JP3220921B2 - Electron emitting element, electron source, image forming apparatus, and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a surface conduction electron-emitting device, an electron source using a plurality of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, an image forming apparatus such as a display device and an exposure device using the same, and furthermore, And a method for producing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which an electron is emitted by passing a current through a conductive thin film formed on an insulating substrate in parallel with the film surface.

As a typical configuration example of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, a conductive thin film such as a metal oxide which connects a pair of device electrodes provided on an insulating substrate is referred to as forming in advance. One in which an electron-emitting portion is formed by an energization process is exemplified. Forming is usually performed by applying a voltage to both ends of the conductive thin film and conducting electricity.The conductive thin film is locally destroyed, deformed or altered to change its structure, and the electron-emitting portion is in an electrically high-resistance state. Is a process of forming The electron emission is performed from the vicinity of a crack generated in the electron emission portion by applying a voltage to the conductive thin film on which the electron emission portion is formed and causing a current to flow.

The above surface conduction electron-emitting devices have the advantage that a large number of arrays can be formed over a large area because they have a simple structure and are easy to manufacture. Therefore, various applications for utilizing this feature are being studied. For example, it can be used for an image forming apparatus such as a display device.

Conventionally, as an example of arranging a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, a surface conduction electron-emitting device is arranged in parallel, and both ends (both device electrodes) of each surface conduction electron-emitting device are wired. (Also referred to as common wiring). An electron source in which rows each connected by a common line (also referred to as a common wiring) are arranged in a large number of rows (also referred to as a trapezoidal arrangement) (JP-A-1-31332, 1-22837).
No. 49, 1-257552). In particular, in the case of a display device, a flat panel display device similar to a display device using liquid crystal can be used, and a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are used as self-luminous display devices that do not require a backlight. There has been proposed a display device in which an arranged electron source is combined with a phosphor that emits visible light when irradiated with an electron beam from the electron source (US Pat. No. 5,066,606).
883).

In a display device using the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device, in order to obtain a high-quality, high-definition image on a large screen, the number of rows and columns of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is several hundred to several, respectively. Thousands, and it is necessary to arrange a very large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices. Therefore, it is desired that the electrical characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device be uniform and easy to control. For example, when driving an electron source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged, a common voltage is applied to a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices and the voltage is changed,
Brightness modulation is performed by changing the pulse width of the voltage while the applied voltage is constant.For each surface conduction electron-emitting device, a uniform change in the emission current due to a change in the applied voltage or a change in the pulse width is observed. It is desired that each surface conduction electron-emitting device be easily obtained.

[0007]

In the surface conduction type electron-emitting device, the state of the conductive thin film determines the forming process for forming the electron-emitting portion, and finally determines the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction type electron-emitting device. I do. As a method for forming the conductive thin film, an organic metal solution is applied to form an organic metal thin film, and the thin film is heated and baked to 300 ° C. or higher because of the simplicity of the process and the ease of manufacturing a large area. A means for forming an oxide thin film is generally used. As the organic metal, those that melt in the step of forming a metal oxide by thermal decomposition are preferable in terms of uniformity, and those having such properties, for example, an organic metal complex having an amino group as a ligand However, an organic metal having such a group also has sublimability at the same time. Therefore, sublimation occurs in the coating / firing step, and only a very thin film is obtained in a single coating / firing step, and this step is repeated a plurality of times to obtain a desired thickness. As a result, since the substrate is subjected to the firing step a plurality of times, the substrate may be damaged by thermal strain in the step of cooling the substrate to room temperature.
Had the problem that

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems, prevent breakage of a substrate in a conductive thin film forming step, and provide a good surface conduction electron-emitting device and an image display using the surface conduction electron-emitting device. It is to provide a device.

[0009]

The invention according to claims 1 to 3 is a method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device, wherein the step of forming a conductive thin film comprises applying an organometallic solution onto a substrate. After forming an organic metal thin film by performing a plurality of times of heat treatment at a temperature lower than the thermal decomposition temperature or higher than the melting temperature of the organic metal,
A step of heat-treating the organic metal thin film at a temperature equal to or higher than the thermal decomposition temperature of the organic metal.

[0010] The inventions of claims 4 to 6 are characterized in that they are manufactured by the above manufacturing method, and the inventions of claims 7 and 8 are characterized in that a plurality of such surface conduction electron-emitting devices are used. An electron source, further comprising:
According to a first aspect, there is provided an image forming apparatus using the electron source.

[0012] Claims 12 to 14 relate to a method of manufacturing the electron source, and claims 15 and 16 relate to a method of manufacturing the image forming apparatus.

The structure and operation of each invention will be further described below.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device includes a flat type and a vertical type, and any surface conduction electron-emitting device can be used in the present invention. First, a basic configuration of the flat surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing a basic structure of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a substrate, 2 is an electron-emitting portion,
3 is a conductive thin film, and 4 and 5 are device electrodes.

As the substrate 1, for example, quartz glass, Na
And glass having reduced impurity content such as glass, blue plate glass, a laminate obtained by laminating SiO ₂ on a blue plate glass by a sputtering method or the like, and ceramics such as alumina.

The materials of the opposing device electrodes 4 and 5 include:
Common conductor materials are used, such as Ni, Cr, Au,
Metals or alloys such as Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd, and Pd, Ag, Au, RuO ₂ , Pd-Ag
Printed conductors composed of metals or metal oxides and glass and the like, transparent conductors such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂ , and semiconductor conductor materials such as polysilicon are appropriately selected.

The element electrode interval L, the element electrode length W, the shape of the conductive thin film 3 and the like are designed according to the applied form and the like.

The distance L between the device electrodes is preferably several hundred μm to several hundred μm, and more preferably several μm to several hundred μm depending on the voltage applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the electric field strength capable of emitting electrons. 10 μm.

The element electrode length W is preferably several μm to several hundred μm in consideration of the resistance value and electron emission characteristics of the electrode, and the element electrode thickness d is several hundred μm to several μm.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 1 has a structure in which device electrodes 4 and 5 and a conductive thin film 3 are laminated on a substrate 1 in this order. The conductive thin film 3 and the device electrodes 4 and 5 may be stacked in this order.

In order to obtain good electron emission characteristics, the conductive thin film 3 is particularly preferably a fine particle film composed of fine particles. It is appropriately selected according to the resistance value between the electrodes 4 and 5 and the forming conditions described later. The thickness of the conductive thin film 3 is preferably several Å to several thousand Å, particularly preferably 10 to 500 、, and its resistance value is 10 to 500 Å.
The sheet resistance is ³ to 10 ⁷ Ω / □.

Examples of the material constituting the conductive thin film 3 include Pd, Ru, Ag, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, and F.
e, metal such as Zn, Sn, Ta, W, Pb, PdO, S
oxides such as nO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO, Sb ₂ O ₃ ,
HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ , LaB ₆ , CeB ₆ , YB ₄ , G
borides such as dB ₄ , TiC, ZrC, HfC, TaC,
Examples include carbides such as SiC and WC, nitrides such as TiN, ZrN, and HfN; semiconductors such as Si and Ge; and carbon. Among them, PdO is preferably used.

The fine particle film is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are gathered, and has a fine structure not only in a state in which the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also in a state in which the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (island shape). ). In the case of a fine particle film, the particle size of the fine particles is preferably several to several thousand, and particularly preferably 10 to 200.

The electron emitting portion 2 contains a crack, and the electron emission is performed from the vicinity of the crack. The electron-emitting portion 2 including the crack and the crack itself are formed depending on the thickness, the film quality, the material of the conductive thin film 3 and the manufacturing method such as forming conditions described later. Therefore, the position and shape of the electron-emitting portion 2 are not limited to the position and shape as shown in FIG.

The crack may have conductive fine particles having a particle size of several to several hundreds of mm. The conductive fine particles are similar to some or all of the elements of the material constituting the conductive thin film 3. Further, the electron emitting portion 2 including the crack and the conductive thin film 3 in the vicinity thereof may include carbon and a carbon compound.

Next, the basic structure of the vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a basic structure of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes a step forming member.
Other reference numerals the same as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same members.

The substrate 1, the electron-emitting portion 2, the conductive thin film 3, and the device electrodes 4 and 5 are made of the same material as the above-mentioned flat surface-conduction type electron-emitting device.

The step forming member 21 is formed by, for example, a vacuum evaporation method.
It is made of an insulating material such as SiO ₂ provided by a printing method, a sputtering method or the like. The thickness of the step forming member 21 corresponds to the element electrode interval L (see FIG. 1) of the flat surface conduction electron-emitting device described above. Although it is set by the voltage applied between the five and the electric field intensity capable of emitting electrons, it is preferably several hundreds to several tens μm, and particularly preferably several hundreds to several μm.

Since the conductive thin film 3 is usually formed after the formation of the device electrodes 4 and 5, the conductive thin film 3 is laminated on the device electrodes 4 and 5. It is also possible to form such that the device electrodes 4 and 5 are laminated on the conductive thin film 3. Further, as described in the description of the planar surface conduction electron-emitting device, the formation of the electron-emitting portion 2 depends on the manufacturing method such as the film thickness, film quality, material, and forming conditions of the conductive thin film 3 described later. , The position and shape are not limited to the position and shape as shown in FIG.

The following description will be made of the above-mentioned planar surface conduction electron-emitting device and the vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device.
Although the plane type is described as an example, a vertical type surface conduction type electron-emitting device may be used instead of the plane type surface conduction type electron-emitting device.

Various methods are conceivable for producing the surface conduction electron-emitting device. One example will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same members.

1) After sufficiently cleaning the substrate 1 with a detergent, pure water, and an organic solvent, depositing an element electrode material by a vacuum evaporation method, a sputtering method, or the like, and then depositing the element on the surface of the substrate 1 by a photolithography technique. Electrodes 4 and 5 are formed (FIG. 3A).

2) An organic metal solution is applied onto the substrate 1 on which the device electrodes 4 and 5 are provided, and the solution is allowed to stand.
And an element electrode 5 are connected to form an organic metal thin film. In the present invention, an organic metal thin film is formed by setting the heating temperature of the organic metal solution coating / heating step performed a plurality of times to a temperature equal to or higher than the melting temperature of the organic metal and equal to or lower than the thermal decomposition temperature. Is heated to a temperature equal to or higher than the thermal decomposition temperature of the organic metal to form a metal or metal oxide thin film.

In the present invention, the organic metal solution is, for example, a palladium salt alkylamine complex Pd ²⁺ [CH ₃ CO 2
O ⁻ ] ₂ [(C ₃ H ₇ ) ₂ NCH ₃ ] ₂ , palladium acetate is converted to an appropriate concentration (in terms of% by weight of metal) by using an acetate organic solvent such as methyl acetate, ethyl acetate or butyl acetate. 1
(approximately wt%), and those obtained by adjusting the concentration of palladium propionate to an appropriate concentration using an organic solvent such as methyl propionate, ethyl propionate, and butyl propionate.

As described above, a metal oxide film obtained by coating and firing an organic metal having sublimability is repeatedly coated and fired a plurality of times, and the metal oxide film is finally formed by stacking multiple layers of metal oxide. Was obtained. However, the present inventors have found that it is not necessary to form a complete metal oxide film each time to obtain a desired film thickness, and have achieved the present invention.

This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a thermal analysis of an organic palladium complex which is preferable as the organic metal material used in the present invention. When such an organic metal is heated, an endothermic peak as shown by a in the figure is observed. This is a peak that occurs upon melting of the organometallic. When heated further, b and c in the figure
An exothermic peak as indicated by is observed. These are peaks related to the decomposition of organometallics. Conventionally, e
, That is, at a temperature at which the melting and thermal decomposition of the organic metal are completely completed and a complete metal oxide thin film is obtained, all the heating steps have been performed.

However, the heating step after coating for adjusting the film thickness may be at least the melting temperature indicated by d in the figure, and is maintained until the organic metal is completely melted and uniformly spread on the substrate. When the substrate is cooled to room temperature, a uniform organometallic thin film is obtained. The organic metal thin film formed here has only a slight solubility in an organic metal solvent (for example, butyl acetate), and an organic metal solution using the same solvent is superposed on this organic metal film. It is possible to apply and adjust the thickness in the state of an organometallic film. Therefore, in the present invention, the heating temperature in each application / heating step is set to a temperature equal to or higher than the melting temperature of the organic metal and equal to or lower than the thermal decomposition temperature.

By heating the organometallic film formed as described above at a temperature at which a metal oxide is formed from the organometallic (temperature indicated by e in the figure), a desired metal oxide thin film is obtained. Is obtained.

3) Subsequently, an energization process called forming is performed. When electricity is supplied from a power supply (not shown) between the device electrodes 4 and 5, an electron-emitting portion 2 having a changed structure is formed at the portion of the conductive thin film 3 (FIG. 3C). The conductive thin film 3 is locally destroyed, deformed or deteriorated by this energization treatment, and the portion where the structure is changed is the electron emitting portion 3.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the voltage waveform of the forming.

The voltage waveform is particularly preferably a pulse waveform.
There are a case where a voltage pulse with a constant pulse peak value is continuously applied (FIG. 4A) and a case where a voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value (FIG. 4B).

First, the case where the pulse peak value is a constant voltage will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 4A, T ₁ and T ₂ are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, for example, T ₁ is 1 μm.
sec~10msec, the T ₂ 10μsec~100m
The peak value (peak voltage at the time of forming) is appropriately selected according to the form of the above-described surface conduction electron-emitting device, and is applied for several seconds to several tens of minutes in a vacuum atmosphere having an appropriate degree of vacuum. Note that the voltage waveform to be applied is not limited to the illustrated triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave can be used.

Next, the case of applying a voltage pulse while increasing the pulse peak value will be described with reference to FIG.

T ₁ and T ₂ in FIG.
As in (a), the peak value (peak voltage at the time of forming) is increased by, for example, about 0.1 V steps,
The voltage is applied in an appropriate vacuum atmosphere similar to that described with reference to FIG.

It is to be noted that the conductive thin film 3 is provided during the pulse interval T _2.
(See FIGS. 1 and 2) The element current is measured at a voltage that does not cause local destruction, deformation, or deterioration of the element, for example, a voltage of about 0.1 V, and the resistance value is obtained. Finish forming.

