JPH07302540A - Image formation device and its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent any damage of a spacer or an electron discharge element during a process for fabricating an image formation device. CONSTITUTION:A front surface plate 1 on which an image formation member is placed, a rear surface plate 2 on which plural electron discharge elements are placed, a support frame 3 for supporting the circumferential edges of the rear surface plate 2 and the front surface 1 between the rear surface 2 and the front surface plate 1, and a spacer 4 arranged as a column between the front surface plate 1 and the rear surface plate 2 are mutually bonded airtightly, by using frit glass. The coating thickness temporary baking of a support frame fixing frit glass 6 to be applied in advance to the rear surface plate 2 or the front surface plate 1 is made thicker than that of a spacer fixing frit glass 5 to be applied to the rear surface plate 2 or the front surface plate 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a thin image forming apparatus and an image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron emitters, a thermoelectron source and a cold cathode electron source, are known. Among them, the cold cathode electron source includes a field emission type (hereinafter abbreviated as “FE type”), a metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter abbreviated as “MIM type”), a surface conduction type electron emitting device, and the like.

As an example of the FE type, WPDyke & WWDol
an, "Field emission", Advance in Electron Physics, 8,
89 (1956) and CASpindt, "Physical properties of thin-
film field emission cathodes with molybdenum cone
s ", J. Appl. Phys., 47, 5248 (1976) and the like.

As an example of the MIM type, CAMead, "The tu
nnel-emission amplifier ", J.Appl.Phys., 32,646 (1961)
Etc. are known.

Examples of surface conduction electron-emitting devices include E.
I. Elinson, Radio Eng. Electron Phys., 10, 1290 (1965).

The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electron emission occurs when a current is passed through a thin film of a small area formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface.

As the surface conduction electron-emitting device, one using the SnO ₂ thin film by Erinson et al.
By thin film [G.Dittmer: "Thin Solid Films", 9,31
7, (1972)], In ₂ O ₃ / SnO ₂ thin film [M.Ha
rtwell and CGFonstad: "IEEE Trans. ED Conf.", 519,
(1975)], a carbon thin film [Hiraki Araki et al .: "Vacuum", Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22 (1983)] and the like.

A conventional image forming apparatus for forming an image by applying the above-mentioned electron-emitting device will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view for explaining the structure of a conventional image forming apparatus, and FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

An image forming apparatus generally has a rear plate 103 having an electron-emitting device group mounted thereon, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.
And a front plate 102, which is arranged opposite to the rear plate 103 and has an image forming member on which an image is formed by irradiation of an electron beam from an electron-emitting device group, the front plate 102 and the rear plate 103.
And a supporting frame 1 for supporting the peripheral edges of the front plate 102 and the rear plate 103 so as to surround the electron-emitting device group.
04, and the joint portion of the front plate 102, the rear plate 103, and the support frame 104 is fixed by frit glass.

Further, the inside of the image forming apparatus is 10 ⁻⁶ To
Since the electron-emitting device is operated in a vacuum of about rr or higher, it is necessary to have a structure that can withstand the atmospheric pressure at this time.

In particular, in a flat image forming apparatus using a large-area back plate and front plate, when the atmospheric pressure applied perpendicularly to the surfaces of the front plate and the back plate is to be supported, each plate is thickened. Therefore, the feasibility becomes poor in terms of weight and cost. For this reason, the spacer 101 is arranged inside the support frame 104 between the front plate 102 and the rear plate 103 as a pillar to form an atmospheric pressure resistant structure and reduce the weight.

The spacer 103 is fixed by using frit glass like other joints. Further, it also has a function of accurately maintaining the distance between the electron-emitting device group formed on the back plate 103 and the image forming member of the front plate 102 at the position opposite to the electron-emitting device group.

Next, a method of manufacturing the above-mentioned conventional image forming apparatus will be described. FIG. 8 is a process diagram for explaining a conventional method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus.

First, as shown in FIG. 8A, the front plate 1
Spacer 101 and support frame 104 fixed to 02
So that the spacer fixing frit glass 105 and the supporting frame frit glass 1 are provided on the rear plate 103.
06 is applied and calcination is performed.

Then, as shown in FIG. 8B, the front plate 102 is placed at the positions of the spacer fixing frit glass 105 and the support frame fixing frit glass on the rear plate 103.
The spacer 101 and the support frame 104 fixed to the above are aligned.

After that, main firing is carried out while applying a load to the front plate 102 with the back plate 103 being supported, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (c), the spacer 101 and the support frame 104 fixed to the front plate 102 and the rear plate 103 are fixed.

[0018]

However, the heights of the spacers and the support frame fixed to the front plate or the back plate are varied due to the influence of the subtle undulations on the plate surface and the processing accuracy in the height direction.

Therefore, during alignment, the thin spacers come into contact with the frit glass that has been hardened by pre-baking and comes into contact with the frit glass before the thick supporting frame, and a load is applied during the main baking. There was a problem that the spacer was sometimes broken.

Further, there is a problem that the spacers are misaligned at the time of alignment and the spacers come into contact with the electron-emitting devices on the back plate to destroy the electron-emitting devices.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus and an image forming apparatus capable of preventing damage to a spacer or an electron emitting element during a process of manufacturing the image forming apparatus.

[0022]

The present invention for achieving the above object includes a back plate having a plurality of electron-emitting devices mounted thereon,
A front plate, which is disposed so as to face the back plate and which has an image forming member on which an image is formed by irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device, and between the back plate and the front plate. It has at least a support frame that supports the peripheral edges of the back plate and the front plate, and a spacer that is arranged as a support between the front plate and the back plate, and these are joined together using frit glass to form an airtight structure. In the method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus, a coating thickness after pre-baking of frit glass which is previously applied to the back plate or the front plate to fix the support frame is set to the back plate or the back plate to fix the spacer. It is characterized in that it is thicker than the coating thickness of the frit glass applied to the front plate after the calcination.

In the method of manufacturing the image forming apparatus, it is possible to apply the frit glass by using a printing technique or apply the frit glass by using a dispenser.

Further, a method of fixing the spacer and the support frame to the back plate in advance, or a method of fixing the spacer and the support frame to the front plate in advance may be used.

An image forming apparatus manufactured by such a method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus also belongs to the present invention.

In the image forming apparatus thus manufactured, the back plate may have a reinforcing plate.

It is conceivable that these image forming apparatuses are characterized in that the spacer is formed integrally with the support frame, and that the inside of the apparatus formed by the airtight joining is in a vacuum state. Characterized by using the spacer as an atmospheric pressure resistant support member for the front plate and the back plate, or using the spacer as a member for setting a gap between the front plate and the back plate Or a surface conduction electron-emitting device is used as the electron-emitting device.

[0028]

In the present invention as described above, a back plate, a front plate, a support frame for supporting the back plate and the peripheral edge of the front plate between the back plate and the front plate, and a pillar between the front plate and the back plate. When an image forming apparatus is configured by airtightly bonding the arranged spacers to each other using frit glass, pre-baking of the frit glass applied in advance to the back plate or the front plate to fix the support frame. The subsequent coating thickness is made thicker than the coating thickness of the frit glass applied to the back plate or the front plate for fixing the spacer after the calcination.

As a result, when the front plate and the back plate are joined together, only the thick supporting frame comes into contact with the frit glass which has been hardened by being pre-baked on the front plate or the back plate, and the thick supporting frame is in contact with the frit glass. Thin spacers do not touch. In this state, since the main firing is performed while applying a load to the front plate and the back plate, the frit glass melts and becomes soft, and then the spacer comes into contact with the frit glass. Therefore, the image forming apparatus can be assembled without damaging the spacer.

Furthermore, since a gap is formed between the spacer and the front plate or the rear plate during assembly, it is possible to precisely control variations due to the processing accuracy of the spacer and waviness of the surface of the front plate or the rear plate for fixing the spacer. The front plate and the back plate can be aligned without damaging the electron-emitting device group or the image forming member by the spacer.

