JPH11282412A - Device for displaying image and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To excellently emit plural adjacent image element positions by means of light through the use of one discharged element with simple configuration by simultaneously changing-over a driving voltage to be impressed on an electron discharge element and an acceleration voltage accelerating an electronic beam according to an element signal. SOLUTION: A synchronization separating circuit 1 separates the synchronizing signal of an input television signal s1 from a video signal. The synchronizing signal separated by the circuit 1 is inputted to a timing control circuit 4. In the meantime, the video signal is inputted to a signal processing part 2 and, then, inputted to a modulation signal generating part 3 after a signal processing such as A/D conversion. A Vf change-over equipment 6 changes-over the driving voltage of the video signal s5, the value of the driving voltage to be impressed on a pair of electrodes is changed and the electronic beam draws a different orbit so that the different position of a phosphor is irradiated with it. A Va change-over equipment 7 changes-over the acceleration voltage of the beam and the acceleration voltage is changed so that the orbit of the beam is changed in a way being the same as that for changing the voltage Vf.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image display method using, for example, a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices as electron emission sources.

[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 these, 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. .

As a surface conduction type emission device, for example,
M. I. Elinson, RadioE-ng. Ele
ctron Phys. , 10, 1290, (196
5) and other examples described later are known.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon that electrons are emitted from a thin film having a small area formed on a substrate by flowing a current in parallel with the surface of the thin film. As this surface conduction type emission device, in addition to the device using the SnO2 thin film by Elinson et al.
By a thin film [G. Dittmer: "ThinSo
lid Films ", 9, 317 (1972)]
According to a thin film of In2O3 / SnO2 [M. Hartw
ell and C.I. G. FIG. Fonstad: "IEEE
Trans. ED Conf. ", 519 (197
5)] and those using a carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, 22 (1983)] and the like have been reported.

[0005] As a typical example of the element structure of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, FIG. Hartwel
1 shows a plan view of an element according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 3001 denotes a substrate;
004 is a conductive thin film made of metal oxide formed by sputtering. The conductive thin film 3004 is made of H
It is formed in the shape of a letter. The conductive thin film 300
The electron emission portion 3005 is formed by applying an energization process called energization forming to be described later. The interval L in the figure is 0.5-1 [mm], and W is 0.1 [mm].
Is set with

[0007] For convenience of illustration, the electron emitting portion 3005
Is shown in a rectangular shape at the center of the conductive thin film 3004,
This is a schematic one, and does not faithfully represent the actual position or shape of the electron-emitting portion.

M. In the above-described surface conduction electron-emitting device, including the device by Hartwell et al., The conductive thin film 3004 is subjected to an energization process called energization forming before the electron emission, so that the electron emission portion 300
It was common to form 5. That is, the energization forming is to apply a constant DC voltage or a DC voltage that is stepped up at a very slow rate of, for example, about 1 V / min to both ends of the conductive thin film 3004 to locally form the conductive thin film 3004. This is to form the electron emitting portion 3005 in a state of being electrically high in a state of being destroyed, deformed, or altered. Due to the energization forming, the conductive thin film 3004 is locally broken, deformed, or deteriorated, and a crack is generated in a part thereof. When an appropriate voltage is applied to the conductive thin film 3004 after such energization forming, electrons are emitted in the vicinity of the crack.

Further, examples of the FE type are described in, for example, W.S. P. D
yke & W. W. Dolan, "Fie-ld emi
session ", Advance in Electro
nPhysics, 8, 89 (1956), or
C. A. Spindt, "Physicalprop
artists of thin-film field
emissioncathodes with mo
lybdeniumcones ", J. Appl. Ph.
ys. , 47, 5248 (1976).

[0010] As a typical example of the FE type device configuration, FIG. A. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a device by Spindt et al.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 3010 denotes a substrate;
Numeral 011 denotes an emitter wiring made of a conductive material, numeral 3012 denotes an emitter cone, numeral 3013 denotes an insulating layer, and numeral 3014 denotes a gate electrode. This element has an emitter cone 3012
By applying an appropriate voltage between the gate electrode 3014 and the gate electrode 3014, field emission is caused from the tip of the emitter cone 3012.

As another element structure of the FE type, FIG.
There is also an example in which an emitter and a gate electrode are arranged on a substrate almost in parallel with the plane of the substrate, instead of the laminated structure as in 2.

As an example of the MIM type, for example,
C. A. Mead, “Operation of tun
nel-emission Devices, J. et al. Ap
pl. Phys. , 32, 646 (1961). FIG. 23 shows a typical example of the MIM type element configuration.
Shown in

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an MIM-type element structure. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 3020 denotes a substrate;
1 is a lower electrode made of a metal, 3022 is a thin insulating layer having a thickness of about 100 Å, and 3023 is a thickness of 80 to 3
The upper electrode is made of a metal of about 00 Å. In the MIM type, the upper electrode 3023 and the lower electrode 30
By applying an appropriate voltage between the upper electrode 3023 and the surface of the upper electrode 3023, electrons are emitted.

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 a substrate at a high density, problems such as thermal melting of the substrate hardly occur. 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 the cold cathode devices. Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
As disclosed in No. 32, a method for arranging and driving a large number of elements is being studied.

As for the application of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, for example, an image forming apparatus such as an image display device and an image recording device, and a charged beam source 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, surface conduction type emission is disclosed. An image display device using a combination of an element and a phosphor that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam has been studied.

An image display device using a combination of a surface conduction electron-emitting device and a phosphor is expected to have better characteristics than other conventional image display devices. For example, compared to a liquid crystal display device that has become widespread in recent years, it can be said that it is 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 in which the FE type is applied to an image display device, for example, R.F. A flat panel display device reported by Meyer et al. Is known ([R. Meyer).
r: "Recent Development M
microtips Display at LETI ",
Tech. Digest of 4th Int. V
acuum Microele-tronics C
onf. , Nagahama, pp .; 6-9 (199
1)]).

