JP3450571B2 - Method of manufacturing electron source 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 source and a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus , which are formed by disposing a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices 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 them, as the cold cathode device, for example, a surface conduction electron-emitting device, a field emission device (hereinafter referred to as FE type), a metal / insulating layer / metal type emission device (hereinafter referred to as MIM type), etc. are known. There is.

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 electron-emitting device, for example, MI 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. As the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the above-mentioned Elison (Elison
nSon) and others using SnO2 thin films, as well as Au thin films [G. Dittmer: "Thin Solid Films", 9,3
17 (1972)] and In2O3 / SnO2 thin films [M.
Hartwell and CGFonstad: ”IEEE Trans. ED Con
f. ”, 519 (1975)], or by a carbon thin film [Hiraki Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, 22 (1983)].
Etc. have been reported.

As a typical example of the device structure of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, FIG. 24 shows a plan view of the device by M. Hartwell et al.

In the figure, reference numeral 3001 denotes a substrate, and 300
Reference numeral 4 is a conductive thin film made of a metal oxide formed by sputtering. The conductive thin film 3004 is formed in an H-shaped plane shape as illustrated. This conductive thin film 3004
The electron emission portion 3005 is formed by performing 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 0.1 [m.
m] is set. 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 surface conduction electron-emitting device described above including the device by M. Hartwell et al., The electron-emitting portion 3005 is formed by subjecting the conductive thin film 3004 to an energization process called energization forming before the electron emission. It was common to do. That is, the energization forming means a constant DC voltage across the conductive thin film 3004,
Alternatively, for example, a DC voltage that is boosted at a very slow rate of about 1 V / min is applied to conduct electricity to locally destroy, deform, or alter the conductive thin film 3004, and electrons in an electrically high resistance state are applied. That is, the emission portion 3005 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.

The above-mentioned 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. Therefore, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-31332 by the present applicant, a method for arranging and driving a large number of elements has been studied.

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

In particular, as an application to an image display device, for example, as disclosed in USP 5,066,883 by the present applicant and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-257551, a surface conduction electron-emitting device and electron emission are used to emit light. An image display device using a combination of the above-mentioned phosphors has been studied. An image display device using a combination of a surface conduction electron-emitting device and a 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 surface-conduction type emission devices of various materials, manufacturing methods and structures, including those described in the above-mentioned prior art. Furthermore, we have conducted research on a multi-electron beam source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged, and an image display device to which this multi-electron beam source is applied.

The inventors of the present application have tried a multi-electron beam source by an electrical wiring method shown in FIG. 25, for example.
That is, it is a multi-electron beam source in which a large number of cold cathode elements are two-dimensionally arranged and these elements are arranged 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, and a desired image display is performed in the case of a multi-electron beam source for an image display device, for example. This is to arrange and wire the elements that are sufficient.

In the multi-electron beam source in which the surface conduction electron-emitting devices are wired in a simple matrix, appropriate electric signals are applied to the row wiring 4002 and the column wiring 4003 in order to output a desired electron beam. For example, in order to drive the surface conduction electron-emitting device of any one row in the matrix, the selection voltage Vs is applied to the row-direction wiring 4002 of the selected row, and at the same time, the row-direction wiring 4 of the non-selected row.
A non-selection voltage Vns is applied to 002. In synchronization with this, a drive voltage Ve for outputting an electron beam is applied to the column-direction wiring 4003. According to this method, the wiring resistance 40
Neglecting the voltage drop due to 04 and 4005, a voltage of (Ve-Vs) is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the selected row, and (Ve-Vs) is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the non-selected row. A voltage of −Vns) is applied. Here, if the voltage values of these Ve, Vs, and Vns are set to voltages of appropriate magnitude, an electron beam with a desired intensity should be output only from the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the selected row. By applying different drive voltage Ve to each of the column-direction wirings 4003, the 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 drive voltage Ve is changed, the length of time for outputting the electron beam should be changed.

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

On the other hand, the inventors of the present invention have earnestly studied to improve the characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and as a result, have found that conducting activation treatment is effective in the manufacturing process.

[0019]

Consider a case where the multi-beam electron source shown in FIG. 25 is driven row by row to emit electrons, that is, when one of the row-direction wirings 4002 is selected. At this time, since the wiring resistances 4004 and 4005 exist in the wirings in the row direction and the column direction, respectively, a voltage drop is caused thereby. On the other hand, the drive current injected from the column direction wiring 4003 and flowing through the respective surface conduction electron-emitting devices on the line flows through the selected row direction wiring 4002. Therefore, when the number of arranged electron sources is large like a multi-electron source used for a large-sized display panel or the like, the voltage drop in the row-direction wiring 4002 becomes not negligible. As a result, the selected row-direction wiring 4
The voltage applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device connected to 002 has a distribution, which causes a difference in the voltage effectively applied to each device, which results in uniform electron emission from each electron source of the multi-electron source. There was a problem that no release was obtained.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing the resistance distribution focusing on such a one-row wiring 4002. The resistance value for the element (n) on the rightmost side of the element (1) closest to the terminal of the row-direction wiring is It is getting bigger. Due to such a resistance component, as shown in FIG. 27, the voltage value applied to the first element is the largest with respect to the voltage applied to the row wiring 4002, and is caused by the resistance component as the distance from the terminal increases. The applied voltage has dropped. Such a voltage drop of the applied voltage appears as a distribution of luminance, that is, a variation in brightness when used as a display device, and has been a factor that deteriorates the quality of a displayed image.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and an electron source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are wired has a substantially uniform electron emission characteristic without being affected by a voltage drop caused by wiring resistance. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing an electron source and a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus that can obtain the above.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing an electron source which utilizes the memory function of a surface conduction electron-emitting device to eliminate the influence of a voltage drop due to wiring resistance and obtain a substantially uniform amount of emitted electrons. An object is to provide a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus.

[0023]

[0024]

In order to achieve the above object, the method of manufacturing an electron source of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, a method of manufacturing an electron source in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix on a substrate, the step of forming each of the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, and the plurality of surface conduction electron emission devices. Depending on the step of selecting each of the elements and the distance from the voltage applying terminal at which the selected surface conduction electron-emitting device is located, it is possible to move away from the terminal.
Applying a lower voltage to the surface conduction electron-emitting device,
In the step of applying a higher voltage to the surface conduction electron-emitting device in the vicinity of the terminals , the applied voltage is not
And a voltage applying step that is a voltage higher than the driving voltage.
It is characterized by

In order to achieve the above object, the image type of the present invention
The manufacturing method of the forming apparatus includes the following steps . That is,
Multiple surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix on the substrate.
A row of electron sources, input means for inputting an image signal, and
Generates a modulation signal according to the image signal input from the input means.
And the modulation modulated by said modulating means
Drive means for driving the electron source according to a signal
A method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus, wherein the electron source comprises:
Be manufactured by the method according to any one of Items 1 to 5.
Is characterized by.

[0026]

[0027]

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, and a predetermined value is set for each surface conduction electron-emitting device. By storing the electron emission characteristics, variations in luminance due to a voltage drop due to wiring resistance are eliminated. That is, the electron emission characteristic of the surface conduction electron-emitting device arranged at the position where the voltage drop occurs is set higher than the electron emission characteristic of the surface conduction electron-emitting device at another position ( By increasing the emission amount), even if the applied voltage drops, approximately the same amount of electrons as other surface-conduction electron-emitting devices with a small voltage drop are emitted.

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

The inventors of the present application have driven the surface conduction electron-emitting device, which has been subjected to the energization forming treatment and the energization activation treatment 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 a voltage waveform of a drive signal applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present embodiment. The horizontal axis represents time and the vertical axis represents voltage applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device. The voltage (hereinafter, referred to as element voltage Vf) is shown.

Here, as the drive signal, continuous rectangular voltage pulses are used as shown in FIG. 7A, the voltage pulse application period is divided into three periods, that is, first period to 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 specific 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 was 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 rising time Tr and the falling time Tf of the voltage pulse effectively applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device are set to 100 [ns] or less.
The impedance of the wiring path from the drive signal source to the surface conduction electron-emitting device was sufficiently reduced and measured.

Here, the element voltage Vf is set to Vf = Vf1 in the first period and the third period, and Vf = Vf2 in the second period.
Both of these device voltages Vf1 and Vf2 are higher than the electron emission threshold voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device,
Moreover, it was set so as to satisfy the condition of Vf1 <Vf2. However, since the electron emission threshold voltage is different depending on the shape and material of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the electron emission threshold voltage was appropriately set according to the surface conduction electron-emitting device to be measured. Regarding the atmosphere around the surface conduction electron-emitting device at the time of measurement, the total pressure was 1 × 10 −6 [torr] and the partial pressure of the organic gas was 1 × 10 −9 [torr]. .

