JPH1050203A - Electron emitting element, electron source and image formation device making use thereof, and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce variation in characteristics from element to element by providing a plurality of substantially parallel grooves in a base plate portion and others between electrodes. SOLUTION: Grooves 6 are provided in the direction substantially parallel to opposing surfaces of element electrodes 2 and 3 of an element. As the grooves 6 are formed in an electrically conductive film 4 portion, the film thickness varies periodically. As a result, resistance also varies periodically, and linear cracks may be formed parallel to opposing surfaces of the electrodes 2 and 3 along the groove part having the highest resistance by applying energized forming processing. While it is difficult to form in accurate parallel straight lines in electrodes, cracks may be reliably formed providing a large number of linear grooves 6. That is to say, the cracks may be controlled to be formed along a definite direction and variation in element characteristics may be restricted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron-emitting device, an electron source having a large number of such electron-emitting devices, and an image forming apparatus such as a display device or an exposure device using the electron source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices are known, namely, a thermionic electron-emitting device and a cold cathode electron-emitting device. Field emission type (hereinafter, referred to as "FE")
Type ". ), Metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter referred to as “MI
M type ". ) And surface conduction electron-emitting devices.

[0003] As an example of the FE type, W. P. Dyke
and W. W. Dolan, "Field Emis
zone ", Advance in Electron
Physics, 8, 89 (1956) or C.I.
A. Spindt, "Physical Proper
ties of thin-filmfield em
issue cathodes withmollyb
denum cones ", J. Appl. Phys.
s. , 47, 5248 (1976).

As an example of the MIM type, C.I. A. Mea
d, “Operation of Tunnel-Emi
session Devices ", J. Appl. Phys.
s. , 32, 646 (1961).

As an example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device,
M. I. Elinson, RadioEng. Elec
Tron Phys. , 10, 1290 (1965).

[0006] The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electrons are emitted by passing a current through a small-area thin film formed on an insulating substrate in parallel with the film surface. Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include a device using a SnO ₂ thin film by Elinson et al., And a device using an Au thin film [G. Dittmer: "ThinSolid
Films ", 9,317 (1972)] , In 2 O 3
/ SnO ₂ thin film [M. Hartwell a
nd C.I. G. FIG. Fonstad: “IEEE Tran
s. ED Conf. , 519 (1975)], and those based on carbon thin films [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22 (1983)] and the like have been reported.

As a typical example of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the above-mentioned M.P. Figure 1 shows the device configuration of Hartwell
FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate. Reference numeral 4 denotes a conductive film, which is formed of a metal oxide thin film or the like formed in an H-shaped pattern. The electron emission portion 5 is formed by an energization process called energization forming described later.

In these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, it is general that the electron-emitting portion 5 is formed beforehand by performing an energization process called energization forming on the conductive film 4 before electron emission. That is, the energization forming means that a voltage is applied to both ends of the conductive film 4, and the conductive film 4 is locally destroyed, deformed or deteriorated to change the structure, and the electrons in an electrically high-resistance state are formed. This is a process for forming the emission unit 5. Note that a crack is generated in a part of the conductive film 4 in the electron emitting portion 5, and electrons are emitted from the vicinity of the crack.

The above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device has an advantage that a large number of devices can be arrayed over a large area because of its simple structure. Therefore, various applications for utilizing this feature are being studied. For example, a charged beam source,
Application to an image forming apparatus such as a display device is exemplified.

Conventionally, as an example in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arrayed, surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel, and both ends (both device electrodes) of each surface conduction electron-emitting device are wired. (Also referred to as a common wiring). An electron source in which rows each connected by a common line (also referred to as a ladder-type arrangement) are provided (for example, JP-A-64-31332, JP-A-1-283737, 2-257552).

In particular, in the case of a display device, a flat panel display device similar to a display device using liquid crystal can be used, and a self-luminous display device that does not require a backlight is used as a surface conduction type electron emission device. There has been proposed a display device in which an electron source in which a number of elements are arranged and a phosphor that emits visible light when irradiated with an electron beam from the electron source are combined (US Pat. No. 5,066,883).

[0012]

Conventionally, when an electron-emitting portion is formed on a conductive film by an electric current treatment or a heat treatment,
Even if the same material is used, the fine structure of the conductive film surface may be different due to a difference in a precursor material, a difference in film forming conditions, and the like. For this reason, even if the surface coverage of the conductive material constituting the conductive film portion is the same, there are differences in the conditions for forming the electron-emitting portion due to the energization treatment or the heat treatment, and various problems as described below occur. Had occurred.

(1) There is a variation in power consumption such that the power consumption during forming becomes large or small.

(2) The shape of the crack formed at the time of forming has a linear shape or a zigzag shape.

(3) The width of the crack formed at the time of forming is widened or narrowed.

(4) Variations in the efficiency of electron emission occur due to variations in forming, and when the electron-emitting device is applied as a display, variations such as uneven brightness occur.

In order to improve the electron emission efficiency, it may be necessary to change the material of the conductive film itself or the precursor material, and the fine structure of the film surface may be different due to the inherent properties of the material system. Even in such a case, a technique capable of forming an electron emission portion with less variation in element characteristics such as variation in forming and electron emission efficiency is desired.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an electron emitting element having a more uniform electron emitting portion, an electron source having a plurality of electron emitting elements, an electron emitting portion having a uniform electron emitting portion of each element, and a higher quality having such an electron source. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of forming an image.

[0019]

The structure of the present invention to achieve the above object is as follows.

That is, a first aspect of the present invention is an electron-emitting device in which a conductive film is arranged between a pair of electrodes facing each other on a substrate. An electron-emitting device having a parallel groove including a plurality of substantially parallel grooves.

The first electron-emitting device of the present invention further has a feature that "the parallel groove has at least a part filled with a conductive material, and the conductive material forms the conductive film. That the parallel groove increases the electrical resistance between portions of the conductive film on both sides of the groove, or at least partially insulates the conductive film. " That, "the parallel groove, the conductive film,
That the opposing electrodes are connected and divided into strip-shaped portions that are parallel to each other ”,“ the parallel grooves are perpendicular to the opposing surfaces of the pair of electrodes ”, and“ the parallel grooves are "Is parallel to the opposing surface of the electrode", "has two types of the parallel grooves, and each parallel groove intersects with each other",
"One parallel groove is perpendicular to the opposing surface of the pair of electrodes, and the other parallel groove is parallel to the opposing surface of the pair of electrodes." Are formed obliquely with respect to the opposing surface of the device, and that the device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to the first aspect of the present invention, the step of forming the parallel groove includes bringing a substrate or a conductive film between the electrodes into contact with a rotating roller. A method of moving the substrate relative to the rotating roller.

