JPH10302684A - Image formation device and its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent electrical connection failure at a charged and connected part of a surface of an insulating member and to enable an assembling process using the insulating member to be simplified while to eliminate factors causing electron track dislocation near the insulating member, in the event that an image formation device has the insulating member for reinforcement which has a high-resistance film on its surface and has a low-resistance film on a connection part of a multi-electron source with a face plate. SOLUTION: A display panel is assembled such that a groove part 102 is provided on a wiring 101 between X-direction wirings 101, 103 on an electron source substrate, that an electrical connection part 1041 is disposed on this groove part 102, and that a spacer 1020 is erected on this groove part 102. The wiring 101 provided with this groove part 102 is disposed leaving a fixed space according to atmosphere-resistant structure of the display panel.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having an electron source in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged, and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0002]

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

[0003] As a surface conduction type emission element, for example, M.
I. Elinson, Radio E-ng. Electron Phys., 10, 1290,
(1965) and other examples described later.

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. Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include a device using an SnO2 thin film by Elinson et al., And a device using an Au thin film [G. Dittmer: “Thin Solid Films”, 9,317 (1)
972)] and those based on In2O3 / SnO2 thin films [M. Hart
well and CG Fonstad: "IEEE Trans. ED Conf."
519 (1975)] and those using carbon thin films [Hisashi Araki
Others: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, 22 (1983)].

[0005] As a typical example of the device configuration of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, FIG. 23 is a plan view of the device by M. Hartwell et al. Described above. In the figure, reference numeral 3001 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 applying an energization process called energization forming to be described later to the conductive thin film 3004. The interval L in the figure is 0.5 to 1 [mm], and the width W is
It is set to 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.

In the above-described surface conduction electron-emitting device including the device by M. Hartwell et al., An electron emission portion 3005 is formed by performing an energization process called energization forming on the conductive thin film 3004 before electron emission. Was common. That is, energization forming is
A constant DC voltage or a DC voltage which is boosted at a very slow rate of, for example, about 1 V / min is applied to both ends of the conductive thin film 3004 to conduct electricity.
004 is locally destroyed, deformed, or altered to form an electron emitting portion 3005 in an electrically high-resistance state. Note that a crack is generated in a part of the conductive thin film 3004 that is locally broken, deformed, or altered. When an appropriate voltage is applied to the conductive thin film 3004 after the energization forming, electron emission is performed in the vicinity of the crack.

As an example of the FE type, for example, WP
Dyke & WW Dolan, “Field emission”, Advance in
Electron Physics, 8, 89 (1956) or CA Spi
ndt, “Physical properties of thin-film field emis
sion cathodes with molybdenium cones ”, J. Appl. P
hys., 47, 5248 (1976).

FIG. 24 shows a cross-sectional view of a device by CA Spindt et al. As a typical example of the FE type device configuration. In the figure, 3010 is a substrate, 3011 is an emitter wiring made of a conductive material, 3012 is an emitter cone, 3013 is an insulating layer, and 3014 is a gate electrode.
This device comprises an emitter cone 3012 and a gate electrode 30
By applying an appropriate voltage during the period 14, field emission is caused from the tip of the emitter cone 3012. In addition, as another element configuration of the FE type, FIG.
There is also a structure in which an emitter gate electrode is arranged on a substrate almost in parallel with the plane of the substrate, instead of the laminated structure as shown in FIG.

Further, examples of the MIM type include, for example, C.I.
A. Mead, “Operation of tunnel-emission Devices,
J. Appl. Phys., 32,646 (1961) and the like are known.
FIG. 25 shows a typical example of this MIM type element configuration. The figure is a sectional view, in which 3020 is a substrate, 3021 is a lower electrode made of a metal, 3022 is a thin insulating layer having a thickness of about 100 Å, and 3023 is an upper electrode made of a metal having a thickness of about 80 to 300 Å. . In the MIM type, electrons are emitted from the surface of the upper electrode 3023 by applying an appropriate voltage between the upper electrode 3023 and the lower electrode 3021.

The above-described cold cathode device can obtain electrons at a lower temperature than the hot cathode device, and therefore does not require a heater for heating. Therefore, the structure is simpler than that of the hot cathode element, and a fine element can be produced. Further, even when a large number of elements are arranged on the substrate at a high density, such a problem that the substrate is thermally melted hardly occurs. In addition, unlike the hot cathode device, which operates by heating the heater, the response speed is slow, and the cold cathode device also has the advantage that the response speed is fast. For this reason, research for applying the cold cathode device has been actively conducted.

For example, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has the advantage that a large number of devices can be formed over a large area because it has a particularly simple structure and is easy to manufacture among cold cathode devices.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-157, a method for arranging and driving a large number of elements has been studied.

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

Particularly, as an application to an image display device, for example, as disclosed in US Pat. No. 5,066,883, JP-A-2-257551 and JP-A-4-28137 by the present applicant, a surface conduction type is disclosed. An image display device using a combination of an emission element and a phosphor that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam has been studied. An image display device using a combination of such 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 excellent in that it is a self-luminous type and does not require a backlight and has a wide viewing angle.

A method of driving a large number of FE types is disclosed in US Pat. No. 4,904,895 by the present applicant.
Is disclosed. Further, as an example of applying the FE type to an image display device, for example, a flat panel display device reported by R. Meyer et al. Is known. [R. Mayer: “Recent Dev
elopment on Microtips Display at LETI ”, Tech. Dig
est of 4th Int. Vacuum Micro-electronics Conf., N
agahama, pp. 6-9 (1991)] An example in which a number of MIM types are arranged and applied to an image display device is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-55738 by the present applicant.

Among the image forming apparatuses using the above-described electron-emitting devices, a flat display device having a small depth has attracted attention as a replacement for a cathode-ray tube display device because of its space saving and light weight. ing.

Next, the configuration and manufacturing method of a display panel of an image display device to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to specific examples.

FIG. 26 is a perspective view showing an example of a display panel portion forming a flat-type image display device, in which a part of the panel is cut away to show the internal structure.

In the figure, reference numeral 3115 denotes a rear plate, 3116
Denotes a side wall, 3117 denotes a face plate, and a rear plate 3115, a side wall 3116, and a face plate 31
17, an envelope (airtight container) for maintaining the inside of the display panel at a vacuum is formed.

The rear plate 3115 has a substrate 3111
Are fixed, but N × M cold cathode elements 3112 are formed on the substrate 3111. (N and M are positive integers of 2 or more, and are appropriately set according to the target number of display pixels.) The N × M cold cathode elements 3112
Are M row-directional wirings 3113 and N column-directional wirings 31
14 is a simple matrix wiring. The portion constituted by the substrate 3111, the cold cathode element 3112, the row direction wiring 3113 and the column direction wiring 3114 is called a multi electron beam source. In addition, an insulating layer (not shown) is formed between at least the portions where the row wirings 3113 and the column wirings 3114 intersect, so that electrical insulation is maintained.

On the lower surface of the face plate 3117, a fluorescent film 3118 made of a fluorescent material is formed.
Phosphors (not shown) of three primary colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) are separately applied. Further, a black body (not shown) is provided between the phosphors of each color constituting the fluorescent film 3118, and further, a rear plate 3115 of the fluorescent film 3118 is provided.
Metal back 311 made of aluminum etc. on the side of
9 are formed. Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to D
yn and Hv are electric connection terminals having an airtight structure provided for electrically connecting the display panel to an electric circuit (not shown). Dx1 to Dxm are electrically connected to the row wiring 3113 of the multi-electron beam source, Dy1 to Dyn are electrically connected to the column wiring 3114 of the multi-electron beam source, and Hv is electrically connected to the metal back 3119 of the face plate.

