JP3387768B2 - Electron generator and method of manufacturing image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an electron generating apparatus and an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged on a substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices, known as a hot cathode device and a cold cathode device, are known. Among these, as the cold cathode device, for example, a surface conduction type emission device, a field emission type device (hereinafter referred to as FE type), a metal / insulating layer / metal type emission device (hereinafter referred to as MIM type), etc. are known. .

As an example of the FE type, for example, WP
Dyke & WW Dolan, “Field emission”, Advance in
Electron Physics, 8, 89 (1956) or CA Spi
ndt, “Physical properties of thin-film field emis
sion cathodes with molybdenium cones ”, J. Appl. P
hys., 47, 5248 (1976) are known.

Further, as an example of the MIM type, for example, C.I.
A. Mead, “Operation of tunnel-emission Devices,
J. Appl. Phys., 32,646 (1961) and the like are known.

As the surface conduction type emitting device, for example, M.
I. Elinson, Radio E-ng. Electron Phys., 10, 1290,
(1965) and other examples described later are known.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electron emission occurs in a small-area thin film formed on a substrate by passing a current in parallel with the film surface. The surface conduction electron-emitting device is made of an Au thin film in addition to the SnO2 thin film made by Elinson et al. [G. Dittmer: "Thin Solid Films", 9,317 (1
972)], and In2O3 / SnO2 thin films [M. Hart
well and CG Fonstad: “IEEE Trans. ED Conf.”,
519 (1975)] and carbon thin film [Haraki Araki
Others: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, 22 (1983)] and the like are reported.

As a typical example of the device configuration of these surface-conduction type emission devices, FIG. 27 shows a plan view of the device by M. Hartwell et al. In the figure, 3001 is a substrate, and 3004 is a conductive thin film made of metal oxide formed by sputtering. The conductive thin film 3004 is formed in an H-shaped plane shape as illustrated. An electron-emitting portion 3005 is formed by subjecting this conductive thin film 3004 to an energization process called energization forming described later. The interval L in the figure is 0.5 to 1 [mm], and the width W is
It is set to 0.1 [mm]. For convenience of illustration, the electron emitting portion 3005 is shown in a rectangular shape in the center of the conductive thin film 3004, but this is a schematic one, and the actual position and shape of the electron emitting portion is faithfully expressed. It doesn't mean that. In the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device including the device by M. Hartwell et al., It is general that the electron-emitting portion 3005 is formed by performing an energization process called energization forming on the conductive thin film 3004 before the electron emission. It was target. That is, the energization forming is performed by applying a constant DC voltage or a DC voltage that is boosted at a very slow rate of, for example, about 1 V / min to both ends of the conductive thin film 3004 to conduct electricity, and the conductive thin film 30
04 locally destroyed or deformed or altered,
That is, the electron emitting portion 3005 having an electrically high resistance is formed. A crack occurs in a part of the conductive thin film 3004 which is locally destroyed, deformed or altered.
When an appropriate voltage is applied to the conductive thin film 3004 after this energization forming, electrons are emitted near the crack.

For example, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has an advantage that a large number of devices can be formed over a large area because it has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture among cold cathode devices.
Therefore, for example, JP-A-64-31332 by the applicant of the present application
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication, methods for arranging and driving a large number of devices have been studied.

Regarding the application of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, for example, an image forming apparatus such as an image display apparatus and an image recording apparatus, a charged beam source, and the like have been studied.

Particularly as an application to an image display device, for example, as disclosed in USP 5,066,883 by the applicant of the present application, JP-A-2-257551 and JP-A-4-28137, a surface conduction type is disclosed. An image display device using a combination of an emission element and a phosphor that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam has been studied. The image display device using such a combination of the surface conduction electron-emitting device and the phosphor is expected to have better characteristics than other conventional image display devices. For example, it can be said that it is superior in that it does not require a backlight because it is a self-luminous type and that it has a wide viewing angle, even compared with liquid crystal display devices that have become popular in recent years.

The inventors of the present application have tried cold cathode devices of various materials, manufacturing methods, and structures, including those described in the above-mentioned prior art. Furthermore, research has been conducted on a multi electron source in which a large number of cold cathode elements are arranged, and an image display device to which this multi electron source is applied.

The inventors of the present application have tried a multi-electron source by an electrical wiring method shown in FIG. 28, for example. That is,
This is a multi-electron source in which many cold cathode devices are two-dimensionally arranged and these devices are wired in a matrix as shown in the drawing.

In the figure, reference numeral 4001 schematically shows a cold cathode element, 4002 a row direction wiring, and 4003 a column direction wiring. Row direction wiring 4002 and column direction wiring 4
Although 003 actually has a finite electric resistance, it is shown as wiring resistances 4004 and 4005 in the drawing. The wiring method as described above is called simple matrix wiring. Although a 6 × 6 matrix is shown for convenience of illustration, the scale of the matrix is not limited to this. For example, in the case of a multi-electron source for an image display device, desired image display is performed. This is to arrange and wire as many elements as necessary.

In a multi-electron source in which surface conduction electron-emitting devices are wired in a simple matrix, in order to output a desired electron beam, row-directional wiring 4002 and column-directional wiring 400 are provided.
An appropriate electric signal is applied to 3. For example, to drive any row of surface-conduction emitters in the matrix:
The selection voltage Vs is applied to the row-direction wiring 4002 of the row to be selected, and at the same time, the non-selection voltage Vns is applied to the row-direction wiring 4002 of the non-selected row. Column direction wiring 40 in synchronization with this
A drive voltage Ve for outputting an electron beam is applied to 03. According to this method, the wiring resistances 4004 and 400
Ignoring the voltage drop due to 5, the voltage of (Ve-Vs) is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the selected row, and the voltage of (Ve-Vns) is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the non-selected row. A voltage is applied. Here, if the voltage values of Ve, Vs, and Vns are set to voltages of appropriate magnitudes, an electron beam of a desired intensity should be output only from the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the selected row, and the column If different drive voltages Ve are applied to the directional wirings 4003, electron beams of different intensities should be output from the elements of the selected row.
Further, since the response speed of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is high, if the length of time for applying the driving voltage Ve is changed, the length of time for outputting the electron beam should be changed.

Therefore, there is a possibility of various applications to the multi-electron source in which the surface conduction electron-emitting devices are wired in a simple matrix. For example, if an electric signal according to image information is appropriately applied, the electron source for the image display device can be used. Can be suitably used as.

On the other hand, the inventors of the present invention have made earnest researches for improving the characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and as a result, have found that conducting current activation treatment is effective in the manufacturing process.

As described above, when forming the electron emitting portion of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, an electric current is applied to the conductive thin film to locally break, deform or alter the thin film to form a crack. Process (energizing forming process) is performed. After that, the electron emission characteristic can be significantly improved by further performing the energization activation treatment.

That is, the energization activation process is a process of energizing the electron-emitting portion formed by the energization forming process under appropriate conditions to deposit carbon or a carbon compound in the vicinity thereof. For example, by appropriately applying a voltage pulse in a vacuum atmosphere in which an organic substance having an appropriate partial pressure is present and the total pressure is 10 −4 to 10 −5, [torr], Any one of single crystal graphite, polycrystalline graphite, and amorphous carbon or a mixture thereof is deposited in the vicinity in a thickness of 500 [angstrom] or less. However, it is needless to say that this condition is just an example and should be appropriately changed depending on the material and shape of the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

By carrying out such a treatment, it is possible to increase the emission current at the same applied voltage typically 100 times or more as compared with immediately after the energization forming. Incidentally, it is desirable to reduce the partial pressure of the organic substance in the vacuum atmosphere after the completion of the energization activation.

Therefore, when manufacturing a multi-electron source in which a large number of the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting devices are wired in a simple matrix, it is desirable to perform energization activation treatment on each device.

[0021]

The multi-electron source thus produced causes some variation in emission characteristics of individual electron sources due to process variations and the like, and a display device is produced using this. In this case, there is a problem in that this variation in characteristics appears as variation in brightness. As described above, the electron emission characteristics of the multi-electron source are different for each electron source. Can be caused by various factors such as non-uniformity, non-uniformity of energization conditions and atmospheric gas in the energization activation step. However, in order to remove all of these causes, very sophisticated manufacturing equipment and extremely strict process control are required, and if these are satisfied, the manufacturing cost becomes enormous and it is not realistic.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and a method of manufacturing an electron generating apparatus and an image forming apparatus in which variations in electron emission characteristics of a multi-electron source due to various causes described above are eliminated by a simple process. The purpose is to provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing an electron generating apparatus and an image forming apparatus in which the characteristics of multiple electron sources are made substantially the same by utilizing the characteristics peculiar to the surface conduction electron-emitting device. It is in.

[0024]

In order to achieve the above object, the method of manufacturing an electron generating device of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, it is a method of manufacturing an electron generator having a multi-electron source in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged on a substrate, and a drive means for outputting a drive voltage to the multi-electron source. Te, the surface conduction for measuring respective characteristics of a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices formed on a substrate
Of a plurality of surface conduction electron -emitting devices, a measurement step of applying a characteristic measurement voltage to the surface emission device, a step of obtaining a reference value of the characteristics of the plurality of surface conduction electron emission devices based on the measured electron emission characteristics, Applying a respective characteristic shift voltage to each corresponding one of the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices so that the electron emission characteristic becomes a value according to the reference value, and the characteristic shift voltage is The characteristic measurement voltage is higher than the characteristic measurement voltage, and the characteristic measurement voltage is higher than the drive voltage.

