JPH08315723A - Electron beam generator and image forming device using it - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent electron beam from being off the path by setting the height of the upper face of a conductive supporting member to which a semiconductive supporting member constituting an electron source is connected to be substantially equal to the height of the upper face of a conductor on which the semiconductive supporting member is not arranged. CONSTITUTION: A spacer 5 is set up at part of line-directional wiring 12 via a conductive connection 58 and a conductive member 70 is provided on the other line-directional wiring. The height of the upper face of the conductive connection 58 is set equal to the height of the upper face of the conductive member 70. In this way, potential distribution caused on the surface of the spacer can be equal to potential distribution in a space above the line-directional wiring on which the spacer is not set up and, if the spacer 5 is set up at one line-directional wiring via the conductive connection 58, electric optical property similar to that on the other line-directional wiring can be realized, so that electron beam, if given from any electron emission part, flies while depicting a similar path.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron beam generator having a supporting member (spacer) and an image forming apparatus such as a display device which is an application thereof, and more particularly to an electron beam generator having a large number of electron-emitting devices and The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an image forming apparatus using electrons has an envelope for maintaining a vacuum state, an electron source for emitting electrons and a driving circuit therefor, a phosphor which emits light by collision of electrons, and the like. An image forming member, an accelerating electrode for accelerating electrons toward the image forming member, a high voltage power source thereof, and the like are required. Further, in an image forming apparatus using a flat envelope such as a thin image display apparatus, a supporting member (spacer) may be used as the atmospheric pressure resistant structure.

As an electron-emitting device used in an electron source of an image forming apparatus, a cold cathode is known in addition to a hot cathode conventionally used in a CRT or the like. The cold cathode includes a field emission type (hereinafter abbreviated as FE type), a metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter abbreviated as MIM type), a surface conduction type emission element, and the like.

As an example of the FE type, WPDyke & WWDol
an, "Field emission", Advance in Electron Physics, 8,
89 (1956) or CASpindt, "Physical Properties of
Thin-film Field Emission Cathodes with Molybdeniu
m Cones ", J. Appl. Phys., 47, 5248 (1976) and the like.

As an example of the MIM type, CAMead, "Operatio
n of tunnel-emission Devices ", J.Appl.Phys., 32, 646
(1961) and the like are known.

As an example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, M.
I. Elinson, Radio Eng. Electron Phys., 10, 1290, (1965)
Etc.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electron emission occurs when a current is passed through a thin film having a small area formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. As the surface conduction electron-emitting device, one using the SnO2 thin film by the above-mentioned Erinson, and one using the Au thin film [G. Dittmer: "
Thin Solid Films ", 9, 317 (1972)] In2O3 / SnO2 thin films [M. Hartwell and CGFonstad:" IEEE Trans.ED Con
f. ", 519 (1975)], by carbon thin film [Hiraki Araki
Others: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22 (1983)] and the like are reported. As a typical device configuration of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the above-mentioned M. The Hartwell device configuration is shown in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 3001 is an insulating substrate. A conductive thin film 3002 is made of a metal oxide thin film or the like formed by sputtering on an H-shaped pattern, and an electron emitting portion 3003 is formed by an energization process called forming described later.

Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the electron-emitting portion forming thin film 3 is formed before electron emission.
It was general that the electron-emitting portion 3003 was formed in advance by conducting electricity called 002. That is, forming means that a voltage is applied across both ends of the conductive thin film 3002 to locally destroy the conductive thin film,
This is to form the electron emitting portion 3003 which is deformed or altered so as to have an electrically high resistance state. In the electron emitting portion 3003, a crack is generated in a part of the electron emitting portion forming thin film 3002, and electrons are emitted from the vicinity of the crack. Hereinafter, a conductive thin film 3002 including an electron emitting portion 3003 formed by forming will be referred to as a thin film 3004 including an electron emitting portion.
Call. The surface-conduction electron-emitting device that has undergone the forming process is one in which electrons are emitted from the electron-emitting region 3003 by applying a voltage to the thin film 3004 including the electron-emitting region and passing a current through the device.

As an example in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are formed in an array, the surface conduction electron-emission devices are arranged in parallel, and a large number of rows in which both ends of each element are connected by wiring are arranged in an electron array. Source (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-31332 of the present applicant).

By combining an electron source formed by arranging a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices with a phosphor serving as an image forming member which emits light (visible light) by the electrons emitted from the electron source, various phosphors can be obtained. An image forming apparatus, mainly a display device is configured (for example, US
P5066883), it is relatively easy to manufacture even with a large screen device,
And because it is a self-luminous display device with excellent display quality, CR
It is expected as an image forming apparatus that can be replaced with T.

[0011] For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. HEI 2 previously proposed by the present applicant.
In the image forming apparatus as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 257551, the selection of a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices is carried out by wiring in which the surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel and connected (row direction wiring). , And in the direction orthogonal to the row-direction wiring (column direction) by an appropriate drive signal to the wiring (column-direction wiring) connected to the control electrode installed in the space between the electron source and the phosphor. .

[0012]

As described above, in an image forming apparatus (plate type CRT) which has been tried in recent years, a cold cathode element is used as an electron source and a supporting member (spacer) is used as an atmospheric pressure resistant structure. ) Has been made lighter and thinner.

However, in such a flat panel CRT, there has been a problem that a display image is disturbed near the supporting member. It is said that the main reason for this is that the support member is electrically charged and affects the trajectory of the electron beam, and attempts have been made to prevent the charge by giving conductivity to the support member. Came.

However, it is not possible to completely solve the disorder of the displayed image by simply providing the support member with conductivity, and there are still problems such as positional deviation of the light emitting point, decrease in brightness, and color misregistration around the support member. Had occurred.

[0015]

In view of the above problems, the present invention has been made in order to form a uniform image over the entire screen in an image forming apparatus having a built-in atmospheric pressure resistant support member having conductivity. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing a light emitting point from being displaced around the support member, a decrease in brightness, and a color shift from occurring.

As a result of earnest studies, the present inventors have found that the above-mentioned phenomenon is mainly caused by electrons emitted from an electron source.

According to the present invention for achieving the above object, an electron-emitting device, a plurality of row-direction wiring lines composed of conductors for applying a voltage to the electron-emitting device, and arranged to face the electron-emitting device. In the electron beam generator having the accelerated accelerating electrode and a semi-conductive supporting member arranged between a part of the wiring and the accelerating electrode, the wiring is connected through a connecting member made of a conductor. A support member has wiring connected thereto, and the height of the upper surface of the connection member and the height of the upper surface of the conductor in the row-direction wiring where the supporting member is not arranged are substantially equal. To do.

Further, the wiring to which the supporting member is connected has a concave portion, the connecting member is arranged in the concave portion, and the height of the upper surface of the connecting member and the wiring where the supporting member is not arranged. The heights of the upper surfaces of the are substantially equal.

Further, a conductor is arranged on the wiring on which the supporting member is not arranged, and the height of the upper surface of the conductor is substantially equal to the height of the upper surface of the connecting member. .

Further, the thickness of the wiring to which the supporting member is connected is different from the thickness of the wiring to which the supporting member is not arranged, and the height of the upper surface of the connecting member and the supporting member are arranged. The height of the upper surface of the wiring which is not
Characterized by being almost equal.

Further, an electron-emitting device, a plurality of row-direction wirings made of a conductor for applying a voltage to the electron-emitting device, an accelerating electrode arranged to face the electron-emitting device,
A semiconductor support member arranged between the wiring and the acceleration electrode, the wiring being connected to the support member via a connecting member made of a conductor; and the support member. In the electron beam generator having a wiring in which the supporting member is not arranged, when the same potential is applied to the wiring to which the supporting member is connected and the wiring in which the supporting member is not arranged, the potential of the surface of the supporting member is The thickness of the conductor is controlled so that the distribution and the potential distribution in the space between the wiring where the supporting member is not arranged and the acceleration electrode are substantially equal to each other.

When the support member (spacer) is an insulating member, a semiconductive film is provided on the surface. This is to prevent the charging described above, and has a function of neutralizing the charging by passing a weak current through the semiconductive film. The support member (spacer) may be a semi-conductive member, and in this case, the current flowing through the surface region contributes to the prevention of electrification. Therefore, when the support member (spacer) itself is semiconductive, it is not always necessary to attach a semiconductive film on the surface.

When the supporting member (spacer) is held, a conductive connecting member having conductivity is used as the spacer so that the semiconductive film on the surface of the insulating member or the semiconductive member can be electrically connected to the wiring. And between the wiring. This is because a weak current is applied to the surface of the spacer to neutralize the charge. However, when the conductive connecting member between the spacer and the wiring is thick, a potential gradient occurs around the member. Therefore, if this is left as it is, the orbits of the electrons emitted from the element are deviated.

Therefore, the configuration of the present invention is adopted.

Further, according to the idea of the present invention, it is not limited to an image forming apparatus suitable for display, but as an alternative light emitting source such as a light emitting diode of an optical printer including a photosensitive drum and a light emitting diode. The image forming apparatus described above can also be used. In addition to the linear light source, 2
It can also be applied as a three-dimensional light source.

Further, according to the concept of the present invention, electrons emitted from an electron source, such as an electron microscope, are used.
The present invention can be applied to a case other than the image forming member and the electron beam generator.

[0027]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The operation and effect of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 11, 12, 13, and 24.

(A) Emitted electron trajectory In FIG. 1, each electron-emitting device 15 has a terminal Dox1 outside the container.
Through Doxm and Doy1 through Doyn, electrons are emitted from the electron emitting portion 23.
At the same time, metal back 8 (or transparent electrode not shown)
A high voltage of several kV or more is applied to the high voltage terminal Hv to accelerate the electrons emitted from the electron emitting portion 23 to collide with the inner surface of the face plate 3. As a result, the phosphor of the phosphor film 7 is excited and emits light, and an image is displayed.

This situation is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. FIG.
1 and FIG. 12 are views for explaining the generation states of electrons and scattering particles described later in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 11 is a view seen from the Y direction, and FIG.
It is the figure seen from the direction. That is, as shown in FIG.
The electrons emitted from the electron emitting portion 23 by applying the voltage Vf to the element electrodes 16 and 17 of the electron source 1 are element electrodes on the high potential side with respect to the normal line from the emitting portion 23 on the face plate 3. It shifts to 17 and follows the parabolic trajectory indicated by 25t and flies. Therefore, the center of the light emitting portion of the fluorescent film 7 is deviated from the normal line from the electron emitting portion 23 to the surface of the electron source 1. Such radiation characteristics are
It is considered that this is because the potential distribution in the plane parallel to is asymmetric with respect to the electron emitting portion 23.

(B) Deviation of orbit of emitted electrons In studying an image forming apparatus using an electron source having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the inventors of the present invention found that the light emitting position on a phosphor forming an image forming member. It was found that the (electron collision position) and the emission shape sometimes deviated from the design values. In particular, when an image forming member for a color image is used, a decrease in luminance and a color shift may occur together with a shift in the light emitting position. It was also confirmed that this phenomenon occurs near a supporting frame or a supporting member (spacer) arranged between the electron source and the image forming member.

Particularly, in the present invention, a supporting member (spacer)
Interpret the above phenomenon that occurs in the vicinity of.

Here, the electron orbit near the spacer 5 is considered as follows.

In addition to the fact that the electrons emitted from the electron source 1 reach the inner surface of the face plate 2 and the light emission phenomenon of the fluorescent film 7 occurs, the electron collision with the fluorescent film 7 and the probability that the electron will collide with the residual gas in the vacuum are low. Due to electron collision, scattering particles (ions, secondary electrons, neutral particles, etc.) are generated with a certain probability.
It is considered that the vehicle flies in the envelope 10 along the locus indicated by 26t.

The present inventors have found that the light emission position (electron collision position) and the light emission shape on the fluorescent film 7 located near the spacer 5 may deviate from the designed values. In particular, when an image forming member for a color image is used, a decrease in luminance and a color shift may occur in addition to the light emitting position shift.

The main cause of this phenomenon is that a part of the scattering particles collide with the exposed portion of the insulating substrate 5a of the spacer 5 and the exposed portion is charged, so that an electric field is generated in the vicinity of the exposed portion. It is considered that the change in the electron orbit caused the change in the emission position and the emission position of the phosphor.

It was also found from the situation of the change in the light emitting position and shape of the phosphor that positive charges were mainly accumulated in the exposed portion. The cause of this may be that positive ions of the scattering particles are attached and charged, or positive charges are generated by secondary electron emission generated when the scattering particles collide with the exposed portion.