The inside of the hermetic container is maintained at a vacuum of about 10 −6 [Torr], and as the display area of the image display device increases, the rear plate due to the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the hermetic container. Means for preventing deformation or destruction of 3115 and face plate 3117 are required. Rear plate 3115 and face plate 31
The method of increasing the thickness of 16 increases not only the weight of the image display device, but also causes image distortion and parallax when the display screen is viewed from an oblique direction. On the other hand, in FIG. 26, a structural support (called a spacer or a rib) 3120 made of a relatively thin glass plate and supporting body pressure is provided. In this way, the distance between the substrate 3111 on which the multi-beam electron source is formed and the face plate 3116 on which the fluorescent film 3118 is formed is usually kept at a sub-millimeter to several millimeters. ing.

[0022]

The display panel of the conventional image display device described above has the following problems.

First, a part of the electrons emitted from the vicinity of the spacer 3120 hits the spacer 3120, or ions ionized by the action of the emitted electrons adhere to the spacer 3120. May cause charging. The electrons emitted from the cold cathode element 3112 due to the charging of the spacer 3120 are bent in their trajectories, reach a position different from the normal position on the phosphor, and the image near the spacer 3120 is distorted and displayed. At this time, the spacer 3120 deviates from the original one due to an assembly error, the distance between the spacer 3120 and the cold cathode element 3112 is partially reduced, and the deviation of the electron activation becomes extremely large. Thereby, the distortion of the image is further enlarged.

Second, in order to accelerate electrons emitted from the cold cathode device 3112, a high voltage of several hundred V or more (ie, 1K) is applied between the multi-beam electron source and the face plate 3117.
V / mm or more), the spacer 3
There is a concern about creeping discharge on the surface of the H.120. In particular, when the spacer 3120 is charged as described above, a discharge may be induced. Also at this time, the spacer is shifted from the original position due to an assembly error,
The distance between the spacer 3120 and the cold-cathode device is partially reduced, and the probability that damage to the cold-cathode device at the time of discharge increases is increased, and the deterioration is accelerated.

In order to solve this problem, a proposal has been made by the present applicant to remove the charge by causing a minute current to flow through the spacer (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 57-118355 and 61-124031). No.). There, a high-resistance film is formed on the surface of the insulating spacer so that a minute current flows on the surface of the spacer.
The antistatic film used here is tin oxide or a mixed crystal thin film of tin oxide and indium oxide or a metal film.

Also in this case, the displacement of the spacer poses a problem. In order to allow a minute current to flow through the spacer, electrical connections are required above and below the high resistance film. At this time, since the electrical connection portion is formed of a conductor, an electric field is disturbed near the spacer. When the distance between the electron emitting portion and the spacer is reduced due to the displacement of the spacer, the disturbance of the electric field has a serious influence on the electron activation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and has a reinforcing insulating member having a high resistance film on the surface and a low resistance film at a connection portion with the multi-electron source and the face plate. In the image forming apparatus, the charging of the surface of the insulating member and the poor electrical connection at the connection portion can be prevented, the assembly process using the insulating member can be simplified, and the electron trajectory shift near the insulating member can be reduced. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and a method of manufacturing the image forming apparatus, which eliminate factors that cause the image forming apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus which is clear and has good color reproducibility without uneven brightness and color shift by preventing orbit shift of emitted electrons, and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0029]

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention has the following arrangement.
That is, an electron source including a plurality of cold cathode type electron emitting elements having an electron emitting portion on a substrate and a pair of device electrodes for applying a voltage to the electron emitting portion to emit electrons by applying a voltage to the electron emitting portion; An accelerating electrode for applying an accelerating voltage acting on electrons emitted from the electron-emitting portion, and an erecting electrode provided between the accelerating electrodes; And an insulating member.

In order to achieve the above object, a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes the following steps. That is, a method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus provided with an electron source having a plurality of electron-emitting devices on a substrate, the method comprising: forming a conductive thin film constituting an electron-emitting portion on the substrate; Along with the wiring electrodes connected to the conductive thin film,
A step of forming a groove in a part of the wiring electrode, a step of forming an electrical connection in the groove, and a display panel in a state in which a spacer is erected in the groove and is in contact with a face plate having a phosphor. Assembling, forming a step of applying a current to the conductive thin film through the wiring electrode to form, an exhausting step of exhausting the inside of the display panel, and an emission portion of the electron-emitting device formed in the forming step. And an activating step for activating.

[0031]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the connection portion between the spacer and the electron source, which is the most characteristic part of the present embodiment, will be described.

FIGS. 1 to 4 are views for explaining a display panel according to the present embodiment. FIG. 1 is a view showing a state near a spacer, and FIG. 2 is a view showing a method of forming a groove on an electron source substrate. 3 is an enlarged view of an end of the spacer on the electron source side, and FIG.
It is a figure which shows A 'cross section.

In FIG. 1, reference numerals 101 and 1013 denote a part of the wiring in the X direction on the electron source substrate having a matrix structure, and reference numeral 1014 denotes a part of the Y direction wiring in the matrix wiring. 102 is a groove formed in the X-direction wiring 101; 1041 is an electrical connection between the X-direction wiring 101 and the spacer 1020; 1020 is a spacer having a high-resistance film on its surface; 1012 is a cold cathode element;
Denotes an electron source substrate on which a plurality of cold cathode devices are arranged in a matrix.

In this embodiment, the spacer paste 102 is formed by applying Ag paste on the X-directional wiring 1013 by screen printing. This method will be described with reference to FIG.

First, using the first screen pattern,
An X-direction wiring 1013 as shown in FIG.
11 is formed. In this embodiment, each X-direction wiring 1013 is equivalently formed with a thickness of 20 μm. Next, the paste is heated at 150 ° C. for 15 minutes to solidify the paste, and then the paste is formed in the form shown in FIG. 2B using the second screen pattern. Hereinafter, the same heat treatment and printing are repeated to form the groove 102 as shown in FIG. 2C.
Finally, it was heated and baked at 480 ° C. for 60 minutes to form the groove 102 shown in FIG. In the present embodiment,
A taper was formed on the side surface of the groove 102 by utilizing a feature of a screen printing method in which a shape is formed around a screen pattern for forming the groove 102.

At this time, the height h1 of the X-direction wiring 101 having the groove 102 in FIG. 1 from the electron source substrate 105 is about 140 μm, the groove depth is about 120 μm, and the minimum groove width is about 1 μm.
40 μm, and the taper angle of the groove side surface was about 20 degrees. The thickness of the spacer 1020 is about 150 μm. The side surface height h3 of the electrical connection portion 1041 between the X-direction wiring electrode 1013 in which the groove 102 is formed and the spacer 1020 is provided.
Is about 50 μm. The height h2 of the X-direction wiring 1013 other than the X-direction wiring 101 provided with the groove 102 is about 140 μm, similarly to the X-direction wiring 101 having the groove 102. Also, X-direction wirings 1013, 1
An insulating layer (not shown) is formed at the intersection of 01 and the Y-direction wiring 1014.

Next, the electrical connection between the groove 102 and the spacer 1020 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes a high resistance film which is applied to the surface of the spacer 1020. In this embodiment, a nickel oxide film is used as the high resistance film 301. This nickel oxide film is formed to a thickness of about 0.03 μm by using a reactive sputtering method for sputtering a Ni target in a mixed gas of an argon gas and an oxygen gas. next,
Aluminum was formed to a thickness of about 0.5 μm using a mask jig to form the electrical connection portion 1041. The spacer 1020 is positioned and arranged in the groove 102 as shown in FIG. 1 when the vacuum vessel is formed.
At the same time as achieving electrical connection with the X-direction wiring 101, an anti-atmospheric pressure structure is realized.

