JPH026189B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fluorescent display tube comprising a cathode, an anode and a control electrode arranged opposite to the cathode, and in particular, the anode and the control electrode are arranged in an insulating space on the same plane of a substrate. This relates to a fluorescent display tube in which a phosphor layer is deposited on both electrodes, which are arranged alternately with two electrodes separated from each other.

Conventionally, a fluorescent display tube consists of an anode formed into a desired character or figure and coated with phosphor on its surface, a filament-shaped cathode placed opposite the anode, and an anode interposed between the two. A control electrode in the form of a grid is sealed in a transparent vacuum container, and electrons emitted from the cathode are selectively made to impinge on a desired anode, thereby displaying desired characters, figures, etc. by emitting light. It had been.

However, in the fluorescent display tube based on the above-mentioned conventional technology, since a grid-shaped control electrode exists between the cathode and anode, the control electrode blocks the field of view when observing the display from the cathode side, and the entire display is The disadvantage was that the actual brightness of the image was significantly reduced, making it difficult to see. In addition, since the current flowing into the control electrode is a reactive current that does not contribute to light emission at all, there is also the drawback that the efficiency of power use is low, leading to an increase in power consumption.

Therefore, a planar electrode in which the control electrode and the anode are disposed on the same plane has been put into practical use to eliminate the drawbacks and make the display easier to see. With the rapid advancement of semiconductor manufacturing technology, it has become easier to manufacture microelectrodes.
In order to improve the effect of accelerating and controlling electrons by the control electrode, an electrode structure in which an anode and a control electrode are interposed alternately has been considered.

An object of the present invention is to take into account the problems of blocking the field of view and power consumption due to the structural limitations of the fluorescent display tube based on the prior art, and to control the By providing the electrode itself with a light-emitting function, the above-mentioned drawbacks can be eliminated and an excellent fluorescent display tube with extremely high brightness and low power consumption can be provided.

In accordance with the above object, the configuration of the present invention is such that the control electrode diffuses, accelerates, and controls electrons in the same plane as the anode, so that the control electrode is in the field of view when observing the emitting anode. In addition, a fluorescent layer is coated on the surface of the control electrode facing the cathode in the same way as on the surface of the anode to enable light emission, so that the light emission of the anode and Together, the overall brightness is significantly improved,
Furthermore, the control electrodes are arranged alternately with the anodes,
The electric field from the non-emitting anodes is caused to act in a blocking manner on the part of the control electrode adjacent to the anode, thereby preventing and holding electrons from flowing into the part of the control electrode. The main idea is to reduce power consumption.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

In FIG. 1, a substrate 1 made of glass material etc.
A multi-digit display 2 is formed thereon, each display consisting of a plurality of segments 3. A filament-shaped cathode 5 is stretched above the display body 2 with a support 4 . 6 is an external terminal, 7
is a glass cover.

As shown in FIG. 2, the segments 3 in each display body 2 are a segment 3a, b segment 3
It consists of segments 3g, b, . As shown clearly in FIG. 3, anodes A and control electrodes G are alternately arranged on the substrate 1 with an insulating space S between them,
On the surface of G facing the cathode 5, a phosphor layer 8 is deposited. The width and spacing between the electrodes A and G are preferably small in order to ensure the cut-off effect and display connection, and can be satisfied by, for example, applying thin film forming technology used in semiconductor manufacturing technology. It is possible to obtain electrodes that can move smoothly.

A non-transparent insulating layer 9 is provided around the segment 3 to form a display outline, for example, as shown by the broken line in FIG. It is preferable that the insulating layer 9 has some conductivity, for example, by mixing a small amount of metal powder into glass powder, rather than using a complete insulating material. When the electrons from 5 adhere to the insulating layer 9, the electrons are released, effectively preventing the insulating layer from being charged, and thereby eliminating any adverse effect on the electron inflow path to the electrode.

As shown in FIG. 4, the anodes A in each display body 2 are independently led to external terminals for each segment 3, and the anodes of the a segments 3a
A ₁ is connected to the first segment signal line 10a, anode A ₂ of b segment 3b is connected to the second segment signal line 10b, ..., anode A ₇ of g segment 3g is connected to the seventh segment signal line 10g, respectively. and the respective display bodies 2 ₁ , 2 ₂ , ..., 2
The same segment 3 is connected to the same segment signal line 10 through _o . On the other hand, the control electrodes G are commonly connected through each segment 3 within the display body 2, and are connected to each display body 2 ₁ , 2 ₂ , . . .
..., 2 _o , the control electrodes G ₁ , G ₂ , ..., G _o are grid signal lines 11 ₁ , 11 ₂ , ..., 11 _o , respectively.
is connected to. Such a connection is a connection structure for dynamic driving in a multi-digit fluorescent display tube.

