm.

Since the conductive thin film 3 is usually formed after the formation of the device electrodes 4 and 5, the conductive thin film 3 is laminated on the device electrodes 4 and 5. It is also possible to form such that the device electrodes 4 and 5 are laminated on the conductive thin film 3. Further, as described in the description of the planar surface conduction electron-emitting device, the formation of the electron-emitting portion 2 depends on the manufacturing method such as the film thickness, film quality, material, and forming conditions of the conductive thin film 3 described later. , The position and shape are not limited to the position and shape as shown in FIG.

The following description is based on the above-mentioned planar surface conduction electron-emitting device and vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device.
The plane type will be described as an example, but may be a vertical type.

An example of a method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the manufacturing process diagram of FIG. 3 using the surface conduction electron-emitting device having the structure shown in FIG. 1 as an example.

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

2) On the substrate 1 provided with the device electrodes 4 and 5,
Sputtering method, CVD method, electron beam heating evaporation method,
Alternatively, for example, by using a method of applying an organic metal compound and heating and baking, for example, after forming high melting point fine particles, low melting point fine particles are formed in the same manner. The fine particle film thus formed is patterned by lift-off, etching or the like to form a conductive thin film 3 having a desired pattern (FIG. 3B). Note that the organic metal solution is a solution of an organic compound containing a metal of the fine particle material constituting the conductive thin film 3 as a main element.

3) Subsequently, an energization process called forming is performed. When power is applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 from a power supply (not shown), an electron-emitting portion 2 having a changed structure is formed at the portion of the conductive thin film 3. The conductive thin film 3 is locally destroyed, deformed, or deteriorated by this energization treatment, and the portion where the structure is changed is the electron emitting portion 2 (FIG. 3C).

As the conductive thin film 3, W, Ta, Mo described above is used.
When a high melting point metal such as the above is used, the film resistance is small and a large electric power is required to deform the film. Therefore, a large current has to flow through the film during the forming step. on the other hand,
When the above-mentioned low melting point metal such as Au, Ag, or Pd is used as the conductive thin film 3, although the power required for the forming is very small, the electron emission portion is structurally changed by continuous driving for a long time. The electron emission characteristics were easily changed and deteriorated with time.

In the surface conduction type electron-emitting device of the present invention, since the mixed fine particle film of the high melting point fine particles and the low melting point fine particles as described above is used as the conductive thin film 3, the energizing conditions in the forming step are appropriately adjusted. In this case, the low-melting-point fine particles are deformed, move, or evaporate, while the high-melting-point fine particles hardly change. As a result, the forming can be completed with a very small electric power as compared with the case where the conductive thin film 3 is formed only of the high melting point material.

The surface conduction type electron-emitting device of the present invention, which has undergone the above-described forming, comprises:
In the vicinity of the electron emitting portion 2 including the crack formed by the forming, the abundance ratio of the high melting point fine particles to the low melting point fine particles is larger than in other portions. For this reason, a change in shape is unlikely to occur in the electron-emitting portion 2 during element driving, and stable electron emission is obtained.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the voltage waveform of the above-mentioned forming.

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

First, the case where the pulse peak value is a constant voltage will be described. T1 and T2 in FIG. 4A are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform. For example, T1 is 1 μsec to 10 msec, T2 is 10 μsec to 100 msec,
The peak value (peak voltage at the time of forming) is appropriately selected according to the form of the above-described surface conduction electron-emitting device, and is applied for several seconds to several tens of minutes in a vacuum atmosphere having an appropriate degree of vacuum.
Note that the voltage waveform to be applied is not limited to the illustrated triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave can be used.

Next, a case where a voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value will be described. T1 and T2 in FIG. 4B are the same as those in FIG. 4A, and the peak value (peak voltage at the time of forming) is increased by, for example, about 0.1 V steps. Is applied under an appropriate vacuum atmosphere as described in the above.

It is to be noted that, during the pulse interval T2, the conductive thin film 3
(See FIGS. 1 and 2) The element current was measured at a voltage that does not locally destroy, deform, or alter the element, for example, a voltage of about 0.1 V, and the resistance was obtained. For example, a resistance of 1 M ohm or more was shown. Sometimes the forming ends.

4) The surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention
Further, it is preferable to perform an activation step.

The activation step is, for example, 10 ^-4 to 10 ^-5 T
Similar to the description of the forming process, a process of repeating application of a pulse with a pulse peak value of a constant voltage at a degree of vacuum of about orr, and converts carbon and carbon compounds from organic substances existing in a vacuum atmosphere into electrons. This is a step in which the state of the device current and the emission current can be significantly improved by depositing the light on the emission portion 2 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). This activation step is preferably performed while measuring, for example, the device current and the emission current, and is completed when, for example, the emission current is saturated, since it is effective and is preferable. In addition, the pulse peak value in the activation step is preferably a peak value of a driving voltage applied when driving the element.