Here, the characteristic shift voltage is preferably applied in an atmosphere in which the partial pressure of the organic gas is 10 −8 Torr or less.

After applying the characteristic shift voltage, the characteristics of the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are measured again, and the characteristic shift voltage is applied to the corresponding surface conduction electron-emitting devices based on the result of the measurement again. The method may further include the step of applying again.

Further, in the measuring step, the emission current emitted from the surface conduction type emitting device can be measured every time each surface conduction type emitting device is driven.

In the measuring step, the device current flowing through the surface conduction type emitting device can be measured each time the surface conduction type emitting device is driven.

In the measuring step, each time each surface conduction electron-emitting device is driven, the emission luminance of the phosphor emitted by the electrons emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device is measured, and the measured luminance is measured. Can be converted into a value corresponding to the emission current or the device current.

The method of manufacturing the image forming apparatus of the present invention is as follows.
It has the following steps. That is, a plurality of surface transmissions are formed on the substrate.
Multi-electron source in which conductive emission devices are arranged in matrix
And a driving means for outputting a driving voltage to the multi-electron source.
And an electron beam from the multi-electron source.
Image forming apparatus having a phosphor that emits light when irradiated with light
9. The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 1 , wherein the electron generator is
Manufactured by the method according to any one of 6
Characterize .

Here, it is preferable to apply the characteristic shift voltage in an atmosphere in which the partial pressure of the organic gas is 10 −8 Torr or less.

In addition, after applying the characteristic shift voltage, the characteristics of the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are measured again, and the characteristic shift voltage is again applied to the corresponding surface conduction electron-emitting devices based on the measurement result. The method may further include a step of applying.

In the measuring step, the emission current emitted from the surface conduction type emitting device can be measured every time each surface conduction type emitting device is driven.

In the measuring step, the device current flowing through the surface conduction type emitting device can be measured every time each surface conduction type emitting device is driven.

In the measuring step, each time each surface conduction electron-emitting device is driven, the emission luminance of the phosphor emitted by the electrons emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device is measured, and the measured luminance is measured. Can be converted into a value corresponding to the emission current or the device current.

[0036]

[0037]

[0038]

[0039]

[0040]

[0041]

[0042]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Means for solving the above problems will be described in detail below. In the embodiment of the present invention, the function of storing the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device (hereinafter, referred to as a memory function of the electron emission characteristics) is used,
By storing a predetermined electron emission characteristic for each surface conduction electron-emitting device, the electron emission characteristic of each surface conduction electron-emitting device is made uniform.

Next, the memory function of the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this embodiment will be described.

The inventors of the present invention have driven the surface conduction electron-emitting device, which has been subjected to the energization forming process and the energization activation process in advance, in an environment in which the partial pressure of the organic gas is reduced, and measured the electrical characteristics.

FIG. 1 is a graph showing the voltage waveform of the drive signal applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present embodiment, where the horizontal axis represents time and the vertical axis represents the voltage applied to the surface conduction electron emitting device. (Hereinafter referred to as element voltage Vf) is shown.

Here, as the drive signal, a continuous rectangular voltage pulse is used as shown in FIG. 7A, the application period of the voltage pulse is divided into three periods of the first period to the third period, and within each period, The same pulse was applied every 100 pulses. Figure 1
The waveform of the voltage pulse in (a) is shown enlarged in FIG.

As concrete measurement conditions, the pulse width of the drive signal was T5 = 66.8 [μsec] and the pulse period was T6 = 16.7 [millisecond] in any period. This is determined with reference to the standard driving condition when the surface conduction electron-emitting device is applied to a general television receiver, but the memory function can be measured under other conditions. The wiring path from the drive signal source to the surface conduction electron-emitting device is controlled so that the rising time Tr and the falling time Tf of the voltage pulse effectively applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device are 100 [ns] or less. The impedance was sufficiently reduced for measurement.

Here, the element voltage Vf is Vf = Vf1 in the first period and the third period, and Vf = Vf2 in the second period.
The device voltages Vf1 and Vf2 are both set to be a voltage higher than the electron emission threshold voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device and satisfy the condition of Vf1 <Vf2. However, since the electron emission threshold voltage also differs depending on the shape and material of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the electron emission threshold voltage was set appropriately according to the surface conduction electron emission device to be measured. Regarding the atmosphere around the surface conduction electron-emitting device during measurement, the total pressure was 1 × 10 −6 [torr] and the partial pressure of the organic gas was 1 × 10 −9 [torr]. The values of Vf1 and Vf2 are set to values larger than the drive voltage when displaying an image.

2A and 2B are graphs showing the electrical characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device when the drive signal shown in FIG. 1 is applied. The horizontal axis of FIG. Element voltage Vf
The vertical axis represents the current emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device (hereinafter,
2B, the horizontal axis represents the device voltage Vf, and the vertical axis represents the measured value of the current flowing through the surface conduction electron-emitting device (hereinafter referred to as the device current If). ing.

First, the element voltage V shown in FIG.
f) The (emission current Ie) characteristic will be described.

In the first period shown in FIG. 1, the characteristic curve I is emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device in response to the drive pulse.
The emission current is output according to ec (1). That is, during the rising period Tr of the drive pulse, when the applied voltage Vf exceeds Vth1, the emission current Ie rapidly increases along the characteristic curve Iec (1). The emission current Ie maintains the magnitude of Ie1 during the period of Vf = Vf1, that is, the period of the pulse width T5. Then, during the falling period Tf of the drive pulse, the emission current Ie sharply decreases along the characteristic curve Ies (1).

Next, in the second period, when the pulse of Vf = Vf2 starts to be applied, the characteristic curve changes from Iec (1) to Iec (2). That is, during the rising period Tr of the drive pulse, when the applied voltage Vf exceeds Vth2, the emission current Ie rapidly increases along the characteristic curve Iec (2). Then, during the period of Vf = Vf2, that is, the period of T5, the emission current Ie maintains the magnitude of Ie2. During the fall period Tf of the drive pulse, the emission current Ie is equal to the characteristic curve Ie.
Decrease sharply along ec (2).

Next, in the third period, Vf = Vf again
A pulse of 1 is applied, but at this time, the emission current Ie is
It changes along the characteristic curve Iec (2). That is, during the rising period Tr of the drive pulse, when the applied voltage Vf exceeds Vth2, the emission current Ie rapidly increases along the characteristic curve Iec (2). Then, during the period of Vf = Vf1, that is, the period of T5, the emission current Ie maintains the magnitude of Ie3. Then, during the falling period Tf of the drive pulse, the emission current Ie rapidly decreases along the characteristic curve Iec (2).

In this way, since the characteristic curve Iec (2) in the second period is stored in the third period,
The emission current Ie decreases from Ie1 to Ie3 and becomes smaller than that in the first period.

Similarly, (element voltage Vf) vs. (element current I
f) As for the characteristics, as shown in FIG. 7B, it operates along the characteristic curve Ifc (1) in the first period, but follows the characteristic curve Ifc (2) in the second period. , In the subsequent third period, it operates along the characteristic curve Ifc (2) recorded in the second period.

Here, for convenience of explanation, only the three periods of the first to third periods are illustrated, but it goes without saying that the setting conditions are not limited to these. That is, when a pulse voltage is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device having a memory function, the characteristic curve shifts when a pulse having a voltage value higher than the voltage value applied before that is applied, and Will be memorized. After that, the characteristic curve (electron emission characteristic) is continuously stored in memory unless a pulse having a larger voltage value is applied. Such a memory function has not been observed in other electron-emitting devices such as the FE type, and can be said to be a characteristic peculiar to the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

Next, the peripheral environment required to realize the memory function of the electron emission characteristic will be described. In order to realize a good memory function, the vacuum atmosphere around the surface conduction electron-emitting device should be set so that carbon or carbon compound is not newly deposited in the electron emitting portion or its vicinity even if the surface conduction electron-emitting device is energized. It is necessary to reduce the partial pressure of the organic gas inside and maintain this state. Specifically, it is preferable to maintain the partial pressure of the organic gas in the atmosphere by reducing it to 10 −8 [torr] or less, and more preferably 10 −10 10 [torr] or less. Is desirable. The partial pressure of the organic gas means that carbon and hydrogen are the main components and the mass number is 13
It is a value obtained by integrating partial pressures of organic molecules in the range of up to 200, and is quantitatively measured using a mass spectrometer.

As a typical method for reducing the partial pressure of the organic gas in the environment surrounding the surface-conduction type emitting device, a vacuum container containing a substrate on which the surface-conduction type emitting device is formed is heated and the surface of each member in the container is heated. A method of performing vacuum exhaustion using a vacuum pump that does not use oil, such as a sorption pump or an ion pump, while desorbing the organic gas molecules adsorbed on the. After reducing the partial pressure of the organic gas in this way,
The state can be maintained by using a vacuum pump that does not use oil and continuing exhaustion thereafter. However, the method of always exhausting with a vacuum pump is
Depending on the application purpose, it may be disadvantageous in terms of volume, power consumption, weight, price, etc. Therefore, for example, when the surface conduction electron-emitting device is applied to an image display device, after sufficiently desorbing organic gas molecules to reduce the partial pressure of the organic gas, a getter film is formed in the vacuum container. , The exhaust pipe is sealed to maintain the state.