Next, activation of electrons emitted from the cold cathode device in the display panel of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 401 denotes the electron source substrate 101.
1 shows equipotential lines between the light emitting element 1 and the face plate on which the phosphor is arranged, and 402 and 403 show orbits of electrons emitted from the cold cathode element 1012. As is clear from FIG. 4, the cold cathode device 10 close to the spacer 1020
The potential distribution near 12 is defined by the height of the X-direction wiring 101 having the groove 102. Therefore, the potential distribution in the vicinity of the spacer 1020 is substantially the same as that in the vicinity of the other X-direction wiring without being affected by the electrical connection portion 1041. For this reason, the electron trajectory 402 from the cold cathode element 1012 close to the spacer 1020 shows almost the same trajectory as the electron trajectory 403 emitted from another cold cathode element not adjacent to the spacer 1020. . As a result, it is possible to provide a very high-quality image without color shift even in the vicinity of the spacer 1020.

Next, the configuration and manufacturing method of the display panel of the image display device according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to specific examples.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a display panel used in the present embodiment, in which a part of the panel is cut away to show the internal structure.

In the figure, 1015 is a rear plate, 1016
Is a side wall, 1017 is a face plate, and 1015
An airtight container for maintaining the inside of the display panel at a vacuum is formed by 1017 to 1017. When assembling this hermetic container, it is necessary to seal the joints of each member to maintain sufficient strength and airtightness.For example, frit glass is applied to the joints, and in the air or in a nitrogen atmosphere, Sealing was achieved by firing at 400 to 500 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes or more. A method of evacuating the inside of the airtight container to a vacuum will be described later. Further, since the inside of the hermetic container is maintained at a vacuum of about 10 −6 [Torr], as an anti-atmospheric structure, in order to prevent destruction of the hermetic container due to atmospheric pressure or unexpected impact, etc. Spacer 102
0 is provided.

The above-mentioned electron source substrate 1011 is fixed to the rear plate 1015.
N × M cold cathode elements 1012 are formed thereon (N and M are positive integers of 2 or more and are appropriately set according to the target number of display pixels. For example, high-definition television In a display device intended to display the image, N = 30
00, M = 1000 or more is desirable). The N × M cold cathode elements are arranged in a simple matrix by M row-directional wirings 1013 and N column-directional wirings 1014. Substrate 1011, cold cathode element 101
2. The portion constituted by the row direction wiring 1013 and the column direction wiring 1014 is called a multi electron source.

The multi-electron source used in the image display device of the present embodiment is not limited as long as it is an electron source in which the cold cathode elements are arranged in a simple matrix wiring. Therefore, for example, a surface conduction electron-emitting device or an FE
Or a MIN type cold cathode device.

Next, the structure of a multi-electron beam source in which a surface conduction electron-emitting device (described later) as a cold cathode device is arranged on a substrate and arranged in a simple matrix will be described.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the multi-electron source used for the display panel of FIG. On the substrate 1011,
Surface conduction type emission elements similar to those shown in FIG. 11 described later are arranged, and these elements are wired in a simple matrix by row-direction wiring electrodes 1013 and column-direction wiring electrodes 1014. Row direction wiring electrode 1013 and column direction wiring electrode 1
At the intersection of 014, an insulating layer (not shown) is provided between the electrodes.
Are formed, and electrical insulation is maintained.

FIG. 7 shows a section taken along the line BB 'in FIG.

Incidentally, the multi-electron source having such a structure is as follows.
After the row direction wiring electrode 1013, the column direction wiring electrode 1014, the interelectrode insulating layer (not shown), the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 of the surface conduction type emission element, and the conductive thin film 1104 are formed on the substrate 1011 in advance, Power is supplied to each element via the wiring electrode 1013 and the column-directional wiring electrode 1014 to form an energizing process (described later) and an energizing activation process (described below)
Was manufactured.

In this embodiment, the substrate 1011 of the multi-electron source is fixed to the rear plate 1015 of the airtight container. However, when the substrate 1011 of the multi-electron source has a sufficient strength, The substrate 1011 of the multi-electron source itself may be used as the rear plate of the airtight container.

On the lower surface of the face plate 1017, a fluorescent film 1018 is formed. Since this embodiment is a color display device, phosphors of three primary colors are separately applied to red (R), green (G), and blue (B) used in the field of CRT on the fluorescent film 1018. I have. The phosphors of the respective colors are separately applied in stripes as shown in FIG. 8A, for example, and a black conductor 1010 is provided between the stripes of the phosphors. These black conductors 101
The purpose of providing 0 is to prevent the display color from being shifted even if the electron beam irradiation position is slightly shifted, to prevent the reflection of external light and to prevent the display contrast from being lowered, For example, to prevent charge-up of the fluorescent film. Although graphite is used as a main component for the black conductor 1010, any other material may be used as long as it is suitable for the above purpose.

FIG. 8 shows how to paint the three primary color phosphors separately.
The arrangement is not limited to the stripe arrangement shown in FIG. 8A, but may be, for example, a delta arrangement as shown in FIG.
Other arrangements may be used.

In the present embodiment, the fluorescent film 1
018, as shown in FIG. 9, each color phosphor 21a adopts a stripe shape extending in the column direction (Y direction), and the black conductor 21b is not only between each color phosphor (R, G, B) 21a. , Y direction. The above-described spacer 1020 is provided in the black conductor 21b region (line width of about 3) parallel to the row direction (X direction).
(00 μm) via a metal back 1019. When the above-mentioned hermetic container is sealed, each phosphor 21a of each color must correspond to each element arranged on the substrate 1011.
5, face plate 1017 and spacer 1020
Performed sufficient alignment. When a monochrome display panel is manufactured, a phosphor material of a single color may be used for the fluorescent film 1018, and a black conductive material is not necessarily used.

The rear plate 10 of the fluorescent film 1018
On the surface on the 15th side, a metal back 1019 known in the field of CRT is provided. The purpose of providing the metal back 1019 is to improve the light utilization rate by mirror-reflecting a part of the light emitted from the fluorescent film 1018, to protect the fluorescent film 1018 from the collision of negative ions, and to increase the electron beam acceleration voltage. To act as an electrode for applying
To act as a conductive path for excited electrons. After forming the fluorescent film 1018 on the face plate substrate 1017, the metal back
The surface of No. 018 was smoothed, and A1 (aluminum) was formed thereon by vacuum evaporation. When a low-voltage fluorescent material is used for the fluorescent film 1018,
The metal back 1019 is not used.

Although not used in the present embodiment,
For the purpose of applying acceleration voltage and improving the conductivity of the fluorescent film,
A transparent electrode made of, for example, ITO may be provided between the face plate substrate 1017 and the fluorescent film 1018.

FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line AA ′ of FIG. 5, and the reference numerals of the respective parts correspond to those of FIG.

The spacer 1020 is made of an insulating member 1020.
A high-resistance film 1020b for preventing static electricity is formed on the surface of the substrate a, and faces the inside of the face plate 1017 (such as the metal back 1019) and the surface of the substrate 1011 (the row wiring 1013 or the column wiring 1014). A member having a low resistance film 1020c formed on the contact surface of the spacer 1020 is provided, and is fixed to the inside of the face plate 1017 and the surface of the substrate 1011 with a bonding material 1041. Further, the high resistance film 1020b is formed of the insulating member 10
Of the surface of 20a, the film is formed on at least the surface exposed to vacuum in the hermetic container, and is formed via the low-resistance film 1020c on the spacer 1020 and the bonding material 1041.
Inside of face plate 1017 (metal back 101
9). In the embodiment shown here, spacer 1020 has a thin plate shape, is arranged in parallel with row direction wiring 1013, and is electrically connected to row direction wiring 1013.

As the spacer 1020, the substrate 1011
Has insulating properties enough to withstand high voltage applied between the upper row direction wiring 1013 and column direction wiring 1014 and the metal back 1019 on the inner surface of the face plate 1017;
In addition, it is necessary to have conductivity enough to prevent the surface of the spacer 1020 from being charged. This is as described above.

The insulating member 1020a of the spacer 1020
Examples thereof include quartz glass, glass with a reduced impurity content such as Na, soda lime glass, and ceramic members such as alumina. The insulating member 10
Preferably, 20a has a coefficient of thermal expansion close to that of the member forming the airtight container and the substrate 1011.