4) Next, it is preferable to perform an activation step on the device after the forming step.

The activation step includes, for example, 10 ⁻⁴ to 10
^A process of repeating the application of a pulse with a pulse crest value of a constant voltage at a degree of vacuum of about ^-5 torr, as described in the forming step. This means that carbon and carbon compounds are removed from organic substances existing in a vacuum atmosphere. Is deposited on the electron-emitting portion 2 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) to significantly improve the state of the device current and the emission current. This activation step is preferably performed while measuring, for example, the device current and the emission current, and is completed when, for example, the emission current is saturated, since it is effective and is preferable. The pulse peak value in the activation step is preferably the peak value of the drive voltage.

The above-mentioned carbon and carbon compound are graphite (indicating both single crystal and polycrystal) and amorphous carbon (indicating amorphous carbon and a mixture thereof with polycrystalline graphite). Further, the deposited film thickness is preferably 500 ° or less, more preferably 300 ° or less.

5) More preferably, the surface conduction electron-emitting device thus manufactured is operated and driven in a vacuum atmosphere having a degree of vacuum higher than that in the forming step and the activation step. Further, more preferably, after the heating at 80 ° C. to 150 ° C. in the vacuum atmosphere with the higher degree of vacuum, the operation driving is performed.

The vacuum atmosphere having a degree of vacuum higher than the degree of vacuum in which the forming step and the activation treatment are performed is, for example, about 10 ^−6.
It is a degree of vacuum having the above degree of vacuum, more preferably,
It is an ultra-high vacuum system, which is a degree of vacuum at which carbon and carbon compounds are not newly deposited.

By the step 5), further deposition of carbon and carbon compounds is suppressed, and the device current and the emission current are stabilized.

The basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device thus obtained will be described below.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a measurement evaluation system for measuring the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. First, this measurement evaluation system will be described.

In FIG. 5, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 denote the same members. Reference numeral 51 denotes a power supply for applying a device voltage _Vf to the device, 50 denotes an ammeter for measuring a device current _If flowing through the conductive thin film 3 between the device electrodes 4 and 5 ', and 54 denotes an electron emitting portion. An anode electrode for capturing an emission current _Ie emitted from the anode, 53 a high-voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 54, 52 an ammeter for measuring the emission current _Ie , 55 a vacuum device, 56 is an exhaust pump.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device and the anode electrode 54 are installed in a vacuum device 55.
Is equipped with necessary equipment such as a vacuum system (not shown),
Measurement and evaluation of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be performed under a desired vacuum.

The exhaust pump 56 is composed of a normal high vacuum system such as a turbo pump and a rotary pump, and an ultrahigh vacuum system such as an ion pump.
The entire vacuum device 55 and the substrate 1 of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be heated to about 200 ° C. by a heater. In this measurement and evaluation system, the display panel and the inside thereof are connected to a vacuum device 55 at the stage of assembling a display panel (see 201 in FIG. 8) described later.
And, by being configured as the inside thereof, the present invention can be applied to the above-described forming step, activation step, and side evaluation and processing in the later steps described later.

The basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device described below are as follows: the voltage of the anode electrode 54 in the above-mentioned measurement and evaluation system is 1 kV to 10 kV, and the distance H between the anode electrode 54 and the surface conduction electron-emitting device is 2 to 8 mm. This is based on the measurement performed as follows.

First, the emission current I _e and the device current _If ,
FIG. 6 shows a typical example of the relationship with the element voltage _Vf . still,
In FIG. 6, since the emission current _Ie is significantly smaller than the device current _If , it is shown in arbitrary units.

As is apparent from FIG. 6, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has the following three characteristic characteristics with respect to the emission current _Ie .

First, when a device voltage _Vf higher than a certain voltage (called a threshold voltage: _{Vth in} FIG. 6) is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the emission current _Ie rapidly increases. ,
On the other hand, the emission current _Ie is hardly detected below the threshold voltage _Vth . That is, it is a non-linear element having a clear threshold voltage V _th with respect to the emission current I _e .

Second, since the emission current _Ie has a characteristic (referred to as MI characteristic) that monotonically increases with respect to the device voltage _Vf , the emission current _Ie can be controlled by the device voltage _Vf .

Thirdly, the amount of charge emitted by the anode electrode 54 (see FIG. 5) depends on the time during which the device voltage _Vf is applied. That is, the amount of charge captured by the anode electrode 54 can be controlled by the time during which the device voltage _Vf is applied.

When the emission current _Ie is _smaller than the device voltage _Vf by MI
At the same time having a characteristic, it may have a MI characteristic with respect to the device current I _f also the device voltage V _f. An example of the characteristics of such a surface conduction electron-emitting device is a characteristic indicated by a solid line in FIG. On the other hand, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 6, the device current _If is different from the device voltage _Vf by the voltage-controlled negative resistance characteristic (VCN).
R characteristic). Which characteristic is exhibited depends on the manufacturing method of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, measurement conditions at the time of measurement, and the like. However, the element current _If is equal to the element voltage _Vf.
However, even in a surface conduction electron-emitting device having VCNR characteristics, the emission current _Ie has MI characteristics with respect to the device voltage _Vf .

Next, the arrangement of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the electron source of the present invention will be described.

The arrangement of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the electron source according to the present invention is not limited to the ladder arrangement as described in the section of the prior art, or to the arrangement of n Y-directions on m X-directional wirings. There is an arrangement method in which directional wiring is provided via an interlayer insulating layer, and an X-directional wiring and a Y-directional wiring are connected to a pair of device electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, respectively. This is hereinafter referred to as a simple matrix arrangement. First, the simple matrix arrangement will be described in detail.

According to the above-described basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the emitted electrons in the surface conduction electron-emitting device arranged in a simple matrix are arranged between the opposing device electrodes at a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage. It can be controlled by the peak value and pulse width of the pulsed voltage to be applied. On the other hand, below the threshold voltage, almost no electrons are emitted. Therefore, even when a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged, if the pulse-like voltage is appropriately applied to each of the devices, the surface conduction electron-emitting device is selected according to the input signal, and the electron emission amount is determined. , And individual surface conduction electron-emitting devices can be selected and driven independently with only a simple matrix wiring.

The simple matrix arrangement is based on such a principle, and the structure of the electron source having the simple matrix arrangement, which is an example of the electron source of the present invention, will be further described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 7, the substrate 1 is a glass plate or the like as described above, and the number and shape of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 arranged on the substrate 1 are appropriately set according to the application. is there.

The m X-directional wirings 102 have external terminals D _x1 , D _x2 ,..., D _xm , respectively.
The conductive metal is formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. In addition, many surface conduction electron-emitting devices 10
4 so that the voltage is supplied almost uniformly.
The wiring width is set.

The n number of Y direction wirings 103 have external terminals D _y1 , D _y2 ,..., D _yn , respectively.
02 is created in the same way as the above.

The m X-directional wires 102 and the n Y wires
An interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is provided between the direction wirings 103, and is electrically separated to form a matrix wiring. Note that both m and n are positive integers.

