JPH08115655A - Manufacture of electron source substrate and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a method for manufacturing a low-cost, low-resistance, high- definition electron source substrate and a device that employs the method by placing a plating mask in an element electrode position, and applying a plating method on the upper side of an element electrode material placed in a wiring forming position. CONSTITUTION: An element electrode material 101 such as Ni or Cr is placed in an element electrode forming position and in a wiring forming position on an insulating substrate. An easily removable masking material 102 for plating, such as resist, is placed by printing, etc., in such a way as to fully cover the upper side of the material 101. Next, a plating process is performed to selectively place a conductive wiring material 103 such as Cu or Ni in a wiring forming portion. The masking material placed is then removed. An image forming device comprises an electron source substrate 971; a rear plate 981 to which the substrate 971 is secured; a faceplate 986 comprising a glass substrate 983 having a phosphor film 984 and a metal back 985, etc., formed on its inner surface; a support frame 982; the rear plate 981; an envelope 988; an electron emitting portion 974; and X- and Y-direction wires 972, 973 connected to element electrodes.

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 an electron source substrate 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. 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), and a surface conduction type electron emission element. As an example of the FE type, W. P. Dyke & W.
W. Dolan, "Field Emission",
Advance in Electron Physi
cs, 8.89 (1956) or C.I. A. Spin
dt, “Physical Properties of
thin-film field emission
cathodeswith mollybdeniu
m "J. Appl. Phys., 475248 (19).
76) and the like are known.

An example of the MIM type is C.I. A. Mead,
J. Appl. Phys. 32646 (1961) and the like are known.

As an example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device type,
M. I. Elinson, Radio Eng. El
electron Phys. 10 (1965) and so on. The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electron emission occurs when a current is applied to a thin film having a small area formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. As the surface conduction electron-emitting device, Sn according to Ellison et al.
One using an O ₂ thin film, one using an Au thin film [G. Di
ttmer: “Thin Solid Films”,
9 317 (1972)], by In ₂ O ₃ / SnO ₂ thin film [M. Hartwell and C.I. G.
Fonstad: "IEEE Trans. ED C
onf. 519 (1975)], carbon thin film [Hiraki Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22 (1983)], etc. Typical surface-conduction electron-emitting devices. As a typical element structure, the element structure of the above-mentioned M. Hartwell is conventionally shown in Fig. 4. In the figure, 401 is a substrate, 404 is a conductive thin film, and an H-shaped pattern is formed by sputtering a metal. An electron emitting portion 405 is formed by an energization process called energization forming described later, which is made of an oxide thin film or the like, and the device electrode spacing L in the figure is 0.5 to 1 mm and W'is 0.1 mm. The position and shape of the electron-emitting portion 405 are unknown, and are therefore shown as a schematic diagram.

Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the electron-emitting portion 405 has generally been formed in advance by conducting an energization process called energization forming on the conductive thin film 404 before the electron emission. That is, the energization forming is performed by applying a direct current voltage or a very slow rising voltage, for example, about 1 V / min to both ends of the conductive thin film 404 to locally energize the conductive thin film, electrically or electrically deform it. That is, the electron emitting portion 405 having a high resistance is formed. The electron emission unit 40
In No. 5, a crack is generated in a part of the conductive thin film 404, and electrons are emitted from the vicinity of the crack. The surface conduction electron-emitting device that has been subjected to the energization forming treatment is the above-mentioned conductive thin film 40.
A voltage is applied to the element 4 and a current is caused to flow through the element so that electrons are emitted from the electron emitting portion 405.

The above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device has an advantage that a large number of devices can be arrayed over a large area because it has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture. Therefore, various applications are being researched to make the best use of this feature. For example, a display device such as a charge beam source or an image display device can be used.

However, as a method of manufacturing the image forming apparatus, it is formed by photolithography (JP-A-3-261024).

[0008]

Since the electron source substrate is manufactured by photolithography or vacuum deposition,
As the area of the electron source substrate is increased, a large-scale exposure apparatus and a vacuum deposition apparatus are required, which causes a problem of high cost.

Further, since the wiring is formed by the vacuum deposition method, there is a limit to increase the film thickness, and it is difficult to reduce the wiring resistance. The larger the area of the electron source substrate, the more the wiring portion is formed. There was a problem of heat generation and increased power consumption.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the gist thereof is an electron source substrate having an electron-emitting device having a device electrode and a wiring for driving the electron-emitting device. In the above, the step of arranging the element electrode material at the element electrode formation position and the wiring formation position, the step of arranging a plating mask at the element electrode formation position, and the step of forming a conductive layer on the element electrode material arranged at the wiring formation position by the plating method. A method of manufacturing an electron source substrate, comprising: a step of forming a material; and a step of removing a plating mask, and the electron source substrate having a first wiring and a second wiring intersecting each other. And a step of forming a wiring portion other than the intersection of the first wiring and the second wiring by the above-mentioned manufacturing method, and then disposing an insulating layer at the intersection by a printing method,
And a step of arranging a conductive material on the insulating layer by a printing method to form a second wiring, the method for manufacturing an electron source substrate.