In many cases, the origin of the organic gas remaining in the vacuum atmosphere is the vapor of oil used in vacuum evacuation devices such as rotary pumps and oil diffusion pumps, and the manufacturing process of surface-conduction emission devices. And the residue of the organic solvent used in. Organic gas includes, for example, aliphatic hydrocarbons such as alkanes, alkenes and alkynes, aromatic hydrocarbons,
Examples thereof include alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, amines, phenols, organic acids such as carboxylic acids and sulfonic acids, and derivatives of the above organic substances. Specifically, for example, butadiene, n-hexane, 1-hexene, benzene, toluene, O-xylene, benzonitrile, chloroethylene, trichloroethylene, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, diethyl ketone,
Methylamine, ethylamine, acetic acid, propionic acid, etc.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First Preferred Embodiment> In the first preferred embodiment, the electron emission characteristics of each electron-emitting device are measured prior to the use of the electron-emitting device. However, the magnitude of the voltage applied to the electron-emitting device in each step was set as described below. That is, the measurement drive voltage applied in the step of measuring the emission current characteristics of each electron-emitting device, the characteristic shift voltage applied in the step of adjusting the characteristics of each electron-emitting element to be uniform, and the electron-emitting element And the maximum value of the drive voltage applied when using VEmeasure,
When expressed as Vshift and Vdrive, the following magnitude relations are established.

Vdrive <VEmeasure <Vshift In this way, by setting VEmeasure to be larger than Vdrive, a voltage larger than the drive voltage applied during use is applied to each electron-emitting device before use. . Therefore, it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that the electron emission characteristics shift during use.

Since Vshift is set to be larger than VEmeasure, the characteristic shifting pulse has the maximum voltage applied to the electron-emitting device. Therefore, by applying the characteristic shifting pulse, the electron emission characteristic can be surely shifted to the desired characteristic. Of course Vshift is Vd
Since it is set larger than rive, it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that the uniformly adjusted electron emission characteristics shift during use.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of a drive circuit for applying a memory waveform signal to each surface conduction type emission element of the display panel 1 to change the electron emission characteristic of each surface conduction type emission element of the electron source substrate. It is a block diagram shown.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a display panel, a substrate on which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix,
A face plate or the like, which is provided separately on the substrate and has a phosphor that emits light by electrons emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device, is disposed in a vacuum container. Reference numeral 2 is a terminal for applying a high voltage from the high voltage source 11 to the phosphor of the display panel 1. Switch matrices 3 and 4 respectively select row-direction wirings and column-direction wirings to select electron-emitting devices for applying a pulse voltage. 6,7
Is a pulse generator, which generates the pulse waveform signals Px and Py for the memory function described above. A pulse crest value setting circuit 8 outputs the pulse setting signals Lpx and Lpy to determine the crest values of the pulse signals output from the pulse generators 6 and 7, respectively. A control circuit 9 detects the difference between the emission current value Ie detected by the current detector 12 and the set value, and outputs data Tv for setting the peak value to the pulse peak value setting circuit 8. 9a is CP
U controls the operation of the control circuit 9. 9b is CP
It is a memory for storing the control program of U9a (flowcharts in FIGS. 7 and 8) and various data. 10
Is a switch matrix control circuit, which outputs switch switching signals Tx and Ty to control selection of the switches of the switch matrices 2 and 3, thereby selecting an electron-emitting device to which a pulse voltage for a memory function is applied.

Next, the operation of this drive circuit will be described. The operation of this circuit includes the steps of measuring the electron emission current of each surface conduction electron-emitting device of the display panel 1 and applying a pulse waveform signal for the memory function according to the detected emission current.

First, a method for measuring the emission current Ie will be described. The switch matrix control signal Tsw from the control circuit 9 causes the switch matrix control circuit 10 to switch the switch matrices 3 and 4 to select a predetermined row-direction wiring or column-direction wiring and drive a desired surface conduction electron-emitting device. Connected.

On the other hand, the control circuit 9 outputs the peak value data Tv for measuring the electron emission characteristic to the pulse peak value setting circuit 8. As a result, the pulse peak value setting circuit 8 outputs the peak value data Lpx and Lpy to the pulse generators 6 and 7, respectively. Based on the peak value data Lpx and Lpy, the pulse generators 6 and 7 respectively drive the drive pulse Px.
And Py are output, and the drive pulses Px and Py are applied to the elements selected by the switch matrices 3 and 4. Here, the drive pulses Px and Py have a half amplitude of the voltage (peak value) Vf1 applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device for measuring the characteristics and have different polarities. It is set. At the same time, the high voltage power supply 11 applies a predetermined voltage to the phosphor of the display panel 1. The emission current Ie when the surface conduction electron-emitting device is driven by the drive pulses Px and Py is detected by the current detector 1.
Measured according to 2.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the characteristic measuring process by the control circuit 9.

First, in step S1, the switch matrix control signal Tsw is output, and the switch matrix control circuit 10 switches the switch matrices 3 and 4 to select the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the display panel 1. Next, in step S2, the crest value data Tv of the pulse signal applied to the selected element is output to the pulse crest value setting circuit 8. The peak value of the measuring pulse is a voltage higher than the driving voltage when displaying an image. Then, in step S3, a pulse signal for measuring the characteristics of the electron-emitting device is applied from the pulse generators 6, 7 to the surface conduction electron-emitting device selected in step S1 via the switch matrices 3, 4. Next, in step S4, the electron emission current Ie at this time is input, and in step S5, it is stored in the memory 9b.

In step S6, it is checked whether or not the measurement has been performed for all the surface conduction type emission devices of the display panel 1, and if not, the process proceeds to step S7 and the switch matrix for selecting the next surface conduction type emission device. Control signal T
Output sw and proceed to step S3.

On the other hand, when the measurement process for all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices is completed in step S6, the process proceeds to step S8, and the emission currents Ie for all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1 are compared, for example, As will be described later with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the memory applied voltage value applied to each element is determined. Then, the determined voltage value is stored in the memory 9b of the control circuit 9.

A measurement example of the emission current measured as described above will be schematically described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 shows that the driving voltage (peak value of driving pulse) Vf of each surface conduction electron-emitting device having different emission characteristics generated during the process of producing the multi-electron source of the display panel 1 of this embodiment is changed. It is the figure which showed an example of the emission current characteristic at the time of doing.

In the same figure, the electron emission characteristic of a certain surface conduction electron-emitting device is shown by the operation curve (a), and the electron emission characteristic of another certain surface conduction electron-emitting device is shown by the operation curve (b). . Therefore, the emission current at the drive voltage Vf1 is
In the electron-emitting device having the characteristics shown in (a), Ie1,
In the electron-emitting device having the characteristics shown in (b), Ie2 (Ie1
> Ie2).

On the other hand, as described above, the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this embodiment has the emission current characteristic according to the maximum peak value of the drive pulse of the voltage applied in the past.

FIG. 5 shows a case where the signal is driven with a constant peak value smaller than Vfm when the maximum value Vfm of the waveform signal for the memory function is changed. As a result, by applying different maximum pulse height pulses (hereinafter referred to as memory waveform signals) to the individual surface conduction electron-emitting devices,
The electron emission characteristics can be made uniform.

That is, in FIG. 4, the emission characteristic curve (a)
In order to make the characteristics of the emission element having the characteristic curve (b) equal to those of the emission element having the characteristic curve (b), a waveform signal for memory is applied to the emission element having the characteristic curve (a) with reference to the characteristics shown in FIG. The emission current Ie at the drive voltage Vf1 may be changed from Ie1 to Ie2.

In other words, in order to achieve uniform electron emission characteristics of a plurality of electron-emitting devices, the characteristic of the element on the rightmost side of the (Vf-Ie) characteristic curve is set as a target (reference), and other characteristics are set. It suffices to shift the characteristic curve of the element to the right to match the target. At that time, the magnitude of the memory waveform signal (that is, the characteristic shifting voltage) applied to each electron-emitting device is determined according to the magnitude of the difference from the target. An element having a large difference from the target (for example, the difference between Ie1 and Ie2 in FIG. 4), that is, an element having a characteristic curve on the left side, needs to have a larger shift amount.

By the way, in order to know how much the characteristic shift voltage is applied to the electron-emitting device having a certain initial characteristic and how much the characteristic curve shifts to the right, it is possible to obtain the data shown in FIG. A large number of experiments described with reference to FIG. 2B may be performed in advance. Therefore, various electron emission devices having various initial characteristics were selected, various experiments were conducted by applying Vf2 of various sizes, and various data were accumulated.
In the apparatus of FIG. 3, these data are stored in the control circuit 9 in advance as a look-up table.

FIG. 5 shows, in the form of a graph, data of an electron-emitting device having the same initial characteristic as the initial characteristic shown by a in FIG. 4 is picked up from the look-up table. The horizontal axis of this graph represents the magnitude of the characteristic shift voltage, and the vertical axis represents the emission current Ie. This graph is the result of measuring the emission current by applying the driving voltage of the same magnitude as Vf1 after applying the characteristic shifting voltage. Therefore, in order to determine the magnitude of the characteristic shifting voltage to be applied to the element a in FIG. 4, it is sufficient to read Vfm at the point where Ie is equal to Ie2 in the graph of FIG.

Referring again to FIG. 7, the description is captured. In step S8 of FIG. 7, the control circuit 9 of the device of FIG. 3 determines the characteristic shift voltage (that is, the memory waveform signal) in the following procedure.

First, an electron-emitting device to be a target (reference) is selected. That is, the measurement results of Ie of each electron-emitting device are compared with each other, and the device having the (Vf-Ie) characteristic curve on the rightmost side is selected from all the electron-emitting devices. This selected electron-emitting device will be hereinafter referred to as a reference device.
When there are a plurality of elements whose characteristic curves are on the rightmost side, these plural elements may be treated as reference elements.

