JP3087003B2 - Method of manufacturing electron source and 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 source using a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, and a method for 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 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 usually performed by applying a voltage to both ends of the conductive thin film and conducting electricity.The conductive thin film is locally destroyed, deformed or altered to change its structure, and the electron-emitting portion is in an electrically high-resistance state. Is a process of forming 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 surface conduction electron-emitting devices have the advantage that a large number of arrays can be formed over a large area because they have a simple structure and are 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 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 common wiring) are arranged in a large number of rows (also referred to as a trapezoidal arrangement) (JP-A-64-31332;
Nos. 83749 and 1-257552). 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. 5,066,883).

In a display device using the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device, in order to obtain a high-quality, high-definition image on a large screen, the number of rows and columns of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is several hundred to several, respectively. Thousands, and it is necessary to arrange a very large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices. Therefore, it is desired that the electrical characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device be uniform and easy to control.

[0007]

However, the conventional electron source using the surface conduction electron-emitting device has the following problems.

That is, when the forming process is performed, the conductive thin films of a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are simultaneously energized. A gradient was generated in the forming voltage applied to each emission element, and the shape of the crack formed by the forming also changed, and the element characteristics were likely to be non-uniform.

The above problem will be described in more detail. FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 are explanatory diagrams thereof. In both figures, (a) is an equivalent circuit diagram including a surface conduction electron-emitting device, a wiring resistance and a power supply, and (b) is a diagram of each surface conduction electron-emitting device. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating potentials of a positive electrode and a negative electrode.

FIG. 13A shows a circuit in which _n surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices D _{1 to} D _n connected in parallel and a power supply VE are connected through wiring, and the positive electrode of the power supply and the element D are connected.
₁ of the high potential side and which are connected to the low potential side and a negative electrode of the device D ₁ of the power supply. Further, the common wiring connecting the elements in parallel has a resistance component of r between adjacent elements as shown in the figure. In an image forming apparatus, pixels serving as targets of an electron beam are usually arranged at an equal pitch. Therefore, the surface conduction electron-emitting devices are also arranged at equal intervals in space, and the wiring connecting them has the same resistance value among the devices unless the film thickness varies in manufacturing. Further, elements D ₁ to D _n is assumed to have a substantially equal resistance value R _d.

FIG. 13B shows the potential of the positive electrode and the negative electrode of each element in the circuit diagram of FIG. The horizontal axis in the figure indicates the element number, and the vertical axis indicates the potential. As is clear from this figure, the voltage drop due to the wiring resistance r is:
Does not mean occur uniformly, it has become steeper closer to element D ₁ is also in the negative electrode side in the positive electrode side. This is because a large current flows through the wiring resistance r closer to D _1.

As can be seen from the drawing, in the case of the circuit as shown in FIG. 13A, a smaller voltage is applied to an element farther from the element (D ₁ ) at the power input end .

On the other hand, FIG. 14 shows a case where the positive and negative electrodes of the power supply are connected from both sides (elements D ₁ and D _{n in} this figure) of the parallel-connected element row. In the case of such a circuit, the potential on the high potential side and the potential on the low potential side are as shown in FIG. Therefore, the voltage applied to each element becomes smaller toward the center of the element row.

The degree of distribution of the applied voltage for each element as shown in the above two examples depends on the total number n of elements connected in parallel,
The distribution differs depending on the ratio (= R _d / r) between the element resistance R _d and the wiring resistance r or the connection position of the power supply. In general, the distribution becomes remarkable as n increases and R _d / r decreases. The connection method of FIG. 13 has a larger distribution of the voltage applied to the device than the connection method of FIG. Although different from the above two examples, even in a simple matrix wiring as shown in FIG. 7 described later, the voltage drop caused by the wiring resistance of each of the X-directional wiring 102 and the Y-directional wiring 103 causes the voltage applied to each element. A distribution occurs in the voltage.

Actually, when the forming process is performed in the manufacturing process, since the forming is performed at the same effective voltage if the elements have the same shape, the forming proceeds in order from the element at the power input end due to the voltage drop.
The electrical resistance of the surface conduction electron-emitting device changes before and after forming, and generally depends on the material of the device and the shape of the electrode, but generally the resistance after forming is 10 times or more that before forming. Accordingly, the value of the current flowing through the element decreases as the forming is performed, and the value of the current flowing through the wiring changes. In the initial stage of forming, the rate of change in the value of the current flowing through the wiring is small. Therefore, the input voltage necessary for forming the remaining elements sequentially increases due to the above-described voltage drop. On the other hand, in the latter stage when more than half of the elements are formed, the value of the current flowing through the elements becomes extremely small, and as the forming proceeds, the rate of decrease of the current flowing through the elements increases, so that the voltage drop in the wiring decreases drastically, The voltage value applied to the remaining elements rapidly increases. That is, in the later stage, the power input terminal voltage required for forming decreases in reverse to the initial stage.

FIG. 15 shows applied voltages necessary for forming each element in order from the power input end when forming is performed by the circuit of FIG. 13 (a). When power is supplied from one side in this way, forming is performed in order from the element at the power input end, and the applied voltage required at the power input end increases gradually to the element near the center, and then reverses toward the opposite end. , And sequentially decreases.

FIG. 16 shows applied voltages required when forming is performed by the circuit of FIG. As shown in this figure, when current is applied from both sides, forming is performed in order from the element at the power input end on both sides, and the applied voltage required at the power input end increases sequentially up to the element near 1/4 on both sides. After that, the size of the element is gradually reduced to the element at the central portion to be finally formed.

As described above, when forming an element array in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting elements are arranged through wiring, the required voltage value applied to the wiring terminals is not uniform, and the positions of the elements to be sequentially formed are not uniform. Need to be changed by

However, it is actually difficult to detect the position of the element to be formed in real time. Although it is possible to control the applied voltage by detecting the current value that changes in microseconds, the variation in the wiring resistance and element resistance cannot accurately estimate the amount of change in the current value with respect to the forming position. It is difficult.

