JPH08180796A - Surface conduction electron emitting element, electron source, image forming apparatus, and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent element deterioration while suppressing electric noise and improve durability by making carbon and a metal carbide exist near an electron emitting part of a conductive thin film. CONSTITUTION: Regarding a flat surface conduction electron emitting element, a conductive thin film 3 having an electron emitting part 2 between electron electrodes 4, 5 on a substrate is formed. The thin film 3 is made of a metal carbide and it is preferable to introduce an organic substance in atmosphere and deposite carbon on the surface of the emitting part 2 and the carbide layer from a hydrocarbon by activation treatment by applying pulses in vacuum. It is preferable for the thin film 3 to have double layer consisting of a metal carbide and a layer of a metal or a metal oxide under the carbide and the metal elements in both layers may be the same or different. Consequently, electron emitting properties can be stabilized and it is presumably attributed to that the emitting part 2 consists of the metal carbide at high melting point and is not damaged easily and that deposited carbon is stabilized by the existance of the metal carbide. A vertical element can be composed in the same way.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a surface conduction electron-emitting device, an electron source using a plurality of the electron-emitting devices, an image forming apparatus such as a display device or an exposure device using the electron source, and these It relates to a manufacturing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electron emission occurs when a current is passed through a conductive thin film formed on an insulating substrate in parallel with the film surface.

As a typical example of the structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, a conductive thin film such as a metal oxide which connects between a pair of device electrodes provided on an insulating substrate is referred to as forming in advance. The thing which formed the electron emission part by the electricity supply process is mentioned. Forming is usually performed by applying a voltage to both ends of the conductive thin film, and the structure is changed by locally destroying, deforming or degrading the conductive thin film, and the electron emitting portion in an electrically high resistance state is formed. Is a process for forming.

Electrons are emitted from the vicinity of the cracks generated in the electron emitting portion by applying a voltage to the conductive thin film having the electron emitting portion and applying a current.

Since the electron-emitting device has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture, it has an advantage that a large number of arrays can be formed over a large area. Therefore, various applications for utilizing this feature are being researched. For example, it can be used for an image forming apparatus such as a display device.

Conventionally, as an example in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged and formed, the electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel and both ends (both device electrodes) of each electron-emitting device are wired (also called common wiring). ), An electron source in which a large number of rows connected to each other (also referred to as a ladder arrangement) is arranged (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 1-33132, 1-283749, and 2-257552). Further, particularly in the case of a display device, a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices can be used as a self-luminous display device that can be a flat panel display device similar to a display device using liquid crystal and does not require a backlight. A display device has been proposed (US Pat. No. 5,066,883) in which an arranged electron source is combined with a phosphor that emits visible light when irradiated with an electron beam from the electron source.

In order to obtain a high-quality, high-definition image on a large screen in a display device using the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the number of rows and columns of the electron-emitting device is several hundreds to several thousands, respectively. It is necessary to arrange a large number of electron-emitting devices. Therefore, it is desired that each electron-emitting device has uniform electric characteristics and is easy to control.

[0008]

However, the behavior of the surface conduction electron-emitting device in vacuum has not been clarified, and it is difficult to obtain a stable and controlled electron-emitting device. In particular, the conventional electron-emitting device has a lot of electrical noise when the device is driven, and as a result, the device is significantly deteriorated. This is because the conductive thin film in the vicinity of the electron emitting portion is destroyed by the influence of noise, which is an irreversible change.

An object of the present invention is to provide a surface conduction electron-emitting device that solves the above problems. Specifically, the above noise is suppressed to prevent device deterioration due to the noise, and durability is improved. An object is to provide a high surface conduction electron-emitting device. Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide an electron source and an image forming apparatus having high durability using the electron-emitting device.

[0010]

The invention according to claims 1 to 7 is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, characterized by containing carbon and metal carbide in the vicinity of the electron-emitting portion.

The inventions of claims 8 and 9 are an electron source using the surface conduction electron-emitting device.
Reference numeral 11 is an invention of an image forming apparatus using the electron source.

Further, the invention of claims 12 to 18 is a method of manufacturing the electron-emitting device, the electron source, and the image forming apparatus.

As described above, the present invention provides a novel surface conduction electron-emitting device, an electron source using a plurality of the electron-emitting devices,
The structure and operation of each invention relating to the image forming apparatus using the electron source and the manufacturing methods thereof will be further described below.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device is classified into a flat type and a vertical type, and any electron-emitting device can be used in the present invention. First, the basic structure of the planar electron-emitting device will be described.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are views showing the basic structure of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a substrate, 2 is an electron emitting portion,
Reference numeral 3 is a conductive thin film, and 4 and 5 are device electrodes.

The substrate 1 is, for example, quartz glass or Na.
Examples thereof include glass having a reduced content of impurities such as blue glass, soda lime glass, a laminated body obtained by laminating SiO ₂ on soda lime glass by a sputtering method, and ceramics such as alumina.

As the material of the device electrodes 4 and 5 facing each other,
Common conductor materials are used, such as Ni, Cr, Au,
Metals or alloys such as Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd and Pd, Ag, Au, RuO ₂ , Pd-Ag
A printed conductor composed of a metal or a metal oxide and glass, a transparent conductor such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂ and a semiconductor conductor material such as polysilicon are appropriately selected.

The element electrode interval L, the element electrode length W, the shape of the conductive thin film 3 and the like are designed according to the applied form.

The device electrode spacing L is preferably several hundred Å to several hundred μm, and more preferably several μm to several depending on the voltage applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the electric field strength capable of emitting electrons. It is 10 μm.

The device electrode length W is preferably several μm to several hundred μm, and the device electrode thickness d is several hundred Å to several μm, in consideration of the electrode resistance value and electron emission characteristics.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 1 has the device electrodes 4, 5 and the conductive thin film 3 laminated in this order on the substrate 1. The conductive thin film 3 and the device electrodes 4 and 5 may be laminated in this order.

In order to obtain good electron emission characteristics, the conductive thin film 3 is particularly preferably a fine particle film composed of fine particles, and the thickness of the conductive thin film 3 depends on the step coverage of the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the device. It is appropriately selected depending on the resistance value between the electrodes 4 and 5 and the forming conditions described later. The thickness of the conductive thin film 3 is preferably several Å to several thousand Å, particularly preferably 10 Å to 500 Å, and its resistance value is 10
The sheet resistance value is ³ to 10 ⁷ Ω / □.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention is characterized by having carbon and metal carbide in the vicinity of the electron-emitting portion. Specifically, the conductive thin film 3 is formed of metal carbide and activated. A configuration in which carbon is deposited by the treatment is preferable.
At this time, it is desirable to further deposit carbon on the surface of the metal carbide layer.

Further, in the present invention, in addition to the above constitution, a conductive thin film 3 having a two-layer structure having a layer made of a metal or a metal oxide under the metal carbide layer is also preferably used. In this case, the metal elements constituting the upper and lower layers may be different from those of the same kind, but they are preferably used respectively.

Further, in the present invention, an embodiment having a carbide layer of a metal different from the metal element constituting the upper metal carbide layer is preferably used as the lower layer of the two-layered conductive thin film 3.

In the present invention, the metal carbide forming the conductive thin film 3 is a carbide of a IVa group metal.
TiC, Zrc, HfC, NbC and TaC, which are carbides of Va group metals, and further Cr ₃ , Mo ₂ C and W _2.
C, Fe ₄ C, CoC, Ni ₃ C, PdC and the like are used, and among them, NbC having a crystal structure of the IVa group or Va group NaCl structure is preferably used.