The above-mentioned carbon and carbon compound are graphite (indicating both single crystal and polycrystal) and amorphous carbon (indicating amorphous carbon and a mixture thereof with polycrystalline graphite). Further, the deposited film thickness is preferably 500 ° or less, more preferably 300 ° or less.

The basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention thus obtained will be described below.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a measurement evaluation system for measuring the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. First, 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 thin film 3 between the device electrodes 4 and 5; An anode electrode 53 for capturing the emission current Ie generated, a high-voltage power supply 53 for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 54, and a reference numeral 52 for measuring the emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission portion 2. An ammeter, 55 is a vacuum device, and 56 is an exhaust pump.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device and the anode electrode 54 are installed in a vacuum device 55.
Is equipped with necessary equipment such as a vacuum gauge (not shown),
Measurement and evaluation of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be performed under a desired vacuum.

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 surface conduction electron-emitting device can be heated to about 200 ° C. by a heater. In this measurement and evaluation system, the display panel and the inside thereof are connected to a vacuum device 55 at the stage of assembling a display panel (see 201 in FIG. 8) described later.
And by configuring it as an interior thereof, it can be applied to measurement evaluation and processing in the above-described forming step and activation step.

The basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device described below are as follows. The voltage of the anode electrode 54 of the above-mentioned measurement and evaluation system is 1 kV to 10 kV, and the distance H between the anode electrode 54 and the surface conduction electron-emitting device. Is set to 2 mm to 8 mm, and normal measurement is performed.

First, the emission current Ie and the device current If,
FIG. 6 (a solid line in the figure) shows a typical example of the relationship between the element voltages Vf.
Shown in In FIG. 6, the emission current Ie is the device current Ie.
Since it is significantly smaller than f, it is shown in arbitrary units.

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

First, when a device voltage Vf higher than a certain voltage (referred to as a threshold voltage: Vth in FIG. 6) is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the emission current Ie sharply increases. Below 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.

The characteristic shown by the solid line in FIG.
Has the MI characteristic with respect to the element voltage Vf, and the element current If also has the MI characteristic with respect to the element voltage Vf. However, as shown by a broken line in FIG. On the other hand, a voltage control type negative resistance characteristic (referred to as VCNR characteristic) may be exhibited. Which property is shown
It depends on the manufacturing method of the element and the measurement conditions at the time of measurement. However,
Even if the device current If has a VCNR characteristic with respect to the device voltage Vf, the emission current Ie is M with respect to the device voltage Vf.
It has an I characteristic.

Because of the characteristic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of 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 reduced according to an input signal. It can be controlled and can be applied to various fields.

Next, the arrangement of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the electron source of the present invention will be described.

The arrangement of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the electron source of the present invention is not limited to the ladder arrangement as described in the section of the prior art, or to the arrangement of n Y-direction wirings on m X-direction wirings. An arrangement method in which 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-described basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, when the applied device voltage Vf exceeds the threshold voltage Vth, the electron has a peak value and a pulse width of the applied pulse voltage. The amount of release can be controlled. On the other hand, below the threshold voltage Vth, almost no electrons are emitted. Therefore, even when a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged, it becomes possible to apply a pulse-like voltage controlled in accordance with an input signal with only a simple matrix wiring and to select individual devices to be driven independently. .

The simple matrix arrangement is based on the above principle, and the configuration of an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement as an example of the electron source of 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 arranged on the substrate 1 are appropriately set according to the application. It is.

Each of the m X-directional wirings 102 has external terminals Dx1, Dx2,.
A conductive metal formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like is provided thereon. In addition, the materials,
The film thickness and the wiring width are set.

Each of the n Y-directional wirings 103 has external terminals Dy1, Dy2,... Dyn, and is formed in the same manner as the X-directional wiring 102.

These m X-directional wirings 102 and n Y wires
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 made of SiO ₂ or the like 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.

Further, the device electrodes (not shown) opposed to the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 are provided with m X-direction wirings 102.
And n Y-directional wirings 103, vacuum deposition method, 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 device electrodes may have the same or a part of the 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. The surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 may be formed on either the substrate 1 or 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 applying means is electrically connected. 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 device.

Next, an example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention using the electron source of the present invention having the simple matrix arrangement as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 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 diagram showing the display panel 201 of FIG.
It is a block diagram which shows an example of the drive circuit for performing television display according to the television signal of SC system.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate of an electron source on which the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 are arranged as described above.
Reference numeral 11 denotes a rear plate to which the substrate 1 is fixed, 116 denotes a face plate in which a fluorescent film 114 serving as an image forming member and a metal back 115 are formed on the inner surface of a glass substrate 113, and 112 denotes a support frame. . Rear plate 111,
The support frame 112 and the face plate 116 are sealed by applying a frit glass or the like to these joints and baking them at 400 ° C. to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more in the air or nitrogen atmosphere. An enclosure 118 is formed.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 2 corresponds to the electron-emitting portion in FIG. 102 and 103 are a pair of device electrodes 4 and 5 of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 (see FIGS. 1 and 2).
, And have external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn, respectively.