Therefore, the voltage value applied from the external power supply in the actual manufacturing process is constant while being increased in the initial stage, so that an unnecessary voltage is applied to the element formed in the latter stage. .

In the forming, an electron-emitting portion is provided by forming a crack in the conductive thin film by energization. However, when the applied voltage differs for each element, the current also varies, and the temperature rise due to Joule heat in the conductive thin film occurs. Changes. It is considered that the crack formation due to energization occurs at a position where the temperature profile shows a peak due to Joule heat. Therefore, if the temperature rise differs between the elements, a distribution among the elements occurs in the shape, such as the position and the width, of the resulting crack. In particular, in this case, a remarkable distribution occurs in an element formed at a later stage.

The above problem has the following disadvantages. (1) The number of elements that can be commonly wired is practically limited. (2) In order to lower the wiring resistance, it is necessary to use a relatively expensive material such as Au or Ag, which increases the cost of raw materials. (3) In order to lower the wiring resistance, it is necessary to form the wiring electrodes thicker, which increases the time required for the manufacturing process such as electrode formation and patterning and the cost of equipment. (4) When a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are formed through a common wiring, distribution occurs in the electron emission characteristics. (5) When the image display device is configured, the luminance is distributed.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and even if a plurality of elements are simultaneously formed through a common wiring formed without using the above-mentioned expensive materials and complicated processes, uniform electron emission is achieved in each element. An object of the present invention is to provide an electron source capable of forming an emission portion and thereby displaying a uniform image.

[0024]

Means and actions for solving the problems Claims 1 to 10
The invention relates to a method of manufacturing an electron source in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices each having an electron-emitting portion in a conductive thin film formed over a pair of device electrodes are connected by common wiring on the same substrate. Wherein a forming step of simultaneously applying a voltage to the conductive thin films of a plurality of elements via a common wiring to form an electron-emitting portion in each element is performed in an atmosphere in which an organic substance is present. .

[0025]

The invention according to claims 11 and 12 is characterized in that the electron source
This is a method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus using the manufacturing method described above.

As described above, the present invention provides an electron source using a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices and an image forming apparatus using the same.
It relates to a production method of the apparatus, further illustrating the construction and operation of the invention below, along with examples of suitable surface conduction electron-emitting device thereto.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device includes a planar type and a vertical type, and any surface conduction electron-emitting device can be used in the present invention. First, a basic configuration of the flat surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are views showing the basic structure of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a substrate, 2 is an electron emitting portion,
3 is a conductive thin film, and 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.
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 thin 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 μm to several hundred μm, and more preferably several μm to several hundred μm depending on the voltage applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the electric field strength capable of emitting electrons. 10 μm.

The element electrode length W is preferably several μm to several hundred μm in consideration of the resistance value and electron emission characteristics of the electrode, and the element electrode thickness d is several hundred μm to several μm.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 1 is formed by stacking 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.

In order to obtain good electron emission characteristics, the conductive thin 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 thin film 3 is preferably several Å to several thousand Å, particularly preferably 10 to 500 、, and its resistance value is 10 to 500 Å.
The sheet resistance is ³ to 10 ⁷ Ω / □.

As a material constituting the conductive thin film 3, for example, Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, C
metals such as u, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W and Pb, PdO, SnO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO and Sb ₂ O
Oxides such as ₃ , HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ , LaB ₆ , CeB
₆ , borides such as YB ₄ and GdB ₄ , TiC, ZrC, H
Carbides such as fC, TaC, SiC, WC, TiN, Zr
Examples include nitrides such as N and HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, and carbon.

The fine particle film is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are gathered, and has a fine structure not only in a state in which the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also in a state in which the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (island shape). ). In the case of a fine particle film, the particle size of the fine particles is preferably several to several thousand, and particularly preferably 10 to 200.

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.
Although the plane type is described as an example, a vertical type surface conduction type electron-emitting device may be used instead of the plane type surface conduction type electron-emitting device.

Various methods are conceivable for producing the surface conduction electron-emitting device, one example of which 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 cleaning 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 element on the surface of the substrate 1 by a photolithography technique. Electrodes 4 and 5 are formed (FIG. 3A).

2) An organic metal solution is applied on the substrate 1 on which the device electrodes 4 and 5 are provided, and the solution is allowed to stand.
And an element electrode 5 are connected to form an organic metal thin film.
The organic metal solution is a solution of an organic compound containing a metal as a constituent element of the conductive thin film 3 as a main element. Thereafter, the organic metal thin film is heated and baked to form a conductive thin film 3 patterned by lift-off, etching, or the like (FIG. 3B). Here, the description has been given of the method of applying the organic metal solution. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the organic metal solution may be formed by a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, a dispersion coating method, a dipping method, a spinner method, or the like. A film can also be formed.

3) Subsequently, an energization process called forming is performed. Between the device electrodes 4 and 5, is energized from a power supply (not shown), site electron-emitting region 2 of the electroconductive thin film 3 is formed (Figure 3 (c)). The conductive thin film 3
Is locally destroyed, deformed or altered, and the portion where the structure is changed is the electron emission portion 2 .

FIG. 4 shows an example of a forming voltage waveform.

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.

In FIG. 4A, T ₁ and T ₂ are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, for example, T ₁ is 1 μm.
sec~10msec, the T ₂ 10μsec~100m
The peak value (peak voltage at the time of forming) is appropriately selected according to the form of the above-mentioned 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 with reference to FIG.

T ₁ and T ₂ 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 T ₂ , the conductive thin film 3
(See FIGS. 1 and 2) The element current is measured at a voltage that does not cause local destruction, deformation, or deterioration of the element, for example, a voltage of about 0.1 V, and the resistance value is obtained. Finish forming.

4) Next, it is preferable to perform an activation step on the device after the forming 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. The pulse peak value in the activation step is preferably the peak value of the drive voltage.

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.