In the above configuration, an anode A (A1 to A7) of an arbitrary segment 3 constituting each display body 2 is selected and selected by dynamic drive under a state where a positive potential is applied to the cathode 5. When a positive potential is also applied to the control electrodes G, which are arranged in a comb-teeth shape with respect to the anode group of the display body 2 of a predetermined digit, both electrodes A and G of the digit both emit light.

On the other hand, when a negative potential is applied to the control electrodes G, which are alternately arranged in a comb-like pattern with respect to the anode A to which a positive potential is applied, when dynamic drive is not selected, the control electrodes G The positive electric field on the anode A is canceled by the negative electric field created by the anode A, and electrons that are about to hit the anode A from the cathode 5 are cut off, thereby preventing the anode A at the positive potential from emitting light.

On the other hand, even if a positive potential is applied to the control electrode G of a predetermined digit selected by the dynamic drive, if a negative potential is applied to the anode A of that digit, the same applies to the anode A of that digit. Electrons are cut off by the created negative electric field, so that the control electrode G does not emit light, and no electrons flow into that part of the electrode G.

That is, only when a positive potential is applied to both the anode A and the control electrode G, the anode A emits light and the control electrode G itself emits light at the same time.

Therefore, the control electrodes G of each digit are scanned with a positive potential in a time-division manner, and the voltages of the anodes A1 to A7 are controlled in synchronization with the scanning of the control electrodes G, which is similar to the normal dynamic drive method. This means that characters, figures, etc. can be selectively displayed.

As described above, according to the present invention, in a fluorescent display tube in which an anode and a control electrode are disposed opposite to a filament-shaped cathode, the control electrode and the anode are arranged adjacently on the same plane, thereby improving the conventional method. Since the control electrodes, which used to be a hindrance to observation, do not obstruct the field of view, there is an excellent effect of not only improving visibility but also increasing the apparent brightness.

Further, according to the present invention, in a fluorescent display tube in which an anode and a control electrode are arranged adjacent to each other on the same plane of a substrate, the anode and the control electrode are arranged in a comb-teeth shape so as to be embedded in each other. The electric field coupling between the control electrode and the anode is strengthened, and the ability of the control electrode to control light emission or blockage of light emission at the anode is greatly improved. An excellent effect is achieved in that only a small blocking voltage is required.

As a result, if the anode and control electrode were simply arranged on the same plane of the substrate, a very large blocking voltage would be required, making it difficult to put it into practical use. Dynamic drive has also become practical for fluorescent display tubes in which the control electrode is arranged on the same plane as the anode electrode.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the phosphor layer is also deposited on the control electrodes that are arranged in a manner that they are mutually intersected with respect to the anode.
The control electrode itself in the display body also has a light emitting function, and since the anode and the control electrode can emit light integrally, an excellent effect is achieved in that the brightness of the entire display body is significantly enhanced.

In this case, electrons flowing into the control electrode in the emitting segment are caused by the emitted light from the control electrode.
Since it is converted into light, it also has the advantage of eliminating ineffective electrodes and improving power utilization efficiency.

In addition, according to the present invention, the anode and the control electrode, which can emit light integrally in a comb-like shape, are configured to simultaneously emit light or prevent light emission, so that when the display body emits light, Since the entire display body always emits light uniformly without being decomposed by the control electrodes, fine connections in the display are ensured and excellent visibility is achieved.

Moreover, the portion of the control electrode adjacent to the anode in the segment that is not emitting light is not bombarded with electrons from the cathode, and there is no inflow of electrons into the control electrode, thereby reducing power consumption. Not only can you do it, but
This also has the effect of reducing cathode consumption and extending its life.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figures show an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the whole, Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the display body, and Fig. 3 is a second embodiment of the invention.
The XX sectional view in the figure and FIG. 4 are diagrams for explaining the connections of each display body. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Substrate, 2... Display body, 3... Segment, A... Anode, G... Control electrode, 5... Cathode,
8... Phosphor layer, S... Insulating space, 9... Insulating layer, 10... Segment signal line, 11... Grid signal line.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A display body 2 consisting of a plurality of segments 3, each segment having anodes arranged interdigitated in a comb-like shape on the same plane of a substrate 1 with an insulating space in between. A and a control electrode G, the anode A is connected to an external terminal independently for each segment 3 within each display body 2, while the control electrode G is common to each display body 2. A phosphor layer 8 is deposited on the surfaces of both electrodes A and G facing the cathode 5, so that both electrodes A and G always emit light or are prevented from emitting light simultaneously. A fluorescent display tube characterized by: