JP3273322B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron emitting devices, a thermionic electron source and a cold cathode electron source, are known. The cold cathode electron source includes a field emission type (hereinafter, referred to as “FE type”), a metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter, referred to as “MIM type”), and a surface conduction type electron emission element (hereinafter, referred to as “MIM type”). SCE ”).

[0003] As an example of the FE type, W. P. Dyke
& W. W. Dolan, "Field emissi
on ", Advance in Electron P
physics, 8, 89 (1956) and C.I. A. Spi
ndt, "Physicalproperties o
f thin-film field emissio
n cathodes with mollybdenu
m cones ", J. Appl. Phys., 47,
5248 (1976) and the like are known.

As an example of the MIM type, C.I. A. Mea
d, "The tunnel-emission am
prifier ", J. Appl. Phys., 32,
646 (1961).

As an example of SCE, M. I. Elins
in, Radio Eng. Electron Phys
s. , 10, (1965).

[0006] The SCE utilizes a phenomenon in which electrons are emitted by passing a current through a small-area thin film formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface.

As the SCE, the one using an SnO ₂ thin film by Elinson et al., The one using an Au thin film [G. Dittmer: “Thin Solid Fi
lms ", 9,317 (1972)] , In 2 O 3 / Sn
O ₂ due to the thin film [M. Hartwell and
C. G. FIG. Fonstad: "IEEE Trans. E
D Conf. , 519 (1975)], using a carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2
2 (1983)]. There is another example of SCE using fine particles, which was previously proposed by the present applicant (US Pat. No. 5,066,883). These SCEs
Has features such as a simple element structure and a high electron emission response speed.

As a typical element configuration of the SCE, the above-mentioned M.C. FIG. 12 shows the device configuration of the Hartwell. In the figure, reference numeral 111 denotes an insulating substrate. Reference numeral 113 denotes an electron-emitting portion forming thin film, which is formed of an H-shaped metal oxide thin film formed by sputtering, and the like, and the electron-emitting portion 112 is formed by an energization process called forming described later.

Conventionally, in these SCEs, it has been common practice to form the electron emitting portions 112 beforehand by performing an energizing process called forming on the electron emitting portion forming thin film 113 before performing electron emission. That is, forming refers to electron emission in which a voltage is applied to both ends of the thin film 113 for forming an electron emission portion and the thin film for formation of an electron emission portion is locally broken, deformed or altered, and is in an electrically high resistance state. Forming the part 112. In some cases, the electron emitting portion 112 has a crack in a part of the thin film 113 for forming the electron emitting portion, and the electron is emitted from the vicinity of the crack.
Hereinafter, the electron-emitting-portion forming thin film 113 including the electron-emitting portion formed by the forming is referred to as a thin film including the electron-emitting portion.

In the SCE subjected to the forming process, a voltage is applied to the thin film 113 including the above-described electron-emitting portion, and a current is caused to flow through the surface of the element to cause the electron-emitting portion 112 to emit electrons.

FIG. 13 is a sectional view showing an apparatus for evaluating the radiation characteristics of electrons emitted from the above-mentioned electron emitting portion.
Is an insulating substrate, 114 and 115 are device electrodes, 113 is a thin film including an electron emitting portion, 112 is an electron emitting portion,
16 is a glass substrate, 117 is an anode electrode made of a transparent conductive film, 118 is a fluorescent film which emits visible light by electron irradiation, 119 is a power supply for applying a voltage to SCE, 12 is
Reference numeral 0 denotes a high-voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 117. A power supply 119 is connected to the device electrodes 114 and 115, and an anode electrode 117 connected to a power supply 120 is arranged above the SCE. The glass substrate 116 having the anode electrode 117 and the fluorescent film 118 and the SCE are installed in a vacuum device.

