JPH09190765A - Electron source, device for manufacturing electron source, its manufacture, and image forming device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electron source in which all elements are activated sufficiently. SOLUTION: In an electron source in which surface conduction type emission elements are placed on a matrix, a row of the elements connected to common wiring in predetermined order is selected (S501), and an activating pulse is applied to that row to measure current (S503). Thereafter, whether or not the current measured is greater than the previously measured one by not less than a predetermined value dIf is determined (S504), and if it is smaller, activation of the row is judged to have finished, and the next row is activated (S506); if it is greater, the current value measured is stored (S507), and an activating pulse is imparted (S508) after a certain time. Thus activation is carried out as the current is monitored, to determine whether or nor the activation has been sufficient and to enable sufficient activation according to the determination result.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron source, a manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method therefor, and an image forming apparatus using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices are known, a hot cathode device and a cold cathode device. Among them, the cold cathode device is, for example, a field emission device (hereinafter referred to as FE type).
Also known are a metal / insulating layer / metal type emitting element (hereinafter referred to as MIM type), a surface conduction type emitting element, and the like.

As an example of the FE type, for example, WPDyke
& WWDolan, "Field emission", Advance in Electron
Physics, 8,89 (1956) or CASpindt, "Physi
calproperties of thin-film field emission cathodes
with molybdenium cones ", J.Appl.Phys., 47,5248 (197
6) etc. are known.

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

The surface conduction electron-emitting device is, for example, MIElinson, Radio Eng. Electron Phys., 10, 12
90, (1965) and other examples described below.

[0006] The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which an electron is emitted when a current flows in a small-area thin film formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. As this surface conduction type emission element, Sn described by Elinson et al.
In addition to those using O2 thin films, those using Au thin films [G. Di
ttmer: "Thin Solid Films", 9,317 (1972)], In2O3
/ SnO2 thin film [M.Hartwell & CGFonstad: "
IEEE Trans.ED Conf. ", 519 (1975)] and carbon thin films [Hiraki Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, 22]
(1983)] and the like have been reported.

As a typical example of the device configuration of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, FIG. Hartwel
1 shows a plan view of an element according to the present invention. In FIG.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate, and reference numeral 3004 denotes a conductive thin film made of a metal oxide formed by sputtering. The conductive thin film 3004 is formed in an H-shaped planar shape as shown. An electron emission portion 3005 is formed by performing an energization process called energization forming described later on the conductive thin film 3004. The interval L in the figure is 0.5 to 1 [mm], and W is
It is set at 0.1 [mm]. In addition, for convenience of illustration, the electron emitting portion 3005 is shown in a rectangular shape at the center of the conductive thin film 3004, but this is a schematic one, and the position and shape of the actual electron emitting portion are faithfully represented. Not necessarily.

M. In the above-described surface conduction electron-emitting device including the device by Hartwell et al., The electron-emitting portion 3005 is formed by subjecting the conductive thin film 3004 to an energization process called energization forming before electron emission.
It was common to form That is, the energization forming energizes by applying a constant DC voltage or a DC voltage boosting at a very slow rate of, for example, about 1 V / min to both ends of the conductive thin film 3004,
The electron emitting portion 30 in a state where the conductive thin film 3004 is locally destroyed, deformed or deteriorated, and is in an electrically high resistance state.
05 is formed. Note that a crack is generated in a part of the conductive thin film 3004 that is locally broken, deformed, or altered. After the energization forming, the conductive thin film 3
When an appropriate voltage is applied to 004, electrons are emitted near the crack.

The above surface conduction electron-emitting device has an advantage that a large number of devices can be formed over a large area because the structure is simple and the production is easy. Therefore, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-31332 by the present applicant, a method for arranging and driving a large number of elements has been studied.

As for applications of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, for example, image forming devices such as image display devices and image recording devices, and charged beam sources have been studied.

In particular, as an application to an image display device, as disclosed in US Pat. No. 5,066,883 by the present applicant and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-257551, a surface conduction electron-emitting device emits light by irradiation with an electron beam. An image display device using a combination of a phosphor and a phosphor has been studied. An image display device using a combination of a surface conduction electron-emitting device and a phosphor is expected to have better characteristics than other conventional image display devices. For example, compared to a liquid crystal display device that has become widespread in recent years, it can be said that it is superior in that it does not require a backlight because it is a self-luminous type and that it has a wide viewing angle.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present inventors have developed various materials, including those described in the above-mentioned prior art.
A surface conduction electron-emitting device having a manufacturing method and a structure has been tried. Furthermore, research has been conducted on a multi-electron beam source in which a number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged, and on an image display device using the multi-electron beam source.

The inventors have tried a multi-electron beam source by the electric wiring method shown in FIG. 24, for example. That is, it is a multi-electron beam source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged two-dimensionally and these devices are arranged in a matrix as shown in the drawing.

In the figure, 4001 schematically shows a surface conduction electron-emitting device, 4002 shows a wiring in a row direction, and 4003 shows a wiring in a column direction. The row wiring 4002 and the column wiring 4003 actually have a finite electric resistance, but in the figure, the wiring resistances 4004 and 4005
It is shown as The above-described wiring method is called simple matrix wiring.

Although a 6 × 6 matrix is shown for convenience of illustration, the scale of the matrix is not limited to this. For example, in the case of a multi-electron beam source for an image display device, a desired image display can be performed. It arranges and wires the elements enough to carry out.

In a multi-electron beam source in which surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix, an appropriate electric signal is applied to the row wiring 4002 and the column wiring 4003 in order to output a desired electron beam. For example, in order to drive any one row of surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the matrix, the selection voltage Vs is applied to the row direction wiring 4002 of the selected row, and at the same time, the row direction wiring 400 of the non-selected row is applied.
2, a non-selection voltage Vns is applied. In synchronization with this, a drive voltage Ve for outputting an electron beam is applied to the column wiring 4003. According to this method, the wiring resistance 400
Neglecting the voltage drop due to Nos. 4 and 4005, a voltage of Ve-Vs is applied to the surface conduction type emission devices of the selected row, and Ve-Vs is applied to the surface conduction type emission devices of the non-selected row.
A voltage of Vns is applied. By setting Ve, Vs, and Vns to appropriate voltages, an electron beam with a desired intensity should be output only from the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the selected row, and different driving is applied to each of the column-direction wirings. When the voltage Ve is applied, an electron beam of different intensity should be output from each of the elements in the selected row. Further, since the response speed of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is high, if the length of time for applying the driving voltage Ve is changed, the length of time for outputting the electron beam should be changed.

Therefore, various applications are considered for the multi-electron beam source in which the surface conduction electron-emitting devices are wired in a simple matrix. For example, if a voltage signal according to image information is appropriately applied, an electron for an image display device can be obtained. Expected to be applicable as a source.

On the other hand, the inventors of the present invention have earnestly conducted research to improve the characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and as a result, found that conducting current activation treatment is effective in the manufacturing process.

As described above, when forming the electron emitting portion of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, an electric current is applied to the conductive thin film to locally break, deform or alter the thin film to form a crack. Process (energizing forming process) is performed. After that, the electron emission characteristic can be significantly improved by further performing the energization activation treatment.

That is, the energization activation process is a process of energizing the electron-emitting portion formed by the energization forming process under appropriate conditions to deposit carbon or a carbon compound in the vicinity thereof. For example, an organic substance having an appropriate partial pressure exists, and the total pressure is 10 -4 or 1
By periodically applying a voltage pulse in a vacuum atmosphere of 0 minus 5 [torr], one of single crystal graphite, polycrystalline graphite, and amorphous carbon in the vicinity of the electron emission portion, or The mixture is deposited to a film thickness of 500 [angstroms] or less. However, it is needless to say that this condition is just an example and should be appropriately changed depending on the material and shape of the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

By carrying out such a treatment, it is possible to increase the emission current at the same applied voltage typically 100 times or more as compared with immediately after the energization forming. It should be noted that it is desirable to reduce the partial pressure of the organic substance in the vacuum atmosphere after the completion of the energization activation.

Therefore, it is needless to say that it is desirable to perform the energization activation process on each element even when manufacturing a multi-electron beam source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting elements described above are wired in a simple matrix.

By adding this step, the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device were stabilized, but when this was applied to a multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device such as a simple matrix wiring, it was further improved. The following problems occurred.

For example, in the case of a simple matrix element with m rows and n columns, the lines from 1 to m rows are sequentially activated for a certain period of time with a waveform as shown in FIG. FIG. 26 shows an equivalent circuit diagram when activating this simple matrix element.
Shown in FIG. 26 shows a state in which a voltage waveform for activation is applied to the second line from the top. The activation time of each line is determined by being obtained from the activation characteristics of the single element as shown in FIG. 27, etc. However, in actuality, the progress rate of activation is different in each element. This is shown in FIG.
If the activation end time T1 is set to the time shown in the figure, the elements a and b are sufficiently activated, but the element c is insufficient. The same phenomenon occurs when the activation is performed on a line-by-line basis, resulting in a problem that the electron emission characteristics of the resulting multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device become insufficient.

Such a problem also occurs in a case where a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a ladder shape shown in FIG. 29 are arranged (hereinafter referred to as a ladder type wiring), and a line which is not sufficiently activated is generated. Therefore, there arises a problem that the electron emission characteristic becomes insufficient.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the progress of activation for each line is confirmed by monitoring the current flowing through the line at the time of activation, and the entire electron emission is confirmed. An object is to provide an electron source having sufficiently good characteristics, a manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method for manufacturing the same, and an image forming apparatus.

[0027]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the manufacturing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, an electron source manufacturing apparatus for activating the emission characteristics of each element in an electron source in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in row units, and selecting means for selecting one row in a predetermined order. Pulse applying means for applying a pulse of a predetermined waveform to the element group of the row selected by the selecting means, current measuring means for measuring a current flowing when the pulse is applied by the pulse applying means, Control means for controlling the selecting means and the pulse applying means to repeatedly apply the pulse for each row until the amount of increase of the current value measured recently by the measuring means with respect to the current value measured last time becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value. With.

More preferably, the control means repeats the pulse application for each row selected by the selection means until the amount of increase in the current value becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value, and then the selection means performs the following operation. Select a row.

More preferably, the control means skips a row in which the increase amount of the current value is equal to or less than a predetermined value by the selection means every time the pulse application is performed by the pulse application means, and skips to the next line. Select a row.

More preferably, the control means causes the next row to be selected for each pulse application by the pulse application means, and the pulse is applied until the increase amount of the current value becomes less than a predetermined value for all rows. The application is repeated.

More preferably, the electron source is formed by connecting a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices in a matrix.

More preferably, the electron source is formed by connecting a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices in a ladder shape.

More preferably, the pulse applying means is
A rectangular pulse having a predetermined time width and a predetermined voltage is applied.

More preferably, the control means causes the pulse application means to apply a pulse to each row at predetermined time intervals.

More preferably, the control means has a storage means for storing the current value measured by the current measuring means, and the value stored in the storage means and the value measured by the current measuring means. When there is a difference equal to or more than the predetermined value, the measured value is stored in the storage means.

The manufacturing method of the present invention has the following structure. That is, a method of manufacturing an electron source in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged row by row to activate the emission characteristics of each element, and a selection step of selecting one row in a predetermined order And a pulse applying step of applying a pulse of a predetermined waveform to the element group of the row selected in the selecting step, and a current measuring step of measuring a current flowing when the pulse is applied in the pulse applying step. By the control step, the selection means and the pulse application means are controlled to repeatedly apply the pulse to each row until the increase amount of the current value measured recently by the measurement step becomes smaller than a predetermined value. .

More preferably, for the row selected in the selecting step, the pulse application is repeated until the amount of increase in the current value becomes a predetermined value or less for each row, and then the next row is selected by the selecting means.

More preferably, each time a pulse is applied in the pulse applying step, a row in which the amount of increase in the current value becomes a predetermined value or less is skipped and the next row is selected.

More preferably, the next row is selected for each pulse application in the pulse application step, and the pulse application is repeated for all rows until the amount of increase in the current value becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value.

More preferably, the electron source is formed by connecting a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices in a matrix.

More preferably, the electron source is formed by connecting a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices in a ladder shape.

More preferably, in the pulse applying step,
A rectangular pulse having a predetermined time width and a predetermined voltage is applied.

