JP3320294B2 - Electron beam generator and image forming apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron beam generator having a support member (spacer) and an image forming apparatus such as a display device to which the electron beam generator is applied. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an image forming apparatus using electrons has an envelope for maintaining a vacuum state, an electron source for emitting electrons and a driving circuit thereof, a phosphor which emits light by collision of electrons, and the like. It requires an image forming member, an accelerating electrode for accelerating electrons toward the image forming member, and a high-voltage power supply therefor. Further, in an image forming apparatus using a flat envelope such as a thin image display device, a support member (spacer) may be used as an atmospheric pressure resistant structure.

As an electron-emitting device used for an electron source of an image forming apparatus, a cold cathode is known in addition to a hot cathode conventionally used in a CRT or the like. The cold cathode includes a field emission type (hereinafter abbreviated as FE type), a metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter abbreviated as MIM type), a surface conduction type emission element, and the like.

[0004] Examples of the FE type include WPDyke & WWDol.
an, "Field emission", Advance in Electron Physics, 8,
89 (1956) or CASpindt, "Physical Properties of
Thin-film Field Emission Cathodes with Molybdeniu
m Cones ", J. Appl. Phys., 47, 5248 (1976) and the like.

As an example of the MIM type, CAMead, "Operatio
n of tunnel-emission Devices ", J. Appl. Phys., 32, 646
(1961) are known.

As an example of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, M.
I. Elinson, Radio Eng. Electron Phys., 10, 1290, (1965)
Etc.

[0007] The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electron emission occurs when a current flows in a small-area thin film formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include a device using an SnO2 thin film by Elinson et al. And a device using an Au thin film [G. Dittmer: "
Thin Solid Films ", 9, 317 (1972)] Using In2O3 / SnO2 thin film [M.Hartwell and CGFonstad:" IEEE Trans.ED Con
f. ", 519 (1975)], using a carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki
Others: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22 (1983)] and the like. As a typical device configuration of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the aforementioned M.S. The device configuration of the Hartwell is shown in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 3001 denotes an insulating substrate. Reference numeral 3002 denotes a conductive thin film formed of a metal oxide thin film or the like formed by sputtering in an H-shaped pattern, and the electron emission portion 3003 is formed by an energization process called forming described later.

Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the electron-emitting portion forming thin film 3 is formed before the electron emission.
In general, the electron-emitting portion 3003 is generally formed in advance by performing an energization process called “forming”. That is, the forming means applying a voltage to both ends of the conductive thin film 3002 and energizing it to locally destroy the conductive thin film.
The purpose is to form the electron-emitting portion 3003 that has been deformed or altered to have a high electrical resistance. In the electron emitting portion 3003, a crack is generated in a part of the thin film 3002 for forming an electron emitting portion, and electrons are emitted from the vicinity of the crack. The conductive thin film 3002 including the electron emitting portion 3003 formed by the forming below is replaced with the thin film 3004 including the electron emitting portion.
Call. The surface conduction type electron-emitting device that has been subjected to the forming process is configured to apply a voltage to the thin film 3004 including the electron-emitting portion and to cause a current to flow through the device, thereby causing the electron-emitting portion 3003 to emit electrons.

As an example of arranging a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, an electron is obtained by arranging surface conduction electron-emitting devices in parallel, and arranging a large number of rows each having both ends of each element connected by wiring. (For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-31332 of the present applicant).

[0010] By combining an electron source having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices and a phosphor as an image forming member for emitting light (visible light) by the electrons emitted from the electron source, various methods can be used. An image forming apparatus, mainly a display device is configured (for example, US Pat.
P5066883), it is relatively easy to manufacture even large screen devices,
Since it is a self-luminous display device with excellent display quality, CR
It is expected as an image forming apparatus that replaces T.

[0011] For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
In an image forming apparatus as described in JP-A-257551 or the like, a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are selected by arranging and connecting the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in parallel (row direction wiring). And an appropriate driving signal to a wiring (column wiring) connected to a control electrode provided in a space between the electron source and the phosphor in a direction orthogonal to the row wiring (column direction). .

[0012]

As described above, in an image forming apparatus (flat-plate type CRT) which has been tried in recent years, a cold cathode element is used as an electron source and a support member (spacer) is used as an atmospheric pressure resistant structure. ) Has been reduced in weight and thickness.

However, such a flat panel CRT has a problem in that a displayed image is disturbed in the vicinity of the support member. It is said that the main cause is that the support member is electrically charged and affects the trajectory of the electron beam, and attempts have been made to prevent the charge by imparting conductivity to the support member. Have been.

However, simply imparting conductivity to the support member does not completely solve the disturbance of the displayed image, and still causes problems such as displacement of the light emitting point, brightness reduction, and color shift around the support member. Had occurred.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has been made in order to form a uniform image over the entire screen in an image forming apparatus having a built-in anti-atmospheric pressure supporting member provided with conductivity. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing a position shift of a light emitting point around a support member, a decrease in luminance, and a generation of a color shift.

As a result of intensive studies, the present inventors have found that the above-mentioned problem is mainly caused by electrons emitted from an electron source.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electron-emitting device, a plurality of row wirings each composed of a conductor for applying a voltage to the electron-emitting device, and a plurality of wirings arranged facing the electron-emitting device. A contact formed of a conductor between the accelerated electrode and the part of the wiring and between the part of the wiring and the acceleration electrode.
An electron beam generating device having a semiconductive support member disposed via a connecting member, wherein a height of an upper surface of the connection member and a height of the row where the support member is not provided and no conductor is provided.
The height of the upper surface of the directional wiring, or the support member is disposed
Height of the upper surface of the conductor in the row direction wiring where the conductor is provided
Are substantially equal to each other.

Further, the wiring to which the support member is connected has a recess, and the connection member is disposed in the recess, and the height of the upper surface of the connection member and the support member are disposed.
Height of top surface of row-direction wiring without conductors
But wherein the substantially equal.

[0019]

Further, the thickness of the wiring to which the support member is connected is different from the thickness of the wiring to which the support member is not arranged, and the height of the upper surface of the connection member and the thickness of the support member are different. The height of the upper surface of the wiring that has not been
It is characterized by being substantially equal.

[0021]

When the supporting member (spacer) is an insulating member, a semiconductive film is provided on the surface. This is to prevent the charging described above, and has a function of neutralizing the charging by applying a weak current to the semiconductive film. Note that the support member (spacer) may be a semiconductive member. In this case, the current flowing through the surface region contributes to antistatic. Therefore, when the support member (spacer) itself is semiconductive, it is not always necessary to attach a semiconductive film to the surface.

When the supporting member (spacer) is held, the conductive connecting member having conductivity is connected to the spacer so that the semiconductive film on the surface of the insulating member or the semiconductive member can be electrically connected to the wiring. And between the wires. This is because a weak current is applied to the surface of the spacer to neutralize charging. However, when the conductive connecting member between the spacer and the wiring is thick, a potential gradient occurs around the conductive connecting member. Therefore, in this state, the orbit of the electrons emitted from the element shifts.

Therefore, the configuration of the present invention is adopted.

According to the concept of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to an image forming apparatus suitable for display, but may be used as an alternative light source such as a light emitting diode of an optical printer including a photosensitive drum and a light emitting diode. Alternatively, the above-described image forming apparatus can be used. In addition to the linear light source,
It can also be applied as a dimensional light source.

According to the concept of the present invention, an electron emitted from an electron source is used as in an electron microscope, for example.
The present invention can be applied to a case other than the image forming member and the electron beam generator.

[0027]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The operation and effect of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 11, 12, 13, and 24.

(A) Emission electron trajectory In FIG. 1, each electron emitting element 15 has an outer container terminal Dox1.
When a voltage is applied through Doxm, Doy1 to Doyn, electrons are emitted from the electron emitting portion 23.
At the same time, a metal back 8 (or a transparent electrode (not shown))
A high voltage of several kV or more is applied through the high voltage terminal Hv to accelerate the electrons emitted from the electron emitting portion 23 and collide with the inner surface of the face plate 3. Thereby, the phosphor of the fluorescent film 7 is excited and emits light, and an image is displayed.

This situation is shown in FIGS. FIG.
1 and 12 are views for explaining the generation state of electrons and scattering particles described later in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, respectively. FIG. 11 is a view seen from the Y direction, and FIG.
It is the figure seen from the direction. That is, as shown in FIG.
The electrons emitted from the electron emitting portion 23 by applying the voltage Vf to the device electrodes 16 and 17 of the electron source 1 are higher than the device electrode on the face plate 3 with respect to the normal from the emitting portion 23. It flies in a parabolic trajectory indicated by 25t shifted to 17. For this reason, the center of the light emitting portion of the fluorescent film 7 is shifted from the normal to the surface of the electron source 1 from the electron emitting portion 23. Such a radiation characteristic depends on the electron source 1.
It is considered that the potential distribution in a plane parallel to the pattern becomes asymmetric with respect to the electron-emitting portion 23.

(B) Deviation of emitted electron trajectory In the study of an image forming apparatus using an electron source having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the present inventors have found that the light emission position on a phosphor constituting an image forming member is determined. (Electron collision position) and the case where the light emission shape deviates from the design value. In particular, when an image forming member for a color image is used, in some cases, a decrease in luminance or a color shift occurs in addition to a shift in light emission position. Further, it was confirmed that this phenomenon occurs near a support frame or a support member (spacer) disposed between the electron source and the image forming member.

In particular, in the present invention, the support member (spacer)
Interpret the above phenomenon that occurs near.

Here, the electron orbit near the spacer 5 is considered as follows.

In addition to the fact that the electrons emitted from the electron source 1 reach the inner surface of the face plate 2 to cause the light emission phenomenon of the fluorescent film 7, the electrons collide with the fluorescent film 7 and, with a low probability, to the residual gas in vacuum. Scattered particles (ions, secondary electrons, neutral particles, etc.) are generated with a certain probability by electron collision.
It is considered that the airplane flies inside the envelope 10 along a locus indicated by 26t in FIG.

The present inventors have found that the light emitting position (electron collision position) and the light emitting shape on the fluorescent film 7 located near the spacer 5 may deviate from the design values. In particular, when an image forming member for a color image is used, in addition to the light emission position shift, a decrease in luminance and color shift may be observed.

The main cause of this phenomenon is that a part of the scattering particles collides with the exposed portion of the insulating base material 5a of the spacer 5 and the exposed portion is charged, thereby causing an electric field near the exposed portion. It is considered that the shift of the electron orbit occurred due to the change in the light emission position and the emission position and emission shape of the phosphor.

Further, from the state of the change of the light emitting position and the shape of the phosphor, it was found that mainly the positive charges were accumulated in the exposed portion. This may be caused by the case where the positive ions of the scattering particles are attached and charged, or the case where the positive charging is caused by secondary electron emission generated when the scattering particles collide with the exposed portion.

(C) Countermeasures for Misalignment of Emitted Electron Orbits The present inventors applied a semiconductive film on the surface of the spacer to neutralize the positive charge in order to prevent the positive charge. At this time, a conductive connection portion 58 is provided to maintain the conductivity between the semiconductive film, the electron source, and the face plate. However, in the image forming apparatus, the wiring made of the conductor is
Since there is a wiring to which the support member is connected and a wiring to which the support member is not arranged via the conductive connection member 58 made of a conductor, the electric field is distorted by the conductive connection portion 58. Thus, by applying the conductive member 70 to the row wirings 12 on which the spacers are not disposed (see FIG. 13), it is possible to prevent the displacement of the electron beam emitted from the electron emitting portion. That is, the wiring made of a conductor is connected to a wiring connected to a support member via a conductive connecting member made of a conductor,
In an image forming apparatus having a wiring on which a support member is not disposed, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus including: a height of an upper surface of a conductive connection member to which a support member is connected; and a height of an upper surface of a conductor on which the support member is not disposed. Are equal to each other, thereby preventing a shift in the electron beam trajectory near the spacer due to a gradient in the potential distribution near the electron emission portion. This effect will be described with reference to FIG.

