KR20060001459A - Electron emission device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electron emitting device having an improved structure of a focusing electrode, the present invention comprising: cathode electrodes formed on a substrate; Electron emission parts formed in electrical contact with the cathode electrodes; Gate electrodes formed on the cathode electrodes with the insulating layer therebetween while opening the electron emission portions; And a first electron passing hole elongated along one direction, a second electron passing hole elongated along another direction perpendicular to the one direction, and a bridge portion connecting the first electron through hole and the second electron through hole. It is configured to include an electrode.

According to the present invention configured as described above, it is possible to provide an electron emitting device having improved device characteristics by controlling the movement path of electrons emitted from at least one or more electron emitting units formed long in one direction.

Electron-emitting device, electron-emitting unit, gate electrode, electron-emitting part, insulating layer, light emitting part

Description

Electron Emission Device {ELECTRON EMISSION DEVICE}

1 is a partially exploded perspective view showing an electron emission device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the assembled state of FIG.

3 is a plan view A part of the electron emission unit illustrated in FIG. 1.

4 is a partially exploded plan view of the electron emission unit illustrated in FIG. 1.

5A is a simulation diagram of an electron beam focusing speed according to the prior art, and FIG. 5B is a simulation diagram of the true speed of an electron beam according to the present invention.

The present invention relates to an electron emitting device, and more particularly, to an electron emitting device having an improved structure of a focusing electrode.

In general, an electron emission device includes a method using a hot cathode and a cold cathode as an electron emission source.

In the above, the electron-emitting device using the cold cathode is a field emitter array (FEA) type, a surface conduction emitter (SCE) type, a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) type, a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) type. And BSE (Ballistic electron Surface Emitting) type are known.

The above-described electron emitting devices have different structures according to their types, but basically, a structure for emitting electrons, that is, an electron emitting unit and a light emitting unit disposed opposite to the electron emitting unit are provided in a vacuum container. It emits light or displays.

Recently, electron emission devices have been developed that further have means for controlling the movement path of electrons traveling from the electron emission unit toward the light emitting portion. For example, a grid electrode, a focusing electrode, etc. are mentioned as a means for controlling the movement path of the said electron. The grid electrode or focusing electrode is disposed between the first substrate on which the electron emission unit is formed and the second substrate on which the emission portion is formed. In particular, the focusing electrode is formed on the electron emission unit with an insulating layer interposed therebetween, and electron passing holes having the same size and shape are formed in the connection electrode with respect to the first substrate.

Herein, when the emission area of the second substrate corresponding to the emission area of the first substrate is defined as a pixel, at least one emission area may correspond to at least one emission area of the second substrate. . In this case, at least one light emitting area is arranged long in one direction. At this time, electrons are concentrated at the periphery of the electron emission unit and travel toward the second substrate at an angle with respect to the first substrate. Therefore, there is a problem that electrons emitted from the electron emission unit do not pass through the electron passing hole or deviate from a designated path.

In addition, since the at least one electron emitting unit is formed to be long, there is a problem in that electron overlap occurs at both ends in the longitudinal direction, thereby degrading color reproducibility.

In addition, when forming the electron emitting portion of the electron emitting unit, since the paste of the electron emitting material and the conductive material is made and printed, the conductive material must be peeled off after the process. The size of the electron passing hole on the focusing electrode is small and there is a problem that the peeling of the conductive material is not easy.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electron emitting device having improved device characteristics by controlling the movement path of electrons emitted from at least one or more electron emitting units formed long in one direction.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electron emitting device capable of effectively increasing the electron emission rate emitted from the electron emission unit.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention, the cathode electrode formed on the substrate; Electron emission parts formed in electrical contact with the cathode electrodes; Gate electrodes formed on the cathode electrodes with the insulating layer therebetween while opening the electron emission portions; And a first electron passing hole elongated along one direction, a second electron passing hole elongated along another direction perpendicular to the one direction, and a bridge portion connecting the first electron through hole and the second electron through hole. It is configured to include an electrode.

The first electron passing hole may correspond to at least one or more electron emitting units, and the second electron passing hole may also correspond to at least one or more electron emitting units.

The length of the first electron through hole may be larger than the length of the second electron through hole.

The size of the electron emitting portion corresponding to the first electron passing hole may be smaller than the size of the electron emitting portion corresponding to the second electron passing hole.