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.
5738.

[0022]

In order to increase the resolution of such an image display device, it is necessary to arrange emission elements densely. However, it is not possible to make the wiring thinner because of the need to suppress the electrical resistance of the matrix wiring,
There is a limit to reducing the size of the emission element. Therefore, it is quite difficult as a practical problem to manufacture a small and high-definition image display device.

In order to solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Application No. 07-240166 (“image display device”) has been proposed. In this proposal, the trajectory of the electron beam is controlled by changing either the driving voltage of the emission device or the acceleration voltage of the electrons, and thereby a single emission device creates light emitting points at a plurality of locations. However, in this method, since the driving voltage of the emission element or the acceleration voltage of electrons is changed, a difference in luminance occurs at a plurality of light emitting points. Therefore, in order to correct the difference in luminance, Japanese Patent Application No. 07-240166 adjusts the pulse width of the modulation signal. Therefore, a new circuit for luminance correction is required inside or outside the control unit of the image display device.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image display device and an image display method in which a plurality of adjacent pixel positions are satisfactorily emitted with a simple structure by one emission element.

[0025]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an image display apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration.

That is, an electron beam generating section in which a plurality of electron emitting elements including a pair of electrodes sandwiching the electron emitting section are arranged in a matrix.
A phosphor that is disposed to face the electron beam generator, and emits light when irradiated with an electron beam generated by the electron beam generator. What is claimed is: 1. An image display device for emitting light by one of the electron-emitting devices, comprising: image input means for sequentially inputting a plurality of adjacent pixel signals in an image signal to be displayed; (However, K is an integer of 2 or more)
Each time a pixel signal is input, the driving voltage applied to the electron-emitting device and the acceleration voltage for accelerating the electron beam are simultaneously switched according to the pixel signal,
A control unit for controlling the trajectory of the electron beam and the emission luminance at K pixel positions of the phosphor is provided.

For example, the control means controls the electron beam generated by one of the plurality of electron-emitting devices so as to sequentially irradiate desired K pixel positions of the phosphor. And, when the K pixel signals are equal, it is characterized in that the light emission luminance at the K pixel positions is controlled to be substantially equal, and preferably when switching between the drive voltage and the acceleration voltage, It is preferable that the increasing and decreasing directions of the driving voltage and the acceleration voltage are changed in opposite directions.

Alternatively, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an image display method according to the present invention has the following configuration.

That is, an electron beam generating section in which a plurality of electron emitting elements including a pair of electrodes sandwiching the electron emitting section are arranged in a matrix.
A plurality of pixel positions adjacent to the phosphor, the plurality of pixel positions being adjacent to the plurality of phosphors; An image display method in which one of the electron-emitting devices emits light, in which a plurality of adjacent pixel signals in an image signal to be displayed are sequentially inputted, and a predetermined number of K signals (however,
Each time a pixel signal of (K is an integer of 2 or more) is input, a driving voltage applied to the electron-emitting device and an acceleration voltage for accelerating the electron beam are simultaneously switched in accordance with the pixel signal. The trajectory of the electron beam and the emission luminance at K pixel positions of the phosphor are controlled.

[0030]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the image display device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a case where one emission element irradiates two places with an electron beam will be described. Further, in the present embodiment, the cycle of switching between the driving voltage of the emission element and the acceleration voltage of the electron beam is half (1/1/1) of one horizontal scanning period (1H).
2H).

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a synchronization separation circuit 1 is a circuit that separates a synchronization signal of an input television signal s1 from a video signal. The synchronization signal separated by the synchronization separation circuit 1 is input to the timing control circuit 4.
On the other hand, the video signal is input to the signal processing unit 2.

The signal processor 2 performs predetermined signal processing such as A / D conversion on the video signal, and the processed signal is input to the modulation signal generator 3.

The modulation signal generator 3 performs serial / parallel conversion of one line of the video signal, and sends it to the gate of the MOS-FET 11 as a pulse width modulation signal s4.

The Vf switch 6 is a circuit for switching the driving voltage (Vf) of the video signal s5. The emission element section 12 in the panel 10 has a structure in which the emission element is sandwiched between a pair of opposing electrodes. By changing the value of the voltage (drive voltage: Vf) applied to the pair of electrodes, the electron beam is applied to different positions of the phosphor (not shown) along different orbits.

The Va switch 7 controls the acceleration voltage V of the electron beam.
This is a circuit for switching a. By changing the acceleration voltage Va, the trajectory of the electron beam can be changed in the same manner as when changing the drive voltage Vf.

As will be described in detail later, in the present embodiment, by simultaneously switching the acceleration voltage Va and the drive voltage Vf, electrons are emitted over a wider range, and the brightness is adjusted at the light emitting points at different positions of the phosphor. To achieve.

The control signal s2 is a signal for controlling the timing for changing the values of the drive voltage Vf and the acceleration voltage Va.

The scanning signal generator 5 is a circuit for selecting a scanning row and inputting a scanning signal s6 to the panel 10.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of one emission element section according to one embodiment of the present invention, taken along section A in FIG. In the figure, phosphors 110 and 111 are applied inside a face plate 101. Electrode 10
One is connected to the column wiring and the other is connected to the row wiring.
06 emits electrons. The electrons emitted from the electron emission unit 106 are accelerated by an acceleration voltage Va applied between the face plate 101 and the electron emission unit 101, and are irradiated on the phosphors 110 and 111. At this time, the electrons do not travel directly above the central axis 100 but travel along the electron trajectory 102 or 103.