The metals that can form the conductive thin film 3 include Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In and C.
u, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, Pb and the like can be mentioned. Examples of the metal oxide include oxides of the constituent metals of the above metal carbide.

The fine particle film 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 shape). Including). In the case of a fine particle film, the particle diameter of the fine particles is preferably several Å to several thousand Å, particularly preferably 10 Å to 200 Å.

A crack is included in the electron emitting portion 2, and the electron is emitted from the vicinity of the crack. The electron emitting portion 2 including the crack and the crack itself are formed depending on the film thickness of the conductive thin film 3, the film quality, the material, the forming conditions described later, and the like. Therefore, the position and shape of the electron emitting portion 2 are not limited to the position and shape as shown in FIG.

The crack may have conductive fine particles having a particle diameter of several Å to several hundred Å. The conductive fine particles are the same as some or all of the elements of the material forming the conductive thin film 3.

Next, the basic structure of the vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the basic structure of a vertical electron-emitting device, in which reference numeral 21 is a step forming member, and others.
The same reference numerals as in the above denote the same members.

The substrate 1, the electron emitting portion 2, the conductive thin film 3 and the device electrodes 4 and 5 are made of the same material as that of the above-mentioned flat type electron emitting device.

The step forming member 21 is formed by, for example, a vacuum vapor deposition method,
It is made of an insulating material such as SiO ₂ attached by a printing method, a sputtering method or the like. The film thickness of the step forming member 21 corresponds to the device electrode distance L (see FIG. 1) of the planar electron-emitting device described above. It is set according to the applied voltage and the electric field strength that can emit electrons, but preferably several hundred Å ~
It is several tens of μm, and particularly preferably several hundred Å to several μm.

Since the conductive thin film 3 is usually formed after the device electrodes 4, 5 are formed, it is laminated on the device electrodes 4, 5, but after the conductive thin film 3 is formed, the device electrodes 4, 5 are formed. It is also possible to make it so that the device electrodes 4 and 5 are laminated on the conductive thin film 3. Further, as described in the description of the planar electron-emitting device, the formation of the electron-emitting portion 2 depends on the film thickness of the conductive thin film 3, the film quality, the material, the forming conditions to be described later, and the like. And the shape is not limited to the position and shape shown in FIG.

In the following description, of the above-mentioned planar type electron-emitting device and vertical type electron-emitting device, the planar type will be taken as an example, but instead of the planar type electron-emitting device, a vertical type electron-emitting device will be used. Good.

Various methods can be considered as a method for manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and one example thereof will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 denote the same members.

1) After the substrate 1 is thoroughly washed with a detergent, pure water and an organic solvent, an element electrode material is deposited by a vacuum evaporation method, a sputtering method or the like, and then an element is formed on the surface of the substrate 1 by a photolithography technique. The electrodes 4 and 5 are formed (FIG. 3A).

2) Next, the conductive thin film 3 is formed by a constituent material by a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, a dispersion coating method, a dipping method, a spinner method, etc., and a photolithography method and a dry method. Patterning is performed by combining etching methods and the like (FIG. 3B).

3) Subsequently, an energization process called forming is performed. When a power source (not shown) is energized between the device electrodes 4 and 5, the conductive thin film 3 is locally broken, deformed or altered, and the structure is changed to form the electron emitting portion 2 having a high resistance (Fig. 3 (c)).

FIG. 4 shows an example of the voltage waveform of forming.

The voltage waveform is particularly preferably a pulse waveform,
There are a case of continuously applying a voltage pulse whose pulse peak value is a constant voltage (FIG. 4A) and a case of applying a voltage pulse while increasing the pulse peak value (FIG. 4B).

First, the case where the pulse peak value is a constant voltage will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 4A, T ₁ and T ₂ are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, for example, T ₁ is 1 μm.
sec to 10 msec, T ₂ 10 μsec to 100 m
sec, the peak value (peak voltage during forming) is appropriately selected according to the form of the electron-emitting device described above, and applied for several seconds to several tens of minutes in a vacuum atmosphere with an appropriate degree of vacuum. The voltage waveform to be applied is not limited to the illustrated triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave can be used.

Next, the case where the voltage pulse is applied while the pulse crest value is increased will be described with reference to FIG.

T ₁ and T ₂ in FIG. 4B are shown in FIG.
Similar to (a), the crest value (peak voltage during forming) is increased by, for example, about 0.1 V step,
Application is performed in an appropriate vacuum atmosphere similar to the description of FIG.

During the pulse interval T ₂ , the conductive thin film 3 is
(See FIGS. 1 and 2) The element current is measured at a voltage that does not locally destroy, deform, or alter the properties, for example, a voltage of about 0.1 V to obtain a resistance value, and for example, when a resistance of 1 MΩ or more is exhibited. Finish forming.

4) Next, an activation process is performed on the element for which the forming process has been completed.

The activation step is, for example, 10 ^-4 to 10 ^-5 t.
Similar to the forming process, it is a process of repeating the application of pulses with a pulse peak value of a constant voltage at a vacuum degree of about orr. Introducing hydrocarbons or the like from an organic substance existing in a vacuum atmosphere or into a vacuum. Then, by depositing carbon and a carbon compound on the electron emission portion 2 (see FIGS. 1 and 2), the states of the device current and the emission current can be significantly improved. It is effective to perform this activation step while measuring the device current and the emission current, for example, and to end it when the emission current is saturated, because it is effective. The pulse peak value in the activation step is preferably the peak value of the driving voltage.

The carbon and the carbon compound are graphite (both single crystal and polycrystal) and amorphous carbon (amorphous carbon and a mixture thereof with polycrystal graphite). The deposited film thickness is preferably 500 Å or less, more preferably 300 Å or less.

5) More preferably, the electron-emitting device thus manufactured is operated and driven in a vacuum atmosphere having a vacuum degree higher than the vacuum degree in the forming step and the activation step. In addition, more preferably, operation is performed after heating at 80 ° C. to 150 ° C. in a vacuum atmosphere having a higher degree of vacuum.

A vacuum atmosphere having a vacuum degree higher than the vacuum degree subjected to the forming process and activation treatment is, for example, about 10 ^−6.
A vacuum degree having a vacuum degree of not less than torr, more preferably an ultra-high vacuum system, and a vacuum degree at which carbon and a carbon compound are not newly deposited.

By the step 5), further deposition of carbon and carbon compounds is suppressed, and the device current and the emission current are stabilized.

The basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device thus obtained will be described below.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram showing an example of a measurement / evaluation system for measuring the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. First, this measurement / evaluation system will be described.

5, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same members. Further, 51 is a power supply for applying a device voltage V _f to the device, 50 is an ammeter for measuring a device current I _f flowing through the conductive thin film 3 between the device electrodes 4 and 5, and 54 is an electron emitting portion. An anode electrode for capturing the emitted emission current I _e , 53 a high voltage power source for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 54, 52 an ammeter for measuring the emission current I _e , 55 a vacuum device, 56 Is an exhaust pump.

The electron-emitting device, the anode electrode 54, etc. are installed in a vacuum device 55, and this vacuum device 55 is equipped with necessary equipment such as a vacuum system (not shown) so that the electron-emitting device can be operated under a desired vacuum. It is possible to measure and evaluate.

The exhaust pump 56 is composed of a normal high vacuum system such as a turbo pump and a rotary pump, and an ultra high vacuum system such as an ion pump.
Further, the entire vacuum device 55 and the substrate 1 of the electron-emitting device are
It can be heated up to about 200 ° C by a heater. In addition, this measurement and evaluation system is configured such that the display panel and the inside thereof are configured as the vacuum device 55 and the inside thereof at the stage of assembling the display panel (see 201 in FIG. 8) to be described later, so that the above-described forming process It can be applied to measurement evaluation and treatment in the chemical conversion step and the subsequent steps described later.

The basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention described below are as follows.
Is set to 1 kV to 10 kV, and the distance H between the anode electrode 54 and the electron-emitting device is set to 2 to 8 mm.

First, the emission current I _e and the device current I _f ,
FIG. 6 shows a typical example of the relationship with the device voltage V _f . still,
In FIG. 6, the emission current I _e is markedly smaller than the device current I _f, and therefore is shown in arbitrary units.

As is apparent from FIG. 6, the electron-emitting device has the following three characteristic characteristics with respect to the emission current I _e .

First, in the surface conduction electron-emitting device, when a device voltage V _f higher than a certain voltage (called threshold voltage: V _{th in} FIG. 6) is applied, the emission current I _e rapidly increases. ,
On the other hand, at the threshold voltage V _th or less, the emission current I _e is hardly detected. That is, it is a non-linear element having a clear threshold voltage V _th with respect to the emission current I _e . The vertical axis and the horizontal axis are linear scales.

Secondly, since the emission current I _e has a characteristic of monotonically increasing with respect to the device voltage V _f (referred to as MI characteristic), the emission current I _e can be controlled by the device voltage V _f .

Thirdly, the emitted charge trapped in the anode electrode 54 (see FIG. 5) depends on the time for applying the device voltage V _f . That is, the amount of charges captured by the anode electrode 54 can be controlled by the time for which the device voltage V _f is applied.

The emission current I _e is MI with respect to the device voltage V _f .
At the same time having a characteristic, it may have a MI characteristic with respect to the device current I _f also the device voltage V _f. An example of the characteristics of such a surface conduction electron-emitting device is the characteristics shown by the solid line in FIG. On the other hand, as indicated by a broken line in FIG. 6, the device current _If is different from the device voltage _Vf in the voltage-controlled negative resistance characteristic (VCN).
R characteristics). Which characteristic is exhibited depends on the manufacturing method of the electron-emitting device and the measurement conditions at the time of measurement. However, in FIG. 6, the characteristics represented by the solid line and the broken line are shown on a scale different from each other in the vertical and horizontal axes. Further, the device current _If is VCN with respect to the device voltage _Vf .
Even in the electron-emitting device having the R characteristic, the emission current I _e has the MI characteristic with respect to the device voltage V _f .

In the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention, the presence of the metal carbide in the vicinity of the electron-emitting portion causes
This has the effect of stabilizing the electron emission characteristics. Although the stabilizing mechanism is not clear, it is presumed that the electron emitting portion is stabilized as compared with the case where the electron emitting portion is made of only metal.

(1) Generally, the metal carbide has a high melting point,
As a result, even if accidental electrical noise is added during driving,
The electron emitting portion is no longer easily destroyed.

(2) Carbon and carbon compounds deposited in the activation step are stabilized by the presence of metal carbide.

Next, the arrangement of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the electron source of the present invention will be described.

As a method of arranging the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the electron source of the present invention, in addition to the ladder arrangement as described in the section of the prior art, n Ys on m X-direction wirings are used. There is an arrangement method in which directional wirings are provided via an interlayer insulating layer and an X-direction wiring and a Y-direction wiring are respectively connected to a pair of device electrodes of an electron-emitting device. This is hereinafter referred to as a simple matrix arrangement. First, this simple matrix arrangement will be described in detail.

According to the basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device described above, the emitted electrons in the electron-emitting device arranged in the simple matrix are at a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage.
It can be controlled by the peak value and pulse width of the pulsed voltage applied between the opposing element electrodes. On the other hand, almost no electrons are emitted below the threshold voltage. Therefore, even when a large number of electron-emitting devices are arranged, if the pulsed voltage is appropriately applied to each device, the electron-emitting device can be selected according to the input signal, and the electron emission amount can be controlled. Individual electron-emitting devices can be selected and driven independently by only matrix wiring.

The simple matrix arrangement is based on such a principle, and the structure of the electron source having the simple matrix arrangement, which is an example of the electron source of the present invention, will be further described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 7, the substrate 1 is a glass plate or the like as already described, and the number and shape of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 arranged on the substrate 1 are set appropriately according to the application. is there.

The m wirings in the X direction 102 have external terminals D _x1 , D _x2 , ..., D _xm , respectively.
It is a conductive metal or the like formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. Further, the material, the film thickness, and the wiring width are set so that the voltage is supplied to the many electron-emitting devices 104 substantially evenly.

The n Y-direction wirings 103 have external terminals D _y1 , D _y2 , ..., D _yn , respectively.
It is made in the same manner as 02.

These m X-direction wirings 102 and n Y-wirings
An interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is provided between the directional wirings 103 and electrically separated to form a matrix wiring. In addition, both m and n are positive integers.

The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is SiO ₂ or the like formed by a vacuum evaporation method, a printing method, a sputtering method or the like, and has a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the substrate 1 on which the X-direction wiring 102 is formed. In particular, the film thickness, material, and manufacturing method are appropriately set so as to withstand the potential difference at the intersection of the X-direction wiring 102 and the Y-direction wiring 103.

Further, opposing device electrodes (not shown) of the electron-emitting device 104 are formed by m X-direction wirings 102 and n Y-direction wirings 103 by a vacuum evaporation method, a printing method, a sputtering method or the like. They are electrically connected by a connecting wire 105 made of a conductive metal or the like.

Here, even if some or all of the constituent elements of the m X-direction wirings 102, the n Y-direction wirings 103, the connection 105, and the opposing element electrodes are the same, Further, they may be different from each other, and are appropriately selected from the above-mentioned material of the element electrode and the like. Wirings to these element electrodes may be collectively referred to as element electrodes when the same material as the element electrodes is used. The electron-emitting device 104 is the substrate 1
Alternatively, it may be formed either on an interlayer insulating layer (not shown).

As will be described later in detail, the X-direction wirings 102 have electron-emitting devices 104 arranged in the X-direction.
In order to scan the row according to the input signal, a scanning signal applying means (not shown) for applying the scanning signal is electrically connected.

On the other hand, a modulation signal generating means (not shown) for applying a modulation signal to the Y-direction wiring 103 in order to modulate each of the rows of the electron-emitting devices 104 arranged in the Y-direction according to an input signal. Are electrically connected. Further, the driving voltage applied to each electron-emitting device 104 is supplied as a difference voltage between the scanning signal and the modulation signal applied to the electron-emitting device 104.

Next, an example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention using the electron source of the present invention having the above simple matrix arrangement will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that FIG. 8 is a basic configuration diagram of the display panel 201, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the fluorescent film 114, and FIG. 10 is the display panel 201 of FIG.
It is a block diagram showing an example of a drive circuit for performing a television display according to a television signal of a TSC system.

In FIG. 8, 1 is a substrate of an electron source in which the surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged as described above, 111 is a rear plate to which the substrate 1 is fixed, and 116 is a glass substrate 1.
A face plate having a fluorescent film 114, a metal back 115 and the like formed on the inner surface of 13 and a support frame 112. Frit glass or the like is applied to the rear plate 111, the support frame 112, and the face plate 116, and the atmosphere or nitrogen is used. Then, the envelope 118 is configured by sealing by baking at 400 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more.

In FIG. 8, 2 corresponds to the electron emitting portion in FIG. 102 and 103 are electron-emitting devices 104.
X-direction wiring and Y connected to the pair of device electrodes 4, 5
The directional wiring has external terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm and D _{y1 to} D _yn , respectively.