Next, for the elements other than the reference element, the characteristic shifting voltage is determined for each element. First, the control circuit 9 reads out the data of the element having the closest initial characteristics to the element from the lookup table stored in advance.

Then, a characteristic shift voltage for equalizing the characteristic of the element to the characteristic of the reference element is selected from the data (see the above description of FIG. 5). In this way, the value of the characteristic shift voltage is determined for each element, and the result is stored in the memory 9b in step S9.
Since it is not necessary to shift the characteristics of the reference element, the identification information indicating that the characteristic shifting voltage is unnecessary is stored in the memory 9b. Alternatively, a voltage equal to or lower than the measurement voltage applied in step S3 may be stored in the memory 9b.

Next, a method of applying a memory waveform signal for aligning individual electron emission characteristics will be described. Here, the characteristics of the emission element shown by the emission characteristic curve (a) in FIG. 4 are changed to the electron emission characteristics shown by the characteristic curve (b). An example of changing the emission current value at the predetermined drive voltage Vf1 so as to be the same Ie2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a process executed by the control circuit 9 of the present embodiment for aligning the electron emission characteristics of all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1.

First, in step S11, the switch matrix control circuit 10 is operated by the switch matrix control signal Tsw.
The switch matrixes 3 and 4 are controlled via the switch to select the surface conduction electron-emitting device to which the memory waveform signal of the display panel 1 is applied. Next, in step S12, the memory voltage data of the selected surface conduction electron-emitting device is stored in the memory 9
Read from b. Then, in step S13, it is determined whether or not it is necessary to apply the memory waveform signal to the surface conduction electron-emitting device. For example, when the characteristics shown in FIG. 4B are matched with the characteristics shown in FIG. 4B, the surface conduction electron-emitting device which originally has the characteristics shown in FIG. Since it is not necessary to apply the voltage, the memory waveform signal is not applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device which originally has such characteristics.

When the waveform signal for memory is not applied, the process proceeds to step S16, but when it is necessary to apply it, the process proceeds to step S14, where the crest value of the pulse signal is set by the pulse crest value setting circuit 8 by the crest value setting signal Tv. Then, in step S15, the pulse peak value setting circuit 8 sets the peak value data Lpx.
And Lpy, and based on the values, the pulse generators 6 and 7 drive the drive pulses Px and Py of the set peak values.
Is output. In this way, the shift pulse (memory signal) according to the characteristics is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device selected in step S11. Then, in step S16, it is checked whether or not the processing for all the surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1 is completed. A switch matrix control signal Tsw is output in order to select.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, the surface conduction electron-emitting device shown by the emission characteristic curve (a) was changed as shown by the characteristic curve (c), and the driving voltage Vf1 was applied. The emission current at this time becomes Ie2, and the electron emission characteristics of all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1 can be made uniform.

<Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In the second embodiment, the electron emission characteristics of each electron emission element are measured prior to the use of the electron emission element, and if there are variations in the electron emission characteristics, they are corrected to be uniform. The magnitude of the voltage applied to the electron-emitting device in each step was set as described below. That is, the measurement drive voltage applied in the step of measuring the device current characteristics of each electron-emitting device, the characteristic shift voltage applied in the step of adjusting the characteristics of each electron-emitting device to be uniform, and the electron-emitting device The maximum value of the drive voltage applied when using is calculated as VFmeasure, Vshift, Vdrive, respectively.
When expressed, the following magnitude relations are established.

Vdrive <VFmeasure <Vshift By setting VFmeasure to be larger than Vdrive, a voltage larger than the drive voltage applied at the time of use is previously applied to each electron-emitting device before use. . Therefore, it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that the electron emission characteristics shift during use.

Since Vshift is set to be larger than VFmeasure, the characteristic shifting pulse has the maximum voltage applied to the electron-emitting device. Therefore, by applying the characteristic shifting pulse, the electron emission characteristic can be surely shifted to the desired characteristic. Of course Vshift is Vd
Since it is set larger than rive, it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that the uniformly adjusted electron emission characteristics shift during use.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a device structure for uniformly aligning the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1, and the parts common to the structure of FIG. The description is omitted here.

According to the structure of the second embodiment, focusing on the fact that there is a strong correlation with the device current If of the emission current Ie with respect to the drive voltage Vf, the electrons from the individual surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1 will be described. This is different from FIG. 3 in that the device current If is made uniform in order to make the emission current Ie uniform, and a current detector 5 for measuring the device current If of each surface conduction electron-emitting device is provided. . Reference numeral 90 denotes a control circuit corresponding to the control circuit 9.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the device current If with respect to the drive voltage Vf of the surface conduction electron-emitting device having different emission characteristics, which is generated during the process of forming the multi electron source of the display panel 1. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the element current If when the maximum value Vfm of the memory waveform signal is changed and the signal is driven by a signal having a constant peak value smaller than Vfm. Here, the value of the emission current Ie is different for each surface conduction electron-emitting device. However, since the device current If and the emission current Ie have a strong correlation, the emission characteristics can be made uniform by applying the memory waveform signal to change the individual device current characteristics.

Next, a method of aligning the device currents If of the individual surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1 will be described.

Regarding the operation of the circuit of FIG. 9, the item to be measured in advance is the emission current Ie in the above-described first embodiment, but only the element current If in the second embodiment. However, the device current before applying the memory waveform signal can be measured in exactly the same manner except that

Next, referring to the characteristic curve of FIG. 11, the memory waveform signal is supplied to the emission element showing the element current characteristic curve (a) of FIG. 10 so as to be aligned with the predetermined element current (If2 in this case). Apply. As a result, as shown in FIG. 12, the surface conduction electron-emitting device, which had previously shown the device current characteristic curve (a), now exhibits the characteristic curve (c) and exhibits the characteristic curve (b). Surface conduction electron-emitting device and drive voltage Vf1
The same device current If2 can be obtained at. By performing the above operation on all the surface conduction type emission devices of the display panel 1, the device currents of the surface conduction type emission devices of the entire display panel 1 can be made uniform.

Next, the display panel 1 in which the memory waveform signal is applied and the characteristics thereof are made uniform as described above is driven by the drive voltage Vf lower than the peak value of the memory waveform signal of any element. Then, it is possible to obtain the display panel 1 in which the emission current Ie of all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices is uniform.

As described above, it is possible to improve the variation in the emission current of the individual surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1 and display an image with a uniform luminance distribution.

In the operation of the second embodiment, the detection of the emission current Ie is replaced with the detection of the element current If in the flowchart (FIGS. 7 and 8) of the above-described first embodiment, and the waveform for the memory is used. By determining the crest value of the signal, it can be performed in the same manner as in the above-described first embodiment, and thus the description thereof will be omitted.

<Third Embodiment> Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

In the third embodiment, the emission brightness of the phosphor corresponding to each electron-emitting device is measured prior to the use of the electron-emitting device, and if there is a dispersion in the brightness, correction is made to make it uniform. However, the magnitude of the voltage applied to the electron-emitting device in each step was set as described below. That is, the measurement drive voltage applied to each electron-emitting device in the step of measuring the emission brightness of the phosphor, the characteristic shift voltage applied in the step of adjusting the emission brightness of each phosphor to be uniform, and the image And the maximum value of the drive voltage applied to the electron-emitting device when displaying
When expressed as Vshift and Vdrive, the following magnitude relations are established.

Vdrive <VLmeasure <Vshift By setting VLmeasure to be larger than Vdrive, a voltage larger than the drive voltage applied during use is applied to each electron-emitting device before use. . Therefore, it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that the electron emission characteristics shift during use.

Since Vshift is set to be larger than VLmeasure, the characteristic shift pulse has the maximum voltage applied to the electron-emitting device. Therefore, by applying the characteristic shifting pulse, the electron emission characteristic can be surely shifted to the desired characteristic, and the emission brightness of the phosphor can be adjusted uniformly. Of course, since Vshift is set to be larger than Vdrive, it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that evenly adjusted emission brightness shifts during use.

FIG. 13 shows the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a device configuration for changing the electron emission characteristics of individual surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1, and those having the same functions as those in FIGS. 3 and 9 described above are denoted by the same reference numerals.

This device is a device for aligning the emission brightness of the phosphors corresponding to the individual emission elements, and instead of the current detector 12 for measuring the emission current Ie in FIG. 3, the emission brightness of the phosphors. And the emission current Ie or the device current If corresponding to the luminance data.
3 is that a luminance signal extraction circuit 14 for converting to
Is different from

Next, a method of aligning the brightness of the crest points of the phosphors corresponding to the individual emission elements using such an apparatus will be described.

Since the emission brightness of the phosphor is considered to be proportional to the emission current Ie, the electron emission characteristic may be changed according to the variation in the measured emission brightness. That is, the brightness data measured by the brightness measuring device 13 is converted by the brightness signal extraction circuit 14 into a value B corresponding to the emission current Ie or the device current If in the emission element and the control circuit 91.
Output to. Then, similarly to the method described in the first and second embodiments, the emission current Ie at the predetermined drive voltage Vf is obtained.
Alternatively, the device current If is changed. In this case, the point that the variation of the brightness including the partial variation of the light emission characteristic of the phosphor is corrected is different from the first and second embodiments. By performing the above operation for all the emission elements, the emission current Ie can be made uniform for all the surface conduction type emission elements of the display panel 1.

Incidentally, the control circuit 9 in the third embodiment
Since the processing of No. 1 can be performed in the same manner as the processing of Embodiment 1 described above (the flowcharts of FIGS. 7 and 8), the description thereof will be omitted.

