JPH08248921A - Electron beam generator and image forming apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] The electron emission distribution corresponding to the non-uniform effective voltage distribution applied to each electron-emitting device during driving caused by the voltage drop depending on the wiring resistance of a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices Provided is an image forming apparatus capable of performing correction and performing high-quality image display using a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and an electron beam generator used for the same. A plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices (101) arranged on a substrate and arranged in a matrix by a plurality of row wirings and a plurality of column wirings, and a driving unit for driving the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices. (A unit other than 101), and the drive unit combines the image signal and a predetermined correction signal to generate a correction image signal (106, 107, 1).
05) and a sequential drive unit (108, 102, 103) for sequentially driving the matrix-type surface conduction electron-emitting devices row by row based on the corrected image signal.

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 and an image forming apparatus such as a display device using the same, and more particularly to an electron beam generator having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices and the electron beam generator. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices are known, a thermoelectron source and a cold cathode electron source. The cold cathode electron source includes a field emission type (hereinafter abbreviated as FE type), metal / insulating layer /
There are a metal type (hereinafter abbreviated as MIM type), a surface conduction type electron-emitting device, and the like.

The following documents are known as documents describing the FE type example.

1 WPDyke & WWDolan, “Field emiss
ion ”, Advance in ElectronPhysics, 8, 89 (1956); 2 CASpindt,“ PHYSICAL Properties of thin-film
field emissioncathodes with molybdenum cones ”,
J.Appl.Phys., 47, 5248 (1976) In addition, as a document regarding an example of the MIM type, CAMead, “Operation of tunnel-emission devices”,
J.Appl.Phys., 32,646 (1961) is known.

References relating to examples of surface conduction electron-emitting devices include MIEllinson, Radio Eng. Electron Phys., 10, 1290 (1
965).

The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon that electron emission occurs when a current is passed through a thin film of a small area formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. As this surface conduction electron-emitting device, the Erinson
(MI Ellinson) using Sn02 thin film, Au
By thin film [G.Dittmer: “Thin Solid Films”, 9, 3
17 (1972)], by In2O3 / SnO2 thin film [M.Hart
well and CGFonstad: “IEEETrans. ED Conf.”, 51
9 (1975)], by carbon thin film [Hiraki Araki et al .: Vacuum ,. Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22 (1983)] are reported.

As a typical device configuration of these surface conduction type emission devices, the above-mentioned M. FIG. 14 shows a device configuration according to the document of M. Hartwell. In FIG. 14, 5
01 is an insulating substrate. 502 is a conductive film, which is H
The electron-emitting portion 503 is formed on the pattern of the mold shape by a metal oxide thin film or the like formed by sputtering and by an energization process called forming described later. 504 will be referred to as a conductive film including an electron emitting portion.

Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, it has been general to form the electron-emitting portion 503 on the conductive film 502 in advance by an energization process called forming before the electron emission. . That is, the forming means that a voltage is applied to both ends of the conductive film 502 to energize the conductive film 502 to locally destroy, deform or alter the conductive film 502, and the electron emitting portion 503 is brought into an electrically high resistance state.
Is to form. Note that in the electron-emitting portion 503, a crack is generated in part of the conductive film 502, and electrons are emitted from the vicinity of the crack. The surface conduction electron-emitting device that has been subjected to the forming process is one in which a voltage is applied to the conductive film 504 including the above-mentioned electron-emitting portion and a current is caused to flow through the device to cause the above-mentioned electron-emitting portion 503 to emit electrons. Is. However, although these conventional surface conduction electron-emitting devices have various problems in practical use, the present applicants have studied various improvements as will be described later and made practical use of them. It has solved various problems.

The above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device has an advantage that a large number of devices can be arranged over a large area because it has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture. Therefore, various applications that can make full use of this feature are being researched. Examples thereof include a charged beam source and a display device. An example of arranging a large number of surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices is an electron source in which surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel, and a large number of rows in which both ends of each element are connected by wiring are arranged (for example, , JP-A-64-031332). Also, especially
2. Description of the Related Art In image forming apparatuses such as display devices, flat panel type display devices using liquid crystal have become popular in recent years in place of CRTs, but since they are not self-luminous, they have problems such as having a backlight. Therefore, development of a self-luminous display device has been desired. An image forming apparatus, which is a display apparatus in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged and a phosphor that emits visible light by the electrons emitted from the electron source, is relatively easy to form in an image forming apparatus. It is a self-luminous display device that can be manufactured and has excellent display quality.