The envelope 118 is composed of the face plate 116, the support frame 112, and the rear plate 111 as described above. However, the rear plate 111 is provided mainly for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the substrate 1, and when the substrate 1 itself has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 111 is not necessary, and the rear plate 111 is directly supported on the substrate 1. 112 is sealed,
The envelope 118 may be composed of the face plate 116, the support frame 112, and the substrate 1. Further, by further installing a support body (not shown) called a spacer between the face plate 116 and the rear plate 111, it is possible to form the envelope 118 having sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure.

The fluorescent film 114 is composed of only the phosphor 122 in the case of monochrome, but in the case of the color fluorescent film 114, depending on the arrangement of the phosphors 122, a black stripe (FIG. 9A) or a black matrix (FIG. 9). 9
(B)) Black conductive material 121 and phosphor 122, etc.
Composed of and. The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the color mixture, etc., inconspicuous by making the coating portions between the phosphors 122 of the three primary colors necessary for color display black, and to reflect external light on the phosphor film 114. This is to suppress the decrease in contrast due to. As the material of the black conductive material 121, not only a commonly used material containing graphite as a main component, but also another material may be used as long as it is conductive and has little light transmission and reflection. it can.

As a method for applying the phosphor 122 to the glass substrate 113, a precipitation method or a printing method is used regardless of monochrome or color.

Further, as shown in FIG.
A metal back 115 is usually provided on the inner surface side of 4.
The purpose of the metal back 115 is to improve the brightness by specularly reflecting the light to the inner surface side of the light emission of the phosphor 122 (see FIG. 9) to the glass substrate 113 side, and to apply an electron beam acceleration voltage. Acting as an electrode,
For example, protection of the phosphor 122 from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the envelope 118. Metal back 1
15 can be manufactured by performing smoothing processing (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film 114 after manufacturing the fluorescent film 114, and then depositing Al by vacuum evaporation or the like.

On the face plate 116, a transparent electrode (not shown) may be provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 114 in order to further enhance the conductivity of the fluorescent film 114.

When performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of a color, the phosphors 122 of the respective colors and the electron-emitting devices 104 must correspond to each other, so that it is necessary to perform sufficient alignment.

The inside of the envelope 118 is sealed with a vacuum degree of about 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ torr through an exhaust pipe (not shown). Also, the getter process may be performed immediately before or after the envelope 118 is sealed. This is a process of heating a getter (not shown) arranged at a predetermined position in the envelope 118 to form a vapor deposition film. The getter usually has Ba or the like as a main component, and is for maintaining a vacuum degree of, for example, 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ to 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ torr by the adsorption action of the vapor deposition film.

The above-mentioned forming process and the subsequent manufacturing steps of the electron-emitting device are usually performed immediately before or after the encapsulation of the envelope 118, and the contents thereof are as described above.

The display panel 201 described above is shown in FIG.
It can be driven by a driving circuit as shown in FIG.
In FIG. 10, 201 is a display panel, 202 is a scanning circuit, 203 is a control circuit, 204 is a shift register,
205 is a line memory, 206 is a sync signal separation circuit, 2
Reference numeral 07 is a modulation signal generator, and V _x and V _a are DC voltage sources.

As shown in FIG. 10, the display panel 20
1 is connected to an external electric circuit via the external terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm , the external terminals D _{y1 to} D _yn, and the high voltage terminal Hv.
Of these, the external terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm are connected to the display panel 201.
A scanning signal is applied for sequentially driving the electron-emitting devices provided therein, that is, the electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns, one row at a time (n elements).

On the other hand, a modulation signal for controlling the output electron beam of each electron-emitting device of one row selected by the scanning signal is applied to the external terminals D _{y1 to} D _yn . Also,
The high-voltage terminal Hv receives, for example, 10 k from the DC voltage source V _a.
A DC voltage of V is supplied. This is an acceleration voltage for giving enough energy to excite the phosphor to the electron beam output from the electron-emitting device.

The scanning circuit 202 is provided with m switching elements (schematically shown by S _{1 to} S _m in FIG. 10) inside, and each switching element S _{1 to} S _m is a DC voltage power supply V _x. Output voltage or 0 V (ground level) is selected and electrically connected to the external terminals D _{x1 to} D _{xm of} the display panel 201. Each of the switching elements S _{1 to} S _m operates based on the control signal T _scan output from the control circuit 203, and in practice, is easily configured by combining elements having a switching function such as FETs. It is possible.

The DC voltage source V _x in this example is such that the driving voltage applied to the unscanned electron-emitting device is the threshold voltage based on the characteristics (threshold voltage) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. It is set to output a constant voltage as follows.

The control circuit 203 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. Based on a synchronization signal T _sync sent from a synchronization signal separation circuit 206 described below, control signals T _scan , T _sft, and T _mry are generated for each unit.

The sync signal separation circuit 206 is a circuit for separating a sync signal component and a luminance signal component from an externally input NTSC television signal, and as is well known, a frequency separation (filter). If you use a circuit,
It can be easily constructed. Sync signal separation circuit 206
As is well known, the sync signal separated by is composed of a vertical sync signal and a horizontal sync signal. here,
For convenience of explanation, it is shown as T _sync . Meanwhile, the luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is DAT for convenience.
A signal is illustrated. This DATA signal is input to the shift register 204.

The shift register 204 is for serial / parallel conversion of the DATA signal serially input in time series for each line of the image, and is based on the control signal T _sft sent from the control circuit 203. Works. In other words, the control signal T _sft is the shift clock of the shift register 204. Further, the data of one line of the serial / parallel-converted image (corresponding to the driving data of n elements of the electron-emitting device) is I
Examples n parallel signals _d1 ~I _dn shift register 2
It is output from 04.

The line memory 205 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a required time,
The contents of I _{d1 to} I _dn are appropriately stored according to the control signal T _mry sent from the control circuit 203. The stored content is I
_The signals are output as _{d'1 to} I _d'n and input to the modulation signal generator 207.

The modulation signal generator 207 is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the electron-emitting devices in accordance with each of the image data I _{d'1 to} I _d'n , and its output signal is
It is applied to the electron-emitting devices in the display panel 201 through the terminals D _{y1 to} D _yn .

As described above, the electron-emitting device has a clear threshold voltage for electron emission, and electron emission occurs only when a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage is applied. Further, when the voltage exceeds the threshold voltage, the emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the electron-emitting device.
The value of the threshold voltage and the degree of change of the emission current with respect to the applied voltage may change by changing the material, configuration, and manufacturing method of the electron-emitting device, but the following can be said in any case.

That is, when a pulsed voltage is applied to the electron-emitting device, for example, when a voltage below the threshold voltage is applied, electron emission does not occur, but when a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage is applied. Produces electron emission. At that time, firstly, it is possible to control the intensity of the output electron beam by changing the peak value of the voltage pulse. Second
In addition, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam by changing the width of the voltage pulse.

Therefore, as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device according to the input signal, there are a voltage modulation method and a pulse width modulation method. In the case of performing the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 207 uses a voltage modulation method circuit that generates a voltage pulse of a constant length, but can appropriately modulate the pulse peak value according to the input data. In the case of performing the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 207 generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value, but a circuit of the pulse width modulation method capable of appropriately modulating the pulse width according to the input data is used. To use.

The shift register 204 and the line memory 20
5 may be of a digital signal type or an analog signal type as long as it can perform serial / parallel conversion and storage of an image signal at a predetermined speed.

When the digital signal type is used, it is necessary to convert the output signal DATA of the sync signal separation circuit 206 into a digital signal. This can be done by providing an A / D converter at the output of the sync signal separation circuit 206.