The envelope 118 includes 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, and if the substrate 1 itself has sufficient strength, the rear plate 1
11 is unnecessary, and the support frame 112 may be directly sealed to the substrate 1, and 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 fluorescent film 114 is composed of only the phosphor 122 in the case of a monochrome, but is composed of the phosphor 1 in the case of a color.
Black stripes (FIG. 9A)
Alternatively, it is composed of a black conductive material 121 called a black matrix (FIG. 9B) and the like, and a phosphor 122.
The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to provide the three primary color phosphors 12 necessary for color display.
The purpose is to make the color mixture or the like inconspicuous by making the painted portion between the two black, and to suppress a decrease in contrast due to reflection of external light on the fluorescent film 114. Black conductive material 12
As the first material, not only a material mainly containing graphite, which is generally used, but also other materials can be used as long as they are conductive and have little light transmission and reflection.

As a method for 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 reduce the light emitted from the phosphor 122 (see FIG.
Improving the brightness by specular reflection to the 6th side, acting as an electrode for applying an electron beam accelerating voltage from the high voltage terminal Hv, and damaging by the collision of negative ions generated in the envelope 118. Protection of the phosphor 122 from the laser beam. 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 the fluorescent film 114 is manufactured, 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 the above-mentioned sealing is performed, in the case of a color, it is necessary to make the respective phosphors 122 correspond to the SCE surface-conduction electron-emitting devices, so that sufficient alignment is required.

The inside of the envelope 118 is evacuated to a degree of vacuum of about 10 ⁻⁷ Torr through an exhaust pipe (not shown) and sealed.
In addition, getter processing may be performed immediately before or after sealing the envelope 118. This is to heat a getter (not shown) disposed at a predetermined position in the envelope 118 by a heating method such as resistance heating or high-frequency heating.
This is a process for forming a deposition film. The getter is usually composed mainly of Ba or the like.
^{This is} for maintaining a degree of vacuum of ^-5 to 10 ^-7 Torr.

The manufacturing steps of the above-described forming and the subsequent surface conduction electron-emitting device are usually performed by using the envelope 1
This is performed immediately before or after the sealing of 18, 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, reference numeral 201 denotes the 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, 207 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 Dx1
In xm, the surface conduction electron-emitting devices provided in the display panel 201, that is, the element groups arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns are sequentially driven one by one (n elements). Are applied.

On the other hand, the external terminals Dy1 to Dyn
A modulation signal for controlling an output electron beam of each element in one row selected by the scanning signal is applied. The high voltage terminal Hv is connected to a DC voltage source Va at, for example, 10 kV.
Is supplied. 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 has m switching elements inside (schematically indicated by S1 to Sm in FIG. 10).
Each of the switching elements S1 to Sm selects either the output voltage of the DC voltage source Vx or 0 V (ground level) and is electrically connected to the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm of the display panel 201. Things. 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 DC voltage source Vx in this example, the drive voltage applied to the unscanned surface conduction electron-emitting device is equal to or lower than the threshold voltage based on the characteristics (threshold voltage) of the SCE. It is set to output such a constant voltage.

The control circuit 203 has a function of coordinating the operation of each section 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. ) 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, and stores the contents of Id1 to Idn as appropriate according to a control signal Tmry sent from the control circuit 203. The stored contents are output as I'd1 to I'dn and input to the modulation signal generator 207.

A modulation signal generator 207 is a signal line for appropriately driving and modulating each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in accordance with each of the image data I'd1 to I'dn.
The output signal is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the display panel 201 through the external 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. For voltages exceeding the threshold voltage,
The emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device. By changing the material, configuration, and manufacturing method of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the value of the threshold voltage and the degree of change of the emission current with respect to the applied voltage may be changed. I can say the thing.

That is, when a pulse-like voltage is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device, electron emission does not occur even if a voltage lower than the threshold voltage is applied, 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.

Therefore, 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 of a fixed length, but uses a voltage modulation circuit capable of appropriately modulating the peak value of the pulse 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 method using digital signals, 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, for example, a well-known amplifier circuit using an 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 as 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 of the present invention having the display panel 201 and the driving circuit as described above has the external terminals Dx1 to Dx1.
By applying a voltage from Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn, electrons can be emitted from any surface conduction electron-emitting device 104, and a high voltage is applied to the metal back 115 or the transparent electrode (not shown) through the high voltage terminal Hv. To accelerate the electron beam and apply the accelerated electron beam to the fluorescent film 1
14 by the excitation and emission generated by the collision with
A television display can be performed according to a TSC television signal.