As described above, the surface resistance of the high resistance film 1020b is set to 10 5 [Ω / □] in consideration of maintaining the antistatic effect and suppressing power consumption due to leakage current. Ω / □], and the above-mentioned various materials are used as the material.

Further, the resistance film 1202c is made of the high resistance film 10
It is sufficient to select a material having a sufficiently lower resistance value than that of 20b, such as Ni, Cr, Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al,
Metals or alloys such as Cu and Pd, and Pd, Ag,
It is appropriately selected from a transparent conductor such as Au, RuO2, and a semiconductor material such as polysilicon.

The bonding material 1041 needs to have conductivity so that the spacer 1020 is electrically connected to the row wiring 1013 and the metal back 1019. That is, frit glass to which a conductive adhesive, metal particles, or a conductive filler is added, or frit glass is preferable.

The connection terminals Dx1 to DxM, Dy1 to DyN and Hv of the external circuit are electric connection terminals having an airtight structure provided for electrically connecting the display panel to an electric circuit (not shown). . Dx1 to DxM are electrically connected to the row wiring 1013 of the multi-electron beam source, Dy1 to DyN are connected to the column wiring 1014 of the multi-electron beam source, and Hv is electrically connected to the metal back 1019 of the face plate.

In order to evacuate the inside of the hermetic container, after the hermetic container is assembled, an exhaust pipe (not shown) and a vacuum pump are connected, and the inside of the hermetic container is raised to the power of 10 −7 [To
rr]. Thereafter, the exhaust pipe is sealed, but a getter film (not shown) is formed at a predetermined position in the airtight container immediately before or after the sealing in order to maintain the degree of vacuum in the airtight container. The getter film is, for example, B
is a film formed by heating and depositing a getter material containing a as a main component by means of a heater or high-frequency heating.
The power is maintained at a vacuum of 1 × 10 −7 [Torr].

In the image display apparatus using the above-described display panel, when a voltage is applied to each cold cathode element 1012 through the external terminals Dx1 to DxM and Dy1 to DyN, electrons are emitted from each cold cathode element 1012. At the same time, a high voltage of several hundred [V] to several [kV] is applied to the metal back 1019 through the external terminal Hv to accelerate the emitted electrons and collide with the inner surface of the face plate 1017. As a result, the phosphor of each color forming the fluorescent film 1018 is excited and emits light, and an image is displayed.

Normally, the voltage applied to 1012 to the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention, which is a cold cathode device, is 12 to 16
[V], metal back 1019 and cold cathode element 101
The distance d between the metal back 1019 and the cold cathode element 1012 is about 0.1 [mm] to 8 [mm].
It is about 1 [kV] to about 10 [kV].

The basic configuration and manufacturing method of the display panel according to the embodiment of the present invention, and the outline of the image display device have been described above.

Next, a method of manufacturing the multi-electron beam source used for the display panel of the above embodiment will be described. The material, shape, and manufacturing method of the cold cathode device are not limited as long as the multi-electron beam source used for the image display device of the present invention is an electron source in which cold cathode devices are arranged in a simple matrix. Therefore, for example, a surface conduction type emission element, an FE type, or an MI
A cold cathode device such as an M type can be used. However, in a situation where a display device having a large display screen and an inexpensive display device is required, among these cold cathode devices, a surface conduction type emission device is particularly desirable. That is, in the FE type, since the relative position and the shape of the emitter cone and the gate electrode greatly affect the electron emission characteristics, an extremely high-precision manufacturing technique is required, but this achieves a large area and a reduction in manufacturing cost. This is a disadvantageous factor. On the other hand, since the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a relatively simple manufacturing method, it is easy to increase the area and reduce the manufacturing cost. In addition, 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 particularly 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 described first, and then the structure of a multi-electron beam source in which many devices are arranged in a simple matrix will be described. (Suitable device configuration and manufacturing method of surface conduction type emission device) The typical configuration of the surface conduction type emission device in which the electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film is a flat type or a vertical type.
Kinds are given.

(Planar surface conduction electron-emitting device) First, the structure and manufacturing method of a plane surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described.

FIG. 11 is a plan view (a) and a cross-sectional view (b) for explaining the structure of a plane type surface conduction electron-emitting device.

In the figure, 1101 is a substrate, 1102 and 110
Reference numeral 3 denotes an element electrode; 1104, a conductive thin film; 1105, an electron-emitting portion formed by an energization forming process;
Is a thin film formed by the activation process.

As the substrate 1101, for example, various glass substrates such as quartz glass and blue plate glass, various ceramics substrates such as alumina, or an insulating layer made of, for example, SiO 2 is formed on the various substrates described above. A stacked substrate or the like can be used. Also, substrate 1
The element electrodes 1102 and 1103 provided on the substrate 101 in parallel with the substrate surface are formed of a conductive material. For example, Ni, Cr, Au, Mo, W,
Metals including Pt, Ti, Cu, Pd, Ag, etc.,
Alternatively, a material may be appropriately selected from alloys of these metals, metal oxides such as In 2 O 3 —SnO 2, semiconductors such as polysilicon, and the like. The electrodes 1102 and 1103 can be easily formed by using a combination of a film forming technique such as vacuum evaporation and a patterning technique such as photolithography and etching. However, other methods (eg, printing technique) are used. It can be formed even if it is formed.

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 interval L is usually designed by selecting an appropriate value from the range of several hundreds of angstroms to several hundreds of micrometers. However, for application to a display device, it is preferable that the electrode spacing L be more than a few micrometers. It is in the range of ten micrometers. As for the thickness d of the device electrode, an appropriate numerical value is usually selected from a range of several hundred angstroms to several micrometers.

Further, a fine particle film is used for the portion of the conductive thin film 1104. The fine particle film described here refers to a film including a large number of fine particles as constituent elements (including an island-shaped aggregate). When the fine particle film is examined microscopically, usually, a structure in which the individual fine particles are spaced apart from each other, a structure in which the fine particles are adjacent to each other, or a structure in which the fine particles overlap each other is observed. The particle size of the fine particles used in the fine particle film is in the range of several Angstroms to several thousand Angstroms, but is preferably in the range of 10 Angstroms to 200 Angstroms. Further, the thickness of the fine particle film is appropriately set in consideration of various conditions described below. That is,
Conditions necessary for good electrical connection with the device electrode 1102 or 1103, conditions necessary for good energization forming described later, and necessary for setting the electrical resistance of the fine particle film itself to an appropriate value described later. Conditions. Specifically, it is set within the range of several Angstroms to several thousand Angstroms.
It is between 0 Angstroms and 500 Angstroms.

Materials that can be used to form the fine particle film include, for example, Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag, A
u, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, T
a, W, Pb and other metals, PdO, Sn
Oxides such as O2, In2O3, PbO, Sb2O3, etc .; HfB2, ZrB2, LaB6, CeB6, YB
4, borides such as GdB4, TiC, Zr
Carbides such as C, HfC, TaC, SiC, WC, etc .; nitrides such as TiN, ZrN, HfN, etc .; semiconductors such as Si, Ge, etc .; and carbon. It is appropriately selected from among them.

As described above, the conductive thin film 1104 is formed of a fine particle film.
It was set so as to be included in the range of 10 3 to 10 7 [Ω / □].

The conductive thin film 1104 and the device electrode 110
2 and 1103 are desirably electrically connected well, and thus have a structure in which a part of each overlaps. In the example of FIG. 11, the overlapping manner is such that the substrate 1101, the device electrodes 1102, 1103, and the conductive thin film 1104 are stacked in this order from the bottom. It does not matter if they are stacked in order.

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 size of several Angstroms to several hundred Angstroms may be arranged in the crack. In addition,
Since it is difficult to accurately and accurately show the actual position and shape of the electron-emitting portion, they are 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, polycrystal graphite, and amorphous carbon, or a mixture thereof, and has a film thickness of 500 [Å] or less, but 300 [Å] or less. Is more preferred.