5) More preferably, the surface conduction electron-emitting device thus manufactured is operated and driven in a vacuum atmosphere having a degree of vacuum higher than the degree of vacuum in the forming step and the activation step. Further, more preferably, after the heating at 80 ° C. to 150 ° C. in the vacuum atmosphere with the higher degree of vacuum, the operation is driven.

The vacuum atmosphere having a degree of vacuum higher than the degree of vacuum in which the forming step and the activation treatment are performed is, for example, about 10 ^−6.
A degree of vacuum higher than torr , more preferably an ultrahigh vacuum system, and a degree of vacuum in which carbon and carbon compounds are not newly deposited.

The step 5) suppresses further deposition of carbon and carbon compounds, and stabilizes the device current and the emission current.

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

FIG. 5 is a schematic block 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 symbols as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same members. Reference numeral 51 denotes a power supply for applying a device voltage _Vf to the device, 50 denotes an ammeter for measuring a device current _If flowing through the conductive thin film 3 between the device electrodes 4 and 5 ', and 54 denotes an electron emitting portion. An anode electrode for capturing an emission current _Ie emitted from the anode, 53 a high-voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 54, 52 an ammeter for measuring the emission current _Ie , 55 a vacuum device, 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 system (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 ultra high 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.
By configuring it as the interior thereof, it can be applied to measurement evaluation and processing in the above-described forming step, activation step, and subsequent steps described later.

The basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device described below are as follows: the voltage of the anode electrode 54 in 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 2 to 8 mm. This is based on the measurement performed as follows.

First, the emission current I _e and the device current _If ,
FIG. 6 shows a typical example of the relationship with the element voltage _Vf . still,
In FIG. 6, since the emission current _Ie is significantly smaller than the device current _If , it is shown in arbitrary units.

As is clear 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 of a surface conduction type electron-emitting device is applied with a device voltage _Vf higher than a certain voltage (referred to as a threshold voltage: _{Vth in} FIG. 6), the emission current _Ie rapidly increases. ,
On the other hand, the emission current _Ie is hardly detected below the threshold voltage _Vth . That is, it is a non-linear element having a clear threshold voltage V _th with respect to the emission current I _e .

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 emission current _Ie is equal to MI with respect to the device voltage _Vf .
At the same time having a characteristic, it may have a MI characteristic with respect to the device current I _f also the device voltage V _f. An example of the characteristics of such a surface conduction electron-emitting device is a characteristic indicated by a solid line in FIG. On the other hand, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 6, the device current _If is different from the device voltage _Vf by the voltage-controlled negative resistance
R 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, the element current _If is equal to the element voltage _Vf.
However, even in a surface conduction electron-emitting device having VCNR characteristics, the emission current _Ie has MI characteristics with respect to the device voltage _Vf .

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 according to 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-directions on m X-directional wirings. There is 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 the 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, the emitted electrons in the surface conduction electron-emitting device arranged in a simple matrix are arranged 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 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. is there.

The m X-directional wirings 102 have external terminals D _x1 , D _x2 ,..., D _xm , respectively.
The conductive metal is formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. In addition, many surface conduction electron-emitting devices 10
4 so that the voltage is supplied almost uniformly.
The wiring width is set.

The n number of Y direction wirings 103 have external terminals D _y1 , D _y2 ,..., D _yn , respectively.
02 is created in the same way as the above.

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, for example, SiO ₂ formed by a vacuum evaporation 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) 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).

The forming process of the electron source composed of the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices is basically as described in the manufacturing process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. In the present invention, the forming of the electron source is performed in the presence of an organic substance in order to prevent variations in the electron emission portion after forming due to the wiring resistance of the common wiring.

The forming step in the method for manufacturing an electron source according to the present invention will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.

In FIG. 17, reference numeral 171 denotes an element row in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged, and the X-direction wirings 102 are all connected in common. 175 is a vacuum container, 176 is an organic substance supply source, 177 is a vacuum exhaust system, 178, 178 '.
Is a valve, and 179 is a forming power supply for supplying forming power.

After the vacuum vessel 175 is evacuated by the vacuum evacuation system 177 in the above configuration, the valve is opened while adjusting the valve 178 ', and an organic substance gas is introduced. At this time, the introduction amount is controlled by adjusting the valves 178 and 178 '.

After a desired amount of organic substance gas is introduced into the vacuum chamber 175, a forming voltage is applied to the X-directional wiring 102 and the Y-directional wiring 103 to form the element row 171. At this time, forming is performed in order from the element near the power input end due to the potential drop due to the wiring resistance described above. In this case, since an organic substance is present in the surroundings, the electron-emitting portion of the sequentially formed element has an organic emission region. The material is deposited and the resistance is reduced. Therefore, the resistance does not increase at a stretch after the forming, and the current value flowing through the wiring does not decrease significantly even if the elements in the latter stage of the forming are sequentially formed, and the voltage drop due to the wiring exists to the end without a large change. become. Therefore, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 18, when a voltage is applied from both sides of the wiring, the power input end voltage required for forming from the both sides sequentially increases as shown in FIG.

That is, the voltage applied from the forming power supply is monotonically increased at an appropriate rate, so that a plurality of elements are uniformly formed by the common wiring without applying an excessive voltage to the elements, and uniform electron emission characteristics are obtained. Can be manufactured.

As the organic substance that can be used in the present invention, conventionally known materials can be used. For example, alkanes, alkenes, aliphatic hydrocarbons of alkynes, and aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, amines, and phenols, carboxylic acids, organic acids of sulfonic acids, and further include derivatives thereof. Among them, one kind or a mixture of two or more kinds can be used.

In the present invention, a preferable organic substance has a vapor pressure of 5,000 hPa or less. If the vapor pressure is low, the organic substance is sufficiently deposited on the above-mentioned electron-emitting portion, so that the resistance can be reliably reduced. Specific examples of the organic substance having a vapor pressure of 5000 hPa or less include methane, ethane, ethylene, acetylene, propylene, butadiene, n-hexane, 1-hexene, n-octane, n-decane, n-dodecane, benzene, and dinitrobenzene. , Toluene, o-
Xylene, benzonitrile, chloroethylene, trichloroethylene, methanol, ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, ethylene glycol, glycerin, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, propanal, acetone,
Ethyl methyl ketone, diethyl ketone, methylamine,
Ethylamine, ethylenediamine, phenol, formic acid,
Acetic acid, propionic acid and the like can be mentioned.