The configuration described above is a schematic configuration necessary for obtaining the image forming apparatus of the present invention used for display and the like, and detailed portions such as materials of each member are limited to those described above. Instead, 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 example of the input signal, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is not limited to this, and may employ another system such as a PAL or SECAM system. For example, a high-definition TV system such as a MUSE system may be used.

Next, an example of the above-described ladder-shaped electron source and an image forming apparatus of the present invention using the same will be described with reference to FIGS.

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

The surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 is
A plurality is arranged in parallel on the top. 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. Such a drive voltage is applied to the common lines D2 to D9 located between the element rows, and the common lines 304 adjacent to each other, that is, the external terminals D adjacent to each other.
2 and D3, D4 and D5, D6 and D7, and D8 and D9 can be formed as a single common 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,
Reference numeral 303 denotes an opening through which electrons pass, D1 to Dm denote external terminals for applying a voltage to each surface conduction electron-emitting device, and G1 to Gn denote terminals 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 major 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 an electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104. The grid electrode 302 applies the electron beam to a stripe-shaped electrode provided orthogonally to the ladder-shaped element rows. In order to pass
A circular opening 303 is provided one by one corresponding to each surface conduction electron-emitting device 104.

The shape and arrangement position of the grid electrode 302
It does not necessarily have to be as shown in FIG. 12, and a large number of openings 303 may be provided in a mesh shape.
4 may be provided around or in the vicinity.

The external terminals D1 to Dm and G1 to Gn are connected to a drive circuit (not shown). A modulation signal for one line of an image is applied to the column of the grid electrode 302 in synchronization with the sequential driving (scanning) of the element rows one by one, so that each electron beam is applied to the fluorescent film 114. The irradiation can be controlled and the image can be displayed line by line.

As described above, the image forming apparatus of the present invention
It can be obtained by using any of the electron sources of the present invention in a simple matrix arrangement or a trapezoidal arrangement, and is suitable not only for the above-described television broadcast display device, but also as a video conference system and a display device such as a computer. A device is obtained. Further, it can be used as an exposure device of an optical printer including a photosensitive drum and the like.

[0121]

The present invention will be further described with reference to the following examples.

[Embodiment 1] In this embodiment, an example in which a surface conduction electron-emitting device having the structure shown in FIG. 1 is manufactured will be described. FIG. 1A is a plan view of a surface conduction electron-emitting device.
FIG. 1B shows a cross-sectional view. In the drawing, L represents the distance between the device electrodes 4 and 5, W1 represents the width of the device electrode, and W2 represents the width of the conductive thin film 3.

A method for manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

1) A quartz substrate was used as the substrate 1. After sufficiently washing the substrate with an organic solvent, a resist mask was formed on the substrate 1 by a photolithography technique, and then Ni as an element electrode material was formed by a vacuum deposition method. Was deposited. Thereafter, the element electrode interval L is set to 1 by a lift-off method.
Device electrodes 4 and 5 having a thickness of 0 μm and a width W1 of 500 μm were formed (FIG. 3A).

2) After forming a Cr thin film on the substrate 1 on which the device electrodes 4 and 5 have been formed,
The region where the conductive thin film 3 was formed was removed to form a Cr mask. Further, W was deposited by a sputter deposition method to form W fine particles on the substrate 1. At this time, the average particle diameter of the W fine particles was about 5 nm, and the particles were discretely distributed on the substrate 1. Subsequently, Au was deposited by the same sputtering deposition method to form Au fine particles on the substrate 1.
At this time, the average particle diameter of Au was about 6 nm, and was distributed so as to fill the gaps of the previously formed W fine particles (FIG. 3).
(B)).

3) Next, the substrate 1 on which the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the conductive thin film 3 were formed was set in a vacuum apparatus 55 of the measurement and evaluation system shown in FIG. The inside of the vacuum device 55 was set to a degree of vacuum of about 10 ^-5 Torr. Thereafter, a voltage was applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 by a power supply 51 for applying a device voltage Vf, and a forming process was performed to form the electron-emitting portion 2 (FIG. 3C). The voltage waveform shown in FIG. 4B was used for the forming process.

In this embodiment, T1 in FIG.
Second and T2 were set to 10 ms, and the peak value of the triangular wave was gradually increased until the forming was completed. as a result,
In the present embodiment, the peak value at the completion of the forming was about 5V.

In the device of this embodiment, the conductive thin film 3 is made of W
On average, the forming power is about 5 times less than that of the comparative device prepared in the same manner as described above except that the device is composed only of fine particles.
Could be reduced by a factor of one.

The measurement of the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this example was performed using the above-described measurement evaluation system.

The measurement conditions were as follows: the distance H between the anode electrode 54 and the surface conduction electron-emitting device was 4 mm;
4 at 1 kV, and a vacuum device 55 for measuring the electron emission characteristics.
The degree of vacuum was set to about 1 × 10 ⁻⁶ Torr.