Further, in connection with this, the line memory 20
Depending on whether the output signal of 5 is a digital signal or an analog signal,
The circuit provided in the modulation signal generator 207 is slightly different.

That is, in the case of the voltage modulation method using a digital signal, for the modulation signal generator 207, for example, a well-known D / A conversion circuit may be used, and an amplification circuit or the like may be added if necessary. Further, in the case of a pulse width modulation method using a digital signal, the modulation signal generator 207, for example, a high-speed oscillator and a counter (counter) that counts the number of waves output by the oscillator, and the output value of the counter and the output value of the memory. It can be easily configured by using a circuit in which comparators for comparison are combined. Further, if necessary, an amplifier for voltage-amplifying the pulse-width-modulated modulation signal output from the comparator to the drive voltage of the electron-emitting device may be added.

On the other hand, in the case of the voltage modulation method using an analog signal, the modulation signal generator 207 may be, for example, an amplifier circuit using a well-known operational amplifier or the like, and a level shift circuit or the like may be added if necessary. May be. Further, in the case of a pulse width modulation method using an analog signal, for example, a well-known voltage control type oscillation circuit (VCO) may be used, and an amplifier for amplifying the voltage up to the driving voltage of the electron-emitting device may be used if necessary. May be added.

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention having the display panel 201 and the driving circuit as described above, by applying a voltage from the terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm and D _{y1 to} D _yn , electrons are emitted from the necessary electron-emitting devices. Excitation caused by applying a high voltage to the metal back 115 or a transparent electrode (not shown) through the high voltage terminal Hv to accelerate the electron beam, and causing the accelerated electron beam to collide with the fluorescent film 114. -By light emission, television display can be performed according to an NTSC television signal.

The above-described structure is a schematic structure necessary for obtaining the image forming apparatus of the present invention used for display or the like, and the detailed parts such as the material of each member are limited to the above contents. However, it is appropriately selected so as to suit the purpose of the image forming apparatus. Further, although the NTSC system has been described as the input signal, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to this, and other systems such as PAL and SECAM systems may be used, and more scanning lines than these may be used. It is also possible to use a high-definition TV system such as a TV signal such as the MUSE system.

Next, an example of the above-mentioned ladder-type electron source and an image forming apparatus of the present invention using the electron source will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12.

In FIG. 11, 1 is a substrate, 104 is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and 304 are 10 common wirings for connecting the electron-emitting device 104, each having external terminals D _{1 to} D ₁₀ . ing.

A plurality of electron-emitting devices 104 are arranged in parallel on the substrate 1. This is called an element row. A plurality of these element rows are arranged to form an electron source.

Each element row can be independently driven by applying an appropriate drive voltage between the common wiring 304 of each element row (for example, the common wiring 304 of the external terminals D ₁ and D ₂ ). That is, a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage may be applied to the element row where the electron beam is desired to be emitted, and a voltage lower than the threshold voltage may be applied to the element row where the electron beam is not desired to be emitted. Application of the driving voltage, the common wiring D ₂ to D ₉ located at each element rows, the external terminals D ₂ and D ₃ adjacent common wiring 304, i.e. each phase adjacent each phase, D ₄ and D ₅ , D ₆ and D ₇ , and D ₈ and D ₉ common wiring 304 can be integrated into the same wiring.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the structure of another example of the electron source of the present invention, that is, a display panel 301 having the above-mentioned ladder-type electron source.

In FIG. 11, 302 is a grid electrode, 303 is an opening through which electrons pass, D _{1 to} D _m are external terminals for applying a voltage to each electron-emitting device, and G _{1 to} G _n are grid electrodes 302. Is an external terminal connected to. Further, the common wiring 304 between each element row is formed on the substrate 1 as an integrated single wiring.

In FIG. 12, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 8 indicate the same members, and a big difference from the display panel 201 using the electron source of the simple matrix arrangement shown in FIG. The point is that the grid electrode 302 is provided between 116.

The grid electrode 302 is provided between the substrate 1 and the face plate 116 as described above. The grid electrode 302 is capable of modulating the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device 104, and is for passing the electron beam through the stripe-shaped electrode provided orthogonal to the device row in the ladder type arrangement. In addition, one circular opening 303 is provided for each electron-emitting device 104.

The shape and arrangement position of the grid electrode 302 are
It does not necessarily have to be the one shown in FIG. 12, and a large number of openings 303 may be provided in a mesh shape, and the grid electrode 302 may be provided, for example, around or near the electron-emitting device 104.

The external terminals D _{1 to} D _m and G _{1 to} G _n are connected to a drive circuit (not shown). Then, by applying a modulation signal for one image line to the columns of the grid electrode 302 in synchronization with the sequential driving (scanning) of the element rows one column at a time, irradiation of each electron beam to the fluorescent film 114 is performed. The image can be displayed line by line.

As described above, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is
An image formation that can be obtained by using the electron source of the present invention in either a simple matrix arrangement or a trapezoidal arrangement and is suitable not only as a display device for the television broadcast described above but also as a display device for a video conference system, a computer, or the like. The device is obtained. Further, it can also be used as an exposure device of an optical printer configured with a photosensitive drum.

[0125]

【Example】

[Embodiment 1] As a first embodiment of the present invention, the flat surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 1 was manufactured according to the manufacturing process of FIG.

1) A quartz substrate is used as the insulating substrate 1,
The substrate was thoroughly washed with a detergent, pure water and an organic solvent. A resist mask was formed on the surface of the insulating substrate 1 by a photolithography technique, Pt was formed on the entire surface as a device electrode material by a vacuum deposition method, and then patterned by a lift-off method to form device electrodes 4 and 5. (FIG. 3 (a)). The gap L between the device electrodes is 10 μm, the device electrode length W is 300 μm, and the film thickness d is 1000Å.

2) Plasma CV using NbCl ₅ —CH ₃ between the device electrodes 4 and 5 provided on the insulating substrate 1.
Db method is used to deposit 100 Å of NbC, then CH
C is deposited by 50 Å by plasma CVD method using ₄ to form a conductive thin film. Next, a 200 μm square pattern was formed by photolithography (see FIG. 3).
(B)). The deposited film constituting the conductive thin film 3 of this embodiment is formed of a fine particle film having a particle size of 10 to 150Å.

3) Subsequently, a forming process was performed by applying a voltage from a power source (not shown) between the device electrodes 4 and 5. As a result, the electron emitting portion 2 was formed on the conductive thin film 3 (FIG. 3C). A triangular wave pulse was used for the forming treatment, and the forming treatment was performed for 40 seconds in a vacuum atmosphere of about 1 × 10 ⁻⁶ torr. Maximum peak value of triangular wave is 25
V, pulse width 1 msec, pulse interval 10 msec
And

At this stage, the characteristics of the electron-emitting device are shown in FIG.
It measured by the apparatus shown in.

4) An activation treatment was applied to the element after the energization forming was completed. In this embodiment, 10 ⁻⁵ torr
A voltage pulse of 20 V was repeatedly applied for 30 minutes under a vacuum of about r. By this activation step, 100 Å of a compound mainly containing carbon (not shown) was deposited.

5) Replace the electron-emitting device thus produced with 1
It was operated and operated for 30 minutes in a vacuum atmosphere of 00 ° C. and 10 ⁻⁶ torr. By this step, further deposition of carbon and carbon compounds is suppressed, and the device current _If and emission current _Ie are further stabilized.

The characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this example produced as described above were measured by the apparatus shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the voltage of the high-voltage power supply 53 may be an appropriate voltage, but in this measurement, the voltage was fixed at 1000 V and the measurement was performed under a vacuum of 1 × 10 ⁻⁶ torr or more.

The electron-emitting device of the present example exhibits the electron-emitting characteristics shown in FIG. 6, in which the device voltage V _f starts emitting electrons rapidly at about 16 V, and at 20 V, the device current _If is 2.2 m.
A, the emission current I _e was 5 μmA, I _f was 1.5 times and I _e was 3 times immediately before the activation step.

[Embodiment 2] As a second embodiment of the present invention,
A surface conduction electron-emitting device having a conductive thin film different from that of Example 1 was produced. The feature of this embodiment is that a metal oxide layer is first formed, the layer is reduced to form a metal layer, and then the surface thereof is changed to metal carbide to form a conductive thin film 3 having a two-layer structure.
That is. The manufacturing process will be described below.

1) Device electrodes 4 and 5 were formed on the insulating substrate 1 in the same manner as in Example 1.

2) After forming the PdO film, the insulating substrate 1
Was heated to 200 ° C. in vacuum to reduce PdO to Pd. Furthermore, while heating the substrate to 250 ° C.
_{2 H 2 (1%),} H e) to then exposure 4 hours, the surface layer of the Pd film is changed to a carbide. The film was patterned to obtain a desired conductive thin film 3.

3) The electroconductive thin film 3 was subjected to a forming treatment to form the electron emitting portion 2. A triangular pulse is used for this forming process, and the forming process is performed at about 1 × 10 ⁻⁶ torr.
Under a vacuum atmosphere for 40 seconds. The maximum value of the triangular wave is 16 V, the pulse width is 1 msec, and the pulse interval is 1.
It was set to 0 msec.

4) Furthermore, the activation treatment was performed in the same manner as in Example 1. In this example, a voltage pulse of 16 V was repeatedly applied for 30 minutes at a vacuum degree of about 1 × 10 ^-5 torr, and 80 Å of a compound mainly containing carbon was deposited.

5) The thus manufactured electron-emitting device was
While heating to 0 ° C, 3 in a vacuum atmosphere of 10 ^-6 torr
The device was driven for 0 minutes to stabilize the device as in Example 1.

The characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this example manufactured as described above were measured in the same manner as in Example 1.

The electron-emitting device of the present embodiment exhibits the same electron-emitting characteristics as the device of the first embodiment and begins to rapidly emit electrons at about 8V, and at 16V, the device current _If is 2mA and the emission current _Ie. Was 3 μA.

[Embodiment 3] A third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
This embodiment is also a surface conduction electron-emitting device like Embodiments 1 and 2, but the conductive thin film 3 has a two-layer structure of a metal oxide layer and a metal carbide layer having different metal elements. Is.

1) Similar to the first embodiment, the device electrodes 4 and 5 are formed.

2) A PdO film is formed. Subsequently, 80 Å of NbC is deposited by using the plasma CVD method, and a part of the NbC is left by the dry etching method to remove the others to form the conductive thin film 3. This conductive thin film was a film composed of fine particles having a particle size of 10 to 50 Å.

3) The conductive thin film 3 was subjected to a forming treatment to form the electron emitting portion 3. Triangular wave is used for forming process, and it is 4 in a vacuum atmosphere of about 1 × 10 ^-6 torr.
It was performed for 0 seconds. The peak value of the triangular wave was 16 V at maximum, the pulse width was 1 msec, and the pulse interval was 10 msec.

4) Acetone was introduced at 10 ⁻⁴ torr and 1
A voltage pulse of 6 V was repeatedly applied for 30 minutes to perform activation treatment. By this step, 80 Å of a compound mainly containing carbon was deposited.

5) As in Example 1, the device was stabilized by operating in a vacuum atmosphere of 10 ⁻⁶ torr for 30 minutes while heating to 100 ° C.

The characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this example manufactured as described above were measured in the same manner as in Example 1.

The electron-emitting device of this example also exhibits the same electron-emission characteristics as in Example 1. Electrons start to be rapidly emitted at about 8 V, and the device current _If at 16 V is 1.5 mA and the emission current I _e was 2.8 μA.

[Embodiment 4] As a fourth embodiment of the present invention,
The simple matrix electron source shown in FIG. 7 was produced. A plan view of a part of the electron source is shown in FIG. In addition, AA 'in the figure
A sectional view is shown in FIG. 14, and a manufacturing process of this electron source is shown in FIGS.
6 is shown. However, the same reference numerals in FIGS. 13 to 16 indicate the same things. Here, 141 is an interlayer insulating layer, 1
42 is a contact hole. The manufacturing process below is shown in FIG.
It will be described in detail along with 5 and 16.

Step-a On an insulating substrate 1 made by forming a 0.5 μm-thick silicon oxide film on a cleaned soda lime glass by a sputtering method, Cr having a thickness of 5 nm and a thickness of 600 nm are vacuum-deposited. Au
Are sequentially laminated, a photoresist (AZ1370, manufactured by Hoechst) is spin-coated with a spinner, and baked,
The photomask image was exposed and developed to form a resist pattern of the lower wiring 102, and the Au / Cr deposited film was wet-etched to form the lower wiring 102 having a desired shape.

Step-b Next, an interlayer insulating layer 141 made of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 μm was deposited by the RF sputtering method.

Step-c A photoresist pattern for forming the contact hole 142 was formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in the step-b, and the interlayer insulating layer 141 was etched using this as a mask to form the contact hole 142. The etching is RIE (Reactive) using CF ₄ and H ₂ gas.
Ion Etching) method.

Step-d: A photoresist (RD-2000N-41, manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.) having a pattern to form a gap between device electrodes is formed, and Pt having a thickness of 50 nm is deposited by a sputtering method.
The photoresist was dissolved in an organic solvent and the excess Pt film was lifted off to form device electrodes 4 and 5. The element electrode gap L was 3 μm, and the element electrode length W was 300 μm.

Step-e After forming a photoresist pattern for the upper wiring 103 on the device electrodes 4 and 5, Ti having a thickness of 5 nm and a thickness of 500 n are formed.
m of Au was sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation, and unnecessary portions were removed by lift-off to form the upper wiring 103 having a desired shape.

Step-f By plasma CVD method using NbCl ₅ —CH ₃ ,
An NbC film was deposited at 100Å, and further carbon was deposited at 50Å.

Step-g The photolithography method and the dry etching method were combined to pattern the deposited layer of Step-e to 150 μm □ to form a conductive thin film 3. Conductive thin film 3 thus formed
Is a fine particle film and has a sheet resistance value of 5 × 10 ⁴ Ω / □
Met.

Step-h A pattern is formed so as to apply a resist except the contact hole 142, and a T film having a thickness of 5 nm is formed by vacuum evaporation.
i and Au having a thickness of 500 nm were sequentially deposited. Contact holes 142 were filled by removing unnecessary portions by lift-off.

Through the above steps, the lower wiring 102, the interlayer insulating layer 141, the upper wiring 103, the device electrodes 4, 5 and the conductive thin film 3 were formed on the insulating substrate 1.

The display panel shown in FIG. 8 was constructed by using the electron source manufactured as described above to form the image display device of the present invention.

After fixing the unformed electron source substrate 1 produced in the above step to the rear plate 111, the electron source 1
5 mm above, a face plate 116 (a fluorescent film 114 and a metal back 116 are formed on the inner surface of the glass substrate 113) is sufficiently aligned and arranged via a support frame 112, and the face plate 116 is supported. Frame 11
2. Frit glass was applied to the joint portion of the rear plate 111, and baked at 400 ° C. to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more in the air to seal the frit glass. Further, the frit glass was used to fix the electron source substrate 1 to the rear plate 111.