[0010]

High-quality and high-definition image formation is desired in various image-forming panels to which the surface conduction electron-emitting device is applied, including the above-mentioned flat panel CRT. In order to realize this, for example, a method of using a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices with simple Matrices wiring can be considered. In this case, a very large number of device arrays, each having hundreds to thousands of rows and columns, are required, and it is desired that each surface conduction electron-emitting device emits a uniform amount of electrons.

However, when these elements are applied to an image forming apparatus, there are m lines in the row direction (or hereinafter, referred to as X direction) and n lines in the column direction (or hereinafter, referred to as Y direction). A simple matrix configuration in which an electron source is formed by arranging a large number of surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices in a matrix is formed by connecting a pair of opposing device electrodes of the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device by wiring. In this case, the voltage applied to each element electrode is different due to the voltage drop caused by the wiring resistance in the row direction and the column direction. As a result, there is a problem that the effective voltage applied to each element has a non-uniform distribution, and correspondingly, the brightness also has a non-uniform distribution.

12 and 13 are diagrams for explaining this problem in more detail. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an m × n simple matrix circuit of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix and, particularly, its wiring resistance.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a voltage applied to each electron-emitting device in a column direction.

Voltage is applied to the m × n simple matrix circuit of FIG. 12 from one direction in both the row and column directions. In addition, the row wiring and the column wiring are r for each element.
It has x and ry resistance components. Since the surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged at equal intervals in the row direction and the column direction, unless the wiring width and film thickness vary in manufacturing, the device can be operated in the row direction and the column direction. They have almost the same resistance value. Further, all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices also have substantially the same resistance value.

As is clear from the circuit configuration of FIG. 12, the element closer to the voltage application terminal is applied with a larger voltage, and the element further away from the voltage application terminal has a smaller applied voltage. for that reason,
The drive applied voltage has a non-uniform distribution.

Therefore, a non-uniform distribution also occurs with respect to the electron emission amount output from the surface conduction electron-emitting device, which poses a problem for the purpose of obtaining a high-quality image.

The present invention corrects the electron emission distribution corresponding to the non-uniform effective voltage distribution applied to each electron-emitting device at the time of driving, which is caused by such a voltage drop depending on the wiring resistance. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of displaying a high-quality image using the electron emission device and an electron beam generating apparatus used for the image forming apparatus.

[0017]

In order to achieve the above object, an electron beam generator according to the present invention and an image forming apparatus using the same have the following constitution. That is, the electron beam generator of the present invention includes a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged on a substrate and arranged in a matrix by a plurality of row wirings and a plurality of column wirings. An electron beam generator comprising: a driving unit that drives the image signal, the driving unit combining the image signal and a predetermined correction signal to generate a corrected image signal; A means for sequentially driving the matrix-type surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices row by row, and the image forming apparatus of the present invention is further provided with the electron beam generator and the electron beam generator. And an image forming member that forms an image by irradiation of an electron beam output from the line generator.

[0018]

In the above structure, a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged on the substrate and arranged in a matrix by a plurality of row wirings and a plurality of column wirings, and the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are driven. In the electron beam generator including a driving means, the synthesizing means included in the driving means,
An image signal and a predetermined correction signal are combined to generate a corrected image signal, and a sequential drive unit included in the drive unit causes the matrix-wired surface conduction electron-emitting devices to be generated based on the corrected image signal. Sequentially drive row by row.

Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the electron beam generator emits an electron beam, and the image forming member receives an electron beam emitted from the electron beam generator to form an image. .

[0020]

The point of the image display device of the embodiment according to the present invention is to store a proper correction amount in a storage unit and correct the video signal based on the correction amount, resulting in matrix wiring. In addition, it is possible to correct the non-uniform distribution of electron emission amount of a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices.

[First Embodiment] An electron beam generator including a plurality of matrix-wired surface conduction electron-emitting devices according to the first embodiment of the present invention and an image display device using the same will be described in detail below. explain.

The features of the structure and the manufacturing method of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the embodiment according to the present invention are as follows. The following description will be given with reference to FIGS. 11A and 11B, which are a plan view and a cross-sectional view showing the basic configuration of the planar surface conduction electron-emitting device used in this example.