In the following description, the potential distribution is represented using equipotential lines. As a result of the electric field simulation, a potential distribution as shown in FIG. 24 was obtained.

1 is an electron source, 3 is a face plate, 5 is a supporting member (spacer), 7 is a fluorescent film, 8 is a metal back, 12 is a row-directional wiring, 23 is an electron emitting portion, 25 is an emitted electron, and 58 is an emitted electron. A conductive connection portion, 60 is an equipotential line, and 70 is a conductive member.

FIG. 24A shows a case where there is no spacer. When an accelerating voltage is applied to the metal back 8, the equipotential lines 60 are equivalently formed on both sides of the electron emission portion. When the electrons are emitted from the electron-emitting device, the electrons are emitted in the direction of the accelerating electrode (toward the fluorescent film 7) which is the direction of the image forming member according to the electric field.
Although it moves, the electron trajectory is not bent in one row wiring direction as described later.

FIG. 24B is an explanatory view in the case where the present invention is not applied, and shows a state in which a conductive connection portion 58 is formed on the row direction wiring 12, a spacer is held, and an electrical contact is made. However, in the vicinity of the spacer having the conductive connection portion 58, since the potential of the conductive connection portion 58 is substantially equal to that of the row direction wiring 12, the equipotential lines have a shape as shown in FIG.
The balance between the left and right sides of the electron emitting portion 23 is lost. For this reason, the electron trajectory is bent in a direction repelled from the spacer 5 as shown in the figure, and a beam shift occurs.

FIGS. 24C and 24D show a case where the present invention is applied. FIG. 24C shows a case where the height of one of the wiring electrodes is increased to be equal to the combined height of the other wiring electrode and the conductive connection. FIG. 24D shows a case where the conductive connection portion 58 and the conductive member 70 are formed symmetrically with respect to the electron emission portion 23. As in the examples of the present invention, the upper surface of the wiring on which the conductive connecting member is disposed and the upper surface of the wiring on which the conductive connecting member is not disposed have the same height, so that the electron emitting portion 23 is symmetrical on the left and right sides. By forming a suitable potential distribution, the emitted electrons 25 can be moved in a desired direction (toward the phosphor 7).

That is, as shown in FIG. 24D, a conductive pattern is formed on the row-direction wirings 12 where no spacers are arranged, so that the potential distribution near the electron-emitting portion 23 is symmetric with respect to the direction perpendicular to the surface of the electron source 1. The conductive member 70 is formed, and the upper surface of the conductive connecting member 58 and the upper surface of the conductive member 70 have the same height. By adopting the configuration of the present invention, the potential distribution near the electron emitting portion 23 has a gradient,
The deviation of the electron beam trajectory near the spacer 5 is prevented.

As described above, the displacement of the electron beam near the spacer can be prevented by effectively using the conductive material.

As described above, in order to neutralize charging by applying a weak current to the semiconductor conductive member, the upper and lower ends of the spacer are electrically connected to the semiconductive portions of the spacer by the electrode portion (or wiring portion) of the element substrate. And electrical connection with the accelerating electrode. Further, in a thin image forming apparatus or the like, it is necessary to firmly hold a supporting member (spacer) used for maintaining an atmospheric pressure resistant structure as a structural material.

Here, the constituent materials of the conductive connecting portion for firmly connecting the support columns (spacers) and simultaneously performing the electrical connection will be described.

For the purpose of firmly connecting the support members (spacers), a sealing material is used. The electrical connection uses a conductive filler. In the present invention, a conductive filler dispersed in a sealing material is used as the conductive connecting material. Hereinafter, the sealing material and the conductive filler will be described.

As the sealing material, a low melting point glass (frit glass) is used, and heat fusion is performed at about 400 to 550 ° C. There are several types of frit glass depending on the difference between the crystalline and non-crystalline frit glass and the components, and the frit glass can be appropriately selected according to the sealing temperature or the coefficient of thermal expansion of the member to be used. Since the frit glass itself is a powder, it is mixed with an organic solvent when coating is performed to form a paste-like frit glass mixture, which has viscosity at room temperature in consideration of workability during coating. This frit glass mixture is hereinafter referred to as “frit paste”.

The conductive filler, which is another constituent material of the conductive connecting portion, can be obtained by forming a metal film on a surface of a glass sphere made of soda lime glass or silica having a diameter of 5 to 50 μm by plating or the like. it can.

At the time of forming the conductive connection portion, the conductive connection portion is formed by applying a paste-like mixed solution obtained by mixing the above-mentioned frit paste and the conductive filler by screen printing or a dispenser and firing the mixture.

Here, as an example, non-crystalline frit glass (LSL manufactured by NEC Corporation) is used as frit glass.
-3081) and a case where a soda-lime glass sphere plated with Au is used as the conductive filler will be described.

As the conductive filler, soda lime spheres having an average particle diameter of 30 μm were used. As the conductive layer on the filler surface, a 0.1 μm Ni film was used as an underlayer using an electroless plating method, and an Au film was formed on the Ni film at 0.1 μm. It was prepared by sequentially depositing 05 μm. This conductive filler was mixed with frit glass powder, and a binder was added as described below to prepare a coating paste. (1) Preparation, application and drying process of conductive frit paste 30% by weight of conductive filler is mixed with frit glass powder, and a solution obtained by dissolving acrylic resin as a binder in terpineol is mixed to form a paste (conductive). (Frit paste), and dried at 120 ° C. for 10 to 20 minutes.

As a conventional frit coating method, a dispenser which combines a dispenser for discharging frit paste with a needle and a robot for relatively moving and controlling the position of the discharge portion and the member to be coated in three dimensions with high precision is used. It is used for the conductive frit paste used in the present invention. The dispenser robot is widely used industrially as a device for applying various paste-like substances such as cream solder and is commercially available. (2) Preliminary firing step In order to remove the binder in the conductive frit paste, the maximum temperature is 320 ° C., which is the decomposition temperature of the binder and the combustion temperature.
Preliminary baking is performed to reach 380 ° C. In this step, the surface of the conductive frit is sintered. (3) Main firing step Heating is performed so that the maximum temperature becomes the sealing temperature of 410 ° C. In this step, the conductive frit is melted, then solidified by cooling, and the sealing is completed.

Therefore, sealing usually requires two heating steps.

It is desirable that the following relationship be satisfied in the configuration of the present invention.

The resistance of the spacer portion >> the resistance of the conductive connection portion ≒ the resistance value of the resistance spacer of the wiring electrode is desirably 10 4 [Ω / □] or more in the surface resistance value as described above. On the other hand, the resistance value of each of the conductive connection portion and the wiring electrode is desirably smaller than the spacer by two digits or more, and preferably, the resistance value is smaller by four digits or more. Further, the difference in resistance between the conductive connection portion and the wiring electrode can be almost ignored when the difference in resistance between the spacer and the spacer is within the above range. This is because a large resistance difference between the conductive connection portion and the wiring electrode causes disturbance of the electric field. However, when the difference between the resistance of the spacer portion and the resistance value of the other portion is large, the vicinity of the wiring electrode and the conductive connection portion is large. This is because the effect on the electron orbit at the time is so small that it can be ignored. However, in order to further reduce the influence, the resistance difference between the conductive connection portion and the wiring electrode is desirably two digits or less.

The image forming apparatus to which the embodiment is applied is basically a multi-electron source in which a large number of cold cathode elements are arranged on a substrate in a thin vacuum vessel, and forms an image by irradiating electrons. And an image forming member.

The cold cathode elements can be precisely positioned and formed on the substrate by using a manufacturing technique such as photolithography etching, so that many cold cathode elements can be arranged at minute intervals. In addition, as compared with a hot cathode conventionally used in a CRT or the like, the cathode itself and its peripheral portion can be driven at a relatively low temperature, so that a multi-electron source with a finer arrangement pitch can be easily realized.

The present embodiment relates to an image forming apparatus using the above-described cold cathode device as a multi-electron source.

Further, among the cold cathode devices, a surface conduction electron-emitting device is particularly preferable. That is, among the cold cathode devices, the MIM type device needs to control the thickness of the insulating layer and the upper electrode relatively accurately, and the FE type device precisely controls the tip shape of the needle-like electron emitting portion. There is a need. For this reason, these elements have a relatively high manufacturing cost, and it is sometimes difficult to manufacture a large-area element due to limitations in the manufacturing process.

On the other hand, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture, and a large-area one can be easily manufactured. In recent years, especially in a situation where a large-area and inexpensive display device is required, it can be said that the cold-cathode element is particularly suitable.

The present applicant has found that among the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, those in which the electron-emitting portion or its peripheral portion is formed of a fine particle film are preferable in terms of characteristics or a large area. I have.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention described below, an image display apparatus using a surface conduction electron-emitting device formed using a fine particle film as a multi-electron source is a preferred example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention. explain.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the description, the term “row direction wiring” is used. However, this is a group of wirings that are regularly arranged, and a part of which is provided with a supporting member,
I read it for convenience. Therefore, even if this is changed to another name such as, for example, a column wiring, there is no problem from the concept of the present invention.

<First Embodiment> (Formation of Conductive Frit on the Whole Surface of Wiring Electrode) FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view (a part of a cross section AA ′) of a main part of the image formation illustrated in FIG.

1 and 2, an electron source 1 in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices (hereinafter abbreviated as “electron-emitting devices”) 15 are arranged on a matrix is fixed to a rear plate 2. For the electron source 1, a face plate 3 as an image forming member having a fluorescent film 7 and a metal pack 8 as an accelerating electrode formed on an inner surface of a glass substrate 6 is provided via a support frame 4 made of an insulating material. A high voltage is applied between the electron source 1 and the metal pack 8 by a power supply (not shown). The rear plate 2, the support frame 4 and the face plate 3 are sealed with each other with frit glass or the like, and the rear plate 2, the support frame 4 and the face plate 3 constitute an envelope 10.

The inside of the envelope 10 is 10 −6.
Since it is maintained at a vacuum of about torr, the outer casing 10 is provided with a thin plate spacer 5 inside the outer casing 10 as an anti-atmospheric structure in order to prevent the enclosure 10 from being destroyed due to an atmospheric pressure, an unexpected impact, or the like. Is provided. The spacer 5 is an insulating base material 5a.
And a member having a semiconductive film 5b formed on the surface thereof, and arranged in parallel in the X direction by a necessary number and at a necessary interval to achieve the above object. And the surface of the electron source 1 are sealed with frit glass or the like. The semiconductive film 5b is electrically connected to the inner surface of the face plate 3 and the surface of the electron source 1 (row direction wirings 12 described later).

Hereinafter, each component described above will be described in detail.

(1) Electron Source 1 FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of the electron source 1 of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a BB ′ of the electron source 1 shown in FIG.
It is a line sectional view.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, on an insulating substrate 11 made of a glass substrate or the like, m row direction wirings 12 and n column direction wirings 13 are electrically connected by an interlayer insulating layer 14. And are wired on a matrix. The electron-emitting device 1 is provided between each row-direction wiring 12 and each column-direction wiring 13.
5 are electrically connected. Each electron-emitting device 15
Each of the pair of device electrodes 16, 17 arranged at a distance in the X direction and a conductive thin film 18 connecting the device electrodes 16, 17 is formed of one of the pair of device electrodes 16, 17. The element electrode 16 is electrically connected to the row wiring 12, and the other element electrode 17 is electrically connected to the column wiring 13 via a contact hole 14a formed in the interlayer insulating layer 14. Row direction wiring 12 and column direction wiring 13
Are the external terminals Dox1 to Do1 shown in FIG. 1, respectively.
xm and Doy1 to Doyn are drawn out of the external device 10.