Since it is difficult to precisely show the actual position and shape of the thin film 1113, it is schematically shown in FIG. Also, in the plan view (a), the thin film 11
13 shows a device in which a part of the device 13 is removed.

The basic structure of the preferred element has been described above. In the embodiment, the following element is used.

That is, blue 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 [μm].

As the main material of the fine particle film, Pd or P
Using dO, the thickness of the fine particle film was about 100 [angstrom], and the width W was 100 [μm].

Next, a description will be given of a method of manufacturing a suitable flat surface conduction electron-emitting device. (A) to (e) of FIG.
Is a cross-sectional view for explaining the manufacturing process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the notation of each member is the same as in FIG.

(1) First, as shown in FIG.
Element electrodes 1102 and 1103 are formed over a substrate 1101. In forming the element electrodes 1102 and 1103, the substrate 1101 is sufficiently washed in advance with a detergent, pure water, and an organic solvent, and then a material for the element electrodes is deposited. As a method for depositing this material, for example, a vacuum film forming technique such as an evaporation method or a sputtering method may be used. Thereafter, the deposited electrode material is patterned by using a photolithography / etching technique to form a pair of device electrodes (1102 and 1103) shown in FIG.

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

In forming this conductive thin film,
First, an organic metal solution is applied to the substrate (a), 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, in the present embodiment, Pd is used as a main element. In the embodiment, a dipping method is used as a coating method, but other methods such as a spinner method and a spray method may be used.

As a method of forming a conductive thin film made of a fine particle film, a method other than the method of applying an organic metal solution used in the present embodiment, for example, a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, or a chemical vapor deposition method In some cases, a deposition method or the like is used.

(3) Next, as shown in FIG. 9C, the forming electrodes 1110 and 1112 are supplied from the forming power supply 1110.
The electron emitting portion 1105 is formed by applying an appropriate voltage during the period 03 and performing the energization forming process. This energization forming process is a process for forming a conductive thin film 1 made of a fine particle film.
This is a process in which a current is applied to the electrode 104, a part of which is appropriately destroyed, deformed or deteriorated, and changed into a structure suitable for emitting electrons. In 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 1105), an appropriate crack is formed in the thin film. In addition, this electron emission part 110
After formation, the electrical resistance measured between the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 is significantly increased as compared to before the formation of 5.

FIG. 13 shows a forming power supply 11 in order to explain the energizing method at the time of forming in more detail.
An example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from FIG.

When forming a conductive thin film made of a fine particle film, a pulsed voltage is preferable. In the case of this embodiment, a triangular wave pulse having a pulse width T1 is applied as shown in FIG. The voltage was continuously applied at the interval T2. At that time, the peak value Vpf of the triangular wave pulse was sequentially increased. In addition, monitor pulses Pm for monitoring the state of formation of the electron-emitting portion 1105 were inserted at appropriate intervals between the triangular-wave pulses, and the current flowing at that time was measured by the ammeter 1111.

In the present 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 T2 is 10 [torr].
[Milliseconds] and the peak value Vpf is set to 0.1 for each pulse.
The voltage was increased by [V]. Then, each time five triangular waves were applied, the monitor pulse Pm was inserted at a rate of once.
Here, 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 becomes 1 × 10 6 [ohm], that is, the current measured by the ammeter 1111 when the monitor pulse is applied is 1 × 10 −7 [ohm]. A] When the following conditions were reached, the energization related to the forming process was terminated.

The above method is a preferable method for the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present embodiment. For example, the design of the surface conduction electron-emitting device such as the material and thickness of the fine particle film or the distance L between the device electrodes is determined. If it is changed, 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
Improve electron emission characteristics. This energization activation process
This 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, a deposit made of carbon or a carbon compound is schematically shown as a member 1113.) By performing the activation process, the emission current at the same applied voltage is typically smaller than that before the activation. Specifically, it can be increased by 100 times or more.

Specifically, 10 minus the square to 10
By applying a voltage pulse periodically in a vacuum atmosphere within the range of minus the fifth power [torr], carbon or a carbon compound originating from an organic compound existing in the vacuum atmosphere is deposited. The deposit 1113 is any 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.

FIG. 14A shows an activation power source 1 in order to explain the energization method in this energization activation in more detail.
An example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from 112 is shown. In the present embodiment, the energization activation process is performed by periodically applying a rectangular wave having a constant voltage. Specifically, the voltage Vac of the rectangular wave is 14 [V], and the pulse width T3 is 1 [ Milliseconds] and the pulse interval T4 was 10 milliseconds. 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. 12D denotes an anode electrode for capturing the emission current Ie emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device, to which a DC high voltage power supply 1115 and an ammeter 1116 are connected. When the activation process is performed after the substrate 1101 is incorporated into the display panel 1, the phosphor screen of the display panel 1 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.
2 is controlled. FIG. 14B shows an example of the emission current Ie measured by the ammeter 1116.

When the pulse voltage starts to be applied from the activation power supply 1112 in this manner, the emission current I
e increases, but eventually saturates and hardly increases. As described above, when the emission current Ie is substantially saturated, the application of the voltage from the activation power supply 1112 is stopped, and the energization activation process ends.

The above-mentioned energization conditions are preferable conditions for the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present embodiment. If the design of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is changed, the conditions should be changed accordingly. Is desirable.

As described above, a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 12E was manufactured.

(Vertical Type Surface Conduction Emission Element) Next, another typical configuration of a surface conduction type emission element in which an electron emission portion or its periphery is formed of a fine particle film, that is, a vertical type surface conduction emission device. The configuration of the element will be described.

FIG. 15 is a schematic sectional view for explaining the basic structure of the vertical type.

In the figure, 1201 is a substrate, 1202 and 1203 are device electrodes, 1206 is a step forming member,
Reference numeral 4 denotes a conductive thin film using a fine particle film, 1205 denotes an electron-emitting portion formed by an energization forming process, and 1213 denotes a thin film formed by an energization activation process.

This vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device is different from the above-mentioned flat type electron-emitting device in that one of the device electrodes (1202) is provided on the step forming member 1206, and the conductive type electron-emitting device is electrically conductive. Step forming member 12
06 is covered. Accordingly, the element electrode interval L in the planar element of FIG. 11 is set as the step height Ls of the step forming member 1206 in the vertical type. The substrate 1201, the device electrodes 1202 and 120
For the conductive thin film 1204 using the fine particle film, the materials listed in the description of the flat type can be similarly used. In addition, the step forming member 1206 includes:
For example, an electrically insulating material such as SiO2 is used.

Next, a method of manufacturing a vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described. FIGS. 16A to 16F are cross-sectional views for explaining a manufacturing process.
Is the same as

(1) First, as shown in FIG.
An element electrode 1203 is formed over a substrate 1201.

(2) Next, as shown in FIG. 13B, an insulating layer for forming a step forming member is laminated. The insulating layer may be formed by stacking, for example, SiO2 by sputtering,
For example, another film formation method such as a vacuum evaporation method or a printing method may be used.

(3) Next, as shown in FIG. 13C, an element electrode 1202 is formed on the insulating layer.

(4) Next, as shown in FIG. 11D, a part of the insulating layer is removed by using, for example, an etching method to expose the element electrode 1203.

(5) Next, as shown in FIG. 11E, a conductive thin film 1204 using a fine particle film is formed. For the formation, as in the case of the planar type, a film forming technique such as a coating method may be used.

(6) Next, as in the case of the flat type,
An electron emitting portion is formed by performing the energization forming process (the same process as the planar energization forming process described with reference to FIG. 12C may be performed).

(7) Next, as in the case of the flat type,
An energization activation process is performed to deposit carbon or a carbon compound in the vicinity of the electron emission portion (the same process as the planar energization activation process described with reference to FIG. 12D may be performed).

As described above, the vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 16F was manufactured.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a manufacturing process of the display panel of the present embodiment.