The second manufacturing method of the present invention further has a feature that "in the step of forming the conductive film, the conductive film is controlled so as to have a surface coverage corresponding to the pattern of the parallel grooves. "Do".

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the electron source in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged on a substrate, the electron-emitting device is the first electron-emitting device of the present invention. The electron source.

The third electron source of the present invention further has the following features: "the plurality of electron-emitting devices are wired in a matrix";
It is wired in the form of a ladder. "

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an electron source in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged on a substrate.
A method for manufacturing an electron source, wherein the electron-emitting device is manufactured by the second method of the present invention.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electron source having a plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged on a substrate, and an image forming member for forming an image by irradiating an electron beam emitted from the electron source. In the image forming apparatus, the electron source is the third electron source of the present invention.

In a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electron source having a plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged on a substrate, and an image forming member for forming an image by irradiating an electron beam emitted from the electron source. In the method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus, the electron source is manufactured by the above-described fourth method of the present invention.

According to the present invention, the substrate portion between the electrodes and / or
And, in the conductive film portion, by providing a parallel groove consisting of a plurality of grooves parallel to each other, by controlling the fine structure of the conductive film surface, a crack formed without performing a forming process, or, The shape of a crack formed by performing a forming process such as a heating process can be controlled, and variations in device characteristics such as electron emission efficiency can be reduced.

In particular, by forming the parallel grooves by moving the substrate relative to the rotating roller while bringing the substrate or the conductive film between the electrodes into contact with the rotating roller, the electron emission efficiency can be improved. Electron-emitting devices with little variation in device characteristics, such as, can be efficiently mass-produced.

[0031]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a basic configuration of a surface conduction electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied.
1A is a plan view, and FIG. 1B is a longitudinal sectional view. In FIG. 1, 1 is a substrate, 2 and 3 are electrodes (element electrodes), 4 is a conductive film, and 5 is an electron emitting portion.

As the substrate 1, quartz glass, glass with a reduced impurity content such as Na, blue plate glass, a glass substrate on which SiO ₂ is laminated by sputtering or the like, ceramics such as alumina, and a Si substrate can be used. it can.

The material of the opposing device electrodes 2 and 3 is as follows.
General conductor materials can be used, for example, Ni, C
Metals or alloys such as r, Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd and Pd, Ag, Au, RuO ₂ , Pd
Metal or metal oxide and printed conductor composed of glass or the like, such as -ag, is appropriately selected from a semiconductor conductive materials such as transparent conductor and polysilicon or the like In ₂ O ₃ -SnO _2.

The element electrode interval L, the element electrode width W, the shape of the conductive film 4 and the like are designed in consideration of the applied form and the like. The element electrode interval L can be preferably in the range of several hundred nm to several hundred μm, and more preferably in the range of several μm to several hundred μm in consideration of the voltage applied between the element electrodes. be able to. The element electrode width W can be in the range of several μm to several hundred μm in consideration of the resistance value of the electrode and the electron emission characteristics. The film thickness d of the device electrodes 2 and 3 can be in the range of several tens nm to several μm.

In addition to the structure shown in FIG.
A configuration in which the conductive film 4 and the opposing element electrodes 2 and 3 are stacked in this order may be adopted.

The material forming the conductive film 4 is, for example, P
d, Pt, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu, C
metals such as r, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, Pb, Pd
Oxides such as O, SnO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO, Sb ₂ O ₃ , HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ , LaB ₆ , CeB ₆ , YB
_4, GdB boride such as _{4, TiC, ZrC, HfC,} T
carbides such as aC, SiC, WC, TiN, ZrN, H
It is appropriately selected from nitrides such as fN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, and carbon.

As the conductive film 4, it is preferable to use a fine particle film composed of fine particles in order to obtain good electron emission characteristics. The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and has a fine structure not only in a state in which the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also in a state in which the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (some fine particles may To form an island-like structure as a whole). The particle size of the fine particles is in the range of several to several hundreds of nm, preferably in the range of 1 to 20 nm.

The electron-emitting portion 5 is constituted by a high-resistance crack formed in a part of the conductive film 4,
This depends on the pattern of the parallel groove formed in the substrate portion between the three and the conductive film 4. In some cases, conductive fine particles having a particle size in the range of several 数 to several tens of nm are present inside the electron-emitting portion 5. The conductive fine particles contain some or all of the elements of the material constituting the conductive film 4. When the electron emitting portion 5 and the conductive film 4 in the vicinity thereof are subjected to an activation process described later, a simple substance and a compound composed of a part or all of the elements contained in the gas phase subjected to the activation process are used. May have.

Next, an embodiment of the electron-emitting device of the present invention in which parallel grooves are formed in the substrate portion between the device electrodes 2 and 3 and the conductive film 4 will be described with reference to FIGS. .
2 to 5, the same parts as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those shown in FIG. 6, 6a and 6b are parallel grooves.

The device shown in FIG. 2 is an example having a parallel groove 6 perpendicular to the surfaces facing the device electrodes 2 and 3, FIG. 2 (a) is a plan view, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG.

The device shown in FIG. 3 is an example having a parallel groove 6 parallel to the opposing surfaces of the device electrodes 2 and 3, FIG. 3 (a) is a plan view, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB ′ in FIG.

The device shown in FIG. 4 is an example having a parallel groove 6a perpendicular to the opposing surfaces of the device electrodes 2 and 3 and a parallel groove 6b parallel to the opposing surfaces of the device electrodes 2 and 3. a) is a plan view, and FIGS. 4 (b) and (c) are C-lines in FIG. 4 (a).
It is sectional drawing in the C 'plane. FIG. 4B shows a case where a parallel groove is provided in a portion of the conductive film 4 between the device electrodes 2 and 3, and FIG. A case where parallel grooves are provided in both of the film 4 portions is shown.

The element shown in FIG. 5 is an example having parallel grooves 6a and 6b formed obliquely with respect to the opposing surfaces of the element electrodes 2 and 3.