More preferably, pulse application to each row in the pulse application step is performed at predetermined time intervals.

More preferably, the value stored in the storage means for storing the current value measured in the current measuring step is compared with the value measured in the current measuring step,
If there is a difference equal to or more than the predetermined value, the measured value is stored in the storage means.

The electron source of the present invention has the following structure. That is, it is manufactured by the manufacturing method according to any one of claims 10 to 18.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention has the following structure. That is, the electron source according to claim 19 is provided, and the light emitting means for emitting light with the brightness according to the electric charge emitted from the electron source.

[0047]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows an example of an energization activation device for a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 101 denotes a matrix-formed multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device substrate that has been subjected to a forming process and is connected to activate electricity, and is connected to a vacuum exhaust device (not shown) and has a minus 10 It is evacuated to about 4 to minus 5 Torr. Also, 102
Is an activation current detector, 103 is an activation line selector, 1
A power source 04 generates a voltage necessary for energization activation, 106
Is a control unit that controls the energization activation waveform and the line selection unit.

The operation of the energization activation device will be described with reference to FIG. The power supply 104 generates a voltage waveform required for energization activation, and outputs a pulse waveform as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, each of T3 and T4 indicates a pulse width and a pulse interval of the voltage waveform. In the present embodiment, T3 is 1 millisecond and T4 is 10 milliseconds. Also Vac
Indicates the peak value of voltage, and in the case of the present embodiment, it is set to 14V. The control unit 106 controls the power supply 104 based on the voltage value stored in advance, and instructs the line selection unit 103 to select a selected line. The voltage waveform output from the power supply 104 is input to the line selection unit 103 and applied to the selected line of the electron source substrate 101.

Here, the line selection unit 103 will be described with reference to FIG. The line selection unit 103 is composed of switches such as a relay and an analog switch. When the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device substrate 101 is an m × n matrix, m of the switches sw1 to swm are arranged in parallel. The x wiring terminals Dx1 to Dxm of the electron source substrate 101 are connected via the current detection unit 102. The switch is controlled by the control unit 106 and operates so that the voltage waveform from the power source 104 is applied to the line to be energized and activated. In FIG. 2, line 1 is selected, sw1 is activated and the other lines are connected to ground.

The energization activation voltage output from the line selection unit 103 is input to the current detection unit 102. The current detector 102 will be described with reference to FIG. Line selector 1
The output from 03 is input through the wiring Sxm. The current detector is composed of detection resistors Rs1 to Rsm and a voltmeter that measures the voltage across the resistors. Now, when only the line 1 is selected as shown in FIG. 2, no current flows in the other lines. Therefore, when the voltage of the resistor Rs1 is V1,
The current I1 flowing in the line 1 can be calculated by I1 = V1 / Rs1. The resistance values of Rs1 to Rsm are set to sufficiently low values so that the voltage drop when the device current If flows does not affect the voltage applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device substrate. This voltmeter can output the detected value to the control unit by using an AD converter.

Next, how the control unit switches the line to which the activation pulse is applied based on the detected current value will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. The register If0 is included in the memory 1061 in the control unit 106. The flowcharts in FIG. 5 and subsequent figures can be realized by executing the program stored in the memory 1061 by the CPU 1062 in the control unit 106.

First, the line selection unit 102 selects the first line (step S501), and at this time, the register If0 in which the measured current If is stored is reset to 0 (step S502). The current value is measured at regular time intervals (step S503), but the control unit 106 compares it with the previous measured value If0 (step S504), and the difference becomes smaller than the previously stored value dIf. When it is determined that the activation of the currently selected line has ended, and there is an inactive line remaining (step S505-Yes), the line selection unit 102 is switched to the next line. Signal to (step S
506). That is, it is determined that the activation is completed when the slope of the increase of the current If becomes a certain value or less. In this way, activation is sequentially performed from the first line to the m-th line.

When the slope of the increase of the current If is equal to or more than a predetermined value (step S504-No), the register If
The current If is stored in 0 (step S507), waits until the next measurement time (step S508), and then step S508.
Repeat from 503.

As described above, when the multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device was activated using the current activation device of this embodiment, good electron emission characteristics were obtained in all lines.
In the present embodiment, the multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device can be similarly applied even if a ladder-type wiring is connected.

[Second Embodiment] The second embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail below.

The energization activation device in the second embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment, but an example of using a multi-surface conduction type emission device having a ladder type wiring as shown in FIG. 7 will be described. This is shown in FIG. 6, the same components as those in FIG. 1 shown in the above-described first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the figure, reference numeral 110 denotes a multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device substrate (the electron source in this embodiment is a ladder-type wiring, the forming is completed) which is connected to activate electricity. , Which is connected to a vacuum exhaust device (not shown) and is a power of 10 minus 4 to 5
It is evacuated to about Torr. The overall operation of the energization activation device shown in FIG. 6 is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, and thus the description thereof will be omitted. However, the voltage waveform generated by the power supply 104 different from that of the first embodiment and the line The procedure for switching will be described below.

First, the waveform of the activation voltage generated by the power supply 104 is a continuous pulse waveform as shown in FIG. 4. In the present embodiment, T3 is 1 ms.
2msec is used for ec and T4.

Next, the switching timing of the line selection section will be described with reference to FIG. The applied voltage waveform is a continuous pulse waveform as described above, and this is represented by the top waveform in FIG. 7. Below that, the on / off states of the switches sw1 to swm of the line selection unit 102 are shown.

When the pulse output starts, sw1 first turns on, and the pulse waveform is output to the D1 terminal of the multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device substrate 110 through the current detection unit 102. However, sw1 is turned on for one pulse, and immediately turned off and sw2 is turned on immediately thereafter.
In this way, according to the pulse output, sw1 to swm
Are sequentially switched, and after one pulse is applied from D1 to Dm, the process is repeated from sw1.

In this way, the entire surface of the substrate is activated while scrolling the line. The algorithm for ending activation will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. The registers Ifo (1) to Ifo (m) are controlled by the control unit 10.
6 memory 1061. Further, in the procedure of FIG. 8, the program included in the memory 1061 is executed by the CPU 10
This can be realized by executing the method according to 62.

