JPH0896700A - Electron source, image forming apparatus using the same, and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] In an electron source having a plurality of surface-conduction electron-emitting devices, the electric characteristics of each surface-conduction electron-emitting device should be stable, easy to control, and uniform. An electron emission characteristic of a selected surface conduction electron-emitting device is adjusted by a correction step of applying a voltage higher than a driving voltage.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

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

[0002]

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

As an example of the above-mentioned FE type, double field dyke and double double dran “Field Emission” Advance in Electron Physics, 8, 89 (1956) (W.P.D.
yke & W. W. Dolan "Field emiss
ion ”, Advance in electron
Physics) or Cay Spint "Physical Properties of Thin-Film Field Emission Cassow with Molybdenium
Cornes' Journal of Applied Physics, 47, 5248 (1976) (CA Spind
t "PHYSICAL Properties of
thin-film field emission
cathodes with mollybdenium
cones “J. Appl. Phys.) and the like are known.

As an example of the MIM type,
Mead "The Tunnel-Emission Amplifier" Journal of Applied Physics, 3
2,646 (1961) (CA Mead "The
tunnel-emission amplifee
r "J. Appl. Phys.) and the like are known.

As an example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, MI Elinson, Radio Engineering Electron Physics, 10 (1965)
(MI Elinson, Radio Eng. El
electron Phys. ) Etc.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electron emission is caused by flowing a current in a conductive thin film formed on an insulating substrate in parallel with the film surface. The surface-powered electron-emitting device uses the SnO ₂ thin film by Erinson, et al., And the Au thin film [G. Dittmer “Thin Solid Film”].
Films ", 9,317 (1972)] , In 2 O
₃ / SnO ₂ thin film [M. Hartwell and C. G. Fonstad "IEE Trans Edie Conf" (M. Hartwe
ll and C.I. G. Fonstad "IEEE T
rans. ED Conf. "519 (197
5), by carbon thin film [Hiraki Araki et al. “Vacuum” No. 2
Volume 6, No. 1, page 22 (1983) and the like are reported.

As a typical example of the structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, a conductive thin film such as a metal oxide which connects a pair of device electrodes provided on an insulating substrate is referred to as forming in advance. The thing of the above-mentioned M Hartwell which formed the electron emission part by the electricity supply process is mentioned. The device electrode spacing of this surface conduction electron-emitting device is 0.5 to 1 mm,
The element electrode width is set to 0.1 mm.

Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, it is general that a conductive thin film is previously subjected to an energization process called forming before the electron emission to form an electron-emitting portion. In this forming, a direct current voltage or a very slow rising voltage, for example, about 1 V / min is applied across both ends of the conductive thin film to locally energize the conductive thin film to change its structure. This is a process of forming an electron emitting portion having a high electrical resistance. The electron emission is performed from the vicinity of the crack generated in the electron emitting portion by applying a voltage to the conductive thin film in which the electron emitting portion is formed and flowing a current.

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

Conventionally, as an example in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are formed in an array, surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel and both ends (both device electrodes) of each surface conduction electron-emitting device are wired. An electron source in which a large number of rows connected by (also called common wiring) are arranged (also called a ladder arrangement) is disclosed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 1-33132 and 1-2837).
No. 49, No. 1-275552). Further, particularly in the case of a display device, a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices can be used as a self-luminous display device that can be a flat panel display device similar to a display device using liquid crystal and does not require a backlight. A display device has been proposed in which an arranged electron source is combined with a phosphor that emits visible light when irradiated with an electron beam from the electron source (US Pat. No. 5,066,506).
883).

[0011]

However, the conventional electron source using the surface conduction electron-emitting device has the following problems.

That is, a variation in the resistance of the thin film before forming and a voltage drop due to the resistance of the wiring connecting a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are likely to cause a distribution in the forming voltage, and all surface conduction electron-emitting devices are distributed. It is difficult to form under the same conditions. Therefore, characteristics such as resistance value and electron emission of the surface conduction electron-emitting device after forming vary. When the voltage-current characteristics vary, the amount of emitted electrons (light emission brightness in the case of a display device) changes for each surface conduction electron-emitting device, resulting in uneven brightness in the display device.

