JP3320393B2 - Method of manufacturing image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus such as a display device for forming an image by irradiating an electron beam.

[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. Among them, examples of the cold cathode electron source include a field emission type (hereinafter abbreviated as FE), a metal / insulating layer / metal-type (hereinafter abbreviated as MIM), and a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

[0003] As an example of the FE, W. P. Dyk
e & W. W. Dolan, "Field emi
session ”, Advance in Electr
on Physics, 8, 89 (1956), or C.I. A. Spindt, "Physica
l properties of thin-film
field emission cathodes
with Molybdenium cones ",
J. Appl. Phys. , 47,5248
(1976).

As an example of the MIM, C.I. A. Me
ad, "The tunnel-emission
amplifier, "J. Appl. Phys.
s. , 32, 646 (1961).

As an example of the above surface conduction electron-emitting device, M. I. Elinson, Radio En
g. Electron Phys. , 10 (19
65) are known.

Here, the surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electrons are emitted by passing a current through a small-area thin film formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. As this surface conduction electron-emitting device, in addition to the device using the SnO ₂ thin film by Elinson et al.
By a thin film [G. Dittmer: "Thin
Solid Films ", 9, 317 (197
2)], an In ₂ O ₃ / SnO ₃ thin film [M. H
artwell and C.I. G. FIG. Fonstad:
"IEEE Trans. ED Conf."
519 (1975)], a carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, page 22, p.
3)] has been reported.

As a typical device configuration of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the above-mentioned M.P. FIG. 7 shows an element configuration of the Hartwell. In the same figure, 231 is an insulating substrate, 23
Reference numeral 2 denotes a thin film for forming an electron emitting portion, which is formed into an H-shaped pattern.
The electron emission portion 2 is made of a metal oxide thin film or the like formed by sputtering, and is formed by an energization process called forming, which will be described later.
33 are formed. Reference numeral 234 denotes a thin film including an electron-emitting portion.

Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the electron-emitting portion forming thin film 2 is formed before electron emission.
In general, the electron emission portion 233 is formed by previously performing a current application process called forming on the substrate 32. In other words, forming is a process in which a voltage is applied to both ends of the electron-emitting portion forming thin film 232 and an energizing process is performed to locally destroy, deform, or alter the thin film for forming the electron-emitting portion, so that a high-resistance state is obtained. Is to form the electron emitting portion 233. In the surface conduction type electron-emitting device subjected to the forming process as described above, a voltage is applied to the thin film 234 including the electron-emitting portion, and a current is caused to flow through the device to cause the electron-emitting portion 233 to emit electrons. is there.

However, these conventional surface conduction electron-emitting devices have various problems in practical use. Therefore, the present applicants have intensively studied various improvements as described below, and have solved problems in practical use.

For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a fine particle film 244 is disposed between the electrodes (242, 243) on the substrate 241 as a thin film for forming an electron-emitting portion, and the fine particle film 244 is subjected to an energizing process. New surface conduction electron-emitting device having an electron-emitting portion 245 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-5682)
No. 2) has been proposed by the present applicant.

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 rows in which both ends of each element are connected by wiring are arranged in a large number of rows. (For example, JP-A-64-31332 of the present applicant).

On the other hand, in recent years, particularly in the field of image forming apparatuses such as display apparatuses, flat panel display apparatuses using liquid crystal have become widespread instead of CRTs, but liquid crystal display apparatuses are not self-luminous. In addition, there is a problem that a backlight or the like must be provided, and development of a self-luminous display device has been desired.

[0013] In order to meet such a demand, an image forming apparatus which is a display device in which an electron source in which a number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged and a phosphor which emits visible light by electrons emitted from the electron source are combined. The device is a self-luminous display device that can be manufactured relatively easily even with a large-screen device and has excellent display quality (for example, US Pat.
066883).

Hereinafter, a basic configuration of an image forming apparatus using the above-described various electron-emitting devices will be briefly described with reference to FIGS.