The amount of deviation of the electron irradiated on the phosphor 110 (111) from the central axis 100 (the amount of deviation of the landing).
Lef is given by the following equation.

Lef = k × Lh × SQT (Vf / Va) (1), where Lh (m) is the distance between the emitting element and the phosphor, and k is the type of the emitting element. And a constant determined by the shape.

Therefore, the larger the driving voltage Vf and the smaller the Va, the larger the landing deviation amount Lef. Conversely, the smaller the driving voltage Vf and the larger the Va, the smaller the landing deviation amount Lef. Thus, by changing the driving voltage Vf and the acceleration voltage Va, it is possible to control the amount of landing deviation. In this embodiment, the resolution is improved by utilizing this principle to emit light from a plurality of portions of the phosphors 110 and 111 with one emission element. In addition, from the above principle, a plurality of light-emitting points emit light in a time-division manner.

However, when the drive voltage Vf is changed, FIG.
As shown in (1), when the amount of electron beam (Ie) changes and the acceleration voltage Va changes, the amount of energy of the electron beam changes. Therefore, when the electron beam is shaken by controlling the amount of deviation of the landing, the luminance changes at a plurality of light emitting points. For example, assuming that an electron beam is applied to two portions of the phosphor 110 and the phosphor 111 as shown in FIG. 2, if the phosphor 110 and the phosphor 111 are phosphors of the same material, the two The luminance must be the same at each point. Drive voltage V that satisfies this condition
To find f and the acceleration voltage Va, it is necessary to make the luminance (L) of the light emitting point given by the following equation equal at the two light emitting points.

L = A × Vf ↑ 2 × Va ↑ (3/2) × exp ↑ (−B / Vf) (2), where a ↑ b represents a raised to the power of b. A is a constant due to the phosphor and the emission element, and B is a constant due to the emission element.

Assume that Lh is 500 μm and the distance between the phosphors (the distance between the centers of the phosphors 110 and 111) is 80 μm. At this time, in a state of Vf ≒ 16 V and Va ≒ 3 kV, the electron beam is applied to the phosphor 110 while drawing the orbit of the electron orbit 102 (Lef = 160 μm).
Further, in the state of Vf ≒ 14 V and Va ≒ 12 kV,
The electron beam follows the trajectory of the electron trajectory 103 and the phosphor 111 (Lef = 8) which is 80 μm away from the phosphor 110.
0 μm). Further, at this time, the emission luminances of the phosphors 110 and 111 are substantially the same.

Here, the emission element 105 is formed of a phosphor 110
And 111, it is sufficient to arrange them at a pitch of 160 μm in the horizontal direction. Also, by arranging the emission elements 105 at a pitch of 240 μm in the vertical direction, 1024 pixels in the horizontal direction (3072 emission elements, that is, 1024 for each color component of R, G, B) and 768 pixels in the vertical direction (768 emission elements) A high-definition display device was created.

Next, the operation of the image display device according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The received NTSC signal s1 is separated by the sync separation circuit 1 into a sync signal and a video signal. The synchronization signal is sent to the timing control circuit 4, and the video signal is sent to the signal processing unit 2. The signal processing unit 2 performs RGB color demodulation, analog / digital (A / D) conversion, and the like, and the digitized video signal is sent to the modulation signal generation unit 3.

The modulation signal generating section 3 converts the transmitted video signal for one line from serial to parallel,
The converted parallel video signal is a pulse width modulated signal s
4 is sent to the gate of the MOS-FET 11.

The Vf switch 6 is a circuit for switching the amplitude of the video signal s5 (1/2 of the value of the drive voltage Vf, where s5 is positive). In the present embodiment, as described above, a case is considered in which one electron-emitting device irradiates two locations with an electron beam. Therefore, the Vf switch 6 sends out two kinds of amplitude signals s5 according to the control signal s2 from the timing control circuit 4.

The scanning signal generator 5 selects one scanning row of the panel 10 and inputs the scanning signal s6 to the selected row.
At this time, the amplitude of the input signal s6 (1 of the value of the drive voltage Vf).
/ 2, where s6 is negative) is changed in synchronization with the amplitude of s5. When the amplitude of s5 is large, the amplitude of s6 is also large, and when the amplitude of s5 is small, the amplitude of s6 is also small.

When the amplitudes of s5 and s6 are large, the value of the drive voltage Vf applied to the emission element 105 increases. Conversely, when the amplitudes of s5 and s6 are small, the value of the drive voltage Vf applied to the emission element 105 is small.
When the driving voltage Vf is large, the above-described landing deviation amount Lef becomes large, and when the driving voltage Vf is small, Lef becomes small. As described above, two locations can be irradiated with an electron beam by one emission element 105.

The switching of the amplitudes of s5 and s6, that is, the switching of the driving voltage Vf is performed in a half (1 / 2H) cycle of the 1H period. That is, the plurality of emission elements 105 for one row of the panel 10 selected by the scanning signal generator 5
(Emitting element section 12) irradiates one phosphor (phosphor 110 in FIG. 2) with electrons at the first half of 1H (the driving voltage Vf is large at this time), and the second half of 1H. / 2H
Then, the other phosphor (the phosphor 111 in FIG. 2) is irradiated with electrons (at this time, the driving voltage Vf is small). At this time, one row of the panel selected by the scanning signal generator 5 has been selected for 1H. Details will be described later using a timing chart.