First, when the activation is started, the registers Ifo (1) to If which store the measured value of the current If measured last time.
o (m) is reset to 0 (step S801). The current detection unit 102 measures the currents If (1) to If (m) of each line at regular time intervals (step S802).
The difference from the previous measurement is obtained for each line, and compared with the pre-stored set value dIf (step S803), and it is determined that the activation is completed when all lines become smaller than the set value. Then, the control unit 106 causes the power supply 104 to end the output of the waveform (step S803-Yes). That is, the activation is completed when the slope of the increase in If becomes smaller than the set value in all lines.

If the slope of the increase of the current If is not smaller than the set value on all lines, Ifo (1) to If (1)
Set the value measured in step S802 to o (m),
After a predetermined time has elapsed (step S805), step S
Repeat from 802.

As described above, when the multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device was activated using the current activation device of this embodiment, good electron emission characteristics were obtained in all lines.
Moreover, in the present embodiment, the entire activation time is shortened to about 1/5 as compared with the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, the multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device can be similarly applied even if a matrix wiring is connected.

[Third Embodiment] The third embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
The embodiment will be described in detail.

The energization activation device in the third embodiment is similar to that in the first embodiment, but an example in which a multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device having matrix wiring is used by supplying power from both sides will be described. This is shown in FIG. In FIG. 9, the same components as those shown in FIG. 1 according to the first embodiment described above are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the figure, reference numeral 120 denotes a multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device substrate connected for energization activation (electron sources in this embodiment are matrix-wired and power is supplied from both sides of the X-wiring. Is completed), and is connected to an evacuation device (not shown) and is evacuated to about 10 −4 to −5 Torr. The overall operation of the energization activation device shown in FIG. 6 is similar to that of the first embodiment described above,
The voltage waveform generated by the power supply 104 is the same as that in the second embodiment, and therefore the description thereof is omitted. However, the procedure for performing line switching different from that in the first and second embodiments will be described below with reference to FIGS. 7 and 11. Explain.

First, FIG. 7 shows switching in the initial state of activation. The applied voltage waveform is a continuous pulse waveform as described above, and this is represented by the top line in FIG. 7. When pulse output starts, sw1 first turns on, and the pulse waveform is detected by the current detection unit 102.
To the D1 terminal of the multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device substrate 110. But sw1 is turned on is 1
It is a pulse, and immediately after it is turned off, sw2 immediately after is turned on. In this way, sw1
To swm are sequentially switched, and after one pulse is applied to D1 to Dm, the process is repeated from sw1. As described above, the initial state of activation is the same as in the second embodiment.

In this way, the entire surface of the substrate is activated while scrolling the lines. An algorithm for activating each line will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 10 and the timing chart of FIG. The registers Ifo (1) to Ifo (m) are controlled by the control unit 10.
6 memory 1061. Further, in the procedure of FIG. 8, the program included in the memory 1061 is executed by the CPU 10
This can be realized by executing the method according to 62.

When the activation is started, first, the registers Ifo (1) to Ifo which store the previously measured current value If are stored.
fo (m) is reset to 0 (step S10).
01).

The current value If of each line at regular time intervals
(1) to If (m) are measured by the current detection unit 102, but the previous measured values Ifo (1) to Ifo are measured line by line.
The difference from (m) is calculated, and the set value dIf stored in advance is calculated.
On the other hand, the control unit 106 determines that the activation is completed when the value becomes smaller than the set value in each line, and the control unit 106 stops turning on the selection switch swk of the line. That is, the activation is completed when the slope of increase of If becomes smaller than the set value in each line. If the activated line is completed, the If measurement will not be performed even at the next measurement timing.

For this purpose, first the line number i is initialized to 1 (step S1002), and it is tested whether or not it has been completed (step S1003). If not completed, the current value If (i) of the line i is measured (step S10).
04), the difference between that value and the previous measured value Ifo (i) stored in the register is compared with a predetermined value dIf (step S1005), and if dIf is large, the activation of the line i is finished, The finished line can be identified by storing the finished line number in the memory 1061 (step S1006). If not, If (i) is stored in the register for the next energization (step S1007).

Thereafter, it is tested whether the line i has reached the final line m (step S1008). If not, the same control is performed for the next line (step S101).
0), if the final line is finished, test whether activation is finished for all lines (step S100).
9) Then, after waiting for a fixed time (step S1011), the above procedure is repeated.

FIG. 11 shows a state in which the activation of the line 2 is first completed and the sw2 is not turned on. It can be seen that instead of sw2 being turned off, sw3 is turned on subsequently to sw1. In this way, the voltage waveform from the power source 104 is no longer applied from the lines that have been sequentially activated, and when the last one line is completed, the control unit 106 terminates the output of the voltage waveform to the power source 104 and the surface conduction type. The activation of the entire emission element substrate is completed.

As described above, when the multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device was activated using the current activation device of this embodiment, good electron emission characteristics were obtained in all lines.
Further, in the present embodiment, the entire activation time is shortened to about 1/10 as compared with the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, the multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device can be similarly applied even if a ladder wiring is connected. (Configuration and Manufacturing Method of Display Panel) Next, the configuration and manufacturing method of the display panel of the image display device to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to specific examples.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the display panel used in the embodiment, in which a part of the panel is cut away to show the internal structure.

In the figure, 1005 is a rear plate, and 1006.
Is a side wall, 1007 is a face plate, 1005
˜1007 form an airtight container for maintaining a vacuum inside the display panel. When assembling an airtight container, it is necessary to seal the joints of each member to maintain sufficient strength and airtightness.For example, apply frit glass to the joints, and in air or nitrogen atmosphere, Sealing was achieved by baking at 400 to 500 degrees for 10 minutes or more. A method of evacuating the inside of the airtight container to a vacuum will be described later.

The rear plate 1005 has a substrate 1001.
Are fixed, but N × M surface conduction electron-emitting devices 1002 are formed on the substrate. N and M are positive integers of 2 or more and are appropriately set according to the target number of display pixels. For example, in a display device for displaying high-definition television, N = 3000, M = 100
It is desirable to set a number of 0 or more. In this embodiment, N = 3072 and M = 1024. Nx
The M surface conduction electron-emitting devices have M row-direction wirings 100.
Simple matrix wiring is provided by 3 and N column-direction wirings 1004. The portion constituted by 1001 to 1004 is called a multi-electron beam source. The manufacturing method and structure of the multi-electron beam source will be described later in detail.

In this embodiment, the multi-electron beam source substrate 1001 is fixed to the rear plate 1005 of the airtight container, but the multi-electron beam source substrate 10 is fixed.
01 has sufficient strength, the substrate 10 of the multi-electron beam source is used as a rear plate of the hermetic container.
01 itself may be used.

A fluorescent film 1008 is formed on the lower surface of the face plate 1007. Since the present embodiment is a color display device, the fluorescent film 1008 has C
Phosphors of three primary colors of red, green and blue used in the field of RT are separately applied. The phosphors of each color are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3A, the stripes are separately coated, and black conductors 1010 are provided between the stripes of the phosphor. The purpose of providing the black conductor 1010 is to prevent the display color from shifting even if the electron beam irradiation position is slightly shifted, and to prevent the reflection of external light to prevent the display contrast from lowering. And preventing charge-up of the fluorescent film by the electron beam. Although graphite was used as a main component for the black conductor 1010, other materials may be used as long as they are suitable for the above purpose.

The method of separately coating the phosphors of the three primary colors is not limited to the stripe-shaped arrangement shown in FIG. 13 (a). For example, the delta arrangement shown in FIG. 13 (b) or Other arrangements may be used.

When a monochrome display panel is produced, a monochromatic phosphor material may be used for the phosphor film 1008, and a black conductive material is not necessarily used.

On the rear plate side surface of the fluorescent film 1008, a metal back 1009 known in the field of CRT is used.
Is provided. The purpose of providing the metal back 1009 is
A part of the light emitted from the fluorescent film 1008 is specularly reflected to improve the light utilization rate, or the fluorescent film 1008
8 to protect it, to act as an electrode for applying an electron beam acceleration voltage, and to act as a conductive path for excited electrons of the fluorescent film 1008. The metal back 1009 was formed by forming a fluorescent film 1008 on the face plate substrate 1007, smoothing the surface of the fluorescent film, and vacuum-depositing Al thereon.
The metal back 1009 is not used when a low voltage fluorescent material is used for the fluorescent film 1008.

Although not used in this embodiment, for the purpose of applying an accelerating voltage and improving the conductivity of the fluorescent film, a transparent material such as ITO is formed between the face plate substrate 1007 and the fluorescent film 1008. Electrodes may be provided.

Further, Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn and Hv are electric connection terminals having an airtight structure provided for electrically connecting the display panel and an electric circuit (not shown). Dx1 to Dxm are the row wirings 10 of the multi-electron beam source.
03, Dy1 to Dyn are column direction wirings 1004 of the multi-electron beam source, and Hv is the metal back 1 of the face plate.
009 electrically.

To evacuate the inside of the airtight container to a vacuum, after assembling the airtight container, an exhaust pipe (not shown) and a vacuum pump are connected, and the inside of the airtight container is reduced to the power of 10 −7 [T].
orr]. Then, the exhaust pipe is sealed, but in order to maintain the degree of vacuum in the airtight container, a getter film (not shown) is formed at a predetermined position in the airtight container immediately before or after the sealing. The getter film is, for example, a film formed by heating and depositing a getter material containing Ba as a main component by a heater or high-frequency heating,
Due to the adsorption action of the getter film, the inside of the airtight container is 1 × 10−5 or 1 × 10−7 [Torr].
Is maintained at a vacuum degree.

The basic structure and manufacturing method of the display panel using the surface conduction type element have been described above.

Next, a method of manufacturing the multi-electron beam source used for the display panel will be described. The multi-electron beam source used in the image display device is not limited to the material, shape, or manufacturing method of the surface conduction electron-emitting device as long as it is an electron source in which the surface conduction electron-emitting device is wired in a simple matrix. However, the inventors have found that among the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, those in which the electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film have excellent electron-emitting characteristics and can be easily manufactured. Therefore, it can be said that it is most suitable for use in a multi-electron beam source of a high-luminance, large-screen image display device. Therefore, in the display panel of the above embodiment, a surface conduction electron-emitting device in which the electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film is used. Therefore, the basic configuration, manufacturing method, and characteristics of a suitable surface conduction electron-emitting device will be first described, and then the structure of a multi-electron beam source in which a plurality of devices are wired in a simple matrix will be described. (Preferable element structure and manufacturing method of surface conduction electron-emitting device) A typical structure of a surface conduction electron-emitting device in which an electron emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film is a flat type or a vertical type.
There are different types. (Plane-type surface conduction electron-emitting device) First, the element structure and manufacturing method of the plane-type surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described. FIG. 14 shows a plan view (a) and a cross-sectional view (b) for explaining the structure of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device.
It is. In the figure, 1101 is a substrate, 1102 and 1103 are element electrodes, 1104 is a conductive thin film, 1105 is an electron emission portion formed by an energization forming process, and 1113 is a thin film formed by an energization activation process.

As the substrate 1101, for example, various glass substrates such as quartz glass and soda lime glass, various ceramic substrates such as alumina, or an insulating layer made of, for example, SiO 2 is laminated on the above various substrates. Substrate, etc. can be used.

Further, the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 provided on the substrate 1101 so as to face each other in parallel to the substrate surface are made of a conductive material. For example, N
i, Cr, Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Cu, Pd,
A material may be appropriately selected from metals such as Ag, alloys of these metals, metal oxides such as In2O3-SnO2, semiconductors such as polysilicon, and the like. To form the electrodes, film-forming techniques such as vacuum deposition and photolithography,
It can be easily formed by using a combination of patterning techniques such as etching, but it may be formed by using other methods (for example, printing techniques).

The shapes of the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 are appropriately designed according to the application purpose of the electron-emitting device.
Generally, the electrode spacing L is usually designed by selecting an appropriate value from the range of several hundreds of angstroms to several hundreds of micrometers. It is in the range of ten micrometers. Further, regarding the thickness d of the device electrode,
Usually, an appropriate numerical value is selected from the range of several hundred angstroms to several micrometers.

A fine particle film is used for the conductive thin film 1104. The fine particle film mentioned here is a film containing many fine particles as a constituent element (including an island-shaped aggregate).
I mean If you examine the microparticle film microscopically, usually
A structure in which the individual particles are spaced apart, a structure in which the particles are adjacent to each other, or a structure in which the particles overlap each other is observed.

The particle diameter of the fine particles used for the fine particle film is in the range of several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, but the range of 10 angstroms to 200 angstroms is particularly preferable. Further, the thickness of the fine particle film is appropriately set in consideration of various conditions described below. That is, the device electrode 11
02, or 1103, conditions necessary for satisfactorily performing energization forming described later, conditions necessary for setting the electric resistance of the fine particle film itself to an appropriate value described later. , And so on.

Specifically, it is set within the range of several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, but the range of 10 angstroms to 500 angstroms is particularly preferable.

Materials that can be used to form the fine particle film include, for example, Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag,
Au, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, T
a, W, Pb, and other metals, PdO, S
Oxides such as nO2, In2O3, PbO, Sb2O3, etc .; HfB2, ZrB2, LaB6, CeB6,
Borides such as YB4, GdB4, etc., Ti
Carbides including C, ZrC, HfC, TaC, SiC, WC, etc., nitrides including TiN, ZrN, HfN, etc., semiconductors including Si, Ge, etc., carbon, etc. And these are appropriately selected from these.

As described above, the conductive thin film 1104 is formed of a fine particle film, and its sheet resistance value is
It was set to be included in the range of 10 3 to 10 7 [Ohm / sq].

The conductive thin film 1104 and the device electrode 11
Since it is desirable that the wires 02 and 1103 be electrically connected well, they have a structure in which a part of each overlaps with the other. In the example of FIG. 14, the overlapping manner is as follows.
Although the substrate, the device electrode, and the conductive thin film are stacked in this order from the bottom, in some cases, the substrate, the conductive thin film, and the device electrode may be stacked in this order from the bottom.

Further, the electron emitting portion 1105 is a crack-like portion formed in a part of the conductive thin film 1104, and has an electrically higher resistance than the surrounding conductive thin film. The crack is formed by performing a later-described energization forming process on the conductive thin film 1104. Fine particles having a particle diameter of several angstroms to several hundred angstroms may be arranged in the cracks. Since it is difficult to accurately and accurately show the actual position and shape of the electron-emitting portion, it is schematically shown in FIG.

The thin film 1113 is a thin film made of carbon or a carbon compound and covers the electron emitting portion 1105 and its vicinity. The thin film 1113 is formed by performing an energization activation process described later after the energization forming process.

The thin film 1113 is made of any one of single crystal graphite, polycrystalline graphite and amorphous carbon, or a mixture thereof, and the film thickness is 500 [angstrom] or less, but 300 [angstrom] or less. Is more preferable.

Since it is difficult to accurately illustrate the actual position and shape of the thin film 1113, it is schematically shown in FIG. Further, in the plan view (a), an element in which a part of the thin film 1113 is removed is shown.

The basic structure of a preferable element has been described above, but the following element is used as the element of the present embodiment.

That is, soda lime glass was used for the substrate 1101, and Ni thin films were used for the device electrodes 1102 and 1103. The thickness d of the device electrode was 1000 [angstrom], and the electrode interval L was 2 [micrometer].

Pd or P as the main material of the fine particle film
The thickness of the fine particle film was about 100 [angstrom] and the width W was 100 [micrometer] using dO.

Next, a method of manufacturing a suitable flat type surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described. 15 (a) to (d)
FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a manufacturing process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the notation of each member is the same as that in FIG.

1) First, as shown in FIG. 15A, device electrodes 1102 and 1103 are formed on a substrate 1101.

Before forming, the substrate 1 is formed.
After sufficiently washing 101 with a detergent, pure water and an organic solvent,
The material of the device electrode is deposited. As a method of depositing,
For example, a vacuum film forming technique such as an evaporation method or a sputtering method may be used. Then, the deposited electrode material is patterned by using a photolithography / etching technique to form a pair of device electrodes (1102 and 110) shown in FIG.
Form 3).

2) Next, a conductive thin film 1104 is formed as shown in FIG.

In forming the film, first, FIG.
The substrate is coated with an organic metal solution, dried, heated and baked to form a fine particle film, and then patterned into a predetermined shape by photolithography and etching. Here, the organometallic solution is a solution of an organometallic compound whose main element is a material of fine particles used for the conductive thin film. Specifically, Pd is used as the main element in this embodiment.
Further, although the dipping method is used as the coating method in the embodiment, other methods such as a spinner method and a spray method may be used.

Further, as a method for forming a conductive thin film made of a fine particle film, other than the method of applying the organometallic solution used in this embodiment, for example, a vacuum vapor deposition method, a sputtering method, or a chemical vapor deposition method. The law may be used.

3) Next, as shown in FIG. 15C, from the forming power supply 1110 to the device electrodes 1102 and 11
The electron emitting portion 1105 is formed by applying an appropriate voltage during the period 03 and performing the energization forming process.

The energization forming treatment means that the electroconductive thin film 1104 made of a fine particle film is energized, and a part of it 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 a fine particle film that 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 describe the energization method in more detail, FIG. 16 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 addition, a monitor pulse Pm for monitoring the state of formation of the electron-emitting portion 1105 was inserted between triangular-wave pulses at appropriate intervals, and the current flowing at that time was measured by an ammeter 1111.

In the embodiment, for example, in a vacuum atmosphere of about 10 −5 [torr], for example, the pulse width T1 is 1 [millisecond], the pulse interval T2 is 10 [millisecond], and the peak value Vpf is The voltage was increased by 0.1 [V] for each pulse. Then, the monitor pulse Pm was inserted at a rate of one every time five triangular waves were applied. The monitor pulse voltage Vpm was set to 0.1 [V] so as not to adversely affect the forming process. Then, when the electric resistance between the element electrodes 1102 and 1103 reaches 1 × 10 6 [ohm], that is, the current measured by the ammeter 1111 when the monitor pulse is applied is 1 × 10 −7 [A]. ] At the stage below, the energization related to the forming process was terminated.

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 element electrode spacing L is changed. In this case, it is desirable to appropriately change the energization conditions accordingly.

4) Next, as shown in FIG.
The device electrodes 1102 and 1103 are supplied from the activation power source 1112.
During the energization activation process, apply an appropriate voltage during
The electron emission characteristics are improved.