Further, the electron emitting device may be a surface conduction type emitting device.

An image forming apparatus is manufactured by using the method of manufacturing the electron source substrate.

[0013]

According to the present invention, a low-cost, low-resistance, high-definition electron source substrate is provided by utilizing a single high-definition patterning and plating method for disposing element electrode materials.

The present invention will be described in more detail based on the preferred embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows a manufacturing process of element electrodes and wirings according to the present invention.

A) Quartz glass, glass having a reduced content of impurities such as Na, soda lime glass, a soda lime glass substrate laminated with SiO ₂ by sputtering or the like, and an insulating substrate such as ceramics such as alumina. Ni, Cr,
Such as a metal or alloy such as Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd, a transparent conductor such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂ and a semiconductor conductive material such as polysilicon, or a printed conductor such as glass. The element electrode material 101 having conductivity is used and arranged at a desired position. As a means for arranging, coating, baking or spattering by a method such as printing, baking or printing, spinner, spraying, CVD (ch
electronic vapor / deposition),
After forming the element electrode material by a vacuum deposition method or the like, the element electrode material may be arranged at a desired position by applying resist, exposing and etching. Where resist coating,
It may be arranged at a desired position not only by exposure and etching but also by a lift-off method.

B) Next, an easily removable plating mask material 102 such as polyamide, polyvinyl alcohol, or a resist is formed at a sufficient position to form the electron-emitting device so as to sufficiently cover the position where the electron-emitting device is arranged. It is arranged by printing, photolithography, etc. so as to cover it.

C) After that, a plating process is performed to selectively dispose a conductive wiring material 103 such as Cu, Ni, Cr, Pt, Al, or Pd on the wiring forming portion. Here, as a means for selectively arranging, there are a method of forming on the element electrode material exposed on the substrate surface by electroplating or a method of using a patterning material such as a resist when the lift-off method is used in step a). is there.

D) The mask material placed in step b) is removed.

The present invention is to manufacture an electron source substrate and an image forming apparatus using the same by using the device electrode and wiring manufacturing steps described above.

The electron source substrate and the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below.

The cold negative electron source used in the present invention has a simple structure and is preferably a surface conduction electron-emitting device which can be easily manufactured.

There are basically two types of surface conduction electron-emitting devices that can be used in the present invention: a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device and a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view and a sectional view showing the structure of a basic surface conduction electron-emitting device.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 501 is a substrate, and 502 and 50.
Reference numeral 3 is a device electrode, 504 is a conductive thin film, and 505 is an electron emitting portion.

The element electrode spacing L is preferably several hundreds of angstroms to several hundreds of micrometers. Further, it is desirable that the voltage applied between the device electrodes is low, and since it is required to produce it with good reproducibility, the preferred device electrode interval is several micrometers to several tens of micrometers.

The device electrode length W is preferably several micrometers to several hundreds of micrometers in view of the electrode resistance value and electron emission characteristics, and the film thickness d of the device electrodes 502 and 503 is preferably several micrometers to several micrometers. .

The conductive thin film 504 is particularly preferably a fine particle film composed of fine particles in order to obtain good electron emission characteristics. The thickness of the conductive thin film 504 is the step coverage to the device electrodes 502 and 503 and the resistance between the device electrodes 502 and 503. The value may be appropriately set depending on the value and the energization forming conditions described later, but is preferably several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, particularly preferably 10 angstroms to 5 angstroms.
It is 00 angstrom. The sheet resistance is 10
3 to 10 7 ohms / square.

The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and the fine particle structure has not only a state in which the fine particles are dispersed and arranged but also a state in which the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (islands). The particle size of the fine particles is from several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, preferably from 10 angstroms to 200 angstroms.

The electron emitting portion 505 is a high resistance crack formed in a part of the conductive thin film 504, and is formed by energization forming or the like. In some cases, conductive particles having a particle diameter of several angstroms to several hundred angstroms may be contained in the crack. The conductive fine particles contain at least a part of the elements forming the conductive thin film 504. Further, the electron emitting portion 505 and the conductive thin film 504 in the vicinity thereof may contain carbon or a carbon compound.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the structure of a basic vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device.

In FIG. 6, the same members as those in FIG. 5 are designated by the same reference numerals. 621 is a step forming portion.