(C) Countermeasures against deviation of emitted electron orbit The present inventors applied a semi-conductive film to the surface of the spacer to prevent the above-mentioned positive charge, and neutralized the positive charge. At this time, a conductive connecting portion 58 is provided in order to maintain the conductivity between the semiconductive film, the electron source, and the face plate. However, in the image forming apparatus, the wiring made of a conductor is
Since there is a wiring to which the supporting member is connected via the conductive connecting member 58 made of a conductor and a wiring to which the supporting member is not arranged, the electric field is distorted by the conductive connecting portion 58. Therefore, by applying the conductive member 70 to the row-direction wirings 12 in which the spacers are not arranged (see FIG. 13), it is possible to prevent the deviation of the electron beam emitted from the electron emission portion. That is, the wiring made of a conductor is connected to the wiring to which the support member is connected via the conductive connecting member made of a conductor,
In an image forming apparatus having a wiring in which a supporting member is not arranged, the present invention provides a height of an upper surface of a conductive connecting member to which the supporting member is connected and a height of an upper surface of a conductor in which the supporting member is not arranged. However, when they are equal to each other, the deviation of the electron beam orbit near the spacer due to the gradient in the potential distribution near the electron emitting portion is prevented. This effect will be described with reference to FIG.

In the following description, the potential distribution is represented by equipotential lines. As a result of performing the electric field simulation, a potential distribution as shown in FIG. 24 was obtained.

1 is an electron source, 3 is a face plate, 5 is a support member (spacer), 7 is a fluorescent film, 8 is a metal back, 12 is a row wiring, 23 is an electron emitting portion, 25 is an emitted electron, and 58 is A conductive connection portion, 60 is an equipotential line, and 70 is a conductive member.

FIG. 24A shows the case where there is no spacer, and when an acceleration voltage is applied to the metal back 8, the equipotential lines 60 are formed so that the electron emitting portions are equivalently formed on both sides. When electrons are emitted from the electron-emitting device, the electrons follow the electric field in the direction of the accelerating electrode, which is the direction of the image forming member (toward the fluorescent film 7).
Although it moves, the electron orbit is not bent in the row wiring direction on one side as described later.

FIG. 24B is an explanatory view when the present invention is not applied, and shows a state in which a conductive connecting portion 58 is formed on the row wiring 12 to hold a spacer and make an electrical contact. However, in the vicinity of the spacer having the conductive connecting portion 58, the potential of the conductive connecting portion 58 is substantially equal to that of the row-direction wiring 12, so the equipotential lines have a shape as shown in FIG. 24B.
The left and right balance of the electron emitting portion 23 is lost. For this reason, the electron orbit is bent in the direction of repulsion from the spacer 5 as shown in the figure, and a beam shift occurs.

FIGS. 24C and 24D show the case where the present invention is applied. In FIG. 24C, the height of one of the wiring electrodes is increased to be equal to the combined height of the other wiring electrode and the conductive connection. FIG. 24D shows a case where the conductive connecting portion 58 and the conductive member 70 are formed symmetrically with respect to the electron emitting portion 23. As in these examples of the present invention, the upper surface of the wiring on which the conductive connecting member is arranged and the upper surface of the wiring on which the conductive connecting member is not arranged have the same height, so that the left and right sides of the electron emitting portion 23 are symmetrical. By forming a different potential distribution, the emitted electrons 25 can be moved in a desired direction (the fluorescent body 7 direction).

That is, as shown in FIG. 24D, the potential distribution in the vicinity of the electron emitting portion 23 is symmetric with respect to the direction perpendicular to the surface of the electron source 1, and the conductive line is formed on the row-direction wiring 12 in which the spacer is not arranged. The conductive member 70 is formed so that the upper surface of the conductive connecting member 58 and the upper surface of the conductive member 70 have the same height. By adopting the above-mentioned configuration of the present invention, the potential distribution in the vicinity of the electron emitting portion 23 has a gradient,
The deviation of the electron beam trajectory in the vicinity of the spacer 5 is prevented.

Thus, the electron beam shift near the spacer can be prevented by effectively using the conductive material.

As described above, in order to neutralize the charge by applying a weak current to the semiconductor conductive member, the semiconductive portion of the spacer is electrically connected to the electrode portion (or the wiring portion) of the element substrate at the upper and lower ends of the spacer. And an electrical connection is required between the accelerating electrode and the accelerating electrode. Further, in a thin image forming apparatus or the like, it is necessary to firmly hold a supporting member (spacer) used for maintaining an atmospheric pressure resistant structure as a structural material.

Here, the constituent materials of the conductive connecting portion for firmly connecting the supporting pillars (spacers) and simultaneously achieving the electrical connection will be described.

A sealing material is used for the purpose of firmly connecting the supporting members (spacers). In addition, a conductive filler is used for electrical connection. In the present invention, a conductive filler dispersed in a sealing material is used as the conductive connecting material. The sealing material and the conductive filler will be described below.

A low melting point glass (frit glass) is used as the sealing material, and heat fusion is performed at about 400 to 550 ° C. There are several types of frit glass, crystalline and non-crystalline, and different in composition, and can be appropriately selected according to the sealing temperature and the coefficient of thermal expansion of the member used. Since the frit glass alone is a powder, when it is applied, it is mixed with an organic solvent to form a paste-like frit glass mixture, which has viscosity at room temperature in consideration of workability during application. This frit glass mixture is hereinafter referred to as "frit paste".

The conductive filler which is another constituent material of the conductive connection portion is obtained by forming a metal film on the surface of a glass sphere such as soda lime glass or silica having a diameter of 5 to 50 μm by a plating method or the like. it can.

At the time of forming the conductive connecting portion, the conductive connecting portion is formed by applying a paste-like mixed liquid obtained by mixing the frit paste and the conductive filler described above by screen printing or a dispenser and baking.

Here, as an example, as the frit glass, an amorphous frit glass (LS manufactured by Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd.) is used.
-3081) and Au-plated soda lime glass spheres are used as the conductive filler.

As the conductive filler, soda lime spheres having an average particle size of 30 μm were used, and as the conductive layer on the filler surface, an electroless plating method was used to form a 0.1 μm Ni film as an underlayer and an Au film with a thickness of 0.1 μm. It was manufactured by sequentially depositing 05 μm. This conductive filler was mixed with frit glass powder, and a binder was added as described below to prepare a coating paste. (1) Preparation, Application and Drying Process of Conductive Frit Paste A conductive filler is mixed with 30% by weight of frit glass powder, and an acrylic resin as a binder is dissolved in terpineol to form a paste. Frit paste) is applied to the sealing portion, and then dried at 120 ° C. for 10 to 20 minutes.

As a conventional frit applying method, there is a dispenser robot in which a dispenser for ejecting a frit paste with a needle is combined with a robot for moving and controlling the positions of an ejecting portion and a member to be coated in a three-dimensional manner with high accuracy. It is used and can be suitably used for the conductive frit paste used in the present invention. The dispenser robot is industrially widely used as a coating device for various paste-like substances such as cream solder and is also on the market. (2) Pre-baking step In order to remove the binder in the conductive frit paste, the maximum temperature is the decomposition of the binder and the combustion temperature of 320 ° C.
Pre-baking is performed so that the temperature becomes ˜380 ° C. In this step, the surface of the conductive frit is sintered. (3) Main firing step Heating is performed so that the maximum temperature reaches the sealing temperature of 410 ° C. In this step, the conductive frit is melted and then solidified by cooling to complete the sealing.

Therefore, the sealing step usually requires two heating steps.

Further, it is desirable that the following relationships are established in the configuration of the present invention.

Resistance of spacer section >> Resistance of conductive connection section ≈ Resistance of wiring electrode The resistance value of the spacer is preferably 10 4 [Ω / □] or more in the surface resistance value as described above. On the other hand, it is desirable that the resistance value of each of the conductive connection portion and the wiring electrode is smaller than that of the spacer by two digits or more, preferably four digits or more. Further, the difference in resistance value between the conductive connection portion and the wiring electrode can be almost ignored when the difference in resistance value between the spacer and the spacer is within the above range. This is because the large resistance difference between the conductive connection part and the wiring electrode causes the disturbance of the electric field, but when the difference between the resistance of the spacer part and the resistance value of other parts is large, the vicinity of the wiring electrode and the conductive connection part is large. This is because the effect on the electron orbit at is small enough to be ignored. However, in order to further reduce the influence, it is desirable that the resistance difference between the conductive connection portion and the wiring electrode is two digits or less.

The image forming apparatus to which the embodiment is applied is basically a multi-electron source formed by arranging a large number of cold cathode elements on a substrate in a thin vacuum container, and an image is formed by irradiation of electrons. And an image forming member to be opposed.

Since the cold cathode elements can be precisely positioned and formed on the substrate by using a manufacturing technique such as photolithography / etching, it is possible to arrange a large number of them at minute intervals. Moreover, compared with a hot cathode conventionally used in a CRT or the like, the cathode itself and its peripheral portion can be driven in a relatively low temperature state, so that a multiple electron source with a finer array pitch can be easily realized.

The present embodiment relates to an image forming apparatus using the above-mentioned cold cathode device as a multi electron source.

Among the cold cathode devices, the surface conduction electron-emitting device is particularly preferable. That is, of the cold cathode devices, the MIM type device needs to control the thickness of the insulating layer and the upper electrode relatively precisely, and the FE type device precisely controls the tip shape of the needle-shaped electron emitting portion. There is a need. Therefore, these elements may have a relatively high manufacturing cost, or it may be difficult to manufacture a large area device due to restrictions in the manufacturing process.

On the other hand, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture, and a large-area one can be easily manufactured. In recent years, it can be said that this is a particularly suitable cold cathode element particularly in a situation where a large-area and inexpensive display device is required.

The Applicant has also found that among the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the one in which the electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film is preferable in terms of characteristics or increasing the area. There is.

Therefore, in the embodiments of the present invention described below, an image display device using a surface conduction electron-emitting device formed by using a fine particle film as a multiple electron source is a preferable example of the image forming device of the present invention. explain.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the description, the name of row-direction wiring is used, but this is a group of regularly arranged wirings, a part of which is provided with a support member,
For convenience, I read this. Therefore, even if this is called by another name such as column wiring, there is no problem from the idea of the present invention.

<First Embodiment> (Conductive Frit is Formed on Entire Surface of Wiring Electrode) FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a sectional view (a part of AA ′ section) of a main part of the image formation shown in FIG. 1.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, an electron source 1 having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices (hereinafter abbreviated as electron-emitting devices) 15 arranged in a matrix is fixed to a rear plate 2. With respect to the electron source 1, a face plate 3 as an image forming member, in which a fluorescent film 7 and a metal pack 8 as an accelerating electrode are formed on an inner surface of a glass substrate 6, is provided with a supporting frame 4 made of an insulating material interposed therebetween. A high voltage is applied between the electron source 1 and the metal pack 8 by a power source (not shown). The rear plate 2, the support frame 4, and the face plate 3 are sealed to each other with frit glass or the like, and the rear plate 2, the support frame 4, and the face plate 3 constitute an envelope 10.

Further, the inside of the envelope 10 is 10 −6.
Since a vacuum of about torr is maintained, a thin plate spacer 5 is provided inside the envelope 10 as an atmospheric pressure resistant structure for the purpose of preventing damage to the envelope 10 due to atmospheric pressure or unexpected impact. Is provided. The spacer 5 is an insulating base material 5a
Of a member having a semi-conductive film 5b formed on the surface thereof, and the members are arranged in parallel in the X-direction at the necessary number and at necessary intervals to achieve the above-mentioned object. The inner surface and the surface of the electron source 1 are sealed with frit glass or the like. The semiconductive film 5b is electrically connected to the inner surface of the face plate 3 and the surface of the electron source 1 (row-direction wiring 12 described later).

The above-mentioned components will be described in detail below.

(1) Electron Source 1 FIG. 3 is a plan view of an essential part of the electron source 1 of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a BB ′ of the electron source 1 shown in FIG.
It is a line sectional view.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, on the insulating substrate 11 made of a glass substrate or the like, m row-direction wirings 12 and n column-direction wirings 13 are electrically connected by the interlayer insulating layer 14. Separated and wired on the matrix. An electron-emitting device 1 is provided between each row-direction wiring 12 and each column-direction wiring 13.
5 is electrically connected. Each electron-emitting device 15 has
One of the pair of device electrodes 16 and 17 is composed of a pair of device electrodes 16 and 17 arranged at intervals in the X direction and a conductive thin film 18 that connects the device electrodes 16 and 17, respectively. The device electrode 16 is electrically connected to the row-directional wiring 12, and the other device electrode 17 is electrically connected to the column-directional wiring 13 through a contact hole 14 a formed in the interlayer insulating layer 14. Row direction wiring 12 and column direction wiring 13
Are external terminals Dox1 to Dox shown in FIG. 1, respectively.
xm and Doy1 to Doyn are drawn out of the external factor 10.