The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is SiO ₂ or the like formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like, and has a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the substrate 1 on which the X-directional wiring 102 is formed. In particular, the film thickness, material, and manufacturing method are appropriately set so as to withstand the potential difference at the intersection of the X-direction wiring 102 and the Y-direction wiring 103.

Further, the device electrodes (not shown) opposed to the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 are provided with m X-direction wirings 102.
, N Y-directional wirings 103, a vacuum deposition method, a printing method,
Connection 1 made of conductive metal or the like formed by sputtering or the like
05 are electrically connected.

Here, the m X-directional wires 102, the n Y-directional wires 103, the connection 105, and the opposing element electrodes may have some or all of the same constituent elements. Further, they may be different from each other, and are appropriately selected from the above-described materials of the device electrodes and the like. The wires to these device electrodes may be collectively referred to as device electrodes when the material is the same as the device electrodes. Further, the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104
May be formed on the substrate 1 or on an interlayer insulating layer (not shown).

As will be described in detail later, a scanning signal is applied to the X-direction wiring 102 in order to scan a row of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 arranged in the X-direction in accordance with an input signal. A scanning signal applying unit (not shown) is electrically connected.

On the other hand, a modulation signal (not shown) for applying a modulation signal is applied to the Y-direction wiring 103 in order to modulate each of the rows of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 arranged in the Y direction according to an input signal. The signal generating means is electrically connected. Further, the driving voltage applied to each surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 is supplied as a difference voltage between a scanning signal and a modulation signal applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104.

Next, an example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention using the electron source of the present invention having the above-described simple matrix arrangement will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of the display panel 201, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the fluorescent film 114, and FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the display panel 201 of FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a driving circuit for performing television display in accordance with a TSC television signal.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 1 denotes an electron source substrate on which the surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged as described above, 111 denotes a rear plate to which the substrate 1 is fixed, and 116 denotes a glass substrate.
13 is a face plate in which a fluorescent film 114 and a metal back 115 are formed on the inner surface. Reference numeral 112 denotes a support frame, and frit glass or the like is applied to the rear plate 111, the support frame 112, and the face plate 116, and is applied in the air or in nitrogen. Then, the envelope 118 is formed by baking at 400 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more for sealing.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 2 corresponds to the electron-emitting portion in FIG. Reference numerals 102 and 103 denote X-direction wiring and Y-direction wiring connected to a pair of device electrodes 4 and 5 of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104, respectively, and external terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm and D _{y1, respectively.}
~ _Dyn .

The envelope 118 includes the face-plate 116, the support frame 112, and the rear plate 111 as described above. However, the rear plate 111 is provided mainly for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the substrate 1. If the substrate 1 itself has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 111 is unnecessary, and the support frame is directly attached to the substrate 1. Seal 112,
The envelope 118 may be constituted by the face plate 116, the support frame 112, and the substrate 1. Further, by further providing a support (not shown) called a spacer between the face plate 116 and the rear plate 111, the envelope 118 having sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure can be obtained.

The fluorescent film 114 is composed of only the phosphor 122 in the case of monochrome, but in the case of the color fluorescent film 114, depending on the arrangement of the phosphor 122, a black stripe (FIG. 9A) or a black matrix (FIG. 9
(B)) a black conductive material 121 and a phosphor 122 called
It is composed of The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the mixed portions between the phosphors 122 of the three primary colors necessary for color display black so that mixed colors and the like are not noticeable, and to reflect external light on the fluorescent film 114. Is to suppress a decrease in contrast due to As a material of the black conductive material 121, not only a material mainly containing graphite, which is often used, but also a material having conductivity and low light transmission and reflection may be used. it can.

As a method of applying the phosphor 122 to the glass substrate 113, a precipitation method or a printing method is used regardless of monochrome or color.

[0086] Further, as shown in FIG.
A metal back 115 is usually provided on the inner surface side of 4.
The purpose of the metal back 115 is to improve the brightness by mirror-reflecting light toward the inner surface side of the light emitted from the phosphor 122 (see FIG. 9) toward the glass substrate 113, and to apply an electron beam acceleration voltage. Acting as an electrode,
For example, protection of the phosphor 122 from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the envelope 118 is performed. Metal back 1
No. 15 can be manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film 114 after manufacturing the fluorescent film 114, and then depositing Al by vacuum evaporation or the like.

The face plate 116 may be provided with a transparent electrode (not shown) on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 114 in order to further increase the conductivity of the fluorescent film 114.

When the above-mentioned sealing is performed, in the case of color, the phosphors 122 of each color must correspond to the surface-conduction electron-emitting devices 104, so that it is necessary to perform sufficient alignment.

The inside of the envelope 118 is evacuated to a degree of vacuum of about 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ torr through an exhaust pipe (not shown) and sealed. Also, a getter process may be performed immediately before or after sealing the envelope 118. This is a process of heating a getter (not shown) arranged at a predetermined position in the envelope 118 to form a deposited film. The getter is usually composed mainly of Ba or the like, and is used to maintain a degree of vacuum of, for example, 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ to 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ torr by the adsorption action of the deposited film.

The above-described forming and the subsequent manufacturing steps of the surface conduction electron-emitting device are usually performed immediately before or after sealing of the envelope 118, and the contents thereof are as described above. is there.

The display panel 201 described above is, for example, shown in FIG.
Can be driven by a driving circuit as shown in FIG.
In FIG. 10, 201 is a display panel, 202 is a scanning circuit, 203 is a control circuit, 204 is a shift register,
205 is a line memory, 206 is a synchronization signal separation circuit, 2
07 the modulation signal generator, V _x and V _a are DC voltage sources.

As shown in FIG. 10, the display panel 20
1 is connected to an external electric circuit through the external terminals D _x1 to D _xm, external terminals D _y1 to D _yn and a high-voltage terminal Hv.
Of these, the external terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm are connected to the display panel 201.
A scanning signal for sequentially driving one row (each n element) of the surface conduction electron-emitting elements provided therein, that is, a group of surface conduction electron-emitting elements arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns. Is applied.

On the other hand, to the external terminals D _{y1 to} D _yn , a modulation signal for controlling an output electron beam of each surface conduction electron-emitting device in one row selected by the scanning signal is applied. Further, the high voltage terminal Hv, the DC voltage source V _a, for example, a DC voltage of 10kV is applied. This is an accelerating voltage for applying sufficient energy to the electron beam output from the surface conduction electron-emitting device to excite the phosphor.

The scanning circuit 202 includes m switching elements (schematically indicated by S _{1 to} S _m in FIG. 10). Each of the switching elements S _{1 to} S _m includes a DC voltage power supply V _x. , Or 0 V (ground level), and is electrically connected to the external terminals D _{x1 to} D _{xm of} the display panel 201. Each of the switching elements S _{1 to} S _m operates based on a control signal T _scan output from the control circuit 203, and is actually easily configured by combining elements having a switching function such as an FET, for example. It is possible.

[0095] The present example the DC voltage source V _x in, based on the characteristics (threshold voltage) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the driving voltage applied thereto is a surface conduction electron-emitting device which is not scanned It is set to output a constant voltage that is equal to or lower than the threshold voltage.