In this embodiment, the fluorescent material has a stripe shape (see FIG. 9A), a material having graphite as a main component is used as the material of the black stripe, and the glass substrate 11 is used.
A slurry method was used as a method for applying a phosphor to No. 3.

The metal back 115 provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 114 is subjected to smoothing processing (filming) on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film after the fluorescent film is manufactured, and then A
1 was vacuum-deposited. Face plate 1
16 may be provided with a transparent electrode on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 114 in order to further increase the conductivity of the fluorescent film 114, but in this embodiment, sufficient conductivity was obtained only with the metal back 115. Omitted.

The atmosphere in the glass container completed as described above is exhausted by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, the external terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm to D _y1. A voltage was applied between the device electrodes through D _yn to perform a forming process to form an electron emitting portion. At this time, the voltage waveform of the forming treatment was the same as that of Example 1, and was performed in a vacuum atmosphere of about 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ torr.

Next, in a vacuum atmosphere having a degree of vacuum of 10 ^-5 torr, a voltage pulse of 20 V was repeatedly applied for 30 minutes to deposit 80 Å of a compound containing carbon as a main component.

With a vacuum degree of about 1 × 10 ^−6.5 torr,
Fusing the exhaust pipe (not shown) by heating it with a gas burner,
The envelope 118 was sealed.

Finally, in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing, a getter process was performed by a high frequency heating method.

The terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm to D _{y1 to} D _yn outside the container and the high voltage terminal H of the display panel manufactured as described above.
Each v was connected to a required drive system to complete the image forming apparatus. External terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm to D _y1 to each SCE
Electrons are emitted by applying a scanning signal and a modulation signal by a signal generating means (not shown) through D _yn , and a few k is applied to the metal back 115 through the high voltage terminal Hv.
A high voltage of V or more is applied to accelerate the electron beam, and the fluorescent film 1
A good image was displayed by colliding with 14 and exciting and emitting light.

[Embodiment 5] FIG. 17 is an example of a display device in which the image forming apparatus of Embodiment 4 is configured to display image information provided from various image information sources such as television broadcasting. It is a figure for showing. 2 in the figure
80 is a display panel, 261 is a display panel drive circuit, 262 is a display controller, 2
63 is a multiplexer, 264 is a decoder, 265 is an input / output interface circuit, 266 is a CPU, 267 is an image generation circuit, 268, 269 and 270 are image memory interface circuits, 271 is an image input interface circuit, 272 and 273 are TV signal reception. Circuit, 27
Reference numeral 4 is an input unit. It should be noted that when the display device receives a signal including both video information and audio information, such as a television signal, it naturally reproduces audio at the same time as displaying video. Descriptions of circuits, speakers, etc. relating to reception, separation, reproduction, processing, storage, etc. of audio information not directly related to are omitted.

Each section will be described below along the flow of the image signal.

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 273 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wireless transmission system such as radio waves or spatial optical communication. The system of the TV signal to be received is not particularly limited, and various systems such as NTSC system, PAL system and SECAM system may be used. Further, a TV signal (for example, a so-called high-definition TV such as the MUSE method) including a larger number of scanning lines than these is suitable for taking advantage of the display panel suitable for a large area and a large number of pixels. It is a signal source. TV received by the TV signal receiving circuit 273
The signal is output to the decoder 264.

The image TV signal receiving circuit 272 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wired transmission system such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. Similar to the TV signal receiving circuit 273, the TV signal system to be received is not particularly limited, and the TV signal received by this circuit is also output to the decoder 264.

Further, the image input interface circuit 27
Reference numeral 1 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal supplied from an image input device such as a TV camera or an image reading scanner, and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 264.

Further, the image memory interface circuit 2
70 is a video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR)
The circuit for fetching the image signal stored in is output to the decoder 264.

Further, the image memory interface circuit 2
Reference numeral 69 denotes a circuit for capturing the image signal stored in the video disc, and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 264.

The image memory-interface circuit 268 is a circuit for fetching an image signal from a device that stores still image data, such as a so-called still image disc. The fetched still image data is decoded by the decoder 26.
4 is output.

Further, the input / output interface circuit 265
Is a circuit for connecting the display device to an external computer, a computer network, or an output device such as a printer. It is of course possible to input / output image data and character / graphic information, and in some cases, input / output control signals and numerical data between the CPU 266 of the display device and the outside.

Further, the image generation circuit 267 receives image data, character / graphic information, or CPU 266 input from the outside through the input / output interface circuit 265.
It is a circuit for generating display image data based on image data and character / graphic information output from the output. Inside this circuit, for example, a rewritable memory for accumulating image data and character / graphic information, a read-only memory that stores image patterns corresponding to character codes,
The circuits necessary for image generation, such as a processor for image processing, are incorporated.

The display image data generated by this circuit is output to the decoder 264, but in some cases, it can be output to an external computer network or printer via the input / output interface circuit 265.

Further, the CPU 266 mainly performs operations related to operation control of the display device and generation, selection and editing of a display image.

For example, a control signal is output to the multiplexer 263, and the image signals to be displayed on the display panel 280 are appropriately selected or combined. At that time, a control signal is generated for the display panel controller 262 according to the image signal to be displayed, and the screen display frequency, the scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced), the number of scanning lines in one screen, etc. are displayed. The operation of the device is controlled appropriately.

Image data or character / graphic information is directly output to the image generation circuit 267, or an external computer or memory is accessed via the input / output interface circuit 265 to generate image data or character / figure information.
Enter graphic information.

It should be noted that the CPU 266 may of course be involved in work for other purposes. For example, like a personal computer or word processor,
It may be directly related to the function of generating and processing information.

Alternatively, as described above, it may be connected to an external computer network through the input / output interface circuit 265, and work such as numerical calculation may be performed in cooperation with an external device.

The input unit 274 is the CPU 266.
The user inputs commands, programs, data, and the like, and various input devices such as a joystick, a bar code reader, and a voice recognition device can be used in addition to a keyboard and a mouse.

The decoder 264 converts various image signals input from the above 267 to 273 into three primary color signals,
Alternatively, it is a circuit for inverse conversion into a luminance signal, an I signal, and a Q signal. In addition, as shown by a dotted line in FIG.
It is preferable that 64 has an image memory therein. This is to handle a television signal that requires an image memory for reverse conversion, such as the MUSE method. Further, the provision of the image memory facilitates the display of a still image, or the image generation circuit 26.
This is because, in cooperation with the CPU 7 and the CPU 266, there is an advantage that image processing and editing such as image thinning, interpolation, enlargement, reduction, and composition can be easily performed.

Also, the multiplexer 263 is the CPU
The display image is appropriately selected based on the control signal input from 266. That is, the multiplexer 263 selects a desired image signal from the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 264 and outputs it to the drive circuit 261. In that case, by switching and selecting image signals within one screen display time, it is possible to divide one screen into a plurality of areas and display different images depending on the areas, as in a so-called multi-screen television. .

Also, the display panel controller 2
Reference numeral 62 is a circuit for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 261 based on a control signal input from the CPU 266.

First, regarding the basic operation of the display panel, for example, a signal for controlling the operation sequence of the drive power source (not shown) for the display panel is output to the drive circuit 261.

Further, regarding the driving method of the display panel, for example, a signal for controlling the screen display frequency and the scanning method (for example, interlace or non-interlace) is output to the drive circuit 261.

In some cases, control signals relating to image quality adjustment such as brightness, contrast, color tone and sharpness of a display image may be output to the drive circuit 261.

The drive circuit 261 is a circuit for generating a drive signal to be applied to the display panel 280. The drive circuit 261 receives an image signal input from the multiplexer 263 and a control signal input from the display panel controller 262. It operates based on.