(Characteristics of Surface Conduction Emission Element Used in Display Device) The element structure and manufacturing method of the planar and vertical surface conduction emission elements have been described above. The characteristics of will be described.

FIG. 17 shows typical (emission current Ie) vs. (device applied voltage Vf) and (device current If) vs. (device applied voltage Vf) characteristics of the device used in the display device of the present embodiment. Here is a typical example. Note that the emission current Ie is significantly smaller than the device current If, and it is difficult to show them on the same scale. In addition, these characteristics are changed by changing design parameters such as the size and shape of the device. For,
The two graphs are shown in arbitrary units.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device used in this display device has the following three characteristics regarding the emission current Ie.

First, when a voltage higher than a certain voltage (this is called a threshold voltage Vth) is applied to the element, the emission current Ie sharply increases. Ie is hardly detected. That is, it 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.
Size can be controlled.

Third, since the response speed of the current Ie emitted from the device is faster than the voltage Vf applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the electrons emitted from the device depend on the length of time during which the voltage Vf is applied. Can be controlled.

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 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, a voltage equal to or higher than the threshold voltage Vth is appropriately applied to the element under driving according to the desired light emission luminance, and the threshold voltage V
Apply a voltage less than th. 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 gradation display can be performed.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a drive circuit for performing television display based on an NTSC television signal.

In the figure, a display panel 1701 corresponds to the above-described display panel, and is manufactured and operates as described above. The scanning circuit 1702 scans the display line, and the control circuit 1703 controls the scanning circuit 170.
2 to generate a signal or the like to be input to the second. Shift register 170
4 shifts data for each line, and stores the data in the line memory 17.
05 inputs the data for one line from the shift register 1704 to the modulation signal generator 1707. The synchronization signal separation circuit 1706 separates the synchronization signal from the NTSC signal.

Hereinafter, the function of the display drive circuit of FIG. 18 will be described in detail.

First, the display panel 1701 has terminals Dx1 to Dx1
It is connected to an external electric circuit via xM, terminals Dy1 to DyN, and high voltage terminal Hv. Of these, terminal Dx1
DxM are provided for sequentially driving the multi-electron beam sources provided in the display panel 1701, that is, the cold cathode devices arranged in a matrix of M rows and N columns, one row (N elements) at a time. A scanning signal is applied. On the other hand, to the terminals Dy1 to DyN, a modulation signal corresponding to an image signal for controlling output electron beams of N elements for one row selected by the scanning signal is applied. The high voltage terminal Hv is supplied from the DC voltage source Va by, for example, 5 [KV].
This is an accelerating voltage for applying sufficient energy to the electron beam output from the multi-electron source to excite the phosphor.

Next, the scanning circuit 1702 will be described. This circuit has M switching elements inside (in the figure,
S1 to SM), each switching element selects either the output voltage of the DC voltage source Vx or 0 [V] (ground level) and switches the display panel 1701. It is electrically connected to terminals Dx1 to DxM. Each of the switching elements S1 to SM is provided with a control signal TSC output from the control circuit 1703.
It operates based on AN, but in fact, for example, FET
It can be easily configured by combining the switching elements as described above. The DC voltage source Vx
Is set to output a constant voltage based on the characteristics of the electron-emitting device illustrated in FIG. 17 so that the drive voltage applied to the unscanned device is equal to or lower than the electron emission threshold voltage Vth. .

The control circuit 1703 has a function of coordinating the operation of each unit so that an appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. Based on a synchronization signal TSYNC sent from a synchronization signal separation circuit 1706 described below, each control signal of TSCAN, TSFT, and TMRY is generated for each unit. The synchronizing signal separating circuit 1706 is a circuit for separating a synchronizing signal component and a luminance signal component from an NTSC television signal input from the outside. As is well known, a frequency separating (filter) circuit is used. It can be easily configured. The synchronization signal separated by the synchronization signal separation circuit 1706 is
As is well known, the signal is composed of a vertical synchronizing signal and a horizontal synchronizing signal. However, for convenience of explanation, it is illustrated as a TSYNC signal. On the other hand, a luminance signal component of an image separated from the television signal is referred to as a DATA signal for convenience, and this signal is input to a shift register 1704.

A shift register 1704 is for serially / parallel converting the DATA signal input serially in time series for each line of an image, and is based on a control signal TSFT sent from the control circuit 1703. Works. That is, the control signal TSFT shift register 1
In other words, it can be rephrased as the shift clock 704. The data for one line of the image that has been subjected to the serial / parallel conversion (corresponding to the drive data for n electron-emitting devices) is output from the shift register 1704 as N signals Id1 to IdN.

The line memory 1705 is a storage device for storing data of one line of an image for a required time only, and stores the contents of Id1 to IdN as appropriate according to a control signal TMRY sent from the control circuit 1703. The contents thus stored are output as Id1 'to IdN',
It is input to modulation signal generator 1707.

The modulation signal generator 1707 operates according to each of the image data Id1 'to IdN'.
15 is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the display panels 15 and the output signal thereof is supplied to the display panel 17 through terminals Dy1 to DyN.
01 is applied to the electron-emitting device 1015.

As described with reference to FIG. 17, the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the embodiment of the present invention
e has the following basic characteristics. That is, electron emission has a clear threshold voltage Vth (8 [V] in a surface conduction electron-emitting device of an embodiment described later), and electron emission occurs only when a voltage equal to or higher than the threshold Vth is applied. Also,
For a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold Vth, the emission current Ie also changes according to a change in the voltage as shown in the graph of FIG. From this, when a pulse-like voltage is applied to this element, for example, when a voltage lower than the electron emission threshold Vth is applied, electron emission does not occur. An electron beam is output from the conduction type emission device. At this time, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled by changing the pulse peak value Vm. In addition, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam by changing the pulse width Pw. Therefore, a voltage modulation method, a pulse width modulation method, or the like can be adopted as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device according to the input signal. When performing the voltage modulation method, a circuit of the voltage modulation method that generates a voltage pulse of a fixed length and modulates the peak value of the pulse appropriately according to input data is used as the modulation signal generator 1707. be able to. When implementing the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 1707 generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value and modulates the width of the voltage pulse appropriately according to input data. Circuit can be used.

The shift register 1704 and the line memory 1705 can be of a digital signal type or an analog signal type. That is, the serial / parallel conversion and storage of the image signal may be performed at a predetermined speed. When a digital signal type is used, the output signal DATA of the synchronization signal separation circuit 1706 needs to be converted into a digital signal.
An A / D converter may be provided at the output unit 6. In this regard, the circuit used for the modulation signal generator differs slightly depending on whether the output signal of the line memory 115 is a digital signal or an analog signal. That is, in the case of the voltage modulation method using a digital signal, the modulation signal generator 1707 includes:
For example, a D / A conversion circuit is used, and an amplification circuit and the like are added as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 1707 includes, for example, a high-speed oscillator, a counter (counter) for counting the number of waves output from the oscillator, and a comparator for comparing the output value of the counter with the output value of the memory. (A circuit in which the comparator 9 is combined is used. If necessary, an amplifier for voltage-amplifying the pulse-width-modulated signal output from the comparator to the drive voltage of the electron-emitting device can be provided.

In the case of the voltage modulation method using an analog signal, the modulation signal generator 1707 can employ, for example, an amplifier circuit using an operational amplifier or the like, and can add a shift level circuit or the like as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, for example, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO)
And, if necessary, an amplifier for amplifying the voltage up to the drive voltage of the electron-emitting device can be added.

In the image display apparatus to which the present invention can be applied in such a configuration, by applying a voltage to each of the electron-emitting devices via the external terminals Dx1 to DxM and Dy1 to DyN, the electron-emitting device Occurs. Metal back 1019 or transparent electrode (not shown) via high voltage terminal Hv
To apply a high voltage to accelerate the electron beam. The accelerated electrons collide with the fluorescent film 1018 and emit light to form an image.