As an example of a method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention, a method of manufacturing the device as shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

1) The substrate 1 is sufficiently washed with a detergent, pure water, an organic solvent, and the like, and after the above-mentioned element electrode material is deposited by a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, or the like, the substrate 1 is deposited using, for example, a photolithography technique. Element electrodes 2 and 3 are formed thereon (FIG. 6A).

2) On the substrate 1 provided with the device electrodes 2 and 3,
An organometallic solution is applied to form an organometallic thin film. As the organic metal solution, a solution of an organic metal compound containing the metal of the material of the conductive film 4 as a main element can be used.
The organic metal thin film is heated and baked, and is patterned by lift-off, etching, or the like to form a conductive film 4 (FIG. 6B). Here, the method of applying the organometallic solution has been described, but the method of forming the conductive film is not limited to this, and a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method,
A dispersion coating method, a dipping method, a spinner, or the like can also be used.

3) Next, the conductive film 4 between the device electrodes 2 and 3
Is provided with a parallel groove 6. Specifically, for example, FIG.
As shown in (c), the substrate 1 is moved in a direction indicated by an arrow in the figure by a moving means (not shown) while the conductive film 4 is in contact with the rotating roller 11 composed of the core portion 12 and the cloth portion 13. A parallel groove 6 perpendicular to the opposing surfaces of the device electrodes 2 and 3 is formed.

In the above example, the parallel grooves 6 are formed directly on the conductive film 4. However, in the present invention, the parallel grooves are formed in advance on the substrate 1 and the conductive film 4 is formed thereon. ,
Parallel grooves 6 can be provided in the conductive film 4. In such a case, according to the type of the parallel groove formed earlier,
It is preferable to form the conductive film 4 by controlling the surface coverage of the conductive material on the surface. Thereby, the shape of the crack formed by performing the forming process or by performing the forming process can be controlled to a constant pattern. This point will be described in detail in an embodiment described later.

4) Next, a forming process is performed as needed. As an example of the forming process, a method using an energization process will be described. When power is supplied from a power supply (not shown) between the element electrodes 2 and 3, a crack having a locally changed structure such as destruction, deformation, or alteration is formed in the conductive film 4.
This crack region constitutes the electron emission portion 5 (FIG. 6).
(D)). FIG. 7 shows an example of the voltage waveform of the energization forming.

The voltage waveform is particularly preferably a pulse waveform.
The method shown in FIG. 7A in which a pulse having a constant pulse peak value is applied continuously and the method shown in FIG. 7B in which a pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value are applied. There is.

First, the case where the pulse peak value is a constant voltage will be described with reference to FIG. T1 in FIG. 7 (a)
And T2 are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform. For example, T1 is 1 μsec to 10 msec, and T2 is 10 μsec to 10 μs.
With 0 ms, the peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage at the time of energization forming) is appropriately selected according to the form of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. Under such conditions, for example, a voltage is applied for several seconds to several tens minutes. The pulse waveform is not limited to a triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave can be adopted.

Next, a case where a voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value will be described with reference to FIG.
T1 and T2 in FIG. 7B can be the same as those shown in FIG. 7A. The peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during energization forming) can be increased, for example, by about 0.1 V steps.

The end of the energization forming process can be detected by applying a voltage that does not locally destroy or deform the conductive film 4 during the pulse interval T2, and measuring the current. For example, a current flowing when a voltage of about 0.1 V is applied is measured, and a resistance value is obtained. When a resistance of 1 MΩ or more is indicated, the energization forming is terminated.

5) It is preferable to perform a process called an activation step on the device after the forming. The activation step is a step in which the element current If and the emission current Ie are significantly changed by this step.

The activation step can be performed, for example, by repeatedly applying a pulse to the element in an atmosphere containing an organic substance gas, similarly to the energization forming. This atmosphere can be formed by using an organic gas remaining in the atmosphere when the inside of the vacuum vessel is evacuated using, for example, an oil diffusion pump or a rotary pump, or is sufficiently evacuated once by an ion pump or the like. It can also be obtained by introducing a gas of an appropriate organic substance into a vacuum. The preferable gas pressure of the organic substance at this time varies depending on the above-described application form, the shape of the vacuum vessel, the type of the organic substance, and the like, and is accordingly set as appropriate. Suitable organic substances include aliphatic hydrocarbons of alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes, aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, amines, and organic acids such as phenols, carboxylic acids, and sulfonic acids. Specifically, methane, ethane, saturated hydrocarbon represented by C _n H _{2n + 2} such as propane, ethylene, unsaturated hydrocarbon represented by a composition formula such as C _n H _2n such as propylene, Benzene, toluene, methanol, ethanol, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methylamine, ethylamine, phenol, formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid and the like can be used. By this treatment, carbon or a carbon compound is deposited on the device from the organic substance existing in the atmosphere, and the device current If and the emission current Ie are significantly changed.

The carbon and the carbon compound include, for example, graphite (so-called HOPG, PG, and GC, and HOPG has a substantially complete graphite crystal structure, PG
Are those with crystal grains of about 20 nm and a slightly disordered crystal structure,
GC refers to a crystal having a crystal grain of about 2 nm and further disorder in the crystal structure. ) And amorphous carbon (refer to amorphous carbon and a mixture of amorphous carbon and the microcrystals of graphite), and the thickness thereof is preferably in the range of 50 nm or less, and 30 n
More preferably, the range is not more than m.

The termination of the activation step can be determined as appropriate while measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie.
The pulse width, pulse interval, pulse crest value, and the like are set as appropriate.

6) The electron-emitting device obtained through such a step is preferably subjected to a stabilization step. This step is a step of exhausting the organic substance in the vacuum container. It is preferable to use a vacuum exhaust device that does not use oil so that the oil generated from the device does not affect the characteristics of the element. Specifically, a vacuum exhaust device such as a sorption pump or an ion pump can be used.

In the activation step, when an oil diffusion pump or a rotary pump is used as an exhaust device and an organic gas derived from an oil component generated therefrom is used, it is necessary to keep the partial pressure of this component as low as possible. is there. The partial pressure of the organic component in the vacuum vessel is preferably 1 × 10 ⁻⁶ Pa or less, more preferably 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ Pa or less, at a partial pressure at which the carbon and carbon compound hardly newly deposit. When further evacuating the inside of the vacuum vessel, heat the entire vacuum vessel,
It is preferable to easily exhaust the organic substance molecules adsorbed on the inner wall of the vacuum vessel or the electron-emitting device. The heating conditions at this time are desirably 80 to 200 ° C., preferably 150 ° C. or higher, and it is desirable to perform the treatment for as long as possible. However, the present invention is not particularly limited to this condition. The conditions are appropriately selected according to the above conditions. The pressure in the vacuum vessel must be as low as possible.
× 10 ⁻⁵ Pa or less, more preferably 1 × 10 ⁻⁶ Pa
The following are particularly preferred.

It is preferable that the atmosphere at the time of driving after the stabilization process is performed is the same as the atmosphere at the end of the stabilization process, but the present invention is not limited to this. Even if the pressure itself increases somewhat, it is possible to maintain sufficiently stable characteristics. By employing such a vacuum atmosphere, the deposition of new carbon or a carbon compound can be suppressed, and H ₂ adsorbed on a vacuum vessel or a substrate can be suppressed.
O, O _{2 and the} like can also be removed, and as a result, the element current If and the emission current Ie are stabilized.

The basic characteristics of the electron-emitting device of the present invention obtained through the above-described steps will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing an example of a vacuum processing apparatus, and this vacuum processing apparatus also has a function as a measurement and evaluation apparatus. 8, the same parts as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those shown in FIG.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 55 denotes a vacuum vessel,
Reference numeral 6 denotes an exhaust pump. An electron-emitting device is provided in the vacuum vessel 55. Reference numeral 51 denotes a power supply for applying a device voltage Vf to the electron-emitting device; 50, an ammeter for measuring a device current If flowing through the conductive film 4 between the device electrodes 2 and 3; An anode electrode for capturing the emission current Ie emitted from the unit 5, a high-voltage power supply 53 for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 54, and a reference numeral 52 for measuring the emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission unit 5. It is an ammeter. As an example, the measurement can be performed with the voltage of the anode electrode 54 in the range of 1 KV to 10 KV and the distance H between the anode electrode 54 and the electron-emitting device in the range of 2 to 8 mm.

The vacuum vessel 55 is provided with equipment necessary for measurement in a vacuum atmosphere, such as a vacuum gauge (not shown).
The measurement and evaluation can be performed in a desired vacuum atmosphere.

The exhaust pump 56 is composed of a normal high vacuum system such as a turbo pump and a rotary pump, and an ultrahigh vacuum system such as an ion pump. The entire vacuum processing apparatus provided with the electron-emitting device substrate shown here can be heated by a heater (not shown). Therefore, by using this vacuum processing apparatus, the steps after the energization forming described above can also be performed.

FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically showing the relationship between the emission current Ie and the device current If measured using the vacuum processing apparatus shown in FIG. 8, and the device voltage Vf. In FIG. 9, since the emission current Ie is significantly smaller than the element current If, it is shown in arbitrary units. The vertical and horizontal axes are linear scales.

As is clear from FIG. 9, the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention has the following three characteristic characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie.

First, the emission current Ie of the present device rapidly increases when a device voltage higher than a certain voltage (referred to as a threshold voltage; Vth in FIG. 9) is applied, whereas when the device voltage is lower than the threshold voltage Vth, the emission current Ie 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.

Second, since the emission current Ie depends monotonically on the device voltage Vf, the emission current Ie can be controlled by the device voltage Vf.

Thirdly, the amount of charge emitted by the anode electrode 54 (see FIG. 8) depends on the time during which the device voltage Vf is applied. That is, the amount of charge captured by the anode electrode 54 can be controlled by the time during which the device voltage Vf is applied.

As can be understood from the above description, the surface conduction electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied can easily control the electron emission characteristics according to the input signal. By utilizing this property, it is possible to apply to various fields such as an electron source and an image forming apparatus having a plurality of electron-emitting devices.

FIG. 9 shows an example in which the element current If monotonically increases with respect to the element voltage Vf (MI characteristic).
The element current If may exhibit a voltage-controlled negative resistance characteristic (VCNR characteristic) with respect to the element voltage Vf (not shown).
These properties can be controlled by controlling the steps described above.

Next, application examples of the electron-emitting device of the present invention will be described below. By arranging a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices of the present invention on a substrate, for example, an electron source or an image forming apparatus can be configured.

Various arrangements of the electron-emitting devices can be adopted. As an example, each of a large number of electron-emitting devices arranged in parallel is connected at both ends, a large number of rows of electron-emitting devices are arranged (referred to as a row direction), and a direction perpendicular to the wiring (referred to as a column direction). There is a ladder-type arrangement in which electrons from the electron-emitting devices are controlled and driven by control electrodes (also referred to as grids) disposed above the electron-emitting devices. Separately, a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix in the X and Y directions, and one of the electrodes of the plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged in the same row is commonly connected to a wiring in the X direction. One example is one in which the other of the electrodes of a plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged in the same column is commonly connected to a wiring in the Y direction. This is a so-called simple matrix arrangement. First, the simple matrix arrangement will be described in detail below.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention has three characteristics as described above. That is, the emission electrons from the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be controlled by the peak value and the width of the pulse-like voltage applied between the opposing device electrodes when the threshold voltage is exceeded. On the other hand, below the threshold voltage, almost no emission occurs. According to this characteristic, even when a large number of electron-emitting devices are arranged, if a pulse-like voltage is appropriately applied to each of the devices, a surface conduction electron-emitting device is selected according to an input signal, and the amount of electron emission is determined. Can be controlled.

Hereinafter, based on this principle, an electron source substrate obtained by disposing a plurality of electron-emitting devices to which the present invention can be applied will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 10, reference numeral 71 denotes an electron source substrate, 72 denotes an X-direction wiring, and 73 denotes a Y-direction wiring. 74 is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and 75 is a connection.

The m X-direction wirings 72 are Dx1, Dx
2,..., Dxm, and can be formed of a conductive metal or the like formed using a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. The material, thickness and width of the wiring are appropriately designed.
The Y-direction wiring 73 is formed of n of Dy1, Dy2,.
It is formed in the same manner as the X-direction wiring 72. These m X-direction wires 72 and n Y-direction wires 7
3, an interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is provided.
Both are electrically separated (m and n are both positive integers).