As the insulating substrate 11, quartz glass, N
Examples thereof include glass having a reduced content of impurities such as a, soda lime glass, a member such as a glass substrate in which Sio2 formed by sputtering is laminated on soda lime glass, and a ceramic member such as alumina. Insulating substrate 11
The size and thickness of the electron emission element are the number of electron emission elements installed on the insulating substrate 11, the design shape of each electron emission element, and the vacuum when the electron source 1 itself constitutes a part of the external factor 10. It is set as appropriate depending on the conditions for holding in.

The row-direction wirings 12 and the column-direction wirings 13 are each made of a conductive metal or the like formed in a desired pattern on the insulating substrate 11 by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method or the like, and emit a large number of electrons. The material, the film thickness, and the wiring width are set so that the element 15 is supplied with a voltage as uniform as possible.

The interlayer insulating layer 14 is formed by a vacuum vapor deposition method, a printing method,
SiO2 or the like formed by a sputtering method or the like, which is formed in a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the insulating substrate 11 on which the column-directional wiring 13 is formed, and particularly at the intersection of the row-directional wiring 12 and the column-directional wiring 13. The film thickness, material, and manufacturing method are appropriately set so as to withstand the potential difference.

Device electrodes 16 and 17 of the electron-emitting device 15
Are made of a conductive metal or the like, and are formed into a desired pattern by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like.

The conductive metals of the row wiring 12, the column wiring 13, and the device electrodes 16 and 17 may be the same or different in some or all of their constituent elements. Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al,
Cu, Pd and other metals or alloys, and Pd, Ag,
A printed conductor composed of a metal such as Au, RuO2, Pd-Ag or the like, a metal oxide and glass, or In2O2-Sn
It is defined and selected from a transparent conductor such as O2 and a semiconductor material such as polysilicon.

Specific examples of the material forming the conductive thin film 18 include Pd, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu,
Metals such as Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, Pd, P
Oxides such as dO, SnO2, In2O3, PbO, Sb2O3, HfB2, HfC, LaB6, CeB6, YB
4, boride such as GdB4, TiC, ZrC, HfC, T
Carbides such as aC, SiC, WC, TiN, ZrH, Hf
Nitride such as N, semiconductor such as Si and Ge, carbon, A
g, Mg, Ni, Cu, Pb, Sn, etc., and is composed of a fine particle film.

Further, the row-direction wiring 12 is electrically connected to a scan signal generating means (not shown) for applying a scan signal for arbitrarily scanning a row of the electron-emitting devices 15 arranged in the X direction. ing. On the other hand, the column-direction wiring 13 is electronically connected to a modulation signal generating means (not shown) for applying a modulation signal for arbitrarily modulating each column of the electron-emitting devices 15 arranged in the Y direction. . The driving voltage applied to each electron-emitting device 15 is individually supplied as a difference voltage between the scanning signal and the modulation signal applied to the electron-emitting device.

Here, an example of a method of manufacturing the electron source 1 will be specifically described in the order of steps with reference to FIG. The following steps a to h correspond to (a) to (h) in FIG.

Step a: Cr having a thickness of 50 angstroms and 5000 angstroms by vacuum deposition on an insulating substrate 11 in which a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 0.5 μm is formed on a cleaned soda lime glass by a sputtering method. Au is sequentially laminated, and then a photoresist (AZ1370,
(Hoechst) is spin coated by a spinner and baked, and then a photomask image is exposed and developed, and the column-direction wiring 13
Resist pattern was formed, and the Au / Cr deposited film was wet-etched to form the column-directional wiring 13 having a desired shape.

Step b: Next, an interlayer insulating layer 14 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 14a is formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in the step b, and using this as a mask, the interlayer insulating layer 14 is formed.
Was etched to form a contact hole 14a.
The etching is performed by RIE (Rea using CF4 and H2 gas).
The active Ion Etching) method was used. Step d: After that, a pattern which is to be a gap between the device electrodes and the device electrodes is formed with a photoresist (RD-2000N-41).
Made by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.) and has a thickness of 50 by the vacuum deposition method.
Angstrom Ti and 1000 Angstrom Ni were sequentially deposited.

The photoresist pattern is dissolved in an organic solvent, the Ni / Ti deposited film is lifted off, and the device electrode interval L
1 (see FIG. 3) is 3 μm, element electrode width W1 (see FIG. 3)
Of 300 μm were formed on the device electrodes 16 and 17.

Step e: On the element electrodes 16 and 17, the row-direction wiring 12 is formed by using a screen printing method to form Ag electrodes 20.
It was formed to a thickness of μm. The wiring electrode width was 300 μm.

Step f: As shown in FIG. 6, a pair of device electrodes 16 and 1 spaced apart by an inter-device electrode interval L1.
A Cr film 21 having a film thickness of 1000 angstrom is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation using a mask having an opening 20a extending over 7 and an organic Pd solution (cc
p4230 manufactured by Okuno Chemical Industries Co., Ltd. was spin-coated with a spinner and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes.

The conductive thin film 18 made of fine particles containing Pd as a main element thus formed has a film pressure of about 100 Å and a sheet resistance value of 5 × 10 4 [Ω].
/ □]. The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and its fine structure is not only in a state where the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged but also in a state where the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (island). (Including the shape), and the particle diameter thereof means the diameter of fine particles whose particle shape can be confirmed in the above state.

The organic metal solution (organic Pd solution in this example) means Pd, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In,
It is a solution of an organic compound containing a metal such as Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, or Pd as a main element. In addition, although the coating method of the organic metal solution is used as the method of manufacturing the conductive thin film 18 in this example, the method is not limited to this, and the vacuum deposition method, the sputtering method, the chemical vapor deposition method, the dispersion coating method, It may be formed by a dipping method, a spinner method, or the like.

Step g: Cr film 21 by acid etchant
Was removed to form a conductive thin film 18 having a desired pattern.

Step h: A pattern is formed such that a resist is applied to portions other than the contact hole 14a, and vacuum evaporation is performed to form Ti having a thickness of 50 Å and a thickness of 50.
00 angstroms of Au were sequentially deposited. Contact holes 14a were filled by removing unnecessary portions by lift-off.

Through the above steps, the row-direction wirings 12, the column-direction wirings 13 and the conductive thin film 18 are formed on the insulating substrate 11 in two layers.
It was formed dimensionally and at equal intervals.

The envelope 10 in which the electron source 1 is installed
(See FIG. 1) is exhausted by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, the external terminal Dox1
To Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn, a voltage was applied between the device electrodes 16 and 17, and the conductive thin film 18 was energized (forming process) to form the electron emitting portion 23.

Now, the energization process (forming process) will be described. 21 and 7 are views for explaining the forming process. 1102, 1103 are element electrodes, 1104 is a conductive thin film, 1105 is an electron emission part, 1110 is a forming power supply, 1111 is an ammeter.

As shown in FIG. 21, an appropriate voltage is applied from the forming power supply 1110 between the element electrodes 1102 and 1103, and energization forming processing is performed to form the electron emitting portion 1105.

The energization forming treatment means that the electroconductive thin film 1104 made of a fine particle film is energized so that a part of the electroconductive thin film 1104 is appropriately destroyed, deformed or altered to change into a structure suitable for electron emission. It is a process that causes it. A portion of the conductive thin film made of the fine particle film, which has been changed to a structure suitable for emitting electrons (that is, the electron emitting portion 110).
In 5), an appropriate crack is formed in the thin film.
Note that the electric resistance measured between the element electrodes 1102 and 1103 after the formation is significantly increased as compared with before the formation of the electron emission portion 1105.

In order to explain the energizing method in more detail, FIG. 7 shows an example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from the forming power supply 1110. When forming a conductive thin film made of a fine particle film, a pulsed voltage is preferable, and in the case of the present embodiment, a triangular wave pulse having a pulse width T1 is continuously formed at a pulse interval T2 as shown in FIG. Applied to. At that time, the peak value Vpf of the triangular wave pulse was sequentially increased.

In the embodiment, for example, in a vacuum atmosphere of about 10 −5 [torr],
For example, the pulse width T1 is 1 [millisecond] and the pulse interval is 10
[Millisecond], and the peak value Vpf is set to 0.1 for each pulse.
The voltage was increased by [V]. Then, the monitor pulse Pm was inserted once every five pulses of the triangular wave were applied.
In order not to adversely affect the forming process,
The voltage Vpm of the monitor pulse was set to 0.1 [V]. Then, when the electric resistance between the element electrodes 1102 and 1103 becomes 1 × 10 6 [Ohm], that is, when the monitor pulse is applied, the current measured by the ammeter 1111 is 1 × 10 −7 [A]. ] At the stage when the temperature became the following, the energization related to the forming process was terminated.

The above method is a preferred method for the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this embodiment, and the design of the surface conduction electron-emitting device such as the material and film thickness of the fine particle film or the device electrode spacing L is changed. In this case, it is desirable to appropriately change the energization conditions accordingly.

The above method is a preferable method for the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this embodiment, and the design of the surface conduction electron-emitting device such as the material and film thickness of the fine particle film or the device electrode spacing L is changed. In this case, it is desirable to appropriately change the energization conditions accordingly.

Next, the activation process will be described. Figure 2
2 and FIG. 23 are diagrams for explaining the activation processing. 1112 is a power source for activation, 1113 is a deposit, 11
14 is an anode electrode, 1115 is a DC high voltage power supply, 11
16 is an ammeter.

As shown in FIG. 22, the activation power supply 111
An appropriate voltage is applied between 2 and the device electrodes 1102 and 1103, and an energization activation process is performed to improve the electron emission characteristics.

The energization activation process is a process of energizing the electron-emitting portion 1105 formed by the energization forming process under appropriate conditions to deposit carbon or a carbon compound in the vicinity thereof (in the figure, Shows schematically a deposit made of carbon or a carbon compound as the member 1113). Note that by performing the energization activation process, the emission current at the same applied voltage can be increased typically 100 times or more as compared to before the energization activation process.

Specifically, it is 10 −4 or 1
By periodically applying a voltage pulse in a vacuum within a range of 0 minus 5 [torr], carbon or a carbon compound originating from an organic compound existing in the vacuum is deposited. The deposit 1113 is single crystal graphite,
Either polycrystalline graphite or amorphous carbon,
Alternatively, it is a mixture thereof, and the film thickness is 500 [angstrom] or less, more preferably 300 [angstrom] or less.

In order to describe the energization method in more detail, FIG. 23A shows an example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from the activation power supply 1112. In the present embodiment, the energization activation process is performed by periodically applying a rectangular wave having a constant voltage. Specifically, the rectangular wave voltage Vac was 14 [V], the pulse width T3 was 1 [millisecond], and the pulse interval T4 was 10 [millisecond]. The above-mentioned energization conditions are preferable conditions for the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device of this embodiment, and when the design of the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device is changed, it is desirable to appropriately change the conditions accordingly.

Reference numeral 1114 shown in FIG. 22 denotes an anode electrode for trapping the emission current Ie emitted from the surface conduction type emission element, which is a DC high voltage power source 1115 and an ammeter 11.
16 is connected (when the substrate 1101 is incorporated into the display panel and then the activation process is performed,
The fluorescent surface of the display panel is used as the anode electrode 1114).

While the voltage is applied from the activation power supply 1112, the emission current Ie is measured by the ammeter 1116 to monitor the progress of the energization activation process, and the activation power supply 1112 is monitored.
Control the behavior of. An example of the emission current Ie measured by the ammeter 1116 is shown in FIG.
When the pulse voltage is started to be applied from 12, the emission current Ie increases with the lapse of time, but eventually saturates and hardly increases. As described above, when the emission current Ie is almost saturated, the voltage application from the activation power supply 1112 is stopped, and the energization activation process is ended.

The above energization conditions are preferable conditions for the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device of this embodiment, and when the design of the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device is changed, the conditions should be changed accordingly. desirable.

As described above, a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device was manufactured.

FIG. 8 shows the characteristic evaluation of the electron-emitting device of the present invention produced by the above-mentioned structure and manufacturing method.
This will be described with reference to the schematic configuration diagram of the evaluation device shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 corresponds to an electron source in which one electron-emitting device is formed. In the figure, 11 is an insulating substrate, and 15 is an electron-emitting device formed on the insulating substrate 11. As a whole, 16 and 17 are device electrodes, 18 is a thin film including an electron emitting portion, and 23 is an electron emitting portion. Also, 31
Is a power supply for applying a device voltage Vf between the device electrodes 16 and 17, 30 is an ammeter for measuring a device current If flowing through the thin film 18 including the electron emitting portion between the device electrodes 16 and 17, and 34 is an electron Emission current Ie emitted from the emission unit 23
And an anode electrode 3 for capturing the
A high-voltage power supply for applying a voltage Va to 4 and an ammeter 32 for measuring the emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission portion 23. In measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie of the electron-emitting device, a power supply 31 and a current system 30 are connected to the device electrodes 16 and 17, and a power supply 33 and an ammeter 32 are connected above the electron-emitting device 15. Anode electrode 3
4 are arranged. Further, the electron-emitting device 15 and the anode electrode 34 are installed in a vacuum device, and the vacuum device is provided with equipment necessary for the vacuum device such as an exhaust pump and a vacuum system, which are not shown, under a desired vacuum. The device can be used for measurement and evaluation.