The substrate 501, the device electrodes 502 and 503, the conductive thin film 504, and the electron-emitting portion 505 can be made of the same material as that of the above-mentioned planar surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the step forming portion 621 has an insulating property. The film thickness of the step forming portion 621 made of a material corresponds to the device electrode distance L of the flat surface conduction electron-emitting device described above. The spacing is tens of micrometers rather than hundreds of angstroms. The distance can be controlled by the manufacturing method of the step forming portion and the voltage applied between the device electrodes, but it is preferably several hundred angstroms to several micrometers.

The conductive thin film 504 is the device electrodes 502, 50.
3 and the step forming portion 621 are formed, so that they are laminated on the device electrodes 502 and 503. In FIG. 6, the electron emitting portion 505 is shown to be linearly formed in the step forming portion 621, but the shape and position are not limited to this, depending on the preparation conditions, energization forming conditions, and the like. Absent. An energization process called energization forming is performed.
The energization forming energizes a power source (not shown) between the element electrodes 502 and 503 to locally break, deform or alter the conductive thin film 504 to form a portion where the groove is changed. The part where the structure is locally changed is called an electron emitting part 505. FIG. 7 shows an example of the voltage waveform of energization forming.

A pulse waveform is particularly preferable as the voltage waveform, and a voltage pulse having a constant pulse peak value is continuously applied (FIG. 7a) and a voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value (FIG. 7b). There is. First, the case where the pulse peak value is a constant voltage (FIG. 7A) will be described.

In FIG. 7a, T1 and T2 are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, which are T1 microsecond to 10 milliseconds and T2 are 10 microsecond to 100 milliseconds.
The peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage at the time of energization forming) is appropriately selected according to the form of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and for several seconds in an appropriate vacuum degree, for example, in a vacuum atmosphere of about 10 −5 torr. Apply several tens of minutes. The waveform applied between the electrodes of the element is not limited to the triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave may be used.

T1 and T2 in FIG. 7b are the same as those in FIG. 7a, and the crest value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during energization forming) is increased by, for example, about 0.1 V step and applied in an appropriate vacuum atmosphere.

In the energization forming process in this case, the device current is measured at a voltage that does not locally damage or deform the conductive thin film during the pulse interval T2, for example, a voltage of about 0.1 V, and the resistance is measured. The value is obtained, and when forming a resistance of 1 M ohm or more, the energization forming is completed.

Next, it is desirable to perform a process called an activation process on the element for which the energization forming has been completed. The activation step is, for example, a process of repeatedly applying a voltage pulse having a constant pulse peak value at a vacuum degree of about −10 −5 to −10 −5 torr, similarly to the energization forming. Is a process of depositing carbon and a carbon compound derived from the organic substance existing in the above on the conductive thin film to remarkably change the device current _If and the emission current _Ie . The activation process is completed, for example, when the emission current I _e is saturated while measuring the device current _If and the emission current I _e . Further, it is preferable that the applied voltage pulse is an operation drive voltage.

Here, the carbon or carbon compound is graphite (which refers to both single and polycrystalline) and amorphous carbon (which refers to a mixture of amorphous carbon and polycrystalline graphite), and its film thickness is 500. It is preferably angstrom or less, more preferably 300 angstrom or less.

It is preferable to place the electron-emitting device thus prepared in an atmosphere having a vacuum degree higher than the vacuum degree in the forming step and the activation step to drive the electron-emitting element. Further, it is desirable to operate after heating at 80 ° C. to 150 ° C. in an atmosphere of a higher degree of vacuum.

The vacuum degree after the forming step and the activation treatment is, for example, a vacuum degree of about 10 −6 or higher,
More preferably, it is an ultra-high vacuum system, and the degree of vacuum is such that no new carbon or carbon compound is newly deposited on the conductive thin film. By doing so, the device current I _f and the emission current I
It becomes possible to stabilize _e .

Next, the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described.

The electron source substrate used in the image forming apparatus is formed by arranging a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices on the substrate.

As a method of arranging the surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices, for example, the surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel, and both ends of the individual devices are connected by a ladder arrangement (hereinafter, ladder-type arrangement electron source and Or a simple matrix arrangement (hereinafter referred to as a matrix-type arrangement electron source substrate) in which a pair of element electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device are connected with an X-direction wiring and a Y-direction wiring, respectively. An image forming apparatus having a ladder type electron source substrate requires a control electrode (grid electrode) which is an electrode for controlling the flight of electrons from the electron-emitting device.

The structure of the electron source constructed based on this principle will be described below with reference to FIG. 871 is an electron source substrate, 872 is an X direction wiring, 873 is a Y direction wiring, 874
Is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and 875 is a connection. still,
The surface conduction electron-emitting device 874 may be either the flat type or the vertical type described above.

