JPH04147542A - Electron emitting device and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To insulate the residual protecting thin film from an element electrode or the like to obtain the excellent discharge characteristic by providing a first insulating layer to restrict a covering area of a protecting thin film when the protecting thin film is provided on electron emitting parts. CONSTITUTION:After forming the SiO2 thin film on an insulating glass substrate 1, a pair of electrodes 3 are formed. Next, after forming a first insulating layer 5 made of SiO2, a part of the SiO2 layer near electron emitting parts is eliminated by etching to expose electrodes of emitting parts. Next, after forming mask of chrome thin film, organic solvent including organic palladium compound is rotated for coating only between the electrodes, and burning is performed in the air to change palladium into fine particles, and electron emitting parts 4 are thereby formed. Thereafter, all of the chrome mask used for patterning of palladium is eliminated by etching to complete surface conduction type electron emitting element part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an electron-emitting device using a surface-conduction type electron-emitting device and a method for manufacturing the same, and particularly relates to an electron-emitting device using a surface-conduction type electron-emitting device and a method for manufacturing the same. The present invention relates to an electron emitting device having an emitting portion protective thin film and a method for manufacturing the same.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, as an element that can emit electrons with a simple structure,
For example, M.I. Ellingson (M, I.

The cold cathode device announced by E. Elinson and others is known [Radio Eng, Electr
onPhys, ) Volume 1O, 1290-1296
Page, 1965].

This type of surface conduction electron-emitting device includes one using the SnO□(Sb) thin film developed by Ellingson et al., and one using an Au thin film [G.

Dittmer: “Th1n 5olid Films
”), vol. 9, p. 317, (1972) 1, ITO
Thin film [M. Hartwell and C.G. Fonstad “I.E.E. Trans.

E Daycon 7 (M, Hartwell and
C,G.

Fonstad: ” IEEE Trans, E
D Conf,”) page 519.

(1975) 1, Carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki et al.: “Vacuum”, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22, (19
1983)] have been reported.

Together with advances in film-forming technology and photolithography technology, it is becoming possible to form a large number of elements on a substrate, and it is expected that they will be applied to various image forming systems using multiple electron sources. ing.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, surface conduction electron-emitting devices utilize the phenomenon of electron emission caused by passing an electric current through a thin film with a small area, and this emission phenomenon depends on the characteristics of the surface of the emitting part. Thick (
Depends on it. When manufacturing an electron-emitting device using such an element, the surface of the thin film forming the emitting portion is susceptible to various types of damage.

In particular, when the insulating layer provided on the emitter is removed, the effect is significant, resulting in deterioration of electron emission characteristics and destruction of the emitter, which has significantly hindered the application of surface conduction type emitters.

That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an electron-emitting device using a surface conduction type electron-emitting device in which the electron-emitting portion is not affected by the above-mentioned adverse effects, and a method for manufacturing the same. .

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention, which has been achieved to solve the above problems, is characterized by providing a small number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices (at least one surface conduction type electron-emitting device) on a substrate, and In a method for manufacturing an electron emitting device including a grid electrode for guiding or extracting electrons emitted from the device, after forming an electrode for a surface conduction electron emitting device on a substrate,
A first insulating layer is provided on the entire surface, and then a small amount of the first insulating layer (located in the electron emitting region) is removed by etching, and then the electron emitting region of the surface conduction electron emitting device is formed. Then, cover a portion of the first insulating layer and the electron-emitting region with a protective thin film made of a material different from the electron-emitting region, and then cover the entire surface with a second insulating layer. A grid electrode having electron passing holes is formed thereon, and finally, the second insulating layer located above the electron emitting part and the protection existing on at least the surface conduction electron emitting device are formed. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device is such that the thin film for use in the electron-emitting device is removed by etching using the grid electrode as a mask.

Further, on a substrate having at least one surface conduction type electron emitting device, a first insulating layer is provided except for the electron emitting portion of the surface conduction type electron emitting device, and the first On the upper surface of the end of the insulating layer in each layer, there is a residual protective thin film remaining when the thin film provided for protecting the electron emission part is etched away, and on the residual protective thin film and the first insulating layer. The present invention provides an electron emitting device characterized by having a second insulating layer on the top surface of the second insulating layer, and further having a grid electrode on the upper surface thereof.