The control circuit 203 has a function of coordinating the operation of each unit so that an appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. Then, based on the synchronization signal T _sync sent from the synchronous signal separation circuit 206 to be described, T _{sc an,} to each unit, for generating a respective control signal T _sft and T _mry.

The synchronizing signal separation circuit 206 is a circuit for separating a synchronizing signal component and a luminance signal component from an NTSC television signal input from the outside. As is well known, a frequency separation (filter) is used. With the circuit,
It can be easily configured. Sync signal separation circuit 206
The sync signal separated by is composed of a vertical sync signal and a horizontal sync signal, as is well known. here,
It is illustrated as T _sync for convenience of explanation. On the other hand, the luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is referred to as DAT for convenience.
This is shown as an A signal. This DATA signal is input to the shift register 204.

The shift register 204 is for serially / parallel-converting the DATA signal input serially in time series for each line of an image, and is based on a control signal _Tsft sent from the control circuit 203. Work. This control signal _Tsft may be rephrased as a shift clock of the shift register 204. The data of one line of the serial / parallel converted image (corresponding to the drive data of n elements of the surface conduction electron-emitting device) is converted into n parallel signals of I _{d1 to} I _dn as the shift register 204. Output.

The line memory 205 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a required time.
Stores the contents of the appropriate I _d1 ~I _dn according to the control signal T _mry sent from the control circuit 203. The stored content is I
It is output as _d'1 ~I _d'n, is input to the modulation signal generator 207.

The modulation signal generator 207 is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in accordance with each of the image data I _{d′ 1 to} I _{d′ n.} The signal is _supplied to the display panel 20 through the terminals _{Doy1 to Doyn.}
1 is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

As described above, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a clear threshold voltage for electron emission, and electron emission occurs only when a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage is applied. Also, for a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage, the emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device. Materials for surface conduction electron-emitting devices,
By changing the configuration and the manufacturing method, the value of the threshold voltage and the degree of change of the emission current with respect to the applied voltage may change, but in any case, the following can be said.

That is, when a pulse-like voltage is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device, for example, even if a voltage lower than the threshold voltage is applied, electron emission does not occur, but a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage is applied. In this case, electron emission occurs. At that time, first, it is possible to control the intensity of the output electron beam by changing the peak value of the voltage pulse. Second, by changing the width of the voltage pulse, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam.

Therefore, as a method of modulating the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to an input signal, there are a voltage modulation method and a pulse width modulation method. In the case of performing the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 207 generates a voltage pulse having a fixed length, and uses a voltage modulation circuit capable of appropriately modulating the pulse peak value according to input data. In the case of performing the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 207 generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value, but a pulse width modulation method circuit capable of appropriately modulating the pulse width according to input data. Used.

The shift register 204 and the line memory 20
Reference numeral 5 may be a digital signal type or an analog signal type, as long as it can perform serial / parallel conversion and storage of an image signal at a predetermined speed.

When the digital signal type is used, it is necessary to convert the output signal DATA of the synchronization signal separation circuit 206 into a digital signal. This can be achieved by providing an A / D converter at the output of the synchronization signal separation circuit 206.

In connection with this, the line memory 20
Depending on whether the output signal of 5 is a digital signal or an analog signal,
The circuit provided in modulation signal generator 207 is slightly different.

That is, in the case of a voltage modulation method using a digital signal, a well-known D / A conversion circuit may be used as the modulation signal generator 207, and an amplification circuit or the like may be added as necessary. Further, in the case of a pulse width modulation method using a digital signal, the modulation signal generator 207 includes, for example, a high-speed oscillator, a counter (counter) for counting the number of waves output from the oscillator, an output value of the counter, and an output value of the memory. It can be easily configured by using a circuit in which comparators for comparison are combined. Further, if necessary, an amplifier may be added for amplifying the voltage of the pulse-width-modulated signal output from the comparator to the drive voltage of the surface-conduction electron-emitting device.

On the other hand, in the case of the voltage modulation method using an analog signal, for example, an amplification circuit using a well-known operational amplifier or the like may be used as the modulation signal generator 207, and a level shift circuit or the like may be added if necessary. You may. In the case of a pulse width modulation method using an analog signal, for example, a well-known voltage-controlled oscillation circuit (VCO) may be used, and a voltage is amplified to a drive voltage of a surface conduction electron-emitting device as necessary. May be added.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention having the display panel 201 and the driving circuit as described above can provide the necessary surface conduction electron emission by applying a voltage from the terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm and D _{y1 to} D _yn. Electrons can be emitted from the element, and a high voltage is applied to the metal back 115 or the transparent electrode (not shown) through the high voltage terminal Hv to accelerate the electron beam, and the accelerated electron beam collides with the fluorescent film 114. The television display can be performed according to the NTSC television signal by the excitation and light emission generated in the above.

The configuration described above is a schematic configuration necessary for obtaining the image forming apparatus of the present invention used for display and the like. For example, detailed portions such as materials of each member are limited to the above-described contents. Instead, it is appropriately selected so as to be suitable for the use of the image forming apparatus. Although the NTSC system has been described as an input signal, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to this, and may employ another system such as a PAL or SECAM system. For example, a high-definition TV system such as a MUSE system may be used.

Next, an example of the above-described trapezoidal-shaped electron source and an image forming apparatus of the present invention using the same will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. FIG.

In FIG. 11, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate; 104, a surface conduction electron-emitting device; and 304, common wirings for connecting the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104, each of which has _ten external terminals D _{1 to} D _10. have.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 is
A plurality is arranged in parallel above. This is called an element row. A plurality of the element rows are arranged to form an electron source.

By applying an appropriate driving voltage between the common wiring 304 of each element row (for example, the common wiring 304 of the external terminals D ₁ and D ₂ ), each element row can be driven independently. That is, a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage may be applied to an element row where electron beams are to be emitted, and a voltage lower than the threshold voltage may be applied to an element row where electron beams are not desired to be emitted. Application of the driving voltage, the common wiring D ₂ to D ₉ located at each element rows, the external terminals D ₂ and D ₃ adjacent common wiring 304, i.e. each phase adjacent each phase, D ₄ and D ₅ it can also be performed as an integrated same wire common wiring 304 of D ₆ and D _7, D ₈ and D _9.

FIG. 11 is a view showing the structure of a display panel 301 provided with the above-mentioned trapezoidal arrangement of electron sources, which is another example of the electron source of the present invention.

[0116] Figure 11 in 302 grid electrodes, 303 is an opening for electrons to pass through, D ₁ to D _m are external terminals for applying voltage to each surface conduction electron-emitting device, G ₁ ~
_Gn is an external terminal connected to the grid electrode 302. Further, the common wiring 304 between each element row is formed on the substrate 1 as an integral same wiring.

In FIG. 12, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 8 denote the same members, and the main difference between the display panel 201 using the electron sources in the simple matrix arrangement shown in FIG. The point is that a grid electrode 302 is provided between the electrodes 116.

The grid electrode 302 is provided between the substrate 1 and the face plate 116 as described above. The grid electrode 302 is capable of modulating the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104, and applies the electron beam to a stripe-shaped electrode provided orthogonal to the ladder-shaped device row. In order to pass
One circular opening 303 is provided for each surface conduction electron-emitting device 104.