FIGS. 2A and 2B are graphs showing the electric characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device when the drive signal shown in FIG. 1 is applied. The horizontal axis of FIG. Is the element voltage Vf
2B shows the measured value of the current emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device (hereinafter referred to as emission current Ie).
The horizontal axis represents the element 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).

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 emission current is output from the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the characteristic curve Iec (1) in response to the drive pulse. That is, the applied voltage Vf is Vth during the rising period Tr of the drive pulse.
When it exceeds 1, 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, again Vf = Vf
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).

As described above, 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 three periods, that is, the first to third periods are exemplified, but needless to say, it is not limited to these setting conditions. 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 larger than the voltage value applied before that is applied, Moreover, it is recorded. 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 for realizing 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 10
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.

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

<Embodiment 1> An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a drive circuit for changing the electron emission characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device by applying a memory waveform signal to each surface conduction electron-emitting device of the display panel 1. It is a figure.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a display panel, which is formed by wiring a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices in a matrix with row-direction wirings and column-direction wirings. Switch matrix circuits 2 and 3 select row-direction wirings and column-direction wirings based on switch control signals Tx and Ty from the control circuit 7 to select surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1. Voltage is being applied. 4 and 5 are pulse generators, which are set signals L from the pulse peak value setting circuit 6.
A memory waveform signal having a voltage value set by px and Lpy is generated and output to the switch matrix circuits 2 and 3. The pulse crest value setting circuit 6 sets the pulse crest value of the memory waveform signal based on the crest value setting signal Tv indicated corresponding to the position of the driven surface conduction electron-emitting device of the display panel 1. To output signals Lpx and Lpy. The control circuit 7 includes a CPU 7a, a memory 7b storing a control program for the CPU 7a and various data, and controls switching / selection of row-direction wirings and column-direction wirings in the switch matrix circuits 2 and 3, and also provides a pulse. The peak value is set in the peak value setting circuit 6.

Next, the operation of this drive circuit will be described.

As described above, even if the electron emission characteristics of the individual surface conduction electron-emitting devices on the electron source substrate of the display panel 1 are uniform, the wiring for connecting these surface conduction electron-emitting devices is used. Due to the voltage drop, the drive voltage applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device is distributed, and the amount of electron emission varies depending on the position of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. On the other hand, as will be described later, the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the embodiment of the present invention has a characteristic of storing the emission current and the drive current value according to the maximum peak value of the drive pulse applied in the past. .

FIGS. 4A and 4B show the emission current Ie when the maximum value Vfm of the memory waveform signal is changed and applied, and the signal is driven by a signal having a constant maximum peak value smaller than Vfm. It is a figure showing the relation between and drive current If.

As is clear from this figure, drive pulses of different maximum peak values (hereinafter,
It is possible to give a distribution of electron emission characteristics by applying a memory waveform signal).

That is, in FIG. 3, the control circuit 7 selects the emission element to be driven by the control signals Tx and Ty and, at the same time, sends the control signal Tv to the pulse peak value setting circuit 6. As a result, the pulse crest value setting circuit 6 refers to the previously stored data table which gives the crest value according to the voltage drop in the row-direction and column-direction wirings, and sets the predetermined values for the pulse generators 4 and 5. The level signals Lpx and Lpy for outputting the drive pulse having the peak value are output. This causes the pulse generators 4 and 5 to output the level signals Lpx and Lpy.
Corresponding pulses Px and Py are output to the switch matrix circuits 2 and 3. In this way, a predetermined memory waveform signal can be applied to the designated surface conduction electron-emitting device of the display panel 1.

As the pulse peak value Vfm of the memory waveform signal at this time, as shown in FIG. 5, a value determined according to the voltage drop in the wiring is selected. Specifically, for electron-emitting devices located near the driving end where the voltage drop in the row-direction wiring or the column-direction wiring is small, a larger peak value is selected, and it is located far from the driving end. A lower peak value is selected and applied to the existing electron-emitting device. As is clear from FIG. 2 described above, the characteristics of the element close to the terminal and having a small voltage drop are shifted to the right side of FIG. Corresponds to shifting to the characteristic on the left side of FIG. 2 (increasing the emission current with respect to the drive voltage). By performing such an operation for each scanning line of the display panel 1, the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device with respect to the drive voltage of the entire display panel 1 can be made uniform.