In the present invention, a method of introducing the above organic substance as a gas is preferably used. The partial pressure of the organic substance to be introduced is preferably about 10 ⁻² to 10 ⁻⁷ torr.

Further, in the electron source of the present invention, it is preferable that the activation process described in the manufacturing process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is performed after the forming process. It can be used as an atmosphere, and the activation process can be continuously performed as it is to simplify the process.

In the electron source shown in FIG. 7, the X-direction wiring 102 scans the rows of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 arranged in the X-direction in accordance with an input signal, which will be described later in detail. For this purpose, a scanning signal applying unit (not shown) for applying a scanning signal 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 in accordance with 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 the image forming apparatus of the present invention using the electron source of the present invention having the above-described simple matrix arrangement will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of the display panel 201, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the fluorescent film 114, and FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the display panel 201 of FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a driving circuit for performing television display in accordance with a TSC television signal.

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 to 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 numeral 2 corresponds to the electron-emitting portion in FIG. Reference numerals 102 and 103 denote X-direction wiring and Y-direction wiring connected to a pair of device electrodes 4 and 5 of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104, respectively, and external terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm and D _{y1, respectively.}
~ _Dyn .

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. 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 fluorescent film 114 is composed of only the phosphor 122 in the case of monochrome, but in the case of the color fluorescent film 114, depending on the arrangement of the phosphor 122, a black stripe (FIG. 9A) or a black matrix (FIG. 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 improve the brightness by mirror-reflecting light toward the inner surface side of the light emitted from the phosphor 122 (see FIG. 9) toward the glass substrate 113, and to apply an electron beam acceleration voltage. Acting as an electrode,
For example, protection of the phosphor 122 from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the envelope 118 is performed. Metal back 1
15 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 increase the conductivity of the fluorescent film 114.

When the above-described sealing is performed, 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 to a degree of vacuum of about 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ torr through an exhaust pipe (not shown) and sealed. Specifically, the terminal D outside the container is provided in the presence of the aforementioned organic substance.
_x1 to D a voltage is applied between the device electrodes through _xm and D _y1 to D _yn, after performing the forming, subjected to activation treatment,
An electron emission portion is formed.

Further, baking is carried out at 80 to 150 ° C. for 3 times.
The operation is switched to an ultrahigh vacuum system using a pump system such as an ion pump, for example, for about 15 hours. This I _f of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, and in order to satisfy the MI characteristic of I _e, the method and conditions are not limited thereto.

Also, a getter process may be performed immediately before or after sealing the envelope 118. This is a process of heating a getter (not shown) arranged at a predetermined position in the envelope 118 to form a deposited film. The getter is usually composed mainly of Ba or the like, and is used to maintain a degree of vacuum of, for example, 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ to 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ torr by the adsorption action of the deposited film.

Further, when the envelope 118 and the like are evacuated to a vacuum, if an organic substance having a particularly low vapor pressure is present, the time required for the evacuation becomes longer since the organic substance passes through the exhaust pipe, and the organic material that cannot be exhausted is exhausted. There is a concern that the substance remains as an impurity and affects the electron emission characteristics. Therefore, acetone or the like having a high vapor pressure among the above preferable organic substances is desirably used.

In addition, the inner volume of the envelope 118 must be minimized in view of the reduction in the cost of members and the evacuation time, and the inner diameter of the exhaust pipe must be increased in the final sealing. There was a restriction that you could not. for that reason,
In the above-described forming process, the amount of the organic substance supplied from the exhaust pipe is small and the amount of the organic substance present in the narrow panel is small. There is a possibility that a disadvantage that a low resistance cannot be achieved may occur.

When the volume of the envelope is small as described above,
In order to avoid such a problem, it is preferable to perform the forming process by increasing the partial pressure of the organic substance by one to two orders of magnitude compared to a vacuum vessel having a large volume.

The above-described forming and subsequent manufacturing steps of the surface conduction electron-emitting device are usually performed immediately before or after sealing of the envelope 118, and the contents thereof are as described above. is there.

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 the modulation signal generator, V _x and V _a are DC voltage sources.

As shown in FIG. 10, the display panel 20
1 is connected to an external electric circuit through the external terminals D _x1 to D _xm, external terminals D _y1 to D _yn and a high-voltage terminal Hv.
Of these, the external terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm are connected to the display panel 201.
Scanning signals for sequentially driving one row (each n element) of the surface conduction electron emitting elements provided therein, that is, a group of surface conduction electron emitting elements arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns. Is applied.

On the other hand, to the external terminals D _{y1 to} D _yn , a modulation signal for controlling an output electron beam of each surface conduction electron-emitting device in one row selected by the scanning signal is applied. Further, the high voltage terminal Hv, the DC voltage source V _a, for example, a DC voltage of 10kV is applied. 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 (schematically indicated by S _{1 to} S _m in FIG. 10). Each of the switching elements S _{1 to} S _m includes a DC voltage power supply V _x. , Or 0 V (ground level), and is electrically connected to the external terminals D _{x1 to} D _{xm of} the display panel 201. Each of the switching elements S _{1 to} S _m operates based on a control signal T _scan output from the control circuit 203, and is actually easily configured by combining elements having a switching function such as an FET, for example. It is possible.

[0120] The present example the DC voltage source V _x in, based on the characteristics (threshold voltage) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the driving voltage applied thereto is a surface conduction electron-emitting device which is not scanned It is set to output a constant voltage that is equal to or lower than the threshold voltage.

The control circuit 203 has a function of coordinating the operation of each unit so that an appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. Then, based on the synchronization signal T _sync sent from the synchronous signal separation circuit 206 to be described, T _{sc an,} to each unit, for generating a respective control signal T _sft and T _mry.