The shape and arrangement position of the grid electrode 302
It is not always necessary that the openings 303 are as shown in FIG. 12. A large number of openings 303 may be provided in a mesh shape, and the grid electrodes 302 may be provided, for example, around or near the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104. Good.

The external terminals D _{1 to} D _m and G _{1 to} G _n are connected to a drive circuit (not shown). Then, by applying a modulation signal for one image line to the column of the grid electrode 302 in synchronization with sequentially driving (scanning) the element rows one by one, each electron beam is irradiated on the fluorescent film 114. And images can be displayed line by line.

As described above, the image forming apparatus of the present invention
It can be obtained by using any of the electron sources of the present invention in a simple matrix arrangement or a ladder arrangement, and is suitable not only for the above-described television broadcast display device, but also for a video conference system, a display device of a computer or the like. A device is obtained. Furthermore, the present invention can be used as an exposure device of an optical printer including a photosensitive drum.

[0122]

【Example】

Example 1 As a first example of the present invention, the surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 1 was manufactured according to the process shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the manufacturing procedure will be specifically described.

(1) A quartz substrate as the substrate 1 is sufficiently washed with a detergent, pure water and an organic solvent. A resist mask is formed on the surface of the insulating substrate 1 by a photolithography technique, and then P is used as a device electrode material by a vacuum deposition method.
After depositing t at 1000 °, device electrodes 4 and 5 were formed by lift-off (FIG. 3A). In this embodiment, the element electrode interval L is 2 μm, and the element electrode length W is 300 μm.
m and the film thickness d were 1000 °.

(2) A Cr film is formed on the entire surface of the substrate 1 by vacuum evaporation, and a resist film is further formed on the entire surface. Exposure using an exposure mask such that a desired pattern is obtained,
Form a resist pattern and use it to
A film pattern is formed. A solution of organic Pd (ccp; manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) dissolved in a butyl acetate solution was applied thereon as an organic metal solution by a spinner coating method, and heated at 150 ° C. for 10 minutes. A thin film was formed. In the same manner, coating and heating were repeated four times to deposit an organic metal thin film. Thereafter, the substrate was placed in an oven and baked at 300 ° C. for 60 minutes in the atmosphere. As a result, the organic Pd film was decomposed and oxidized to form a PdO fine particle film. Thereafter, the Cr film is removed by the lift-off method, and the conductive thin film 3 for forming the electron-emitting portion is formed at a predetermined position (FIG. 3B).

(3) Subsequently, the conductive thin film 3 was subjected to a forming process to form the electron emitting portions 2 (FIG. 3).
(C)). Forming uses triangular wave pulse, about 1 ×
This was performed for 60 seconds under a vacuum atmosphere of 10 ^-6 torr. The peak value of the triangular wave was 5 V at the maximum, the pulse width was 1 msec, and the pulse interval was 10 msec.

The electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this example manufactured as described above were measured by the measurement evaluation system shown in FIG. The voltage of the anode electrode is 1 kV,
The distance H between the anode electrode and the device was 4 mm and 1 × 10 ⁻⁵
This was performed under a vacuum of at least torr.

As a result, in the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this embodiment, electrons start to be rapidly emitted at an element voltage of about 8 V,
At V, the current _If flowing through the element is 2 mA, and _Ie is 1 μA.
The electron emission efficiency _Ie / _If was 0.05%.

Example 2 An image forming apparatus having a simple matrix type display panel shown in FIG. 8 was manufactured. FIG. 13 shows a plan view of a part of the electron source. FIG. 14 is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG. FIGS. 15 and 16 show a method of manufacturing the electron source of this embodiment in the order of steps. However,
13 to 16 indicate the same members. In the drawing, 1 is a substrate, 102 is an X-direction wiring as a lower wiring, 103 is a Y-direction wiring as an upper wiring, 3 is a conductive thin film, 4 and 5 are device electrodes, 141 is an interlayer insulating layer, and 142 is a device electrode A contact hole 161 for electrical connection between 5 and the X-direction wiring 102, and 161 is a Cr film. Hereinafter, the manufacturing steps will be specifically described in the order of the steps.

Step-a A 50 .mu.m thick Cr film and a 6000 .mu.m thick Au film are successively laminated on a substrate 1 having a 0.5 .mu.m thick silicon oxide film formed on a cleaned blue plate glass by a sputtering method. After that, a photoresist (AZ1370; made by Hoechst) is spin-coated with a spinner and baked, and then a photomask image is exposed and developed to form a resist pattern of the X-direction wiring 102, and the Au / Cr deposited film is wetted. Etching is performed to form an X-directional wiring 102 having a desired shape (FIG. 15A).

Step-b Next, an interlayer insulating layer 141 made of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 μm is deposited by RF sputtering (FIG. 15).
(B)).

Step-c The contact hole 1 was formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in the step b.
A photoresist pattern for forming 42 is formed, and using this as a mask, the interlayer insulating layer 141 is etched to form a contact hole 142. Etching is performed by RIE (Reactive) using CF ₄ and H ₂ gas.
Ion Etching) method. (FIG. 15
(C)).

Step-d A photoresist (RD-2000N-41; manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.) is formed in a pattern to be the element electrodes 4 and 5 and the element electrode gap L, and 50 .mu.m thick Ti is formed by vacuum evaporation.
Ni having a thickness of 1000 ° was sequentially deposited. The photoresist pattern was dissolved with an organic solvent, and the Ni / Ti deposited film was lifted off to form device electrodes 4 and 5 having a device electrode gap L of 2 μm and a device electrode width W of 220 μm (FIG. 15).
(D)).

Step-e After forming a photoresist pattern of the Y-direction wiring on the device electrodes 4 and 5, Ti of 50 厚 thickness and Au of 5000 Å thickness are sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation, and unnecessary portions are removed by lift-off. By removing, the Y-directional wiring 103 having a desired shape was formed (FIG. 16E).

Step-f A 1000 .ANG.-thick Cr film 161 is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation using a device electrode gap L and a mask having an opening in the vicinity thereof, and an organic Pd film is formed thereon under the same conditions as in Example 1. A coating of 35 ° was formed (FIG. 16 (f)).

Step-g The Cr film 161 is etched with an acid etchant to form a C film.
By lifting off the organic Pd film on the r film 161, a Pd acetate film having a desired pattern was formed. Next, Example 1
The conductive thin film 3 was formed by heat treatment and oxidation in the same manner as described above.
The width of the thin film is 100 μm. The fine particles of the conductive thin film 3 composed of fine particles of Pd as the main element thus formed had an average particle diameter of 30 nm, a film thickness of 100 °, and a sheet resistance value of 5 × 10 ⁴ Ω / □ (FIG. 16 (g)). )).

Step-h A pattern is formed such that a resist is applied to portions other than the contact holes 142, and a 50 ° -thick T
i, Au having a thickness of 5000 ° was sequentially deposited. Unnecessary portions were removed by lift-off to bury the contact holes 142 (FIG. 16H).

Through the above steps, the X-directional wiring 102, the interlayer insulating layer 211, the Y-directional wiring 103, the device electrodes 4 and 5, and the conductive thin film 3 were formed on the insulating substrate 1.