In the above evaluation device, the device electrode 11
4, 115, a voltage is applied to cause electrons to be emitted from the electron emitting portion 112, and the anode electrode 117 is set to several hundred volts to several thousand volts.
When the voltage is applied to the surface of the insulating substrate 111, the emitted electrons move from the normal line (dot-dash line in the figure) from the electron emission portion 112 to the positive side of the voltage applied to the SCE (FIG. 1).
In FIG. 3, it flies off the element electrode 115 side (hereinafter referred to as deflection), and takes a trajectory indicated by a dotted line with an arrow in the figure, and the center of the light emitting portion on the fluorescent film 118 is displaced from the normal line.

The above-described radiation characteristics are considered to be due to the potential distribution in a plane parallel to the insulating substrate 111 becoming asymmetric with respect to the electron-emitting portion 112, and are characteristics unique to SCE (however, , FE, and MIM types exhibit this characteristic depending on the configuration).

The multi-element and panel configuration in which a plurality of such SCEs are arranged are described in, for example, US Pat. No. 5,066,883 by the present applicant.

The electron-emitting device as described above has a 10 ^-6 T
Since the device is operated in a vacuum of about orr or more, when forming an image forming apparatus using the electron-emitting device, an anti-atmospheric pressure structure is required. In particular, in the case of a flat-type image forming apparatus that supports atmospheric pressure resistance using a large-area back plate (corresponding to the insulating substrate 111 in FIG. 13) and a face plate (corresponding to the glass substrate 116 in FIG. 13), each plate Becomes extremely thick, and the feasibility is poor in terms of weight, cost, and the like. In order to avoid this, a spacer for atmospheric pressure resistance is arranged as a support between the back plate and the face plate to provide an atmospheric pressure resistant structure, whereby the weight of the image forming apparatus can be reduced. Further, the spacer may be used for the purpose of keeping the panel interval constant.

As a flat-type image forming apparatus using the above-described electron-emitting device, there is known an apparatus having a cross section shown in FIG. 14 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-299136).

This image forming apparatus uses an SCE as an electron-emitting device.
25 (consisting of the electrodes 122 and 123 and the electron-emitting portion 124 formed between the electrodes) is manufactured, and the face plate 130 disposed to face the substrate 121 is a glass plate 1.
A fluorescent screen 128 is formed on the inner surface of the light emitting element 27. Phosphor screen 1
Reference numeral 28 denotes a color image forming apparatus which includes a black conductive material 131 called a black stripe or the like as shown in FIG. The purpose of providing the black stripe is to make the three primary color phosphors necessary for the color phosphor screens black, so that the color separation between the respective phosphors 132 is made black so that color mixing and the like become inconspicuous. This is to prevent a decrease in contrast caused by reflection.

Further, a metal back 129 is usually formed on the inner side of the fluorescent screen 128. Metal back 12
The purpose of 9 is to prevent charges (electrons) from accumulating in the phosphor 132, which has a high specific resistance of generally 10 ¹⁰ to 10 ¹² Ω · cm, to prevent the potential from lowering, and to serve as an electrode for applying a voltage for electron beam acceleration. To act, to improve the brightness by mirror-reflecting the light emitted from the phosphor toward the inner surface of the device, and to reduce the phosphor 13 from damage due to negative ion collision.
2, etc., and as a material suitable for the above purpose, usually A
1 is used.

An anti-atmospheric spacer 126 is provided to keep the substrate 121 on which the electron-emitting devices 125 are formed and the face plate 130 at a substantially constant distance against the pressure received from the atmosphere. Conventionally, the atmospheric pressure-resistant spacers 126 are arranged in a lattice as shown in FIG. 16, and are arranged so as to have one cell space for one of the electron-emitting devices 125. Note that 1 in FIG.
An envelope 33 connects the periphery of the face plate 130 in FIG.

[0020]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the atmospheric pressure-resistant spacer 126 is disposed in direct contact with the substrate 121 on which the face plate 130 and the electron-emitting device 125 are formed. If a displacement or deformation occurs in 126, on the face plate 130 side, there is a problem that the fluorescent screen 128 or the metal back 129 formed on the inner surface is damaged, and these are peeled off, or a pressure resistance failure occurs. .
In addition, on the substrate 121 side, the electrodes 122 and 123 are damaged, and the conductivity or insulation is deteriorated.
There is a problem of deteriorating the characteristics of No. 25.