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) 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 T _sync for convenience of explanation. On the other hand, the luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is referred to as DAT for convenience.
This is shown as an A 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. Work. This control signal _Tsft may be rephrased as a shift clock of the shift register 204. The data of one line of the image subjected to the serial / parallel conversion (corresponding to drive data for n elements of the surface conduction electron-emitting device) is converted into n parallel signals of I _{d1 to} I _dn as the shift register 204. Output.

The line memory 205 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a required time.
Stores the contents of the appropriate I _d1 ~I _dn according to the control signal T _mry sent from the control circuit 203. The stored content is I
It is output as _d'1 ~I _d'n, is 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 in accordance with each of the image data I _{d′ 1 to} I _{d′ n.} The signal is _supplied to the display panel 201 through the terminals D _{y1 to} D _yn.
Is applied to the surface conduction type electron-emitting device in the inside.

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.

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 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 using the digital signal system, it is necessary to convert the output signal DATA of the synchronizing 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
5 depends on whether the output signal 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 a digital signal, 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 the 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 is capable of emitting the necessary surface conduction electron emission by applying a voltage from the terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm and D _{y1 to} D _yn. Electrons can be emitted from the device, and a high voltage is applied to the metal back 115 or a transparent electrode (not shown) through the high voltage terminal Hv to accelerate the electron beam, and the accelerated electron beam collides with the fluorescent film 114. The television display can be performed according to the NTSC television signal by the excitation / emission generated in the above.

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. For example, 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 input signal, the image forming apparatus according to 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 trapezoidal-shaped electron source and an image forming apparatus of the present invention using the same will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. FIG.

In FIG. 11, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate; 104, a surface conduction electron-emitting device; and 304, ten common wirings for connecting the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104, each of which has external terminals D _{1 to} D _10. have.

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 D ₁ and D ₂ ), 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. Application of the driving voltage, the common wiring D ₂ to D ₉ located at each element rows, the external terminals D ₂ and D ₃ adjacent common wiring 304, i.e. each phase adjacent each phase, D ₄ and D ₅ it can also be performed as an integrated same wire common wiring 304 of D ₆ and D _7, D ₈ and D _9.

FIG. 12 is a view showing the structure of a display panel 301 provided with the above-mentioned trapezoidal arrangement of electron sources, which is another example of the electron source of the present invention.

[0141] Figure 12 in 302 grid electrodes, 303 is an opening for electrons to pass through, D ₁ to D _m are external terminals for applying voltage to each surface conduction electron-emitting device, G ₁ ~
_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 D _{1 to} D _m and G _{1 to} G _n 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 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. Furthermore, the present invention can be used as an exposure device of an optical printer including a photosensitive drum.

[0147]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples.

Example 1 As a first example of the present invention, an electron source having a simple matrix structure was manufactured. FIG. 19 shows a partial plan view thereof. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA ′ in FIG.
0 and FIG. 21 to FIG. 22 show the manufacturing process of this example. still,
The members denoted by the same reference numerals in FIGS. 19 to 22 indicate the same members. Here, 1 is a substrate, 102 is an X-direction wiring as a lower wiring, 103 is a Y-direction wiring as an upper wiring, 3 is a conductive thin film, 4 and 5 are device electrodes, 211 is an interlayer insulating layer, and 212 is a device electrode 5 A contact hole 221 for electrical connection between the substrate and the X-direction wiring 102 is a Cr film. Hereinafter, the manufacturing steps will be specifically described in the order of the steps.

Step-a 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, 50 mm thick Cr and 6000 mm thick Au were sequentially laminated by vacuum evaporation. After that, a photoresist (AZ1370; made by Hoechst) is spin-coated with a spinner and baked, and then a photomask image is exposed and developed to form a resist pattern of the X-direction wiring 102, and the Au / Cr deposited film is wetted. Etching is performed to form an X-directional wiring 102 having a desired shape (FIG. 21A).

Step-b Next, an interlayer insulating layer 211 made of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 μm is deposited by RF sputtering (FIG. 21).
(B)).

Step-c The contact hole 2 was formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in the step b.
A photoresist pattern is formed for forming the photoresist layer 12, and the interlayer insulating layer 211 is etched using the photoresist pattern as a mask to form a contact hole 212. Etching is performed by RIE (Reactive) using CF ₄ and H ₂ gas.
Ion Etching) method. (FIG. 21
(C)).

Step-d A photoresist (RD-2000N-41; manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.) is formed as a pattern to become the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the device electrode gap L, and a 50 .mu.
Ni having a thickness of 1000 ° was sequentially deposited. The photoresist pattern was dissolved with an organic solvent, and the Ni / Ti deposited film was lifted off to form device electrodes 4 and 5 having a device electrode gap L of 2 μm and a device electrode width W of 220 μm (FIG. 21).
(D)).

Step-e After forming a photoresist pattern of a Y-direction wiring on the device electrodes 4 and 5, a 50 .mu.m thick Ti and a 5000 .mu.m thick Au are sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation, and unnecessary portions are lifted off to remove unnecessary portions. By removing, the Y-directional wiring 103 having a desired shape was formed (FIG. 22E).

Step-f A Cr film 221 having a thickness of 1000 ° is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation using a mask having an opening L in the vicinity of the device electrode gap L and an organic Pd (ccp423).
0; manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) using a spinner, followed by heating and baking at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes. The conductive thin film 3 formed of fine particles of Pd as the main element thus formed has a thickness of 80 ° and a sheet resistance of 4 ×.
It was 10 ⁴ Ω / □ (FIG. 22 (f)).

Step-g The Cr film 221 and the fired conductive thin film 3 were etched with an acid etchant to form a desired pattern (FIG. 22 (g)).

Step-h A pattern in which a resist is applied to portions other than the contact holes 212 is formed, and a 50 ° -thick T
i, Au having a thickness of 5000 ° was sequentially deposited. Unnecessary portions were removed by lift-off to bury the contact holes 212 (FIG. 22H).