In the figure, the substrate used as the electron source substrate 871 is the above-mentioned glass substrate or the like, and its shape is appropriately set according to the application.

The X number of wirings 872 in the X direction are DX ₁ , DX
₂ , ... DX _m , and the Y-direction wiring 873 has DY ₁ , D
It consists of n wirings of Y ₂ ... DY _n .

These m X-direction wirings 872 and n Y-wirings
The directional wirings 873 are electrically separated by an interlayer insulating layer (not shown) to form a matrix wiring. (M and n are both positive integers) An interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is formed in a desired region on the entire surface or a part of the substrate 871 on which the X-direction wiring 872 is formed. The X-direction wiring 872 and the Y-direction wiring 873 are drawn out as external terminals.

Further, the device electrodes (not shown) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 874 are electrically connected to the m X-direction wirings 872 and the n Y-direction wirings 873 by the connection wires 875.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device may be formed either on the substrate or on an interlayer insulating layer (not shown).

The X-direction wiring 8 will be described later in detail.
72 is electrically connected to a scanning signal generating means (not shown) for applying a scanning signal for scanning a row of surface conduction electron-emitting devices 874 arranged in the X direction according to an input signal. On the other hand, a modulation signal generating means (not shown) for applying a modulation signal for modulating each row of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 874 arranged in the Y direction according to an input signal to the Y-direction wiring 873. It is electrically connected.

Further, the drive voltage applied to each element of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is supplied as a difference voltage between the scanning signal and the modulation signal applied to the element.

In the above structure, individual elements can be selected and driven independently by using only simple matrix wiring.

Next, an image forming apparatus using the electron source of the simple matrix arrangement created as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 9, 10 and 11. FIG. 9 is a basic configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus, FIG. 10 is a fluorescent film, and FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a drive circuit for displaying according to an NTSC television signal, and image formation including the drive circuit. Represents a device.

In FIG. 9, 971 is an electron source substrate on which an electron-emitting device is formed, 981 is a rear plate to which the electron source substrate 871 is fixed, and 986 is a glass substrate 983 having a fluorescent film 984 and a metal back 985 on its inner surface. The formed face plate 982 is a support frame, and the rear plate 981, the support frame 982, and the face plate 986 are coated with frit glass or the like, and the surface of the rear plate 981, the support frame 982, and the face plate 986 is 4 in the atmosphere or nitrogen.
An envelope 988 is formed by sealing by baking at a temperature of 00 to 500 degrees for 10 minutes or more.

In FIG. 9, 974 corresponds to the electron emitting portion in FIG. Reference numerals 972 and 973 are an X-direction wiring and a Y-direction wiring connected to a pair of device electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

The envelope 988 comprises the face plate 986, the support frame 982, and the rear plate 981 as described above, and the rear plate 981 is mainly for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the electron source substrate 971. Because it is provided,
If the electron source substrate 971 itself has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 981 is not necessary, and the support frame 982 is directly sealed to the electron source substrate 971 and the face plate 986,
The envelope 988 may be configured by the support frame 982 and the electron source substrate 971. Furthermore, a face plate 986,
By installing an atmospheric pressure resistant support member called a spacer between the rear plates 981, the envelope 988 having sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure can be obtained.

In FIG. 10, 1092 is a phosphor. In the case of monochrome, the phosphor 1092 is composed of only the phosphor, but in the case of a color phosphor film, it is composed of a black member 1091 called a black stripe or a black matrix depending on the arrangement of the phosphor and a phosphor 1092. In the case of color display, the purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the mixed portions between the phosphors 1092 of the three primary color phosphors black so as to make the color mixture inconspicuous and to prevent external light in the phosphor film 984. This is to suppress a decrease in contrast due to reflection. The material of the black stripe is not limited to the commonly used material containing graphite as a main component, but is not limited to this as long as it is a material that transmits and reflects light little.

As a method of applying the phosphor to the glass substrate 983, a precipitation method or a printing method is used regardless of monochrome or color.

A metal back 985 (FIG. 9) is usually provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 984 (FIG. 9). The purpose of the metal back is to improve the brightness by specularly reflecting the light to the inner surface side of the light emission of the phosphor to the face plate 986 side, to act as an electrode for applying an electron beam acceleration voltage, This is to protect the phosphor from the damage caused by the collision of negative ions generated inside the container. The metal back can be manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film after manufacturing the fluorescent film, and then depositing Al by vacuum evaporation or the like.

The face plate 986 may be provided with a transparent electrode (not shown) on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 984 in order to further enhance the conductivity of the fluorescent film 984.

When performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of color, it is necessary to associate each color phosphor with the electron-emitting device, and it is necessary to perform sufficient alignment.

The envelope 988 is provided through an exhaust pipe (not shown)
The degree of vacuum is set to about 0 ^-7 torr and sealing is performed. In addition, a getter process may be performed to maintain the degree of vacuum after the envelope 988 is sealed. This is the envelope 98
A process for heating a getter arranged at a predetermined position (not shown) in the envelope 988 by a heating method such as resistance heating or high frequency heating immediately before or after the sealing of No. 8 to form a vapor deposition film. Is. The getter usually contains Ba or the like as a main component, and is, for example, 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ due to the suction action of the deposited film.
The degree of vacuum of torr or 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ torr is maintained. The steps after forming the surface conduction electron-emitting device are appropriately set.

Next, a schematic configuration of a drive circuit for performing television display on an image forming apparatus constructed by using an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement type substrate based on a television signal of the NTSC system is a block diagram of FIG. Will be explained. 1101 is the display panel, 1102 is a scanning circuit, 1103 is a control circuit, 1104 is a shift register, 1105 is a line memory, 1106 is a sync signal separation circuit, 1107 is a modulation signal generator, and V _x and V _a are direct current. It is a voltage source.

The functions of the respective parts will be described below. First, the display panel 1101 is connected to an external electric circuit via the terminals Dox ₁ to Dox _{m, the} terminals Doy ₁ to Doy _n and the high voltage terminal H _v . Of these terminals, the terminals Dox ₁ to Dox _m are each provided with an electron source provided in the display panel, that is, a group of surface conduction electron-emitting devices which are matrix-wired in a matrix of M rows and N columns, one row at a time (N elements). A scanning signal for driving is applied.

On the other hand, a modulation signal for controlling the output electron beam of each element of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of one row selected by the scanning signal is applied to the terminals Dy ₁ to Dy _n . Further, the high voltage terminal H _v is supplied with a DC voltage of, for example, 10 K [V] from the DC voltage source V _a , which is sufficient to excite the phosphor into the electron beam output from the surface conduction electron-emitting device. It is an accelerating voltage for applying various energies.

Next, the scanning circuit 1102 will be described.
The circuit is provided with M switching elements therein (schematically shown by S ₁ to S _m in the figure), and each switching element is an output voltage of the DC voltage source V _x or 0.
One of [V] (ground level) is selected and electrically connected to the terminals Dx ₁ to Dx _{m of the} display panel 1101. Each of the switching elements S ₁ to S _m operates based on the control signal T _scan output from the control circuit 1103, but can be actually configured by combining switching elements such as FETs.

The drive voltage applied to the non-scanned elements of the DC voltage source V _x based on the characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device (electron emission threshold voltage) is less than the electron emission threshold voltage. It is set to output a constant voltage such that

The control circuit 1103 has a function of matching the operation of each part so that an appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. The sync signal T _sync sent from the sync signal separation circuit 1106 described below
T _{sc an,,} generates control signals for T _sft and T _mry to each unit based on.

The synchronizing signal separating circuit 1106 is a circuit for separating a synchronizing signal component and a luminance signal component from an externally input NTSC television signal, and can be constructed by using a frequency separating (filter) circuit. The sync signal separated by the sync signal separation circuit 1106 is composed of a vertical sync signal and a horizontal sync signal, as is well known, but is shown here as a T _sync signal for convenience of description. on the other hand,
The luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is referred to as a DATA signal for convenience, but this signal is the shift register 11
It is input to 04.

The shift register 1104 is serially arranged in time series.
The DATA signal input to the
For serial / parallel conversion into
Control signal T sent from path 1103_sft Works based on
I do. (Ie control signal T _sft Is the shift register 1
It may be paraphrased as a shift clock of 104. )
One line of serial / parallel converted image (electronic emission
(Corresponding to drive data for N output elements) data is I
d₁ Through Id_n Shift register as N parallel signals of
It is output from the star 1104.

[0073] The line memory 1105 is a storage device for storing only of data for one line, stores the contents of appropriate Id ₁ to Id _n in accordance with the control signal T _mry sent from the control circuit 1103 To do. The stored contents are output as Id ₁ to Id _n and input to the modulation signal generator 1107.

The modulation signal generator 1107 is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices according to each of the image data Id ₁ to Id _n , and its output signal is from the terminals Doy ₁ to Doy ₁ . It applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the display panel 110 through Doy _n.

As described above, the electron-emitting device according to the present invention has the following basic characteristics with respect to the emission current I _e . That is, as described above, the electron emission has a clear threshold voltage V _th , and the electron discharge occurs only when a voltage higher than V _th is applied.