The first and second electron passing holes may have a shape corresponding to the shape of the electron emitting part.

A pair of said 2nd electron passing holes may oppose silver with respect to the longitudinal direction of the said 1st electron passing hole.

The predetermined pattern may be continuous or separated.

The bridge portion may have a predetermined width, and the width of the bridge portion between the first electron hole and the first electron hole may be different from the width of the bridge portion between the first electron hole and the second electron hole. The electron emission unit may be made of a carbon-based material or a nanometer size material.

In addition, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cathode electrodes formed on the substrate; Electron emission parts formed in electrical contact with the cathode electrodes; Gate electrodes formed on the cathode electrodes with the insulating layer therebetween while opening the electron emission portions; And a first electron passing hole having one electron emission portion in upper and lower portions of the pixel region where the cathode electrodes and the gate electrodes intersect, and at least one electron emission portion disposed in a cathode direction at a central portion of the pixel region. And a focusing electrode having a second electron passing hole having a bridge portion and a bridge portion connecting the first and second electron passing holes.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a partially exploded perspective view of an electron emission device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and a portion of a corresponding insulating layer is cut to show a gate hole. 2 is a partial sectional view showing the assembled state of FIG. 3 and 4 are a partial plan view and a partial exploded plan view of the electron emission unit illustrated in FIG. 1, respectively.

Referring to the drawings, the electron emitting device is arranged by arranging the first substrate 2 and the second substrate 4 having an arbitrary size in parallel at a predetermined interval so as to form an internal space, and bonding them together as an electron emitting device. The vacuum container which is an external appearance of this is comprised.

The first substrate 2 of the substrates 2, 4 is provided with an electron emission unit 100 to emit electrons toward the second substrate 4, and the second substrate 4 is visible light by electrons. A light emitting unit 200 for emitting light is provided to perform predetermined light emission or display.

First, on the first substrate 2, a plurality of cathode electrodes 6 having a predetermined pattern, for example, a stripe shape, are arranged along one direction (Y-axis direction in the drawing) of the first substrate 2 at random intervals from each other. The insulating layer 8 is formed on the entire inner surface of the first substrate 2 while covering the cathode electrodes 6. On the insulating layer 8, a plurality of gate electrodes 10 are formed along a direction orthogonal to the cathode electrode 6 (X-axis direction in the drawing) at arbitrary intervals from each other.

In the present exemplary embodiment, when the intersection region of the cathode electrode 6 and the gate electrode 10 is defined as a pixel region, a gate hole 10a is formed in each pixel region in the gate electrode 10, and the lower portion of the gate electrode 10 is formed. A hole 8a corresponding to the gate hole 10a is formed in the insulating layer 8 to expose a portion of the cathode electrode 6. An electron emission part 12 is formed on a portion of the cathode electrode 6 exposed by the gate hole 10a. The electron emission part 12 is surrounded by the side of the gate electrode 10.

In the present embodiment, the electron emission unit 12 is formed of materials emitting electrons, for example, carbon-based materials or nanometer-sized materials when an electric field is applied. Preferred carbon-based materials for use as electron emitters include carbon nanotubes, graphite, diamond, diamond-like carbon, C ₆₀ , and combinations thereof. Furnaces include nanotubes, nanowires, nanofibers and combinations thereof. In detail, the process of forming the electron-emitting part 12 is performed by mixing the electron-emitting material with a printable material or a photosensitive material to form a paste, followed by baking after a printing process or a photo process. At this time, the additive is removed from the printed image so that the electron-emitting material contained in the electron-emitting part 12 is exposed to the surface of the electron-emitting part 12.

On the other hand, the upper insulating layer 18 is formed on the gate electrode 10 over the entire surface. The upper insulating layer 18 prevents electrical connection between the focusing electrode 16 supported on the upper insulating layer 18 and the gate electrode 10.

The focusing electrode 16 has a first electron passing hole 16a elongated along one direction (cathode electrode direction in FIG. 1) and a long elongation along the other direction perpendicular to the one direction (gate electrode direction in FIG. 1). The second electron passing hole 16b is drilled. Holes 18a corresponding to the first electron passing holes 16a and the second electron passing holes 16b are also formed in the upper insulating layer 18.