Since the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer 126 is configured to withstand a pressure perpendicular to the surface of each plate, it usually has a shape including a volume element connecting the plates vertically. Therefore, when the image forming apparatus is configured by using the SCE having the electron emission characteristics described with reference to FIG. 13, there are the following problems.

(1) The emitted electron beam is deflected to the element electrode side of the positive electrode, so that the electron beam collides with the anti-atmospheric spacer 126 disposed on the element electrode side of the positive electrode, and falls on the phosphor screen 128. The amount of electrons arriving decreases, and the luminous efficiency decreases.

(2) Alternatively, the electron beam is completely blocked by the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer 126, and the phosphor screen 12
8 does not reach the electron beam.

(3) The charge-up of the atmospheric pressure resistant spacer 126 caused by the collision of the electron beam causes a change in the electron trajectory due to a change in the potential distribution, and also causes a device breakdown due to a creeping discharge due to a decrease in the creeping breakdown voltage. .

(4) When the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer 126 is charged, the trajectory of the electron beam is bent by an electric force, so that the electron beam does not reach the fluorescent screen that should be hit, and the image bleeds because it hits the surrounding fluorescent screen. .

(5) In order to avoid the above problem, when the electron-emitting devices 125 are sparsely arranged on the substrate 121,
A high-definition image forming apparatus cannot be realized.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a first object of the present invention is to provide an atmospheric pressure resistant spacer 12.
According to 6, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of obtaining a stable and high-definition image for a long time without damaging the phosphor screen 128 and the electron-emitting device 125.

A second object of the present invention is to realize a panel structure which does not hinder the trajectory of electrons emitted from the electron-emitting device in an image forming apparatus using the electron-emitting device. It is another object of the present invention to provide an arrangement or a shape of the electron-emitting device and the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer suitable for this purpose. Another object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement or shape of the electron-emitting device and the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer capable of realizing a high-density picture element in the image forming apparatus. Still another object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement or a shape of the electron-emitting device and the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer capable of realizing a high-resolution picture element arrangement in the image forming apparatus.

[0029]

The configuration of the present invention that achieves the above object is as follows.

That is, the present invention provides a substrate on which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are provided, and a fluorescent screen which is arranged to face the substrate and forms an image by irradiation of electrons emitted from the electron-emitting devices. In the image forming apparatus having the face plate provided above, an element-side rib projecting from the substrate surface than any of the electrodes forming the electron-emitting devices is formed on the substrate, and the face plate has a fluorescent light. A phosphor screen side rib protruding from the surface is formed, and a plate-shaped anti-atmospheric spacer for maintaining an interval between the substrate and the face plate is provided on the substrate via the element side rib and the phosphor screen side rib. and then contact with the face plate, and electron beams emitted from said electron-emitting devices
Installed parallel or nearly parallel to the beam deflection direction.
It is characterized by having.

In the present invention, the atmospheric pressure-resistant spacer is preferably
A plurality of element-side ribs and a phosphor screen-side rib are in contact with each other; at least the phosphor screen-side ribs of the ribs are black; the electron-emitting devices are cold cathode electron-emitting devices; It is a conduction electron-emitting device
It is intended to include the preferred embodiments thereof with.

According to the present invention, since the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer is not in direct contact with the electron-emitting device or the phosphor screen, even if the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer is slightly displaced or deformed, the element or the phosphor screen is not affected. , And an image which is easy to assemble and stable over a long period of time can be obtained.

In the present invention, by allowing the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer to be in contact with a plurality of element-side ribs and phosphor-side ribs, the tolerance of positional displacement of the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer is increased, and further assembly of the apparatus is performed. It contributes to ease. Also,
By providing the ribs with a material having low light reflectance and transmittance such as black low-melting glass, the function of the above-described black stripe on the phosphor screen is not impaired, and a high-contrast image forming apparatus is provided. it can.

When the orbital space for the electron beam is secured by providing the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer in parallel or substantially parallel to the direction of deflection of the electron beam, the electron does not hinder the flight.