The memory waveform signal of any of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices is used by using the display panel 1 in which the memory waveform signal is applied as described above and all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices have the same electron emission characteristics. By selecting and driving the drive voltage Vf having a value lower than the peak value of the display panel 1, it is possible to provide the display panel 1 capable of obtaining uniform light emission luminance over the entire display area.

FIG. 14 is a diagram schematically showing the manufacturing process of the multi electron source of the display panel of this embodiment.

First, in step S100, an electrode and a conductive thin film are formed on the substrate as described later, and then step S10.
At 1, a voltage is applied between the electrodes to form an electron emitting portion. Then, in step S102, the electron emitting portion is energized to be activated. This completes the production of a basic multi-electron source. However, a uniformizing process for uniformizing the characteristics of all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices described above, which is a feature of this embodiment, is performed (step S103). Due to
Uniform brightness can be obtained over the entire area of the display panel.

(Structure and Manufacturing Method of Display Panel of Embodiment) Next, the structure and manufacturing method of the display panel of the image display device to which the embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to specific examples. .

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the display panel 1 used in this embodiment, in which a part of the panel is cut away to show its internal structure.

In the figure, 1005 is a rear plate, and 1006.
Is a side wall, 1007 is a face plate, and 1005
˜1007 form an airtight container for maintaining a vacuum inside the display panel 1. When assembling this airtight container, it is necessary to seal the joints of the respective members so as to maintain sufficient strength and airtightness.For example, frit glass is applied to the joints, and the joints are exposed to air or nitrogen atmosphere. Sealing was achieved by baking at 400 to 500 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes or more. The method of evacuating the inside of the airtight container will be described later.

The rear plate 1005 has a substrate 1001.
Are fixed, but N × M surface conduction electron-emitting devices 1002 are formed on the substrate 1001. Here, N and M are positive integers of 2 or more and are appropriately set according to the target number of display pixels. For example, in a display device intended for high definition television display, N = 300
It is desirable to set 0, M = 1000 or more.
In the present embodiment, N = 3072, M = 10
It was set to 24. These N × M surface conduction electron-emitting devices are
M row direction wirings 1003 and N column direction wirings 1004
And are wired in a simple matrix. Here, the portion configured by 1001 to 1004 described above is called a multi-electron source. The manufacturing method and structure of the multi electron source will be described later in detail.

In this embodiment, the multi-electron source substrate 1001 is fixed to the rear plate 1005 of the airtight container, but if the multi-electron source substrate 1001 has sufficient strength, The multi-electron source substrate 1001 itself may be used as the rear plate of the airtight container.

A fluorescent film 1008 is formed on the lower surface of the face plate 1007. Since the display panel 1 of the present embodiment is a panel for a color display device,
The fluorescent film 1008 is separately coated with phosphors of three primary colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) used in the field of CRT. The phosphors of each color are shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), the conductors are separately applied in stripes, and black conductors 1010 are provided between the stripes of the phosphors of the respective colors. The purpose of providing the black conductor 1010 is to prevent the display color from deviating even if the irradiation position of the electron beam is slightly deviated, and to prevent the reflection of external light to reduce the display contrast. This is for the purpose of preventing the above phenomenon and further preventing the fluorescent film from being charged up by the electron beam. Although graphite was used as the main component for the black conductor 1010, other materials may be used as long as they are suitable for the above purpose.

[0122] Further, how to separately paint the phosphors of the three primary colors is shown in Fig. 1.
The arrangement is not limited to the stripe arrangement shown in FIG. 6 (A), and may be a delta arrangement as shown in FIG. 16 (B) or other arrangements.

In the case of producing a monochrome display panel, a monochromatic phosphor material may be used for the phosphor film 1008, and a black conductive material may not be necessarily used.

On the rear plate side surface of the fluorescent film 1008, a metal back 1009 known in the field of CRT is used.
Is provided. The purpose of providing the metal back 1009 is to specularly reflect a part of the light emitted by the fluorescent film 1008 to improve the utilization factor of the light, to protect the fluorescent film 1008 from the collision of negative ions, and to further reduce electrons. This is to act as an electrode for applying a beam acceleration voltage, to act as a conductive path for electrons that have excited the fluorescent film 1008, and the like. The metal back 1009 has a fluorescent film 1008.
Is formed on the face plate substrate 1007, the surface of the fluorescent film is smoothed, and Al (aluminum) is formed on the surface.
Was vacuum-deposited. The fluorescent film 100
When a phosphor material for low voltage is used for 8, the metal back 1009 is not used.

Although not used in this embodiment,
For the purpose of applying acceleration voltage and improving the conductivity of the fluorescent film,
A transparent electrode made of ITO, for example, may be provided between the face plate substrate 1007 and the fluorescent film 1008.

Further, the terminals indicated by Dx1 to DxM, Dy1 to DyN and Hv are electric connection terminals having an airtight structure provided for electrically connecting the display panel 1 and an electric circuit (not shown). is there. The terminals Dx1 to DxM are electrically connected to the row wiring 1003 of the multi electron source, the terminals Dy1 to DyN are electrically connected to the column wiring 1004 of the multi electron source, and the terminal Hv is electrically connected to the metal back 1009 of the face plate.

To evacuate the inside of the airtight container to a vacuum, after assembling this airtight container, an exhaust pipe (not shown) and a vacuum pump are connected, and the inside of the airtight container is reduced to about 10 <-7> [torr]. Evacuate to the degree of vacuum. Thereafter, the exhaust pipe is sealed, but in order to maintain the degree of vacuum in the airtight container, a getter film (not shown) is formed at a predetermined position in the airtight container immediately before or after the sealing. The getter film is, for example, a film formed by heating a getter material containing Ba as a main component with a heater or high-frequency heating and vapor deposition, and the adsorption action of the getter film causes the inside of the airtight container to be 1 × 10 −5. It is maintained at a vacuum degree of 1 × 10 minus 7th power [torr]. In this case, the partial pressure of the organic gas mainly containing carbon and hydrogen and having a mass number of 13 to 200 is set to 10 −8 [torr] or less.

As described above, the display panel 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
I explained the basic composition and manufacturing method.

Next, a method of manufacturing the multi-electron source used for the display panel 1 of the present embodiment will be described. The multi-electron source used in the image display device of the present embodiment is an electron source in which surface conduction electron-emitting devices are wired in a simple matrix,
There is no limitation on the material, shape, or manufacturing method of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. However, the inventors of the present application have found that among the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, those in which the electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film have excellent electron-emitting characteristics and can be easily manufactured. Therefore, it can be said that it is most suitable for using a multi-electron source in a display panel of a high-luminance and large-screen image display device. Therefore, in the display panel of the above-described embodiment, the surface conduction electron-emitting device in which the electron emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of the fine particle film is used. Therefore, the basic configuration, manufacturing method, and characteristics of a suitable surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described first, and then the structure of a multi-electron source in which a large number of devices are wired in a simple matrix will be described.

(Preferable Element Configuration and Manufacturing Method of Surface Conduction Type Emitting Element) Typical configurations of the surface conduction type emitting element in which the electron emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film include a planar type and a vertical type. There are different types.

(Plane Type Surface Conduction Type Emitting Element) First, the element structure and manufacturing method of the plane type surface conduction type emitting element will be described. This is step S10 of FIG. 14 described above.
This corresponds to the process of 0. FIG. 17 is a plan view (a) and a cross-sectional view (b) for explaining the configuration of the flat surface conduction electron-emitting device.

In the figure, 1101 is a substrate, 1102 and 110.
3 is a device electrode, 1104 is a conductive thin film, 1105 is an electron emission portion formed by energization forming processing, 1113.
Is a thin film formed by energization activation treatment.

As the substrate 1101, for example, various glass substrates such as quartz glass and soda lime glass, various ceramics substrates such as alumina, or the above-mentioned various substrates, an insulating layer made of, for example, SiO 2 is provided. A laminated substrate or the like can be used. Also, the substrate 1
The device electrodes 1102 and 1103 provided on the substrate 101 so as to face each other in parallel with the substrate surface are made of a conductive material. For example, Ni, Cr, Au, Mo, W,
Metals such as Pt, Ti, Cu, Pd, Ag, etc.,
Alternatively, an appropriate material may be selected from alloys of these metals, metal oxides such as In2O3-SnO2, semiconductors such as polysilicon, and the like. The electrodes 1102 and 1103 can be easily formed by using, for example, a film forming technique such as vacuum deposition and a patterning technique such as photolithography and etching, but other methods (for example, a printing technique) are used. It doesn't matter even if it is formed.

The shapes of the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 are appropriately designed according to the application purpose of this electron-emitting device.
Generally, the electrode interval L is designed by selecting an appropriate value from the range of several hundred angstroms to several hundreds of micrometers, but it is preferable that the electrode interval L is several micrometers or more for application to a display device. It is in the range of 10 micrometers. In addition, as for the thickness d of the device electrode, an appropriate numerical value is usually selected from the range of several hundred angstroms to several micrometers.

A fine particle film is used for the conductive thin film 1104. The fine particle film described here refers to a film (including an island-shaped aggregate) containing a large number of fine particles as a constituent element. When the fine particle film is microscopically examined, usually, a structure in which individual fine particles are arranged apart from each other, a structure in which the fine particles are adjacent to each other, or a structure in which the fine particles overlap each other are observed. The particle diameter of the fine particles used in this fine particle film is in the range of several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, but the range of 10 angstroms to 200 angstroms is particularly preferable. Further, the film thickness of the fine particle film is appropriately set in consideration of various conditions as described below. That is,
Necessary conditions for making good electrical connection with the device electrode 1102 or 1103, necessary conditions for favorably performing the energization forming described later, and necessary electric resistance of the fine particle film itself for obtaining an appropriate value described later. Conditions. Specifically, it is set within the range of several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, and among these, 1 is preferable.
It is between 0 Å and 500 Å.