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 FIG. 15D, the deposit made of carbon or a carbon compound is used as the member 1
It is shown schematically as 113. Note that by performing the energization activation process, the emission current at the same applied voltage can be typically increased by 100 times or more as compared with before the energization activation process.

Specifically, 10 −6 [tor]
By periodically applying a voltage pulse in a vacuum atmosphere in the range of r], carbon or a carbon compound originating from an organic compound existing in the vacuum atmosphere is deposited.
The deposit 1113 is one of single-crystal graphite, polycrystalline graphite, and amorphous carbon, or a mixture thereof, and has a thickness of 500 Å or less, and more preferably 300 Å or less.

In order to explain the energization method in more detail, FIG. 4 shows an example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from the activation power supply 1112. In the present embodiment, the rectangular wave having a constant voltage is periodically applied to perform the energization activation process. Specifically, the rectangular wave voltage Vac is 14 [V] and the pulse width T3 is 1 [millimeter. Second], pulse interval T4 is 10 [millisecond]
And Note that the above-described energization conditions are preferable conditions for the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present embodiment, and when the design of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is changed, it is desirable to appropriately change the conditions accordingly.

Reference numeral 1114 shown in FIG. 15 (d) is an ammeter for detecting the activation current If flowing in the surface conduction electron-emitting device. While applying a voltage from the activation power supply 1112, the activation current If is measured by the ammeter 1114 to monitor the progress of the energization activation process, and the activation power supply 111 is detected.
2 is controlled. FIG. 17 shows an example of the activation current If measured by the ammeter 1114.
When the pulse voltage is started to be applied from 2, the activation current If rapidly increases with the passage of time, but the rate of increase gradually decreases and becomes constant. When the rate of increase of the activation current If becomes constant, the voltage application from the activation power supply 1112 is stopped, and the energization activation process ends.

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, the plane type surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 15 (e) was manufactured. (Vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device) Next, another typical configuration of the surface conduction type electron emission device in which the electron emission portion or its periphery is formed of a fine particle film, that is, the configuration of the vertical type surface conduction electron emission device. Will be described.

FIG. 18 is a schematic sectional view for explaining the basic structure of the vertical type, in which 1201 is a substrate.
202 and 1203 are device electrodes, 1206 is a step forming member, 1204 is a conductive thin film using a fine particle film, 1205
Are electron-emitting portions formed by an energization forming process;
213 is a thin film formed by the activation process.

The vertical type is different from the above-described flat type in that one of the element electrodes (1202) is provided on the step forming member 1206, and the conductive thin film 1204 covers the side surface of the step forming member 1206. The point is that they are covered. Therefore, the device electrode spacing L in the planar type shown in FIG.
Is the step height L of the step forming member 1206 in the vertical type.
s. In addition, the substrate 1201, the element electrode 1
202 and 1203, conductive thin film 1 using fine particle film
204, the materials listed in the description of the planar type can be used in the same manner. An electrically insulating material such as SiO2 is used for the step forming member 1206.

Next, a method of manufacturing a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described. 19A to 19F are cross-sectional views for explaining the manufacturing process, and the notation of each member is the same as in FIG.
Same as 8.

1) First, as shown in FIG. 19A, a device electrode 1203 is formed on a substrate 1201.

2) Next, as shown in FIG. 11B, an insulating layer for forming the step forming member is laminated. The insulating layer may be formed by laminating, for example, SiO2 by a sputtering method. However, another film forming method such as a vacuum evaporation method or a printing method may be used.

3) Next, as shown in FIG. 11C, the device electrode 1202 is formed on the insulating layer.

4) Next, as shown in FIG. 10D, a part of the insulating layer is removed by using, for example, an etching method to expose the device electrode 1203.

5) Next, as shown in FIG. 13E, a conductive thin film 1204 using a fine particle film is formed. For the formation, as in the case of the flat type, a film forming technique such as a coating method may be used.

6) Next, as in the case of the flat type, an energization forming process is performed to form an electron emitting portion. The same process as the planar energization forming process described with reference to FIG. 15C may be performed.

7) Next, as in the case of the planar type, an energization activation process is performed to deposit carbon or a carbon compound in the vicinity of the electron emitting portion. The same process as the planar energization activation process described with reference to FIG. 15D may be performed.

As described above, the vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 19F was manufactured. (Characteristics of surface conduction electron-emitting device used for display device)
The device configuration and manufacturing method of the planar and vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting devices have been described. Next, the characteristics of the device used in the display device will be described.

FIG. 20 shows typical examples of the (emission current Ie) vs. (device applied voltage Vf) characteristic and the (device current If) vs. (device applied voltage Vf) characteristic of the device used in the display device. . Note that the emission current Ie is significantly smaller than the element current If, and it is difficult to show the same current on the same scale.
Since these characteristics are changed by changing design parameters such as the size and shape of the element, the two graphs are shown in arbitrary units.

The element used in the display device has the following three characteristics regarding the emission current Ie.

First, a certain voltage (this is referred to as a threshold voltage Vth
The emission current Ie sharply increases when a voltage of the above magnitude is applied to the element, while the emission current Ie is hardly detected at a voltage lower than the threshold voltage Vth.

That is, a non-linear element having a clear threshold voltage Vth with respect to the emission current Ie.

Secondly, since the emission current Ie changes depending on the voltage Vf applied to the element, the emission current Ie varies with the voltage Vf.
The magnitude of e can be controlled.

Third, since the response speed of the current Ie emitted from the element is faster with respect to the voltage Vf applied to the element, the amount of charge of the electrons emitted from the element depends on the length of time during which the voltage Vf is applied. Can control.

Because of the above characteristics, the surface conduction electron-emitting device could be suitably used for a display device. For example, in a display device in which a large number of elements are provided corresponding to pixels of a display screen, if the first characteristic is used, display can be performed by sequentially scanning the display screen. That is,
The driving element has a threshold voltage Vt according to a desired light emission luminance.
h or higher, and a voltage lower than the threshold voltage Vth is applied to the non-selected elements. By sequentially switching the elements to be driven, the display screen can be sequentially scanned and displayed.

Further, by using the second characteristic or the third characteristic, the light emission luminance can be controlled, so that a gradation display can be performed. (Structure of multi-electron beam source in which a large number of elements are wired in a simple matrix) Next, the structure of a multi-electron beam source in which the above surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged on a substrate and wired in a simple matrix will be described.