The voltage Va of the anode electrode is 1 kV to 1
0 kV, the distance H between the anode electrode and the electron-emitting device is 3
It measured in the range of mm-8 mm.

The characteristic features of the principle of the present invention found by the present inventors will be described below. Emission current Ie and device current If measured by the measurement / evaluation apparatus shown in FIG.
FIG. 9 shows a typical example of the relationship between the element voltage Vf and the element voltage Vf. I
Since f and Ie are remarkably different in size, they are shown in arbitrary units in FIG. As is clear from FIG. 9, the electron-emitting device according to the present invention has three characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie. First of all, in the present electron-emitting device, when a device voltage Vf higher than a certain voltage (called threshold voltage, Vth in FIG. 9) is applied, the emission current Ie rapidly increases, while the threshold voltage Vth or less is applied. In, the emission current Ie is hardly detected. That is, it is a non-linear element that waits for a clear threshold voltage Vth with respect to the emission current Ie. Further, the element current If exhibits a characteristic that it monotonically increases with respect to the element voltage Vf (called MI characteristic).

Secondly, since the emission current Ie depends on the element voltage Vf, the emission current Ie can be controlled by the element voltage Vf.

Thirdly, the emitted charges captured by the anode electrode 34 depend on the time for which the device voltage Vf is applied. That is, the amount of charge captured by the anode electrode 34 can be controlled by the time for which the device voltage Vf is applied.

(2) Fluorescent Film 7 The fluorescent film 7 (see FIG. 1) is composed of only phosphors in the case of monochrome, but in the case of color, as shown in FIG. Is composed of a black conductive material 7b called a black stripe or a black matrix and a phosphor 7a. The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the color mixture inconspicuous by blackening the coating portions between the phosphors 7a of the three primary color phosphors, which are necessary for color display, and to make the phosphor film 7 This is to suppress the decrease in contrast due to the reflection of external light. As the material of the black conductive material 7b, not only a material that is often used as a main component of graphite but also a material that is conductive and transmits and reflects little light can be applied. The method of applying the phosphor 7a to the glass substrate 6 may be a precipitation method or a printing method regardless of monochrome or color.

Further, the method of separately coating the phosphors of the three primary colors is not limited to the stripe-shaped arrangement shown in FIG. 10A, and for example, the delta arrangement shown in FIG. Other arrangements may be used.

When a monochrome display panel is produced, a monochromatic phosphor material may be used for the phosphor 1008, and a black conductive material is not necessarily used. (3) Metal back 8 The purpose of the metal back 8 (see FIG. 1) is to improve the brightness by specularly reflecting the light emitted from the phosphor 7a toward the inner surface side toward the face plate 3 side, the electron beam. It functions as an accelerating electrode for applying an accelerating voltage, and protects the phosphor 7a from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the external cause device 10. The metal back 8 can be manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film 7 after manufacturing the fluorescent film 7, and then depositing Al by vacuum evaporation or the like. Face plate 3
In order to further increase the conductivity of the fluorescent film 7,
A transparent electrode such as ITO (not shown) between the substrate and the glass substrate 6
May be provided.

(4) Envelope 10 Envelope 10 (see) is sealed after being evacuated through an unillustrated exhaust gas to a vacuum degree of about -10 Torr. Therefore, the rear plate 2, which constitutes the envelope 10,
The face plate 3 and the support frame 4 can withstand the atmospheric pressure applied to the envelope 10 and maintain a vacuum atmosphere, and the electron source 1
It is preferable to use a material having an insulation property that can withstand a high voltage applied between the metal back 8 and the metal back 8. Examples of the material include quartz glass, glass with a reduced content of impurities such as Na, soda lime glass, and ceramic members such as alumina. However, it is preferable to combine the members forming the envelope with members having similar thermal expansion coefficients.

Further, when the envelope 10 is constructed in the color image forming apparatus, since the phosphors 7a for each color need to be arranged corresponding to each electron-emitting device 15, the phosphors 7a are required.
The position of the face plate 3 having the above and the rear plate 2 to which the electron source 1 is fixed must be accurately aligned.

Further, a getter process may be performed in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after the envelope 10 is sealed. This is to heat the getter placed at a predetermined position (not shown) in the envelope 10 by resistance heating or high frequency heating immediately before or after the envelope 10 is sealed, This is a process of forming a vapor deposition film. The getter usually contains Ba or the like as a main component and maintains a vacuum degree of, for example, 10 −6 to 10 −7 torr by the adsorption action of the vapor deposition film.

(5) Spacer 5 As described above, the spacer 5 serves to maintain the mechanical strength for supporting the atmospheric pressure and the high voltage applied between the electron source 1 and the metal back 8. It is necessary to have withstand voltage and conductivity for preventing the spacer itself from being charged.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the surface of the insulating base material having sufficient mechanical strength is covered with the semiconductive mark.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the spacer 5 in this embodiment.

Examples of the insulating base material 5a of the spacer 5 include quartz glass, glass with a reduced content of impurities such as Na, soda lime glass, and ceramic members such as alumina. It is preferable that the insulating base material 5a has a coefficient of thermal expansion close to that of the members forming the envelope 10 and the insulating substrate 11 of the electron source 1.

In this embodiment, the spacer 5 made of soda lime glass having the semiconductive film 5b made of tin oxide formed on the surface thereof is used. The outer size of the spacer 5 is 5 m in height
m, plate thickness 200 μm, and length 20 mm.

(Semi-Conductive Film) The surface resistance of the semi-conductive film 5b is from 10 5 to 1 in consideration of maintaining the antistatic effect and suppressing power consumption due to leakage current.
It is preferably in the range of 0 to the 12th power [Ω / □], and the material thereof is, for example, Pt, Au, Ag, R.
In addition to precious metals such as h and Ir, Al, Sb, Sn, Pb, G
a, Zn, In, Cd, Cu, Ni, Co, Rh, F
e, Mn, Cr, V, Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo, W, etc., and an island-shaped metal film made of an alloy of a plurality of metals or S
Conductive oxides such as nO2 and ZnO can be mentioned.

The semiconductive film 5b can be formed by a vacuum film forming method such as a vacuum vapor deposition method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, or by dipping or spinnering an organic solution or a dispersion solution. Examples thereof include a coating method including a step of coating and baking using, a metal compound and an electroless plating solution capable of forming a metal film on the surface of an insulator by a chemical reaction from the compound. It is appropriately selected depending on the material and productivity.

Further, the semiconductive film 5b is made of the insulating base material 5a.
A film is formed on at least a surface of the surface of the enclosure that is exposed to the vacuum in the envelope 10. The semiconductive film 5b is electrically connected to the black conductive material 7b or the metal back 8 on the face plate 3 side and to the row wiring 12 on the electron source 1 side, for example.

Structure of spacer 5, installation position, installation method,
The electrical connection to the side of the face plate 3 and the side of the electron source 1 is not limited to the above-mentioned case, has a sufficient atmospheric pressure resistance, and has a high voltage applied between the electron source 1 and the metal back 8. As long as it has an insulating property to withstand and has a surface conductivity that prevents the surface of the spacer 5 from being charged,
Any semiconductive film may be used.

In this embodiment, about 1000 angstroms of tin oxide is formed by ion plating to form a semiconductor film. The surface resistance in this case is 10 4 to 10
Was the 12th power of (Ω / □).

(Conductive Member) Here, a conductive connecting portion 58 for firmly connecting the supporting member (spacer) and at the same time for making an electrical connection and a conductive member 70 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Explain.

Although only the electron-emitting portion 23 is schematically shown for the electron-emitting devices in order to prevent the drawing from becoming complicated, these electron-emitting devices are electrically connected to the row wiring 12. Needless to say.

In the present embodiment, the spacer 5 is installed on a part of the row-directional wiring 12 via the conductive connecting portion 58, and the conductive member 70 is provided on the other row-directional wiring. The height of the upper surface of the conductive connecting portion 58 (shown by h1 in the figure) and the height of the upper surface of the conductive member 70 (h in the figure).
(Indicated by 2) are equal to each other.

As a result, the potential distribution generated on the spacer surface and the potential distribution in the space above the row-direction wiring in which the spacer is not installed can be made equal. That is, even if the spacer 5 is installed on a certain row-direction wiring via the conductive connecting member 58, the same electro-optical characteristics as those of the other rows can be realized.

Therefore, since the electron beams emitted from any of the electron emitting portions 23 follow similar trajectories and fly, the deviation of the light emitting point, the decrease in brightness, and the color deviation near the spacer 5 as in the conventional case. There was no such problem.

In order to maximize the above effect, it is optimal to set w1 = w2 in addition to the condition of h1 = h2. Therefore, in this embodiment, such a setting is made. (However, w1 is the width of the conductive connecting portion 58 and w2 is the width of the conductive member 70.) Hereinafter, the manufacturing method will be described in more detail.

In the present embodiment, the conductive connecting portion 58 for holding the spacer 5 and electrically connecting the spacer 5 uses as a filler a soda lime glass sphere whose surface is plated with Au.
This was formed by applying a paste dispersed in frit glass by screen printing and firing.
At this time, the average particle size of the soda lime balls was 8 μm.
For forming the conductive layer on the filler surface, an electroless plating method is used to form a 0.1 .mu.m Ni film as a base and an Au film of 0.1 .mu.m thereon.
It was formed with a thickness of 04 μm. 30% by weight of this conductive filler was mixed with frit glass powder, and a binder was further added to prepare a coating paste.

This conductive frit paste is applied to the row-direction wiring electrodes 12 of the electron source 1 by a dispenser so as to have the same width as the row-direction wirings 12. After coating, align the spacers and apply 10 to 400 ° C to 500 ° C in the atmosphere.
It was baked and fixed for more than a minute. On the face plate 3 side, a dispenser is used to form the end of the spacer 5. After arranging in accordance with the black conductive material 7b (line width 300 μm), it was fired in the atmosphere at 400 ° C. to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more. By doing so, the electron source 1 and the black conductive material 7b and the spacer 5 are held and connected, and the width of the conductive connection portion 58 is set to 300 μm, which is the same as the row wiring, and the thickness is set to 400 μm. The conductive member 70 of the present embodiment uses the same material as the conductive connecting portion 58.

(6) Driving Method FIG. 15 shows the driving method of the image forming apparatus described above.
From FIG. 18 onward will be described.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of a drive circuit for performing television display based on an NTSC television signal. In the figure, a display panel 1701 is a device manufactured and operated as described above. Further, the scanning circuit 1702 operates the display line,
The control circuit 1703 generates a signal or the like input to the scan circuit. The shift register 1704 shifts the data for each line, and the line memory 1705 is the shift register 1
The data for one line from 704 is applied to the modulation signal generator 17
Enter in 07. The sync signal separation circuit 1706 is NTSC
Separate the sync signal from the signal.

The function of each part of the apparatus shown in FIG. 15 will be described in detail below.

First, the display panel 1701 has terminals Dox.
1 to Doxm, terminals Doy1 to Doyn, and a high voltage terminal Hv are connected to an external electric signal. Among them, the terminals Dox1 to Doxm are connected to the electron source provided in the display panel 1701, that is, m.
A scanning signal for sequentially driving the electron-emitting device groups arranged in a matrix of rows and n columns row by row (n elements) is applied.

On the other hand, the terminals Doy1 to Doyn are connected to
A modulation signal for controlling an output electron beam of each element of the electron-emitting devices in one row selected by the scanning signal is applied. Further, the high voltage terminal Hv is required to have a direct current voltage of, for example, 5 kV from the direct current voltage source Va, which imparts sufficient energy to excite the phosphor to the electron beam output from the electron-emitting device. Is the acceleration voltage for

Next, the scanning circuit 1702 will be described.

The circuit is provided with m switching elements (schematically shown by S1 to Sm in the figure) inside, and each switching element is the output voltage of the DC voltage source Vx or OV (ground voltage). Level) either one of which is selected, and terminals Dox1 to Do of the display panel 1701 are selected.
xm is electrically connected. Each of the switching elements S1 to Sm operates based on the control signal Tscan output from the control circuit 1703, but in reality, it can be easily configured by combining switching elements such as FETs.

In the case of the present embodiment, the DC voltage source Vx is set so that the drive voltage applied to the electron-emitting device illustrated in FIG. 9 becomes equal to or lower than the electron emission threshold Vth voltage.
It is set to output a constant voltage of V.