1) The conductive film 2 before the energization treatment called forming is a thin film made of a fine particle dispersion, or
It is basically composed of fine particles, such as a thin film made of fine particles formed by heating and burning an organic metal.

2) The conductive film 4 including the electron emitting portion after the energization process called forming is also made of fine particles,
Further, fine particles may exist in the electron emitting portion 3.

The basic structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this embodiment includes two structures, a planar type and a vertical type. The planar type surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described below.

The basic structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 is an insulating substrate, 5 and 6 are element electrodes, 4 is a conductive film including an electron emitting portion, and 3 is an electron emitting portion.

As the insulating substrate 1, quartz glass, Na
Examples of the glass include glass having a reduced content of impurities such as blue glass, soda lime glass, a glass substrate obtained by laminating SiO ₂ formed on the soda lime glass by a sputtering method, and a ceramic such as alumina.

As the material of the device electrodes 5 and 6 facing each other,
Basically, those with good conductivity, such as Ni, Cr, A
Metals such as u, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd, or alloys and Pd, Ag, Au, Ru
Examples include metals such as O ₂ and Pd—Ag, or printed conductors composed of metal oxide and glass, transparent conductors such as In ₂ O ₃ —Sn 0 ₂ and semiconductor materials such as polysilicon. The device electrode interval L1 is about several hundreds of angstroms to several hundreds of microns, and the photolithography technology that is the basis of the device electrode manufacturing method, that is, the performance of the exposure machine and the etching method, and the electrons applied between the device electrodes are used. It is set by the voltage that can be discharged, but is preferably several microns to several tens of microns. The element electrode length W1 and the film thickness d of the element electrodes 5 and 6 are appropriately designed in consideration of the resistance value of the electrode, the connection with the X and Y wirings described above, and the arrangement of a large number of electron sources. , Element electrode length W1
Is several hundreds of microns to several microns, and the device electrode 5,
The film thickness d of 6 is preferably several microns to several hundred angstroms.

The conductive film 4 including the electron-emitting portion disposed between the device electrodes 5 and 6 facing each other and provided on the insulating substrate 1 and on the device electrodes 5 and 6 is shown in FIG. ), But may not be installed on the device electrodes 5 and 6. That is, it is a case where the conductive film 4 including the electron emitting portion and the opposing device electrodes 5 and 6 are laminated in this order on the insulating substrate 1. The film thickness of the conductive film 4 including this electron emitting portion is several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, preferably several tens angstroms to several hundreds angstroms. It is appropriately set according to the resistance value between the device electrodes 5 and 6, the particle size of the conductive fine particles in the electron emission portion 3, the energization processing conditions described later, and the like. Further, the resistance value of the conductive film 4 shows a sheet resistance value of 10 3 to 10 7 ohm / □. Specific examples of the material forming the conductive film 4 including the electron emitting portion are Pd, Ru, and A.
g, Au, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, S
Metals such as n, Ta, W, Pb, Pd0, Sn0 ₂ , In ₂
Oxides such as 0 ₃ , Pb 0, Sb ₂ 0 ₃ , HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ ,
LaB ₆ , CeB ₆ , YB ₄ , GdB _4, etc. boride, Ti
Carbides such as C, ZrC, HfC, TaC, SiC and WC, nitrides such as TiN, ZrN and HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, carbon, AgMg, NiCu, Pb and Sn.
Etc., and consists of a fine particle film.

The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and its fine structure is not only a state in which the fine particles are individually dispersed but also a state in which the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other ( (Including striped) film.

The particle size of the fine particles forming the conductive film including the electron emitting portion is in the range of several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, preferably 10 angstroms to 200 angstroms. It depends on the film thickness of the film 4 and the manufacturing method such as energization processing conditions described later, and is appropriately set.

Various methods are conceivable as a method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device having the electron-emitting portion 3, one example of which is shown in FIG.

The manufacturing method will be described below step by step with reference to FIGS. 2 and 11.

1) The insulating substrate 1 is washed, thoroughly washed with a pure solvent and an organic solvent, and a device electrode material is deposited by a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method or the like, and then a device is formed on the surface of the insulating substrate 1 by a photolithography technique. The electrodes 5 and 6 are formed (see FIG. 2A).