FIG. 8 shows an electron source manufactured as described above.
And the image forming apparatus was manufactured.

After fixing the unformed electron source substrate 1 manufactured in the above steps to the rear plate 111, the electron source 1
5 mm above, a face plate 116 (having a fluorescent film 114 and a metal back 116 formed on the inner surface of a glass substrate 113) is sufficiently aligned via a support frame 112 and arranged. Frame 11
2. A frit glass was applied to the joint of the rear plate 111 and sealed by baking at 400 ° C. to 500 ° C. in the air for 10 minutes or more. The fixing of the electron source substrate 1 to the rear plate 111 was also performed using frit glass.

In this embodiment, the phosphor has a stripe shape (see FIG. 9A), and the material of the black stripe is a material mainly composed of graphite.
A slurry method was used as a method of applying the phosphor to No. 3.

The metal back 115 provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 114 is subjected to a smoothing process (filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film after the fluorescent film is formed.
1 was produced by vacuum evaporation. Face plate 1
In 16, in order to further increase the conductivity of the fluorescent film 114, a transparent electrode may be provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 114. However, in this embodiment, since the metal back 115 alone provided sufficient conductivity, Omitted.

The atmosphere in the glass container completed as described above is evacuated by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, the terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm to D _{y1 of the} container are returned. A voltage was applied between the device electrodes through _Dyn to perform a forming process to form an electron-emitting portion. At this time, the voltage waveform of the forming process is the same as FIG.
The T ₁ and 1 msec, 10 msec and T _2, the peak value of the triangular wave with 15V, was performed in a vacuum atmosphere of 1 × 10 ^-6 torr.

The thus-produced electron emitting portion is composed of Pd
Fine particles mainly composed of elements were dispersed and arranged, and the average particle size of the fine particles was 30 °.

Next, at a degree of vacuum of about 1 × 10 ^−6.5 torr, an exhaust pipe (not shown) was fused by heating with a gas burner, and the envelope 118 was sealed.

Finally, in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing, getter processing was performed by a high-frequency heating method.

The terminals D _{x1 to} D _xm to D _{y1 to} D _yn and the high voltage terminal H of the container of the display panel manufactured as described above.
v were connected to necessary drive systems, respectively, to complete the image forming apparatus. Each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices is provided with a terminal D _x1 .
It is no D _xm through D _y1 to D _yn, applied by applying respectively by the scan signal and a modulation signal (not shown) signal generating means performs electron emission through the high voltage terminal Hv, a high voltage of several kV to the metal back 115 Then, a good image was displayed by accelerating the electron beam, causing the electron beam to collide with the fluorescent film 114, and exciting and emitting light.

[Embodiment 3] FIG. 17 shows an example of a display device in which the image forming apparatus of Embodiment 1 is configured to be able to display image information provided from various image information sources such as television broadcasting. FIG. 2 in the figure
80 is a display panel, 261 is a display panel drive circuit, 262 is a display controller, 2
63 is a multiplexer, 264 is a decoder, 265 is an input / output interface circuit, 266 is a CPU, 267 is an image generation circuit, 268, 269 and 270 are image memory interface circuits, 271 is an image input interface circuit, and 272 and 273 receive TV signals. Circuit, 27
Reference numeral 4 denotes an input unit. When the present display device 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 related to reception, separation, reproduction, processing, storage, and the like of audio information that are not directly related to the above are omitted.

Hereinafter, each component will be described along the flow of the image signal.

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 273 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 (for example, a so-called high-definition TV including the MUSE system) composed of a larger number of scanning lines than the above is suitable for taking advantage of the display panel suitable for a large area and a large number of pixels. Signal source. TV received by the TV signal receiving circuit 273
The signal is output to the decoder 264.

The image TV signal receiving circuit 272 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 273, 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 264.

The image input interface circuit 27
Reference numeral 1 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 264.

The image memory interface circuit 2
70 is a video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR)
Is a circuit for receiving the image signal stored in the decoder 264. The captured image signal is output to the decoder 264.

The image memory interface circuit 2
Reference numeral 69 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal stored in the video disk. The captured image signal is output to the decoder 264.

An image memory-interface circuit 268 is a circuit for taking in an image signal from a device storing still image data, such as a so-called still image disk.
4 is output.

The input / output interface circuit 265
Is a circuit for connecting the present display device to an output device such as an external computer, a computer network, or a printer. In addition to inputting and outputting image data and character / graphic information, control signals and numerical data can be input and output between the CPU 266 of the display device and the outside in some cases.

The image generation circuit 267 is provided with image data and character / graphic information input from the outside via the input / output interface circuit 265, or the CPU 266.
This is a circuit for generating display image data based on the image data and character / graphic information output from the display unit. Inside this circuit, for example, a rewritable memory for storing image data and character / graphic information, a read-only memory storing an image pattern corresponding to a character code,
A circuit necessary for generating an image such as a processor for performing image processing is incorporated therein.

The display image data generated by this circuit is output to the decoder 264, but may be output to an external computer network or printer via the input / output interface circuit 265 in some cases.

The CPU 266 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 263, and image signals to be displayed on the display panel 280 are appropriately selected or combined. At that time, a control signal is generated for the display panel controller 262 in accordance with the image signal to be displayed, and the display frequency, the scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced), the number of scanning lines on one screen, and the like are displayed. The operation of the device is appropriately controlled.

Further, image data, character / graphic information is directly output to the image generation circuit 267, or an external computer or memory is accessed via the input / output interface circuit 265 to access image data, character / graphic
Enter graphic information.

The CPU 266 may, of course, be involved in operations for other purposes. For example, like a personal computer or word processor,
It may be directly related to the function of generating and processing information.

Alternatively, the computer may be connected to an external computer network via the input / output interface circuit 265 as described above, and operations such as numerical calculation may be performed in cooperation with an external device.

The input section 274 is connected to the CPU 266.
The user inputs commands, programs, data, or the like, and various input devices such as a joystick, a barcode reader, and a voice recognition device can be used, for example, in addition to a keyboard and a mouse.

The decoder 264 converts various image signals input from the above-mentioned 267 to 273 into three primary color signals,
Alternatively, it is a circuit for inversely converting a luminance signal into an I signal and a Q signal. As shown by a dotted line in FIG.
64 preferably has an image memory inside. 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 the image generation circuit 26
7 and the CPU 266 in cooperation with the image processing, such as image thinning, interpolation, enlargement, reduction, and synthesis, and the advantage that editing can be easily performed.

The multiplexer 263 is connected to the CPU
A display image is appropriately selected based on a control signal input from the 266. That is, the multiplexer 263 selects a desired image signal from the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 264 and outputs the selected image signal to the drive circuit 261. In that case, by switching and selecting an image signal within one screen display time, it is also 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 62 denotes a circuit for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 261 based on the control signal input from the CPU 266.

First, for example, a signal for controlling an operation sequence of a drive power supply (not shown) for the display panel is output to the drive circuit 261 as a signal relating to the basic operation of the display panel.

Further, as a signal relating to the driving method of the display panel, a signal for controlling, for example, a screen display frequency and a scanning method (for example, interlace or non-interlace) is output to the drive circuit 261.