As the insulating substrate 11, quartz glass, N
Examples of such a member include glass, soda lime glass, a glass substrate or the like obtained by laminating Sio2 formed on a soda lime glass by a sputtering method or the like, and a ceramic member such as alumina. Insulating substrate 11
Depends on the number of electron-emitting devices provided on the insulating substrate 11, the design shape of each electron-emitting device, and the vacuum when the electron source 1 itself forms a part of the external device 10. Is set as appropriate depending on conditions for holding the data.

The row wirings 12 and the column wirings 13 are made of a conductive metal or the like formed in a desired pattern on the insulating substrate 11 by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. The material, film thickness, and wiring width are set so that a voltage as uniform as possible is supplied to the element 15.

The interlayer insulating layer 14 is formed by a vacuum evaporation method, a printing method,
It is made of, for example, SiO2 formed by a sputtering method or the like, and is formed in a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the insulating substrate 11 on which the column wirings 13 are formed. The film thickness, material, and manufacturing method are appropriately set so as to withstand the potential difference.

The device electrodes 16 and 17 of the electron-emitting device 15
Are made of a conductive metal or the like, and are formed in a desired pattern by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like.

The conductive metals of the row direction wiring 12, the column direction wiring 13, and the element electrodes 16 and 17 may have the same or some of the constituent elements, or may be different from each other. Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al,
Metals or alloys such as Cu and Pd, and Pd, Ag,
A printed conductor made of a metal such as Au, RuO2, Pd-Ag or a metal oxide and glass, or In2O2-Sn
It is defined and selected from a transparent conductor such as O2 and a semiconductor material such as polysilicon.

Specific examples of the material constituting the conductive thin film 18 include Pd, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu,
Metals such as Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, and Pd;
oxides such as dO, SnO2, In2O3, PbO, Sb2O3, HfB2, HfC, LaB6, CeB6, YB
Borides such as 4, GdB4, TiC, ZrC, HfC, T
carbides such as aC, SiC, WC, TiN, ZrH, Hf
Nitride such as N, semiconductor such as Si and Ge, carbon, A
g, Mg, Ni, Cu, Pb, Sn, etc., and is composed of a fine particle film.

The row direction wiring 12 is electrically connected to a scanning signal generating means (not shown) for applying a scanning signal for arbitrarily scanning the rows of the electron-emitting devices 15 arranged in the X direction. ing. On the other hand, the column direction wiring 13 is electronically connected to a modulation signal generating means (not shown) for applying a modulation signal for arbitrarily modulating each column of the electron-emitting devices 15 arranged in the Y direction. . In each case, the drive voltage applied to each electron-emitting device 15 is supplied as a difference voltage between a scanning signal and a modulation signal applied to the electron-emitting device.

Here, an example of a method of manufacturing the electron source 1 will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. Note that the following steps a to h correspond to (a) to (h) in FIG.

Step a: Cr having a thickness of 50 angstroms and a thickness of 5000 angstroms by vacuum deposition on an insulating substrate 11 having a 0.5 μm thick silicon oxide film formed on a cleaned soda lime glass by a sputtering method. Are sequentially laminated, and then a photoresist (AZ1370,
After spin coating and baking with a spinner, the photomask image is exposed and developed, and the
Was formed, and the Au / Cr deposited film was wet-etched to form a columnar wiring 13 having a desired shape.

Step b: Next, an interlayer insulating layer 14 made of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 μm was deposited by RF sputtering.

Step c: A photoresist pattern for forming a contact hole 14a is formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in the step b, and the photoresist pattern is used as a mask to form a photoresist pattern.
Was etched to form a contact hole 14a.
Etching is performed using RIE (Rea) using CF4 and H2 gas.
active ion etching) method. Step d: Thereafter, a pattern to be a gap between the device electrodes and the device electrode is formed by photoresist (RD-2000N-41).
Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.) and a thickness of 50
Angstrom Ti and 1000 Angstrom Ni were sequentially deposited.

The photoresist pattern was dissolved with an organic solvent, and the Ni / Ti deposited film was lifted off.
1 (see FIG. 3) is 3 μm, device electrode width W1 (see FIG. 3)
The device electrodes 16 and 17 having a thickness of 300 μm were formed.

Step e: A row-directional wiring 12 is formed on the device electrodes 16 and 17 by using
It was formed to a thickness of μm. The wiring electrode width was 300 μm.

Step f: As shown in FIG. 6, a pair of element electrodes 16, 1
A Cr film 21 having a thickness of 1000 Å is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation using a mask having an opening 20a that straddles the Pd 7 and an organic Pd solution (cc) is formed thereon.
p4230 (manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) was spin-coated with a spinner and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes.

The thus formed conductive thin film 18 composed of fine particles containing Pd as the main element has a film pressure of about 100 angstroms and a sheet resistance of 5 × 10 4 [Ω].
/ □]. The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are gathered, and has a fine structure not only in a state where the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also in a state where the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlapped (an island). The particle size refers to the diameter of the fine particles whose particle shape can be confirmed in the above state.

The organic metal solution (organic Pd solution in this example) refers to the Pd, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In,
This is a solution of an organic compound containing a metal such as Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, and Pd as a main element. Further, in the present example, the method of forming the conductive thin film 18 was a coating method of an organic metal solution, but the method is not limited to this, and a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, a dispersion coating method, It may be formed by a dipping method, a spinner method, or the like.

Step g: Cr film 21 with acid etchant
Was removed to form a conductive thin film 18 having a desired pattern.

Step h: A pattern is formed such that a resist is applied to portions other than the contact hole 14a, and a 50 angstrom thick Ti layer and a 50 angstrom thick layer are formed by vacuum evaporation.
00 Å of Au was sequentially deposited. Unnecessary portions were removed by lift-off to bury the contact holes 14a.

Through the above steps, the row direction wiring 12, the column direction wiring 13 and the conductive thin film 18 are
It was formed dimensionally and at equal intervals.

Then, the envelope 10 in which the electron source 1 is installed
(See FIG. 1) is evacuated by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, the external terminal Dox1
A voltage was applied between the device electrodes 16 and 17 through Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn, and the conductive thin film 18 was subjected to an energization process (forming process) to form the electron emission portion 23.

Here, the energization processing (forming processing) will be described. FIGS. 21 and 7 are diagrams for explaining the forming process. 1102 and 1103 denote element electrodes, 1104 denotes a conductive thin film, 1105 denotes an electron emitting portion, 1110 denotes a forming power source, and 1111 denotes an ammeter.

As shown in FIG. 21, an appropriate voltage is applied between the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 from the forming power supply 1110, and the energization forming process is performed to form the electron emission portion 1105.

The energization forming treatment is to energize the conductive thin film 1104 made of a fine particle film, and to appropriately break, deform, or alter a part of the conductive thin film 1104 to change into a structure suitable for emitting electrons. This is the process that causes A portion of the conductive thin film made of a fine particle film that has been changed to a structure suitable for emitting electrons (that is, the electron emitting portion 110
In 5), an appropriate crack is formed in the thin film.
Note that the electrical resistance measured between the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 is significantly increased after the formation of the electron emission portions 1105 as compared to before the formation.

FIG. 7 shows an example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from the forming power supply 1110 in order to explain the energization method in more detail. When forming a conductive thin film made of a fine particle film, a pulse-like voltage is preferable. In the case of this embodiment, a triangular wave pulse having a pulse width T1 is continuously generated at a pulse interval T2 as shown in FIG. Was applied. At that time, the peak value Vpf of the triangular wave pulse was sequentially increased.

In the embodiment, for example, in a vacuum atmosphere of about 10 −5 [torr],
For example, if the pulse width T1 is 1 [millisecond] and the pulse interval is 10
[Milliseconds], and the peak value Vpf is set to 0.1 for each pulse.
The voltage was increased by [V]. Then, a monitor pulse Pm was inserted for each application of five triangular waves.
In order not to adversely affect the forming process,
The monitor pulse voltage Vpm was set to 0.1 [V]. Then, when the electric resistance between the device electrodes 1102 and 1103 becomes 1 × 10 6 [ohm], that is, the current measured by the ammeter 1111 when a monitor pulse is applied is 1 × 10 −7 [A]. When the following conditions were reached, the energization related to the forming process was terminated.

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

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

Next, the activation process will be described. FIG.
2 and 23 are diagrams for explaining the activation processing. 1112 is an activation power supply, 1113 is a deposit, 11
14 is an anode electrode, 1115 is a DC high voltage power supply, 11
Reference numeral 16 denotes an ammeter.

As shown in FIG. 22, activation power supply 111
2, an appropriate voltage is applied between the device electrodes 1102 and 1103, and the activation process is performed to improve the electron emission characteristics.

The energization activation process is a process of energizing the electron-emitting portion 1105 formed by the energization forming process under appropriate conditions and depositing carbon or a carbon compound in the vicinity thereof (in the figure). Shows a deposit made of carbon or a carbon compound as a member 1113). Note that by performing the energization activation process, the emission current at the same applied voltage can be typically increased by 100 times or more as compared with before the energization activation process.

Specifically, 10 minus 4th power to 1
By applying a voltage pulse periodically in a vacuum within the range of 0 to the fifth power [torr], carbon or a carbon compound originating from an organic compound existing in the vacuum is deposited. The deposit 1113 is made of single crystal graphite,
One of polycrystalline graphite and amorphous carbon,
Alternatively, it is a mixture thereof, and has a film thickness of 500 [Å] or less, more preferably 300 [Å] or less.

FIG. 23A shows an example of an appropriate voltage waveform applied from the activation power supply 1112 in order to explain the energization method in more detail. In the present embodiment, the energization activation process is performed by periodically applying a rectangular wave having a constant voltage. Specifically, the voltage Vac of the rectangular wave was 14 [V], the pulse width T3 was 1 [millisecond], and the pulse interval T4 was 10 [millisecond]. Note that the above-described energization conditions are preferable conditions for the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present embodiment, and when the design of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is changed, it is desirable to appropriately change the conditions accordingly.

Reference numeral 1114 shown in FIG. 22 denotes an anode electrode for capturing the emission current Ie emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device.
16 (in the case where the activation process is performed after the substrate 1101 is incorporated into the display panel,
The phosphor screen of the display panel is used as the anode electrode 1114).

While the voltage is applied from the activation power supply 1112, the emission current Ie is measured by the ammeter 1116 to monitor the progress of the energization activation process, and the activation power supply 1112 is monitored.
Control the operation of. An example of the emission current Ie measured by the ammeter 1116 is shown in FIG.
When the application of the pulse voltage starts from 12, the emission current Ie increases with the passage of time, but eventually saturates and hardly increases. As described above, when the emission current Ie is substantially saturated, the application of the voltage from the activation power supply 1112 is stopped, and the energization activation process ends.

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

As described above, a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device was manufactured.

FIG. 8 shows the evaluation of characteristics of the electron-emitting device of the present invention produced by the above-described structure and manufacturing method.
This will be described with reference to the schematic configuration diagram of the evaluation device shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 corresponds to an electron source in which one electron-emitting device is formed. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 11 denotes an insulating substrate, and 15 denotes one electron-emitting device formed on the insulating substrate 11. Reference numerals 16 and 17 denote device electrodes, 18 a thin film including an electron-emitting portion, and 23 an electron-emitting portion. Also, 31
Is a power supply for applying a device voltage Vf between the device electrodes 16 and 17; 30 is an ammeter for measuring a device current If flowing through the thin film 18 including an electron emission portion between the device electrodes 16 and 17; Emission current Ie emitted from the emission section 23
Electrode for capturing the anode, 33 is the anode electrode 3
Reference numeral 4 denotes a high-voltage power supply for applying a voltage Va, and reference numeral 32 denotes an ammeter for measuring an emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission section 23. In measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie of the electron-emitting device, a power supply 31 and a current system 30 are connected to the device electrodes 16 and 17, and a power supply 33 and an ammeter 32 are connected above the electron-emitting device 15. Anode electrode 3
4 are arranged. Further, the electron-emitting device 15 and the anode electrode 34 are installed in a vacuum device, and the vacuum device includes an exhaust pump (not shown) and devices necessary for a vacuum device such as a vacuum system. Thus, measurement and evaluation of the present element can be performed.