2) An organic metal thin film is formed by applying the organic metal solution provided on the insulating substrate 1 and leaving it to stand. Incidentally, the organic metal solution means Pd, Ru, Ag,
Au, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, T
It is a solution of an organic compound containing a metal such as a, W or Pb as a main element. After that, the organic metal thin film is heated and baked, and is patterned by lift-off, etching or the like to form the conductive film 2 for forming the electron emitting portion (see FIG. 2B). In addition, although the description has been given here by using the coating method of the organic metal solution, the present invention is not limited to this, and a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor phase method, a dispersion coating method, a dipping method,
It may be formed by a spinner method or the like.

3) Subsequently, energization processing called forming is performed. This is carried out by energizing between the device electrodes 5 and 6 with a pulsed voltage or a high-speed rising voltage using a power source (not shown) to form a conductive film 2 for forming an electron-emitting portion.
An electron emitting portion 3 having a changed structure is formed at the portion (see FIG. 2C). The electron emitting portion 3 is a portion where the conductive film 2 for forming the electron emitting portion is locally destroyed, deformed or altered, and is, for example, a gap portion such as a crack.

The voltage waveform of the forming process is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, T1 and T2 are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, respectively, where T1 is 1 microsecond to 10 milliseconds, T2 is 10 microseconds to 100 milliseconds, and the peak value of the triangular wave ( The peak voltage at the time of forming) is about 4V to 10V, and the forming process is appropriately set in a vacuum atmosphere for about several tens of seconds.

In forming the voltage emission portion described above,
Although the forming process is performed by applying a triangular wave pulse between the electrodes of the element, the waveform applied between the electrodes of the element is not limited to the triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave may be used. The high value, the pulse width, the pulse interval, and the like are not limited to the above values, and a desired value can be selected as long as the electron emitting portion is well formed.

The basic characteristics of the electron-emitting device of this embodiment produced by the above device structure and manufacturing method will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a measurement / evaluation apparatus for measuring electron emission characteristics of an element having the structure shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, 1 is an insulating substrate, 5 and 6 are device electrodes, 4 is a conductive film including an electron emitting portion, 3
0 is a conductive film 4 including an electron emitting portion between the device electrodes 5 and 6.
Ammeter for measuring the device current If flowing through the
Is an anode electrode for capturing the emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission portion of the device, 33 is an anode electrode 34
A high voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the device 32, and an ammeter 32 for measuring the emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission portion 3 of the device. In measuring the above-mentioned device current If and emission current Ie of the electron-emitting device, the power supply 3 is applied to the device electrodes 5 and 6.
1 and the ammeter 30 are connected, and the anode electrode 34 which connects the power source 33 and the ammeter 32 is arranged above the electron-emitting device. Further, the anode electrode 34 connected to the present electron-emitting device and the ammeter 32 is installed in a vacuum device, and the vacuum device is provided with exhaust pumps (not shown) and equipment necessary for the vacuum device such as a vacuum system. Therefore, the measurement and evaluation of this device can be performed under desired vacuum conditions. still,
The voltage of the anode electrode was 1 kV to 10 kV, and the distance H between the anode electrode and the electron-emitting device was measured in the range of 3 mm to 8 mm.

FIG. 5 shows the emission current Ie, the device current If, and the device voltage V measured by the measurement / evaluation apparatus shown in FIG.
A typical example of the relationship of f is shown. Incidentally, FIG.
Since the sizes of f and Ie are different, they are shown in arbitrary units. As is clear from FIG. 5, this electron-emitting device has three characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie.

First, when a device voltage higher than a certain voltage (called a threshold voltage, Vth in FIG. 5) is applied to this device, the emission current Ie rapidly increases and the threshold voltage Vth is increased.
In the following, the emission current Ie is hardly detected. That is, it is a non-linear element having a clear threshold voltage Vth with respect to the emission current Ie.

Secondly, since the emission current Ie depends on the element voltage Vf, the emission current Ie can be controlled by the element voltage Vf.

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

FIG. 5 shows that the element current If has a characteristic that monotonically increases with respect to the element voltage Vf (hereinafter referred to as MI characteristic). Voltage-controlled negative resistance characteristic with respect to Vf (hereinafter, referred to as V
In some cases, it may be referred to as a CNR characteristic). In this case as well, the present electron-emitting device has the three characteristic features described above.