As a method of eliminating the variation in the emission brightness, it is possible to store the characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device in a memory and make a correction when each surface conduction electron-emitting device is driven. However, in this case, a memory is required for each surface conduction electron-emitting device, the driving circuit becomes complicated, and the device becomes expensive.

Therefore, in an electron source using a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, it is required that the electric characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device be uniform and easy to control.

In view of such conventional problems, the present invention provides an electron source using a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices,
An object of the present invention is to obtain an image forming apparatus in which the electric characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device are uniform and easy to control, and in which brightness adjustment and the like are easy.

[0016]

The invention according to claims 1 to 7 relates to an electron source, and is a surface conduction electron-emitting device comprising a thin film having a pair of device electrodes and an electron-emitting portion provided on a substrate. A surface-conduction electron-emitting device having a monotonically increasing characteristic in which an emission current is almost uniquely determined with respect to a device voltage, or a monotonically increasing characteristic in which an emission current and a device current are almost uniquely determined with respect to a device voltage. And is characterized in that at least one of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices is applied with a correction waveform having a different waveform from the waveform at the time of driving the device in advance. .

A ninth aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus using the electron source.

The tenth to thirteenth aspects of the present invention relate to the method for producing the electron source, wherein in the method for producing the electron source having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, a plurality of pairs of device electrodes are formed on the substrate. , A step of forming a conductive thin film between each pair of device electrodes, a forming step, an activating step performed as necessary, and a surface conduction electron emission under a vacuum higher than the forming step and the activating step. It has a stabilizing step of holding the element, and a correction step of applying a correction waveform having a waveform different from the drive waveform at the time of driving the selected surface conduction electron-emitting device to adjust the electron emission characteristic. It has a great feature in points.

Further, a fourteenth aspect of the invention is a method of manufacturing the image forming apparatus.

As described above, the present invention relates to a novel electron source using a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, an image forming apparatus using the same, and a manufacturing method thereof, and surface conduction suitable for these The configuration and operation of each invention will be further described below together with an example of the electron emission device.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device is classified into a flat type and a vertical type, and any surface conduction electron-emitting device can be used in the present invention. First, the basic structure of the planar surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described.

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

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

As the substrate 1, for example, quartz glass, Na
Examples thereof include glass having a reduced content of impurities such as blue glass, soda lime glass, a laminated body obtained by laminating SiO ₂ on soda lime glass by a sputtering method, and ceramics such as alumina.

As the material of the device electrodes 4 and 5 facing each other,
Common conductor materials are used, such as Ni, Cr, Au,
Metals or alloys such as Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd and Pd, Ag, Au, RuO ₂ , Pd-Ag
A printed conductor composed of a metal or a metal oxide and glass, a transparent conductor such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂ and a semiconductor conductor material such as polysilicon are appropriately selected.

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

The device electrode spacing L is preferably several hundred nanometers to several hundreds of micrometers, and more preferably several micrometer depending on the voltage applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the electric field strength capable of emitting electrons. It is from meters to tens of micrometers.

The device electrode length W is preferably several micrometers to several hundreds of micrometers in consideration of the electrode resistance value and electron emission characteristics, and the device electrode thickness d is
Hundreds of Angstroms to a few micrometers.

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

The conductive thin film 3 is particularly preferably a fine particle film composed of fine particles in order to obtain good electron emission characteristics. The thickness of the conductive thin film 3 depends on the step coverage of the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the device. It is appropriately selected depending on the resistance value between the electrodes 4 and 5 and the forming conditions described later. The conductive thin film 3 has a thickness of preferably several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, particularly preferably 10 angstroms to 500 angstroms, and its resistance value is 10 3 to 10 7 ohm / square sheet. It is the resistance value.