Through the above steps, the X-directional wiring 102, the interlayer insulating layer 211, the Y-directional wiring 103, the device electrodes 4 and 5, and the conductive thin film 3 were formed on the insulating substrate 1.

[0158] Here, the number of D _y is 100, D number of _x 3
00.

The electron source substrate completed as described above is
After being placed in the system shown in FIG. 17 and evacuating the atmosphere in the vacuum vessel through an exhaust pipe with a vacuum pump such as a rotary pump and a turbo pump, and reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, the external terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm A voltage was applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 through D _{y1 to} D _yn and the conductive thin film 3 was formed to form the electron-emitting portion 2. As for the wiring at the time of forming, one Y-directional wiring is selected as shown in FIG.
Wiring from a forming power supply was connected to both ends, while X-directional wiring was commonly connected. The forming voltage waveform is the same as that of FIG. 4B, and in this embodiment, T ₁ is set to ₁ msec.
c, T ₂ was set to 10 msec, and the reaction was performed under an atmosphere in which acetone was introduced at about 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ torr.

As a comparative example, forming was performed without introducing acetone . In both the present embodiment and the comparative example, the X-direction wiring
2. The voltage applied to the Y-direction wiring 103 is 0.1 V / s
In the step-up rate of ec to 14V it was monotonically increased.

[0161] At this time, in the comparative example, as described above, are forming the sequential elements of the end, the element of the central portion which is forming the second half overvoltage is applied, off O over <br/> timing is late The current suddenly decreased from about 8 V, and the form of cracks of the element was changed in the latter half of forming.

[0162] Then if the present embodiment, in accordance Yuku is forming the sequential end, the power input terminal voltage required to forming the next element increases, the longer the overvoltage application. This is because the resistance of the element becomes low immediately after the forming and the voltage drop of the wiring is not reduced as described above. Furthermore, compared to conventional forming, reduction in current were being forming gradually from the edge to occur slowly.

The electron-emitting portion thus manufactured is
Fine particles mainly composed of the Pd element were dispersed and arranged, and the average particle size of the fine particles was 30 °.

Next, a rectangular wave different from the forming, a wave height of 14 V, a degree of vacuum of 2 × 10 ^-5 , I _f , I _e
The activation treatment was performed while measuring.

Using a measurement evaluation system as shown in FIG.
An element voltage is applied to each element of the electron source of this embodiment, and I _f ,
The measured I _e, Ie was observed from about the device voltage 8V, 2.2 mA of the element voltage 16V at I _f, I _e is 2.2μA, and the electron emission efficiency _{η = I e / I f (} %)
Was 0.1%.

In the electron source of this embodiment, the variation in the voltage effectively applied to each element is within 0.01 V, and the electron emission efficiency (0.
(1%) was suppressed to 5% or less.

Example 2 An electron source was manufactured in exactly the same manner as in Example 1 except that n-hexane was used as the organic substance to be introduced at the time of forming. In each element of the obtained electron source, _Ie was observed from an element voltage of about 8 V, and an element voltage of 1
At 6 V, _If is 2.5 mA, _Ie is 2.0 μA, η = 0.
The variation of 1% and η was 5% or less.

Example 3 After forming was performed in the same manner as in Example 1, activation was performed in the same atmosphere as in the forming step while introducing an organic substance. In each element of the obtained electron source, the element voltage was 8 as in Examples 1 and 2.
Ie was observed from about V, 2.0 mA of the element voltage 16V at I _f, next I _e is 2.0μA, η = 0.1%,
The variation of η was suppressed to 5% or less. In this embodiment, since activation is performed in the same atmosphere as forming,
The process is simplified as compared with the first and second embodiments, the cost is reduced,
The yield is improved.

[Embodiment 4] An image forming apparatus having a display panel shown in FIG. 8 was constructed using the electron source manufactured as in Embodiment 1.

[0170] After forming a conductive thin film of the respective elements on the substrate in the same manner as in Example 1, after fixing the electron source substrate not yet forming the rear plate 111, a 5mm above the electron source substrate 1, Face plate 116 (glass substrate 1
13, a fluorescent film 114 and a metal back 115 are formed on the inner surface of the support plate 112 and the face plate 116, the support frame 11
2. A frit glass was applied to the joint of the rear plate 111 and sealed by baking at 400 ° C. to 500 ° C. in the air for 10 minutes or more. The fixing of the electron source substrate 1 to the rear plate 111 was also performed using frit glass.

In this embodiment, the phosphor has a stripe shape (see FIG. 9A), and a material mainly composed of graphite is used as a material of the black stripe.
A slurry method was used as a method of applying the phosphor to No. 3.

The metal back 115 provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 114 is subjected to a smoothing process (filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film after the fluorescent film is formed, and then the metal back 115 is formed.
1 was produced by vacuum evaporation. Face plate 1
In 16, in order to further increase the conductivity of the fluorescent film 114, a transparent electrode may be provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 114. However, in this embodiment, since the metal back 115 alone provided sufficient conductivity, Omitted.

The atmosphere in the glass container completed as described above is exhausted by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a degree of vacuum higher than 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ , acetone is added to about 1 × 10 ^{−7. -4} torr was introduced, and a voltage was applied between the device electrodes through the external terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm to D _{y1 to} D _yn in the manner shown in Example 1 to perform an energization process to form an electron emission portion. .

Next, an activation treatment was performed in the same atmosphere as in Example 3.

Next, the exhaust pipe (not shown) was fused by heating with a gas burner at a degree of vacuum of about 1 × 10 ^−6.5 torr, and the envelope 118 was sealed.

Finally, a getter process was performed to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing.

The external terminals Dx1 to Dxm to Dy1 to Dyn and the high-voltage terminal Hv of the display panel manufactured as described above were connected to necessary driving systems, respectively, to complete an image forming apparatus. A scanning signal and a modulation signal are applied to the respective surface conduction electron-emitting devices by signal generation means (not shown) through terminals Dx1 to Dxm to Dy1 to Dyn outside the container, thereby emitting electrons, and the high voltage terminal Hv
, A high voltage of several kV or more was applied to the metal back 115 to accelerate the electron beam, collide with the fluorescent film 114, and excite and emit light to display an image. As a result, as shown in FIG. 2
As shown in FIG. 4 , the variation in luminance was 5% or less.