It should be noted that the basic manufacturing method of the basic element configuration of the present embodiment described above is not limited to the above-described basic manufacturing method, and a part thereof may be modified to be realized.

Next, an electron beam generator and an image forming apparatus including a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices which are applied in the present embodiment and which are matrix-wired will be described.

According to the three characteristics of the basic characteristics of the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device of the present embodiment, the emitted electrons from the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device are opposed to each other at the device electrodes above the threshold voltage. The crest value and width of the pulsed voltage applied in between are controlled. On the other hand, it is not emitted below the threshold voltage. According to this characteristic, even when a large number of electron-emitting devices are arranged, if the pulsed voltage is appropriately applied to each device, an arbitrary surface conduction electron-emitting device is selected and its electron emission amount is reduced. , Can be controlled. Less than,
Regarding the configuration of the electron source substrate constructed based on this principle,
This will be described with reference to FIG.

01 is an insulating substrate, 02 is wiring in the X direction, 0
3 is a Y-direction wiring, 04 is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, 05
Is a connection.

In FIG. 6, the insulating substrate 01 is the above-mentioned glass substrate or the like, and its size and thickness are
The number of surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices installed on the insulating substrate 01 and the design shape of each device, and when forming a part of the container when the electron source is used, the container is kept in vacuum. It is appropriately set depending on the conditions for
m X-direction wirings 02 and n Y-direction wirings 03
Consists of DX1, DX2 ... DXm, on the insulating substrate 01,
It is formed by vacuum evaporation method, printing method, sputtering method, etc., it is made of conductive metal etc. as a desired pattern, and the material and film thickness are set so as to supply a voltage that is as nearly uniform as possible to many surface conduction electron-emitting devices. , Wiring width, etc. are set. Between the m X-direction wirings 02 and the n Y-direction wirings 03,
An interlayer insulation image (not shown) is installed and electrically separated,
Configure matrix wiring. The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is
Si0 formed by vacuum evaporation method, printing method, sputtering method, etc.
Insulating substrate 01 having wiring ₂ in the X direction
Formed in the desired shape on the front surface or part of the
The direction wiring 02 and the Y direction wiring 03 are external terminals D, respectively.
It is drawn out by X1, DX2, ... DXm and Dy1, Dy2, ... Dyn. Further, in the same manner as described above, the opposing electrodes (not shown) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 04 are connected to the m X-direction wirings 02 and the n Y-direction wirings 03 by the vacuum evaporation method, the printing method, the sputtering method and the sputtering method. They are electrically connected by a connection wire 05 made of a conductive metal or the like formed by a method or the like.

The conductive metals of the element electrodes facing the m X-direction wirings 02, the n Y-direction wirings 03, and the connection lines 05 may have the same or a part of the constituent elements, or They may be different, Ni, Cr, Au,
Metals or alloys such as Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu and Pd, and Pd, Ag, Au, RuO ₂ , Pd-A
It is appropriately selected from a printed conductor composed of a metal such as g or a metal oxide and glass, a transparent conductor such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂ and a semiconductor material such as polysilicon.

Further, the X-direction wiring 02 is electrically connected to a scan signal generator (not shown) for applying a scan signal for arbitrarily scanning the row of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 04 arranged in the X direction. It is connected to the.

On the other hand, a modulation signal generator (not shown) for applying a modulation signal for arbitrarily modulating each row of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 04 arranged in the Y direction to the Y-direction wiring 03. Is electrically connected to.

Further, the drive voltage applied to each surface conduction electron-emitting device is supplied as a difference voltage between the scanning signal and the modulation signal applied to the device.

Next, regarding the image forming apparatus used for display or the like using the electron beam generator created as described above,
Hereinafter, description will be given with reference to FIG. 6 showing a basic configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus and FIG. 7 showing the structure of the fluorescent film.

First, the following will be described with reference to FIG.

Reference numeral 01 is an insulating substrate on which a multi-electron source in which a plurality of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices described above are arranged in matrix is arranged, 41 is a rear plate on which the electron sources are fixed,
42 is a face plate in which a fluorescent film 44, a metal back 45 and the like are formed on the inner surface of a glass substrate 43, and 46 is a support frame. The rear plate 41 and the face plate 42 are sealed with frit glass or the like, and the outside The envelope 48 is configured.