Examples of the material forming the conductive thin film 3 include Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In and C.
Metals such as u, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W and Pb, PdO, SnO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO and Sb ₂ O
Oxides such as ₃ , HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ , LaB ₆ , CeB
Boride such as ₆ , YB ₄ , GdB ₄ , TiC, ZrC, H
Carbides such as fC, TaC, SiC, WC, TiN, Zr
Examples thereof include nitrides such as N and HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, and carbon.

The fine particle film is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and its fine structure is 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 overlap each other (island shape). Including). In the case of a fine particle film, the particle diameter of the fine particles is preferably several angstroms to several thousand angstroms, and particularly preferably 10 angstroms to 200 angstroms.

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

The cracks may have conductive fine particles having a particle diameter of several angstroms to several hundred angstroms. The conductive fine particles are the same as some or all of the elements of the material forming the conductive thin film 3. Further, the electron emitting portion 2 including a crack and the conductive thin film 3 in the vicinity thereof may contain carbon and a carbon compound.

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

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

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

The step forming member 21 is formed by, for example, a vacuum vapor deposition method,
It is made of an insulating material such as SiO ₂ attached by a printing method, a sputtering method or the like. The film thickness of the step forming member 21 corresponds to the device electrode distance L (see FIG. 1) of the planar surface conduction electron-emitting device described above. It is set depending on the voltage applied between 5 and the electric field strength capable of emitting electrons, but it is preferably several hundred angstroms to several tens of micrometers, and particularly preferably several hundred angstroms to several micrometers.

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

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

Various methods can be considered as a method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and one example thereof will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 denote the same members.

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

2) The element electrode 4 is formed by applying an organic metal solution on the substrate 1 on which the element electrodes 4 and 5 are provided and leaving it to stand.
And the device electrode 5 are connected to form an organometallic thin film.
The organic metal solution is a solution of an organic compound whose main element is a metal that is a constituent material of the conductive thin film 3 described above. Then, the organometallic thin film is heated and baked to form the conductive thin film 3 patterned by lift-off, etching, etc. (FIG. 3B). 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 for example, a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, a dispersion coating method, a dipping method, a spinner method, or the like can be used. A film can also be formed.

3) Subsequently, energization processing called forming is performed. When power is supplied from a power source (not shown) between the device electrodes 4 and 5, the electron emitting portion 2 having a changed structure is formed at the site of the conductive thin film 3 (FIG. 3C). By this energization treatment, the electroconductive thin film 3 is locally destroyed, deformed or altered, and the electron emission portion 3 is a portion whose structure is changed.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a voltage waveform of energization forming.

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

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

In FIG. 4A, T1 and T2 are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform. For example, T1 is 1 microsecond to 10 milliseconds and T2 is 10 microseconds to 100.
It is set to millisecond, and the peak value (peak voltage during forming) is appropriately selected according to the form of the surface conduction electron-emitting device described above, and applied for several seconds to several tens of minutes in a vacuum atmosphere with an appropriate degree of vacuum. The voltage waveform to be applied is not limited to the illustrated triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave can be used.

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

T1 and T2 in FIG. 4B are shown in FIG.
Similar to (a), the crest value (peak voltage during forming) is increased by, for example, about 0.1 V step,
Application is performed in an appropriate vacuum atmosphere similar to the description of FIG.

During the pulse interval T2, the conductive thin film 3 is
(See FIGS. 1 and 2) A resistance value is obtained by measuring the device current at a voltage that does not locally break, deform, or alter the characteristics, for example, a voltage of about 0.1 V, and a resistance of 1 M ohm or more is shown. Sometimes energization forming is completed.

4) Next, the element for which the energization forming has been completed is preferably subjected to a treatment called an activation step.

The activation step is, for example, 10 −4 to 1
As with the description in the forming step, it is a process of repeating the application of pulses with a pulse peak value of a constant voltage at a vacuum degree of about 0 −5 torr, which means that carbon is removed from organic substances present in a vacuum atmosphere. By depositing the carbon compound and the carbon compound, the states of the device current and the emission current can be remarkably improved. It is effective to perform this activation step while measuring the device current and the emission current, for example, and to end it when the emission current is saturated, because it is effective. Further, the pulse peak value in the activation step is preferably the peak value of the drive waveform.