Next, the display panel 1 to which the memory waveform signal is applied as described above is driven by selecting a drive voltage having a value lower than the peak value of the memory waveform signal of any element. As shown, the emission current Ie and the drive current If of the emission element on one scanning line can obtain substantially uniform characteristics regardless of the position where they are arranged.

As described above, when the display panel 1 is driven, variations in emission current due to voltage drop in wiring due to drive current can be improved, and an image can be displayed with a uniform luminance distribution.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the processing by the control circuit 7 of the present embodiment, and the control program for executing this processing is stored in the memory 7b.

First, in step S1, the switch control signal T
x and Ty are output to the switch matrix circuits 2 and 3 to select one of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1.
Next, in step S2, the control signal indicating the surface conduction electron-emitting device selected by the switch control signals Tx and Ty is output as Tv to the pulse peak value setting circuit 6. As a result, the peak value setting circuit 6 executes the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8 and applies the memory voltage to the element selected in step S1. Then, the process proceeds to step S3, and it is checked whether or not the memory voltage is applied to all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the display panel 1, and if so, the process ends, but if not, the process returns to step S1 and then The switch control signals Tx and Ty are switched and output so as to select the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the processing in the pulse crest value setting circuit 6 of the embodiment.

This process is started by inputting the control signal Tv output from the control circuit 7 in step S2 of FIG. 7. First, in step S11, the control signal Tv is input, and then the process proceeds to step S12. The memory voltage corresponding to the position of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is determined by referring to the table held by the pulse peak value setting circuit 6. Then, in step S13, the peak value setting signals Lpx and Lpy are output to the pulse generators 4 and 5 in order to apply the determined memory voltage. As a result, the memory voltage is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device selected in step S1 of FIG.

The memory voltage is set to a value higher than the drive voltage when the display panel 1 is normally used. This is because, in a normal display operation, when a voltage higher than the memory voltage is applied, the characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the display panel 1 are shifted by it, and the electron emission characteristics that have been noted are changed. The reason is that

In this way, the electron emission characteristic of the surface conduction electron-emitting device located farther from the energizing terminal is improved (the current value Ie with respect to the drive voltage Vf is increased),
By lowering the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device close to the energizing terminal (reducing the current value Ie with respect to the drive voltage Vf), the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be formed substantially regardless of the position where the surface conduction electron emission device is arranged. A constant electron emission can be obtained.

<Second Embodiment> The second embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 9A is a diagram showing a display panel 1a in which the ends of row-direction wirings (common wirings connecting the elements on the scanning lines) on the electron source substrate are pulled out and driven simultaneously. .

In such an electron source substrate of the display panel 1a, by supplying a drive signal from both ends of the row-direction wiring, the voltage drop amount in the wiring due to the drive current is reduced as shown in FIG. 9B. This is reduced compared to the case of driving from the terminal (FIG. 27). Even when such driving is performed, as described in the first embodiment, the memory waveform signal having the peak value according to the voltage drop amount of FIG. By adding it to the element, it is possible to emit electrons while reducing the influence of the voltage drop in the wiring during driving.

Also in this case, the waveform signal for memory according to the distribution of the voltage drop amount in the row wiring may be applied, and the peak value may be the value shown in FIG. This FIG.
It is assumed that the characteristics indicated by are stored in the table of the pulse crest value setting circuit 6 described above. The method of applying the memory waveform signal can be performed by the drive circuit shown in FIG.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, even in the display panel 1 which is driven by applying a voltage from both ends of the row-direction wiring, the influence of the voltage drop due to the wiring is suppressed and the distribution is substantially uniform. The electron emission amount of is obtained. As a result, high-quality display with uniform brightness can be performed.

FIG. 11 is a diagram schematically showing a manufacturing process of the multi electron source of the display panel 1 of the present 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. With this, a basic multi-electron source can be manufactured, but in each row-direction wiring of the above-described surface conduction electron-emitting device, which is a feature of the present embodiment, all of the rows with respect to a predetermined drive voltage are By performing the homogenization process for making the electron emission amount of the surface conduction electron-emitting device uniform (step S103), uniform luminance can be obtained over the entire area of the display panel 1.