Incidentally, the voltage Va of the anode electrode is 1 kV to 1 kV.
0 kV, the distance H between the anode electrode and the electron-emitting device is 3
It was measured in the range of 8 mm to 8 mm.

[0110] Hereinafter, the characteristic features which are found by the present inventors and will be the principle of the present invention will be described. Emission current Ie and device current If measured by the measurement and evaluation device shown in FIG.
FIG. 9 shows a typical example of the relationship between the voltage and the element voltage Vf. I
Since f and Ie have significantly different sizes, each is shown in arbitrary units in FIG. As is clear from FIG. 9, the electron-emitting device according to the present invention has three characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie. First, the emission current Ie of the present electron-emitting device sharply increases when a device voltage Vf higher than a certain voltage (referred to as a threshold voltage, Vth in FIG. 9) or higher is applied. In this case, the emission current Ie is hardly detected. That is, the non-linear element waits for a clear threshold voltage Vth with respect to the emission current Ie. The element current If exhibits a characteristic that increases monotonously with the element voltage Vf (referred to as MI characteristic).

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

Thirdly, the amount of charge discharged to the anode electrode 34 depends on the time during which the device voltage Vf is applied. That is, the amount of charge captured by the anode electrode 34 can be controlled by the time during which the device voltage Vf is applied.

(2) Fluorescent Film 7 The fluorescent film 7 (see FIG. 1) is composed of only a phosphor in the case of monochrome, but is arranged in the case of color as shown in FIG. And a black conductive material 7b called a black stripe or a black matrix and a phosphor 7a. The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the mixed colors inconspicuous by making the painted portions between the phosphors 7a of the three primary color phosphors necessary for color display less obscure, and to provide the phosphor film 7 with The purpose is to suppress a decrease in contrast due to external light reflection. As the material of the black conductive material 7b, not only a material mainly containing graphite, which is often used, but also a material having conductivity and low transmission and reflection of light can be applied. The method of applying the phosphor 7a to the glass substrate 6 is not limited to monochrome or color, and a precipitation method or a printing method is used.

The method of applying the three primary color phosphors is not limited to the stripe arrangement shown in FIG. 10A, but may be, for example, a delta arrangement as shown in FIG. Other arrangements may be used.

When a monochrome display panel is manufactured, a monochromatic phosphor material may be used for the phosphor 1008, and a black conductive material is not necessarily used. (3) Metal back 8 The purpose of the metal back 8 (see FIG. 1) is to improve the luminance by mirror-reflecting the light toward the inner surface side of the light emitted from the phosphor 7a to the face plate 3 side, the electron beam. Acting as an accelerating electrode for applying an accelerating voltage, protecting the phosphor 7a from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the external device 10, and the like. The metal back 8 can be manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film 7 after manufacturing the fluorescent film 7 and then depositing Al by vacuum evaporation or the like. Face plate 3
In order to further enhance the conductivity of the fluorescent film 7,
Transparent electrode (not shown) between ITO and glass substrate 6
May be provided.

(4) Enclosure 10 The enclosure 10 (see) is sealed after being evacuated to a degree of vacuum of about minus 10 Torr through an exhaust space (not shown). Therefore, the rear plate 2 constituting the envelope 10,
The face plate 3 and the support frame 4 are capable of withstanding the atmospheric pressure applied to the envelope 10 and maintaining a vacuum atmosphere.
It is preferable to use one having an insulating property enough to withstand a high voltage applied between the metal back 8 and the metal back 8. Examples of the material include quartz glass, glass having a reduced impurity content such as Na, soda lime glass, and ceramic members such as alumina. However, it is preferable to combine members having a coefficient of thermal expansion close to each other to form the envelope.

When the envelope 10 is formed in the color image forming apparatus, the phosphors 7a of the respective colors need to be arranged corresponding to the electron-emitting devices 15, so that the phosphors 7a
It is necessary to accurately align the face plate 3 having the above and the rear plate 2 to which the electron source 1 is fixed.

Further, in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after the envelope 10 is sealed, getter processing may be performed. This is to heat a getter disposed at a predetermined position (not shown) in the envelope 10 by resistance heating or high-frequency heating immediately before or after sealing the envelope 10, This is a process for forming a deposition film. The getter usually contains Ba or the like as a main component, and maintains a vacuum degree of, for example, 10 @ -6 or 10 @ -7 torr by the adsorption action of the above-mentioned deposited film.

(5) Spacer 5 As described above, the spacer 5 has a mechanical strength for supporting the atmospheric pressure and a high voltage applied between the electron source 1 and the metal back 8. It is necessary to provide withstand voltage and conductivity for preventing the spacer itself from being charged.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, a structure is employed in which a semiconductive mark is coated on the surface of an insulating base material having sufficient mechanical strength.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the spacer 5 in the embodiment.

Examples of the insulating base material 5a of the spacer 5 include quartz glass, glass with reduced impurity content such as Na, soda lime glass, and ceramic members such as alumina. Preferably, the insulating base material 5a has a coefficient of thermal expansion close to that of the member forming the envelope 10 and the insulating substrate 11 of the electron source 1.

In the present embodiment, a spacer 5 made of soda-lime glass having a semiconductive film 5b made of tin oxide formed on the surface is used. The outer dimension of the spacer 5 is 5m in height
m, the plate thickness was 200 μm, and the length was 20 mm.

(Semiconductive Film) The semiconductive film 5b has a surface resistance of 10 5 to 1 in consideration of maintaining an antistatic effect and suppressing power consumption due to leakage current.
It is preferably in the range of 0 to the 12th power [Ω / □]. Examples of the material include Pt, Au, Ag, and R.
h, Ir and other noble metals, Al, Sb, Sn, Pb, G
a, Zn, In, Cd, Cu, Ni, Co, Rh, F
e, Mn, Cr, V, Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo, W, etc. and an island-like metal film made of an alloy composed of a plurality of metals;
Conductive oxides such as nO2 and ZnO can be given.

As a method for forming the semiconductive film 5b, a method using a vacuum film forming method such as a vacuum evaporation method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, or dipping or spinning of an organic solution or a dispersion solution is used. Examples of the coating method include a coating method including a step of coating and baking using an electroless plating solution capable of forming a metal film on an insulator surface by a chemical reaction from a metal compound and the compound. It is appropriately selected according to the material and productivity.

The semiconductive film 5b is made of an insulating base material 5a.
Is formed on at least the surface of the envelope 10 exposed to the vacuum in the envelope 10. The semiconductive film 5b is electrically connected to, for example, the black conductive material 7b or the metal back 8 on the face plate 3 side and to the row wiring 12 on the electron source 1 side.

The structure, installation position, installation method of the spacer 5,
The electrical connection between the face plate 3 side and the electron source 1 side is not limited to the above-mentioned case, and has a sufficient atmospheric pressure resistance and a high voltage applied between the electron source 1 and the metal back 8. As long as it has insulation enough to withstand and has a surface conductivity enough to prevent charging of the surface of the spacer 5,
Any semiconductive film may be used.

In the present embodiment, about 1000 Å of tin oxide was formed by ion plating to form a semiconductor film. The surface resistance in this case is 10 to the fourth power -10
Of 12 (Ω / □).

(Conductive Member) Here, a conductive connecting portion 58 for firmly connecting the support member (spacer) and simultaneously performing an electrical connection and a conductive member 70 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Will be explained.

In order to prevent the drawing from becoming complicated, only the electron-emitting portions 23 are schematically shown for the electron-emitting devices, but these electron-emitting devices are electrically connected to the row-direction wiring 12. Needless to say.

In the present embodiment, the spacer 5 is provided on a part of the row-direction wiring 12 via the conductive connection portion 58, and a conductive member 70 is provided on the other row-direction wiring. Then, the height of the upper surface of the conductive connecting portion 58 (shown by h1 in the drawing) and the height of the upper surface of the conductive member 70 (h in the drawing)
2) are set to be equal.

As a result, the potential distribution generated on the surface of the spacer and the potential distribution in the space above the row wiring in which the spacer is not provided could be equalized. That is, even if the spacer 5 is provided on a certain row direction wiring via the conductive connecting member 58, the same electro-optical characteristics as those of the other rows can be realized.

Therefore, even if the electron beam emitted from any of the electron emitting portions 23 flies along a similar trajectory, the light emitting point shifts, the brightness decreases, and the color shift near the spacer 5 as in the related art. Such a problem did not occur.

In order to maximize the above-mentioned effect, it is optimal to set w1 = w2 in addition to the condition of h1 = h2. Therefore, in the present embodiment, such setting is made. (W1 is the width of the conductive connecting portion 58 and w2 is the width of the conductive member 70.) Hereinafter, the manufacturing method will be described in more detail.

In the present embodiment, the conductive connecting portion 58 that holds the spacer 5 and performs electrical connection is made of a soda lime glass sphere whose surface is plated with Au as a filler.
This was formed by applying a paste dispersed in frit glass by screen printing and firing.
At this time, the average particle size of the soda lime sphere was 8 μm.
The conductive layer on the filler surface is formed by electroless plating using a 0.1 μm Ni film as a base and an Au film on the Ni film with a thickness of 0.1 μm.
It was formed to have a thickness of 04 μm. This conductive filler was mixed at 30% by weight with respect to the frit glass powder, and a binder was further added to prepare a coating paste.

This conductive frit paste is applied to the row wiring 12 of the electron source 1 by using a dispenser so as to have the same width as the row wiring 12. After the application, the spacer is aligned, and the
It was baked for more than a minute and fixed. On the face plate 3 side, the spacer 5 is formed at the end using a dispenser. After being arranged in accordance with the black conductive material 7b (line width 300 μm), it was baked in the air at 400 ° C. to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more. By doing so, the electron source 1 and the black conductive material 7b are held and connected to the spacer 5, and the width of the conductive connecting portion 58 is 300 μm, which is the same as that of the row wiring, and the thickness is 400 μm. The same material as the conductive connecting portion 58 was used for the conductive member 70 of the present embodiment.

(6) Driving Method The driving method of the image forming apparatus described above is described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a drive circuit for performing a television display based on an NTSC television signal. In the figure, a display panel 1701 is an apparatus manufactured and operated as described above. The scanning circuit 1702 operates a display line,
The control circuit 1703 generates a signal or the like to be input to the scanning circuit. The shift register 1704 shifts data for each line, and the line memory 1705 stores the shift register 1
The data for one line from 704 is converted into a modulated signal
07. The synchronization signal separation circuit 1706 is an NTSC
Separate the synchronization signal from the signal.

Hereinafter, the function of each unit of the apparatus shown in FIG. 15 will be described in detail.

First, the display panel 1701 is connected to the terminal Dox
1 to Doxm, terminals Doy1 to Doyn, and a high voltage terminal Hv are connected to an external electric signal. Among them, the terminals Dox1 to Doxm are connected to an electron source provided in the display panel 1701, ie, m
A scanning signal is applied for sequentially driving the electron-emitting device groups arranged in a matrix of n rows and n columns, one row at a time (n elements).

On the other hand, the terminals Doy1 to Doyn have
A modulation signal for controlling an output electron beam of each element of one row of electron-emitting devices selected by the scanning signal is applied. The high voltage terminal Hv is required to have a DC voltage of, for example, 5 kV from the DC voltage source Va, and this imparts sufficient energy to the electron beam output from the electron-emitting device to excite the phosphor. Voltage for acceleration.

Next, the scanning circuit 1702 will be described.