Note that various materials such as metals and oxides can be used as the thin film material for protecting the electron-emitting region used in the present invention, as long as it is not damaged during the manufacturing process after the protective thin film is formed. .

[Function] The present invention is particularly characterized by the first insulating layer and the protective thin film provided thereon, and the functions thereof will be described below.

That is, as described above, as in the conventional structure, an insulating layer is provided directly including the upper surface of the electron emitting part, and then,
If the insulating layer above the electron-emitting region is removed by etching, the electron-emitting region is susceptible to various types of damage. Therefore, a protective thin film is provided to suppress such damage, but it is difficult from a manufacturing technology perspective to provide the protective thin film only on the upper surface of the electron-emitting portion. There is no choice but to include element electrodes or other areas as well.

In such a state, even if the protective thin film is later removed by etching, it is difficult to completely remove it, and since the material is generally conductive, problems such as short circuits may occur.

Therefore, the first insulating layer referred to in the present invention is provided in at least an area (surface) other than the electron emitting part, and the area where the protective thin film provided thereafter comes into contact with the electrodes of the element is limited, and When the thick protective thin film is removed by etching, the remaining protective thin film is left not on the device electrode but on the first insulating layer, thereby ensuring insulation from the device electrode and the like.

As mentioned above, ■ The protective thin film minimizes damage to the electron emitting part during the manufacturing stage and improves the electron emission characteristics. ■ The first insulating layer covers the remaining protective thin film between the elements. It provides insulation from electrodes, etc., and similarly provides good electron emission characteristics.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically explained in detail with reference to Examples.

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of an electron-emitting device manufactured using the manufacturing method of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an insulating glass substrate, 2 is a SiO□ thin film, 3 is an electrode of a surface conduction type emission device, 4 is a palladium fine particle forming an electron emitting part, 5 is a first insulating layer, and 6 is a A thin film for protecting the emission part, 7 a second insulating layer, and 8 a grid electrode for extracting electrons.

Here, the manufacturing process of the above structure will be explained based on FIG. 2.

(2) First, approximately 5,000 layers of SiO□ are formed on an insulating glass substrate 1 by vacuum deposition (SiO□ thin film 2), and then a pair of electrodes 3 having a spacing of approximately 1 Opm are formed using normal photolithography technology, etc. Form using.

01 Next, the first insulating layer 5 is coated with S by RF sputtering.
Formed in. The thickness of this Si0g film is 3000
It's a person. Thereafter, only the vicinity of the electron emission part of this SiO□ layer was etched away using reactive ion etching (RIE) to expose the emission part electrode.

02 Next, after forming a mask with a chromium thin film using normal vacuum evaporation and photolithography techniques, an organic solvent containing an organic palladium compound (Catapaste-ccp manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) is spin-coated only between the electrodes. And then 300℃ in air.

Firing was performed for 10 minutes, and the palladium was made into fine particles to form the electron emitting part 4. Thereafter, the chrome mask used for patterning the palladium was completely removed by etching, and the surface conduction electron-emitting device was completed.

■1 Next, when providing the grid electrode 8 for extracting electrons and the second insulating layer 7 to support it, a protective thin film 6 is made of aluminum to protect the entire emission group as shown in the figure. Formed. The aluminum film thickness was approximately 3000 nm and conventional evaporation and lithography techniques were used.

01 Next, a second layer is formed on the entire surface of the substrate obtained in the above process to electrically insulate the electron-emitting device and the grid electrode 8.
The second insulating layer 7 was formed of 5 iOz. The thickness of the insulating layer 7 was approximately 10 μm, and it was formed using RF sputtering.

■1 Next, a grid electrode 8 is placed on the second insulating layer 7 obtained in the above process using nickel (thickness: 5000 mm).
Furthermore, a protective layer (not shown) against etching of the insulating layer 7 is provided on the grid electrode 8, and grid holes (approximately 35 pm×
150 pm) was opened.

Next, using the grid electrode 8 having the electron passing holes as a mask, the SiOg film 7 laminated on the electron emission part is subjected to RIE (Reactive Ion Etching).
to expose the protective thin film 6,
Finally, the aluminum thin film 6 serving as the protective thin film was removed to complete the electron emitting device.