On the other hand, when this example was carried out without introducing acetone, the center of the display area became dark as shown in FIG. 24 , and the luminance distribution was 70% or more.

Fifth Embodiment FIG. 23 shows an example of a display device in which the image forming apparatus of the fourth embodiment is configured to be able to display image information provided from various image information sources such as a television broadcast. FIG. In the figure, 280 is a display panel, 261 is a display panel driving circuit, 262 is a display controller, 263 is a multiplexer,
264 is a decoder, 265 is an input / output interface circuit, 266 is a CPU, 267 is an image generation circuit, 268,
269 and 270 are image memory interface circuits,
271 is an image input interface circuit, 272 and 2
73 is a TV signal receiving circuit, and 274 is an input unit.
(Note that when the present display device receives a signal containing 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 is not directly related to features are omitted.)

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

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 273 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, and may be, for example, various systems such as the NTSC system, the PAL system, and the SECAM system. Further, a TV signal (for example, a so-called high-definition TV including the MUSE system) composed of a larger number of scanning lines than the above is suitable for taking advantage of the display panel suitable for a large area and a large number of pixels. Signal source. TV received by the TV signal receiving circuit 273
The signal is output to the decoder 264.

The image TV signal receiving circuit 272 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wired transmission system such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. As with the TV signal receiving circuit 273, the type 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 264.

The image input interface circuit 27
Reference numeral 1 denotes 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 a decoder 264.

The image memory interface circuit 2
70 is a video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR)
Is a circuit for receiving the image signal stored in the decoder 264. The captured image signal is output to the decoder 264.

The image memory interface circuit 2
Reference numeral 69 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal stored in the video disk. The captured image signal is output to the decoder 264.

The image memory-interface circuit 268 is a circuit for taking in an image signal from a device storing still image data, such as a so-called still image disk.
4 is output.

The input / output interface circuit 265
Is a circuit for connecting the present display device to an output device such as an external computer, a computer network, or a 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 266 of the display device and the outside in some cases.

The image generating circuit 267 is provided with image data and character / graphic information input from the outside via the input / output interface circuit 265, or the CPU 266.
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 this circuit is output to the decoder 264, but may be output to an external computer network or printer via the input / output interface circuit 265 in some cases.

The CPU 266 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 263, and image signals to be displayed on the display panel 280 are appropriately selected or combined. At that time, a control signal is generated for the display panel controller 262 in accordance with the image signal to be displayed, and the display frequency, the scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced), the number of scanning lines on one screen, and the like 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 267, or an external computer or memory is accessed through the input / output interface circuit 265 to access the image data or character / graphic information.
Enter graphic information.

The CPU 266 may, of course, be involved in work for other purposes. For example, like a personal computer or word processor,
It may be directly related to the function of generating and processing information.

Alternatively, as described above, the computer may be connected to an external computer network via the input / output interface circuit 265 and work such as numerical calculation may be performed in cooperation with an external device.

The input section 274 is connected to the CPU 266.
The user inputs commands, programs, data, or the like, and various input devices such as a joystick, a barcode reader, and a voice recognition device can be used, for example, in addition to a keyboard and a mouse.

The decoder 264 converts the various image signals input from the above 267 to 273 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 a dotted line in FIG.
64 preferably has an image memory inside. This is for handling television signals that require an image memory when performing inverse conversion, such as the MUSE method. Further, the provision of the image memory facilitates the display of a still image, or the image generation circuit 26
7 and the CPU 266 in cooperation with the image processing, such as image thinning, interpolation, enlargement, reduction, and synthesis, and the advantage that editing can be easily performed.

The multiplexer 263 is connected to the CPU
A display image is appropriately selected based on a control signal input from the 266. That is, the multiplexer 263 selects a desired image signal from the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 264 and outputs the selected image signal to the drive circuit 261. 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. .

The display panel controller 2
Reference numeral 62 denotes a circuit for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 261 based on the control signal input from the CPU 266.

First, for example, a signal for controlling an operation sequence of a drive power source (not shown) for the display panel is output to the drive circuit 261 as one related to the basic operation of the display panel.

[0200] As a signal relating to the display panel driving method, a signal for controlling, for example, a screen display frequency and a scanning method (for example, interlace or non-interlace) is output to the drive circuit 261.

In some cases, a control signal relating to image quality adjustment such as brightness, contrast, color tone, and sharpness of a display image may be output to the drive circuit 261.

The drive circuit 261 is a circuit for generating a drive signal to be applied to the display panel 280. The drive circuit 261 converts the image signal input from the multiplexer 263 and the control signal input from the display panel controller 262. It operates on the basis of:

The function of each section has been described above. With the configuration illustrated in FIG. 23 , the present display device can display image information input from various image information sources on the display panel 2.
80 can be displayed. That is, various image signals including television broadcasts are inversely converted by the decoder 264, appropriately selected by the multiplexer 263, and input to the drive circuit 261. On the other hand, the display panel controller 262 generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 261 according to the image signal to be displayed. The drive circuit 261 applies a drive signal to the display panel 280 based on the image signal and the control signal. Thereby, the display panel 280 is displayed.
Displays an image. A series of these operations is C
It is totally controlled by the PU 266.

In the present display device, an image memory built in the decoder 264, an image generation circuit 267,
And the involvement of the CPU 266 not only displays the selected one of the plurality of pieces of image information but also displays, for example, enlargement, reduction, rotation, movement, edge emphasis, thinning, interpolation, It is also possible to perform image processing such as color conversion and image aspect ratio conversion, and image editing such as combining, erasing, connecting, exchanging, and fitting. In the description of the present embodiment,
Although not particularly mentioned, 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 display device is a television broadcast display device, a video conference terminal device, an image editing device that handles still and moving images, a computer terminal device, an office terminal device such as a word processor, a game terminal device, and the like. It is possible to combine the functions of a single machine, etc., and has a very wide range of applications for industrial or consumer use.