4 and 5, reference numeral 81 denotes an electron-emitting device, 85 denotes a substrate, 83 denotes a face plate made of transparent glass or the like, and 84 denotes the face plate 83.
Phosphor 88 applied to the inner surface of
Is a spacer for keeping the substrate 85 and the face plate 83 at a constant distance, 86 is a frit glass for fusing and vacuum sealing the spacer 82, the face plate 83 and the substrate 85, and 87 is a frit glass for the substrate 85 and the face plate. This is an exhaust pipe for evacuating the inside of the envelope constituted by 83 and the spacer 82. The envelope may be configured such that the face plate 83 and the spacer 82 or the substrate 85 and the spacer 82 are integrally formed, and the inside of the envelope is usually 10 ⁻⁶ Torr or less. Is evacuated.

The image forming apparatus configured as described above has
By applying a high potential of several kV to the metal back 88, the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device 81 in response to the input signal is accelerated toward the phosphor 84, collides, and emits the fluorescent light corresponding to the input signal. The image is displayed as a bright spot pattern of the body 84.

[0017]

In the above-described image forming apparatus, it is inevitable that a large screen and high definition of an image are expected. However, as described above, a large number of electron-emitting devices are required. In the case of an electron source formed in an individual array, for example, the following problems may occur particularly due to manufacturing defects.

That is, the envelope includes a plurality of members, for example, the face plate 83 and the spacer 8 as in the above example.
2. The substrate 85 is formed by melting and bonding frit glass or the like. In the fusing and bonding process using the frit glass, the entire image forming apparatus is heated at a high temperature, for example, at 430 ° C. for about 60 minutes. Since heating is required, an oxide film is formed on the device electrodes of the electron-emitting devices and the wiring electrodes connecting the electron-emitting devices, and the device resistance and the wiring resistance increase. This increase in element resistance and wiring resistance leads to an increase in power consumption of the entire device.

Further, since it is very difficult to control the heating temperature in the melting / adhesion process so as to be uniform throughout the entire apparatus, the thickness of the oxide film to be formed also varies from element to element, and this varies with the resistance of each element. As a result, the amount of electrons emitted from each electron-emitting device varies, thereby deteriorating the brightness uniformity on the image display surface.

In particular, in the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device, a metal oxide film constituting the device electrode is formed at the interface between the thin film including the electron-emitting portion and the device electrode, which increases the device resistance. In the worst case, almost no device current flows, and the device may not function as an electron-emitting device. Further, in the case of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, when the above-mentioned forming is performed after the above-mentioned melting and bonding step, a large power is required for the forming due to an increase in the above-mentioned element resistance.

In view of the above problems, the present invention minimizes the formation of an oxide film in the above-mentioned melting / adhesion step (sealing step), thereby reducing the power consumption of the entire apparatus and reducing the number of electrons. Reduces the variation in the amount of electron emission between emission elements,
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus capable of forming a high-quality image.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus which can form a high quality image with low power consumption using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron source. .

[0023]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an envelope composed of a plurality of members, and a conductive film including an electron emitting portion disposed in the envelope. A method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus having an electron source having an electron emitting element having an electrode between electrodes, and an image forming member for forming an image by irradiating an electron beam from the electron source. a step performed prior to the step of forming the
The element of at least a part of the elements constituting the conductive film
Heating the conductive film in a gas atmosphere containing silicon
And forming the envelope in at least one gas atmosphere selected from a reducing gas, an inert gas, and a non-reducing and non-oxidizing gas, or in a vacuum atmosphere .
A sealing step of heating and bonding the plurality of members.
In the manufacturing method of the image forming apparatus characterized by having a.

[0024]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The manufacturing method of the present invention has a first feature in a sealing step of an envelope composed of a plurality of members. That is, the sealing step in the present invention, reducing gas,
An inert gas, and a step of heating and bonding the plurality of members in at least one kind of gas atmosphere selected from non-reducing and non-oxidizing gases, or in a vacuum atmosphere. By employing such a sealing step, an oxide film can be prevented from being formed as much as possible on the device electrodes of the electron-emitting devices and on the wiring electrodes connecting the electron-emitting devices. However, it is possible to prevent an increase in power consumption of the entire device due to an increase in element resistance and wiring resistance.