[0035]

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a glass substrate, and 2 denotes an element electrode including a wiring section 3 and an element section 4. Reference numeral 5 denotes an electron-emitting portion, which constitutes an electron-emitting device together with the device electrode 2. Reference numeral 6 denotes a side wall, 7 denotes a spacer, 8 denotes a glass plate, 9 denotes a fluorescent screen, and 10 denotes a face plate formed by forming a fluorescent screen 9 on the inner surface of the glass plate 8. Reference numeral 11 denotes an element-side rib formed thicker (higher) than the element electrode 2;
Is a phosphor screen side rib formed thicker (higher) than the phosphor screen 9.

The present device is assembled so that the plurality of element-side ribs 11 and the phosphor screen-side ribs 12 are in contact with the plurality of spacers 7 arranged along the direction (X direction) crossing them.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the electron-emitting device in this embodiment. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 14 denotes a thin film for forming an electron-emitting portion. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the fluorescent screen 9.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the face plate 10. The phosphor screen side ribs 12 are red (R), green (G), and blue (B) phosphors 13.
It is formed in a stripe shape so as to overlap the black stripe 15 formed therebetween. Further, the metal back (not shown) is formed further on the inner side of the device from the fluorescent screen 9. Although not shown, in order to form an image in accordance with an input signal, the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1 is provided with, for example, a modulation unit as described later.

Next, a method of manufacturing the present apparatus will be described.

(1) After the glass substrate 1 was sufficiently washed with an organic solvent, an element electrode 2 made of Ni having a thickness of 1000 ° was formed on the surface of the substrate 1 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). At this time, a plurality of wiring portions 3 are formed along a direction (X direction in the drawing) orthogonal to the phosphor stripe on the face plate side.
The element section 4 is formed so as to be electrically connected to each of a pair of adjacent wiring sections 3 among the plurality of wiring sections 3 and to face each other at an interval of 3 μm (indicated by L1 in FIG. 2). A plurality of samples were produced in the direction (X direction) along No. 3.

(2) Organic palladium (Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.)
After applying a solution containing ccp-4230), 300
C. for 10 minutes to give palladium oxide (Pd
O) A fine particle film made of fine particles was formed and subjected to patterning by etching or the like, and a thin film 14 for forming an electron-emitting portion was provided between the device electrodes (device portions) 4 (see FIG. 2). Here, the width (width of the element) W of the electron emitting portion forming thin film 14 is
Was set to 300 μm, and it was arranged almost at the center between the device electrodes 4. The thickness of the electron emitting portion forming thin film 14 is 10
0 °, and the sheet resistance was 5 × 10 ⁴ Ω / □. Note that the fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and as a fine structure, not only a state in which the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also the fine particles are adjacent to each other, or
A film in an overlapped state (including an island shape) is referred to, and the particle size refers to the diameter of fine particles whose particle shape can be recognized in the above state.

(3) Next, a voltage is applied between the device electrode element portions 4 to apply a current to the electron emission portion forming thin film 14 (referred to as a forming process). An electron-emitting device was completed in between.

(4) As described above, the device electrode wiring portion 3
The element-side ribs 11 are provided so as to pass through substantially the center between the respective elements in the wiring direction (X direction) for a plurality of electron-emitting elements manufactured along the line. That is, the element-side rib 11 was formed along the Y direction in the figure. The element-side rib 11 is formed by printing low-melting glass called frit glass by printing.
It was manufactured to have a height of 100 μm.

(5) Next, a method of manufacturing the face plate 10 will be described.

After thoroughly cleaning the glass substrate 8 with hydrofluoric acid or the like, the black stripes 15 are formed by photolithography.
(See FIGS. 3 and 4). The material of the black stripe 15 was mainly composed of graphite. Thereafter, the three primary color phosphors 13 were mixed with a resist one color at a time in the form of a slurry, applied, and developed and fixed at predetermined positions. The color phosphor screen 9 was produced by a slurry method generally used in CRTs. The thickness of the phosphor 13 was 20 to 30 μm, and a good coating state without unevenness or peeling was obtained.