[0131] As a result, elements of this embodiment, with respect to production of several times the current that looks as though it indicated by a solid line in FIG. 6 - voltage characteristics were obtained. A typical element characteristic is an element voltage V
At f = 14 V, the device current If was 1.5 mA and the emission current Ie was 0.8 μA.

A comparative device was fabricated in exactly the same manner as in this example except that the conductive thin film 3 was composed of only Au fine particles, and the device was continuously driven for 100 hours. Decreased by about 20%.

On the other hand, the reduction rate of the emission current Ie after continuously driving the device in this embodiment under the same conditions for 100 hours was about 5%.

[Embodiment 2] In this embodiment, another example in which a surface conduction electron-emitting device having the structure shown in FIG. 1 is manufactured will be described.

In the device of this embodiment, iridium (I) is used as the high melting point fine particles 7 as the first constituent element of the conductive thin film 3.
For r), palladium oxide (PdO) was used as the low melting point fine particles 8 as the second component.

For forming Ir fine particles on the substrate 1, a sputter deposition method was used. As a method for forming PdO fine particles,
First, a method was used in which Pd was sputter-deposited on the substrate 1 and then baked and oxidized at 400 ° C. in an air atmosphere. The structure of the other elements and the manufacturing process are the same as in the first embodiment.

In this example, the amounts of the Ir fine particles and the PdO fine particles were adjusted by the respective sputter deposition times so that the resistance value between the two device electrodes 4 and 5 before forming was about 1000Ω.

As a result, the forming current was about one tenth or less as compared with an element having the same structure and in which the conductive thin film 3 was composed of only Ir fine particles (element resistance was about 10Ω). .

A comparative device was produced in the same manner as in this example except that the conductive thin film 3 was composed of only PdO fine particles, and the device was continuously driven for 100 hours. Decreased by about 15%.

On the other hand, the reduction rate of the emission current Ie after continuously driving the device in this embodiment under the same conditions for 100 hours was about 5%.

[Embodiment 3] In this embodiment, an electron source as shown in FIG. 7 in which a large number of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices as shown in FIG. 1 are arranged in a simple matrix is used.
An example in which the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

In the production of the electron source, each pattern of the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the conductive thin film 3 described in the first embodiment is expanded to form a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices at the same time, and to simultaneously form an X-direction wiring. (Also called lower wiring) 102 and Y
The direction wiring (also referred to as upper wiring) 103 was formed.

An example in which an image forming apparatus is formed using an unformed electron source substrate manufactured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, after the substrate 1 of the unformed electron source is fixed to the rear plate 111, a face plate 116 (an image forming member is formed on the inner surface of the glass substrate 113) is provided 5 mm above the substrate 1. The fluorescent film 114 and the metal back 115 are formed.)
And the face plate 116 and the support frame 11
2. Frit glass was applied to the joint portion of the rear plate 111, and was baked at 400 ° C. to 500 ° C. in the air for 10 minutes or more to seal (see FIG. 8). The fixing of the substrate 1 to the rear plate 111 was also performed using frit glass.

The phosphor film 114 serving as an image forming member
Is made of only a phosphor in the case of a monochrome, but in this embodiment, the phosphor adopts a stripe shape (see FIG. 9A), and a black stripe is formed first with the black conductive material 121, and Each color phosphor 12 is formed in the gap by the slurry method.
2 was applied to form a fluorescent film 114. Black conductive material 12
As 1, a commonly used material mainly composed of graphite was used.

Further, a metal back 115 was provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 114. The metal back 115 is the fluorescent film 1
After the fabrication of 14, a smoothing process (usually called filming) of the inner surface of the fluorescent film 114 is performed, and then A
1 was produced by vacuum evaporation.

In the face plate 116, a transparent electrode may be provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 114 in order to further enhance the conductivity of the fluorescent film 114, but in this embodiment, only the metal back 115 is provided. Omitted because sufficient conductivity was obtained.

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

The atmosphere in the envelope 118 completed as described above is exhausted by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm
A voltage was applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 of each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 through Dy1 to Dyn, and a forming process was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 to produce an electron-emitting portion 2.

Thereafter, the envelope 1 is passed through an exhaust pipe (not shown).
The inside of the vessel 18 was evacuated to a degree of vacuum of about 10 ^−6.5 Torr, and the exhaust pipe was heated and welded with a gas burner to seal the envelope 118. Finally, gettering was performed by a high-frequency heating method in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing. The getter contained Ba as a main component.