Further, in the sealing step, even if the heating temperature is not strictly controlled so as to make the heating temperature uniform throughout the entire apparatus, each electron-emitting device can be formed by the conventional formation of the oxide film. The amount of electrons emitted from the light source varies, and unevenness in brightness on the image display surface can be prevented as much as possible.

In particular, as an electron-emitting device, a device having a structure in which an electron-emitting thin film is arranged between electrodes, for example, a conductive film including an electron-emitting portion (electron-emitting thin film) is arranged between electrodes. In the case of using a surface-conduction type electron-emitting device having a configuration, it is possible to minimize the formation of an oxide film of the metal constituting the electrode at the interface between the electron-emitting thin film and the device electrode. Conventional device functions can be prevented from deteriorating. Further, in the surface conduction electron-emitting device, since the above-described forming is performed after the sealing step, it is possible to prevent an increase in power consumption during the forming process due to an increase in device resistance caused by the formation of the oxide film. it can.

Further, the manufacturing method of the present invention is particularly useful when an element having a structure in which an electron emission essential thin film is arranged between electrodes is used as an electron emission element. wherein with an electron-emitting thin film constituting the gaseous atmosphere containing at least part of the elements of the element, that Yusuke also heating the thin film for electron-emitting device.

For example, an electron-emitting device in which an electron-emitting thin film is arranged between electrodes, such as a surface conduction electron-emitting device,
Due to the heating in the sealing step, the constituent materials of the electron-emitting thin film may undergo a thermal change, so that an electron-emitting thin film made of a compound having a desired composition may not be obtained. In such a case, in addition to the sealing step, a step of heating the electron emitting thin film in a gas atmosphere containing at least a part of desired elements constituting the electron emitting thin film is adopted. In other words, a thin film for electron emission composed of a compound having a desired composition can be finally obtained by a thermochemical reaction between the thin film material for electron emission after the sealing treatment and the gas.

On the other hand, the heating step performed in the specific gas atmosphere also has the following advantages. That is, for example, in an electron-emitting device in which an electron-emitting thin film is disposed between electrodes such as a surface-conduction electron-emitting device, when the formation of the electron-emitting thin film is performed by, for example, a coating method or a vapor deposition method, Although it may be difficult to form a compound having a desired composition from the beginning, in such a case, a thin film made of a metal or a semiconductor made of a part of the constituent elements of the electron-emitting thin film is formed. In a heating step performed in a specific gas atmosphere, an electron emission thin film made of a compound having a desired composition can be finally obtained. Also in this case, the heating step is preferably performed after the sealing step for the above-described reason.

The above-described production method of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to more preferred embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing each step of the method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. Hereinafter, according to FIG.
In particular, a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. 4 using an electron source having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices will be described.

First, in FIG. 1, what is shown in a 0th step is that an electron emitting portion forming thin film (electron emitting thin film) having a structure in which an electron emitting portion forming thin film (electron emitting thin film) is arranged between electrodes on a substrate. This is a step of forming a plurality of the previous surface conduction electron-emitting devices and wiring for supplying power to the devices. The 0th step will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 shows the surface conduction electron-emitting device 81 shown in FIG.
1 is a configuration example.

An insulative substrate 85 made of glass, ceramic or the like whose surface has been sufficiently cleaned is prepared in advance, and a surface conduction electron-emitting device having a structure as shown in FIG. A plurality of devices are formed before the above-described forming process (process for forming the electron-emitting portion). At this time, a metal such as Cu, Ni, Al, or Ti is deposited on the substrate 85 by a film forming means such as an evaporation method or a sputtering method.
A film is formed to a thickness of about 500 Å to 5000 Å, and a resist pattern for the electrodes 71 and 72 is formed and etched to form electrodes 71 and 72 having a gap of about L = several micrometers.
In addition, the said electrode can also be formed by the lift-off method.