The Va switch 7 is a circuit for switching the acceleration voltage Va of the electrons applied to the panel 10. Va
Similarly to the Vf switch 6, the switch 7 receives two types of acceleration voltages V by the control signal s2 from the timing control circuit 4.
a is applied to the panel 10. When the acceleration voltage Va is small, the above-described landing deviation amount Lef becomes large, and when the acceleration voltage Va is large, Lef becomes small. At this time, the switching of the acceleration voltage Va is performed by the drive voltage Vf.
Must be synchronized with the switching. That is, the switching cycle of the acceleration voltage Va is also 1 / 2H. Drive voltage V
When f is large, the acceleration voltage Va is reduced, and when the drive voltage Vf is small, the acceleration voltage Va is increased. That is, when switching between the acceleration voltage Va and the drive voltage Vf, by changing the increase / decrease direction of the acceleration voltage Va and the drive voltage Vf in opposite directions, two light emission points are formed while two light emission points are formed. Can be made substantially equal.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the timing chart of FIG. The symbols in the figure are the same as those in FIG.

The video signal of the NTSC signal s1 is subjected to signal processing as described above, and becomes a pulse width modulation signal s4. The pulse width modulation signal s4 shown in FIG. 3 focuses on a certain column-direction wiring and shows a signal flowing therethrough. In the present embodiment, since the one emission element irradiates two places with electrons during 1H, signals for two pixels are input during 1H. The longer the width L of the pulse width modulation signal s4, the longer the time for which the electrons are emitted from the electron emission unit 12, so that the pixel feels brighter.

The timing control signal s2 is generated every 1 / 2H and gives timing for switching s5 and s6 and the amplitude of the acceleration voltage Va. As shown in FIG.
The first half, which is 1H divided in half, is the period a,
/ 2H is a period b. In the period a, the amplitude of the signal s3 output from the Vf converter 6 is large, and as a result, the amplitude of the signal s5 input to the panel is also large. Also, the scanning signal s6
As shown in FIG. 3, the amplitude is still large in the period a and is small in the period b. In FIG. 3, the i-th row of the panel,
The timing at which the scanning signal s6 is input to two rows of the (i + 1) th row is shown. As a result, the drive voltage Vf applied to the emission element is large in the period a, and is small in the period b. At this time, the acceleration voltage Va is small in the period a, and is large in the period b. Therefore, in the period a, the trajectory like the electron trajectory 102 in FIG. 2 is drawn, and in the period b, the electron is drawn to the trajectory like the electron trajectory 103 in FIG. Further, the driving voltage Vf,
By switching both of the acceleration voltages Va, no difference in luminance occurs between the two light emitting points.

As described above, the driving voltage Vf and the acceleration voltage Va
Are simultaneously switched to form a light emitting point at a plurality of locations with one emission element, and furthermore, it is possible to adjust such that there is no difference in luminance between the plurality of light emitting points. In addition, since the driving voltage Vf and the acceleration voltage Va are switched at the same time, the range in which the electron beam is swung can be wider than when either one is switched.

(Structure and Manufacturing Method of Display Panel) Next, the structure and manufacturing method of the display panel of the image display device to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to specific examples.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the display panel used in the embodiment, in which a part of the panel is cut away to show the internal structure.

In the figure, 1005 is a rear plate, 1006
Is a side wall, 1007 is a face plate, 1005
1007 form an airtight container for maintaining the inside of the display panel at a vacuum. When assembling the airtight container, it is necessary to seal the joint of each member to maintain sufficient strength and airtightness, but, for example, apply frit glass to the joint, 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.

The rear plate 1005 has a substrate 1001
Is fixed, but the cold cathode device 1002 is provided on the substrate.
Are formed (N and M are positive integers of 2 or more and are appropriately set according to the target number of display pixels). In the present embodiment, N = 3072, M = 76
And 8. The N × M cold cathode elements are arranged in a simple matrix by M row-directional wirings 1003 and N column-directional wirings 1004. The portion constituted by 1001 to 1004 is called a multi-electron beam source.
In addition, regarding the manufacturing method and structure of the multi-electron beam source,
I will elaborate later.

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

A fluorescent film 1008 is formed on the lower surface of the face plate 1007. Since the present embodiment is a color display device, the fluorescent film 1008 has C
Phosphors of three primary colors of red, green and blue used in the field of RT are separately applied. The phosphor of each color is separately applied in a stripe shape as shown in FIG. 5, for example, and a black conductor 1010 is provided between the stripes of the phosphor. The purpose of providing the black conductor 1010 is to prevent the display color from shifting even if the electron beam irradiation position is slightly shifted, and to prevent the reflection of external light to prevent the display contrast from lowering. And preventing charge-up of the fluorescent film by the electron beam. Although graphite 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.

The method of applying the three primary color phosphors is not limited to the stripe arrangement shown in FIG. 5, but may be a delta arrangement as shown in FIG. 6 or other arrangements. You may.

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

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

Although not used in the present embodiment, for the purpose of applying an acceleration voltage and improving the conductivity of the fluorescent film, a transparent material made of, for example, ITO is provided between the face plate substrate 1007 and the fluorescent film 1008. Electrodes may be provided.

Further, Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn and Hv
Is a terminal for electric connection of an airtight structure provided for electrically connecting the display panel to an electric circuit (not shown).
Dx1 to Dxm are row direction wirings 1003 of the multi electron beam source.
And Dy1 to Dyn are column-directional wirings 10 of the multi-electron beam source.
04 and Hv are the metal back 100 of the face plate
9 is electrically connected.

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 [T
orr]. 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, a film formed by heating and depositing a getter material containing Ba as a main component by means of a heater or high-frequency heating. The degree of vacuum of the power [Torr] is maintained.