This circuit includes m switching elements (schematically indicated by S1 to Sm in the figure). Each switching element includes an output voltage of a DC voltage source Vx or an OV (ground). Level) to select one of the terminals Dox1 to Dox of the display panel 1701.
xm. Each of the switching elements S1 to Sm operates based on the control signal Tscan output from the control circuit 1703, but can be easily configured by combining switching elements such as FETs in practice.

In the case of the present embodiment, the DC voltage source Vx is controlled so that the driving voltage applied to the electron-emitting device illustrated in FIG. 9 is equal to or lower than the electron-emitting threshold voltage Vth.
It is set to output a constant voltage of V.

The control circuit 1703 has a function of coordinating the operation of each unit so that an appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the circulation unit. Based on a synchronization signal Tsync sent from a synchronization signal separation circuit 1706 described below, Tscan and Ts
ft and Tmry control signals are generated.

The synchronizing signal separating circuit 1706 can be easily formed by using a synchronizing signal component (filter) circuit from an NTSC television signal input from each section. As is well known, the synchronization signal separated by the synchronization signal separation circuit 1706 includes a vertical synchronization signal, but is shown here as a Tsync signal for convenience of explanation.
On the other hand, a luminance signal component of an image separated from the television signal is referred to as a DATA signal for convenience, and this signal is input to a shift register 1704.

The shift register 1704 is for serially / parallel converting the DATA signal input serially in time series for each line of an image, and is based on a control signal Tsft sent from the control circuit 1703. Operate. That is, the control signal Tsft can be rephrased as the shift lock of the shift register 1704.

The data for one line of the image after the serial / parallel conversion is input to the shift register 1 as a signal to be input to n line memories 1705 of Idl to Idn.
704.

The line memory 1705 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a required time, and stores the contents of Idl to Idn as appropriate according to the control signal Tmry sent from the control circuit 1703. The stored contents are output as I'dl to I'dn and input to the modulation signal generator 1707.

A modulation signal generator 1707 is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the electron-emitting devices 6 in accordance with each of the image data I'dl to I'dn. The voltage is applied to the electron-emitting devices in the display panel 1701 through Doy1 to Doyn.

As described with reference to FIG. 9, the electron-emitting device according to the present invention has the following basic characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie. That is, as is apparent from the graph of Ie in FIG. 9, the electron emission has a clear threshold voltage Vth (8 V in the device of the present embodiment), and the electron emission is performed only when a voltage higher than the threshold Vth is applied. Occurs.

For a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold value Vth, the emission current Ie also changes in accordance with the voltage change as shown in the graph. The value of the electron emission threshold voltage Vth and the degree of change of the emission current with respect to the applied voltage may be changed by changing the configuration and the manufacturing method of the electron emission element. The thing can be said.

That is, when a voltage on a pulse is applied to the device, electron emission does not occur even if a voltage of 8 V or less, which is the electron emission threshold, is applied, but the electron emission threshold (8
When a voltage higher than V) is applied, an electron beam is output.

The function of each unit shown in FIG. 15 has been described above. Before proceeding to the description of the overall operation, the operation of the display panel 1701 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

For convenience of illustration, the number of pixels of the display panel is set to 6 ×
6 (that is, m = n = 6), but it goes without saying that the display panel 1701 actually used has much more pixels than this.

FIG. 16 shows an electron source in which the electron-emitting devices 6 are arranged in a matrix of 6 rows and 6 columns, and D (1, 1), D ( 1,
2), the position is indicated by (X, Y) coordinates like D (6, 6).

When an image is displayed by driving such an electron source, a method is employed in which an image is formed line by line in units of one line parallel to the X axis. To drive the electron-emitting device 6 corresponding to one line of the image,
Of Dox1 to Dox6, 0 (V) is applied to the terminal of the row corresponding to the display line, and 7 (V) is applied to the other terminals. In synchronization with this, a modulation signal is applied to each terminal of Doy1 to Doy6 according to the image pattern of the line.

For example, a case where an image pattern as shown in FIG. 17 is displayed will be described.

Description will be made by taking, as an example, a period during which the third line of the image in FIG. 17 emits light. FIG.
While emitting the third line of the image, the terminal Dox
2 shows voltage values applied to the electron source through Nos. 1 to Dox6 and terminals Doy1 to Doy6. As is clear from the figure, D (2,3), D (3,3),
An electron emission element of D (4,3) is applied with 14V (element shown in black in the figure) exceeding an electron emission threshold voltage of 8V to output an electron beam. On the other hand, 7V (element shown by oblique lines in the figure) or 0V (element shown in white in the figure) is applied to the elements other than the above three elements. No electron beam is output from the element.

In the same manner, the other lines are also shown in FIG.
The electron source is driven in accordance with the display pattern of No. 7, but by driving one line at a time from the first line,
A screen is displayed, and by repeating this at a speed of 60 screens per second, it is possible to display an image without flicker.

Although the above description does not refer to gray scale display, gray scale display can be performed, for example, by changing the pulse width of the voltage applied to the element.

FIG. 19 shows a display panel using the above-described surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source so that image information provided from various image information sources such as television broadcasting can be displayed. It is a figure for showing an example of the constituted multifunctional display.

In the figure, reference numeral 500 denotes a display panel;
1 is a display panel drive circuit, 502 is a display controller, 503 is a multiplexer, 504 is a decoder, 505 is an input / output interface circuit, 50
6 is a CPU, 507 is an image generation circuit, 508 and 50
9 and 510 are image memory interface circuits, 5
11 is an image input interface circuit, 512 and 5
13 is a TV signal receiving circuit, and 2114 is an input unit.

(Note that, when the present display device receives a signal containing both video information and audio information, such as a television signal, it naturally reproduces audio simultaneously with the display of video. A description of circuits, speakers, and the like relating to reception, separation, reproduction, processing, storage, and the like of audio information that is not directly related to the features of the present invention will be omitted.) Hereinafter, functions of each unit will be described along the flow of image signals. go.

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 513 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, a prescription formula such as the NTSC format, the PAL format, or the SECAM format. 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 513
The signal is output to decoder 504.

The TV signal receiving circuit 512 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wired transmission system such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. Similarly to the TV signal receiving circuit 513, the system 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 504.

The image input interface circuit 51
Reference numeral 1 denotes a circuit for receiving 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 the decoder 504.

The image memory interface circuit 5
Reference numeral 10 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal stored in a video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR). The captured image signal is output to a decoder 504.

The image memory interface circuit 5
Reference numeral 09 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal stored in the video disk, and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 504.

The image memory interface circuit 5
Reference numeral 08 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal from a device storing still image data, such as a so-called still image disk.
Is output to

The input / output interface circuit 505
Is a circuit for connecting the present display device to an external computer or an output device such as a computer network or a printer. In addition to inputting and outputting image data, character data, and graphic information, control signals and numerical data can be input and output between the CPU 506 of the display device and the outside in some cases. .

The image generation circuit 507 is provided with image data and character / graphic information input from the outside via the input / output interface circuit 505, or the CPU 50.
6 is a circuit for generating display image data based on the image data and character / figure information output from 6. Within 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, and a processor for performing image processing Circuits necessary for generating an image, such as those described above, are incorporated.

The display image data generated by this circuit is output to the decoder 504. In some cases, it is possible to input / output an external computer network or a printer via the input / output interface circuit 505.

The CPU 506 mainly controls the operation of the display device and performs operations related to generation, selection, and editing of a display image.

For example, a control signal is output to the multiplexer 503, and an image signal to be displayed on the display panel is appropriately selected or combined. At that time, a control signal is generated for the display panel controller 502 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 507, or an external computer or memory is accessed via the input / output interface circuit 505 to access the image data / character / graphic data. Enter graphic information.

[0177] The CPU 506 may, of course, be involved in operations for other purposes. For example, it may be directly related to a function of generating and processing information, such as a personal computer or a word processor.

Alternatively, as described above, the computer may be connected to an external computer network via the input / output interface circuit 505 to perform operations such as numerical calculations in cooperation with external devices.

The input unit 514 is connected to the CPU 506.
The user inputs commands, programs, data, and the like. For example, in addition to a keyboard and a mouse, various input devices such as a joystick, a barcode reader, and a voice recognition device can be used.

The decoder 514 converts the various image signals input from the above 507 to 513 into three primary color signals,
Alternatively, it is a circuit for inversely converting a luminance signal into an I signal and a Q signal. It is preferable that the decoder 504 includes an internal image memory as shown by a dotted line in FIG. This is for handling television signals that require an image memory when performing inverse conversion, such as the MUSE method. Further, the provision of the image memory facilitates the display of a still image, or the image generation circuit 5
This is because there is an advantage that image processing and editing including image thinning, interpolation, enlargement, reduction, and synthesis can be easily performed in cooperation with the image processing unit 07 and the CPU 506.

The multiplexer 503 is connected to the CP
A display image is appropriately selected based on a control signal input from U506. That is, the multiplexer 50
A drive circuit 501 selects a desired image signal from the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 504, and
Output to In that case, by switching and selecting an image signal within one screen display time, it is possible to divide one screen into a plurality of areas and display different images depending on the areas, as in a so-called multi-screen TV. .

The display panel controller 5
Reference numeral 02 denotes a circuit for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 501 based on a control signal input from the CPU 506.

First, as a signal related to the basic operation of the display panel, for example, a signal for controlling an operation sequence of a drive power source (not shown) for driving the display panel is output to the drive circuit 501.

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 501.

In some cases, a control signal related to image quality adjustment such as brightness, contrast, color tone, and sharpness of a display image may be output to the drive circuit 501.

The drive circuit 501 is a circuit for generating a drive signal to be applied to the display panel 510. The drive circuit 501 receives the image signal input from the multiplexer 503 and the control signal input from the display panel controller 502. It operates on the basis of:

The function of each unit has been described above. With the configuration illustrated in FIG. 19, in this display device, image information input from various image information sources is displayed on the display panel 5.
00 can be displayed.

That is, various image signals including television broadcasts are inversely converted by the decoder 504, are appropriately selected by the multiplexer 503, and are input to the drive circuit 501. On the other hand, the display controller 502 controls the driving circuit 5 according to the image signal to be displayed.
01 is generated. The drive circuit 501 applies a drive signal to the display panel 500 based on the image signal and the control signal.

As a result, an image is displayed on display panel 500. These series of operations are performed by CP
It is totally controlled by U506.

In the present display device, an image memory incorporated in the decoder 504, an image generation circuit 507,
And the involvement of the CPU 506 not only displays a selected one of a plurality of pieces of image information, but also
For example, enlarge, reduce, rotate,
It is also possible to perform image processing such as movement, edge emphasis, thinning, interpolation, color conversion, and image aspect ratio conversion, and image editing such as synthesis, deletion, connection, replacement, and insertion. Although not particularly described in the description of the present embodiment, a dedicated circuit for processing and editing audio information may be provided similarly to the 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 such as a word processor,
It can be equipped with the functions of a game machine etc. by one unit, and has a very wide application range for industrial or consumer use.

FIG. 19 shows only an example of the configuration of a display device using a display panel using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source, and the present invention is not limited to this. Needless to say. For example, FIG.
Circuits related 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 as a video phone, it is preferable to add a transmission / reception circuit including a television camera, an audio microphone, an illuminator, and a modem to the components.

In the present display device, in particular, a display panel using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source can be easily thinned, so that the depth of the entire display device can be reduced. In addition, since the display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device as the electron beam source is easy to enlarge the screen, has high brightness, and has excellent viewing angle characteristics, this display device can display images that are full of immersion and powerful. It is possible to display well.

The configuration according to FIG. 19 described above can of course be applied to the following second to eighth embodiments.

<Second Embodiment> An example in which the shape on the wiring in the first embodiment is changed is referred to as a second embodiment, and FIG.
It is shown in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 12 denotes a row-direction wiring, and 11 denotes an insulating substrate for forming the row-direction wiring. In the present embodiment,
The width of the row wiring 12 is 400 μm. Further, the thickness of the row direction wiring 12 was formed to be 40 μm.