[0031]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

In the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a back plate 2 having an electron-emitting device group (not shown) mounted thereon.
Between the front plate 1 and the rear plate 2, and a front plate 1 that is arranged to face the rear plate 2 and has an image forming member on which an image is formed by irradiation of an electron beam from an electron-emitting device group.
A support frame 3 for supporting the peripheral edges of the front plate 1 and the rear plate 2 so as to surround the electron-emitting device group, and a spacer arranged between the front plate 1 and the rear plate 2 as an atmospheric pressure supporting member or a space setting member. The front plate 1, the rear plate 2, the support frame 3 and the spacer 4 are joined together by frit glass. As a result, the image forming apparatus is an airtight container.

The heights of the support frame 3 and the spacer 4 are the same. Further, the shape, number, arrangement, etc. of the spacers 4 are not particularly limited. The spacer 4 may be integrated with the support frame 3.

FIG. 2 shows frit glass applied to the front plate or the back plate in advance.

In FIG. 2, H1 is the thickness of the frit glass for fixing the support frame after pre-baking, and H2 is the thickness of the frit glass for fixing the spacer after pre-baking.
As shown in this figure, the supporting frame fixing frit glass 6
The thickness H1 of the frit glass 5 for fixing the spacer is greater than the thickness H2 of the frit glass 5 for fixing the spacer. The difference in the coating thickness varies depending on the variations in the height direction of the support frame and the spacer. 50 to 500μ after calcination
It is preferably m. As the frit glass, one having a softening temperature of 410 ° C. or lower is preferable, and one having a melting point sufficiently lower than that of each member constituting the image forming apparatus is used.

There are several types of frit glass, such as crystalline ones and non-crystalline ones, depending on the difference in components, and they can be appropriately selected depending on the temperature at the time of bonding and the expansion coefficient of the member used. Since the frit glass alone is a powder, when it is applied, it is mixed with an organic solvent whose viscosity is adjusted with a binder such as nitrocellulose or acrylic to form a pasty frit glass mixture. The calcination in the present invention is carried out for the purpose of removing the organic solvent in the frit glass.

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

FIG. 3 is a process chart for explaining the manufacturing method in the first embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the invention.

In FIG. 3, front plate 1, rear plate 2 and support frame 3 are made of soda lime glass by cutting. The spacer 4 was produced by polishing soda-lime glass. In addition, a surface conduction electron-emitting device was produced as an electron-emitting device on the back plate.

First, frit glass was applied onto the front plate 1 by a printing technique such as screen printing, and pre-baked. Frit glass with a softening temperature of 490 ° C
It was calcined by heating and holding it at 0 ° C. for 10 minutes. Next, a spacer 4 is placed on the calcined frit glass.
Was fixedly positioned and heated and held at 550 ° C. for 10 minutes to perform main firing (FIG. 3A). At this time, the height of the spacer 4 in the direction perpendicular to the plate surface is measured.

The support frame 3 was fixed to the front plate 1 by the same process. At this time, a frit glass having a softening temperature of 410 ° C. was used, pre-baking was performed by heating and holding at 400 ° C. for 10 minutes, and main baking was performed by heating and holding at 450 ° C. for 10 minutes (FIG. 3B). At this time, the height of the support frame 3 in the direction perpendicular to the plate surface is measured.

Next, the frit glass 5 for fixing the spacer is formed on the back plate 2 by a printing technique such as screen printing.
Then, the frit glass 6 for fixing the support frame was applied and calcined. The frit glasses 5 and 6 having a softening temperature of 390 ° C. were used, and the frit glasses 5 and 6 were pre-baked by heating and holding at 380 ° C. for 10 minutes (FIG. 3).
(C)).

At this time, the thickness of the applied frit glass 5 for fixing the spacer is 150 μm after the calcination, and the thickness of the frit glass 6 for fixing the supporting frame is 400 μm after the calcination.
This difference was 250 μm. The difference in thickness at this time may be determined by the measured variation in the height direction of the spacer 4 and the support frame 3 with respect to the plate surface.