Accordingly, the hole 18a corresponding to the first electron through hole 16a and the second electron through hole 16b of the gate hole 10a and the hole 8a of the lower insulating layer 8 may correspond to the hole 18a. An opening is communicated to expose the electron emitting portion 12.

According to this configuration, when the other additives are peeled off in order to expose the electron-emitting material from the electron-emitting part 12 during the formation of the electron-emitting part 12, the size of the electron passing hole is larger than in the prior art. It can be easily peeled off. In particular, since the electron passing hole becomes larger when the electron emitting part 12 has at least one electron emission part, the electron emitting part can be more easily activated.

The structure of the focusing electrode 16 will be described in more detail. In FIGS. 2 and 4, the hole 10a of the gate electrode 10 is formed more than the electron passing holes 16a and 16b of the focusing electrode 16. When the holes 8a and 18a formed to be smaller and formed in the upper and lower insulating layers 8 18 consider the thicknesses of the upper and lower insulating layers 8 and 18, the electron passing holes 16a and 16b) and the hole 10a of the gate electrode 10 is somewhat larger. In Fig. 4, holes 8a and 18a of the upper and lower insulating layers 8 and 18 are indicated by dashed dashed lines.

In addition, as can be seen in FIG. 3, one electron emitting part is exposed to the outside through the second electron passing hole 16b, and three electron emitting parts are exposed to the outside through the first electron passing hole 16a. To be exposed. In addition, the electron emitting portion 12 exposed through the second electron passing hole 16b is larger than the at least one electron emitting portion 12 exposed through the first electron passing hole 16a. have. Therefore, the length of the first electron passing hole 16a may be smaller than the length of the second electron passing hole 16b. Although the first and second electron passing holes 16a and 16b are formed in this manner, the length and the first and second electron passing holes 16a, as long as they are formed in a direction perpendicular to each other without being limited to this configuration. The number of electron emission units 12 exposed through 16b) may be modified in various forms.

Although the first and second electron passing holes 16a and 16b are formed in a rectangular shape here, the shape is not limited thereto and may be deformed into various forms as long as they are formed in a direction perpendicular to each other. In addition, when the shape of the first and second electron passing holes 16a and 16b is changed in consideration of the good emission of electrons from the corners of the electron emission units (shown as dots), the first and second electron passing holes 16a and 16b correspond to the shapes of the electron emission units. It may be changed.

Now, referring to the pattern formed by the first electron through hole 16a and the second electron through hole 16b, the first electron through hole 16a is centered in the longitudinal direction thereof (Y in FIG. 3). A pair of said 2nd electron passing holes 16b is arrange | positioned facing the direction perpendicular to the direction (X direction of FIG. 3). The pattern may be continuous in the X direction or the Y direction, and the pattern may be formed only at a certain portion, and another pattern may be formed. have.

In the pattern, a width between the first electron through hole 16a and the first electron through hole 16a and a width between the first electron through hole 16a and the second electron through hole 16b. And a width between the second electron passing hole 16b and the second electron passing hole 16b is called a bridge portion. The bridge part serves to maintain the shape of the focusing electrode 16 by connecting between the first and second electron passing holes. The bridge portions may vary in width, and form a cross (+) between the first and second electron holes adjacent to each other.

Next, a fluorescent layer, for example, red, green, and blue fluorescent layers 22 are formed on one surface of the second substrate 4 facing the first substrate 2 at random intervals, and the fluorescent layer 22 In order to improve contrast of the screen, a black layer 24 may be formed therebetween. An anode electrode 26 made of a metal film (typically an aluminum film) is formed on the fluorescent layer 22 and the black layer 24. The anode electrode 26 receives a voltage required for accelerating the electron beam from the outside and increases the brightness of the screen by a metal back effect.

The anode electrode 26 may be made of a transparent conductive film, for example, indium tin oxide (ITO), not a metal film. In this case, an anode electrode (not shown) made of a transparent conductive film is first formed on the second substrate 4, and the fluorescent layer 22 and the black layer 24 are formed thereon. The brightness of the screen may be increased by forming a metal film on the layers 22 and the black layer 24. The anode electrode 26 may be formed on the entire surface of the second substrate 4 or may be formed in a predetermined pattern.

The first substrate 2 and the second substrate 4 configured as described above are frits applied around the substrate at arbitrary intervals while the electron emission unit 100 and the light emitting portion 200 face each other. The electron-emitting device is constituted by bonding a sealing material such as a sealing material, and evacuating the internal space formed therebetween to maintain the vacuum.