(Structure and Manufacturing Method of Display Panel 1) Next, the structure and the manufacturing method of the display panel 1 of the image display device to which the embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to specific examples.

FIG. 12 is an external perspective view of the display panel 1 used in this embodiment, in which a part of the panel is cut away to show the internal structure. This display panel 1 is
The case where power is supplied from only one side of the row wiring is shown.

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 = 30
It is desirable to set a number of 00, M = 1000 or more. Incidentally, in the present embodiment, N = 3072, M =
It was set to 1024. These N × M surface conduction electron-emitting devices are simple matrix wiring by M row direction wirings 1003 and N column direction wirings 1004. Here, the part constituted by 1001 to 1004 described above is called a multi-electron beam source. The manufacturing method and structure of the multi-electron beam source will be described in detail later.

In this embodiment, the rear plate 1005 of the airtight container is attached to the substrate 10 of the multi-electron beam source.
01 is fixed, but if the substrate 1001 of the multi-electron beam source has sufficient strength, the substrate 10 of the multi-electron beam source can be used as the rear plate of the airtight container.
01 itself may be used.

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 these respective colors 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.

FIG. 1 shows how to separately paint the three primary color phosphors.
The arrangement is not limited to the stripe-shaped arrangement shown in FIG. 3 (A), but may be a delta arrangement as shown in FIG. 13 (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 necessarily be used.

On the surface of the fluorescent film 1008 on the rear plate side, 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.

The terminals indicated by Dx1 to Dxm, Dy1 to Dyn and Hv are terminals for electrical connection having an airtight structure provided to electrically connect the display panel 1 and an electric circuit (not shown). is there. The terminals Dx1 to Dxm are electrically connected to the row direction wiring 1003 of the multi electron beam source, the terminals Dy1 to Dyn are electrically connected to the column direction wiring 1004 of the multi electron beam 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].

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

Next, a method of manufacturing the multi-electron beam source used for the display panel 1 of this embodiment will be described. The multi-electron beam source used in the image display device of the present embodiment is not limited in the material, shape, or manufacturing method of the surface conduction electron-emitting device as long as it is an electron source in which surface conduction electron-emitting devices are wired in a simple matrix. However, the inventors of the present application have found that among the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, one in which the electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film has excellent electron-emitting characteristics and can be easily manufactured. . Therefore, it can be said that it is most suitable for using the multi-electron beam source in the display panel of the image display device of high brightness and large screen. 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 beam source in which many devices are wired in a simple matrix will be described.

(Preferable Element Configuration and Manufacturing Method of Surface Conduction Electron Emitting Element) Typical configurations of the surface conduction type electron 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 two types.

(Plane Type Surface Conduction Electron Emitting Element) First, the structure and manufacturing method of the plane type surface conduction electron emitting element will be described. This is step S in FIG. 11 described above.
This is equivalent to 100 steps.

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

(Plane Type Surface Conduction Electron Emitting Element) First, the element structure and manufacturing method of the plane type surface conduction electron emitting element will be described. This corresponds to the step S100 in FIG. 11 described above. FIG. 14 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. 14, the overlapping manner is as follows.
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.

Further, 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 and 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 of manufacturing a suitable flat surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described. 15 (a)-
14D is a cross-sectional view for explaining the manufacturing process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the notation of each member is the same as that 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 organic metal 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. 10C, the forming power source 1110 to the device electrodes 1102 and 11
An appropriate voltage is applied during 03 to perform the energization forming process to form the electron emission portion 1105 (corresponding to the energization forming process of step S101 in FIG. 11). This energization forming process energizes the conductive thin film 1104 made of a fine particle film to appropriately break a part of the conductive thin film 1104,
It is a process of deforming or modifying the material to change it into a structure suitable for electron emission. 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 the electric resistance measured between the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 after the formation is significantly increased as compared with the case before the formation of the electron emission unit 1105.

In order to explain in more detail the energizing method at the time of forming, FIG.
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. In the case of the present embodiment, a triangular wave 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 preferable method for the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device of this embodiment. When the design is changed, it is desirable to appropriately change the energization conditions 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. 11).
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 in more detail the energization method in this energization activation, FIG. 17A 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-emitting device is changed, the conditions may be changed accordingly. desirable.