In the display panel 201 (see FIG. 8) constructed using the electron sources in the simple matrix arrangement as described above, the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm, Dy1 to Dy
Through yn, a scanning signal and a modulation signal are applied to each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 by signal generation means (not shown) to emit electrons, and a high voltage of several kV or more is applied to the metal back 115 through the high voltage terminal Hv. By applying the voltage, the electron beam was accelerated and collided with the fluorescent film 114 to excite and emit light, thereby displaying an image. As a result, since the surface conduction electron-emitting device used in this example has excellent stability of electron emission characteristics, there is no luminance reduction over a long period of time, and high-luminance, high-definition images can be stably formed. Could be displayed.

[Embodiment 4] FIG. 13 shows a display panel (display panel) 201 (see FIG. 8) of Embodiment 3 using image information provided from various image information sources such as television broadcasting. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image display device of the present invention configured to be able to display.

In the figure, reference numeral 201 denotes a display panel;
1 is a display panel driving circuit, 1002 is a display controller, 1003 is a multiplexer, 10
04 is a decoder, 1005 is an input / output interface circuit, 1006 is a CPU, 1007 is an image generation circuit, 10
08, 1009 and 1010 are image memory interface circuits, 1011 is an image input interface circuit,
1012 and 1013 are TV signal receiving circuits, and 1014 is an input unit.

When the present display device receives a signal including both video information and audio information, such as a television signal, it naturally reproduces the audio simultaneously with the display of the video. Descriptions of circuits, speakers, and the like related to reception, separation, reproduction, processing, storage, and the like of audio information that are not directly related to the features of the present invention are omitted.

Hereinafter, each part will be described along the flow of the image signal.

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 1013 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wireless transmission system such as radio waves or spatial optical communication.

The format of the received TV signal is not particularly limited. For example, NTSC, PAL, SE
Various systems such as the CAM system may be used. Further, a TV signal composed of a larger number of scanning lines than these, for example, a so-called high-definition TV including the MUSE system is suitable for taking advantage of the display panel 201 suitable for a large area and a large number of pixels. Signal source.

T received by TV signal receiving circuit 1013
The V signal is output to the decoder 1004.

An image TV signal receiving circuit 1012 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wired transmission system such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. Similarly to the TV signal receiving circuit 1013, the system of the TV signal to be received is not particularly limited, and the TV signal received by this circuit is also output to the decoder 1004.

Image input interface circuit 1011
Is a circuit for capturing an image signal supplied from an image input device such as a TV camera or an image reading scanner. The captured image signal is output to the decoder 1004.

Image memory interface circuit 1010
Is a circuit for capturing an image signal stored in a video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR). The captured image signal is output to a decoder 1004.

Image memory interface circuit 1009
Is a circuit for taking in an image signal stored in a video disk.
04 is output.

Image memory-interface circuit 100
Reference numeral 8 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal from a device storing still image data, such as a so-called still image disk.
Is output to

The input / output interface circuit 1005
This is a circuit for connecting the present display device to an output device such as an external computer, computer network, or printer. In addition to inputting and outputting image data and character / graphic information, control signals and numerical data can be input and output between the CPU 1006 of the display device and the outside in some cases.

The image generation circuit 1007 is provided with image data, character / graphic information input from outside via the input / output interface circuit 1005, or the CPU 1006.
This is a circuit for generating display image data based on the image data and character / graphic information output from the display unit. Inside this circuit, for example, a rewritable memory for storing image data and character / graphic information, a read-only memory storing an image pattern corresponding to a character code,
A circuit necessary for generating an image such as a processor for performing image processing is incorporated therein.

The display image data generated by the present circuit is output to the decoder 1004, but may be output to an external computer network or printer via the input / output interface circuit 1005 in some cases.

The CPU 1006 mainly performs operations related to operation control of the display device and generation, selection, and editing of a display image.

For example, a control signal is output to the multiplexer 1003, and image signals to be displayed on the display panel 201 are appropriately selected or combined. At that time, a control signal is generated for the display panel controller 1002 in accordance with an image signal to be displayed, and a display frequency, a scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced), and the number of scanning lines per screen are displayed. The operation of the device is appropriately controlled. Further, image data and character / graphic information are directly output to the image generation circuit 1007,
Alternatively, an external computer or memory is accessed via the input / output interface circuit 1005 to input image data and character / graphic information.

The CPU 1006 may, of course, be involved in work for other purposes. For example, it may be directly related to a function of generating and processing information, such as a personal computer or a word processor. Alternatively, as described above, the computer may be connected to an external computer network via the input / output interface circuit 1005 to perform operations such as numerical calculations in cooperation with external devices.

The input unit 1014 is for the user to input commands, programs, data, and the like to the CPU 1006. For example, in addition to a keyboard and a mouse,
Various input devices such as a joystick, a barcode reader, and a voice recognition device can be used.

The decoder 1004 converts the various image signals input from the above 1007 to 1013 into three primary color signals,
Alternatively, it is a circuit for inversely converting a luminance signal into an I signal and a Q signal. As shown by the dotted line in FIG.
004 preferably has an internal image memory. This is for handling television signals that require an image memory when performing inverse conversion, such as the MUSE method.