Here, the driving process of the electron emission device according to the present invention will be briefly described. When a predetermined voltage is supplied to the cathode electrode 6, the gate electrode 10, and the anode electrode 20 from the outside, the cathode electrode 6 ) And an electric field is formed around the electron emission portion 12 by the voltage difference between the gate electrode 10 and the gate electrode 10. At this time, electrons are emitted from the electron emission unit 12 by the electric field, and the emitted electrons are attracted to the high voltage applied to the anode electrode 26 to collide with the fluorescent layer 22 of the corresponding pixel to emit light. Indication is made.

Hereinafter, an electron beam focusing effect of the electron emission device according to the present invention driven as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B.

FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating a beam spreading state when the electron passing holes have a pattern having the same size and shape, and FIG. 5B shows a length of the first electron passing holes extending in one direction and a second electron passing hole perpendicular to the direction. It is a figure which simulated the beam spread state in the case of forming long in a direction.

As can be seen in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the electron emission device has an effect of increasing the screen quality by maintaining the straightness of electrons emitted from the electron emission unit 12 of a specific pixel without spreading toward the fluorescent layer of an adjacent pixel. It can be seen. In FIG. 3, the electron beam scattered upward and downward from the electron emission unit 12 disposed at both ends of the first electron passing hole 16a at the center of the focusing electrode 10 with respect to one pixel is the first electron passing hole. This is because spreading is prevented by the bridge portion of the second electron passing hole 16b formed in the transverse direction X perpendicular to the longitudinal direction Y of the 16a. In addition, the electron beam scattered left and right from the electron emitting portion 12 exposed from the first electron passing hole 16a is also spread by the long bridge portion in the longitudinal direction between the first electron passing holes 16a. Because it is disturbed.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the claims and the detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings. Naturally, it belongs to

According to the present invention configured as described above, it is possible to control the path of the electron beam emitted from the at least one electron emitting portion formed long in one direction to the predetermined emitting portion, thereby increasing the discharge efficiency.                     

In addition, the electron beam spreading of the upper and lower left and right of the electron transmitting hole formed in the focusing electrode is prevented to have an effect of improving color reproducibility.

In addition, when the electron emission unit 100 is formed, an electron emission material that emits electrons when an electric field is applied is exposed to increase an electron emission rate.

Claims (10)

Cathode electrodes formed on the substrate; Electron emission parts formed in electrical contact with the cathode electrodes; Gate electrodes formed on the cathode electrodes with the insulating layer therebetween while opening the electron emission portions; And, A focusing electrode having a first electron passing hole elongated in one direction, a second electron passing hole elongated in another direction perpendicular to the one direction, and a bridge portion connecting the first electron through hole and the second electron through hole; Electron emitting device comprising a. The method of claim 1, And the first electron passing hole corresponds to at least one or more electron emitting portions, and the second electron passing hole also corresponds to at least one or more electron emitting portions. The method of claim 2, The electron emission element of which the length of the said 1st electron passing hole is longer than the length of the said 2nd electron passing hole. The method of claim 2, And an electron emitting part corresponding to the first electron passing hole is smaller than a size of an electron emitting part corresponding to the second electron passing hole. The method of claim 2, And the first and second electron passing holes have a shape corresponding to the arrangement shape of the electron emitting portion. The method of claim 1, And the pair of second electron passing holes are disposed opposite to each other in the longitudinal direction of the first electron passing holes. The method of claim 1, An electron emission device in which the predetermined pattern is continuous. The method of claim 1, The bridge portion has a predetermined width, and the width of the bridge portion between the first electron hole and the first electron hole is different from the width of the bridge portion between the first electron hole and the second electron hole. The method of claim 1, The electron emission unit is an electron emission device made of a carbon-based material or a nano-size material. Cathode electrodes formed on the substrate; Electron emission parts formed in electrical contact with the cathode electrodes; Gate electrodes formed on the cathode electrodes with the insulating layer therebetween while opening the electron emission portions; And, A first electron passing hole having one electron emission portion in upper and lower portions of the pixel region where the cathode electrodes and the gate electrodes intersect, and at least one electron emission portion disposed in a cathode direction at a central portion of the pixel region; And a focusing electrode having two electron passing holes and a bridge portion connecting the first and second electron passing holes.

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