The basic configuration and manufacturing method of the display panel according to the embodiment of the present invention 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 in 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 cold cathode device such as a surface conduction type emission device, an FE type, or an MIM 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 preferable. That is, in the FE type, since the relative position and 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. Is a disadvantageous factor. Also,
In the MIM type, it is necessary to make the thicknesses of the insulating layer and the upper electrode thinner and uniform, but this is also a disadvantageous factor in achieving a large area and a reduction in manufacturing cost. 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 was formed from a fine particle film was 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 a large number of devices are arranged in a simple matrix will be described.

(Flat-type surface conduction electron-emitting device) First, the structure and manufacturing method of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described. FIG. 7 is a plan view for explaining the configuration of a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device, and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the configuration of a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device.

7 and 8, reference numeral 1101 denotes a substrate;
1102 and 1103 are device electrodes, 1104 is a conductive thin film, 1105 is an electron emitting portion formed by energization forming, and 1113 is a thin film formed by energization activation.

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 laminated on the various substrates described above. A substrate or the like can be used.

The device electrodes 1102 and 1103 provided on the substrate 1101 so as to be in parallel with the substrate surface are formed of a conductive material. For example, N
i, Cr, Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Cu, Pd,
Materials may be appropriately selected from metals such as Ag and the like, alloys of these metals, metal oxides such as In 2 O 3 —SnO 2, and semiconductors such as polysilicon.

The electrodes 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, the electrodes can be formed by other methods (for example, printing techniques). It can be formed even if it is formed.

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

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

The particle size of the fine particles used in the fine particle film is in the range of several Angstroms to several thousand Angstroms, and 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, the device electrode 1102
Alternatively, conditions necessary for good electrical connection with 1103, conditions necessary for good energization forming described later, conditions necessary for setting the electrical resistance of the fine particle film itself to an appropriate value described later, and the like. It is.

More specifically, the setting is made in the range of several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, and the most preferable is between 10 angstroms and 500 angstroms.

Examples of materials that can be used to form the fine particle film include Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag, and A.
u, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, T
a, W, Pb, and other metals, PdO, S
Oxides such as nO2, In2 O3, PbO, Sb2 O3, etc .; HfB2, ZrB2, LaB6, C
Borides such as eB6, YB4, GdB4, etc., TiC, ZrC, HfC, TaC, SiC, WC,
And other carbides, TiN, ZrN, Hf
Nitrides such as N, etc., semiconductors such as Si, Ge, etc., carbon, and the like are listed, and are appropriately selected from these.

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

The conductive thin film 1104 and the device electrode 110
2 and 1103 are desirably electrically connected well, and therefore have a structure in which a part of each overlaps. In the example of FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the overlapping is performed in the order of the substrate, the device electrode, and the conductive thin film from the bottom, but in some cases, the substrate, the conductive thin film, and the device electrode are sequentially stacked from the bottom. You can do it even if you stack them.

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. Since it is difficult to accurately and accurately show the actual position and shape of the electron-emitting portion, they are schematically shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

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

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

Since it is difficult to accurately show the actual position and shape of the thin film 1113, it is schematically shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. Also, in the plan view of FIG.
The device from which a part of the thin film 1113 is removed is shown.

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 [micrometer].

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

Next, a description will be given of a method of manufacturing a suitable flat surface conduction electron-emitting device. 9 to 13 are cross-sectional views for explaining a manufacturing process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device.
The notation of each member is the same as in FIGS. 7 and 8.

1) First, as shown in FIG.
Element electrodes 1102 and 1103 are formed on the substrate 1.

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

2) Next, as shown in FIG. 10, a conductive thin film 1104 is formed.

In forming, first, an organic metal solution is applied to the substrate shown in FIG. 9, 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. (In particular,
In this 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 for forming a conductive thin film made of a fine particle film, a method other than the method of applying the organometallic solution used in the present embodiment, such as a vacuum evaporation method, a sputtering method, or a chemical vapor deposition method, may be used. May be used.

3) Next, as shown in FIG. 11, an appropriate voltage is applied between the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 from the forming power supply 1110, and an energization forming process is performed to form the electron emission portion 1105.

The energization forming treatment is to energize the conductive thin film 1104 made of a fine particle film and to appropriately break, deform, or alter a part of the conductive thin film 1104 to change to a structure suitable for emitting electrons. This is the process that causes In a portion of the conductive thin film made of the fine particle film that 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. Note that the electrical resistance measured between the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 is significantly increased after the formation, as compared to before the electron emission portion 1105 is formed.

FIG. 14 shows an example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from the forming power supply 1110 in order to explain the energization method in more detail. When forming a conductive thin film made of a fine particle film, a pulse-like voltage is preferable. In the case of this embodiment, a triangular wave pulse having a pulse width T1 is continuously generated at a pulse interval T2 as shown in FIG. Was applied. 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 this 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 1 millisecond.
0 [millisecond], and the peak value Vpf is set to 0.
The pressure was increased by 1 [V]. Then, the monitor pulse Pm was inserted at a rate of one every time five triangular waves were applied. The monitor pulse voltage Vpm was set to 0.1 [V] so as not to adversely affect the forming process. Then, when the electric resistance between the element electrodes 1102 and 1103 becomes 1 × 10 6 [ohm], that is, the current measured by the ammeter 1111 when the monitor pulse is applied becomes 1 × 10 −7 [A] or less. At the stage
The energization related to the forming process has been completed.

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

4) Next, as shown in FIG. 12, an appropriate voltage is applied between the element electrodes 1102 and 1103 from the activating power supply 1112, and an energizing activation process is performed to improve the electron emission characteristics. Do.

The energization activation process is a process of energizing the electron-emitting portion 1105 formed by the energization forming process under appropriate conditions and depositing 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 energization 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 4th power to 1
By applying a voltage pulse periodically in a vacuum atmosphere within the range of 0 to 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.
[Angstrom] or less, more preferably 300 [angstrom] or less.