The carbon and the carbon compound are graphite (both single crystal and polycrystal) and amorphous carbon (amorphous carbon and a mixture of polycrystal graphite and amorphous carbon). The deposited film thickness is preferably 500 angstroms or less, more preferably 3 angstroms or less.
It is less than 00 angstrom.

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

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

5, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same members. Further, 51 is a power supply for applying a device voltage Vf to the device, 50 is an ammeter for measuring a device current If flowing through the conductive thin film 3 between the device electrodes 4 and 5, and 54 is an electron emitting portion 2. An anode electrode for trapping the emission current Ie generated, 53 is a high-voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 54, 52 is an ammeter for measuring the emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission portion 2, 55 Is a vacuum device, and 56 is an exhaust pump.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device, the anode electrode 54 and the like are installed in a vacuum device 55.
Is equipped with necessary equipment such as a vacuum gauge (not shown),
The surface conduction electron-emitting device can be measured and evaluated under a desired vacuum.

The exhaust pump 56 is composed of a normal high vacuum system such as a turbo pump and a rotary pump, and an ultra high vacuum system such as an ion pump.
The entire vacuum device 55 and the substrate 1 of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be heated up to about 200 ° C. by a heater.

The characteristics are usually measured by setting the voltage of the anode electrode 54 of the above-mentioned measurement evaluation system to 1 kV to 10 kV and setting the distance H between the anode electrode 54 and the surface conduction electron-emitting device to be 2 kV.
~ 8 mm.

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

First, the emission current Ie and the device current If,
A typical example of the relationship with the device voltage Vf is shown in FIG. still,
In FIG. 6, since the emission current Ie is significantly smaller than the device current If, it is shown in arbitrary units.

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

First, in the surface conduction electron-emitting device, when a device voltage Vf higher than a certain voltage (called threshold voltage: Vth in FIG. 6) is applied, the emission current Ie rapidly increases, while At the threshold voltage Vth or lower, 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 has a characteristic of monotonically increasing with respect to the element voltage Vf (called MI characteristic), the emission current Ie can be controlled by the element voltage Vf.

Thirdly, the emission charge captured by the anode electrode 54 (see FIG. 5) depends on the time for applying the device voltage Vf. That is, the amount of charges captured by the anode electrode 54 can be controlled by the time for which the device voltage Vf is applied.

The emission current Ie is MI with respect to the device voltage Vf.
At the same time as having the characteristics, the element current If may also have the MI characteristics with respect to the element voltage Vf. An example of the characteristics of such a surface conduction electron-emitting device is the characteristics shown by the solid line in FIG. On the other hand, as indicated by a broken line in FIG. 6, the element current If is compared with the element voltage Vf by the voltage control type negative resistance characteristic (VCN).
R characteristics). Which characteristic is exhibited depends on the manufacturing method of the surface conduction electron-emitting device and the measurement conditions at the time of measurement. However, the element current If is the element voltage Vf
Even in the surface conduction electron-emitting device having the VCNR characteristic, the emission current Ie has the MI characteristic with respect to the device voltage Vf.

In the present invention, the emission current Ie is the device voltage Vf.
On the other hand, among the surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices having the MI characteristic, the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device in which the emission current Ie is almost uniquely determined is used. The preferable surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the present invention is the emission current Ie.
And the element current If have an MI characteristic that is almost uniquely determined with respect to the element voltage Vf.

Here, the emission current Ie is uniquely determined means that the Ie-Vf characteristic when the emission current Ie is saturated by applying a certain element voltage Vf and the peak value (or pulse width) of this element voltage Vf. ) Indicates that the Ie'-Vf 'characteristics when the emission current Ie' is saturated by applying different element voltages Vf 'hardly change.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the present invention in which the emission current Ie is uniquely determined ends the forming described in 3) above, and preferably 4) above.
It can be obtained by performing a treatment called a stabilizing step after the treatment in the activation step described in 1) is also performed.