Next, a thin film 73 for forming an electron emission portion having a pattern having a length of several hundreds of micrometers and a width of several tens of micrometers is provided in the gap direction by covering the gap between the electrodes 71 and 72. create. Electron emitting portion forming thin film 73
Are Ti, Nb, Sn, Cr, Zn, R
Metals such as h, Hf, and Pd, or compounds containing at least one of these metals as constituent elements, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, or compounds containing at least one of these semiconductors as constituent elements are preferable. After performing the step, there is no particular limitation as long as the sheet resistance of the thin film for forming an electron emission portion is about several ohms / square to several megaohms / square.

The method for forming the thin film for forming the electron-emitting portion may be a vapor deposition method, a sputtering method,
Spindt coating of a solution containing a semiconductor or a compound thereof is applicable, but the method is not limited to these methods. Further, the state of the thin film for forming an electron emission portion formed as described above may be a continuous film, a fine particle film, or a composite thereof, and is not particularly limited.

Next, in FIG. 4, a wiring pattern (not shown) for supplying power to the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices 81 is created. As the wiring material, Cu, Al
A low resistance metal such as is preferred, with a thickness on the order of a few micrometers. The wiring is formed in the same manner as the electrodes 71 and 72. It should be noted that a plurality of Xs as shown in FIG.
When a simple matrix wiring structure having directional wirings (EX ₁ , EX ₂ ,...) And a plurality of Y-directional wirings (EY ₁ , EY ₂ , EY ₃ ,...) Is used, the X-directional wiring and the Y-directional wiring are used. It is necessary to insert an interlayer insulating layer in the intersection region with the above, and this interlayer insulating layer is formed by a method similar to a method performed in a normal semiconductor device manufacturing process. In FIG. 6, A
Denotes an electron-emitting device such as a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

Next, in FIG. 1, what is shown in the first step is the above-mentioned sealing step which characterizes the present invention. Hereinafter, the sealing step according to the present invention will be described. still,
In FIG. 4, the envelope (panel) is composed of a face plate 83, a spacer 82, and a substrate 85. However, in the sealing step according to the present invention, the face plate 83 and the spacer 82 are separated. The spacer 82 and the substrate 85 may be integrated members in advance.

As shown in FIG. 4, a face plate 83 and a spacer 82 each having a phosphor 84 and a metal back 88 disposed on the inner surface thereof are coated with frit glass 86 on their bonding surfaces. Main firing and bonding. Further, frit glass 86 is applied to the bonding surface of the spacer 82 with the substrate 85, and pre-baked. This preliminary firing is performed at a temperature equal to or lower than the heating temperature during the main firing before the main firing described below in order to remove the organic binder contained in the applied frit glass. Next, a member in which the face plate 83 and the spacer 82 are integrated and the substrate 85 are aligned and fixed at a predetermined position, and FIG.
And placed in a heating furnace equipped with a container which can be vacuum-tight and can heat the whole panel as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 61 denotes the panel to be bonded by heating, 62 denotes an installation table, 63 denotes a heating lamp, 64 denotes a container which can be vacuum-tight and can transmit light emitted from the heating lamp 63, and 65 denotes a container. A stirrer for making the temperature distribution in the container 64 uniform, 66 is a gas inlet provided with a valve, and 67 is a vacuum exhaust provided with a valve.

First, using the apparatus shown in FIG.
Is opened, and the container 6 is opened by a vacuum pump (not shown).
4 is evacuated to 10 ^-4 Torr or less. Next, the valve of the vacuum exhaust port 67 is closed, the valve of the gas inlet port 66 is opened, and a reducing gas such as H ₂ or CO, He,
Inert gas such as Ar, Ne, Kr, Xe, N ₂ , CO ₂ ,
A non-reducing and non-oxidizing gas such as CF ₄ , or a mixed gas thereof is introduced, and the internal pressure is increased from several Torr to
The pressure is usually set to the atmospheric pressure within the range of several thousand Torr. still,
In this step, since the exhaust pipe 87 has not been sealed yet,
The inside of the panel 61 has the same atmosphere and the same pressure as the container 64. Further, when the uniformity of the temperature distribution in the container 64 is not particularly required, the inside of the container 64 is evacuated,
Heat bonding may be used.