FIG. 15 shows an example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from the activation power supply 1112 in order to explain the energization method in more detail. In the present embodiment, the energization activation process is performed by periodically applying a rectangular wave of a predetermined voltage. Specifically, the voltage Vac of the rectangular wave is 14 [V], and the pulse width T3 is 1 [mm]. Second], and the pulse interval T4 is 10 [milliseconds].
And Note that the above-described energization conditions are preferable conditions for the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present embodiment, and when the design of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is changed, it is desirable to appropriately change the conditions accordingly.

Reference numeral 1114 shown in FIG. 12 denotes an anode electrode for capturing the emission current Ie emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device.
6 (when the activation process is performed after the substrate 1101 is incorporated into the display panel, the phosphor screen of the display panel is used as the anode electrode 1114).

While the voltage is applied from the activation power supply 1112, the emission current Ie is measured by the ammeter 1116 to monitor the progress of the energization activation processing, and the activation power supply 1112 is monitored.
Control the operation of. An example of the emission current Ie measured by the ammeter 1116 is shown in FIG. 16. When the pulse voltage is started to be applied from the activation power supply 1112, the emission current Ie increases with the lapse of time, but eventually becomes almost saturated. No longer. As described above, when the emission current Ie is substantially saturated, the application of the voltage from the activation power supply 1112 is stopped,
The energization activation process ends.

The above-mentioned 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, the conditions should be changed accordingly. desirable.

As described above, the plane type surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 13 was manufactured.

(Characteristics of Surface Conduction Emission Device Used in Display Device) The element structure and manufacturing method of the surface conduction emission device have been described above. Next, the characteristics of the device used in the display device will be described.

FIG. 17 shows typical examples of (emission current Ie) versus (element applied voltage Vf) characteristics and (element current If) versus (element applied voltage Vf) characteristics of the elements used in the display device.

Incidentally, the emission current Ie is significantly smaller than the device current If, and it is difficult to show the same current on the same scale. In addition, these characteristics are changed by changing design parameters such as the size and shape of the device. Because it is
The graphs in the book are shown in arbitrary units.

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

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

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

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

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

Because of the above characteristics, the surface conduction electron-emitting device could be suitably used for a display device. For example, in a display device in which a large number of elements are provided corresponding to pixels of a display screen, display can be performed by sequentially scanning the display screen by using the first characteristic. 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
A voltage less than th is applied. By sequentially switching the elements to be driven, the display screen can be sequentially scanned and displayed.

Further, since the emission luminance can be controlled by using the second characteristic or the third characteristic, gradation display can be performed.

(Structure of a multi-electron beam source in which a large number of elements are arranged in a simple matrix) Next, a structure of a multi-electron beam source in which the above-described surface conduction electron-emitting elements are arranged on a substrate and arranged in a simple matrix will be described.

FIG. 18 is a plan view of the multi-electron beam source used for the display panel of FIG. On the board,
Surface conduction type emission elements similar to those shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 are arranged, and these elements are wired in a simple matrix by row direction wiring electrodes 1003 and column direction wiring electrodes 1004. An insulating layer (not shown) is formed between the row-directional wiring electrodes 1003 and the column-directional wiring electrodes 1004 where they intersect, so that electrical insulation is maintained.

FIG. 19 is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ of FIG.
Shown in

The multi-electron source having such a structure includes a row-direction wiring electrode 1003, a column-direction wiring electrode 1004, an interelectrode insulating layer (not shown), and a device electrode of a surface conduction electron-emitting device. After the formation of the conductive thin film, power was supplied to each element via the row-direction wiring electrodes 1003 and the column-direction wiring electrodes 1004 to perform the energization forming process and the energization activation process.

FIG. 20 shows a display panel using the above-described surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source so that image information provided from various image information sources such as television broadcasting can be displayed. It is a figure for showing an example of the constituted multifunctional display.

In the figure, reference numeral 2100 denotes a display panel;
101 is a display panel driving circuit, 2102 is a display controller, 2103 is a multiplexer,
2104 is a decoder, 2105 is an input / output interface circuit, 2106 is a CPU, 2107 is an image generation circuit,
2108, 2109 and 2110 are image memory interface circuits, 2111 is an image input interface circuit, 2112 and 2113 are TV signal receiving circuits, 21
Reference numeral 14 denotes an input unit. Hereinafter, the function of each unit will be described along the flow of the image signal.

When the present display apparatus receives a signal containing both video information and audio information, such as a television signal, it naturally reproduces the audio simultaneously with the display of the video. Descriptions of circuits, speakers, and the like relating to reception, separation, reproduction, processing, storage, and the like of audio information that are not directly related to the features of the invention are omitted.

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 2113 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wireless transmission system such as radio waves or spatial optical communication. The format of the received TV signal is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, various systems such as the NTSC system, the PAL system, and the SECAM system. Further, a TV signal composed of a larger number of scanning lines (for example, a so-called high-definition TV including the MUSE method) is suitable for taking advantage of the display panel suitable for a large area and a large number of pixels. Signal source. T received by the TV signal receiving circuit 2113
The V signal is output to the decoder 2104.

The TV signal receiving circuit 2112 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wired transmission system such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. As with the TV signal receiving circuit 2113, the type of the TV signal to be received is not particularly limited, and the TV signal received by this circuit is also output to the decoder 2104.

Further, the image input interface circuit 21
Reference numeral 11 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal supplied from an image input device such as a TV camera or an image reading scanner. The captured image signal is output to a decoder 2104.

The image memory interface circuit 2
110 is a video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR)
Is a circuit for capturing the image signal stored in the decoder 2104. The captured image signal is output to the decoder 2104.