In the stabilization process, the device is held and operated in a vacuum atmosphere having a vacuum degree higher than those in the forming step and the activation step. Further, more preferably, in a vacuum atmosphere having a high degree of vacuum, after heating at 80 ° C. to 150 ° C., the operation is driven.

The degree of vacuum higher than the degree of vacuum in the forming step and the activation step means, for example, about 10 −6 tor.
a vacuum degree of r or higher, preferably an ultra high vacuum system,
The degree of vacuum is such that carbon and carbon compounds are hardly newly deposited.

That is, by holding the surface conduction electron-emitting device in the above-mentioned vacuum atmosphere, it becomes possible to suppress further deposition of carbon and carbon compounds, and thereby the emission current Ie is stabilized. , A surface conduction electron-emitting device in which the emission current Ie with respect to the device voltage Vf is almost uniquely determined. That is, in the stabilization process, the surface conduction electron-emitting device in which the emission current Ie has the MI characteristic with respect to the device voltage Vf becomes a surface conduction electron emission device in which the emission current Ie with respect to the device voltage Vf is almost uniquely determined. can do. Further, since the element current If is also stable, the element current If is also MI against the element voltage Vf.
The surface conduction electron-emitting device having characteristics has a device voltage Vf.
The surface conduction electron-emitting device can be determined almost uniquely by the increase of the device current If with respect to.

The present inventors have also found that the surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the present invention having the above characteristics also has the following characteristics.

For example, for the surface conduction electron-emitting device which has been subjected to the activation process with a pulse having a peak value of 14 V (when the peak value is the same as or higher than the peak value of forming) and further subjected to the stabilization step, When driven by the drive voltage,
This surface conduction electron-emitting device exhibits the above-mentioned MI characteristic in which Ie is almost uniquely determined with respect to Vf (FIG. 7A).

However, after this, the voltage applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device in the above-described manufacturing steps and the maximum voltage value Vmax of the pulse peak value of the driving voltage (voltages of 14 V or more in this case: By applying, for example, 16 V, Vf-Ie characteristics and Vf-If characteristics different from those obtained before can be obtained (FIG. 7).
(B)). Moreover, Vmax is set to 16 as shown in FIG.
Even after the voltage is updated to V, when a voltage of Vmax or lower (voltage of 16V or lower) is applied to drive, the MI characteristic that Ie is almost uniquely determined with respect to Vf is maintained, and the surface conduction electron emission is maintained. The device has a memory property of storing the electron emission characteristic obtained by Vmax until Vmax is updated again (broken line in FIG. 7B). In the present invention, this characteristic is called Vmax dependency.

The width of the applied pulse is also Vm.
It has the same characteristics as ax. That is, when a pulse having a pulse width PWmax which is equal to or larger than the maximum pulse width of the voltage applied in each manufacturing step and the drive voltage is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device, electron emission characteristics different from those obtained before are applied. In addition, when driven by a pulse having a pulse width equal to or less than PWmax, the electron emission characteristic does not vary depending on the pulse width.
A memory property also exists for this PWmax, and this property is called PWmax dependency.

The electron source of the present invention is constructed by arranging a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices having the above characteristics on a substrate.

However, the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged on the substrate, as they are, have variations in electron emission characteristics due to various causes generated in the above-mentioned manufacturing steps. Therefore, the surface conduction electron-emitting device in the electron source of the present invention has been subjected to a treatment for making the characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device uniform. Then, this processing is a correction step.

The correction process, which is the core of the present invention, will be described below.

As described above, the correction step is a step of performing a process for making the characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device uniform, and it is a plurality of surface conduction types formed for the electron source and the image forming apparatus. By examining the electron emission characteristics of the electron-emitting devices and applying a correction voltage, which will be described later, to selected surface-conduction electron-emitting devices, variations in the characteristics of the surface-conduction electron-emitting devices are reduced.