As described above, the envelope 48 is composed of the face plate 42, the support frame 46, and the rear plate 41. The rear plate 41 can be received mainly for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the substrate 01. If it has sufficient strength by itself, the separate rear plate 41 is not necessary, and the support frame 46 is directly sealed to the substrate 01, and the face plate 4
The envelope 48 may be composed of the support frame 46 and the substrate 01.

In the case of a color fluorescent film, the black conductive material 91 called a black stripe or a black matrix, etc. (see FIG. 7) is composed of only a light body, but depending on the arrangement of the phosphors.
Reference) and a phosphor 92 (see FIG. 7). The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the color mixture of the three primary color phosphors necessary for color display inconspicuous by mixing the colored portions of the phosphors 92, and to make the phosphor film 44 inconspicuous. This is to suppress the progress of contrast due to reflection of external light. The material of the black stripe is not limited to the commonly used material containing graphite as a main component, but is not limited to this as long as it is a material having conductivity and little transmission and reflection of light.

As a method of applying the phosphor to the glass substrate 43, a precipitation method or a printing method is used regardless of monochrome or color.

A metal back 45 is usually provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 44. The purpose of the metal back is to improve the brightness by specularly reflecting the light toward the inner surface side of the light emission of the phosphor to the face plate 46 side, to act as an electrode for applying an electron beam accelerating voltage, and This is to protect the phosphor from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the enclosure. The metal back can be manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film after the fluorescent film is formed and manufactured, and then depositing A1 by vacuum evaporation or the like.

On the face plate 42, the fluorescent film 4 is further provided.
In order to improve the conductivity of No. 4, a transparent electrode (not shown) may be provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 44.

When performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of color, it is necessary to make the respective color phosphors correspond to the electron-emitting devices, so that it is necessary to perform sufficient alignment.

The envelope 48 is provided with an exhaust pipe 1
The degree of vacuum is about 0 to the 6th power (Torr),
The envelope 48 is sealed.

Further, a getter process may be performed in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after the envelope 48 is sealed. this is,
Immediately before or after sealing the envelope 48, a getter arranged at a predetermined position (not shown) in the envelope 48 is heated by a heating method such as resistance heating or high frequency heating to form a vapor deposition film. Is a process for forming. Getter is usually Ba
Etc. are the main components, and the vacuum degree of, for example, 1 × 10 −5 or 1 × 10 −7 Torr is maintained by the adsorption action of the vapor deposition film.

In the image processing apparatus of the present invention completed as described above, a voltage is applied between the device electrodes 5 and 6 to each surface conduction electron-emitting device through the terminals Dox to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn outside the container. As a result, electrons are emitted, and the metal back 45, through the high voltage terminal Hv,
Alternatively, an image is displayed by applying a high voltage of several kV or more to a transparent electrode (not shown), accelerating the electron beam, causing the electron beam to collide with the fluorescent film 84, and exciting and emitting light.

The above-described structure is a schematic structure necessary for producing a suitable image forming apparatus used for display and the like. For example, the material of each member and the detailed parts are not limited to those described above. Appropriate selection is made to suit the application of the image device.

Next, the structure of the image display device including the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, the display panel 101 described above is used.
Are connected to an external circuit via terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn. Although not shown, a high voltage terminal on the face plate is also connected to an external high voltage power source to accelerate emitted electrons. Among them, to the terminals Dx1 to Dxm, a multi-electron beam source provided in the panel described above, that is, a group of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix of M rows and N columns is sequentially driven row by row. Scanning signal is applied. On the other hand, terminal Dy1
A modulation signal for controlling the output electron beam of each element of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of one row selected by the scanning signal is applied to Dyn.

Next, the scanning circuit 102 will be described.
The scanning circuit 102 includes M switching elements inside. Each switching element is a constant voltage source Vx (not shown)
Output voltage or 0 [V] (ground level) is selected and electrically connected to the terminals Dx1 to Dxm of the display panel 101. Each switching element is
Although it operates based on the control signal Tscan output from the control circuit 103, in practice, it can be easily configured by combining switching elements such as FETs (field effect transistors).

The constant voltage source Vx is applied to the non-scanned device based on the characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 5 (the electron emission threshold voltage is 8 [V]). Make sure that the driving voltage is below the electron emission threshold voltage.
It is set to output a constant voltage of [V].