Materials that can be used to form the fine particle film include, for example, Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag, and A.
u, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, T
Metals such as a, W, Pb, PdO, Sn
O2, In2O3, PbO, Sb2O3 and other oxides, HfB2, ZrB2, LaB6, CeB6, YB
4, boride such as GdB4, TiC, Zr
Carbides such as C, HfC, TaC, SiC, and WC, nitrides such as TiN, ZrN, and HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, carbon, and the like can be given. It is appropriately selected from the inside.

As described above, the conductive thin film 1104 is formed of a fine particle film, and its sheet resistance value is
It was set to fall within the range of 10 3 to 10 7 [ohm / sq].

The conductive thin film 1104 and the device electrode 11
Since 02 and 1103 are preferably electrically connected well, they have a structure in which some of them overlap each other. In the example of FIG. 17, how they overlap is
The substrate, the device electrode, and the conductive thin film are stacked in this order from the bottom, but in some cases, the substrate, the conductive thin film, and the device electrode may be stacked in this order from the bottom.

The electron emitting portion 1105 is a crack-like portion formed in a part of the conductive thin film 1104, and has an electrically higher resistance than the surrounding conductive thin film. The cracks are formed by subjecting the conductive thin film 1104 to a later-described energization forming process.
Fine particles having a particle diameter of several angstroms to several hundred angstroms may be arranged in the cracks. In addition,
Since it is difficult to accurately and accurately show the actual position and shape of the electron-emitting portion, the electron-emitting portion is schematically shown in FIG.

The thin film 1113 is a thin film made of carbon or a carbon compound and covers the electron emitting portion 1105 and its vicinity. The thin film 1113 is formed by performing the energization activation process described later after the energization forming process.

The thin film 1113 is made of any one of single crystal graphite, polycrystalline graphite, amorphous carbon, or a mixture thereof, and the film thickness is 500 [angstrom] or less, but 300 [angstrom] or less. Is more preferable.

Since it is difficult to precisely illustrate the actual position and shape of the thin film 1113, it is schematically shown in FIG. In the plan view (a), the thin film 11
A device in which a part of 13 is removed is shown.

The basic structure of a preferable element has been described above, but the following elements are used in the embodiments.

That is, soda lime glass was used for the substrate 1101, and Ni thin films were used for the device electrodes 1102 and 1103. The thickness d of the device electrode was 1000 [angstrom], and the electrode interval L was 2 [micrometer].

Pd or P as the main material of the fine particle film
The thickness of the fine particle film was about 100 [angstrom] and the width W was 100 [micrometer] using dO.

Next, a method for manufacturing a suitable flat surface-conduction type electron-emitting device will be described. 18A to 18D
17A and 17B are cross-sectional views for explaining the manufacturing process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the notation of each member is the same as in FIG.

(1) First, as shown in FIG.
The device electrodes 1102 and 1103 are formed on the substrate 1101. In forming the device electrodes 1102 and 1103, the substrate 1101 is thoroughly washed in advance with a detergent, pure water, and an organic solvent, and then the device electrode material is deposited. As a method of depositing this material, for example, a vacuum film forming technique such as a vapor deposition method or a sputtering method may be used. Then, the deposited electrode material is patterned by using the photolithography / etching technique to form the pair of device electrodes (1102 and 1103) shown in FIG.

(2) Next, a conductive thin film 1104 is formed as shown in FIG.

In forming this conductive thin film,
First, the substrate of (a) is coated with an organic metal solution, dried, heated and baked to form a fine particle film, and then patterned into a predetermined shape by photolithography and etching. Here, the organometallic solution is a solution of an organometallic compound whose main element is the material of the fine particles used for the conductive thin film. Specifically, Pd is used as the main element in this embodiment. Further, although the dipping method is used as the coating method in the embodiment, other methods such as a spinner method and a spray method may be used.

Further, as a method for forming a conductive thin film made of a fine particle film, other than the method of applying the organometallic solution used in the present embodiment, for example, a vacuum vapor deposition method, a sputtering method, or a chemical vapor phase method. A deposition method may be used in some cases.

(3) Next, as shown in FIG. 7C, the forming power supply 1110 to the device electrodes 1102 and 11
An appropriate voltage is applied between 03 and energization forming processing is performed to form the electron emission portion 1105 (corresponding to energization forming processing in FIG. 14). The energization forming process is a process of energizing the electroconductive thin film 1104 made of a fine particle film to appropriately destroy, deform or alter a part of the electroconductive thin film 1104 to change the structure into a structure suitable for electron emission. That is. Appropriate cracks are formed in the thin film in the portion of the conductive thin film made of the fine particle film that has changed to a structure suitable for electron emission (that is, the electron emitting portion 1105). It should be noted that, compared with before the formation of the electron emission portion 1105, after the formation, the element electrode 1102 is formed.
The electrical resistance measured between 1 and 1103 increases significantly.

In order to explain the energization method during forming in more detail, FIG. 19 shows a forming power supply 11
An example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from 10 is shown.

When forming a conductive thin film made of a fine particle film, a pulsed voltage is preferable, and in the case of the present embodiment, a triangular pulse having a pulse width T1 is pulsed as shown in FIG. The voltage was continuously applied at the interval T2. At that time, the peak value Vpf of the triangular wave pulse was sequentially increased. Further, monitor pulses Pm for monitoring the formation state of the electron emitting portion 1105 were inserted between the triangular wave pulses at appropriate intervals, and the current flowing at that time was measured by the ammeter 1111.

In the present embodiment, for example, in a vacuum atmosphere of about 10 −5 [torr], for example, the pulse width T1 is 1 [millisecond] and the pulse interval T2 is 10.
[Millisecond], and the peak value Vpf is 0.1 for each pulse.
The voltage was increased by [V]. The monitor pulse Pm was inserted once every five pulses of the triangular wave were applied.
Here, the voltage Vpm of the monitor pulse is set to 0.1 [V] so as not to adversely affect the forming process. Then, when the electric resistance between the element electrodes 1102 and 1103 reaches 1 × 10 6 [ohm], that is, when the monitor pulse is applied, the current measured by the ammeter 1111 is 1 × 10 −7 [ohm]. A] At the stage when it became below, the energization related to the forming process was terminated.

The above method is a preferred method for the surface-conduction type emission device of the present embodiment. For example, the design of the surface-conduction type emission device such as the material and film thickness of the fine particle film or the element electrode spacing L is performed. When it is changed, it is desirable to appropriately change the energization condition accordingly.

(4) Next, as shown in FIG.
From the activation power source 1112 to the device electrodes 1102 and 1103
Appropriate voltage is applied between the two to perform energization activation treatment,
The electron emission characteristics are improved (step S102 in FIG. 14).
Equivalent to processing). The energization activation process is a process of energizing the electron-emitting portion 1105 formed by the energization forming process under appropriate conditions to deposit carbon or a carbon compound in the vicinity thereof. (In the figure, a deposit made of carbon or a carbon compound is used as the member 1
It is shown schematically as 113. By performing the energization activation treatment, the emission current at the same applied voltage can typically be increased 100 times or more as compared with before the activation.

Specifically, it is 10 −2 to 10
By periodically applying a voltage pulse in a vacuum atmosphere within a range of minus 5 [torr], carbon or a carbon compound originating from an organic compound existing in the vacuum atmosphere is deposited. The deposit 1113 is one of single crystal graphite, polycrystalline graphite, and amorphous carbon, or a mixture thereof, and has a thickness of 500 [angstroms] or less, more preferably 300 [angstroms] or less.

In order to explain the energization method in the energization activation in more detail, FIG. 20 (a) shows the activation power supply 1
An example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from 112 is shown. In this embodiment, the energization activation process is performed by periodically applying a rectangular wave having a constant voltage. Specifically, the rectangular wave voltage Vac is 14 [V] and the pulse width T3 is 1 [. Millisecond], and the pulse interval T4 was 10 [millisecond]. The above-mentioned energization conditions are preferable conditions for the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present embodiment, and when the design of the surface conduction electron emission device is changed, it is desirable to appropriately change the condition accordingly.

Reference numeral 1114 shown in FIG. 18D is an anode electrode for capturing the emission current Ie emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device, to which a DC high voltage power supply 1115 and an ammeter 1116 are connected. When the activation process is performed after the substrate 1101 is incorporated in the display panel 1, the fluorescent surface of the display panel 1 is used as the anode electrode 1114. Then, while the voltage is applied from the activation power supply 1112, the emission current Ie is measured by the ammeter 1116 to monitor the progress of the energization activation process, and the activation power supply 111 is detected.
2 control the operation. An example of the emission current Ie measured by the ammeter 1116 is shown in FIG.

When the pulse voltage is started to be applied from the activation power supply 1112 in this way, the emission current I changes with time.
e increases, but eventually saturates and hardly increases. In this way, when the emission current Ie is almost saturated, the voltage application from the activation power supply 1112 is stopped, and the energization activation process ends.

The above energization conditions are preferable conditions for the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device of the present embodiment, and when the design of the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device is changed, the conditions should be changed accordingly. Is desirable.

As described above, the flat surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 18E was manufactured.