For a voltage above the electron emission threshold value, the emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the device. The value of the electron emission threshold voltage V _th and the degree of change of the discharge current with respect to the applied voltage may be changed by changing the material, configuration, and manufacturing method of the electron emitting element.
In any case, the following can be said.

That is, when a pulsed voltage is applied to this element, for example, electron emission does not occur even if a voltage below the electron emission threshold is applied, but when a voltage above the electron emission threshold is applied, the electron beam is Is output. In that case, firstly, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled by changing the peak value V _{m of the} pulse. Second, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the electron beam output by changing the pulse width P _w .

Therefore, as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device according to the input signal, there are a voltage modulation method, a pulse width modulation method and the like. To implement the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 1107 is fixed. A circuit of a voltage modulation system is used that generates a voltage pulse of a length but appropriately modulates the peak value of the pulse according to the input data.

In order to implement the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 1107 generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value, but a pulse for appropriately modulating the width of the voltage pulse according to the input data. A width modulation type circuit is used.

Through the series of operations described above, the image display device of the present invention can display a television using the display panel 1101. Although not particularly described in the above description, the shift register or the line memory 1105 may be of a digital signal type or an analog signal type, and the point is that serial / parallel conversion and storage of image signals are performed at a predetermined speed. It should be done.

When the digital signal type is used, it is necessary to convert the output signal DATA of the sync signal separation circuit 1106 into a digital signal, which can be achieved by providing an A / D converter at the output section of 1106. Further, in connection with this, the circuit used for the modulation signal generator 1107 is slightly different depending on whether the output signal of the line memory 1105 is a digital signal or an analog signal.

First, the case of digital signals will be described.
In the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 1107 has
For example, a well-known D / A conversion circuit may be used, and an amplification circuit or the like may be added if necessary.

In the case of the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 1107 compares the output value of the memory with the output value of the counter and the counter for counting the number of waves output by the oscillator, for example. It can be configured by using a circuit in which comparators (comparators) are combined. If necessary, an amplifier for voltage-amplifying the pulse-width-modulated modulation signal output from the comparator up to the drive voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device may be added.

Next, the case of an analog signal will be described.
In the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 1107 has
For example, a well-known amplifier circuit using an operational amplifier may be used, and a level shift circuit or the like may be added if necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, for example, a well-known voltage controlled oscillation circuit (VCO) may be used, and an amplifier for amplifying the voltage to the drive voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device may be added if necessary. May be.

In the image display device completed as described above, each of the electron-emitting devices is thus provided with a terminal Dox ₁ outside the container.
To Dox _m, to Doy ₁ to through Doy _n, by applying a voltage, is emitting electrons through the high voltage terminal H _v, the high voltage is applied to the metal back or a transparent electrode (not shown), and accelerating voltage beam, An image can be displayed by colliding with the fluorescent film 84 to excite and emit light.

The structure described above is a schematic structure necessary for manufacturing a suitable image forming apparatus used for display or the like, and the detailed parts such as the material of each member are not limited to the above contents. , Is appropriately selected to suit the application of the image forming apparatus. Further, although the NTSC system is given as an example of the input signal, the input signal is not limited to this, and PAL, SECA
Various methods such as the M method may be used, or a TV signal (for example, a high-definition TV such as the MUSE method) including a number of scans may be used.

Next, the above ladder type electron source substrate and the image display device using the same will be described with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 12, 1210 is an electron source substrate,
Reference numeral 1211 denotes an electron-emitting device, 1212 Dx ₁ to Dx ₁₀ ,
Is a common wiring connected to the electron-emitting device. A plurality of electron-emitting devices 1211 are arranged on the substrate 1210 in parallel in the X direction. (This is called an element row). A plurality of this element row is arranged on the substrate to form a ladder type electron source substrate. By appropriately applying a drive voltage between the common wirings of each element row, each element row can be independently driven. That is, a voltage higher than the electron emission threshold may be applied to the element row that emits the electron beam, and a voltage lower than the electron emission threshold may be applied to the element row that does not emit the electron beam. In addition, the common wirings Dx _{2 to} Dx ₉ between the element rows are, for example, D
It is also possible to use the same wiring for x ₂ and Dx ₃ .

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the structure of an image forming apparatus provided with a ladder-type electron source. 1320 is a grid electrode, 1321 is a hole for passing electrons, 13
22 is an external terminal of the container made of Dox ₁ , Dox ₂ ... Dox _m , and 1323 is a G connected to the grid electrode 1320.
Terminals outside the container composed of ₁ , G ₂ , ..., G _n , and 1324 are electron source substrates in which the common wiring between the respective element rows is the same wiring as described above. The same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 9 and 10 denote the same members. A difference from the image forming apparatus having the simple matrix arrangement (FIG. 9) described above is that the grid electrode 1320 is provided between the electronic side substrate 1324 and the face plate 986.