Further, the control circuit 103 has a function of matching the operations of the respective parts so that an appropriate display is performed based on the image signal inputted from the outside. Synchronous signal to be described next Based on a synchronous signal Tsync to be described next, control signals Tscan, Tsft, and Tmry are generated for each unit.

As is well known, the sync signal is composed of a vertical sync signal and a horizontal sync signal, but here it is shown as a Tsync signal for convenience of explanation. On the other hand, the digital video signal 5000 (luminance component) is transferred to the shift register 104.
Is input to

The shift register 104 is for serial / parallel conversion of the digital video signal 5000 serially input in time series for each line of the image, and is based on the control signal Tsft sent from the control circuit 103. Works. That is, the control signal Tsft is a shift clock as a synchronization signal that sequentially shifts the digital video signal 5000 input to the shift register 104.
The data for one line of the serial / parallel-converted image (corresponding to the driving data for N electron-emitting devices) is
The shift register 1 is provided as N parallel signals Id1 to Idn.
It is output from 04.

The latch circuit 105 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image only for a required time,
The contents of Id1 to Idn are appropriately stored according to the control signal Tmry sent from the control circuit 103. The stored contents are
It is output as I′d1 to I′dn and input to the adder 107. The correction amount storage memory 106 is for storing a correction amount calculated in advance for correcting the electron emission amount generated by the voltage distribution. An example of how to calculate the correction amount will be described below with reference to FIG.

The voltage distribution generated when a certain gray level is displayed on one line is as shown in the graph of FIG. The distribution of the electron emission amount resulting from this is as shown in the graph of FIG. 8B, which is equivalent to the brightness distribution. That is, the correction amount for correcting this to a constant brightness has a value shown in the graph of FIG. 8C, and the correction can be performed by adding this value to the original brightness component signal. The horizontal axes of the graphs of (a), (b), and (c) of FIG. 8 indicate the pixel number and each surface conduction electron-emitting device corresponding to each pixel. The vertical axis of (a) of FIG. 8 shows the voltage applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device. The vertical axis of the graph of FIG. 8B shows the amount of electrons emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device corresponding to the applied voltage shown in FIG. Further, the vertical axis of (c) of FIG. 8 shows the correction amount with respect to the original luminance signal necessary for correcting the non-uniformity of the electron emission amount shown in (b) of FIG.

The adder 107 is a correction amount storage memory 106.
From the shift register 104 via the latch circuit 105 and the luminance signals I'd1 to I'dn are added, and I "d1 to I" dn are output as the correction signals to the modulation signal generator 108. To do.

The modulation signal generator 108 performs modulation for appropriately driving each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices according to each of I "d1 to I" dn, and the output signal thereof is the terminal Dy1.
Through Dyn are applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device in the display panel 101.

As described with reference to FIG. 5 at the beginning of this embodiment, the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to this embodiment has the following basic characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie. That is, as is apparent from the graph of Ie in FIG. 5, there is a clear threshold voltage Vth (e.g., 8 [V] in the device of this embodiment) for electron emission, and a voltage equal to or higher than Vth was applied. Only when the electron emission occurs.

Further, for a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold value, the emission current also changes as the voltage changes as shown in the graph. Note that the value of the electron emission threshold voltage Vth and the degree of change of the emission current with respect to the applied voltage can be changed by changing the material, configuration, and manufacturing method of the electron emitting element.

An example of the child emission control signal is shown. FIG. 9A shows the case where a pulsed voltage equal to or lower than the electron emission threshold value is applied to this element, and in this case, electron emission does not occur. However, when a pulsed voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold value is applied as shown in FIG. 9B, an electron beam is output.

At this time, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled by changing the pulse peak value Vm. In this case, the modulation signal generator 108 generates a voltage pulse of a fixed length, but uses a voltage modulation type circuit that modulates the peak value of the pulse according to the input data.

Further, by changing the pulse length Pw, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam. In this case, the modulation signal generator 108
Generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value, but uses a pulse width modulation type circuit that modulates the length of the voltage pulse corresponding to the input data.

In this embodiment, as the input video signal, the digital video signal (see 5000 in FIG. 1) whose data processing is easier is used. However, this is not limited to the digital video signal. Instead, it may be an analog video signal.