The image memory interface circuit 2
Reference numeral 109 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal stored in the video disk, and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 2104.

The image memory interface circuit 2
Reference numeral 108 denotes a circuit for taking in an image signal from a device that stores still image data, such as a so-called still image disk.
04 is output.

The input / output interface circuit 210
Reference numeral 5 denotes a circuit for connecting the present display device to an external computer, a computer network, or an output device such as a printer. In addition to inputting and outputting image data, character data, and graphic information, control signals and numerical data can be input and output between the CPU 2106 included in the display device and the outside in some cases. .

The image generation circuit 2107 is provided with image data and character / graphic information input from the outside via the input / output interface circuit 2105,
This is a circuit for generating display image data based on the image data and character / graphic information output from 106. Within this circuit, for example, a rewritable memory for storing image data and character / graphic information, a read-only memory for storing image patterns corresponding to character codes, and a processor for performing image processing Circuits necessary for generating an image, such as those described above, are incorporated. The display image data generated by this circuit is
The data is output to an external computer network or a printer via the input / output interface circuit 2105 in some cases.

The CPU 2106 mainly performs operations related to operation control of the display device and generation, selection, and editing of a display image.

For example, a control signal is output to the multiplexer 2103, and image signals to be displayed on the display panel are appropriately selected or combined. In this case, a control signal is generated for the display panel controller 2102 in accordance with an image signal to be displayed, and a display frequency, a scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced), and the number of scanning lines per screen are displayed. The operation of the device is appropriately controlled.

Further, image data and character / graphic information are directly output to the image generation circuit 2107, or an external computer or memory is accessed via the input / output interface circuit 2105 to access the image data or character / graphic information. Enter graphic information.

The CPU 2106 may, of course, be involved in work for other purposes. For example, it may be directly related to a function of generating and processing information, such as a personal computer or a word processor.

Alternatively, the computer may be connected to an external computer network via the input / output interface circuit 2105 as described above, and operations such as numerical calculation may be performed in cooperation with an external device.

The input unit 2114 is connected to the CPU 21.
06 is for the user to input commands, programs, data, and the like. For example, in addition to a keyboard and a mouse, various input devices such as a joystick, a barcode reader, and a voice recognition device can be used.

Also, the decoder 2104 has the
And 2113 are circuits for inversely converting various image signals inputted from 2113 into three primary color signals or luminance signals and I and Q signals. It is preferable that the decoder 2104 has an internal image memory as shown by a dotted line in FIG. This is for handling television signals that require an image memory when performing inverse conversion, such as the MUSE method. Further, the provision of the image memory facilitates the display of a still image, or enables image processing and editing including image thinning, interpolation, enlargement, reduction, and synthesis in cooperation with the image generation circuit 2107 and the CPU 2106. This is because there is an advantage that it can be easily performed.

The multiplexer 2103 is connected to the C
A display image is appropriately selected based on a control signal input from the PU 2106. That is, the multiplexer 21
A driving circuit 2 selects a desired image signal from among the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 2104.
Output to 101. In that case, by switching and selecting an image signal within one screen display time, it is possible to divide one screen into a plurality of areas and display different images depending on the areas, as in a so-called multi-screen TV. .

The display panel controller 2
Reference numeral 102 denotes a circuit for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 2101 based on a control signal input from the CPU 2106.

First, as a signal related to the basic operation of the display panel, for example, a signal for controlling an operation sequence of a drive power source (not shown) for the display panel is output to the drive circuit 2101. In addition, a signal for controlling, for example, a screen display frequency and a scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced), which is related to the display panel driving method, is output to the driving circuit 2101.

In some cases, a control signal related to image quality adjustment such as brightness, contrast, color tone, and sharpness of a display image may be output to the drive circuit 2101.

The drive circuit 2101 is a circuit for generating a drive signal to be applied to the display panel 2100, and includes an image signal input from the multiplexer 2103 and the display panel controller 21.
02 operates based on a control signal input from the control unit 02.

The function of each section has been described above. With the configuration illustrated in FIG. 20, in this display device, image information input from various image information sources is displayed on the display panel 2.
100 can be displayed. That is, various image signals including television broadcasting are supplied to the decoder 2104.
, And are appropriately selected by the multiplexer 2103 and input to the drive circuit 2101. On the other hand, the display controller 2102 generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 2101 according to the image signal to be displayed. The driving circuit 2101 controls the display panel 2100 based on the image signal and the control signal.
Is applied with a drive signal. Accordingly, an image is displayed on display panel 2100. These series of operations are totally controlled by the CPU 2106.

In the present display device, the image memory built in the decoder 2104, the image generation circuit 21
07 and the CPU 2106 involve not only displaying a selected one of a plurality of pieces of image information but also enlarging, reducing, rotating, moving, edge emphasizing, thinning out, and interpolating the image information to be displayed. It is also possible to perform image processing such as color conversion, image aspect ratio conversion and the like, and image editing such as synthesis, erasure, connection, replacement, and fitting. Although not specifically mentioned in the description of the present embodiment, a dedicated circuit for processing and editing audio information may be provided as in the above-described image processing and image editing.

Accordingly, the present display device is a television broadcast display device, a video conference terminal device, an image editing device that handles still and moving images, a computer terminal device, an office terminal device such as a word processor, a game terminal device, and the like. It can be equipped with the functions of a single machine, etc., and has a very wide application range for industrial or consumer use.

FIG. 20 shows only an example of the configuration of a display device using a display panel using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source, and it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this. No. For example, among the components shown in FIG. 20, circuits relating to functions that are unnecessary for the intended use may be omitted. Conversely, additional components may be added depending on the purpose of use. For example, when the present display device is applied as a video phone, it is preferable to add a transmission / reception circuit including a television camera, an audio microphone, an illuminator, and a modem to the components.