In this embodiment, a clear color image with good color reproducibility without disturbance in the electron trajectory can be obtained as in the first embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the conductive connecting portion 58
Is formed, between the spacer and the row-direction wiring 12 in the row-direction wiring 12 with the spacer, and in the line of the row-direction wiring 12 without the spacer, the conductive connecting portion 58 of the row-direction wiring 12 with the spacer is connected. The conductive member 70 was arranged in an equivalent shape.

Since the amount of the conductive connecting member disposed between the wiring and the spacer can be reduced, it is suitable for mass production.

Third Embodiment The present invention can be applied to any of the cold cathode type electron-emitting devices other than the surface conduction type electron-emitting device. A specific example is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-274407 by the present applicant.
There is a field emission type electron-emitting device in which a pair of electrodes facing each other is formed along a substrate surface forming an electron source as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-260, 1993.

FIG. 25 is a plan view showing a case where a conductive spacer is provided on a row-direction wiring 3104 by a conductive connection member 3108 in the FE type electron source. By the conductive connection member 3108, the potential surface in the direction (column direction) perpendicular to the element voltage application direction is changed to the electron emission portion 310.
A conductive member such as 3107 is provided on a plane including 1 and perpendicular to the substrate and parallel to the row wiring 3107 in order to prevent the plane from becoming asymmetric. The width w of the conductive member 3107
2 and the width w1 of the conductive connection member 3108 are set to be equal. Also, as in the other embodiments, it is needless to say that h1 = h2 (not shown in FIG. 25). In the figure, p1 indicates the direction in which current flows in the electron-emitting device, and p2 indicates the direction in which the spacer 3109 extends, and these are set in parallel.

The present invention can be applied to an image forming apparatus using an electron source other than the simple matrix type. For example, in an image forming apparatus for selecting a surface conduction electron-emitting device using a control electrode as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-257551 by the present applicant, a case where the above-described control electrode is used is described. is there.

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

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

As described above, in the image display device according to the present embodiment, the spacer having the semiconductive film on the surface is arranged, and the conductive connection member electrically connects to the semiconductive film and holds the spacer. By providing a height to the 3108 and arranging the conductive member 3107 having an equivalent shape even in the electrode where the spacer is not arranged, the position where the electron beam emitted from the electron source collides with the phosphor, and the fluorescent light which should emit light originally The occurrence of displacement with respect to the body was prevented, and the protrusion of adjacent images and the loss of luminance were prevented, and clear image display became possible.

Further, the same effect can be exerted in an electron generator constituting a multi-plane electron source without specifying the electron irradiation object.

<Fourth Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view (A) of an essential part of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. -A 'section). In the fourth embodiment, a printing process is performed in a divided manner, and a recess for forming a conductive connection portion is formed on a wiring.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, an electron source 1 in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices (hereinafter abbreviated as “electron-emitting devices”) 15 are arranged in a matrix is fixed to a rear plate 2. I have. In the electron source 1, a face plate 3 as an image forming member, in which a fluorescent film 7 and a metal back 8 as an accelerating electrode are formed on the inner surface of a glass substrate 6, has a support frame 4 made of an insulating material. A high voltage is applied between the electron source 1 and the metal back 8 by a power source (not shown). The rear plate 2, the support frame 4 and the face plate 3 are sealed with each other with frit glass or the like, and the rear plate 2, the support frame 4 and the face plate 3
Is configured.

The inside of the envelope 10 is 10 −6 To
Since it is kept at a vacuum of about rr, a thin plate-like spacer 5 is provided inside the envelope 10 as an anti-atmospheric structure for the purpose of preventing the envelope 10 from being destroyed due to an atmospheric pressure, an unexpected impact, or the like. Is provided. As shown in FIG.
Is made of a member in which a semiconductive film 5b is formed on the surface of an insulating base material 5a, and is provided in a necessary number and at a necessary interval to achieve the above-mentioned purpose of the atmospheric pressure resistant structure. It is arranged parallel to the X direction, and is sealed to the inner surface of the envelope 10 and the surface of the electron source 1 with frit glass or the like. The semiconductive film 5b is electrically connected to the inner surface of the face plate 3 and the surface of the electron source 1 (row direction wirings 12 described later).

Hereinafter, each of the above-described components will be described in detail.

Electron Source 1 FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of the electron source 1 of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the electron source 1 shown in FIG. It is.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, on an insulating substrate 11 made of a glass substrate or the like, m row direction wirings 12 and n column direction wirings 13 are provided with an interlayer insulating layer 14 (FIG. (Not shown) and are electrically separated and arranged in a matrix. An electron-emitting device 15 is electrically connected between each row-direction wiring 12 and each column-direction wiring 13. Each of the electron-emitting devices 15 has a pair of device electrodes 16 and 17 and a device electrode 1 that are arranged at intervals in the X direction.
6 and 17, and one of the pair of device electrodes 16 and 17 is electrically connected to the row-direction wiring 12 and the other device electrode 17 is formed. Is electrically connected to the column-directional wiring 13 through a contact hole 14a formed in the interlayer insulating layer 14. The row direction wiring 12 and the column direction wiring 13 are respectively shown in FIG.
The external terminals Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn shown in FIG.
And is drawn out of the envelope 10.

As the insulating substrate 11, quartz glass, N
Glass members such as glass having reduced impurity content such as a, soda lime glass, glass substrates such as soda lime glass laminated with SiO 2 formed by sputtering or the like, or ceramic members such as alumina are exemplified. The size and thickness of the insulating substrate 11 depend on the number of electron-emitting devices provided on the insulating substrate 11 and the design shape of each electron-emitting device, and the electron source 1 itself forms part of the envelope 10. It is set as appropriate depending on conditions for maintaining the vacuum in the configuration.

The row wirings 12 and the column wirings 13 are made of a conductive metal or the like formed in a desired pattern on the insulating substrate 11 by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. The material, film thickness, and wiring width are set so that a voltage as uniform as possible is supplied to the element 15. Further, in the case of the wiring for embedding the support member, a film thickness is selected so that a sufficient voltage can be supplied even after the conductive connection member is embedded.

The interlayer insulating layer 14 is formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method,
It is made of SiO2 or the like formed by a sputtering method or the like, and is formed in a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the insulating substrate 11 on which the column direction wiring 13 is formed.
The thickness, material, and manufacturing method are appropriately set so as to withstand the potential difference at the intersection of No. 3.

Device electrodes 16 and 17 of electron-emitting device 15
Are made of a conductive metal or the like, and are formed in a desired pattern by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like.

The conductive metals of the row direction wiring 12, the column direction wiring 13, and the device electrodes 16, 17 may have the same or some of the constituent elements, or may be different from each other. Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al,
Metals or alloys such as Cu and Pd, and Pd, Ag and A
printed conductors composed of a metal such as u, RuO2, Pd-Ag, or a metal oxide and glass, or In2O3-SnO
It is appropriately selected from transparent conductors such as 2 and semiconductor materials such as polysilicon.

Specific examples of the material forming the conductive thin film 18 include Pd, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu,
Metals such as Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, and Pd;
oxides such as dO, SnO2, In2O3, PbO, Sb2O3, HfB2, ZrB2, LaB6, CeB6, YB4, G
borides such as dB4, TiC, ZrC, HfC, TaC,
Carbides such as SiC and WC, nitrides such as TiN, ZrN and HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, carbon, AgMg,
NiCu, Pb, Sn or the like, and is formed of a fine particle film.

The row wiring 12 is electrically connected to scanning signal generating means (not shown) for applying a scanning signal for arbitrarily scanning the rows of the electron-emitting devices 15 arranged in the X direction. ing. On the other hand, the column direction wiring 13 is electrically connected to a modulation signal generating means (not shown) for applying a modulation signal for arbitrarily modulating each column of the electron-emitting devices 15 arranged in the Y direction. . Here, the drive voltage applied to each electron-emitting device 15 is supplied as a difference voltage between a scanning signal and a modulation signal applied to the electron-emitting device.

Here, an example of a method of manufacturing the electron source 1 will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. Note that the following steps a to h correspond to (a) to (h) in FIG.

Step a: A 50 .ANG.-thick Cr, 5000 .ANG.-thick film is formed by vacuum evaporation on an insulating substrate 11 in which a 0.5 .mu.m-thick silicon oxide film is formed on a cleaned soda lime glass by a sputtering method. Are sequentially laminated, and then the photoresist (AZ137)
(Available from Hoechst Co., Ltd.) using a spinner, followed by baking. After baking, expose the photomask image,
By developing, a resist pattern of the column direction wiring 13 is formed, and the Au / Cr deposited film is wet-etched to form the column direction wiring 13 having a desired shape.

Step b: Next, an interlayer insulating layer 14 of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 μm is deposited by RF sputtering.

Step c: A photoresist pattern for forming the contact hole 14a is formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in the step b, and this is used as a mask to form the interlayer insulating layer 1
4 is etched to form a contact hole 14a. Etching is performed using RIE (Rea) using CF4 and H2 gas.
ctive Ion Etching) method.

Step d: Thereafter, a pattern to be a gap between the device electrodes and the device electrode is formed by a photoresist (RD-2).
000N-41 manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.), a 50 Å thick Ti, 100
0 angstrom Ni is sequentially deposited. The photoresist pattern was dissolved with an organic solvent, the Ni / Ti deposited film was lifted off, and the distance L1 between device electrodes (see FIG. 3) was 3 μm.
m, device electrodes 16 and 17 having a device electrode width W1 (see FIG. 3) of 300 μm are formed.

Step e: A row-direction wiring 12 was formed on the device electrodes 16 and 17 by using a screen printing method to form 20 Ag electrodes.
It was formed to a thickness of μm. At this time, the screen printing process is divided into two steps, and the row-direction wiring 1 is formed using different screen masks.
The buried portion 57 of the conductive connection portion 58 of 20 μm was formed in No. 2.

This step will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 30, reference numeral 100 denotes an electron emitting portion;
1 is an insulating substrate, 121 to 122 are row direction wirings, and 57 is a buried portion of a row direction wiring for forming a conductive connection portion.

In (a), a part 121 of the row-directional wiring is formed on the insulating substrate 11 on which the electron-emitting portion 100, the column-directional wiring (not shown) and the like are formed by using a silver paste by screen printing. . In this state, calcination is performed at 150 ° C. for 30 minutes. A similar process is performed for a portion that does not hold the spacer, thereby forming a part 122 of the row-directional wiring. Next, it was baked at 580 ° C. for 15 minutes to form the state of FIG.

In the present embodiment, the wiring width in the row direction is 3
The thickness of the buried portion 57 was 20 μm, and the thickness of the other row-direction wiring portions was 40 μm.

Step f: As shown in FIG. 6, a pair of device electrodes 16, which are located at a distance L1 between device electrodes,
A Cr film 21 having a thickness of 1000 angstroms is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation using a mask having an opening 20a that straddles an organic Pd solution (c).
cp4230 manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) is spin-coated with a spinner and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes.

The electron-emitting-portion-forming thin film 18 formed of fine particles containing Pd as a main element has a thickness of about 100 angstroms and a sheet resistance of 5 × 10 4 [Ω / □]. is there. Note that the fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and has a fine structure not only in a state in which the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also in a state in which the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlapped (island shape). ), And the particle size refers to the diameter of the fine particles whose particle shape can be recognized in the above state.

The organic metal solvent (organic Pd solvent in this example) refers to the Pd, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In,
This is a solution of an organic compound containing a metal such as Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, and Pb as a main element. Further, in the present example, the method of producing the thin film 18 for forming the electron-emitting portion 18 is a coating method of an organic metal solvent. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a vacuum evaporation method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, It may be formed by a coating method, a dipping method, a spinner method, or the like.

Step g: Cr film 2 with acid etchant
1 is removed to form an electron-emitting-portion-forming thin film 18 having a desired pattern.