The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is made of SiO ₂ or the like formed by using a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. For example, it is formed in a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the substrate 71 on which the X-directional wiring 72 is formed. The material and the production method are appropriately set. The X-direction wiring 72 and the Y-direction wiring 73 are respectively drawn out as external terminals.

A pair of device electrodes (not shown) constituting the surface conduction electron-emitting device 74 are connected to m X-direction wires 72 and n Y-direction wires 73 by a connection 75 made of a conductive metal or the like. It is electrically connected.

The material forming the wiring 72 and the wiring 73, the material forming the connection 75, and the material forming the pair of element electrodes may have some or all of the constituent elements which are the same or different. Good. These materials are appropriately selected, for example, from the above-described materials for the device electrodes. When the material forming the element electrode is the same as the wiring material, the wiring connected to the element electrode can also be called an element electrode.

The X-direction wiring 72 is connected to a scanning signal applying means (not shown) for applying a scanning signal for selecting a row of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 74 arranged in the X direction.
On the other hand, a modulation signal generating means (not shown) for modulating each column of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 74 arranged in the Y direction according to an input signal is connected to the Y-direction wiring 73. The driving voltage applied to each electron-emitting device is supplied as a difference voltage between a scanning signal and a modulation signal applied to the device.

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

FIGS. 11 and 12 show an image forming apparatus constituted by using such an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing an example of a display panel of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a fluorescent film used in the image forming apparatus of FIG. FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a drive circuit for performing display according to an NTSC television signal.

In FIG. 11, reference numeral 71 denotes an electron source substrate on which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged; 81, a rear plate on which the electron source substrate 71 is fixed; 86, a fluorescent film 8 on the inner surface of a glass substrate 83;
4 is a face plate on which a metal back 85 and the like are formed. Reference numeral 82 denotes a support frame, and a rear plate 81 and a face plate 86 are connected to the support frame 82 using frit glass or the like. Reference numeral 88 denotes an envelope, which is sealed by firing at a temperature range of 400 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more in the atmosphere or nitrogen, for example.

Reference numeral 74 denotes a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention as shown in FIGS. Reference numerals 72 and 73 denote an X-direction wiring and a Y-direction wiring connected to a pair of device electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

The envelope 88 includes the face plate 86, the support frame 82, and the rear plate 81 as described above. Since the rear plate 81 is provided mainly for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the substrate 71, if the substrate 71 itself has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 81 can be unnecessary. That is, the support frame 82 is directly sealed to the substrate 71, and the envelope 8 is formed by the face plate 86, the support frame 82 and the substrate 71.
8 may be configured. On the other hand, by installing a support (not shown) called a spacer between the face plate 86 and the rear plate 81, the envelope 88 having sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure can be configured.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing a fluorescent film. The fluorescent film 84 can be composed of only a phosphor in the case of monochrome. In the case of a color fluorescent film, a black conductive material 91 called a black stripe (FIG. 12A) or a black matrix (FIG. 12B) or the like and a fluorescent material 92 may be used depending on the arrangement of the fluorescent materials. it can. The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the mixed portions inconspicuous by making the painted portions between the phosphors 92 of the necessary three primary color phosphors black in the case of color display, An object of the present invention is to suppress a decrease in contrast due to light reflection. As the material of the black conductive material 91, a material which is conductive and has little light transmission and reflection can be used in addition to a commonly used material mainly containing graphite.

As a method of applying the phosphor on the glass substrate 83, a precipitation method or a printing method can be adopted regardless of monochrome or color. Usually, a metal back 85 is provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 84. The purpose of providing a metal back is
The light emitted from the phosphor toward the inner surface is converted into a face plate 8.
Improving the brightness by specular reflection on the 6 side,
The purpose is to function as an electrode for applying an electron beam acceleration voltage, and to protect the phosphor from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the envelope. The metal back can be manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called “filming”) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film after manufacturing the fluorescent film, and then depositing Al using vacuum evaporation or the like.

The face plate 86 further has the fluorescent film 8
A transparent electrode (not shown) may be provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 84 in order to increase the conductivity of the phosphor film 84.

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

The image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 11 is manufactured, for example, as follows.

[0092] Within the envelope 88, similar to the aforementioned stabilization step, while being heated appropriately, ion pump, by an exhaust device not using oil, such as a sorption pump evacuated through an exhaust pipe (not shown), 10 ^- After the atmosphere of a vacuum degree of about ⁵ Pa is sufficiently low for the organic substance, sealing is performed. In order to maintain a vacuum degree after the envelope 88 is sealed, a getter process may be performed. This is because a getter (not shown) disposed at a predetermined position in the envelope 88 is heated by heating using resistance heating, high-frequency heating, or the like immediately before or after the envelope 88 is sealed. This is a process for forming a deposited film. The getter is usually composed mainly of Ba or the like, and for example, 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ Pa
The above degree of vacuum is maintained. Here, steps after the forming process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be appropriately set.

Next, an example of the configuration of a drive circuit for performing television display based on NTSC television signals on a display panel configured using electron sources in a simple matrix arrangement will be described with reference to FIG. . In FIG.
101 is an image display panel, 102 is a scanning circuit, 103 is a control circuit, 104 is a shift register, 105 is a line memory, 106 is a synchronizing signal separation circuit, 107 is a modulation signal generator, and Vx and Va are DC voltage sources.

The display panel 101 has terminals Dx1 to Dx
m, terminals Dy1 to Dyn, and a high voltage terminal 87 are connected to an external electric circuit. Terminals Dx1 to Dxm sequentially drive electron sources provided in the display panel 101, that is, a group of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns in a matrix (row by row). A scanning signal for performing the scanning is applied. The terminals Dy1 to Dyn include
A modulation signal for controlling an output electron beam of each element of one row of surface conduction electron-emitting devices selected by the scanning signal is applied. The high-voltage terminal 87 is supplied with a DC voltage of, for example, 10 KV from a DC voltage source Va. The DC voltage is applied to the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device.
It is an accelerating voltage for applying sufficient energy to excite the phosphor.