The control circuit 1703 has a function of matching the operation of each part so that an appropriate display is performed based on the image signal input from the rotating part. Based on a synchronization signal Tsync sent from a synchronization signal separation circuit 1706, which will be described next, Tscan and Ts are supplied to each unit.
The ft and Tmry control signals are generated.

The synchronizing signal separation circuit 1706 can be easily constructed from an NTSC television signal input from each section by using a synchronizing signal component (filter) circuit. The sync signal separated by the sync signal separation circuit 1706 includes a vertical sync signal as is well known, but it is shown as a Tsync signal here 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 the signal is input to the shift register 1704.

The shift register 1704 is for serial / parallel conversion of the DATA signal serially input in time series for each line of the image, and based on the control signal Tsft sent from the control circuit 1703. Operate. That is, the control signal Tsft can be rephrased as a shift lock of the shift register 1704.

The serial / parallel converted image data for one line is input to the n line memories 1705 of Idl to Idn as a signal to be input to the shift register 1
It is output from 704.

The line memory 1705 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a required time, and stores the contents of Idl to Idn according to the control signal Tmry sent from the control circuit 1703. The stored contents are output as I′dl to I′dn and input to the modulation signal generator 1707.

The modulation signal generator 1707 is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the electron-emitting devices 6 according to each of the image data I'dl to I'dn, and its output signal is a terminal. It is applied to the electron-emitting device in the display panel 1701 through Doy1 to Doyn.

As described with reference to FIG. 9, the electron-emitting device according to the present invention has the following basic characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie. That is, as is clear from the graph of Ie in FIG. 9, there is a clear threshold voltage Vth (8 V in the element of the present embodiment) for electron emission, and electron emission occurs only when a voltage equal to or higher than the threshold Vth is applied. Occurs.

For a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold Vth, the emission current Ie also changes according to the change in voltage as shown in the graph. The value of the electron emission threshold voltage Vth and the degree of change of the emission current with respect to the applied voltage may be changed by changing the configuration and manufacturing method of the electron emitting device. I can say things.

That is, when a pulsed voltage is applied to this device, no electron emission occurs even if a voltage of 8 V or less, which is an electron emission threshold value, is applied, but the electron emission threshold value (8
When a voltage higher than V) is applied, an electron beam is output.

The functions of the respective parts shown in FIG. 15 have been described above, but before proceeding to the description of the overall operation, the operation of the display panel 1701 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 16 to 18.

For convenience of illustration, the number of pixels of the display panel is 6 ×.
Although it is described as 6 (that is, m = n = 6), it goes without saying that the actually used display panel 1701 has a far larger number of pixels than this.

FIG. 16 shows an electron source in which electron-emitting devices 6 are arranged in a matrix on a matrix of 6 rows and 6 columns, and D (1, 1), D ( 1,
2) and D (6,6) indicate the position by (X, Y) coordinates.

When an image is displayed by driving such an electron source, a method of forming an image line by line with one line parallel to the X axis as a unit is adopted. To drive the electron-emitting device 6 corresponding to one line of an image,
Of the Dox1 to Dox6, 0 (V) is applied to the terminals of the row corresponding to the display line, and 7 (V) is applied to the other terminals. In synchronization with this, a modulation signal is applied to each terminal of Doy1 to Doy6 according to the image pattern of the line.

For example, a case of displaying an image pattern as shown in FIG. 17 will be described as an example.

In the image of FIG. 17, for example, a period during which the third line is made to emit light will be described as an example. Figure 18
While illuminating the third line of the image, the terminal Dox
1 shows voltage values applied to the electron source through 1 to Dox6 and terminals Doy1 to Doy6. As is clear from the figure, D (2,3), D (3,3),
To each electron-emitting device of D (4,3), 14 V (device shown by black in the figure) exceeding the electron emission threshold voltage of 8 V is applied and an electron beam is output. On the other hand, 7V (elements indicated by diagonal lines in the figure) or 0V (elements indicated by outlines in the figure) are applied to the elements other than the above three elements, but these are not more than the threshold voltage 8V of the electron-emitting device. The electron beam from the element is not output.

The same method is used for the other lines as shown in FIG.
The electron source is driven according to the display pattern of No. 7, but by driving one line at a time from the first line,
The screen is displayed, and by repeating this at a speed of 60 screens per second, it is possible to display an image without flicker.

Although the above description does not mention gradation display, gradation display can be performed, for example, by changing the pulse width of the voltage applied to the element.

FIG. 19 shows a display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device described above as an electron beam source so that image information provided by various image information sources such as television broadcasting can be displayed. It is a figure for showing an example of the constituted multi-function display.

In the figure, 500 is a display panel, and 50 is
Reference numeral 1 is a display panel driving circuit, 502 is a display controller, 503 is a multiplexer, 504 is a decoder, 505 is an input / output interface circuit, and 50.
6 is a CPU, 507 is an image generation circuit, and 508 and 50.
9 and 510 are image memory interface circuits, 5
11 is an image input interface circuit, 512 and 5
Reference numeral 13 is a TV signal receiving circuit, and 2114 is an input unit.

(Note 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, and storage of audio information that are not directly related to the features of the present invention will be omitted.) Hereinafter, the functions of the respective parts will be described along the flow of image signals. go.

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 513 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wireless transmission system such as radio waves or spatial optical communication. The TV signal system to be received is not particularly limited, and may be a prescription system such as an NTSC system, a PAL system, or a SECAM system. 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 513
The signal is output to the decoder 504.

The TV signal receiving circuit 512 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted by using a wired transmission system such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. Similar to the TV signal receiving circuit 513, the system of the TV signal to be received is not particularly limited, and the TV signal received by this circuit is also output to the decoder 504.

Further, the image input interface circuit 51
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 504.

Further, the image memory interface circuit 5
Reference numeral 10 is a circuit for capturing an image signal stored in a video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR), and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 504.

Further, the image memory interface circuit 5
Reference numeral 09 denotes a circuit for capturing the image signal stored in the video disc, and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 504.

Further, the image memory interface circuit 5
Reference numeral 08 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal from a device that stores still image data, such as a so-called still image disc. The captured still image data is decoded by the decoder 504.
Is output to

Further, the input / output interface circuit 505
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 and output image data, character data, and graphic information, and in some cases, input and output control signals and numerical data between the CPU 506 of this display device and the outside. .

Further, the image generation circuit 507 is provided with image data, character / graphic information, or the CPU 50, which is externally input through the input / output interface circuit 505.
6 is a circuit for generating display image data based on the image data and the character / graphic information output from FIG. Inside this circuit, for example, a rewritable memory for accumulating image data and character / graphic information, a read-only memory in which image patterns corresponding to character codes are stored, and a processor for performing image processing Etc. and the circuits necessary for image generation are incorporated.

The display image data generated by this circuit is output to the decoder 504, but in some cases, it is also possible to input / output to / from an external computer network or printer via the input / output interface circuit 505.

Further, the CPU 506 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 503 to appropriately select or combine image signals to be displayed on the display panel. At that time, a control signal is generated to the display panel controller 502 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 507, or an external computer or memory is accessed via the input / output interface circuit 505 to generate image data or character / figure information. Enter graphic information.

It should be noted that the CPU 506 may of course be involved in work for purposes other than this. For example, it may be directly related to a function of generating and processing information, such as a personal computer or a word processor.

Alternatively, as described above, the computer may be connected to an external computer network via the input / output interface circuit 505, and work such as numerical calculation may be performed in cooperation with an external device.

The input unit 514 is the CPU 506.
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 the keyboard and the mouse.

Further, the decoder 514 converts various image signals inputted from the above-mentioned 507 to 513 into three primary color signals,
Alternatively, it is a circuit for inversely converting the luminance signal into the I signal and the Q signal. Note that it is desirable that the decoder 504 has an image memory therein, as indicated by the dotted line in the figure. This is to handle a television signal that requires an image memory for reverse conversion, such as the MUSE method. Further, the provision of the image memory facilitates the display of a still image, or the image generation circuit 5
This is because, in cooperation with the CPU 07 and the CPU 506, there is an advantage that image processing and editing such as image thinning, interpolation, enlargement, reduction, and composition can be easily performed.

The multiplexer 503 uses the CP
The display image is appropriately selected based on the control signal input from U506. That is, the multiplexer 50
Reference numeral 3 denotes a drive circuit 501 for selecting a desired image signal from the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 504.
Output to. 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 5
Reference numeral 02 is a circuit for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 501 based on a control signal input from the CPU 506.

First, as a device related to the basic operation of the display panel, for example, a signal for controlling the operation sequence of a drive power source (not shown) for the display panel is output to the drive circuit 501.

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 501.

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 501.

The drive circuit 501 is a circuit for generating a drive signal to be applied to the display panel 510. The drive circuit 501 controls the image signal input from the multiplexer 503 and the control signal input from the display panel controller 502. It operates based on.

The function of each unit has been described above. With the configuration illustrated in FIG. 19, the display panel 5 displays image information input from various image information sources in this display device.
It is possible to display 00.

That is, various image signals such as television broadcasts are inversely converted by the decoder 504, appropriately selected by the multiplexer 503, and input to the drive circuit 501. On the other hand, the display controller 502 controls the drive circuit 5 according to the image signal to be displayed.
A control signal for controlling the operation of 01 is generated. The drive circuit 501 applies a drive signal to the display panel 500 based on the image signal and the control signal.

Thus, the image is displayed on the display panel 500. These series of operations are CP
It is totally controlled by U506.

Further, in this display device, the image memory built in the decoder 504 and the image generation circuit 507.
With the involvement of the CPU 506 and the CPU 506, not only the selected one of the plurality of pieces of image information is displayed,
For image information to display, for example, enlargement, reduction, rotation,
It is also possible to perform image processing such as moving, edge enhancement, thinning, interpolation, color conversion, and aspect ratio conversion of images, and image editing such as composition, deletion, connection, replacement, and fitting. Although not particularly mentioned in the description of this embodiment, a dedicated circuit for processing and editing audio information may be provided as in the case of 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,
It is possible to combine the functions of a game console, etc., with a very wide range of applications for industrial or consumer use.

It should be noted that FIG. 19 shows only an example of the configuration of a display device using a display panel having a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source, and the present invention is not limited to this. Needless to say. For example, in FIG.
It does not matter if the circuits related to the functions that are unnecessary for the purpose of use are omitted from the constituent elements. On the contrary, the constituent elements may be added depending on the purpose of use. For example, when the display device is applied as a video telephone, it is preferable to add a television camera, a voice microphone, an illuminator, a transmission / reception circuit including a modem, and the like to the components.

In the present display device, in particular, the display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device as the electron beam source can be easily thinned, so that the depth of the entire display device can be reduced. In addition, the display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device as the electron beam source can easily enlarge the screen, has high brightness, and has excellent viewing angle characteristics. It can be displayed well.

It is needless to say that the configuration according to FIG. 19 described above can be applied to each of the following second to eighth embodiments.

Second Embodiment An example in which the shape on the wiring is changed in the first embodiment will be referred to as a second embodiment.
4 shows. In the figure, 12 is a row-direction wiring, and 11 is an insulating substrate for forming the row-direction wiring. In this embodiment,
The width of the row-direction wiring 12 is 400 μm. The row-direction wiring 12 was formed to have a thickness of 40 μm.

Also in the present embodiment, it is possible to display a color image which is clear and has good color reproducibility without disturbing the electron orbit as in the first embodiment.

In this embodiment, the conductive connecting portion 58 is used.
In forming the wirings, the row-directional wiring 12 with a spacer is provided between the spacer and the row-directional wiring 12, and the line of the row-directional wiring 12 without a spacer is connected to the conductive connection portion 58 of the row-directional wiring 12 with a spacer. The conductive member 70 was arranged in an equivalent shape.

The coating amount of the conductive connecting member arranged between the wiring and the spacer can be reduced, which is suitable for mass production.

<Third Embodiment> The present invention can be applied to any electron-emitting device among cold cathode type electron-emitting devices other than the surface conduction electron-emitting device. As a specific example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-274047 by the present applicant
There is a field emission type electron-emitting device in which a pair of electrodes facing each other are formed along the surface of a substrate forming an electron source, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-242242.

FIG. 25 is a plan view showing a case where a conductive spacer is installed on the row wiring 3104 by the conductive connecting member 3108 in the FE type electron source. Due to the conductive connection member 3108, the potential surface in the direction (column direction) perpendicular to the device voltage application direction is changed to the electron emission portion 310.
A conductive member such as 3107 is provided in order to prevent asymmetry with respect to a plane including 1 and perpendicular to the substrate and parallel to the row wiring 3107. The width w of the conductive member 3107
2 and the width w1 of the conductive connecting member 3108 are set to be equal. In addition, as in the other embodiments, it goes without saying that h1 = h2 (not shown in FIG. 25). In addition, in the figure, p1 indicates the direction of current flow in the electron-emitting device, and p2 indicates the direction in which the spacer 3109 extends, and these are set in parallel.

The present invention can also be applied to an image forming apparatus using an electron source other than the simple matrix type. For example, in the case where the control electrode as described above is used in the image forming apparatus for selecting the surface conduction electron-emitting device by using the control electrode as described in JP-A-2-257551 by the present applicant, is there.

Further, according to the idea of the present invention, the light emitting diode is not limited to an image forming apparatus suitable for display, but may be used as an alternative light emitting source such as a light emitting diode of an optical printer including a photosensitive drum and a light emitting diode. The image forming apparatus described above can also be used. Further, at this time, by appropriately selecting the above-mentioned m row-direction wirings and n column-direction wirings, it can be applied not only as a line emission source but also as a two-dimensional emission source.

Further, according to the idea of the present invention, the present invention can be applied to the case where the member to be irradiated with the electrons emitted from the electron source is a member other than the image forming member, such as an electron microscope. . Therefore, the present invention may also take the form of an electron beam generator that does not specify the irradiated member.

As described above, in the image display device according to the present embodiment, the spacer having the semi-conductive film on the surface is arranged, and the conductive connecting member for electrically connecting with the semi-conductive film and holding the spacer. By providing the 3108 with a height and arranging the conductive member 3107 having an equivalent shape even in the electrode in which the spacer is not arranged, the position where the electron beam emitted from the electron source collides with the fluorescent substance and the fluorescent light which should emit the original light. Positional displacement with the body was prevented, and it was possible to prevent protrusion to adjacent images and loss of brightness, enabling clear image display.

[0205] Further, the same effect can be exerted in an electron generating device forming a multi-plane electron source without specifying the electron irradiation target.

<Fourth Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view (A) of the main part of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. -A'section). In the fourth embodiment, the printing process is divided and a concave portion for forming a conductive connection portion is formed on the wiring.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the rear plate 2 is fixed with an electron source 1 in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices (hereinafter abbreviated as “electron-emitting devices”) 15 are arranged in a matrix. There is. In the electron source 1, a face plate 3 as an image forming member, in which a fluorescent film 7 and a metal back 8 as an accelerating electrode are formed on an inner surface of a glass substrate 6, is provided with a support frame 4 made of an insulating material. A high voltage is applied between the electron source 1 and the metal back 8 by a power source (not shown). The rear plate 2, the support frame 4, and the face plate 3 are sealed to each other with frit glass or the like, and the rear plate 2, the support frame 4, and the face plate 3 form an envelope 10.
Is configured.

Further, the inside of the envelope 10 is 10 −6 To.
Since a vacuum of about rr is maintained, a thin plate-shaped spacer 5 is provided inside the envelope 10 as an atmospheric pressure resistant structure in order to prevent the envelope 10 from being damaged by atmospheric pressure or an unexpected impact. Is provided. As shown in FIG. 2, the spacer 5
Is composed of a member in which a semiconductive film 5b is formed on the surface of the insulating base material 5a. The number of the necessary distances and the necessary intervals for achieving the above-mentioned object of the atmospheric pressure resistant structure are set. Then, they are arranged parallel to the X direction and sealed to the inner surface of the envelope 10 and the surface of the electron source 1 with frit glass or the like. The semiconductive film 5b is electrically connected to the inner surface of the face plate 3 and the surface of the electron source 1 (row-direction wiring 12 described later).

Each of the above-mentioned components will be described in detail below.

Electron Source 1 FIG. 3 is a plan view of an essential part of the electron source 1 of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB ′ of the electron source 1 shown in FIG. Is.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in the insulating substrate 11 made of a glass substrate or the like, m row-direction wirings 12 and n column-direction wirings 13 are provided in the interlayer insulating layer 14 (see FIG. 3). (Not shown) are electrically separated and wired in a matrix. Electron-emitting devices 15 are electrically connected between each row-directional wiring 12 and each column-directional wiring 13. Each electron-emitting device 15 includes a pair of device electrodes 16 and 17 and a device electrode 1 which are spaced apart in the X direction.
And a thin film 18 for forming an electron-emitting portion which connects 6 and 17, one of the pair of device electrodes 16 and 17 is electrically connected to the row wiring 12, and the other device electrode 17 Are electrically connected to the column-direction wirings 13 through the contact holes 14a formed in the interlayer insulating layer 14. The row wiring 12 and the column wiring 13 are respectively shown in FIG.
External terminals Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn shown in
Is drawn out of the envelope 10.

As the insulating substrate 11, quartz glass, N
Examples thereof include glass having a reduced content of impurities such as a, soda lime glass, a glass member such as a glass substrate obtained by laminating SiO 2 formed on the soda lime glass by a sputtering method, or a ceramic member such as alumina. The size and thickness of the insulating substrate 11 depend on the number of electron-emitting devices installed on the insulating substrate 11 and the design shape of each electron-emitting device, and the electron source 1 itself may be a part of the envelope 10. It is set as appropriate depending on the conditions for maintaining a vacuum in the case of construction.

The row-direction wirings 12 and the column-direction wirings 13 are each made of a conductive metal or the like formed in a desired pattern on the insulating substrate 11 by a vacuum vapor deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method or the like, and emit a large number of electrons. The material, the film thickness, and the wiring width are set so that the element 15 is supplied with a voltage as uniform as possible. Further, in the wiring in which the support member is embedded, the film thickness is selected so that sufficient voltage is supplied even after the conductive connection member is embedded.

The interlayer insulating layer 14 is formed by a vacuum vapor deposition method, a printing method,
It is SiO2 or the like formed by a sputtering method or the like and is formed in a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the insulating substrate 11 on which the column-directional wiring 13 is formed. In particular, the row-directional wiring 12 and the column-directional wiring 1 are formed.
The film thickness, the material, and the manufacturing method are appropriately set so as to withstand the potential difference at the intersection of Nos.

Device electrodes 16 and 17 of the electron-emitting device 15
Are made of a conductive metal or the like, and are formed into a desired pattern by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like.

The conductive metals of the row wirings 12, the column wirings 13, and the device electrodes 16 and 17 may be the same or different in some or all of their constituent elements. Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al,
Metals such as Cu and Pd, or alloys, and Pd, Ag, A
Printed conductors composed of metal such as u, RuO2, Pd-Ag or metal oxide and glass, or In2O3-SnO
It is appropriately selected from transparent conductors such as 2 and semiconductor materials such as polysilicon.

Specific examples of the material forming the conductive thin film 18 include Pd, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu,
Metals such as Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, Pd, P
Oxides such as dO, SnO2, In2O3, PbO, Sb2O3, HfB2, ZrB2, LaB6, CeB6, YB4, G
Borides such as dB4, TiC, ZrC, HfC, TaC,
Carbides such as SiC and WC, nitrides such as TiN, ZrN and HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, carbon, AgMg,
NiCu, Pb, Sn or the like, which is made of a fine particle film.

The row wiring 12 is electrically connected to a scan signal generating means (not shown) for applying a scan signal for arbitrarily scanning a row of the electron-emitting devices 15 arranged in the X direction. ing. On the other hand, the column-direction wiring 13 is electrically connected to a modulation signal generating means (not shown) for applying a modulation signal for arbitrarily modulating each column of the electron-emitting devices 15 arranged in the Y direction. . Here, the drive voltage applied to each electron-emitting device 15 is supplied as a difference voltage between the scanning signal and the modulation signal applied to the electron-emitting device.

Here, an example of a method of manufacturing the electron source 1 will be specifically described in the order of steps with reference to FIG. The following steps a to h correspond to (a) to (h) in FIG.

Step a: On an insulating substrate 11 having a silicon oxide film with a thickness of 0.5 μm formed on a cleaned soda lime glass by a sputtering method, Cr having a thickness of 50 Å and a thickness of 5000 Å are formed by vacuum evaporation. After sequentially stacking Au, the photoresist (AZ137
0, manufactured by Hoechst Co., Ltd.) is spin coated by a spinner and further baked. After baking, expose the photomask image,
After development, a resist pattern for the column-directional wiring 13 is formed, and the Au / Cr deposited film is wet-etched to form the column-directional wiring 13 having a desired shape.

Step b: Next, the interlayer insulating layer 14 made of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 μm is deposited by the RF sputtering method.

Step c: A photoresist pattern for forming the contact hole 14a is formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in the step b, and using this as a mask, the interlayer insulating layer 1 is formed.
4 is etched to form a contact hole 14a. RIE (Rea) using CF4 and H2 gas is used for etching.
ctive Ion Etching) method.

Step d: After that, a pattern which is to be a gap between the device electrodes and the device electrodes is formed with a photoresist (RD-2).
000N-41 manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.), and the thickness of Ti is 50 angstrom and the thickness is 100 by vacuum deposition.
0 Å of Ni is sequentially deposited. The photoresist pattern is dissolved in an organic solvent, the Ni / Ti deposition film is lifted off, and the device electrode distance L1 (see FIG. 3) is 3 μm.
m, and device electrodes 16 and 17 having a device electrode width W1 (see FIG. 3) of 300 μm are formed.

Step e: The row wiring 12 is formed on the device electrodes 16 and 17 by screen printing to form 20 Ag electrodes.
It was formed to a thickness of μm. At this time, the screen printing process is divided into two times, and the row-direction wiring 1 is performed by using different screen masks.
The embedded portion 57 of the conductive connecting portion 58 having a thickness of 20 μm was formed on the substrate 2.

This step will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 30, 100 is an electron emitting portion, 1
Reference numeral 1 is an insulating substrate, 121 to 122 are row-direction wirings, and 57 is an embedded portion of row-direction wirings for forming a conductive connection portion.

In (a), a silver paste is formed on the insulating substrate 11 on which the electron emitting portions 100, column-direction wirings (not shown) and the like are formed by using a screen printing method for a part 121 of the row-direction wirings. . In this state, calcination is performed at 150 ° C. for 30 minutes. The same process is performed on the portion that does not hold the spacer to form a part 122 of the row-direction wiring. Next, the state of (b) was formed by baking at 580 ° C. for 15 minutes.

In the present embodiment, the wiring width in the row direction is 3
The embedded portion 57 had a thickness of 20 μm, and the other row-direction wiring portions had a thickness of 40 μm.

Step f: As shown in FIG. 6, a pair of element electrodes 16, which are positioned with an inter-element electrode spacing L1 therebetween,
Using a mask having an opening 20a extending over 17, a Cr film 21 having a film thickness of 1000 angstrom is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation, and an organic Pd solution (c
cp4230 Okuno Chemical Industries Co., Ltd.) is spin-coated with a spinner and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes.

The thickness of the electron emission portion forming thin film 18 made of fine particles containing Pd as the main element thus formed is about 100 Å, and the sheet resistance value is 5 × 10 4 [Ω / □]. is there. The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and its fine structure is not only in a state in which fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged but also in a state in which fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (island shape). (Also inclusive), and the particle diameter thereof means the diameter of fine particles whose particle shape can be recognized in the above state.

The organic metal solvent (organic Pd solvent in this example) means Pd, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In,
It is a solution of an organic compound containing a metal such as Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, Pb as a main element. Further, in this example, as the method for manufacturing the electron emission portion forming thin film 18, the coating method of the organic metal solvent is used, but the method is not limited to this, and the vacuum deposition method, the sputtering method, the chemical vapor deposition method, the dispersion method, It may be formed by a coating method, a dipping method, a spinner method, or the like.

Step g: Cr film 2 by acid etchant
1 is removed to form the electron emission portion forming thin film 18 having a desired pattern.

Step h: A pattern is formed such that a resist is applied on portions other than the contact hole 14a portion, and Ti having a thickness of 50 Å and a thickness of 50 is formed by vacuum evaporation.
Au of 00A is sequentially deposited. Contact holes 14a are buried by removing unnecessary portions by lift-off.

Through the above steps, the row-direction wirings 12, the column-direction wirings 13, and the electron-emitting devices 15 are formed and arranged two-dimensionally on the insulating substrate 11 at equal intervals.

In this embodiment, the forming process,
The activation process, the fluorescent film 7, the metal back 8, and the envelope 10 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

(Spacer 5) The spacer 5 has an insulating property sufficient to withstand a high voltage applied between the electron source 1 and the metal back 8, and has a surface conductive property of a degree to prevent charging. The semi-conductive film which it has is formed.

Examples of the insulating substrate 5a of the spacer 5 include quartz glass, glass with a reduced content of impurities such as Na, soda lime glass, and ceramic members such as alumina. It is preferable that the insulating base material 5a has a coefficient of thermal expansion close to that of the member forming the envelope 10 and the insulating substrate 11 of the electron source 1.

Further, as the semiconductive film 5b, in consideration of maintaining the antistatic effect and suppressing the power consumption due to the leak current, the surface resistance value thereof is from 10 5 to 10 12 [. Ω / □] is preferable, and examples of the material include Pt, Au, Ag,
In addition to precious metals such as Rh, Ir, etc., Al, Sb, Sn, P
b, Ga, Zn, In, Cd, Cu, Ni, Co, R
h, Fe, Mn, Cr, V, Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo,
Examples thereof include an island-shaped metal film made of a metal such as W and an alloy of a plurality of metals, and conductive oxides such as SnO2 and ZnO.

As a method for forming the semiconductive film 5b, a vacuum film forming method such as a vacuum evaporation method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, or an organic solution or a dispersion solution is applied by dipping or a spinner.・ Applying a coating method including a baking step, a metal compound and an electroless plating solution capable of forming a metal film on the surface of an insulator by a chemical reaction from the metal compound, and the like. It is appropriately selected depending on the sex.

Further, the semiconductive film 5b is made of the insulating base material 5a.
It suffices that the film is formed on at least the surface exposed to the vacuum in the envelope 10 among the surfaces. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the semiconductive film 5b is electrically connected to the black conductive material 7b or the metal back 8 of the fluorescent film 7 on the face plate 3 side and to the row wiring 12 on the electron source 1 side, for example. Connected to.

Structure of spacer 5, installation position, installation method,
The electrical connection to the side of the face plate 3 and the side of the electron source 1 is not limited to the above-mentioned case, has a sufficient atmospheric pressure resistance, and has a high voltage applied between the electron source 1 and the metal back 8. Any structure may be used as long as it has an insulation property that can withstand and a conductivity that prevents the surface of the spacer 5 from being charged.

Now, the constituent materials of the conductive connecting portion for firmly connecting the above members and simultaneously achieving the electrical connection will be described.

As the constituent material of the conductive connecting member, a material in which a conductive filler is dispersed in frit glass and a binder is added to form a paste can be preferably used. At this time, the conductive filler can be obtained by forming a metal film on the surface of a glass sphere such as soda lime glass or silica having a diameter of 5 to 50 μm by a plating method or the like. Preparation Next, the paste-like mixed solution is applied by screen printing or a dispenser and baked to form a conductive connection part.

Normally, the applied voltage Vf between the pair of device electrodes 16 and 17 of the electron-emitting device 15 is about 12 to 16 V, and the distance d between the metal back 8 and the electron-emitting device 15 is 2 mm to 8 mm.
The voltage Va between the metal back 8 and the electron-emitting device 15
Is about 1 kV to 10 kV.

The structure described above is a schematic structure necessary for producing a suitable image forming apparatus used for image display and the like, and the detailed parts such as the material and arrangement of each member are not limited to the above contents. It is not a matter of choice, and is appropriately selected so as to suit the application of the image forming apparatus. In this embodiment, first, the unformed electron source 1 is fixed to the rear plate 2.
Next, the semi-conductive film 5b made of tin oxide is formed on the surface of the insulating base material 5a made of soda lime glass in the envelope 10.
Spacers 5 (height 5 mm, formed on the four surfaces exposed inside)
(A plate thickness of 200 μm and a length of 20 mm) is arranged at equal intervals on the side of the electron source 1 in parallel with the row wirings 12 and on the side of the face plate 3 facing the black conductive material 7b of 5 mm. The joint portion of the plate 3, the support frame 4 and the spacer 5 was fixed to form the display portion of the image forming apparatus.

Here, a method of connecting the row-direction wiring 12 having the recess 57 and the spacer, which is a feature of the embodiment, will be further described.

FIG. 26 is a perspective view showing this embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the spacer 5 is installed in the recess provided in a part of the row-direction wiring 12 via the conductive connecting portion 58. However, the height of the upper surface of the conductive connecting portion 58 (h1 in the figure). ) Is equal to the height of the upper surface of another row-direction wiring (that is, another conductive portion) (shown by h2 in the figure). As a result, the potential distribution generated on the spacer surface and the potential distribution in the space above the row-direction wiring in which the spacer is not installed can be made equal. That is, the conductive connecting member 58 is connected to a certain row-direction wiring.
Even if the spacer 5 is installed via the, the electro-optical characteristics similar to those of the other rows could be realized. Therefore, since the electron beams emitted from any of the electron emitting portions 23 follow similar trajectories and fly, the problems such as the deviation of the light emitting point, the deterioration of the brightness, and the color deviation in the vicinity of the spacer 5 occur as in the conventional case. It never happened. In order to maximize the above effect, it is optimal to set w1 = w3 in addition to the condition of h1 = h2.
In the present embodiment, such a setting is made (however, w1
Is the width of the conductive connecting portion 58, and w3 is the width of the row wiring 12.

The manufacturing method will be described in more detail below.

In this embodiment, the conductive connecting portions 58 and 59 for holding the spacers 5 and electrically connecting the spacers 5 are made of soda lime glass spheres whose surfaces are plated with Au, and are dispersed in the frit glass. It was formed by applying the paste with a dispenser and firing. At this time, the average particle size of soda lime was 8 μm. The conductive layer was formed on the surface of the filler by forming a 0.1 μm Ni film on the underlayer using an electroless plating method, and then forming an Au film on the Ni film by 0.04 μm. 30% by weight of this conductive filler was mixed with frit glass powder, and a binder was further added to prepare a coating paste.

Next, this conductive frit paste is applied to the recesses 57 of the row-direction wiring electrodes 12 on the electron source 1 side by a dispenser, and the spacers 5 on the face plate 3 side.
After applying to the end portion using a dispenser, the electron source 1 side is provided with a concave portion, and the face plate 3 side is provided with a black conductive material 7b.
Placed in line with (line width 300 μm), 400 ° C in air
The electron source 1, the black conductive material 7b, and the spacer 5 were held and connected by firing at 500 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more, and were electrically connected. In this embodiment, the electron source 1
On the side, the difference between the upper end of the conductive connection portion 58 and the upper end of the row-direction wiring 12 could be suppressed within 5 μm.

In this embodiment, the conductive connecting portion 58 is used.
The material was selected so that the electric conductivity of the same and the electric conductivity of the material of the row-direction wiring 12 are substantially equal. As a result, the electrical characteristics of the row-direction wiring having the recessed portion and the other row-direction wiring can be made equal.

At the same time, the electric resistance in the height direction of the spacer 5 (the resistance between the row-direction wiring and the accelerating electrode) is 1 compared with the resistance in the height direction of the row-direction wiring or the conductive connecting portion 58.
The conductivity of the semiconductive film on the spacer surface was set so as to be 0000 times.

By thus setting the resistance ratio to a large value, it was possible to make the voltage effect generated at the conductive connection portion or the row-direction wiring due to the current flowing from the spacer negligible. In other words, the accelerating voltage could be completely applied between the accelerating electrode and the conductive connecting portion (that is, both ends of the spacer).

By combining these actions, the potential distribution generated on the spacer surface and the potential distribution in the space above the row-direction wiring in which the spacer is not installed can be made equal. That is, the conductive connecting portion 58 is connected to a certain row-direction wiring.
Even if the spacer 5 is installed via the, the electro-optical characteristics similar to those of the other rows could be realized. Therefore, since the electron beams emitted from any of the electron emitting portions 23 follow similar trajectories and fly, the problems such as the deviation of the light emitting point, the deterioration of the brightness, and the color deviation in the vicinity of the spacer 5 occur as in the conventional case. It never happened.

In this embodiment, the spacer, the electron source 1 and the face plate 3 are connected at the same time, but they may be separated from each other. Further, in order to prevent the conductive connecting portion 58 from being largely deformed during the formation of the forming paste, it is possible to perform the preliminary firing at a temperature lower than the firing temperature after the application and then connect the spacer 5 to the spacer 5. is there.

Further, in this embodiment, the semiconductive film is an insulating base material 5a made of cleaned soda lime glass.
A tin oxide film 5b was formed on top by a vacuum film forming method.

The tin oxide film used in this embodiment was prepared by sputtering in a argon / oxygen mixed atmosphere using tin oxide as a target using a sputtering apparatus. The substrate temperature at the time of sputtering was 250 ° C., and the film thickness of the produced tin oxide was about 0.
The sheet resistance was 05 μm, and the sheet resistance was 1 × 10 9 Ω / □.

The fluorescent film 7, which is an image forming member, is
As shown in FIG. 10- (a), each color phosphor 7a adopts a stripe shape extending in the Y direction, and as the black conductive material 7b, not only the respective color phosphors 7a but also the pixels in the Y direction are separated. A shape with a portion for installing the spacer 5 added was used. First, the black conductive material 7b was formed, and the phosphors 7a of the respective colors were applied to the respective color portions in the gap portion thereof to manufacture the phosphor film 7. As a material for the black stripe, a material containing graphite as a main component, which is often used, was used. Glass substrate 6
A slurry method was used as a method for applying the phosphor 7a to the.

The metal back 8 provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 7 is subjected to a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 7 after the fluorescent film 7 is manufactured, and then, the Al back Was manufactured by vacuum vapor deposition. The face plate 3 may be provided with a transparent electrode on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 7 in order to further increase the conductivity of the fluorescent film 7, but in the present experimental example, sufficient conductivity is obtained only with a metal back. I omitted it.

When performing the above-mentioned sealing, the rear plate 2, the face plate 3 and the spacer 5 were sufficiently aligned because the phosphors of the respective colors and the electron-emitting devices had to correspond to each other.

The atmosphere inside the envelope 10 completed as described above is exhausted by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, terminals outside the container Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doy1 to Doy1. A voltage was applied between the device electrodes 16 and 17 of the electron-emitting device 15 through Doyn, and the conductive thin film 18 was energized (forming process) to form the electron-emitting portion 23. The forming process was performed by applying the voltage having the waveform shown in FIG. 7.

Next, the exhaust pipe (not shown) was heated by a gas burner to be welded at a vacuum degree of about 10 −6 torr to seal the envelope 10.

Finally, a getter process was performed in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing.

In the image forming apparatus completed as described above, the scanning signal and the modulation signal are applied to each electron-emitting device 15 through the external terminals Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn from the signal generating means (not shown). As a result, electrons are emitted, and the metal back 8
An image was displayed by accelerating the emitted electron beam by applying a high voltage through the high voltage terminal Hv, causing electrons to collide with the phosphor film 7, and exciting and emitting the phosphor. The applied voltage Va to the high voltage terminal Hv was 3 kV to 10 kV, and the applied voltage Vf wave between the element electrodes 16 and 17 was 14 V.

At this time, two-dimensionally formed light emission spot rows are formed at equal intervals including the light emission spots due to the electrons emitted from the electron-emitting device 15 located near the spacer 5, and the color image is clear and has good color reproducibility. I was able to display. This means that even if the spacer 5 is installed, the disturbance of the electric field that affects the electron orbit does not occur. Although the recesses are formed in the row-direction wirings in the present embodiment, it is possible to form the recesses in other electrode portions arranged on other electron sources in the same manner as needed. A wiring lead-out portion in the case of providing a wiring lead-out portion, a supporting frame body connection electrode portion in the case of electrically connecting the supporting frame portion 4 with a semiconductive film, and a control voltage application in the case of providing a control electrode. It can be applied to an electrode part for use and the like, and the holding member can be formed on the electron source without disturbing the electron trajectories in the vicinity of the recesses.

FIG. 31 shows another example of the present embodiment in which a recess is formed on a wiring electrode over the entire length of the row-direction wiring. In the figure, 12 is a row direction wiring, 58 is a conductive connecting portion, 5 is a spacer, and 15 is an electron-emitting device.

Height h1 of conductive connecting portion 58, spacer 5
When the height of the wiring in the row direction where h is not set is h2,
It was set to h1 = h2. When the width of the conductive connecting portion 58 is w1 and the width of the row-direction wiring in which the spacer 5 is not provided is w2, w1 = w2 is set.

In the electron-emitting device, p1 and p2 are set in parallel, where p1 is the direction of current flow and p2 is the direction in which the spacer 5 extends (that is, the longitudinal direction of the row-direction wiring).

In this configuration, the wiring electrode printing process is performed in three steps, and the height of the row-direction wiring in which the spacer 5 is not formed is 30 μm, and the height of the row-direction wiring in which the spacer 5 is arranged is 10 μm. did. Except for the step e, the method was the same as that of the present embodiment, and the same effect as that of the present embodiment was obtained.

<Fifth Embodiment> Next, an embodiment obtained by partially modifying the fourth embodiment will be described.