The provision of the image memory facilitates the display of a still image. Alternatively, in cooperation with the image generation circuit 1007 and the CPU 1006, there is obtained an advantage that image processing and editing including image thinning, interpolation, enlargement, reduction, and synthesis become easy.

The multiplexer 1003 is connected to the CPU 10
A display image is appropriately selected based on a control signal input from the controller 06. That is, the multiplexer 1003 selects a desired image signal from the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 1004 and outputs the selected image signal to the drive circuit 1001. In that case, by switching and selecting an image signal within one screen display time, it is also possible to divide one screen into a plurality of areas and display different images depending on the areas, as in a so-called multi-screen TV. .

Display panel controller 1002
Is a circuit for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 1001 based on a control signal input from the CPU 1006.

[0175] As ones related to the basic operation of the display panel 201, for example,
A signal for controlling the operation sequence of the driving power supply (not shown) is output to the driving circuit 1001. As a method related to the driving method of the display panel 201, a signal for controlling, for example, a screen display frequency and a scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced) is output to the driving circuit 1001. In some cases, a control signal relating to image quality adjustment such as luminance, contrast, color tone, and sharpness of a display image is supplied to the driving circuit 10.
01 may be output.

The drive circuit 1001 is a circuit for generating a drive signal to be applied to the display panel 201, based on an image signal input from the multiplexer 1003 and a control signal input from the display panel controller 1002. It works.

The function of each unit has been described above. With the configuration illustrated in FIG. 13, in this display device, image information input from various image information sources is displayed on the display panel 2.
01 can be displayed. That is, various image signals including television broadcasting are supplied to the decoder 1004.
After being inversely converted in, the signal is appropriately selected in the multiplexer 1003 and input to the drive circuit 1001. On the other hand, the display controller 1002 generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the driving circuit 1001 according to the image signal to be displayed. The drive circuit 1001 applies a drive signal to the display panel 201 based on the image signal and the control signal. Thus, an image is displayed on the display panel 201. These series of operations are totally controlled by the CPU 1006.

In the present image forming apparatus, the image memory built in the decoder 1004 and the image generation circuit 100
7 and the CPU 1006 involve not only displaying a selected one of a plurality of pieces of image information but also enlarging, reducing, rotating, moving, edge emphasizing, thinning out, and interpolating the image information to be displayed. It is also possible to perform image processing such as color conversion, image aspect ratio conversion and the like, and image editing such as synthesis, erasure, connection, replacement, and fitting. Although not particularly described in the description of the present embodiment, a dedicated circuit for processing and editing audio information may be provided as in the above-described image processing and image editing.

Therefore, the present image forming apparatus can be used as a display device for television broadcasting, a terminal device for video conference, an image editing device for handling still images and moving images, a computer terminal device, office terminal devices including word processors,
It is possible to combine functions such as game machines with one unit,
It has a very wide range of applications for industrial or consumer use.

FIG. 13 shows only an example of the configuration of an image forming apparatus using a display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention as an electron beam source. It goes without saying that the forming apparatus is not limited to this.

For example, among the components shown in FIG. 13, circuits relating to functions that are unnecessary for the purpose of use may be omitted.
Conversely, additional components may be added depending on the purpose of use. For example, when the present image forming apparatus is applied as a videophone, it is preferable to add a transmission / reception circuit including a television camera, an audio microphone, an illuminator, and a modem to the components.

In the present image forming apparatus, in particular, the display panel 201 according to the present invention can be easily made thin, so that the depth of the display device can be reduced. In addition, since it is easy to enlarge the screen, the brightness is high, and the viewing angle characteristics are excellent, it is possible to display an image full of a sense of reality and full of power with good visibility.

[0183]

As described above, the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention can easily form with very low power and has high structural stability of the electron-emitting portion formed thereby. Therefore, it is possible to maintain stable electron emission characteristics with excellent durability over a long period of time.

Further, the electron source of the present invention, in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arrayed, and the image forming apparatus using the same, have a small decrease in luminance even after long-time driving, and provide a high-luminance, high-definition image. Is obtained stably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device showing an example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device showing another example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of a method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an example of a voltage waveform used for a forming process.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a measurement evaluation system for measuring electron emission characteristics of a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a typical example of the relationship between the emission current Ie and the device current If and the device voltage Vf of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

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

FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a display panel including an electron source in a simple matrix arrangement.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a fluorescent film used for a display panel.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a driving circuit of an image forming apparatus that performs image display according to an NTSC television signal.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a trapezoidal arrangement of electron sources.