In the present display device, particularly, a display panel using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source can be easily made thin, so that the depth of the entire display device can be reduced. In addition, the display panel using surface conduction electron-emitting devices as the electron beam source can easily enlarge the screen, and has high brightness and excellent viewing angle characteristics. It is possible to display well.

As described above, according to the image display device of the present embodiment, a single light emitting element forms light emitting points at a plurality of places, and furthermore, the light emitting points at the plurality of places do not have a difference in luminance. Can be adjusted. In the present embodiment, since the luminance correction means and the means for oscillating the electron beam have the same circuit configuration, there is no need to separately provide a circuit configuration for luminance correction as in the image display device described as a conventional example. .

According to the present embodiment, the driving voltage Vf
And the acceleration voltage Va are simultaneously switched, so that the range over which the electron beam is swung can be expanded as compared with the case where either one is switched.

[0155]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an image display device and an image display method in which a plurality of adjacent pixel positions are satisfactorily emitted with a simple structure by one emission element. This makes it possible to create a high-definition and small image display device.

[0156]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of one emission element unit according to one embodiment of the present invention, taken along a cross section A in FIG. 1, and is a diagram illustrating a trajectory of electrons emitted from an electron emission unit.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart when driving the image display device as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a display panel of the image display device as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating a phosphor array of a face plate of the display panel.

FIG. 6 is a plan view illustrating a phosphor array of a face plate of the display panel.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a planar type surface conduction electron-emitting device used in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device used in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a manufacturing process of the planar type surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a manufacturing process of the planar surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing a manufacturing process of the planar type surface conduction electron-emitting device.

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

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing a manufacturing process of the planar type surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an applied voltage waveform during energization forming processing.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an applied voltage waveform in the energization activation process.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a change in emission current Ie during a current activation process.

FIG. 17 is a graph showing typical characteristics of a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a plan view of a substrate of a multi-electron beam source used in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a partial cross-sectional view of a substrate of a multi-electron beam source used in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a multi-function image display device using the image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a surface conduction electron-emitting device as a conventional example.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional FE element.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional MIM element.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Synchronous separation circuit, 2: Signal processing unit, 3: Modulation signal generation unit, 4: Timing control circuit, 5: Scanning signal generator, 6: Vf switch, 7: Va switch, 10: Panel, 11: MOS-FET, 12: emission element section, s1: NTSC signal, s2: timing control signal, s3: pulse signal, s4: pulse width modulation signal, s5: video signal, s6: scanning signal, 100: central axis, 101: Face plate, 102, 103: electron orbit, 105: emission element, 106: electron emission portion, 107: electrode, 110, 111: phosphor,

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An electron beam generating section in which a plurality of electron emitting elements including a pair of electrodes sandwiching an electron emitting section are arranged in a matrix, and an electron beam generating section is disposed to face the electron beam generating section. A phosphor that emits light by irradiation of the generated electron beam,
An image display device in which a plurality of pixel positions adjacent to the phosphor are emitted by one of the plurality of electron-emitting devices, wherein a plurality of adjacent pixel signals in an image signal to be displayed are sequentially displayed. Each time a predetermined K (where K is an integer of 2 or more) pixel signals are input from the image input means to be input, and applied to the electron-emitting device in accordance with the pixel signals. A control unit that controls a trajectory of the electron beam and emission luminance at K pixel positions of the phosphor by simultaneously switching a driving voltage and an acceleration voltage for accelerating the electron beam. Characteristic image display device. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls an electron beam generated by one of the plurality of electron-emitting devices to generate an electron beam.
Control is performed so as to sequentially irradiate the desired K pixel positions of the phosphor, and when the K pixel signals are equal,
2. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein the light emission luminance at the K pixel positions is controlled to be substantially equal. 3. The image according to claim 2, wherein the control unit changes the increasing / decreasing direction of the driving voltage and the acceleration voltage in the opposite direction when switching between the driving voltage and the acceleration voltage. Display device. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the switching between the driving voltage and the acceleration voltage by the control unit is performed by a predetermined one of the image input unit.
2. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein the K times are performed within a horizontal scanning period. 5. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein said electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device. 6. An electron beam generating section in which a plurality of electron emitting elements including a pair of electrodes sandwiching an electron emitting section are arranged in a matrix, and an electron beam generating section is provided facing the electron beam generating section. An image display method in which a plurality of pixel positions adjacent to the phosphor is emitted by one of the plurality of electron-emitting devices using a phosphor which emits light by irradiation of the generated electron beam. A plurality of adjacent pixel signals in an image signal to be displayed are sequentially input, and each time a predetermined K (where K is an integer of 2 or more) pixel signals are input, a predetermined number of pixel signals are input in accordance with the pixel signals. By simultaneously switching the driving voltage applied to the electron-emitting device and the accelerating voltage for accelerating the electron beam, the trajectory of the electron beam and the emission luminance at the K pixel positions of the phosphor are controlled. Image display characterized by the following: Law. 7. Control is performed so that an electron beam generated by one of the plurality of electron-emitting devices is sequentially irradiated on desired K pixel positions of the phosphor, and 7. The image display method according to claim 6, wherein when the pixel signals are equal, control is performed so that light emission luminances at the K pixel positions are substantially equal. 8. The image display method according to claim 7, wherein, when switching between the driving voltage and the acceleration voltage, the increasing / decreasing direction of the driving voltage and the acceleration voltage is changed in the opposite direction. 9. The image display method according to claim 6, wherein the switching between the driving voltage and the acceleration voltage is performed K times within one predetermined horizontal scanning period.