(6) Next, after performing a smoothing process of the surface of the fluorescent screen 9, which is called filming, Al is uniformly deposited on the inner surface side of the fluorescent screen 9 with a thickness of about 2000 mm by vacuum evaporation. By forming, a metal back (not shown) was produced.

(7) After manufacturing the phosphor screen 9 and the metal back,
Similarly, a phosphor screen side rib 12 having a width and a height of about 100 μm was formed using frit glass as a material so as to overlap with the black stripe 15 at a rate of one set for each of the three primary color phosphors. In addition, since the frit glass used as the material of the phosphor screen side rib 12 in this embodiment is black and has low light transmittance and low reflectance, the phosphor screen side rib 12 is provided between each color phosphor. Black stripe 15
May be omitted.

(8) The substrate 1 on which the electron-emitting device is manufactured as described above and the face plate 10 are arranged so as to face each other via the plurality of atmospheric pressure-resistant spacers 7 and the side walls 6. Then, frit glass is applied to the bonding portion of the substrate 1, and 400 ° C. in the air or in a nitrogen atmosphere.
Sealing was performed by baking at 500 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more.
In the present embodiment, a flat glass material having a height of 5 mm and a thickness of 200 μm is used as the spacer 7 as shown in FIG. 1 and is orthogonal to the ribs 11 and 12 provided on the substrate 1 and the face plate 10. It was arranged parallel to the direction (X direction).

(9) The atmosphere in the glass envelope (comprised of the substrate 1, the side walls 6, and the face plate 10) completed as described above is exhausted by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown). After reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, 10 ^-6 Torr
At a degree of vacuum, an exhaust pipe (not shown) was welded by heating with a gas burner, and the envelope was sealed.

(10) Finally, a getter process was performed to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing. In this method, a getter (not shown) disposed at a predetermined position in an image forming apparatus is heated by a heating method such as resistance heating or high-frequency heating immediately before or after sealing to form a deposited film. Processing. The getter usually contains Ba or the like as a main component, and maintains the degree of vacuum by the adsorption action of the deposited film.

The configuration described above is a schematic configuration necessary for manufacturing an image forming apparatus.
The detailed portion is not limited to the contents of the present embodiment, but is appropriately selected so as to be suitable for the use of the image forming apparatus.

As one example, a preferred modified example is shown in which a grid electrode for modulation is formed on the same glass substrate on which the electron-emitting devices are formed. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of the present modified example, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line BB 'of FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals. In the figure, reference numeral 17 denotes a modulation grid electrode, and reference numeral 18 denotes an insulator film for insulating the electron-emitting device (including the electron-emitting portion 5 and the device electrode 2) from the modulation grid electrode 17. As can be seen from FIGS. 5 and 6, the modulation grid electrode 17 is formed on the same plane as the electron-emitting portion 5 and the device portion 4 of the device electrode 2 and on the lower portion.

Since the manufacturing method of this modification can be formed by the same vapor deposition technique and etching technique as those of the above embodiment, the description is omitted.

In the configuration of this modification, the amount of electron beam irradiated on the phosphor screen 9 (see FIG. 1) could be controlled by appropriately controlling the voltage applied to the modulation grid electrode 17.

In the image forming apparatus of this embodiment manufactured as described above, the atmospheric pressure-resistant spacer can be easily provided between the face plate and the element substrate without damaging the phosphor screen and the electrodes forming the electron-emitting devices. And it was easy to assemble. Further, there was no image defect due to the displacement of the spacer, and a high-definition image stable for a long time was obtained even if some stress was applied.

Further, the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device manufactured in the present embodiment mainly has a velocity in the Z direction due to an acceleration voltage applied between the glass substrate 1 and the face plate 10. Component, and is deflected toward the positive electrode element part 4 side to be in the + X direction or-
It has a velocity component in the X direction. In the present embodiment, since the spacers 7 are arranged in parallel to the deflection direction (X direction), a decrease in luminous efficiency due to the spacers 7 blocking the trajectories of emitted electrons, a charge-up of the spacers 7 and the like are prevented. be able to.