Next, the heating lamp 63 is turned on, and the stirrer 6 is turned on.
While turning 5, the temperature in the container 64 is set to a temperature at which the frit glass is melted, for example, 450 ° C., and the mixture is heated and bonded for about one hour. Thereafter, the panel is slowly cooled down to room temperature.

Next, in FIG. 1, what is shown in the second step is that the electron emission is finally carried out in a gas atmosphere containing at least some of the elements constituting the electron emission thin film. This is a step of heating the application thin film. Hereinafter, this heating step according to the present invention will be described.

As in the first step, the inside of the container 64 is ^filled with 10 ^-4 T
Evacuate to orr or less. Next, the valve of the vacuum exhaust port 67 is closed, the valve of the gas inlet port 66 is opened, and the container 64 is opened.
A gas capable of thermochemically converting the metal or semiconductor contained in the electron emission thin film 73 manufactured in the zeroth step into a desired compound is introduced thereinto. For example, Sn
In order to change to oxides such as O ₂ and PdO, O ₂ , NO
An oxidizing gas such as ₂ is introduced, and N ₂ and NH ₃ are introduced when it is desired to change to a nitride. At this time, the pressure inside the container 64 is set within a range of several Torr to several thousand Torr, usually at atmospheric pressure. In this step, since the exhaust pipe 87 has not been sealed yet, the inside of the panel 61 has the same atmosphere and pressure as the inside of the container 64. The heating temperature in the second step is
In the case where the material of the electrodes 71 and 72 forms an insulating compound by the introduced gas at a temperature equal to or higher than a temperature at which a desired compound serving as an electron emitting material is generated, the insulating compound is formed. It must be below temperature. For example, when the material of the electrodes 71 and 72 is Ni and PdO is generated as an electron emitting material in an O ₂ atmosphere, the heating temperature is set to 1 °.
The temperature is set at 50 ° C or more and 320 ° C or less. The heating at this time is performed for several minutes to several hours, and after completion, the panel 61 is sufficiently cooled and the panel 61 is taken out of the container 64.

In this embodiment, the heating furnace shown in FIG. 2 is used. However, the heating furnace is not limited to this. In short, the image forming apparatus is operated in a desired atmosphere at a desired temperature. Any type may be used as long as it can be heated for a predetermined time.

Next, a third step is performed. The inside of the image forming apparatus is evacuated to 10 ⁻⁶ Torr or less by a vacuum pump such as a turbo molecular pump (not shown) from an exhaust pipe 87 of the image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. Thereafter, a voltage of several V to several tens of V is applied between the electrodes 71 and 72 through the wiring, and an energization process is performed to form an electron emission portion 74.

Subsequently, a fourth step is performed. A heating means such as a hot plate (not shown) heats the electron-emitting material made of oxide, nitride, or the like to a temperature at which the electron-emitting material is not reduced, and evacuates through the exhaust pipe 87 for several days, so that the interior of the image forming apparatus is Evacuate to 10 ⁻⁶ Torr or less. Getter material (not shown) installed in a vacuum vessel of the image forming apparatus
, The exhaust pipe 87 is heated with a gas burner and sealed off.

Although the image forming apparatus can be manufactured by performing the above steps, the present invention is characterized by the first step, and the other steps are not particularly limited.

[0048]

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

(Embodiment 1) This embodiment is directed to an image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. 4 using an electron source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices shown in FIG. 3 are arranged. An example is shown.

In this embodiment, PdO is used as the thin film 73 for forming the electron emission portion of the surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment will be described in detail.

First, Ni element electrodes 71 and 72 having a gap width of 2 μm, a gap length of 400 μm, and a thickness of 1000 Å were formed on a glass substrate by a lift-off method.

Next, an organic Pd solution (Catapaste ccp, manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) was applied by a spin coating method and baked at 300 ° C. for 15 minutes.

Next, the resist pattern is patterned and etched to extend over the device electrodes 71 and 72.
In order to cover the gap between both device electrodes, a length 28
Electron emission portion forming thin film 73 having PdO as a main component and having a pattern of 0 μm and a width of 30 μm
It was created.