Step h: A pattern is formed such that a resist is applied to portions other than the contact hole 14a, and 50 angstrom Ti and 50 angstrom are formed by vacuum evaporation.
Au of 00A is sequentially deposited. Unnecessary portions are removed by lift-off to bury the contact holes 14a.

Through the above steps, the row-direction wirings 12, the column-direction wirings 13, and the electron-emitting devices 15 are formed and arranged two-dimensionally at equal intervals on the insulating substrate 11.

In this embodiment, the forming process
The activation process, the fluorescent film 7, the metal back 8, and the envelope 10 are the same as in the first embodiment.

(Spacer 5) The spacer 5 has an insulating property enough to withstand a high voltage applied between the electron source 1 and the metal back 8, and has a surface conductivity sufficient to prevent charging on the surface. Having a semiconductive film.

Examples of the insulating substrate 5a of the spacer 5 include quartz glass, glass with a reduced impurity content such as Na, soda lime glass, and ceramic members such as alumina. Preferably, the insulating base material 5a has a coefficient of thermal expansion that is close to that of the member forming the envelope 10 and the insulating substrate 11 of the electron source 1.

The surface resistance of the semiconductive film 5b is 10 5 to 10 12 in consideration of maintaining an antistatic effect and suppressing power consumption due to leakage current. Ω / □], and examples of the material include Pt, Au, Ag,
In addition to precious metals such as Rh, Ir, etc., Al, Sb, Sn, P
b, Ga, Zn, In, Cd, Cu, Ni, Co, R
h, Fe, Mn, Cr, V, Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo,
An island-shaped metal film made of a metal such as W and an alloy composed of a plurality of metals, and a conductive oxide such as SnO2 and ZnO can be given.

The semiconductive film 5b may be formed by a vacuum film forming method such as a vacuum evaporation method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, or by applying an organic solution or a dispersion solution by dipping or using a spinner. A coating method comprising a baking step or the like; a metal compound and an electroless plating solution capable of forming a metal film on an insulator surface by a chemical reaction from the compound; and a target material and production. It is appropriately selected according to the nature.

Further, the semiconductive film 5b is formed of an insulating base material 5a
The film may be formed on at least the surface of the envelope 10 exposed to the vacuum in the envelope 10. As shown in FIG. 3, the semiconductive film 5b is electrically connected to, for example, the black conductive material 7b or the metal back 8 of the fluorescent film 7 on the face plate 3 side, and to the row wiring 12 on the electron source 1 side. Connected to.

The structure, installation position, installation method of the spacer 5,
The electrical connection between the face plate 3 side and the electron source 1 side is not limited to the above-mentioned case, and has a sufficient atmospheric pressure resistance and a high voltage applied between the electron source 1 and the metal back 8. Any configuration may be used as long as it has insulation enough to withstand and has conductivity enough to prevent the surface of the spacer 5 from being charged.

Here, the constituent materials of the conductive connecting portion for firmly connecting the above members and simultaneously achieving the electrical connection will be described.

As a constituent material of the conductive connecting member, a material obtained by dispersing a conductive filler in frit glass and adding a binder to form a paste can be suitably used. At this time, the conductive filler can be obtained by forming a metal film on the surface of a glass sphere such as soda lime glass or silica having a diameter of 5 to 50 μm by plating or the like. Production Next, the paste-like mixed solution is applied by screen printing or a dispenser and baked to form a conductive connection portion.

Normally, the applied voltage Vf between the pair of device electrodes 16 and 17 of the electron-emitting device 15 is about 12 to 16 V, and the distance d between the metal back 8 and the electron-emitting device 15 is 2 to 8 mm.
The voltage Va between the metal back 8 and the electron-emitting device 15
Is about 1 kV to 10 kV.

The configuration described above is a schematic configuration necessary for producing a suitable image forming apparatus used for image display and the like. For example, detailed portions such as materials and arrangement of each member are limited to those described above. Rather, it is appropriately selected so as to be suitable for the use of the image forming apparatus. In the present embodiment, first, the unformed electron source 1 is fixed to the rear plate 2.
Next, the semiconductive film 5b made of tin oxide is coated on the surface of the insulating base material 5a made of soda lime glass.
Spacers 5 formed on four surfaces exposed inside (height 5 mm,
A plate thickness of 200 μm and a length of 20 mm) are arranged at equal intervals on the electron source 1 side in parallel with the row wirings 12 and on the face plate 3 side against the 5 mm black conductive material 7 b. The display unit of the image forming apparatus was formed by fixing the joint of the plate 3, the support frame 4, and the spacer 5.

Here, a method of connecting the row wirings 12 having the concave portions 57 and the spacers, which is a feature of the embodiment, will be further described.

FIG. 26 is a perspective view showing the present embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the spacer 5 is provided in the recess provided in a part of the row-directional wiring 12 via the conductive connecting portion 58, but the height of the upper surface of the conductive connecting portion 58 (h1 in the drawing) ) And the height (indicated by h2 in the figure) of the upper surface of another row-direction wiring (ie, another conductive portion) are set to the same size. As a result, the potential distribution generated on the spacer surface and the potential distribution in the space above the row wiring in which the spacer is not provided could be equalized. That is, the conductive connection member 58 is connected to a certain row direction wiring.
Even if the spacers 5 were provided via the same line, the same electro-optical characteristics as those of the other rows could be realized. Therefore, even if the electron beam emitted from any of the electron emitting portions 23 flies along a similar trajectory, there are problems such as a shift of a light emitting point, a decrease in brightness, and a color shift near the spacer 5 as in the related art. It did not occur. In order to maximize the above-described effect, it is optimal to set w1 = w3 in addition to the condition of h1 = h2.
In the present embodiment, such setting is performed (however, w1
Is the width of the conductive connection portion 58, and w3 is the width of the row wiring 12.

Hereinafter, the manufacturing method will be described in more detail.

In the present embodiment, the conductive connecting portions 58 and 59 for holding the spacer 5 and making an electrical connection are made of soda lime glass spheres whose surfaces are plated with Au as fillers and dispersed in frit glass. The paste was formed by applying the paste with a dispenser and firing the paste. At this time, the average particle size of the soda lime was 8 μm. The conductive layer on the surface of the filler was formed by forming a 0.1 μm Ni film on a base using an electroless plating method and forming an Au film on the Ni film at 0.04 μm. This conductive filler was mixed at 30% by weight with respect to the frit glass powder, and a binder was further added to prepare a coating paste.

Next, this conductive frit paste is applied to the concave portion 57 of the row direction wiring electrode 12 with a dispenser on the electron source 1 side, and the spacer 5 is coated on the face plate 3 side.
After coating with an end portion using a dispenser, a black conductive material 7b is formed on the electron source 1 side in a concave portion and on the face plate 3 side.
(Line width 300 μm) and 400 ℃ in air
The electron source 1 and the black conductive material 7b were held and connected to the spacer 5 by baking at a temperature of about 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more, and an electrical connection was made. In the present embodiment, the electron source 1
On the side, the difference between the upper end of the conductive connection portion 58 and the upper end of the row direction wiring 12 could be suppressed within 5 μm.

In the present embodiment, the conductive connecting portion 58
The material was selected so that the conductivity of the material of the row direction wiring 12 was substantially equal to the conductivity of the material of the row direction wiring 12. This makes it possible to equalize the electrical characteristics of the row-direction wiring provided with the recess and the other row-direction wiring.

At the same time, the electrical resistance in the height direction of the spacer 5 (resistance between the row wiring and the accelerating electrode) is 1 compared with the resistance in the height direction of the row wiring or the conductive connection portion 58.
The conductivity of the semiconductive film on the spacer surface was set to be 0000 times.

By setting the resistance ratio to a large value as described above, the voltage effect generated in the conductive connection portion and the row direction wiring by the current flowing from the spacer can be reduced to a negligible level. In other words, the accelerating voltage could be completely applied between the accelerating electrode and the conductive connection (that is, both ends of the spacer).

By combining these effects, it was possible to equalize the potential distribution generated on the spacer surface and the potential distribution in the space above the row wiring in which the spacer was not provided. That is, the conductive connecting portion 58 is connected to a certain row direction wiring.
Even if the spacers 5 were provided via the same line, the same electro-optical characteristics as those of the other rows could be realized. Therefore, even if the electron beam emitted from any of the electron emitting portions 23 flies along a similar trajectory, there are problems such as a shift of a light emitting point, a decrease in brightness, and a color shift near the spacer 5 as in the related art. It did not occur.

In this embodiment, the spacer, the electron source 1 and the face plate 3 are connected at the same time, but they can be connected separately. Further, in order to prevent the formation of the conductive connection portion 58 from being significantly deformed during the formation, the connection with the spacer 5 can be performed after performing preliminary firing at a temperature lower than the firing temperature after application. is there.

In the present embodiment, the semiconductive film is made of an insulative substrate 5a made of cleaned soda lime glass.
A tin oxide film 5b was formed thereon by a vacuum film forming method.

The tin oxide film used in this embodiment was formed by sputtering using a sputtering apparatus with tin oxide as a target and in an argon / oxygen mixed atmosphere. The substrate temperature at the time of sputtering was 250 ° C., and the thickness of the formed tin oxide was about 0.1 μm.
The sheet resistance was 1 × 10 9 Ω / □.

The fluorescent film 7, which is an image forming member,
As shown in FIG. 10- (a), each color phosphor 7a adopts a stripe shape extending in the Y direction, and the black conductive material 7b separates not only between the color phosphors 7a but also between pixels in the Y direction and A shape including a portion for installing the spacer 5 was used. First, the black conductive material 7b was formed, and the phosphors 7a of the respective colors were applied to the respective gaps in the gaps, thereby forming the phosphor film 7. As the material for the black stripe, a material mainly containing graphite, which is generally used, was used. Glass substrate 6
The slurry 7a was used as a method for applying the phosphor 7a to the substrate.

The metal back 8 provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 7 is subjected to a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film 7 after the fluorescent film 7 is formed, Was produced by vacuum evaporation. The face plate 3 may be provided with a transparent electrode on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 7 in order to further increase the conductivity of the fluorescent film 7, but in this experimental example, sufficient conductivity can be obtained only by the metal back. Omitted.

When the above-mentioned sealing is performed, since the phosphors of each color must correspond to the electron-emitting devices, the rear plate 2, the face plate 3 and the spacer 5 are sufficiently aligned.

The atmosphere in the envelope 10 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 outer terminals Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doy1 to Dox1. A voltage was applied between the device electrodes 16 and 17 of the electron-emitting device 15 through Doyn, and the conductive thin film 18 was subjected to a conduction process (forming process) to form the electron-emitting portion 23. The forming process was performed by applying a voltage having a waveform shown in FIG.

Next, at a degree of vacuum of about 10 −6 torr, the exhaust pipe (not shown) was welded by heating with a gas burner, and the envelope 10 was sealed.

Finally, gettering was performed to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing.

In the image forming apparatus completed as described above, a scanning signal and a modulation signal are applied to each of the electron-emitting devices 15 via signal terminals (not shown) through terminals Dox1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn outside the container. As a result, electrons are emitted, and the metal back 8
An image was displayed by applying a high voltage through the high voltage terminal Hv to accelerate the emitted electron beam, collide electrons with the fluorescent film 7 and excite and emit light from the phosphor. The applied voltage Va to the high voltage terminal Hv was 3 kV to 10 kV, and the applied voltage Vf between the device electrodes 16 and 17 was 14 V.