In this embodiment, since the stripe fluorescent surfaces on the face plate 10 are arranged in parallel to the Y direction (13R, 13G, 13B in FIG. 4), the glass substrate 1 having the electron-emitting device and the fluorescent light In the Y direction between face plates 10 having surfaces 9 (stripe fluorescent surface 1 in FIG. 4)
3R, 13G, and 13B) (the direction parallel to 3R, 13B) becomes unnecessary. That is, even if a slight positional shift occurs between the glass substrate 1 and the face plate 10 in the Y direction, the brightness of the displayed image and the color shift did not occur. Also, when assembling a plurality of spacers 7 (parallel to the X-axis) with the face plate 10, precise mutual alignment in the X direction and the Y direction is unnecessary, and each spacer 7 is arranged at intervals corresponding to the arrangement of the electron-emitting devices. It was sufficient to position the spacer 7.

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus of the present embodiment.

The method for fabricating the electron-emitting device on the substrate 1, the method for fabricating the phosphor screen 9, and the method for fabricating the entire device are the same as those in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted. Further, the same side wall as in the first embodiment is omitted in the drawing.

In this embodiment, the element-side rib 1
1, all of the phosphor screen side ribs 12 and the atmospheric pressure resistant spacers 7 are not linearly continuous as in the first embodiment, but are arranged separately.

However, ribs having a height and a width of about 100 μm are formed on the phosphor screen 9 and the substrate 1 surface at positions corresponding to the respective atmospheric pressure-resistant spacers 7 by frit glass as a component, also by a printing method. Since the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer 7 does not directly contact the phosphor screen 9 or the electrode (not shown) forming the electron-emitting device, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

Further, in the structure of the present embodiment, since the length of each of the atmospheric pressure resistant spacers 7 is shorter than that of the embodiment 1, deformation at the time of processing is small, and a highly accurate atmospheric pressure resistant spacer is used. There is an advantage that it can be manufactured. Also,
When the inside of the apparatus is evacuated to vacuum, there are few things that hinder the conductance, so that there is an advantage that the time required to reach a sealable degree of vacuum (about 10 ⁻⁶ Torr) can be shortened.

[0063] Reference embodiment] FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus of the present reference embodiment.

[0064] In this preferred embodiment example, the phosphor screen 9 9
As shown in the figure, the phosphors 13 have a so-called delta arrangement. Reference numeral 16 denotes a black conductive material, which is called a black matrix in the case of a phosphor array as shown in the figure. When the delta-type phosphor array is used, when the interval between phosphors of the same color (referred to as dot pitch) is represented by P, the phosphor interval of the same color in the horizontal direction of the screen is (画面 3) P / 2. This has the advantage that the resolution in the horizontal direction is increased and a higher definition and higher density image can be formed.

In the case of such a delta array fluorescent screen, as shown in FIG. 8, the element side rib 11 and the fluorescent screen side rib 12 are manufactured in a Mitsubishi-like shape, and the ribs 11 and 1 are formed.
2 is arranged so that each of them comes into contact with the columnar spacer 7, so that an even higher-definition image can be stably obtained without damaging the phosphor screen 9 and the device electrodes 3 and 4. Could be produced.

[Embodiment 3 ] In this embodiment, the glass substrate 1 on which the electron-emitting devices of Embodiment 1 and the like are formed is shown in FIG. 10, that is, the electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix. It is shown.

In FIG. 10, the same parts as those in FIGS. 1 to 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The electron-emitting device of this embodiment is also a surface conduction type device similar to that of the first embodiment. In each electron-emitting device, a pair of device electrode element portions 4 are also substantially the same as the atmospheric pressure resistant spacer 7. They are arranged along the X-axis direction.