FIG. 12 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a display panel provided with a trapezoidal arrangement of electron sources.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus according to a fourth exemplary embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2 Electron emission part 3 Conductive thin film 4, 5 Device electrode 7 High melting point particle 8 Low melting point particle 21 Step forming member 50 Ammeter for measuring element current If flowing through conductive thin film 3 51 Surface conduction type electron emission A power supply 52 for applying a device voltage Vf to the device 52 An ammeter 53 for measuring an emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission unit 2 53 A high voltage power supply 54 for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 54 An emission from the electron emission unit 2 Anode electrode 55 for capturing electrons to be emitted 55 Vacuum device 56 Exhaust pump 102 X-direction wiring 103 Y-direction 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 Face plate Hv High voltage terminal 118 Envelope 121 Black conductive material 122 Phosphor 01 display panel 202 scanning circuit 203 control circuit 204 shift register 205 line memory 206 synchronization signal separation circuit 207 modulation signal generator Va DC voltage source Vx DC voltage source 301 display panel 302 grid electrode 303 opening for passing electrons 304 surface conduction Wiring for wiring the electron-emitting devices 104 1001 Driving circuit of the display panel 201 1002 Display controller 1003 Multiplexer 1004 Decoder 1005 Input / output interface circuit 1006 CPU 1007 Image generation circuit 1008, 1009, 1010 Image memory interface circuit 1011 Image input interface circuit 1012 , 1013 TV signal receiving circuit 1014 Input unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Surveyed fields (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01J 9/02 H01J 1/30 H01J 31/12

Claims (15)

(57) [Claims] 1. A semiconductor device comprising: a pair of device electrodes provided on a substrate;
Of an electron-emitting device having an electron-emitting portion in a conductive thin film
In the manufacturing method, an element electrode is formed on a substrate and a conductive thin film is formed.
A mixture of at least two types of fine particles having different melting points.
Forming a mixed fine particle film made of a compound;
With a mining processAnd The forming step is performed in the vicinity of the electron emitting portion.
The abundance ratio of high melting point fine particles to low melting point fine particles
A section that is larger than that of the rest of the composite particle membrane
Done in Manufacturing method of electron-emitting device characterized by the following:
Law. 2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of :
In the discharge area, carbon and carbon are removed from organic substances existing in the atmosphere.
A step of depositing an elemental compound.
The method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 1. 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the device electrode is provided between a pair of device electrodes provided on the substrate.
For electron-emitting devices with an electron-emitting portion on a conductive thin film
The conductive thin film has at least two kinds of different melting points.
A mixed fine particle film comprising a mixture of fine particles of
Abundance ratio of high melting point fine particles to low melting point fine particles
An electron-emitting device characterized by having a large diameter. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein carbon and a carbon compound are contained in the electron emitting portion.
The electron-emitting device according to claim 3 , wherein the electron-emitting device is deposited . 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mixed fine particle film comprises W fine particles and Au fine particles.
The electron-emitting device according to claim 3, comprising particles . 6. The mixed fine particle film comprises Ir fine particles and Pd
5. The electron-emitting device according to claim 3, comprising O fine particles . 7. A pair of device electrodes are formed on the same surface.
The electron-emitting device according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the electron-emitting device is a planar type . 8. An insulator provided adjacent to one of the device electrodes.
The other element electrode is located on the edge layer, and an electrode is placed on the side of the insulating layer.
Vertical type with a conductive thin film containing
The electron emission device according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein
Demoto child. 9. An electron emission device according to claim 1, wherein said electron emission device is a surface conduction type electron emission device.
9. An output element according to claim 3, wherein
3. The electron-emitting device according to item 1. 10.Conductive thin film straddling between a pair of device electrodes
Multiple electron-emitting devices with electron-emitting parts on the substrate
In the method of manufacturing an electron source, A plurality of pairs of device electrodes are formed on a substrate, and
As a conductive thin film straddling between daughter electrodes,
Fine particles comprising a mixture of at least two types of fine particles.
Forming a daughter film; Form for forming an electron emission part by supplying electricity to each mixed fine particle film
And a mining step, The forming step is performed in the vicinity of the electron emitting portion.
The abundance ratio of high melting point fine particles to low melting point fine particles
A section that is larger than that of the rest of the composite particle membrane
A method for manufacturing an electron source, comprising: 11. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of :
In the electron emission part, carbon and carbon
Having a step of depositing a carbon compound
A method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 10. 12. An electron according to claim 3, wherein
Electrons comprising a plurality of emission elements on a substrate
source. 13. The electron source includes a plurality of electron-emitting devices.
At least one or more element rows are arranged, and each electron emission
Wiring for driving elements is arranged in a matrix
The electron source according to claim 12, wherein: 14. The electron source includes a plurality of electron-emitting devices.
At least one or more element rows are arranged, and each electron emission
Make sure that the wiring for driving the elements is
13. The electron source according to claim 12, wherein: 15. The method according to claim 12, wherein:
An image is formed by irradiating an electron source and an electron beam from the electron source.
An image forming member comprising:
Forming equipment.