According to the above-described steps, 600 × 400 elements having no electron-emitting portion formed on the same glass substrate
They were arranged in a matrix.

Further, the resist was patterned and etched to form an Al wiring having a thickness of 1 μm, and wiring of each of the above elements was performed.

Next, the first step according to the manufacturing method of the present invention was performed.

As shown in FIG. 5, a frit glass 86 is formed on a face plate 83 on which a phosphor and a metal back are formed and made conductive, and a spacer 82 having a height of 5 mm.
(LS-0206, manufactured by Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd.) was applied to the bonding surfaces thereof, and temporarily baked at 400 ° C. for 10 minutes.
Then, the main plate was fired at 450 ° C. for one hour to bond the face plate 83 and the spacer 82 together. Further, the frit glass 86 is applied to the bonding surface of the spacer 82 with the substrate 85,
Preliminary baking was performed under the conditions of minutes.

Next, FIG. 2 shows a panel in which a member in which the face plate 83 and the spacer 82 are integrated and a substrate 85 on which the elements 81 are arranged are aligned and fixed at a predetermined position. Put in heating furnace. Container 64 of FIG.
After the inside is evacuated to 10 ⁻⁴ Torr or less, a mixed gas of N ₂ = 90% and H ₂ = 10% is introduced into the container 64 to maintain the pressure at 1 atm. The stirrer 65 was turned on, the heating lamp 63 was turned on, and heated at 450 ° C. for 1 hour, so that the frit glass 86 was melt-bonded.

Next, a second step according to the manufacturing method of the present invention was performed.

After cooling to 50 ° C. in the container 64 of the panel and evacuating the inside of the container 64 to 10 ⁻⁴ Torr or less, O ₂ gas is introduced into the container 64 and the pressure is maintained at 1 atm. Turn the stirrer 65, turn on the heating lamp 63,
After heating at 320 ° C. for 1 hour, the thin film
3 was oxidized.

After cooling the panel to room temperature, the panel was taken out of the heating furnace, and the resistance of the element was measured.
It was around 200-300 ohms. This resistance was about the same as the resistance of the element that did not undergo the first and second heating steps.

Next, the inside of the panel is 10 ⁻⁶ Ton from the exhaust pipe 87 of the panel by a turbo molecular pump (not shown).
Evacuate to rr or less. After that, 5V is applied between the device electrodes 71 and 72 through the above wiring, and about 20
An electron emission portion 74 was formed on the thin film 73 for forming an electron emission portion by applying a current of mA to conduct a current supply process.

Next, the panel is heated to about 130 ° C. by a hot plate, evacuated for several days, and the inside of the panel is evacuated to 10 ⁻⁶ Torr or less. After the getter material (not shown) installed in the panel was blown in advance, the exhaust pipe 87 was heated and closed with a gas burner.

When a driving circuit was connected to the image forming apparatus prepared as described above and an image was displayed, a uniform image having a variation in brightness of about 8% was obtained.

(Comparative Example 1) In order to confirm the effect of the image forming apparatus prepared in Example 1, the frit glass 86 in the first step in Example 1 was melt-bonded to an N ₂ -H ₂ mixed gas. Instead, it was performed in an atmosphere of 1 atmosphere of air,
Except that the second step in Example 1 was not performed,
An image forming apparatus of this comparative example was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1.

First, the frit glass 86 was melt-bonded in an atmosphere of one atmosphere of air, cooled to room temperature, and the element resistance of the panel element 81 taken out was measured. And the resistance of each element is 1k
It varied widely in the range of ohms to 500k ohms. In addition, for these elements exhibiting large element resistance,
As in the case of the first embodiment, when the energizing process was performed on the thin film 73 for forming an electron emitting portion to form the electron emitting portion 74, about 2 to 5 times as much power as the energizing process of the first embodiment was required. .

When a driving circuit was connected to the image forming apparatus prepared in this comparative example and an image was displayed, an unevenness in brightness was about 50%, and an image with poor uniformity was displayed.