On the face plate 10, three types of fluorescent screens, that is, a red (R) fluorescent screen 13R, a green (G) fluorescent screen 13G, and a blue (B) fluorescent screen 13B, which are stripe-shaped parallel to the Y direction, are repeatedly formed. The black stripes 15 are formed between the phosphor screens. The element side rib 11 is formed thicker (higher) than the element electrode element part 4 and parallel to the Y direction so as to overlap the element electrode wiring part 3, and the phosphor screen side rib 12 is thicker (higher) than the phosphor screen 9. It is formed parallel to the Y direction so as to overlap with the black stripe 15.

In the present image forming apparatus, the plurality of element-side ribs 11 and the phosphor screen-side ribs 12 are assembled so as to be in contact with the plurality of anti-atmospheric pressure spacers 7 arranged in parallel in a direction crossing these (X direction). .

Since the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment can be formed by the same vapor deposition technique and etching technique as those of Embodiment 1, the description of the manufacturing method is omitted.

In this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer 7 is arranged in parallel to the direction of deflection of the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device. The trajectory is not obstructed by the spacer 7. Therefore, the electron beam is applied to the atmospheric pressure resistant spacer 7.
Could collide with the phosphor screen 9 in the same manner as in the case where there was no.

Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, the ribs 11 and 12 are provided so that the gap between the face plate 10 and the element substrate 1 can be maintained without damaging the phosphor screen and the electrodes forming the electron-emitting devices. The atmospheric pressure-resistant spacer 7 can be easily arranged in the above, and the assembly is easy. In addition, there was no image defect due to the displacement of the atmospheric pressure resistant spacer 7, and a long-term stable high-definition image was obtained even if some stress was applied.

In the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, the stripe fluorescent surface on the face plate 10 is
Since they are arranged parallel to the directions, precise alignment in the Y direction (direction parallel to the stripe fluorescent screen 9) between the glass substrate 1 having the electron-emitting devices and the face plate 10 having the fluorescent screen 9 becomes unnecessary. That is, even if a slight positional shift occurs between the glass substrate 1 and the face plate 10 in the Y direction, the brightness of the displayed image and the color shift did not occur.
Also, when assembling a plurality of atmospheric pressure-resistant spacers 7 (parallel to the X axis) with the face plate 10, precise mutual alignment in the X direction and the Y direction is unnecessary, and the arrangement corresponds to the arrangement of the electron-emitting devices. It was sufficient to position each anti-atmospheric pressure spacer 7 at intervals.

As a modification of this embodiment, an example in which the configuration of the face plate 10 is modified will be described. FIG. 11 shows the arrangement of the fluorescent screen of the face plate 10 of the present modification. The difference from the example shown in FIG. 10 is that the stripe fluorescent screen of each color is separated at intervals corresponding to one pixel. is there. A black light-blocking member or the like may be provided in the partition 19.

Also in this modification, the glass substrate 1 having the electron-emitting devices and the face plate 1 having the fluorescent screen 9
Precise positioning in the Y direction between 0 (direction parallel to the stripe fluorescent screen 9) is not required. That is, the glass substrate 1
Even if there was some displacement in the Y direction between the face plate 10 and the face plate 10, no color displacement of the displayed image occurred. Also, when assembling a plurality of atmospheric pressure-resistant spacers 7 (parallel to the X-axis) with the face plate 10, precise mutual alignment in the X-direction and the Y-direction is unnecessary, and no color shift of the displayed image occurs. For this purpose, it is sufficient to position each anti-atmospheric pressure spacer 7 at intervals corresponding to the arrangement of the electron-emitting devices.

As another modified example, the element-side rib 1
Various modifications are possible, such as installing one every few electron-emitting devices, or installing the phosphor screen side ribs 12 every three stripe phosphor screens of R, G, and B.

[0078]

As described above, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is arranged such that the atmospheric pressure-resistant spacer is in contact with the element side rib projecting from the substrate and the phosphor screen side rib projecting from the phosphor screen of the face plate. By doing so, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Since the atmospheric pressure-resistant spacer for maintaining the distance between the substrate and the face plate is not in direct contact with the electron-emitting device or the phosphor screen, some displacement or deformation occurs in the atmospheric pressure-resistant spacer. However, the device and the phosphor screen are not damaged. Thereby, assembling of the apparatus becomes easy, and a long-term stable image with few image defects can be obtained.

(2) By making the phosphor side ribs black,
An image with higher contrast can be obtained.

Further, by disposing the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer in parallel with the direction of deflection of the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device, it is possible to realize a panel structure which does not hinder the trajectory of the electron beam. Therefore, the following specific effects are obtained.

(A) There is no loss in the amount of electrons that reach the phosphor, and stable light emission without a decrease in luminous efficiency can be obtained.

(B) A change in the electron trajectory due to a change in the potential distribution due to the charge-up of the atmospheric pressure-resistant spacer and a device breakdown due to a creeping discharge due to a decrease in the creeping breakdown voltage do not occur.

(C) The acceleration voltage can be increased by increasing the surface breakdown voltage, so that a light emitting portion with higher efficiency and higher luminance can be obtained.

(D) Since the electron-emitting devices and the anti-atmospheric pressure spacers can be arranged at a high density, a high-definition image forming apparatus can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of an electron-emitting device of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of a phosphor screen in the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a face plate in the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a modification of the present invention in which a grid electrode for modulation is provided on an element substrate.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the element substrate of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a reference embodiment .

FIG. 9 is an enlarged plan view of a phosphor screen in the image forming apparatus according to the reference embodiment .

FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged plan view showing a modification of the phosphor screen.

FIG. 12 is a view showing a typical device configuration of a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 13 is a schematic configuration diagram of a device for evaluating characteristics of a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 14 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a conventional flat-type image forming apparatus.

FIG. 15 is an enlarged plan view of a stripe-shaped fluorescent screen used in a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view illustrating an arrangement of an atmospheric pressure resistant spacer of the conventional image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate (back plate) 2 Element electrode 3 Element electrode wiring part 4 Element electrode element part 5 Electron emission part 6 Side wall (envelope) 7 Atmospheric pressure-resistant spacer 8 Glass substrate 9 Phosphor screen 10 Face plate 11 Element side rib 12 Fluorescence Surface side rib 13 Phosphor 14 Thin film for forming electron emission portion 15 Black stripe 16 Black matrix 17 Modulation grid electrode 18 Insulator film 19 Separation portion of fluorescent surface 111 Insulating substrate 112 Electron emission portion 113 Thin film for forming electron emission portion 114, 115 Device electrode 116 Glass substrate 117 Anode electrode 118 Phosphor film 119 Power supply 120 High voltage power supply 121 Substrate 122,123 Electrode 124 Electron emission part 125 Electron emission element 126 Atmospheric pressure resistant spacer 127 Glass plate 128 Fluorescent surface 129 Metal back 130 Face plate 1 1 black stripe 132 phosphor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tadashi Kaneko 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Masahiro Tagawa 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Tomokazu Ando 3- 30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Yoshiyuki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko 3-chome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) reference Patent flat 3-22328 (JP, a) JP flat 3-49135 (JP, a) JP flat 2-299140 (JP, a) (58 ) investigated the field (Int.Cl. ⁷ H01J 31/12 H01J 29/87 H01J 1/30-1/316

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A face plate provided with a substrate on which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are provided, and a fluorescent screen provided to face the substrate and forming an image by irradiation of electrons emitted from the electron-emitting devices. In the image forming apparatus having the above, an element-side rib projecting from the substrate surface than any of the electrodes forming the electron-emitting devices is formed on the substrate, and the face plate projects from the phosphor screen. Phosphor-side ribs are formed, and are formed in a flat plate shape to maintain the distance between the substrate and the face plate.
And contact with the substrate and the face plate atmospheric pressure resistant spacers via the device-side rib and the fluorescent surface side ribs, and before
The direction of deflection of the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device
An image forming apparatus provided in parallel or substantially parallel to the image forming apparatus. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the anti-atmospheric pressure spacer contacts a plurality of element-side ribs and phosphor screen-side ribs. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least the phosphor screen side rib of the rib is black. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said electron-emitting device is a cold cathode electron-emitting device. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device.