Next, the front plate and the like manufactured in the above steps were positioned and fixed on the rear plate 2. At this time, since the calcined supporting frame fixing frit glass 6 is thicker, the spacers 4 do not contact the spacer fixing frit glass 5 calcined on the rear plate 2, and therefore, the spacers are slightly left after the positioning. Adjustment is possible (Fig. 3 (d)).

In this state, main baking was carried out by heating the front plate 1 from above and holding it at 430 ° C. for 10 minutes while applying a load. Since the spacer fixing frit glass 5 and the supporting frame fixing frit glass 6 have the same softening temperature, they are simultaneously softened during the main firing, and the supporting frame fixing frit glass 6 is thin due to the load from above and its own weight. Therefore, the spacer 4 contacts the softened frit glass 5 for fixing the spacer. Therefore, spacer 4
The impact with the frit glass 5 for fixing the spacers, which had been hardened by the preliminary firing, disappeared, the frit glass 5 for fixing the spacers was fired, and the spacer 4 and the back plate 2 were airtightly joined. Thus, the image forming apparatus including the atmospheric pressure resistant support structure was formed (FIG. 3E).

After the assembly process is completed, in order to bring the inside of the container manufactured in the above process into a vacuum state, the inside of the container is evacuated through an exhaust pipe (not shown) provided in the support frame, and then the exhaust pipe is evacuated. Was sealed.

In this way, the coating thickness of the frit glass 6 for fixing the support frame, which is applied to the front plate 1 and the rear plate 2 in advance, during calcination is made thicker than the coating thickness of the frit glass 5 for fixing spacers during calcination. Thus, when the front plate 1 to which the spacer 4 and the support frame 3 are fixed is aligned with the rear plate 2, the electron emitting elements are not damaged and the spacer height variation is precisely controlled. The image forming apparatus could be manufactured without any problem.

In this embodiment, the spacer 4 and the support frame 3 are fixed in advance and then the front plate 1 and the rear plate 2 are aligned with each other. However, these are not restrictive at all, and the spacer 4 and the support frame are supported. The frame 3 may be fixed to the rear plate 2 in advance, and further the front plate 1 may be provided with the spacers 4.
Alternatively, the support frame 3 may be fixed to the rear plate 2 in advance, or the support frame 3 may be fixed to the front plate 1 and the spacer 4 may be fixed to the rear plate 2. As a result, the image forming member,
It is possible to prevent damage to the electron-emitting device.

A dispenser may be used as a method for applying the frit glass. When fixing the spacer 4 to the front plate 1 or the back plate 2 in advance, crystalline frit glass may be used. Furthermore, although the frit glass 6 for fixing the supporting frame has a different softening temperature from that when it is fixed to the front plate 1, it may have the same softening temperature.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the arrangement of the second embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus of this embodiment is constructed by air-tightly bonding the front plate 21, the rear plate 22, the support frame 23 and the spacer 24 with the frit glass as in the first embodiment. ing. Further, the spacer 24 may be integrated with the support frame 23.

The first embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the rear plate 22 is divided into two parts, and the reinforcing plate 27 is fixed to the rear surface of the rear plate 22 via the reinforcing plate fixing frit glass 28 to form a synthetic rear plate. What they do is different. As a result, the thickness of the back plate can be reduced and the back plate can be lightened, and the back plate can be easily transported in the manufacturing process. In addition, the reinforcing plate 27 is
Considering the heating temperature during firing, peeling may occur at the joint surface between the reinforcing plate 27 and the back plate, so that the same coefficient of thermal expansion as the back plate 22 is preferable.

Also in this embodiment, the front plate 21, the rear plate 22, and the support frame 23 are made of soda lime glass by cutting. The spacer 24 was produced by polishing soda-lime glass.

When manufacturing this embodiment, the difference in thickness between the frit glass for fixing the supporting frame and the frit glass for fixing the spacer is 250 μm as in the first embodiment, as in the first embodiment. did.

A surface conduction electron-emitting device was prepared on the back plate as an electron-emitting device.

The front plate 21, the support frame 23, the spacers 24, and the synthetic rear plate (in which the rear plate 22 and the reinforcing plate 27 are integrated) are assembled by the steps shown in the first embodiment to form a large image. The device was made. At this time, the thickness of the applied frit glass for fixing the spacer was 150 μm after the calcination, and the thickness of the frit glass for fixing the supporting frame was 400 μm after the calcination. The difference in thickness at this time is
It may be determined according to variations in the height direction of the spacer 24 and the support frame 23 with respect to the plate surface.

After the assembly process is completed, in order to bring the inside of the container manufactured in the above process into a vacuum state, the inside of the container is evacuated through an exhaust pipe (not shown) provided in a support frame or the like, and then exhausted. The tube was sealed.

As described above, the front plate 21 and the rear plate 2 are previously prepared.
The front plate on which the spacers 24 and the support frame 23 are fixed by making the coating thickness of the frit glass for fixing the supporting frame applied to the second coating is thicker than the coating thickness of the frit glass for fixing the spacer during preliminary firing. When aligning 21 with the synthetic back plate (the one in which the back plate 22 and the reinforcing plate 27 are integrated), the electron emitting devices are not damaged, and further, the variation in the height direction of the spacer is precisely controlled. The image forming apparatus could be manufactured without any problem.

In this embodiment, the spacer 24 and the support frame 23 are fixed in advance, and then the front plate 221 and the synthetic rear plate (the rear plate 22 and the reinforcing plate 27 are integrally structured) are aligned. However, these are not limited in any way, and the spacer 24 and the support frame 23 may be fixed in advance to a synthetic back plate (which is a structure in which the back plate 22 and the reinforcing plate 27 are integrated), and further, the front plate. 21 includes a spacer 24, a synthetic back plate (a back plate 22 and a reinforcing plate 27).
Support frame 3 is fixed in advance to the front plate 21 or a support frame 23 to the front plate 21 and a spacer 24 to the synthetic back plate (the back plate 22 and the reinforcing plate 27 are integrally structured). May be fixed in advance. This can prevent damage to the image forming member and the electron-emitting device.

Further, the back plate is not limited to being divided into two, but can be arbitrarily divided into a large number.

The cold cathode electron source described in the description of the prior art can be used as the electron-emitting device in the above-mentioned first and second embodiments. A surface conduction electron-emitting device will be taken as an example of the cold cathode electron source and its configuration will be briefly described. FIG. 5 shows an example of a basic configuration of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, (a) is a plan view thereof,
(B) is a longitudinal sectional view.

As shown in FIG. 5, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has an insulating substrate 11, and device electrodes 15 and 16 are arranged on the insulating substrate 11 at regular intervals L1. Each device electrode 15 on this insulating substrate 11,
A thin-film conductor 14 is formed between 16. The thin-film conductor 14 is formed with an electron-emitting portion 13 that emits electrons by heating the thin-film conductor 14 by energization and heating (JP-A-2-56822 and JP-A-4-28139).
(See the official gazette).

The electron emitting portion 13 is made of conductive fine particles having a particle size of about several tens of angstroms.
The thin films 14 other than 3 are fine particle films.

The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and its fine structure is not only in a state where the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged but also in a state where the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (island). (Including the shape).

In addition to this, the thin film 14 may be a carbon thin film in which conductive fine particles are dispersed.

To give a specific example of the thin film conductor 14,
Pb, Ru, Ag, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, Fe, Z
n, Sn, Ta, W, Pb and other metals, PbO, SnO
Oxides such as ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO and Sb ₂ O ₃ , HfB
2, boride such as ZrB2, LaB6, CeB6, YB4, GdB4, TiC, ZrC, HfC, TaC, SiC, W
Carbides such as C, nitrides such as TiN, ZrN and HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, carbon, AgMg, N
iCu and the like.