(Embodiment 2) This embodiment is directed to a method of manufacturing the present invention in an image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. 4 using an electron source having a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices shown in FIG. It shows another example.

In this embodiment, SnO _x (X = 1 to 2) was used as the thin film 73 for forming the electron emission portion of the surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, a method for manufacturing the image forming apparatus of this embodiment will be described in detail.

First, Cr element electrodes 71 and 72 having a gap width of 2 μm, a gap length of 400 μm, and a thickness of 1000 Å were formed on a glass substrate by a lift-off method.

Next, Sn was deposited by electron beam evaporation.
A film is formed to a thickness of 100 angstroms, a resist pattern is patterned, and etching is performed.
Electrons having a pattern of SnO _x (X = 1 to 2) having a length of 280 μm and a width of 30 μm in the gap direction so as to cover the gap between the two device electrodes so as to cover the gap between the two device electrodes. A thin film for forming an emission part was prepared.

According to the above-described steps, 600 × 400 of the above-mentioned elements having no electron-emitting portions formed on the same glass substrate
They were arranged in a matrix.

Further, the resist was patterned and etched to form an Al wiring having a thickness of 1 μm, and wiring of each of the above elements was performed.

Next, the first step according to the manufacturing method of the present invention was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the N ₂ -H ₂ mixed gas in Example 1 was replaced with 1 atm of Ar gas. Performed similarly.

Next, in the second step according to the production method of the present invention, one atmosphere of NO ₂ was replaced with O ₂ gas in the first embodiment.
The electron-emitting-portion-forming thin film 73 was formed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the gas was heated at 300 ° C. for one hour.

Next, an image forming apparatus of this embodiment was manufactured in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

A drive circuit was connected to the image forming apparatus prepared as described above, and an image was displayed. As a result, an image having a uniformity of about 9% in brightness was obtained.

(Comparative Example 2) In order to confirm the effect of the image forming apparatus prepared in Example 2, the frit glass 86 in the first step in Example 2 was replaced with air 1 instead of Ar gas. Example 2 performed in an atmosphere of atmospheric pressure and Example 2
Example 2 except that the second step was not performed in
In the same manner as in the above, an image forming apparatus of this comparative example was prepared.

First, the frit glass 86 was melt-bonded in an atmosphere of one atmosphere of air, cooled to room temperature, and the element resistance of the panel element 81 taken out was measured. And the resistance of each element is 2k
It varied widely in the range of ohms to 1000 k ohms. In addition, for these elements exhibiting large element resistance,
As in the case of the second embodiment, when the energizing process was performed on the electron-emitting-portion forming thin film 73 in order to form the electron-emitting portion 74, about 3 to 8 times as much power as the energizing process in the second embodiment was required. .

Further, when a driving circuit was connected to the image forming apparatus prepared in this comparative example and an image was displayed, the variation in brightness was about 60%, and an image with poor uniformity was displayed.

(Embodiment 3) This embodiment is directed to an image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. 4 using an electron source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices shown in FIG. 3 are arranged. It shows still another example.

In this embodiment, as the thin film 73 for forming the electron emitting portion of the surface conduction electron emitting device shown in FIG.
nN using _{X (X} = _1~2).

Hereinafter, a method for manufacturing the image forming apparatus of this embodiment will be described in detail.

First, Cu element electrodes 71 and 72 having a gap width of 2 μm, a gap length of 400 μm, and a thickness of 1000 Å were formed on a glass substrate by a lift-off method.

Next, a film of Zn is formed to a thickness of 80 Å by ion beam evaporation, a resist pattern is patterned, and etching is performed.
A Zn thin film having a pattern having a length of 280 μm and a width of 30 μm was formed in the direction of the gap so as to cover the gap between the two device electrodes.

By the above-described steps, 600 × 400 of the above-mentioned elements having no electron emission portions formed on the same glass substrate were formed.
They were arranged in a matrix.

Further, the resist was patterned and etched to form an Al wiring having a thickness of 1 μm, and wiring of each of the above elements was performed.

Next, the first step according to the production method of the present invention was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that CO gas at 1 atm was used instead of the N ₂ -H ₂ mixed gas in Example 1. Performed similarly.