At this time, a two-dimensional array of light emitting spots is formed at equal intervals, including light emitting spots generated by electrons emitted from the electron emitting elements 15 located close to the spacer 5, so that a clear color image with good color reproducibility can be obtained. Display was completed. This indicates that even if the spacers 5 were provided, no disturbance of the electric field that would affect the electron trajectory occurred. In the present embodiment, the concave portion is formed in the row direction wiring. However, the concave portion can be formed in another electrode portion disposed on another electron source as necessary, for example, in the vicinity of the electron source. A wiring lead-out portion when a wiring lead-out portion provided in the portion is provided, a support frame connecting electrode portion in the case where a semiconductive film is provided on the support frame portion 4 to make an electrical connection, and a control voltage application in a case where a control electrode is provided. The holding member can be formed on the electron source without disturbing the electron trajectory near the concave portion.

FIG. 31 shows another example of this embodiment in which a concave portion is formed on a wiring electrode over the entire length of a row wiring. In the figure, 12 is a row direction wiring, 58 is a conductive connecting portion, 5 is a spacer, and 15 is an electron-emitting device.

The height h1 of the conductive connecting portion 58 and the spacer 5
Where h2 is the height of the row direction wiring where no
h1 = h2 was set. In addition, when the width of the conductive connection portion 58 is w1 and the width of the row direction wiring without the spacer 5 is w2, w1 = w2.

When the direction of current flow in the electron-emitting device is p1, and the direction in which the spacer 5 extends (that is, the longitudinal direction of the row wiring) is p2, p1 and p2 are set in parallel.

In this configuration, the printing process of the wiring electrode is performed in three times, the height of the row wiring without the spacer 5 is 30 μm, and the height of the row wiring on which the spacer 5 is arranged is 10 μm. did. Except for the step e, when manufactured using the same method as that of the present embodiment, the same effect as that of the present embodiment was obtained.

<Fifth Embodiment> Next, an embodiment in which the fourth embodiment is partially modified will be described.

FIG. 27 is a partial plan view of a row-direction wiring on which spacers are provided. The feature of this embodiment is that the width w4 of the concave portion provided in the row direction wiring is smaller than the width w1 of the row direction wiring. In the figure, reference numeral 12 denotes a row wiring, 57 denotes a recess formed in the row wiring, and 140 denotes an insulating substrate for forming the row wiring. In the fifth embodiment, the width of the row direction wiring 12 is 400 μm, and the row direction wiring portion is formed in the concave portion 57 with a width of 50 μm at both ends. The thickness of the row wiring 12 is 10 μm
m and the other portions were formed as 60 μm.

Also in the fifth embodiment, a clear color image with good color reproducibility without disturbance in the electron trajectory was obtained as in the fourth embodiment.

In the fifth embodiment, since the recess 57 is surrounded by the row-direction wiring, there is an effect that the conductive connecting portion 58 does not protrude when forming the conductive connecting portion. At the same time, the spacers are
Since it is embedded in the connection portion, the mechanical strength at the connection portion is increased, and there is an advantage that an atmospheric pressure resistant structure can be provided with a small number of spacers.

<Sixth Embodiment> FIG. 28 shows a sixth embodiment according to the present invention.

In FIG. 28, reference numeral 150 denotes an insulating substrate;
Reference numeral 51 denotes a concave portion formed in the electron source substrate 150, 12 denotes a row-direction wiring, 58 denotes a conductive connection portion, and 5 denotes a spacer.

The sixth embodiment is different from the fourth and fifth embodiments in that the concave portion 151 is formed in the insulating substrate 150.

The concave portion 151 in the sixth embodiment is manufactured by using a dicing saw and mechanically using the insulating layer substrate 150.
Was performed by removing a part of. In the sixth embodiment, the width of the concave portion is 80 μm, and the depth is 80 μm. Next, a silver paste is formed into a pattern of the row-direction wiring electrodes using a screen printing method. Further 15 at 580 ° C
After baking for a minute, the row-directional wiring electrodes 12 were formed in the insulating substrate. Next, the conductive connection portion 58 and the spacer 5 were formed in the concave portion 151 by using the same method as in the fourth embodiment.

In the sixth embodiment as well, when driven in the same manner as in the fourth embodiment, two-dimensionally arranged light emitting spot arrays are formed at equal intervals, and a clear and color reproducible color image can be displayed. No electric field disturbance affecting the orbit was observed.

Note that, in the fourth embodiment, the recess 1
The row wirings other than 51 are formed on the insulating substrate, but it is also possible to embed the entire row wiring in the insulating substrate 150 by forming a groove for the row wiring in the insulating substrate 150. Further, after forming the recess 151 to a uniform thickness on the insulating substrate 150 to produce a row-directional wiring, a part of the row wiring in the recess 151 is removed using a dicing saw to form a conductive connection portion. It is also possible to use

<Seventh Embodiment> A seventh embodiment is an example in which a flat field emission (FE) type electron-emitting device is used as the electron-emitting device of the present invention in the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 29 is a top view of a flat FE type electron emission electron source. Reference numeral 3101 denotes an electron emission portion, 3102 and 31.
03 denotes a pair of device electrodes for applying a potential to the electron-emitting portion 3101, 3104 and 3105 denote row direction wirings, 3106 denotes column direction wiring electrodes, and 3109 denotes a spacer.

Electrons are emitted from the device electrodes 3102, 3103
When a voltage is applied therebetween, electrons are emitted from a sharp tip in the electron-emitting portion 3101, and the electrons are attracted to an acceleration voltage (not shown) provided opposite to the electron source, so that the phosphor (see FIG. (Not shown) to cause the phosphor to emit light. In the present embodiment, the column direction wiring 3106 is formed by forming a groove (not shown) in the substrate using a dicing saw, applying a silver paste into the groove using a flade coater, and firing the silver paste. Next, after an interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is formed on the entire surface, the device electrode portions 3102, 3103, and the electron emission portions 3101 are formed, and then the row direction is formed using the same screen printing method as in the fourth embodiment. Wiring 3104, 310
5 was formed with a concave portion (not shown). Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus was manufactured in the same manner as in the fourth embodiment. In the seventh embodiment, the thickness of the column-directional wiring is 50 μm, and the thickness of the row-directional wiring is 60 μm at the portion where the concave portion is 20 μm.
It was formed by two printing steps. When driven in the same manner as in the fourth embodiment, an image forming apparatus in which light-emitting spot rows are formed two-dimensionally at equal intervals and the light does not protrude to adjacent pixels and emits light with high efficiency is provided in another embodiment. Was obtained as well.

The present invention can be applied to any of the cold cathode type electron emitting devices other than the surface conduction type electron emitting device. As a specific example, there is a field emission type electron-emitting device in which a pair of electrodes facing each other is formed along a substrate surface forming an electron source as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-27447 by the present applicant.

The present invention can be applied to an image forming apparatus using an electron source other than a simple matrix or the like. For example, in a case where the above-described branch member is used in an image forming apparatus that selects a surface conduction electron-emitting device using a control electrode as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-257551 by the present applicant. It is.

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

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

Note that the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

As described above, in the electron beam generator and the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, a support member (spacer) having a semiconductive film on its surface is arranged, and An electrical connection is provided for making an electrical connection and holding the support member. The conductive connection does not disturb the trajectory of the electron beam emitted from the electron source. For example, the position where the electron beam collides with the phosphor or the like and the position where the phosphor that should emit light should be The occurrence of displacement is prevented, and the protrusion of adjacent pixels and the loss of luminance can be prevented, and a clear image can be displayed.

Further, such an image forming apparatus can display a clear image.

[0290]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural view of an image forming apparatus to which an embodiment is applied, which is partially cut away.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a spacer arranged in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of an electron source 1 of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB ′ of the electron source 1 shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a manufacturing process of the electron source according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state of a pre-production stage of the electron-emitting device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a forming voltage waveform in forming an electron-emitting device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the structure and operation of an electron source in which one electron-emitting device is formed.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the relationship between the emission current Ie and the device current If of the electron-emitting device and the device voltage Vf measured by the measurement evaluation device.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a structural example of a fluorescent film 7 in the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a state where electrons and scattering particles described below are generated in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment when viewed from the column direction.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a generation state of electrons and scattering particles described below in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment when viewed from a row direction.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a method of arranging a support member (spacer) in the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing another arrangement method of the support member (spacer) in the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a drive circuit of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a simple arrangement example of electron-emitting devices in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a sample image for image formation in the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram for explaining a structure in FIGS. 17 and 18 and a driving method in a sample image.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a configuration of an example of a multi-function display device using a display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the embodiment as an electron beam source.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a typical structure of a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a device configuration of a heart well.

FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining energization forming of the embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an activation process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a signal applied in an activation process according to the embodiment, and a diagram illustrating a relationship between an emission current and an activation process amount.

FIG. 24A is a diagram showing a relationship between a cause of occurrence of a shift of an electron beam emitted from an electron-emitting device and an improved relationship according to an embodiment.

FIG. 24B is a diagram showing the relationship between the occurrence of the shift of the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device and the improved condition according to the embodiment.

FIG. 24C is a diagram showing the relationship between the occurrence of the shift of the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device and the improved condition according to the embodiment.

FIG. 24D is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the occurrence of the shift of the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device and the improved condition according to the embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a structural plan view of an electron-emitting device according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a conductive connection unit of the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 27 is a plan view of a concave portion according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a configuration explanatory view of a conductive connecting portion in the image forming apparatus according to the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an element configuration according to a sixth embodiment.

FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating a process of manufacturing the wiring according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating a conductive connection portion according to the first embodiment.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI H01J 31/12 H01J 1/30 F (56) References JP-A-8-180821 (JP, A) (58) Fields surveyed ( Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01J 29/87 H01J 31/12

Claims (13)

(57) [Claims] An electron-emitting device; a plurality of row wirings each formed of a conductor for applying a voltage to the electron-emitting device; an accelerating electrode disposed to face the electron-emitting device; Between the part and the accelerating electrode and on a part of the wiring
An electron beam generating device having a semiconductive support member disposed via a connection member made of a conductor , wherein the height of the upper surface of the connection member and the support member are not disposed
The height of the upper surface of the row-direction wiring where no conductor is provided, or
Indicates where the support member is not provided and the conductor is provided.
An electron beam generator , wherein the height of the upper surface of the conductor of the direction wiring is substantially equal. 2. The wiring to which the supporting member is connected has a concave portion, the connecting member is disposed in the concave portion, and the height of the upper surface of the connecting member and the supporting member are not disposed.
2. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein the heights of the upper surfaces of the row direction wirings provided with no conductors are substantially equal. 3. The thickness of the wiring to which the support member is connected is different from the thickness of the wiring to which the support member is not arranged, and the height of the upper surface of the connection member and the arrangement of the support member are different. 2. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein the height of the upper surface of the wiring that is not formed is substantially equal. 4. The electron beam generator according to claim 2, wherein the substrate on which the electron-emitting devices are disposed has a concave portion, and the wiring is disposed in the concave portion. The method according to claim 5, wherein the wire, the electron beam generator according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the scanning signal for scanning said electron-emitting devices is applied. 6. The support member has a surface resistance of 10 4
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the power is not less than the power [Ω / □].
5. The electron beam generator according to any one of 5 . Wherein said electron-emitting devices, a positive electrode, the electron emission portion, the negative electrode, electrons according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that an electron-emitting device are juxtaposed on the substrate Line generator. 8. The support member is a plate-like support member,
The electron beam generator according to claim 7 , wherein a direction of a current flowing between the positive electrode and the negative electrode is substantially parallel to a longitudinal direction of the plate-shaped support member. Wherein said supporting member, said surface of the insulating material, the electron beam generator according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that it consists of members that are covered with a semi-conductive material apparatus. 10. A plurality of said electron-emitting devices are connected to a plurality of said row wirings and a plurality of column wirings which are electrically insulated from each other on a substrate. 10. The electron beam generator according to any one of 9 above. Wherein said electron-emitting devices, an electron beam generator according to any of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that a surface conduction electron-emitting device. 12. The electron emission device, an electron beam generator according to any of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that a horizontal field emission type electron-emitting device. 13. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that it has an image forming member disposed opposite to the electron-emitting device.