The functions of the respective parts have been described above. With the configuration illustrated in FIG. 17, the display panel 2 displays image information input from various image information sources in this display device.
70 can be displayed. That is, various image signals such as television broadcasts are inversely converted by the decoder 264, appropriately selected by the multiplexer 263, and input to the drive circuit 261. On the other hand, the display controller 262 generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 261 according to the image signal to be displayed. The drive circuit 261 applies a drive signal to the display panel 280 based on the image signal and the control signal. As a result, the image is displayed on the display panel 280. These series of operations are performed by the CPU 2
It is totally controlled by 66.

Further, in this display device, an image memory built in the decoder 264 and an image generation circuit 267 are provided.
With the involvement of the CPU 266, not only the selected one of the plurality of image information is displayed, but also the image information to be displayed is enlarged, reduced, rotated, moved, edge emphasized, thinned, interpolated, or the like. It is also possible to perform image processing such as color conversion and aspect ratio conversion of images, and image editing such as combining, erasing, connecting, replacing, and fitting. Further, in the description of this embodiment,
Although not particularly mentioned, a dedicated circuit for processing and editing audio information may be provided as in the above-mentioned image processing and image editing.

Therefore, the present display device is a display device for television broadcasting, a terminal device for a video conference, an image editing device for handling still images and moving images, a computer terminal device, an office terminal device such as a word processor, and a game. It is possible to combine the functions of a machine, etc., and has a very wide range of applications for industrial or consumer use.

It is needless to say that FIG. 17 described above merely shows an example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to this. For example, of the constituent elements of FIG. 17, circuits relating to functions that are unnecessary for the purpose of use may be omitted. On the contrary, the constituent elements may be added depending on the purpose of use. For example, when the display device is applied as a videophone, it is preferable to add a television camera, a voice microphone, an illuminator, a transmission / reception circuit including a modem, and the like to the constituent elements.

In this display device, in particular, since it is easy to thin the display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron source, the depth of the display device can be reduced. In addition, a display panel using surface conduction electron-emitting devices as an electron source can easily make a large screen, has high brightness, and has excellent viewing angle characteristics, so that this display device provides a realistic and powerful image. It can be displayed well.

Further, since the electron source of the present invention has uniform electron emission characteristics among the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the quality of the formed image is high and a high-definition image can be displayed. .

[0199]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the electron emission portion is resistant to noise during driving, the electron emission characteristic is stable, and it is possible to drive for a long time, so that a good image display device can be configured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a manufacturing process of a surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a voltage waveform of an energization process for manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a measurement evaluation system for evaluating electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a simple matrix electron source of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a display panel of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a fluorescent film used in the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a ladder type electron source of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a display panel of an image forming apparatus of the present invention using a ladder type electron source.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an electron source used in an image forming apparatus of Example 4 of the invention.

FIG. 14 is a partial cross-sectional view of an electron source according to Example 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a manufacturing process diagram of the electron source according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a manufacturing process diagram of the electron source according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Insulating Substrate 2 Electron Emitting Section 3 Conductive Thin Film 4, 5 Element Electrode 21 Step Forming Member 50 Ammeter 51 Power Supply 52 Ammeter 53 High Voltage Power Supply 54 Anode Electrode 55 Vacuum Device 56 Exhaust Pump 102 X Direction Wiring 103 Y Direction Wiring 104 Surface conduction electron-emitting device 105 Connection 111 Rear plate 112 Support frame 113 Glass substrate 114 Fluorescent film 115 Metal back 116 Face plate 118 Envelope 121 Black conductive material 122 Fluorescent substance 141 Interlayer insulating layer 142 Contact hole 201 Display panel 202 Scanning Circuit 203 Control circuit 204 Shift register 205 Line memory 206 Synchronous signal separation circuit 207 Modulation signal generator 261 Drive circuit 262 Display panel controller 263 Multiplexer 264 Decoder 265 Input / output Interface 266 CPU 267 image generation circuit 268 image memory interface 269 image memory interface 270 image memory interface 271 image input memory interface 272 TV signal receiving circuit 273 TV signal receiving circuit 274 input section 280 display panel 301 display panel 302 grid electrode 303 opening 304 Common wiring

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H01J 31/15 C

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. An electron-emitting device comprising a pair of device electrodes provided on an insulating substrate so as to face each other, and a conductive thin film having an electron-emitting portion provided between the device electrodes,
A surface conduction electron-emitting device comprising carbon and metal carbide in the vicinity of the electron-emitting portion. 2. The surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the conductive thin film is made of at least a metal or a metal oxide. 3. The surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 2, wherein the metal element of the metal or metal oxide forming the conductive thin film is the same as the metal element of the metal carbide. 4. The surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 2, wherein the metal element of the metal or the metal oxide forming the conductive thin film is different from the metal element of the metal carbide. 5. The surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the conductive thin film is made of a carbide of a metal different from at least the metal element of the metal carbide. 6. The surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the device electrodes are flat devices formed on the same surface. 7. A vertical type element in which element electrodes are vertically arranged with an insulating layer interposed and a conductive thin film is formed on a side surface of the insulating layer. Surface conduction electron-emitting device. 8. A ladder arrangement in which at least one row of the electron-emitting devices according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is arranged in parallel and connected and the wiring for driving each device is a ladder-like layout. An electron source characterized by being stored. 9. At least one row of elements formed by arranging a plurality of electron-emitting devices according to claims 1 to 7 is provided, and wirings for driving the elements are arranged in a matrix. Electron source. 10. An electron source according to claim 8, an image forming member,
And an image forming apparatus having a control electrode for controlling an electron beam emitted from each element according to an information signal. 11. An image forming apparatus comprising the electron source according to claim 9 and an image forming member. 12. The method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein a metal carbide layer and a carbon layer are formed as a conductive thin film between the device electrodes on the insulating substrate, and then an energization process is performed. A method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device, comprising forming an electron-emitting portion and further depositing carbon and a carbon compound on the electron-emitting portion. 13. The method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 3, wherein a metal or metal oxide layer is formed as a conductive thin film between the device electrodes on the insulating substrate, and the surface is formed. A method for manufacturing a surface-conduction electron-emitting device, characterized by forming an electron-emitting portion in the conductive thin film by an electric current treatment after carbonization, and depositing carbon and a carbon compound on the electron-emitting portion. 14. The method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 4, wherein a metal or metal oxide layer as a conductive thin film is provided between the device electrodes on the insulating substrate, and the metal or metal oxide. And a metal carbide layer having a different metal element from each other, and then an electron emission portion is formed on the conductive thin film by an electric current treatment, and carbon and a carbon compound are deposited on the electron emission portion. Type electron-emitting device manufacturing method. 15. The method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 5, wherein two kinds of metal carbide layers having different metal elements are laminated as a conductive thin film between the device electrodes on the insulating substrate, A method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device, comprising forming an electron-emitting portion on the conductive thin film by applying electricity, and then depositing carbon and a carbon compound on the electron-emitting portion. 16. A method of manufacturing an electron source, which comprises forming a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices on the same substrate by the method of any one of claims 12 to 15. 17. An electron source is manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 16, and the obtained electron source is irradiated with an electron beam from the control electrode for controlling an electron beam emitted from the electron source. A method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus, characterized in that the method is combined with an image forming member for forming an image. 18. An image produced by manufacturing an electron source by the manufacturing method according to claim 16, and combining the obtained electron source with an image forming member for forming an image by irradiation of an electron beam from the electron source. Manufacturing method of forming apparatus.