FIG. 21 is a plan view of the multi-electron beam source used in the display panel of FIG. Surface conduction electron-emitting devices similar to those shown in FIG. 14 are arranged on the substrate, and these devices are arranged in the row-direction wiring electrode 100.
3 and the column-direction wiring electrodes 1004 are wired in a simple matrix. An insulating layer (not shown) is formed between the row-directional wiring electrodes 1003 and the column-directional wiring electrodes 1004 where they intersect, so that electrical insulation is maintained.

A cross section taken along the line AA 'of FIG. 21 is shown in FIG.
Shown in

The multi-electron source having such a structure is
After previously forming a row direction wiring electrode 1003, a column direction wiring electrode 1004, an interelectrode insulating layer (not shown), and a device electrode and a conductive thin film of a surface conduction electron-emitting device on a substrate,
Row-direction wiring electrode 1003 and column-direction wiring electrode 1004
The device was manufactured by supplying power to each element through the device and performing an energization forming process and an energization activation process.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0147]

As described above, according to the present invention, at the time of activation, the current of each line is measured, and the completion of activation of each line is judged based on the result, so that the characteristics of the entire substrate are improved. An excellent electron source can be obtained. Further, by using the electron source, it is possible to realize a high-quality image forming apparatus having a small luminance distribution and a high luminance.

[0148]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an energization activation device for a multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a line selection unit in the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a current detection unit in the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a waveform of an output voltage from an activation power supply.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an activation control procedure in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an energization activation device for a multi-surface conduction electron-emitting device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a line switching timing in the second and third embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an activation control procedure in the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an energization activation device for a multi-surface conduction type emission device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an activation control procedure according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a line switching timing in the third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a configuration of a display panel in the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an arrangement example of phosphors of the display panel in the embodiment.

14A and 14B are a plan view and a cross-sectional view of a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a method of manufacturing a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a waveform of a forming voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a waveform of an activation current of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a sectional view of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a method of manufacturing the vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a plan view of a multi-electron beam source used for the display panel in the embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a cross-sectional view of the multi-electron beam source used for the display panel in the embodiment as viewed in the direction of arrows.

FIG. 23 is a plan view of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing wiring of a conventional multi-electron beam source.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a waveform of an activation voltage of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an equivalent circuit for activating a conventional simple matrix type multi-electron beam source.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing activation characteristics of a conventional single element surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing activation characteristics of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an equivalent circuit for activating a conventional ladder-type multi-electron beam source.

Claims (20)

[Claims] 1. An electron source manufacturing apparatus for activating the emission characteristics of each element in an electron source comprising a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in rows, wherein one row is selected in a predetermined order. Selecting means, pulse applying means for applying a pulse of a predetermined waveform to the element group of the row selected by the selecting means, and current measuring means for measuring a current flowing when the pulse is applied by the pulse applying means And, until the increase amount of the current value measured recently by the measuring means with respect to the current value measured last time is less than or equal to a predetermined value, the selecting means and the pulse applying means are controlled to repeatedly apply the pulse for each row. An electron source manufacturing apparatus, comprising: 2. The control means repeats application of a pulse for each row selected by the selecting means until the amount of increase in the current value becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value, and then the next row is selected by the selecting means. The electron source manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the manufacturing apparatus is an electron source. 3. The control means skips a row in which the increase amount of the current value is equal to or less than a predetermined value by the selection means and skips to the next row every time the pulse application means applies one pulse. The electron source manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the manufacturing apparatus is an electron source. 4. The control means selects the next row for each pulse application by the pulse applying means, and applies the pulse until the increase amount of the current value becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value for all rows. The apparatus for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is repeated. 5. The electron source comprises a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices connected in a matrix.
4. The electron source manufacturing apparatus according to any one of 3 to 3. 6. The electron source comprises a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices connected in a ladder shape.
Or the manufacturing apparatus of the electron source according to 4. 7. The apparatus for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1, wherein the pulse applying means applies a rectangular pulse having a predetermined time width and a predetermined voltage. 8. The electron source manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means causes the pulse application means to apply a pulse to each row at a predetermined time interval. 9. The control means has a storage means for storing the current value measured by the current measuring means, and stores the value stored in the storage means and the value measured by the current measuring means. 9. The apparatus for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 1, wherein the measured value is stored in the storage means when the difference is equal to or more than the predetermined value by comparison. 10. A method of manufacturing an electron source in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged row by row to activate the emission characteristics of each element, wherein one row is selected in a predetermined order. Selecting step, a pulse applying step of applying a pulse of a predetermined waveform to the element group of the row selected in the selecting step, and a current measuring step of measuring a current flowing when the pulse is applied in the pulse applying step And, until the increase amount of the current value measured recently with respect to the current value measured last time by the measurement step is equal to or less than a predetermined value, by controlling the selection means and the pulse applying means, to apply a pulse for each row. A method of manufacturing an electron source, which is characterized by being repeatedly performed. 11. For the row selected in the selecting step, pulse application is repeated until the amount of increase in the current value becomes a predetermined value or less for each row, and then the next row is selected by the selecting means. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 10. 12. The method according to claim 12, wherein each time a pulse is applied in the pulse applying step, a row in which the amount of increase in the current value is equal to or less than a predetermined value is skipped and the next row is selected. 10. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to 10. 13. The next row is selected for each pulse application in the pulse applying step, and pulse application is repeated for all rows until the amount of increase in the current value is equal to or less than a predetermined value. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 10. 14. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 10, wherein the electron source is formed by connecting a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices in a matrix. 15. The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 10, wherein the electron source is formed by connecting a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices in a ladder shape. 16. The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 10, wherein the pulse applying step applies a rectangular pulse having a predetermined time width and a predetermined voltage. 17. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 10, wherein the pulse application to each row in the pulse application step is performed at a predetermined time interval. 18. When the value stored in the storage means for storing the current value measured in the current measuring step is compared with the value measured in the current measuring step, and there is a difference of not less than the predetermined value. 18. The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 10, wherein the measured value is stored in the storage means. 19. An electron source manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 10. 20. An image forming apparatus, comprising: the electron source according to claim 19; and a light emitting unit that emits light with a brightness according to an electric charge emitted from the electron source.