The scanning circuit 102 will be described. The circuit includes m switching elements (S1 to S
m is schematically shown). Each switching element selects either the output voltage of the DC voltage power supply Vx or 0 [V] (ground level),
It is electrically connected to terminals Dx1 to Dxm of the display panel 101. Each of the switching elements S1 to Sm operates based on a control signal Tscan output from the control circuit 103, and can be configured by combining switching elements such as FETs, for example.

In the case of the present embodiment, the DC voltage source Vx is based on the characteristics (electron emission threshold voltage) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the drive voltage applied to the non-scanned device is equal to or less than the electron emission threshold voltage. It is set to output such a constant voltage.

The control circuit 103 has a function of matching the operation of each unit so that an appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. The control circuit 103 controls the synchronization signal Tsync sent from the synchronization signal separation circuit 106.
, Tscan, Tsft and T
mry control signals are generated.

The synchronizing signal separating circuit 106 is a circuit for separating a synchronizing signal component and a luminance signal component from an NTSC television signal input from the outside, and uses a general frequency separating (filter) circuit or the like. Can be configured. The synchronizing signal separated by the synchronizing signal separating circuit 106 includes a vertical synchronizing signal and a horizontal synchronizing signal, but is shown here as a Tsync signal for convenience of explanation. The luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is represented as a DATA signal for convenience. This DATA signal is output to the shift register 10
4 is input.

The shift register 104 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 103. (In other words, the control signal Tsft may be rephrased as a shift clock of the shift register 104). Data for one line of serial / parallel converted image (equivalent to drive data for n electron-emitting devices)
Are output from the shift register 104 as n parallel signals Id1 to Idn.

The line memory 105 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 103. The stored contents are output as Id′1 to Id′n and input to the modulation signal generator 107.

The modulation signal generator 107 outputs the image data I
a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices according to each of d′ 1 to Id′n;
The output signal is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device in the display panel 101 through the terminals Dy1 to Dyn.

As described above, the electron-emitting device of the present invention has the following basic characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie. That is, electron emission has a clear threshold voltage Vth, and Vth
Electron emission occurs only when the above voltage is applied. For a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold, the emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the device. From this, when a pulse-like voltage is applied to this element, for example, when a voltage lower than the electron emission threshold voltage is applied, electron emission does not occur, but when a voltage higher than the electron emission threshold voltage is applied, electrons are not emitted. A beam is output. At that time, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled by changing the peak value Vm of the pulse. Further, by changing the pulse width Pw, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam.

Therefore, as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device according to the input signal, a voltage modulation method, a pulse width modulation method, or the like can be employed. When implementing the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 107 generates a voltage pulse of a fixed length, and a voltage modulation circuit capable of appropriately modulating the peak value of the voltage pulse according to input data. Can be used. When performing the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 107 generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value, and modulates the width of the voltage pulse appropriately according to input data. A circuit can be used.

The shift register 104 and the line memory 10
5 can be a digital signal type or an analog signal type. This is because the serial / parallel conversion and storage of the image signal may be performed at a predetermined speed.

When the digital signal type is used, it is necessary to convert the output signal DATA of the synchronization signal separation circuit 106 into a digital signal. For this purpose, an A / D converter is provided at the output of the synchronization signal separation circuit 106. Just do it. In this connection, the circuit used for the modulation signal generator 107 is slightly different depending on whether the output signal of the line memory 105 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 107 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 107 includes, for example, a high-speed oscillator, a 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. (Comparator) is used. If necessary, an amplifier for amplifying the voltage of the pulse width modulated signal output from the comparator to the drive voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be added.

In the case of the voltage modulation method using an analog signal, for example, an amplification circuit using an operational amplifier or the like can be adopted as the modulation signal generator 107, and a level shift circuit or the like can be added as needed. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, for example, a voltage-controlled oscillation circuit (VCO) can be employed, and an amplifier for amplifying the voltage up to the drive voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be added as necessary.

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention which can have such a configuration, each of the electron-emitting devices is provided with an external terminal Dx
By applying a voltage via 1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn, electron emission occurs. A high voltage is applied to the metal back 85 or a transparent electrode (not shown) via the high voltage terminal 87 to accelerate the electron beam. The accelerated electrons are
The light collides with the fluorescent film 84 and emits light to form an image.

The configuration of the image forming apparatus described here is an example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention, and various modifications are possible based on the technical idea of the present invention. N for input signal
Although the TSC system has been described, the input signal is not limited to this, and a PAL, SECAM system, or other TV signal including a larger number of scanning lines (eg, a high-quality TV including the MUSE system). A method can also be adopted.

Next, the electron source and the image forming apparatus having the ladder-type arrangement will be described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15. FIG.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view showing an example of a ladder type electron source. In FIG. 14, reference numeral 110 denotes an electron source substrate, and 111 denotes an electron-emitting device. Reference numeral 112 denotes common wirings D1 to D10 for connecting the electron-emitting devices 111, and these are drawn out as external terminals. A plurality of electron-emitting devices 111 are arranged on the substrate 110 in parallel in the X direction (this is called an element row). A plurality of the element rows are arranged to constitute an electron source. By applying a drive voltage between the common wires of each element row, each element row can be driven independently. That is, a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold is applied to the element rows where the electron beam is to be emitted, and a voltage equal to or lower than the electron emission threshold is applied to the element rows where the electron beam is not desired to be emitted. Common wirings D2 to D9 located between the element rows are, for example, D2 and D3, D4 and D5,
D6 and D7, and D8 and D9 may be formed as one and the same wiring.

FIG. 15 is a schematic view showing an example of a panel structure in an image forming apparatus having a ladder-type electron source. Reference numeral 120 denotes a grid electrode, 121 denotes an opening through which electrons pass, D1 to Dm denote external terminals, and G1 to Gn denote external terminals connected to the grid electrode 120. 1
Reference numeral 10 denotes an electron source substrate in which the common wiring between the element rows is the same wiring. In FIG. 15, the same portions as those shown in FIGS. 11 and 14 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those shown in these drawings. The image forming apparatus shown here and FIG.
The major difference from the image forming apparatus of the simple matrix arrangement shown in FIG. 9 is whether or not the grid electrode 120 is provided between the electron source substrate 110 and the face plate 86.

In FIG. 15, a grid electrode 120 is provided between the substrate 110 and the face plate 86. The grid electrode 120 is for modulating the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device 111, and allows the electron beam to pass through a stripe-shaped electrode provided orthogonal to the ladder-type element row. Therefore, one circular opening 121 is provided for each element. The shape and arrangement position of the grid electrode are not limited to those shown in FIG. For example, a large number of passage openings may be provided in a mesh shape as openings, and a grid electrode may be provided around or near the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

The external terminals D1 to Dm and the external terminals G1 to Gn are electrically connected to a control circuit (not shown).

In the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, a modulation signal for one line of an image is simultaneously applied to the grid electrode rows in synchronization with sequentially driving (scanning) the element rows one by one. This makes it possible to control the irradiation of each electron beam to the phosphor and display an image one line at a time.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention described above is a display apparatus for a television broadcast, a display apparatus such as a video conference system and a computer, and an image forming apparatus as an optical printer using a photosensitive drum or the like. Etc. can also be used.

[0116]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to specific examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples, and each element within a range in which the object of the present invention is achieved. This also includes those in which substitutions or design changes have been made.

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the features of this embodiment, and is basically the same as the configuration shown in FIG. In FIG. 7A, a square lattice pattern composed of a solid line 161 and a dotted line 162 is a pattern of the two types of parallel grooves 6.
This is a fine groove structure where a and b intersect. 162
A dotted line indicates a state where the material of the conductive film 4 is insufficient in the groove portion and no conductive path is formed, and a solid line 161 indicates that the material of the conductive film 4 is present in the groove portion and the conductive path is formed. Indicates the status. FIG. 2B shows that a fine groove structure is formed in the substrate 1. Further, the groove portion indicated by the solid line 161 has a conductive film material, and the groove portion indicated by the dotted line 162 has a conductive film. This conceptually indicates that the material of the film is insufficient.

According to the percolation theory, a bond is randomly occupied at a probability p with respect to an appropriate lattice composed of sites and bonds where the number of bonds coming from one site is z. State (conductive state)
And the permeation threshold p _c (b) in the non-occupied state (insulated state) with the probability (1-p) is p
It is known that _c (b) = d / {z (d-1)}.

Therefore, a fine groove structure corresponding to an appropriate lattice is provided on the substrate surface between the device electrodes 2 and 3, and the surface coverage of the conductive material on the substrate surface is determined by the above equation.
_By controlling the value to be substantially equal to the value of _c (b), the electrical properties of the conductive film 4 can be brought to a state near the permeation threshold. Here, the surface coverage of the conductive material on the surface is the area ratio of the substrate surface covered by the conductive material to the substrate area between the element electrodes 2 and 3.

Since the present embodiment has a two-dimensional square lattice type fine groove structure, z = 4 and d = 2.
_c (b) = 0.5. A bond connection ratio of 0.5 is obtained when half of the total number of bonds in the square lattice is in a conductive state. Therefore, by covering the grooves of the square lattice type fine groove structure with a conductive material at a probability of 0.5, the electrical properties of the conductive film 4 are changed from the conductive state to the insulating state between the device electrodes 2 and 3. It can be controlled to a state near the changing permeation threshold. Here, we have found that a linear electric field concentration region is formed when the device is controlled to a state near the permeation threshold.

That is, in this embodiment, the electric property of the conductive film 4 is controlled between the device electrodes 2 and 3 by controlling the surface coverage of the conductive material on the surface in accordance with the type of the fine groove structure. Is controlled to a state near the permeation threshold at which the conductive state changes from the conductive state to the insulative state. This has the effect of realizing an electron-emitting device having uniform device characteristics such as electron-emitting characteristics.

As a method of controlling the surface coverage of the conductive material on the surface according to the type of the fine groove structure, there are the following methods.
For example, (i) a method of controlling the film thickness when forming the thin film portion 23 by printing, (ii) a method of controlling the amount of vapor deposition when forming the thin film portion 23 by vapor deposition, (iii) a conductive material And a method of forming a film by mixing an insulating material.

[Embodiment 2] The element of this embodiment has the structure shown in FIG. 2 and is almost the same as Embodiment 1 except that the parallel groove 6 is formed one-dimensionally.

The one-dimensional penetration threshold p _c (b) is 1.0, which is higher than the two-dimensional penetration threshold. Further, the element electrode interval L is very large band systems than the device electrode width W, for example, N _x × N _y, for a site penetration problems N _x »N _y becomes strip-shaped square lattice, occupying the site Let p be the probability
Assuming that the unoccupied probability of the site is (1-p), the probability that all the L-th columns are unoccupied is (1-p) ^Ny And the width of the band N _y
Is smaller, the permeation threshold increases and approaches the one-dimensional permeation threshold (1.0). Here, when the inter-site distance is S, N _x = L / S and N _y = W / S.

In the present embodiment, a strip-shaped conductive path is formed between the element electrodes 2 and 3 by a fine groove structure formed in a direction substantially perpendicular to the opposing surfaces of the element electrodes 2 and 3. Is an electron-emitting device having reduced dimensionality. This makes it possible to form cracks in the conductive film 4 with a high surface coverage. In general, the lower the surface coverage, the higher the parasitic resistance. In the present embodiment, since the crack can be formed in a state where the surface coverage is high, the parasitic resistance of the conductive film other than the crack can be suppressed low, and the voltage drop due to the parasitic resistance can be suppressed.

[Embodiment 3] The device of this embodiment has the structure shown in FIG. 3, and is provided with a fine groove structure in a direction substantially parallel to the opposing surfaces of the device electrodes 2 and 3. Except for this, it is almost the same as the first embodiment. Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, a fine groove structure is formed in the conductive film 4 and the film thickness changes periodically. Therefore, the resistance also changes periodically, and by performing the energization forming process described above,
Along the groove having the highest resistance, a linear crack substantially parallel to the opposing surfaces of the device electrodes 2 and 3 can be formed.

Although it is difficult to make a straight line parallel to the element electrode without any variation, it is possible to reliably form a crack by preparing a large number of straight grooves. That is, in the present embodiment, the cracks can be controlled to be formed along a certain direction, and there is an effect that the variation in element characteristics can be suppressed. [Embodiment 4] The element of this embodiment has the configuration shown in FIG. 5, and has a fine structure in which two types of parallel grooves 6a and 6b obliquely arranged with respect to the opposing surfaces of the element electrodes 2 and 3 intersect. Except that the groove structure is provided in the conductive film 4, it is almost the same as in the first embodiment.