A grid electrode 1320 is provided between the substrate 1324 and the face plate 986. The grid electrode 1320 is capable of modulating the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and allows the electron beam to pass through a stripe-shaped electrode provided orthogonally to the ladder-shaped element rows. , 1 for each element
Circular openings 1321 are provided one by one. The shape and installation position of the grid are not necessarily those shown in FIG. 13, and a large number of passage openings may be provided in the form of a mesh as openings. For example, they may be provided around or near the surface conduction electron-emitting device. .

The terminal 1322 outside the container and the terminal 1323 outside the grid container are electrically connected to a control circuit (not shown).

In this image forming apparatus, the modulation signal for one line of the image is simultaneously applied to the grid electrode column in synchronization with the sequential driving (scanning) of the element rows one column at a time, whereby the fluorescence of each electron beam is increased. It is possible to control the irradiation to the body and display the image line by line.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus suitable for not only a display device for television broadcasting but also a display device such as a video conference system and a computer. Further, it can be used as an image forming apparatus as an optical printer including a photosensitive drum or the like.

[0094]

Embodiments will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments. Example 1 A first example of a method for manufacturing an electron source substrate according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 2 is a process drawing of the electron source substrate according to this embodiment. Step-a A resist (AZ135
0 Hoechst) 202 is applied, exposed and developed,
It was heat-treated at 120 ° C. for 10 minutes and placed at a desired position. Step-b Ti (100 Å) and Pt (500 Å) (device electrode material) 203 were sequentially deposited by a sputtering method. Step-c A resist (made by AZ4620 Hoechst) 204 was screen-printed and then heat-treated at 120 ° C. to be arranged at a desired position including a sufficient electron-emitting device formation position. Step-d An electroless plating process was performed using a gold cyanide plating solution (pH 3) at 70 ° C. to form Au (a part of the X-direction wiring and the Y-direction wiring) 205 with a film thickness of 5 μm. Step-e Next, the resist is subjected to Microposition Remov.
er (manufactured by Shipley) to remove unnecessary portions of Au (lift-off). Step-f Frit glass (20 μm) 206 was screen-printed, dried at 150 ° C. for 15 minutes, baked at 600 ° C. for 30 minutes, and placed at a desired position sufficiently including the X-direction wiring intersection formation position. Step-g Next, as shown in FIG. 2-g, after the Ag paste was screen-printed, it was dried at 120 ° C. for 30 minutes and fired at 610 ° C. for 1 hour, without contacting the X-direction wiring, and in Step-d. The Y-direction wiring 207 was formed so as to be in contact with part of the formed Y-direction wiring. Step-h After that, organic Pd (ccp4230 Okuno Chemical Industries Co., Ltd.) is spray-coated and baked, and electron emission consisting of fine particles of Pd as a main element is formed at a desired position by photolithography and dry etching. A part forming thin film 208 was formed.

The thus formed thin film for forming an electron emitting portion is subjected to a forming treatment to form an electron emitting portion,
An electron source substrate was produced.

An electron source and an image forming apparatus were produced by using the simple matrix arrangement type electron source substrate (FIG. 2-h) having the surface conduction electron-emitting device thus obtained.

The electron source and the image forming apparatus manufactured as described above can be formed with high precision by a relatively simple process, and the cost can be reduced. Moreover, a thick film wiring can be formed, a high aspect ratio wiring is realized, and the resistance of the wiring can be reduced. Example 2 A second example of the method for producing an electron source substrate according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 3 is a process drawing of the potential source substrate according to this embodiment. Process-a Screen printing using Au resinate paste on the cleaned blue plate glass 301 and drying (120 ° C. for 10 minutes)
0.5 μm Au by firing (at 600 ° C. for 10 minutes)
(Device electrode material) 302 was arranged at a desired position shown in FIG. Step-b A resist (AZ4620 Hoechst) 303 was screen-printed and baked at 120 ° C. for 10 minutes to be arranged at a desired position including a sufficient electron-emitting device formation position. Step-c At 20 ° C., a mixed solution of copper sulfate and sulfuric acid was used to apply a voltage to the Au arranged in Step-a to carry out electrolytic plating treatment to selectively form Cu (wiring material) 304 to 3 μm. . Step-d Next, the resist is microposite removed.
er to remove unnecessary portions of Cu. Step-e After that, organic Pd (manufactured by Okuno Seiyaku Co., Ltd.) is applied by spraying and baked, and electron emission consisting of fine particles of Pd as a main element at a desired position is formed by a photolithography method and a dry etching method. A thin film 305 for forming a part is arranged. Step-f After frit glass was screen-printed, it was dried at 120 ° C. for 10 minutes and baked at 600 ° C. for 30 minutes to arrange the insulating film 306 for forming a grid electrode at a desired position. Step-g Next, after the Ag paste was screen-printed, it was dried at 120 ° C for 30 minutes and baked at 610 ° C for 1 hour to form a grid electrode 307.