The configuration of the image display apparatus described here is an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, and various modifications can be made based on the concept of the present invention. The input signal is described in the NTSC system. However, the input signal is not limited to the NTSC system, but may be a PAL or SECAM system or a TV signal (MUSE system or other high-definition TV) system including a larger number of scanning lines. Can also be adopted. Note that such a circuit configuration can be similarly applied to a display panel formed in each embodiment described later.

[Second Embodiment] Next, the arrangement and configuration of a spacer according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 19, parts common to the above-described parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 19 is a view showing the vicinity of the spacer 1020 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numeral 501 denotes a contact hole; 503, a groove for positioning a spacer; 504, a groove formed on the electron source substrate 1011; 505, a driving electrode of a cold cathode element;
5 is an electron source substrate, 502 is a bonded substrate, 101, 1
013 is an X direction wiring, 1014 is a Y direction wiring, 1012
Denotes a cold cathode element, 1020 denotes a spacer, and 1041 denotes an electrical connection portion between the spacer 1020 and the X-direction wiring 101.

The feature of the second embodiment is that the electron source substrate 10
15 is that a groove 504 for forming a groove 503 for positioning the spacer 1020 is formed. In addition,
In the second embodiment, the Y-directional wiring 1014 is formed on the back surface of the electron source substrate 1015 and is connected to the cold cathode element 1012 through a through hole (contact hole) 501. Reference numeral 505 denotes X-direction wirings 101 and 1013.
506, a driving electrode for connecting the device and the cold cathode element 1012
Is a driving electrode connected to the through hole 501 connecting the Y-direction wiring and the cold cathode element 1012.

Further, a groove 504 for positioning the spacer is provided.
Is formed using the sandblaster method in the second embodiment, and the depth is set to 200 μm. FIG. 20 shows a part of the mask pattern used at this time.

In FIG. 20, reference numeral 601 denotes an unetched portion, 602 denotes an opening for forming a groove 504, and 603 denotes an opening for forming a through hole 501. In the second embodiment, the thickness of the electron source substrate 1015 is 350 μm
After processing to a depth of 200 μm from one side using the mask pattern shown in FIG. 20, using another glass pattern (not shown) having only a through-hole opening 603 from the back side The through-hole 501 was machined. Hereinafter, after the Y-direction wiring 1041 is formed by using the screen printing method, the driving electrodes 505 and 506 of the cold cathode device are formed by using the sputtering method,
Electrical connection was made between the directional wiring 1014 and the driving electrode 506 of the cold cathode device. In the second embodiment, the diameter of the contact hole 501 is 300 μm. Also,
The groove 503 formed in the electron source substrate was 200 μm in width, and the side surface was machined into a tapered shape having an angle of about 10 °.

Next, the electron source substrate 1015 and the bonding substrate 502 were bonded together using a glass frit (not shown). Thereafter, the X-directional wirings 101 and 1013 were formed by using the same method as in the first embodiment, and the spacer positioning groove 503 was formed. The spacer positioning groove 503 has an opening diameter of 240 μm and an electron source substrate 10
The height from 15 was 150 μm, and the side taper was about 15 °.

An image forming apparatus was manufactured using the display panel manufactured in the second embodiment, and was driven in the same manner as in the first embodiment. As in the first embodiment, high-quality images without color shift were obtained. Image display has become possible.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 21 is a view for explaining Embodiment 3 of the present invention, and is different from Embodiment 1 in that an insulating spacer is used as the spacer 701. .

In the third embodiment, the spacer 70
1 is small and the electron beam is not significantly deflected in the vicinity of the spacer 701 due to the position shift of the spacer 701, so that a good image forming apparatus can be provided.

(Embodiment 4) In Embodiment 4, an example in which a planar field emission (FE) type electron-emitting device is used as an electron-emitting device will be described.

FIG. 22 is a top view of an electron source provided with a flat FE type electron-emitting device.
Reference numerals 02 and 3103 denote a pair of device electrodes for applying a potential to the electron-emitting portion 3101, and reference numerals 3104 and 3105 denote X-direction wiring. The X-direction wiring 3105 has a groove 3108 for positioning a spacer. Also, 3106 and 310
Reference numeral 7 denotes a Y-direction wiring.

The electron emission from the electron-emitting device is performed by applying a voltage between the device electrodes 3102 and 3103 so that electrons are emitted from the sharp tip of the electron-emitting portion 3101. The emitted electrons are
The phosphor is accelerated by an acceleration voltage (not shown) applied between the electron source and the phosphor (not shown), and collides with the phosphor to emit light. When the display panel of the third embodiment is used to drive the display panel in the same manner as in the first embodiment, a two-dimensional array of light-emitting spots is formed at equal intervals, the beam does not protrude to adjacent pixels, and high efficiency is achieved. Thus, an image display device that emits light was obtained.

(Embodiment 5) Embodiment 5 is the same as Embodiment 1 described above, except that a groove is provided on the face plate side.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a case where a positioning groove 4006 for the spacer 4007 is provided on the face plate side.

In FIG. 28, reference numeral 4001 denotes a glass substrate on the face plate side; 4002, a metal back;
3 is a phosphor, and 4004 is an ITO electrode. Also 400
5 is a black stripe, 4006 is a groove, 4007 is a spacer, 4008 is a high resistance film, 4009 is an electrical connection, and 4010 is a conductive connection.

In the fifth embodiment, a groove 4006 is formed on a black stripe 4005 by a multiplex printing method using a plurality of masks used for forming the groove 102 on the electron source substrate in the first embodiment. did. Here, a constituent material of the conductive connection portion 4010 for firmly connecting the spacer 4007 and simultaneously achieving electrical connection will be described.

As the conductive material, a paste obtained by dispersing a conductive filler in frit glass and adding a binder can be suitably used. At this time, the conductive filler can be obtained by forming a metal film by plating or the like on the surface of a glass sphere such as soda lime glass or silica having a diameter of 5 to 50 μm. At the time of this production, the paste is applied by screen printing or dispenser and baked to form a conductive connection portion. In the fifth embodiment, a conductive connecting member is applied to the groove of the black stripe 4006 by using a dispenser, and after calcination, the spacer 40 is formed.
07 was baked at 420 ° C. for 10 minutes while being pressed against the conductive connection portion to hold and fix the spacer 4007. Further, the electrical connection portion 4009 was formed by aluminum (Al) evaporation.

Hereinafter, the spacer 4 is formed in the groove 102 formed on the electron source substrate by the same method as that of the first embodiment.
007 was pressed, and the face plate substrate and the electron source substrate were joined to form an image forming apparatus.

In the fifth embodiment also, since the displacement of the spacer 4007 is reduced, the spacer 4007
7, the electron trajectory does not remarkably deflect near the spacer 4007.

In the fifth embodiment, the connection of the spacer using the groove and the conductive frit is performed only on the face plate side substrate. However, the connection strength is similarly improved on the electron source substrate side. Can be. This example is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 29, 1020 is a spacer, 3
01 is a high resistance film, 101 is a wiring having a groove 102, 1
Numeral 041 denotes an electrical connection, and numeral 4010 denotes a conductive connection. In this embodiment, the spacer 1020 can be more firmly connected to the substrate by the conductive connection portion 4010.

In FIG. 29, when the conductive connecting portion 4010 is provided without forming the groove portion 102, the peripheral electric field is disturbed by the conductive connecting portion 4010, and the trajectory of the electrons emitted from the electron-emitting device is reduced. In the fifth embodiment, the electric field near the electron emitting portion is determined by the wiring 101 having the groove 102, so that the effect on the electron trajectory can be reduced.

As another form, a configuration in which the connecting portion is omitted by providing grooves on both the face plate side substrate and the electron source substrate side is possible.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing a state on the face plate side, and portions common to FIG. 28 described above are denoted by the same reference numerals. Here, the spacer 400 is formed by the groove 4006.
By preventing the position shift of 7, the atmospheric pressure resistant structure can be formed without the conductive connecting portion 4010 in FIG. In this configuration, a step of forming a connection portion (conductive connection portion 4010) of the spacer 4007 can be omitted.