Specifically, the electron emission characteristics of the selected surface conduction electron-emitting device are corrected by utilizing the Vmax dependency and the PWmax dependency described above.

First, each surface-conduction type electron-emitting device is operated by the voltage having the maximum peak value Vmax of the pulse of the driving voltage and the maximum pulse width PWmax at the time of actually driving the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device. The electron emission characteristics of are measured.

Next, for example, paying attention to the electron emission characteristic of one surface-conduction electron-emitting device, another surface-conduction electron-emitting device whose electron emission characteristic is deviated from the target surface-conduction electron-emitting device, The correction voltage having a waveform larger than the waveforms of the voltage applied and the drive voltage in each of the manufacturing steps, specifically, the correction waveform having a peak value larger than the maximum peak value of the drive waveform (Vmax update) and / or the maximum thereof. A correction waveform (PWmax update) having a pulse width larger than the pulse width is applied. Thereby, the electron emission characteristic (Vf-Ie characteristic) of each surface conduction electron-emitting device is changed so that the same electron emission can be obtained from all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices at the time of driving by the actual driving waveform. To As described above, since each surface conduction electron-emitting device has a memory characteristic, a new Vmax or PWmax is obtained.
If the correction step is performed once, the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices can be maintained substantially uniform unless voltage is applied.

Further, since the surface conduction electron-emitting device constituting the electron source of the present invention has Vmax dependency and PWmax dependency, Vmax and PWmax are caused by electrical noise from inside or outside the device using the device. May be updated. Therefore, in order to improve the electrical noise resistance, it is preferable that the pulse crest value and the pulse width of the correction waveform are large, but the correction is performed in consideration of the electron emission characteristics desired in the device using the electron source of the present invention. Desired values are selected for the pulse peak value and pulse width of the working waveform.

As described above, in the electron source of the present invention, since the electron emission characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device are uniform, for example, the correction required at the time of driving, which is conventionally necessary, is unnecessary.

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

As a method for arranging the surface conduction electron-emitting devices in the electron source of the present invention, in addition to the ladder arrangement as described in the section of the prior art, n Ys on m X-direction wirings are arranged. There is an arrangement method in which directional wirings are provided via an interlayer insulating layer and an X-direction wiring and a Y-direction wiring are connected to a pair of device electrodes of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, respectively. This is hereinafter referred to as a simple matrix arrangement. First, this simple matrix arrangement will be described in detail.

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

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

In FIG. 8, the substrate 1 is a glass plate or the like as already described, and the number and shape of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 arranged on the substrate 1 are set appropriately according to the application. is there.

The m X-direction wirings 102 have external terminals Dx1, Dx2, ..., Dxm, respectively.
A conductive metal or the like formed on the top by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. In addition, the material, so that the voltage is supplied almost evenly to the large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104,
The film thickness and wiring width are set.

The n Y-direction wirings 103 each have external terminals Dy1, Dy2, ..., Dyn, and are formed similarly to the X-direction wirings 102.

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

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

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

Here, the m number of X-direction wirings 102, the n number of Y-direction wirings 103, the connection 105, and the opposing element electrodes may have the same or partial constituent elements. Further, they may be different from each other, and are appropriately selected from the above-mentioned material of the element electrode and the like. Wirings to these element electrodes may be collectively referred to as element electrodes when the same material as the element electrodes is used. In addition, the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104
May be formed either on the substrate 1 or on an interlayer insulating layer (not shown).

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

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

Next, an example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention using the electron source of the present invention having the above simple matrix arrangement will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 11. 9 is a basic configuration diagram of the display panel 201, and FIG. 10 is a fluorescent film 114.
FIG. 11 shows the display panel 201 of FIG.
It is a block diagram showing an example of a drive circuit for performing a television display according to an NTSC system television signal.