(Vertical type surface conduction type emission device) Next, another typical structure of the surface conduction type emission device in which the electron emission portion or its periphery is formed of a fine particle film, that is, vertical type surface conduction type emission device The configuration of the element will be described.

FIG. 21 is a schematic sectional view for explaining the basic structure of the vertical type.

In the figure, 1201 is a substrate, 1202 and 1203 are element electrodes, 1206 is a step forming member, and 120
Reference numeral 4 is a conductive thin film using a fine particle film, 1205 is an electron emitting portion formed by an energization forming process, and 1213 is a thin film formed by an energization activation process.

This vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device is different from the above-mentioned plane type electron-emitting device in that one of the device electrodes (1202) is provided on the step forming member 1206 and the conductivity is reduced. Thin film 1204 forms the step forming member 12
The side surface of 06 is covered. Therefore, the element electrode interval L in the planar element of FIG. 17 is set as the step height Ls of the step forming member 1206 in the vertical type. The substrate 1201, the device electrodes 1202 and 120
3. For the conductive thin film 1204 using the fine particle film, the materials listed in the description of the planar type can be similarly used. Further, the step forming member 1206 includes
For example, an electrically insulating material such as SiO2 is used.

Next, a method of manufacturing a vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described. 22A to 22F are cross-sectional views for explaining the manufacturing process, and the notation of each member is the same as in FIG.
Is the same as

(1) First, as shown in FIG.
A device electrode 1203 is formed on the substrate 1201.

(2) Next, as shown in FIG. 13B, an insulating layer for forming the step forming member is laminated. The insulating layer may be formed by stacking, for example, SiO2 by a sputtering method.
For example, another film forming method such as a vacuum vapor deposition method or a printing method may be used.

(3) Next, as shown in FIG. 13C, the device electrode 1202 is formed on the insulating layer.

(4) Next, as shown in FIG. 7D, a part of the insulating layer is removed by using, for example, an etching method to expose the device electrode 1203.

(5) Next, as shown in FIG. 7E, a conductive thin film 1204 using a fine particle film is formed. For formation, a film forming technique such as a coating method may be used as in the case of the flat type.

(6) Next, as in the case of the flat type,
The energization forming process is performed to form the electron-emitting portion (the same process as the planar energization forming process described with reference to FIG. 18C may be performed).

(7) Next, as in the case of the flat type,
The energization activation process is performed to deposit carbon or a carbon compound in the vicinity of the electron emission portion (the same process as the planar energization activation process described with reference to FIG. 18D may be performed).

The vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 22 (f) was manufactured as described above.

(Characteristics of Surface Conduction Type Emitting Element Used for Display Device) The element structure and manufacturing method of the plane type and vertical type surface conduction type emitting element have been described above. The characteristics of will be described.

FIG. 23 shows typical examples of (emission current Ie) vs. (device applied voltage Vf) characteristics and (device current If) vs. (device applied voltage Vf) characteristics of a device used for a display device. . Note that the emission current Ie is significantly smaller than the device current If and is difficult to be illustrated on the same scale, and these characteristics are changed by changing design parameters such as the size and shape of the device. Therefore, the two graphs are shown in arbitrary units.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device used in this display device has the following three characteristics regarding the emission current Ie.

First, when a voltage larger than a certain voltage (which is referred to as a threshold voltage Vth) is applied to the element, the emission current Ie rapidly increases. On the other hand, at a voltage lower than the threshold voltage Vth, the emission current Ie increases. Ie is hardly detected. That is, it is a non-linear element having a clear threshold voltage Vth with respect to the emission current Ie.

Secondly, since the emission current Ie changes depending on the voltage Vf applied to the element, the emission current Ie at the voltage Vf.
You can control the size of.

Thirdly, since the response speed of the current Ie emitted from the device is fast with respect to the voltage Vf applied to the surface conduction type electron-emitting device, the electrons emitted from the device depend on the length of time for which the voltage Vf is applied. It is possible to control the amount of charge.

Due to the above-mentioned characteristics, the surface conduction electron-emitting device could be suitably used for the display device. For example, in a display device in which a large number of elements are provided corresponding to the pixels of the display screen, by utilizing the first characteristic, it is possible to sequentially scan the display screen for display. That is, a voltage equal to or higher than the threshold voltage Vth is appropriately applied to the driven element according to the desired light emission luminance, and the threshold voltage Vth is applied to the non-selected element.
Apply a voltage less than th. Then, by sequentially switching the elements to be driven, it is possible to sequentially scan the display screen for display.

By utilizing the second characteristic or the third characteristic, it is possible to control the light emission luminance, so that it is possible to perform a gradation display.

(Structure of Multi Electron Source Having Many Elements laid out in Simple Matrix) Next, the structure of a multi electron source having the above surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged on a substrate and wired in a simple matrix will be described.

FIG. 24 is a plan view of the multi-electron source used in the display panel 1 of FIG. 15 described above. here,
Surface conduction electron-emitting devices similar to those shown in FIG. 17 are arranged on the substrate 1001, and these devices are formed by row-direction wiring electrodes 1003 and column-direction wiring electrodes 1004.
They are wired in a simple matrix. Row-direction wiring electrode 1
003 and the column-direction wiring electrode 1004 intersect,
An insulating layer (not shown) is formed between the electrodes to maintain electrical insulation.

A cross-sectional view taken along the line AA 'in FIG. 24 is shown in FIG.
5 shows.

The multi-electron source having such a structure has a row-direction wiring electrode 1003 and a column-direction wiring electrode 1 previously formed on the substrate.
004, an inter-electrode insulating layer (not shown) and element electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device and a conductive thin film are formed, and then each element is supplied with power through the row-direction wiring electrode 1003 and the column-direction wiring electrode 1004, As described above, it was manufactured by performing the energization forming treatment and the energization activation treatment.

[Applied Embodiment] FIG. 26 is provided to a display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this embodiment as an electron-emitting device from various image information sources such as television broadcasting. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the multi-function display device comprised so that image information could be displayed.

In the figure, 1 is a display (display) panel of the present embodiment, 2101 is a drive circuit for the display panel 1, 2102 is a display controller, and 2103.
Is a multiplexer, 2104 is a decoder, 2105 is an input / output interface circuit, 2106 is a CPU, 210
7 is an image generation circuit, 2108, 2109 and 21.
10 is an image memory interface circuit, 2111 is an image input interface circuit, 2112 and 2113.
Is a TV signal receiving circuit, and 2114 is an input unit. Note that the display device of the present embodiment, when receiving a signal including both video information and audio information, such as a television signal, naturally reproduces audio simultaneously with displaying video, Descriptions of circuits, speakers, and the like relating to reception, separation, reproduction, processing, and storage of audio information that are not directly related to the characteristics of the display panel of this embodiment will be omitted. Hereinafter, the function of each unit will be described along the flow of the image signal.

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 2113 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wireless transmission system such as radio waves or spatial optical communication. The system of the TV signal to be received is not particularly limited, and various systems such as NTSC system, PAL system and SECAM system may be used. Further, a TV signal (for example, a so-called high-definition TV such as the MUSE system) including a larger number of scanning lines than these is suitable for taking advantage of the display panel suitable for a large area and a large number of pixels. It is a signal source. T received by the TV signal receiving circuit 2113
The V signal is output to the decoder 2104. The TV signal receiving circuit 2112 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wired transmission system such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. Also, the TV signal receiving circuit 2
Similar to 113, the TV signal system to be received is not particularly limited, and the TV signal received by this circuit is also output to the decoder 2104.

Image input interface circuit 2111
Is a circuit for capturing an image signal supplied from an image input device such as a TV camera or an image reading scanner, and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 2104. The image memory interface circuit 2110 is
A circuit for capturing an image signal stored in a video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR), and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 2104. The image memory interface circuit 2109 is a circuit for capturing the image signal stored in the video disc, and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 2104. The image memory interface circuit 2108 is a circuit for capturing an image signal from a device that stores still image data, such as a so-called still image disc, and the captured still image data is output to the decoder 2104. The input / output interface circuit 2105 is a circuit for connecting the present display device to an external computer, a computer network, or an output device such as a printer. It is of course possible to input and output image data, character data, and graphic information, and in some cases, input and output control signals and numerical data between the CPU 2106 of this display device and the outside. .

Further, the image generation circuit 2107 is provided with image data, character / graphic information, or the CPU 21 which is externally input via the input / output interface circuit 2105.
This is a circuit for generating display image data based on the image data and character / graphic information output from H.06. Inside this circuit, for example, a rewritable memory for accumulating image data and character / graphic information, a read-only memory that stores image patterns corresponding to character codes, a processor for performing image processing, etc. And the circuits necessary for image generation are incorporated. The display image data generated by this circuit is the decoder 210.
However, in some cases, it is possible to input / output to / from an external computer network or printer via the input / output interface circuit 2105.

The CPU 2106 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 2103 to appropriately select or combine image signals to be displayed on the display panel. At that time, a control signal is generated to the display panel controller 2102 according to the image signal to be displayed, the screen display frequency, the scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced), the number of scanning lines in one screen, etc. The operation of the display device is controlled as appropriate. Then, the image data or the character / graphic information is directly output to the image generation circuit 2107, or the external computer or memory is accessed through the input / output interface circuit 2105 so that the image data or the character / character information is displayed.
Enter graphic information. It should be noted that the CPU 2106 may of course be involved in tasks for other purposes.
For example, it may be directly related to a function of generating and processing information, such as a personal computer or a word processor. Alternatively, as described above, the computer may be connected to an external computer network via the input / output interface circuit 2105, and work such as numerical calculation may be performed in cooperation with an external device.