The thin film conductor 14 is formed by vacuum vapor deposition,
It is formed by a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, a dispersion coating method, a dipping method, a spinner method, or the like.

An example of a method of manufacturing this surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described. First, in FIG. 5, soda lime glass is used as the insulating substrate 11, and Ni is used on the insulating substrate 11 to form the device electrodes 15 and 16. Was formed. At this time,
Element electrode interval L1 is 3 μm, element electrode width W1 is 500 μm
m, and the thickness d of the device electrode was 1000Å.

Next, organopalladium (ccp-4230: manufactured by Okuno Chemical Industries Co., Ltd.) is placed at desired positions including on the device electrodes.
After applying the containing solution, heat treatment is performed at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes to obtain palladium oxide (PdO) fine particles (average particle diameter:
A thin film conductor 14 made of 70Å) was formed. At this time,
The width W2 of the thin film conductor 14 was 300 μm.

The present invention is not limited to such a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the F-type electron emitting device described in the description of the prior art is used.
You may use E type, MIM type, etc.

[0072]

As described above, according to the present invention, the coating thickness after pre-baking of the frit glass which is previously applied to the back plate or the front plate to fix the support frame is set to the back plate to fix the spacer. Alternatively, by fixing the spacer to the back plate or the front plate without damaging the spacer in the joining process by making it thicker than the coating thickness of the frit glass applied to the front plate after the preliminary firing. It is possible to precisely control the variation due to the processing accuracy of the spacer, the undulation of the surface of the front plate or the rear plate that fixes the spacer, and the spacer does not damage the electron-emitting device group or the image forming member. The front plate and the rear plate can be aligned with each other. This facilitates the manufacture of the image forming apparatus and improves the yield.

Further, by fixing the reinforcing plate to the back surface of the back plate via the frit glass and forming the synthetic back plate, the back plate can be made thinner and the back plate can be made lighter. The rear plate can be easily transported.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the configuration of a first embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing frit glass applied to a front plate or a back plate in advance.

FIG. 3 is a process drawing for explaining the manufacturing method in the first embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the configuration of a second embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

5A and 5B show an example of a basic configuration of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, in which FIG. 5A is a plan view thereof and FIG. 5B is a vertical sectional view thereof.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view for explaining the configuration of a conventional image forming apparatus.

7 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a process chart for explaining a conventional method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 21 Front plate 2, 22 Back plate 3, 23 Support frame 4 Spacer 5 Frit glass for fixing spacer 6 Slit glass for fixing support frame 11 Insulating substrate 13 Electron emitting portion 14 Thin film conductor 15, 16 Element electrode 27 Reinforcing plate 28 Frit glass for fixing reinforcing plate

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A back plate on which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are mounted, and an image forming member which is disposed so as to face the back plate and on which an image is formed by irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting devices. There is at least a mounted front plate, a support frame between the back plate and the front plate for supporting the back plate and the peripheral edges of the front plate, and a spacer arranged as a support between the front plate and the back plate. In the method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus in which these are bonded to each other by using frit glass to form an airtight structure, the frit glass that is pre-applied to the back plate or the front plate in order to fix the support frame is pre-baked. The subsequent coating thickness is set to be thicker than the coating thickness of the frit glass applied to the back plate or the front plate for fixing the spacer after the calcination. That, manufacturing method of an image forming apparatus. 2. The method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the frit glass is applied using a printing technique. 3. The method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the frit glass is applied using a dispenser. 4. The method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the spacer and the support frame are fixed to the back plate in advance. 5. The method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the spacer and the support frame are fixed to the front plate in advance. 6. An image forming apparatus manufactured by the method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus according to claim 1. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the back plate has a reinforcing plate. 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the spacer is integrated with the support frame. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the inside of the apparatus formed by the airtight bonding is evacuated. 10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the spacer is used as an atmospheric pressure resistant support member for the front plate and the rear plate. 11. The spacer is used as a member for setting a gap between the front plate and the rear plate.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 6. 12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a surface conduction electron-emitting device is used as the electron-emitting device.