Reference numeral 1114 shown in FIG. 15 (d) 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 treatment is performed after the substrate 1101 is incorporated in the display panel 1, the fluorescent surface of the display panel 1 is set to the anode electrode 1114.
Used as. 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 1
Control the operation of 112. An example of the emission current Ie measured by the ammeter 1116 is shown in FIG.

When the pulse voltage is applied from the activation power supply 1112 in this way, the emission current I
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 electron-emitting device of this embodiment.
When the design of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is changed, it is desirable to appropriately change the conditions accordingly.

As described above, the plane type surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 15E was manufactured.

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

FIG. 18 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 planar type electron-emitting device described above in that one of the device electrodes (1202) is provided on the step forming member 1206. The conductive thin film 1204 covers the side surface of the step forming member 1206. Therefore, FIG.
In the vertical type, the element electrode interval L in the flat type element of No. 4 is set as the step height Ls of the step forming member 1206. The substrate 1201, the device electrodes 1202 and 1
For 203 and the conductive thin film 1204 using a fine particle film, the materials listed in the description of the planar type can be similarly used. For the step forming member 1206, an electrically insulating material such as SiO2 is used.

Next, a method of manufacturing the vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described. 19A to 19F are cross-sectional views for explaining the manufacturing process, and the notation of each member is the same as that in FIG. 21.

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

(2) Next, as shown in FIG. 11B, 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. 10D, 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. 6E, 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. 15C 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. 15D may be performed).

As described above, the vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 18F was manufactured.

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

FIG. 20 shows typical examples of (emission current Ie) vs. (device applied voltage Vf) characteristics and (device current If) vs. (device applied voltage Vf) characteristics of the device used in the 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 having a magnitude higher than a certain voltage (which is called 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 high with respect to the voltage Vf applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the current Ie is emitted from the device depending on the length of time for applying the voltage Vf. The amount of charge of electrons can be controlled.

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 element being driven, and a voltage lower than the threshold voltage Vth is applied to the non-selected element. Then, by sequentially switching the elements to be driven, it is possible to sequentially scan the display screen for display.

Further, by utilizing the second characteristic or the third characteristic, the emission brightness can be controlled, so that it is possible to perform the gradation display.

(Structure of multi-electron beam source in which a large number of elements are wired in a simple matrix) Next, the structure of a multi-electron beam source in which the above surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged on a substrate and wired in a simple matrix will be described.

FIG. 21 is a plan view of the multi-electron beam source used in the display panel 1 shown in FIG. Here, the surface conduction electron-emitting devices similar to those shown in FIG. 14 are arranged on the substrate 1001, and these devices are arranged in the row direction wiring electrodes 1003 and the column direction wiring electrodes 1004.
And are wired in a simple matrix. An insulating layer (not shown) is formed between the electrodes at the intersections of the row-direction wiring electrodes 1003 and the column-direction wiring electrodes 1004 to maintain electrical insulation.

A sectional view taken along the line AA 'in FIG. 21 is shown in FIG.
2 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 interelectrode insulating layer (not shown) and the device electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device and the conductive thin film are formed, and then power is supplied to each device 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 process and the energization activation process.

FIG. 23 shows image information provided from various image information sources such as television broadcasting on a display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this embodiment as an electron beam source. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the multifunctional display apparatus comprised so that it could be performed.

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, 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 relating 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, and 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. Further, the provision of the image memory makes it easy to display 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 device related to the basic operation of the display panel, for example, a signal for controlling an operation sequence of a power source (not shown) for driving the display panel 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. 23, in the display device of the present embodiment, the 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 incorporated in the decoder 2104, the image generation circuit 2107 and the CPU 2106 are involved, so that the selected one of a plurality of image information is simply 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 the present embodiment is used for office equipment such as display equipment for television broadcasting, terminal equipment for videoconference, image editing equipment for handling still images and moving images, computer terminal equipment, and word processors. 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. 23 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 beam source, and is not limited to this. For example, of the constituent elements of FIG. 23, 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 the electron beam source can be easily thinned, the depth of the entire display device can be reduced. In addition, the display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device as the electron beam source can easily enlarge the screen, has high brightness, and has excellent viewing angle characteristics. It is possible to display with good performance.

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-beam electron source of this embodiment, the emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device connected to the row-direction wiring are determined by considering the voltage drop caused by the wiring resistance. With the emission characteristics, the luminance distribution due to the influence of the voltage drop can be eliminated and an image with uniform luminance can be formed.

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 to be outside the voltage range for driving the normal surface conduction electron-emitting device, the characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device do not change during normal operation.

In the present embodiment, the case has been described where the characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices connected to the row-direction wirings are made uniform, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, column-direction wirings. It may be performed for a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices connected to each other, or may be performed for the surface conduction electron emission devices in the row direction and the column direction.

[0161]

As described above, according to the present invention, an electron source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are wired has substantially uniform electron emission characteristics without being affected by a voltage drop caused by wiring resistance. It has the effect of being obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, by utilizing the memory function of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, it is possible to eliminate the influence of the voltage drop due to the wiring resistance and obtain a substantially uniform amount of emitted electrons.

[0163]

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a difference in characteristics of an 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 an electron beam generation source according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing characteristics of an electron emission amount (a) and a drive current (b) when a peak value of a memory waveform signal is changed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing peak values of memory waveform signals applied to a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a row direction in the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows an electron emission amount distribution when a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a row direction are driven with a predetermined drive voltage after applying a memory waveform signal in the present embodiment. It is a figure.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing processing by the control circuit according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing in the pulse crest value setting circuit of the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a driving method of a display panel and an applied voltage distribution of individual surface conduction electron-emitting devices on row wirings according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

10 is a diagram showing peak values of memory waveform signals applied to individual surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the electron beam generation source of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing manufacturing steps of the multi-electron source according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view in which a part of the display panel of the image display device according to the embodiment of the present invention is cut away.

FIG. 13 is a plan view exemplifying an array of phosphors on a face plate of the display panel of the present embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a plan view (a) and a sectional view (b) of a flat surface-conduction type electron-emitting device used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing a manufacturing process of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of applied voltage waveforms during energization forming processing.

FIG. 17 is a waveform (a) of applied voltage during energization activation processing,
It is a figure which shows the change (b) example of emission current Ie.

FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device used in this embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view showing a manufacturing process of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 20 is a graph showing typical characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a plan view of the substrate of the multi-electron beam source used in this embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a partial cross-sectional view of the substrate of the multi-electron beam source used in this embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a multi-function image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating matrix wiring of a conventional multi electron source.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating the wiring resistance of the surface conduction electron-emitting device connected to the row-direction wiring of the multi-electron source.

FIG. 27 is a diagram for explaining an applied voltage of each surface conduction electron-emitting device due to wiring resistance.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Display panel 2,3 switch matrix circuit 4,5 pulse generator 6 Pulse peak value setting circuit 7 control circuit 7a CPU 7b memory

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-2-257554 (JP, A) JP-A-1-292728 (JP, A) JP-A-9-259753 (JP, A) Patent 3376220 (JP, B2) Patent 3062987 (JP, B2) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01J 9/02 H01J 1/316 H01J 9/44 H01J 31/12 H01J 29/04

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for manufacturing an electron source in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix on a substrate, the method comprising the steps of forming each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices: Depending on the step of selecting each of the conduction type emission devices and the distance from the voltage application terminal where the selected surface conduction type emission device is located, the surface conduction type emission device is far from the terminal.
A lower voltage is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device,
This is a process of applying a higher voltage to the surface conduction electron-emitting device near the child , and the applied voltage is normal driving.
And a step of applying a voltage that is higher than the voltage, the method of manufacturing an electron source. 2. The plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are
Connected in a matrix with parallel wiring and column wiring
The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1, wherein
Law. 3. The voltage to be applied is determined in consideration of a voltage drop caused by wiring resistance of a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices wired in a row direction or a column direction. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 2 . The method according to claim 4, wherein the voltage applying step, method of manufacturing an electron source according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that utilizing the memory function of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. 5. The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 2 , wherein the voltage application terminals are provided at both ends of at least one of row-direction wirings and column-direction wirings. 6. An electron source having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix on a substrate, input means for inputting an image signal, and a modulation signal generated in accordance with the image signal input from the input means. 6. A method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus , comprising: a modulation unit that controls the electron source and a driving unit that drives the electron source according to a modulation signal modulated by the modulation unit , wherein the electron source is any one of claims 1 to 5. Method described in crab
A method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus characterized by being manufactured in
Law.