The input unit 2114 is used by the user to input commands, programs, data, etc. to the CPU 2106. For example, various inputs such as a keyboard, a mouse, a joystick, a bar code reader, a voice recognition device, etc. It is possible to use equipment. Also,
The decoder 2104 is a circuit for inversely converting various image signals input from the above 2107 to 2113 into three primary color signals, or luminance signals and I signals and Q signals. Note that it is desirable that the decoder 2104 includes an image memory therein, as indicated by a dotted line in the figure. This is to handle a television signal that requires an image memory for reverse conversion, such as the MUSE method. In addition, the provision of the image memory facilitates the display of a still image, or cooperates with the image generation circuit 2107 and the CPU 2106 to perform image processing and editing such as image thinning, interpolation, enlargement, reduction, and composition. This is because there is an advantage that it can be done easily.

The multiplexer 2103 has a CPU 210.
The display image is appropriately selected on the basis of the control signal input from S6. That is, the multiplexer 2103 selects a desired image signal from the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 2104 and outputs it to the drive circuit 2101. In that case, by switching and selecting image signals within one screen display time, it is 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 television. . The display panel controller 2102 is a circuit for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 2101 based on a control signal input from the CPU 2106.

First, as a component related to the basic operation of the display panel, for example, a signal for controlling the operation sequence of a display panel drive power source (not shown) is output to the drive circuit 2101. Further, as a method related to the driving method of the display panel, for example, a signal for controlling the screen display frequency and the scanning method (for example, interlace or non-interlace) is output to the drive circuit 2101. In some cases, control signals relating to image quality adjustment such as display image brightness, contrast, color tone, and sharpness may be output to the drive circuit 2101. The drive circuit 2101 is a circuit for generating a drive signal to be applied to the display panel 2100, and the image signal input from the multiplexer 2103 and the display panel controller 2 are provided.
It operates based on a control signal input from 102.

The functions of the respective parts have been described above. With the configuration illustrated in FIG. 26, in the display device of the present embodiment, image information input from various image information sources is displayed on the display panel 2100. Is possible. That is, after various kinds of image signals such as television broadcasting are inversely converted by the decoder 2104, they are appropriately selected by the multiplexer 2103, and the driving circuit 2101 is selected.
Entered in. On the other hand, the display controller 210
2 generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 2101 according to the image signal to be displayed. Drive circuit 21
01 applies a drive signal to the display panel 2100 based on the image signal and the control signal. This allows
An image is displayed on the display panel 2100. A series of these operations are controlled by the CPU 2106.

Further, in the display device of the present embodiment, the image memory built in the decoder 2104, the image generation circuit 2107 and the CPU 2106 are involved, so that a selected one of a plurality of image information is displayed. In addition to performing image processing such as enlargement, reduction, rotation, movement, edge enhancement, thinning, interpolation, color conversion, and aspect ratio conversion of images, combining, erasing, It is also possible to perform image editing such as connection, replacement, and fitting. Although not particularly mentioned in the description of the present embodiment, a dedicated circuit for processing and editing audio information may be provided as in the above-mentioned image processing and image editing.

Therefore, the display device of this embodiment is used for office equipment such as a display device for television broadcasting, a terminal device for a video conference, an image editing device for handling still images and moving images, a computer terminal device, and a word processor. It is possible to combine the functions of a terminal device, a game machine, etc. with one unit, and has a very wide range of applications for industrial or consumer use. Note that FIG. 26 only shows an example of the configuration of a display device using a display panel having a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron source, and the present invention is not limited to this. For example, of the constituent elements of FIG. 26, circuits relating to functions that are unnecessary for the purpose of use may be omitted. On the contrary, the constituent elements may be added depending on the purpose of use. For example, when the display device is applied as a video telephone, it is preferable to add a television camera, a voice microphone, an illuminator, a transmission / reception circuit including a modem, and the like to the components.

In this display device, in particular, since the display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron source can be easily thinned, the depth of the entire display device can be reduced. In addition, a display panel using surface conduction electron-emitting devices as an electron source can easily enlarge the screen, has high brightness, and has excellent viewing angle characteristics, so this display device provides a realistic and powerful image with good visibility. It is possible to display.

Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices such as a host computer, an interface and a printer, or to an apparatus composed of a single device. The present invention can also be applied to the case where it is implemented by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus. In this case, the storage medium storing the program according to the present invention constitutes the present invention. Then, by reading the program from the storage medium to the system or device, the system or device operates in a predetermined manner.

As described above, according to the multi-electron source of the present embodiment, the variation in the emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device that occurs during the process of producing the electron source is improved, and the electrons having a uniform electron emission characteristic distribution are obtained. Source can provide.

By using the electron source having such characteristics, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus which can obtain a high-quality image with a uniform luminance distribution.

By setting the memory voltage (shift voltage) to be outside the voltage range for driving the normal surface-conduction type electron-emitting device, the characteristics of the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device do not change during normal operation.

Since the electron emission characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device of the multi-electron source can be measured by any one of emission current, device current or emission brightness, the method of measuring the characteristics and adjusting the characteristics can be diversified. .

[0206]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate variations in the electron emission characteristics of the electron-emitting devices due to various causes in a simple process.

Further, according to the present invention, there is an effect that the characteristics of each electron-emitting device can be made substantially the same by utilizing the characteristic peculiar to the surface-conduction-type emitting device.

[0208]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a memory waveform signal of a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a difference in characteristics of emission current with respect to a driving voltage of a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of an apparatus for applying a memory waveform signal to a multi electron source according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram of an emission current when a driving voltage of an emission element having different electron emission characteristics generated in a process of forming a multi electron source is changed.

FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram of electron emission current when the peak value of the memory waveform signal is changed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating emission current characteristics of an emission element when the memory waveform signal is applied and then driven at a predetermined drive voltage Vf1.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process for measuring electron emission characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device of the electron source of the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process of applying a memory waveform signal based on the measured electron emission characteristics.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of an apparatus for applying a memory waveform signal to a multi electron source according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a characteristic diagram of device currents when different driving voltages of the emission devices are used for different electron emission properties generated in the process of forming a multi electron source.

FIG. 11 is a characteristic diagram of the element current when the peak value of the memory waveform signal is changed.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating device current characteristics of an emitting device when driven with a predetermined drive voltage after application of a memory waveform signal.

FIG. 13 is a schematic configuration diagram of an apparatus for applying a memory waveform signal to a multi electron source according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing manufacturing steps of the multi-electron source according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a cutaway part of the display panel of the image display device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a plan view exemplifying a phosphor array of the face plate of the display panel of the present embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a plan view (a) and a cross-sectional view (b) of the planar surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view showing a manufacturing process of a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of applied voltage waveforms during energization forming processing.

FIG. 20 is an applied voltage waveform (a) during energization activation processing,
It is a figure which shows the change (b) example of emission current Ie.

FIG. 21 is a cross-sectional view of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device used in this embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a cross-sectional view showing a manufacturing process of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 23 is a graph showing typical characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a plan view of a substrate of the multi-electron source used in this embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a partial cross-sectional view of the substrate of the multi-electron source used in this embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a multi-function image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating matrix wiring of a conventional multi electron source.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Display panel 2 high voltage terminals 3,4 switch matrix circuit 5,12 Current detector 6,7 pulse generator 8 pulse peak value setting circuit 9, 90, 91 control circuit 9a CPU 9b memory 10 Switch matrix control circuit 11 High voltage power supply 13 Luminance measuring instrument 14 Luminance signal extraction circuit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI H01J 31/12 H01J 1/30 E (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01J 9/02

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing an electron generator having a multi-electron source having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged on a substrate, and driving means for outputting a driving voltage to the multi-electron source. A method of applying a characteristic measurement voltage to the surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices to measure respective characteristics of the surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices formed on the substrate , Determining a reference value of the characteristics of the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices based on the measured electron emission characteristics, so that the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices become values corresponding to the reference values. A step of applying a respective characteristic shift voltage to each corresponding one of the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, wherein the characteristic shift voltage is larger than the characteristic measurement voltage,
The method for manufacturing an electron generator, wherein the characteristic measurement voltage is higher than the drive voltage. 2. The method of manufacturing an electron generating device according to claim 1, wherein the characteristic shift voltage is applied in an atmosphere in which the partial pressure of the organic gas is 10 −8 Torr or less. 3. The step of measuring the characteristics of the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices again after applying the characteristic shift voltage, and again applying the characteristic shift voltage to the corresponding surface conduction electron-emitting devices based on the measurement result. The method of manufacturing an electron generating device according to claim 1, further comprising a step of applying. 4. The emission current emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device is measured every time the surface conduction electron-emitting device is driven in the measuring step. Item 1. A method of manufacturing an electron generator according to Item 1. 5. The device current flowing through the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device is measured every time the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device is driven in the measuring step. A method for manufacturing an electron generating device according to. 6. In the measuring step, each time each surface-conduction type emission device is driven, the emission brightness of a phosphor emitted by electrons emitted from the surface-conduction type emission device is measured.
4. The method for manufacturing an electron generating device according to claim 1, wherein the measured brightness is converted into a value corresponding to the emission current or the device current. 7. A plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are mounted on a substrate.
Multi-electron source arranged in a trix shape and the multi-electron
Generating device having driving means for outputting a driving voltage to a power source
And the electron beam emitted from the multi-electron source
A method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus having a phosphor that emits light.
The electron generator is described in any one of claims 1 to 6.
An image forming apparatus characterized by being manufactured by the method described above.
Manufacturing method .