Then, the thin film for forming the electron emitting portion was subjected to a forming treatment to form the electron emitting portion, and an electron source substrate was produced.

Using the ladder-type electron source substrate (FIG. 3-g) having the surface conduction electron-emitting device thus obtained, the above-mentioned electron source and image forming apparatus were manufactured.

The electron source and the image forming apparatus manufactured as described above can be formed with high precision by a relatively simple process without using a vacuum device, and the cost can be reduced.

[0103]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be confirmed. 1) It was possible to reduce the use of expensive and expensive equipment such as a vacuum deposition apparatus, improve productivity, and reduce costs. 2) By using the plating method, thick film wiring could be realized, and high aspect ratio wiring and low resistance wiring could be realized. 3) Since the element electrodes and the wiring arrangement are determined by printing using photolithography and resinate paste, higher definition can be achieved as compared with the case where only a normal thick film paste is used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, and FIG. 1D are process diagrams of device electrodes and wirings according to the present invention.

2 (a), (b), (c), (d),
(E), (f), (g), and (h) are manufacturing process implementation diagrams of the electron source substrate according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 (a), (b), (c), (d),
(E), (f), (g) is a manufacturing process implementation diagram of an electron source substrate according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conventional diagram of an element configuration.

5A and 5B are a schematic plan view and a sectional view showing the configuration of a basic surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a basic vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a voltage waveform of energization forming according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are diagrams showing a structure of a fluorescent film.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a drive circuit for displaying in accordance with an NTSC television signal.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an electron source arranged in a ladder.

FIG. 13 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus including a ladder-type electron source.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 Element Electrode Material 102 Plating Mask Material 103 Conductive Wiring Material 201 Blue Sheet Glass 202 Resist 203 Ti / Pt 204 Resist 205 Au 206 Frit Glass 207 Y Direction Wiring 208 Thin Film for Electron Emission Portion 301 Blue Sheet Glass 302 Au 303 Resist 304 Cu Cu 305 Electron emitting device forming thin film 306 Frit glass 307 Grid electrode 401 Substrate 402, 403, 404 Conductive thin film 405 Electron emitting part 501 Substrate 502, 503 Element electrode 504 Conductive thin film 505 Electron emitting part 621 Step forming part 871 Electron source substrate 872 X-direction wiring 873 Y-direction wiring 874 Surface conduction electron-emitting device 875 Connection 981 Rear plate 982 Support frame 983 Glass substrate 984 Fluorescent film 985 Metal back 986 Fe Space plate 987 High voltage electron 988 Envelope 1091 Black member 1092 Phosphor 1093 Glass substrate 1101 Display panel 1102 Scanning circuit 1103 Control circuit 1104 Shift register 1105 Line memory 1106 Synchronous signal separation circuit 1107 Modulation signal generator, V _x and V _a : DC Voltage source 1210 Electron source substrate 1211 Electron emission element 1212 Dx _{1 to} Dx ₁₀ are common wiring 1320 for wiring the electron emission element 1320 Grid electrode 1321 Holes 1322 Dox ₁ , Dox ₂ ... Dox _m through which electrons pass Outside the container 1323 G ₁ , G connected to the grid electrode 1320
₂ , ... _Gn external terminal 1324 Electron source substrate

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An electron source substrate having an electron-emitting device having an element electrode and a wiring for driving the electron-emitting device, a step of disposing an element electrode material at an element electrode formation position and a wiring formation position, and an element. A step of disposing a plating mask at the electrode forming position, a step of forming a conductive material on the element electrode material arranged at the wiring forming position by a plating method, and a step of removing the plating mask. A method of manufacturing a characteristic electron source substrate. 2. The electron source substrate according to claim 1, having a first wiring and a second wiring intersecting each other, claiming a wiring portion other than the intersection of the element electrode, the first wiring and the second wiring. After forming by the manufacturing method according to Item 1, a step of disposing an insulating layer at the intersection by a printing method, and disposing a conductive material on the insulating layer by a printing method,
2. The method of manufacturing an electron source substrate according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The electron emission device according to claim 1, which is a surface conduction electron emission device.
Item 2. A method for manufacturing an electron source substrate according to item. 4. A method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus using the method of manufacturing an electron source substrate according to claim 1.