Further, in the present embodiment, the shift register 104 which can easily process the digital signal is adopted for the serial / parallel conversion process, but the invention is not limited to this, and for example, the storage address is controlled. Therefore, a random access memory having a function equivalent to that of the shift register may be used by sequentially changing the storage address.

Further, as the method of adding the correction value as the original video signal, the digital adder which is the most general and has the simplest structure is adopted in the present embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to this and, for example, If this is calculated as a correction factor instead of a correction amount, it may be determined in accordance with a correction value calculation method such as employing a digital multiplier.

Further, regarding the method of taking out the wiring from the display panel 101, in the present embodiment, the case of taking out one side is shown because it is easy to form the take-out electrode as shown in FIG. The wiring method is not limited, and as shown in (a) and (b) of FIG.
Other wiring methods such as double-sided extraction and alternate extraction may be used, and the voltage distribution can be similarly corrected by setting a correction value corresponding to the drive voltage distribution by these wirings.

As described above, the non-uniform luminance distribution caused by the voltage drop can be easily improved by using the correction value set based on a certain gray level. Further, the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention is an element particularly suitable for use in an image forming apparatus such as a display device and constituting an electron beam generator in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are integrated.

That is, in the FE type, since the relative position and shape of the emitter cone and the gated electrode greatly affect the electron emission characteristics, extremely high precision manufacturing technology is required, but this requires a large area and a reduction in manufacturing cost. Will be a disadvantageous factor in achieving. Further, in the MIM type, it is necessary to make the film pressures of the insulating layer and the upper electrode thin and uniform, which is also a disadvantageous factor for achieving a large area and a reduction in manufacturing cost. In this respect, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a relatively simple manufacturing method, so that it is easy to increase the area and reduce the manufacturing cost.

Further, in particular, among the surface conduction electron-emitting devices, as described in the above embodiments, the conductive film including the electron emission portion is of a type in which the conductive film is composed of fine particles. The present inventors have found that the electron-emitting device has excellent electron emission characteristics and can be easily manufactured. Therefore, it can be said that it is most suitable for use in a multi-electron beam source of a high-luminance large-screen image display device. The present invention may be applied to a system including a plurality of devices or an apparatus including one device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0092]

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the electron emission distribution corresponding to the non-uniform effective voltage distribution applied to each electron-emitting device during driving, which is caused by the voltage drop depending on the wiring resistance. Is corrected, and in particular, high-luminance and high-quality image formation can be performed using the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

[0093]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a circuit configuration of an image display device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a basic manufacturing process of a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a forming voltage waveform of a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a method for measuring basic characteristics of a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing basic characteristics of a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a structure of a display panel of this embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a structure of a phosphor of a display panel.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a correction method according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a control signal waveform of the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a method of drawing wiring from the panel.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a structure of a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a problem of a display panel.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a problem of the display panel.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a device configuration of a conventional Hartwell.

[Simple code description]

 104 shift register 105 latch circuit 107 adder 106 memory 108 modulation signal generator 101 display panel 103 control circuit 102 scanning circuit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Akihiko Yamano 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged on a substrate and arranged in a matrix by a plurality of row wirings and a plurality of column wirings, and driving means for driving the plurality of surface conduction electron emitting devices. An electron beam generating apparatus comprising: the driving means, wherein the driving means combines the image signal and a predetermined correction signal to generate a correction image signal; and the matrix wiring based on the correction image signal. An electron beam generator comprising means for sequentially driving the surface conduction electron-emitting devices row by row. 2. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein the synthesizing means is an adder that adds the image signal and the predetermined correction signal. 3. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein the synthesizing unit is a multiplier that multiplies the image signal and the predetermined correction signal. 4. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein the driving means further has means for voltage-modulating the surface conduction electron-emitting device. 5. The electron beam generator according to claim 1, wherein the driving means further comprises means for driving the surface conduction electron-emitting device by pulse width modulation. . 6. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the surface-conduction electron-emitting device is an electron-emitting device having a conductive film including an electron-emitting portion between electrodes.
An electron beam generator according to item 3. 7. An image forming apparatus having an electron beam generator and an image forming member that forms an image by irradiation of an electron beam output from the electron beam generator, wherein the electron beam generator is an electron beam generator. 7. An image forming apparatus, comprising the electron beam generator according to claim 6. 8. The image display device according to claim 7, wherein the image forming member is a phosphor.