The fine groove structure according to the present embodiment is formed in the conductive film 4 similarly to the third embodiment, and the film thickness is periodically changed along the oblique lattice. Therefore, the resistance also changes periodically, and by performing the above-described energization forming process, a zigzag consisting of two types of straight lines oblique to the surfaces facing the element electrodes 2 and 3 along the groove having a high resistance. There is an effect that the crack can be controlled to be formed. Especially two kinds of parallel grooves 6
By adjusting the intersection angle between a and 6b, there is an effect that the angular shape of the zigzag can be controlled to some extent.

[0129]

As described above, according to the present invention, the substrate portion and / or the conductive film portion between the electrodes are provided with parallel grooves formed of a plurality of grooves parallel to each other, so that the fineness of the surface of the conductive film can be reduced. By controlling the structure, the conditions for crack formation can be controlled, and consequently, variations in device characteristics such as electron emission efficiency can be reduced.

In particular, by forming the parallel grooves by a process of moving the substrate relative to the rotating roller while bringing the substrate or the conductive film between the electrodes into contact with the rotating roller, the electron emission efficiency is improved. Electron emitting devices with little variation in device characteristics, such as, can be efficiently mass-produced.

Therefore, in the electron source according to the present invention, in which a large number of electron-emitting devices are arranged on the same substrate, not only the production efficiency is high, but also a stable electron beam generator with less variation in device characteristics. Further, the image forming apparatus using the electron source can stably display a high-quality image with less luminance unevenness, and realize a high-quality color flat television or the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A and 1B are a plan view and a vertical sectional view schematically showing a surface conduction electron-emitting device which is an example of an electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an example of the electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an example of the electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing an example of the electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing an example of the electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating an example of a method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an example of a voltage waveform used for forming processing.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a vacuum processing apparatus (measurement evaluation apparatus) that can be used for manufacturing the electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows an emission current I of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a typical example of a relationship between the element voltage e and the element current If and the element voltage Vf.

FIG. 10 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram of a display panel used in an image forming apparatus using an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a fluorescent film in the display panel of FIG.

13 is a block diagram showing an example of a drive circuit for performing display on the display panel of FIG. 11 in accordance with an NTSC television signal.

FIG. 14 is a schematic plan view of a ladder-type electron source of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a schematic configuration diagram of a display panel used in an image forming apparatus using a ladder-type electron source according to the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram for explaining the electron-emitting device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a plan view of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2, 3 Device electrode 4 Conductive film 5 Electron emission part 6, 6a, 6b Parallel groove 11 Rotary roller 12 Core portion of rotary roller 13 Cloth portion of rotary roller 50 Device current If flowing through conductive film 4 is measured. For applying an element voltage Vf to the electron-emitting device 52 Ammeter for measuring the emission current Ie emitted from the electron-emitting section 5 53 High-voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the anode 54 54 Anode electrode for capturing electrons emitted from the electron emission unit 5 55 Vacuum container 56 Exhaust pump 71 Electron source substrate 72 X-direction wiring 73 Y-direction wiring 74 Surface conduction electron-emitting device 75 Connection 81 Rear plate 82 Support frame 83 glass substrate 84 fluorescent film 85 metal back 86 face plate 87 high voltage terminal 88 envelope 91 black Electrical material 92 Phosphor 101 Display panel 102 Scanning circuit 103 Control circuit 104 Shift register 105 Line memory 106 Synchronous signal separating circuit 107 Modulation signal generator Vx, Va DC voltage source 110 Electron source substrate 111 Electron emitting element 112 Wiring of electron emitting element Common line 120 Grid electrode 121 Opening for passage of electrons 161 Conductive groove portion 162 Insulated groove portion

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. An electron-emitting device having a conductive film disposed between a pair of opposed electrodes on a substrate, wherein a plurality of grooves substantially parallel to each other are formed in a substrate portion and / or a conductive film portion between the electrodes. An electron-emitting device having a parallel groove. 2. The parallel groove, wherein at least a part of the parallel groove is filled with a conductive material, and the conductive material imparts conductivity to the conductive film. Item 2. The electron-emitting device according to item 1. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the parallel groove increases the electric resistance between portions of the conductive film on both sides of the groove, or at least partially insulates the conductive film. An electron-emitting device according to claim 1. 4. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the parallel groove divides the conductive film into strips parallel to each other by connecting the electrodes facing each other. 5. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the parallel groove is perpendicular to a facing surface of the pair of electrodes. 6. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the parallel groove is parallel to a facing surface of the pair of electrodes. 7. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein two kinds of the parallel grooves are provided, and the parallel grooves cross each other. 8. The electron according to claim 7, wherein one of the parallel grooves is perpendicular to a facing surface of the pair of electrodes, and the other parallel groove is parallel to a facing surface of the pair of electrodes. Emission element. 9. The electron-emitting device according to claim 7, wherein the two types of parallel grooves are formed obliquely with respect to the opposing surfaces of the pair of electrodes. 10. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein said electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device. 11. The method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the step of forming the parallel grooves includes: contacting a substrate or a conductive film between the electrodes with a rotating roller. A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device, comprising a step of moving a substrate relative to a rotating roller. 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in the step of forming the conductive film, the conductive film is controlled to have a surface coverage corresponding to the pattern of the parallel grooves.
2. The method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to item 1. 13. An electron source in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged on a substrate, wherein the electron-emitting devices are arranged on a substrate.
An electron source, which is an electron-emitting device according to any one of claims 10 to 10. 14. The electron source according to claim 13, wherein the plurality of electron-emitting devices are wired in a matrix. 15. The electron source according to claim 13, wherein the plurality of electron-emitting devices are wired in a ladder shape. 16. A method of manufacturing an electron source in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged on a substrate, wherein the electron-emitting devices are manufactured by the method according to claim 11 or 12. Manufacturing method. 17. An image forming apparatus comprising: an electron source having a plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged on a substrate; and an image forming member that forms an image by irradiating an electron beam emitted from the electron source. An image forming apparatus, wherein the electron source is the electron source according to claim 13. 18. A method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus, comprising: an electron source having a plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged on a substrate; and an image forming member that forms an image by irradiating an electron beam emitted from the electron source. 17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the electron source is manufactured by the method according to claim 16.