FIG. 23 shows only an example of the configuration of a display device using a display panel using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron source, and it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this. No. For example, among the components shown in FIG. 23 , circuits relating to functions that are not necessary 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 display device is applied to 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 display device, in particular, it is easy to reduce the thickness of a display panel using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron source, so that the depth of the display device can be reduced. In addition, display panels that use surface-conduction electron-emitting devices as electron sources are easy to enlarge and have high brightness and excellent viewing angle characteristics. It is possible to display well.

Further, since the electron source of the present invention has uniform electron emission characteristics between the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the quality of the formed image is high and a high-definition image can be displayed. .

[0209]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the forming of the electron source, the resistance of each surface conduction electron-emitting device is reduced as the forming proceeds, and the following effects are obtained. (1) The number of elements for common wiring is not limited. (2) It is not necessary to use an expensive material such as Au or Ag in order to lower the wiring resistance, so that the degree of freedom in selecting the raw material is increased and a cheaper material can be used. (3) It is not necessary to form the wiring electrodes thickly in order to lower the wiring resistance, so that the time required for the manufacturing process such as the formation and patterning of the electrodes can be reduced, and the cost of the equipment can be reduced. The following effects can be obtained as an electron source or an image forming apparatus. (4) Even if a plurality of elements are formed through a common wiring, the distribution of the electron emission efficiency can be made uniform within 5%, and as a result, the luminance distribution in the image display device can be reduced to within 5%. A suppressed, high-quality image can be formed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing one embodiment of a surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a manufacturing process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a voltage waveform of an energization process for manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a measurement evaluation system for evaluating the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view showing electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a simple matrix electron source of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a display panel of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a fluorescent film used in the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a ladder-type electron source according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a display panel of the image forming apparatus of the present invention using a ladder-type electron source.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a voltage drop of a wiring in a forming step.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a voltage drop of a wiring in a forming step.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an applied voltage necessary for each element in a forming step.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an applied voltage necessary for each element in a forming step.

FIG. 17 is a view showing an apparatus system in a forming step according to the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing applied voltages required in a forming step according to the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an electron source according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a partial cross-sectional view of the electron source according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a manufacturing process diagram of the electron source according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a manufacturing process diagram of the electron source according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention .
FIG.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing the results of Example 4 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Insulating substrate 2 Electron emission part 3 Conductive thin film 4,5 Element electrode 21 Step formation part 50 Ammeter 51 Power supply 52 Ammeter 53 High voltage power supply 54 Anode electrode 55 Vacuum device 56 Exhaust pump 102 X direction wiring 103 Y direction wiring 104 Surface conduction type electron-emitting device 105 Connection 111 Rear plate 112 Support frame 113 Glass substrate 114 Phosphor film 115 Metal back 116 Face plate 118 Enclosure 121 Black conductive material 122 Phosphor 171 Element row 175 Vacuum apparatus 176 Organic substance supply source 177 Vacuum exhaust system 178, 178 'Valve 179 Forming power supply 201 Display panel 202 Scanning circuit 203 Control circuit 204 Shift register 205 Line memory 206 Synchronous signal separation circuit 207 Modulation signal generator 211 Interlayer insulating layer 212 Contact Tophole 221 Cr film 261 Drive circuit 262 Display panel controller 263 Multiplexer 264 Decoder 265 Input / output interface 266 CPU 267 Image generation circuit 268 Image memory interface 269 Image memory interface 270 Image memory interface 271 Image input memory interface 272 TV signal reception circuit 273 TV signal Receiver circuit 274 Input section 280 Display panel 301 Display panel 302 Grid electrode 303 Opening 304 Common wiring

Claims (12)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of electron-emitting devices each having an electron-emitting portion in a conductive thin film formed over a pair of device electrodes,
What is claimed is: 1. A method of manufacturing an electron source, comprising connecting common wiring on the same substrate, comprising: forming a electron emitting portion in each element by simultaneously applying a voltage to conductive thin films of a plurality of elements through the common wiring. A method for producing an electron source, wherein the method is performed in an atmosphere in which an organic substance is present. 2. The organic substance is an alkane, alkene, aliphatic hydrocarbon of alkyne, aromatic hydrocarbon, alcohol,
At least one selected from aldehydes, ketones, amines, and organic acids of phenols, carboxylic acids, and sulfonic acids
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the electron source is a seed. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the organic substance is acetone. 4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the organic substance is n-hexane. 5. The organic substance has a vapor pressure of 5000 hP at room temperature.
5. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1, wherein a is equal to or less than a. 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, after the forming step, an activation step of applying a current to each of the electron-emitting devices in an atmosphere in which an organic substance is present to change a device current and an emission current of each of the electron-emitting devices. Item 6. The method for producing an electron source according to any one of Items 1 to 5. 7. The electron emitting device, method of manufacturing an electron source according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the element electrode is an element of a planar type formed on the same plane. 8. An electron-emitting device according to claim, characterized in that the device electrodes located above and below through the insulating layer, which is an element of the side vertical conductive thin film is formed on the insulating layer 1 ~
6. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to any one of 6 . 9. An electron source having at least one or more element rows formed by arranging and connecting a plurality of electron-emitting elements in parallel,
9. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1, wherein wirings for driving each element are arranged in a ladder shape. 10. The electron source according to claim 1, wherein the electron source has at least one element row in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged, and wirings for driving the elements are arranged in a matrix. Manufacturing of the electron source according to any one of 1 to 8
How . 11. A manufacturing an electron source in the production method according to any one of claims 1-10, the resulting electron source, a control electrode for controlling an electron beam emitted from the electron source, the electron A method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus, wherein the method is combined with an image forming member that forms an image by irradiation of an electron beam from a source. 12. An image forming member for producing an electron source by the production method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 , and forming an image by irradiating the electron source with an electron beam from the electron source. A method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus, which is combined.