(Other Embodiments) The embodiments of the present invention can be applied to any of the cold-cathode type electron-emitting devices other than the SCE. A specific example is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-274407 by the present applicant.
There is a field emission type electron-emitting device in which a pair of electrodes facing each other is formed along a surface of a substrate forming an electron source as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H11-163,036.

The embodiment of the present invention can be applied to an image forming apparatus using an electron source other than the simple matrix type. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei.
No. 51, for example, in an image forming apparatus that selects a surface conduction electron-emitting device using a control electrode, the above-described support member is used between an electron source and a control electrode.

According to the concept of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to an image forming apparatus suitable for display, but may be used as an alternative light source such as a light emitting diode of an optical printer including a photosensitive drum and a light emitting diode. Also, the above-described image forming apparatus can be used. At this time, by appropriately selecting the above-mentioned M row-directional wirings and N column-directional wirings, the present invention can be applied not only to a linear light emitting source but also to a two-dimensional light emitting source.

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

An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention may have the following form. An image forming apparatus is provided with an accelerating electrode for accelerating electrons emitted from an electron source, and irradiates a target with electrons emitted from a cold cathode element in accordance with an input signal to form an image. In particular, said target is a phosphor. The cold cathode device is a cold cathode device having a conductive film including an electron emission portion between a pair of electrodes, and is particularly preferably a surface conduction type emission device. The electron source is a simple matrix-shaped electron source having a plurality of cold cathode devices arranged in a matrix with a plurality of row-direction wirings and a plurality of column-direction wirings. The electron source arranges a plurality of rows of cold-cathode devices each having a plurality of cold-cathode devices arranged in parallel and connected at both ends (referred to as a row direction), and in a direction orthogonal to the wiring (referred to as a column direction). Along the way, a control electrode (also called a grid) arranged above the cold cathode device forms an electron source in a ladder arrangement for controlling electrons from the cold cathode device. Further, according to the idea of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the image forming apparatus suitable for display, but may be any of the above-described alternative light sources such as a light emitting diode of an optical printer including a photosensitive drum and a light emitting diode. An image forming apparatus can also be used. At this time, by appropriately selecting the above-mentioned M row-directional wirings and N column-directional wirings, the present invention can be applied not only to a linear light emitting source but also to a two-dimensional light emitting source.
In this case, the image forming member is not limited to a substance that emits light directly, such as a phosphor used in the following embodiments, and a member that forms a latent image by electron charging can also be used. .

As described above, according to the image display device of the present embodiment, the groove for positioning the spacer is formed in the electron source substrate, and the spacer is embedded in the groove when the image forming panel is formed. Accordingly, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus in which the displacement of the spacer is small. As a result, it is possible to prevent the position where the electron beam emitted from the electron source collides with the phosphor and the position of the phosphor that should emit light from becoming large in the vicinity of the spacer, and the protrusion to the adjacent pixels and the loss of luminance are prevented. No clear image formation was made possible.

The same effect can be obtained in an electron generator having a multi-type planar electron source that does not specify an electron irradiation object.

[0171]

As described above, according to the present invention, the charging of the surface of the insulating member for reinforcement and the poor electrical connection at the connection portion are prevented, and the assembly process using the insulating member is simplified. In addition to this, it is possible to eliminate a factor that causes an electron orbital deviation near the insulating member.

Further, according to the present invention, there is an effect that a clear image having good color reproducibility without luminance unevenness or color shift can be formed by preventing the orbital shift of emitted electrons.

[0173]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway view of an electron source substrate of a display panel according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a method for forming a positioning groove on a substrate of the display panel according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a positioning groove and an end of a spacer according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a potential near a positioning groove according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the display panel of the image display device according to the first embodiment of the present invention, in which a part of the display panel is cut away;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the electron source substrate of the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line B-B 'of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a plan view illustrating a phosphor array of a face plate of the display panel of the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating another configuration example of the phosphor.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA ′ of the display panel of FIG.

11A and 11B are a plan view and a cross-sectional view, respectively, of a planar surface-conduction emission type electron-emitting device used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing a manufacturing process of the planar type surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining an applied voltage waveform during energization forming processing.

FIG. 14 shows an applied voltage waveform (a) during energization activation processing;
It is a figure showing change (b) of emission current Ie.

FIG. 15 is a sectional view of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view showing a step of manufacturing a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 17 is a graph showing typical characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a driving circuit of the image display device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a partially cutaway view of the electron source substrate of the display panel according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a part of a mark pattern used to form a groove for positioning a spacer.

FIG. 21 is a partially cutaway view of an electron source substrate of a display panel according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a top view of an electron source including a flat FE electron-emitting device.

FIG. 23 is a view showing an example of a conventionally known surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of a conventionally known FE-type element.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of a conventionally known MIM type device.

FIG. 26 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a display panel of a conventional image display device.

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating a manufacturing process of the display panel of the present embodiment.

FIG. 28 is an enlarged view of a positioning groove and a spacer end provided in the face plate according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 29 is an enlarged view of a positioning groove and a spacer end on the substrate side according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 30 is an enlarged view of a positioning groove and an end of a spacer according to another embodiment of the fifth embodiment.

Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. An electron source comprising: a plurality of cold-cathode-type electron-emitting devices each having an electron-emitting portion on a substrate and a pair of device electrodes for applying a voltage to the electron-emitting portion to emit electrons; An acceleration electrode that is disposed opposite to the emission unit and applies an acceleration voltage that acts on electrons emitted from the electron emission unit; and an acceleration electrode that is provided upright in a groove provided on the substrate of the electron source and is between the acceleration electrodes. An image forming apparatus comprising: an insulating member disposed between the image forming apparatuses. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a side surface of said groove is tapered. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the groove is formed on a wiring on a substrate of the electron source. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the groove is formed in a concave portion provided on a substrate of the electron source. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device includes a pair of opposing element electrodes and an electron-emitting portion extending between the pair of element electrodes. And a surface conduction electron-emitting device comprising a thin film containing the same. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said thin film is a film composed of conductive fine particles. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electron source includes a plurality of row wirings and a plurality of column wirings that supply current to the pair of element electrodes. Are arranged via an insulating layer, and each of the pair of element electrodes is connected to the row-directional wiring or the column-directional wiring to arrange a plurality of electron-emitting devices in a matrix on the substrate. Features. 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said insulating member is disposed on a surface of said high resistance film, said high resistance film and said electron source. A conductive connecting portion for making an electrical connection with the electrode portion, wherein the conductive connecting portion has a height substantially equal to or less than a conductive groove formed on the substrate having the electron-emitting device. It is characterized by having. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration electrode is provided on a face plate side, and the face plate has a groove for accommodating an end of the insulating member. It is characterized by having. 10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the groove of the face plate is provided in a black stripe provided between phosphors. 11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the insulating member is connected to a groove of the face plate via a conductive member. 12. A method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus including an electron source having a plurality of electron-emitting devices on a substrate, the method comprising: forming a conductive thin film constituting an electron-emitting portion on the substrate; Forming a groove in a part of the wiring electrode together with a wiring electrode connected to the conductive thin film on a substrate; forming an electrical connection portion in the groove; and erecting a spacer in the groove. Assembling a display panel in a state in which the display panel is in contact with a face plate having a phosphor, forming a current through the conductive thin film via the wiring electrode to form, and exhausting the inside of the display panel. An activation step of activating an emission portion of the electron-emitting device formed in the forming step. 13. The manufacturing method according to claim 12, wherein a side surface of the groove is tapered. 14. The manufacturing method according to claim 12, wherein the groove is formed on a wiring on a substrate of the electron source. 15. The manufacturing method according to claim 12, wherein the groove is formed in a concave portion provided in a substrate of the electron source. 16. The method according to claim 12, wherein said electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device.