Next, the second step according to the manufacturing method of the present invention was carried out except that the atmosphere was heated at 300 ° C. for 1 hour using 1 atm N ₂ gas instead of the O ₂ gas in Example 1. The electron-emitting-portion-forming thin film 73 was formed in the same manner as in Example 1.

Incidentally, ZnN _x was used as a thin film for forming an electron-emitting portion.
Is difficult to pattern the ZnN _x film from the beginning, and passing through the second step according to the manufacturing method of the present invention is particularly effective in this embodiment.

Next, an image forming apparatus of this embodiment was prepared in the same manner as in the embodiment.

When a driving circuit was connected to the image forming apparatus prepared as described above and an image was displayed, an image having a uniformity of about 8% with a variation in brightness was obtained.

(Comparative Example 3) In order to confirm the effect of the image forming apparatus produced in Example 3, the frit glass 86 in the first step in Example 3 was replaced with air 1 instead of CO gas. Example 3 was performed in an atmosphere of atmospheric pressure.
Example 3 except that the second step was not performed in
In the same manner as in the above, an image forming apparatus of this comparative example was prepared.

When a driving circuit was connected to the image forming apparatus prepared in this comparative example and an image was displayed, the variation in brightness was about 50%, and an image with poor uniformity was displayed.

(Embodiment 4) This embodiment shows an example in which the first step according to the manufacturing method of the present invention in Embodiment 1 is performed in a vacuum atmosphere.

In the present embodiment, the panel sealing step involves placing the panel in a heating furnace shown in FIG.
After evacuating the inside to 10 ^-4 Torr or less, image formation was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the heating lamp 63 was turned on, heated at 450 ° C. for 1 hour, and the frit glass 86 was melt-bonded. The device was created.

When a driving circuit was connected to the image forming apparatus prepared as described above and an image was displayed, an image having a uniformity of about 8% with a variation in brightness was obtained.

[0100]

According to the present invention described above, the formation of an oxide film in the above-mentioned melting / adhering step (sealing step) is reduced as much as possible. It is possible to provide a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus capable of forming a high-quality image by reducing variations in the amount of electron emission between the emission elements.

Further, in particular, it is possible to provide a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron source and capable of forming a high-quality image with low power consumption.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process chart for explaining a manufacturing method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an apparatus for performing a first step and a second step according to the present invention in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an example of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a simple matrix wiring structure of an electron-emitting device.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 61 Image display device (panel) 62 Installation table 63 Heating lamp 64 Container 65 Stirrer 66 Gas inlet 67 Vacuum exhaust 71, 72 Electrode 73 Electron emission thin film 74 Electron emission part 81 Surface conduction type emission element 82 Spacer 83 Face plate 84 Phosphor 85 Substrate 86 Frit glass 87 Exhaust pipe 88 Metal back 231 Insulating substrate 232 Thin film for forming electron emission portion 233 Electron emission portion 234 Thin film including electron emission portion 241 Substrate 242, 243 Electrode 244 Fine particle film 245 Electron emission portion

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-363834 (JP, A) JP-A-52-33474 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01J 9/26

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] An electron source including an envelope configured by a plurality of members, and an electron-emitting device disposed in the envelope and having a conductive film including an electron-emitting portion between electrodes, in the manufacturing method of an image forming apparatus and an image forming member for forming an image by irradiation of the electron beam from the electron source, as a step performed prior to the step of forming the electron emitting portion in the conductive film, conductive Contains at least some of the elements that make up the conductive film.
Heating the conductive film in a gaseous atmosphere, in a gas atmosphere selected from a reducing gas, an inert gas, and a non-reducing and non-oxidizing gas, or in a vacuum atmosphere. And a sealing step of heating and bonding the plurality of members constituting the envelope.
Method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus characterized by that. 2. The method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said sealing step includes a step of arranging an adhesive on an adhesive surface of said plurality of members and temporarily firing the adhesive. 3. The method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the step of forming an electron emission portion on the conductive film includes a step of applying a current to the conductive film.