The electron-emitting device thus obtained was placed in a vacuum container, a voltage of 14V was applied to the surface conduction type electron-emitting device, a voltage of 0 to +100cm was applied to the grid electrode 8, and the emitted current was measured. , an emission current proportional to the grid voltage (Vg) was obtained.

Ratio: 10 Milk: 1 On the other hand, in the case where the product was manufactured using the same process as in Example 1 above, except that the protective aluminum thin film 5 was not provided,
When the second insulating layer 7 was etched, the palladium fine particles 4 provided in the electron emitting portion were peeled off together with the SiO□ thin film 2, and the function as an electron emitting device could not be obtained.

From the above, it was confirmed that the thin film for protecting the emission part according to the present invention functions effectively.

Next, as a second example, an image forming apparatus using an electron beam was manufactured using the electron-emitting device obtained according to the present invention. A perspective view thereof is shown in FIG.

In the figure, 1 is a glass substrate, 3 is a device electrode, 4 is an electron emission part, 8 is a grid electrode, 9 is a phosphor substrate, and 1O is a vacuum container.

Here, the method of forming the electron-emitting device, grid electrode, insulating layer, etc. is the same as in Example 1, and the size of the 100 mm x 75 m+
On a corner glass substrate, 64 lines were formed, each line having 72 emitting elements connected in parallel.

A phosphor substrate 9 is provided on the obtained substrate 1 via a glass spacer (not shown), and the inside is placed in a vacuum container 10, and the inside is
After evacuation to about
Modulation was confirmed.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the electron-emitting device and the manufacturing method thereof of the present invention, (1) A protective thin film is provided on the electron-emitting part (by this,
Damage to the emitter in other processes can be suppressed, and an electron-emitting device with extremely good emission characteristics can be obtained. By restricting the area, the remaining protective thin film can be insulated from the device electrodes, etc., and an electron-emitting device with extremely good emission characteristics can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows a partial cross-sectional view of an electron-emitting device obtained by the manufacturing method of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a process diagram showing the manufacturing method of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus manufactured using the present invention. l...Glass substrate 2...Si0g thin film 3.
...Element electrode 4...Electron emission part 5...First layer insulating layer 6...Emission part protection thin film 7...Second layer insulating layer 8...Grid electrode 9. ...Phosphor substrate lO...Vacuum container Figure 2 Figure 3 Procedural amendment (method) % formula % Electron-emitting device and its manufacturing method 3, relationship with the person making the amendment case Patent applicant: Ota, Tokyo 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Tokyo (ioo) Representative Keizo Yamaji, representative of Canon Co., Ltd. Room 204, Sanshin Building, 1-4-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Phone: 3501-2138 January 2, 1991 (Dispatch mortar) 6. As shown in Figure 2 of the drawings to be amended 7. Contents of the amendment As shown in the attached sheet, “Fig. 2” spans two pages, so “Fig. 2 (Part 1)” and “Fig. 2 (Part 1)” 2)”. Figure 2 (A-1)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A first insulating layer is provided on a substrate having at least one surface-conduction electron-emitting device except for at least an electron-emitting portion of the surface-conduction electron-emitting device, and the first layer On the upper surface of the end of the insulating layer of the eye, there is a residual protective thin film remaining when the thin film provided for protecting the electron emission part is removed by etching, and on the residual protective thin film and the first insulating layer. An electron-emitting device characterized by having a second insulating layer and further having a grid electrode on its upper surface. (2) After forming the electrode for the surface conduction electron-emitting device on the substrate, a first insulating layer is provided on the entire surface, and then the first insulating layer located at least in the electron-emitting part is etched away. Then, an electron-emitting region of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is formed, and at least a part of the first insulating layer and the electron-emitting region are covered with a protective layer made of a material different from that of the electron-emitting region. After that, a second insulating layer is provided on the entire surface, a grid electrode having electron passing holes is formed on the second insulating layer, and finally, the second insulating layer located above the electron emitting part is covered with a thin film.
A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device, characterized in that the protective thin film present on the insulating layer and at least the surface conduction electron-emitting device is removed by etching using the grid electrode as a mask.