In some cases, a control signal relating to image quality adjustment such as brightness, contrast, color tone, and sharpness of a display image may be output to the drive circuit 261.

The drive circuit 261 is a circuit for generating a drive signal to be applied to the display panel 280. The drive circuit 261 converts the image signal input from the multiplexer 263 and the control signal input from the display panel controller 262. It operates on the basis of:

The function of each unit has been described above. With the configuration illustrated in FIG. 17, in this display device, image information input from various image information sources is displayed on the display panel 2.
70 can be displayed. That is, various image signals including television broadcasts are inversely converted by the decoder 264, appropriately selected by the multiplexer 263, and input to the drive circuit 261. On the other hand, the display controller 262 generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 261 according to the image signal to be displayed. The drive circuit 261 applies a drive signal to the display panel 280 based on the image signal and the control signal. Thus, an image is displayed on display panel 280. These series of operations are performed by the CPU 2
66 is controlled collectively.

In this display device, an image memory built in the decoder 264, an image generation circuit 267,
And the involvement of the CPU 266 not only displays the selected one of the plurality of pieces of image information but also displays, for example, enlargement, reduction, rotation, movement, edge emphasis, thinning, interpolation, It is also possible to perform image processing such as color conversion and image aspect ratio conversion, and image editing such as combining, erasing, connecting, exchanging, and fitting. In the description of the present embodiment,
Although not particularly mentioned, a dedicated circuit for processing and editing audio information may be provided as in the above-described image processing and image editing.

Therefore, 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 including a word processor, a game terminal, and the like. It is possible to combine the functions of a single machine, etc., and has a very wide range of applications for industrial or consumer use.

FIG. 17 shows only an example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention, and it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this. For example, among the components shown in FIG. 17, circuits relating to functions that are not necessary for the purpose of 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 to a videophone, 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, in particular, it is easy to reduce the thickness of a display panel using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron source, so that the depth of the display device can be reduced. In addition, display panels that use surface-conduction electron-emitting devices as electron sources are easy to enlarge and have high brightness and excellent viewing angle characteristics. It is possible to display well.

Further, since the electron source of the present invention has uniform electron emission characteristics between the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the quality of the formed image is high and a high-definition image can be displayed. .

[0177]

As described above, according to the present invention, a conductive thin film can be formed by a conventional coating method without damaging a substrate in a process of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device. The reliability in the manufacture of an electron source composed of an electron-emitting device and a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices and an image forming apparatus using the electron source is improved, and the yield is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing one embodiment of a surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a manufacturing process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a voltage waveform of an energization process for manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a measurement evaluation system for evaluating the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view showing electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a simple matrix electron source of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a display panel of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a fluorescent film used in the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a ladder-type electron source according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a display panel of the image forming apparatus of the present invention using a ladder-type electron source.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an electron source used in the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a partial sectional view of an electron source according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a manufacturing process diagram of the electron source according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a manufacturing process diagram of the electron source according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a thermal analysis of the organic Pd complex according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Insulating substrate 2 Electron emission part 3 Conductive thin film 4, 5 Element electrode 21 Step forming member 50 Ammeter 51 Power supply 52 Ammeter 53 High voltage power supply 54 Anode electrode 55 Vacuum device 56 Exhaust pump 102 X direction wiring 103 Y direction wiring 104 Surface conduction electron-emitting device 105 Connection 111 Rear plate 112 Support frame 113 Glass substrate 114 Phosphor film 115 Metal back 116 Face plate 118 Enclosure 121 Black conductive material 122 Phosphor 141 Interlayer insulating layer 142 Contact hole 161 Cr film 201 Display Panel 202 Scanning circuit 203 Control circuit 204 Shift register 205 Line memory 206 Synchronous signal separation circuit 207 Modulation signal generator 261 Drive circuit 262 Display panel controller 263 Multiplexer 264 Decoder 65 Input / output interface 266 CPU 267 Image generation circuit 268 Image memory interface 269 Image memory interface 270 Image memory interface 271 Image input memory interface 272 TV signal reception circuit 273 TV signal reception circuit 274 Input unit 280 Display panel 301 Display panel 302 Grid electrode 303 Opening 304 Common wiring

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification symbol FI H01J 1/30 B (58) Investigated field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01J 9/02 H01J 1/30 H01J 31 / 12 H01J 31/15

Claims (16)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device comprising: a pair of device electrodes formed on an insulating substrate; and a conductive thin film formed over the device electrodes and provided with an electron-emitting portion. Forming the conductive metal thin film, a plurality of operations of applying an organic metal solution on a substrate and performing a heat treatment at a temperature equal to or higher than the melting temperature of the organic metal and lower than the thermal decomposition temperature to form an organic metal thin film, A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device, comprising a step of heat-treating the organic metal thin film at a temperature equal to or higher than a thermal decomposition temperature of the organic metal. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the metal or metal oxide is formed from the organic metal by heat-treating the organic metal thin film at a temperature equal to or higher than the thermal decomposition temperature of the organic metal. Method. 3. A process according to claim 1 or 2 of the electron-emitting device the organic metal is characterized in that an organic palladium. 4. The electron emission element characterized by being manufactured by any of the method according to claim 1-3. 5. The electron-emitting device according to claim 4 , wherein the device electrodes are planar devices formed on the same surface. 6. The electron-emitting device according to claim 4, wherein the device electrode is a vertical device in which a device thin film is formed on a side surface of the insulating layer. 7. A device according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of the electron-emitting devices according to claim 4 are arranged in parallel and at least one device line is formed, and wiring for driving each device is in a ladder-like arrangement. An electron source characterized in that it has been made. 8. A semiconductor device according to claim 4 , wherein at least one or more element rows each including a plurality of the electron-emitting elements according to claim 4 are arranged, and wirings for driving each element are arranged in a matrix. Characterized electron source. 9. An image forming apparatus comprising: the electron source according to claim 7 ; an image forming member; and a control electrode for controlling an electron beam emitted from each element according to an information signal. 10. An image forming apparatus comprising the electron source according to claim 8 and an image forming member. 11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, which is used for any one of a display device for a television broadcast, a display device for a video conference system, and a display device for a computer. 12. A method of manufacturing an electron source, wherein a plurality of electron-emitting devices are formed on the same substrate by the method of any one of claims 1 to 3 . 13. An electron source in which an electron source has at least one or more element rows formed by arranging and connecting a plurality of electron-emitting devices in parallel, and wiring for driving each element is arranged in a ladder-like manner. 13. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 12 , wherein 14. The electron source according to claim 1, wherein the electron source has at least one element row in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged, and wiring for driving each element is arranged in a matrix. The method for manufacturing an electron source according to claim 12 , wherein 15. An electron source is manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 13 , and the obtained electron source is used as a control electrode for controlling an electron beam emitted from the electron source, and irradiation of the electron beam from the electron source. A method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus, wherein the method is combined with an image forming member that forms an image according to (1). 16. An image, wherein an electron source is manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 14 , and the obtained electron source is combined with an image forming member that forms an image by irradiating an electron beam from the electron source. Manufacturing method of forming apparatus.