FIG. 27 is a partial plan view of the row-direction wiring in which the spacer is installed. The feature of the present embodiment is that the width w4 of the concave portion provided in the row-direction wiring is made smaller than the width w1 of the row-direction wiring. In the drawing, 12 is a row-direction wiring, 57 is a recess formed in the row-direction wiring, and 140 is an insulating substrate for forming the row-direction wiring. In the fifth embodiment, the width of the row-direction wiring 12 is 400 μm, and the width of the row-direction wiring 12 is 50 μm at both ends of the recess 57. Further, the thickness of the row wiring 12 is 10 μm in the concave portion 57.
The other portion was formed to have a thickness of 60 μm.

Also in the fifth embodiment, a clear and good color reproducibility without distorting electron trajectories can be displayed as in the fourth embodiment.

In the fifth embodiment, since the recess 57 is surrounded by the wiring in the row direction, there is an effect that the conductive connecting portion 58 does not protrude when the conductive connecting portion is formed. Also, at the same time, the spacers are arranged in the row wiring 12
Since it is embedded in the structure, the mechanical strength at the connecting portion is increased, and there is an advantage that an atmospheric pressure resistant structure can be provided with a small number of spacers.

<Sixth Embodiment> FIG. 28 shows a sixth embodiment according to the present invention.

In FIG. 28, reference numeral 150 denotes an insulating substrate, 1
Reference numeral 51 is a concave portion formed on the electron source substrate 150, 12 is a row wiring, 58 is a conductive connecting portion, and 5 is a spacer.

The sixth embodiment is different from the fourth and fifth embodiments in that the recess 151 is formed in the insulating substrate 150.

The recess 151 in the sixth embodiment is manufactured mechanically by using a dicing saw and insulating layer substrate 150.
Was partially removed. In the sixth embodiment, the recess has a width of 80 μm and a depth of 80 μm. Next, a silver paste is formed into a pattern of row-direction wiring electrodes by using a screen printing method. 15 at 580 ° C
After firing for minutes, the row wiring electrodes 12 were formed in the insulating substrate. Next, the conductive connection portion 58 and the spacer 5 were formed in the recess 151 by using the same method as in the fourth embodiment.

Also in the sixth embodiment, when driven in the same manner as in the fourth embodiment, two-dimensionally formed light-emission spot rows are formed at equal intervals, and a clear and good color reproducible color image display can be achieved. No disturbance of the electric field that could affect the orbit was observed.

In the fourth embodiment, the concave portion 1
The row-direction wirings other than 51 are formed on the insulating substrate, but it is also possible to embed the entire row-direction wiring in the insulating substrate by forming a groove for the row-direction wiring in the insulating substrate 150. Further, the recess 151 is formed in the insulating substrate 150 to have a uniform thickness to form a row-direction wiring, and then a part of the row-direction wiring in the recess 151 is removed by using a dicing saw to form a conductive connection portion forming portion. It is also possible to

<Seventh Embodiment> A seventh embodiment is an example in which the flat field emission (FE) type electron-emitting device is used as the electron-emitting device of the present invention in the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 29 is a top view of a plane FE type electron emission electron source, and 3101 is an electron emission portion, 3102 and 31.
Reference numeral 03 is a pair of device electrodes for applying a potential to the electron emission portion 3101, 3104 and 3105 are row-direction wirings, 3106 is a column-direction wiring electrode, and 3109 is a spacer.

Electrons are emitted from the device electrodes 3102 and 3103.
By applying a voltage between them, electrons are emitted from the sharp tip inside the electron emitting portion 3101, and the electrons are attracted to the accelerating voltage (not shown) provided facing the electron source and the phosphor (Fig. (Not shown) to cause the phosphor to emit light. In the present embodiment, the column-directional wiring 3106 is formed by forming a groove (not shown) in the substrate using a dicing saw, applying silver paste in the groove using a flade coater, and baking the paste. Next, after forming an interlayer insulating layer (not shown) on the entire surface, forming element electrode portions 3102 and 3103, and an electron emitting portion 3101, a screen printing method similar to that of the fourth embodiment is used to determine the row direction. Wiring 3104, 310
A concave portion (not shown) was formed in No. 5. Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus was manufactured in the same manner as in the fourth embodiment. In the seventh embodiment, the column-direction wiring has a thickness of 50 μm, and the row-direction wiring has a thickness of 60 μm in the concave portion and 20 μm.
It was formed by one printing process. When driven in the same manner as in the fourth embodiment, a light emitting spot row is formed two-dimensionally at equal intervals, the beam does not extend to adjacent pixels, and the image forming apparatus emits light with high efficiency. Was obtained similarly.

The present invention can be applied to any electron-emitting device among cold cathode type electron-emitting devices other than the surface conduction electron-emitting device. As a specific example, there is a field emission type electron-emitting device in which a pair of electrodes facing each other as described in JP-A-63-274047 by the present applicant is formed along the surface of a substrate forming an electron source.

The present invention can also be applied to an image forming apparatus using an electron source other than a simple matrix or the like. For example, in the image forming apparatus for selecting the surface conduction electron-emitting device by using the control electrode as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-257551 by the present applicant, when the above-mentioned supporting member is used Is.

Further, according to the idea of the present invention, not only the image forming display suitable for display but also an alternative light emitting source such as a light emitting diode of an optical printer including a photosensitive drum and a light emitting diode is used. The image forming apparatus described above can also be used. At this time, by appropriately selecting the above-mentioned m row-direction wirings and n column-direction wirings, it is possible to apply not only as a line-shaped light emitting source but also as a two-dimensional light emitting source.

Further, according to the idea of the present invention, the present invention can be applied to the case where the member to be irradiated with the electrons emitted from the electron source is a member other than the image forming member, such as an electron microscope. . Therefore, the present invention may also take the form of an electron beam generator that does not specify the irradiated member.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

As described above, in the electron beam generator and the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the supporting member (spacer) having the semi-conductive film on the surface is arranged, and the semi-conductive film and the semi-conductive film are provided. It has a conductive connecting portion for making an electrical connection and holding the supporting member. And, the orbit of the electron beam emitted from the electron source is not disturbed by this conductive connection part, for example, the position where the electron beam collides with the phosphor etc. and the position where the phosphor which should originally emit light The occurrence of misalignment was prevented, and it was possible to prevent protrusion to adjacent pixels and loss of brightness, enabling clear image display.

Further, such an image forming apparatus enables a clear image display.

[0290]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural view showing an image forming apparatus to which an embodiment is applicable, partially broken away.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a structure of a spacer arranged in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment.

3 is a plan view of a main part of an electron source 1 of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

4 is a cross-sectional view of the electron source 1 shown in FIG. 3 taken along the line BB '.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a manufacturing process of the electron source of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state of a pre-manufacturing stage of the electron-emitting device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a forming voltage waveform in forming an electron-emitting device in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the structure and operation of an electron source in which one electron-emitting device is formed.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a relationship between an emission current Ie and an element current If of an electron emission element and an element voltage Vf measured by a measurement / evaluation apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a structural example of a fluorescent film 7 in the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a case where electrons and scattering particles, which will be described later, are generated in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment when viewed from the column direction.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a state in which electrons and scattering particles, which will be described later, are generated in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment when viewed from the row direction.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a method of arranging a support member (spacer) in the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing another arrangement method of the support members (spacers) in the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a drive circuit of the image forming apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a simple arrangement example of electron-emitting devices in the image forming apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a sample image for image formation in the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram for explaining the structure in FIGS. 17 and 18 and a driving method for a sample image.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a multifunctional display device using a display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the embodiment as an electron beam source.

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram showing an M.M. It is a figure which shows the element structure of Hartwell.

FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining energization forming according to the embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a diagram for explaining activation processing according to the embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a signal applied in the activation process in the embodiment, and a diagram showing a relationship of the emission current depending on the activation process amount.

FIG. 24A is a diagram showing a reason for occurrence of deviation of an electron beam emitted from an electron-emitting device and a relationship after improvement in the embodiment.

FIG. 24B is a diagram showing the reason for the occurrence of the deviation of the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device and the relationship after improvement in the embodiment.

FIG. 24C is a diagram showing the reason for the occurrence of the deviation of the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device and the relationship after improvement in the embodiment.

FIG. 24D is a diagram showing a reason for occurrence of deviation of electron beams emitted from the electron-emitting device and a relationship after improvement in the embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a structural plan view of an electron-emitting device according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conductive connection portion of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 27 is a plan view of a recess according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a configuration explanatory view of a conductive connecting portion in the image forming apparatus of the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 29 is an element configuration diagram according to the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing the manufacturing process of the wiring in the first embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing a conductive connection portion according to the first embodiment.

Claims (24)

[Claims] 1. An electron-emitting device, a plurality of row-direction wirings made of a conductor for applying a voltage to the electron-emitting device, an accelerating electrode arranged facing the electron-emitting device, and one of the wirings. In the electron beam generator having a semi-conductive support member arranged between the portion and the accelerating electrode, the wiring has a wiring to which the support member is connected via a connecting member made of a conductor. The height of the upper surface of the connecting member is substantially equal to the height of the upper surface of the conductor in the row wiring in which the supporting member is not arranged. 2. The wiring to which the support member is connected has a recess, the connection member is disposed in the recess, and the height of the upper surface of the connection member and the wiring where the support member is not disposed. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein the heights of the upper surfaces of the two are substantially equal. 3. A conductor is arranged on the wiring on which the support member is not arranged, and the height of the upper surface of the conductor and
The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein heights of upper surfaces of the connection members are substantially equal to each other. 4. The thickness of the wiring to which the supporting member is connected is different from the thickness of the wiring to which the supporting member is not arranged, and the height of the upper surface of the connecting member and the supporting member are arranged. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein the heights of the upper surfaces of the wirings which are not formed are substantially equal to each other. 5. The electron beam generator according to claim 2, wherein the substrate on which the electron-emitting device is arranged has a concave portion, and the wiring is arranged in the concave portion. 6. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein a scanning signal for scanning the electron-emitting device is applied to the wiring. 7. The surface resistance value of the supporting member is 4 of 10
7. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein the electron beam generator has a power of [Ω / □] or more. 8. The electron emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the electron emitting device is an electron emitting device in which a positive electrode, the electron emitting portion, and a negative electrode are provided side by side on a substrate. Line generator. 9. The support member is a plate-shaped support member,
The electron beam generator according to claim 8, wherein a direction of a current flowing between the positive electrode and the negative electrode and a longitudinal direction of the plate-shaped supporting member are substantially parallel to each other. 10. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein the support member is made of a member in which a surface of the insulating material is covered with the semiconductive material. apparatus. 11. A plurality of the electron-emitting devices are connected to a plurality of the row-direction wirings and a plurality of column-direction wirings that are electrically insulated from each other on a substrate. 10. The electron beam generator according to any one of 10. 12. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device. 13. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device is a horizontal field emission-type electron-emitting device. 14. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an image forming member arranged to face the electron-emitting device. 15. An electron-emitting device, and a plurality of row-direction wirings made of a conductor for applying a voltage to the electron-emitting device,
The semiconductor device includes an accelerating electrode arranged to face the electron-emitting device and a semiconductor supporting member arranged between the wiring and the accelerating electrode, and the wiring has a connecting member made of a conductor. In the electron beam generator having a wiring to which the supporting member is connected and a wiring to which the supporting member is not arranged, a wiring to which the supporting member is connected and a wiring to which the supporting member is not arranged are When the same potential is applied, the potential distribution of the surface of the supporting member and the potential distribution of the space between the wiring where the supporting member is not arranged and the accelerating electrode become substantially equal, An electron beam generator having a controlled thickness. 16. The electron beam generator according to claim 15, wherein a scanning signal for scanning the electron-emitting device is applied to the wiring. 17. The surface resistance value of the supporting member is 10 4 [Ω / □] or more.
Alternatively, the electron beam generator according to any one of 16 above. 18. The electron emitting device according to claim 15, wherein the electron emitting device is an electron emitting device in which a positive electrode, the electron emitting portion, and a negative electrode are arranged side by side on a substrate. Electron beam generator. 19. The support member is a plate-shaped support member, and a direction of a current flowing between the positive electrode and the negative electrode and a longitudinal direction of the plate-shaped support member are parallel to each other. The electron beam generator according to any one of 15 to 18. 20. The electron beam generator according to claim 15, wherein the supporting member is a member in which a surface of the insulating material is covered with the semiconductor material. . 21. A plurality of the electron-emitting devices are connected to a plurality of the row-direction wirings and a plurality of column-direction wirings electrically insulated from each other on a substrate. 21. The electron beam generator according to any one of 20 to 20. 22. The electron beam generator according to claim 15, wherein the electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device. 23. The electron beam generator according to claim 15, wherein the electron-emitting device is a horizontal field emission type electron-emitting device. 24. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising an image forming member arranged to face the electron-emitting device.