In FIG. 9, 1 is a substrate of an electron source in which the surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged as described above, 111 is a rear plate to which the substrate 1 is fixed, and 116 is a glass substrate 1.
A face plate having a fluorescent film 114, a metal back 115 and the like formed on the inner surface of 13 and a support frame 112. Frit glass or the like is applied to the rear plate 111, the support frame 112, and the face plate 116, and the atmosphere or nitrogen is used. Then, the envelope 118 is configured by sealing by baking at 400 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more.

In FIG. 9, 2 corresponds to the electron emitting portion in FIG. Reference numerals 102 and 103 denote X-direction wirings and Y-direction wirings connected to the pair of device electrodes 4 and 5 of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104, respectively, and external terminals Dx1 to Dx, respectively.
m, Dy1 to Dyn.

The envelope 118 is composed of the face plate 116, the support frame 112, and the rear plate 111 as described above. However, the rear plate 111 is provided mainly for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the substrate 1, and when the substrate 1 itself has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 111 is not necessary, and the rear plate 111 is directly supported on the substrate 1. 112 is sealed,
The envelope 118 may be composed of the face plate 116, the support frame 112, and the substrate 1. Further, by further installing a support body (not shown) called a spacer between the face plate 116 and the rear plate 111, it is possible to form the envelope 118 having sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure.

In the case of monochrome, the fluorescent film 114 is composed of only the fluorescent substance 122, but in the case of the color fluorescent film 114, depending on the arrangement of the fluorescent substances 122, a black stripe (FIG. 10A) or a black matrix (see FIG. 10). 10
(B)) Black conductive material 121 and phosphor 122, etc.
Composed of and. The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the color mixture, etc., inconspicuous by making the coating portions between the phosphors 122 of the three primary colors necessary for color display black, and to reflect external light on the phosphor film 114. This is to suppress the decrease in contrast due to. As the material of the black conductive material 121, not only a commonly used material containing graphite as a main component, but also another material may be used as long as it is conductive and has little light transmission and reflection. it can.

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

In addition, as shown in FIG.
A metal back 115 is usually provided on the inner surface side of 4.
The purpose of the metal back 115 is to allow the light emitted from the phosphor 122 (see FIG. 10) to the inside of the face plate 11
The mirror 122 is mirror-reflected to improve brightness, acts as an electrode for applying an electron beam accelerating voltage, and protects the phosphor 122 from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the envelope 118. Etc. The metal back 115 can be manufactured by performing smoothing processing (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film 114 after manufacturing the fluorescent film 114, and then depositing Al by vacuum evaporation or the like.

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

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

The inside of the envelope 118 is sealed through a vacuum degree of about 10 −7 torr through an exhaust pipe (not shown). Also, the getter process may be performed immediately before or after the envelope 118 is sealed. This is a getter (not shown) arranged at a predetermined position in the envelope 118.
Is a process for forming a vapor-deposited film by heating. The getter usually has Ba as a main component, and due to the adsorption action of the deposited film,
For example, 1 × 10 −5 to 1 × 10 −7 to
This is for maintaining the vacuum degree of rr.

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

The display panel 201 described above is, for example, as shown in FIG.
It can be driven by a driving circuit as shown in FIG.
In FIG. 11, 201 is a display panel, 202 is a scanning circuit, 203 is a control circuit, 204 is a shift register,
205 is a line memory, 206 is a sync signal separation circuit, 2
Reference numeral 07 is a modulation signal generator, and Vx and Va are DC voltage sources.

As shown in FIG. 11, the display panel 20
1 is connected to an external electric circuit via the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm, the external terminals Dy1 to Dyn, and the high-voltage terminal Hv. Of these, the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm
The surface conduction electron-emitting devices provided in the display panel 201, that is, the group of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns are sequentially driven one row (n elements at a time). A scanning signal for moving is applied.

On the other hand, a modulation signal for controlling the output electron beam of each surface conduction electron-emitting device of one row selected by the scanning signal is applied to the terminal Dy1 to the external terminal Dyn. Further, the high voltage terminal Hv is supplied with a DC voltage of, for example, 10 kV from the DC voltage source Va. This is an accelerating voltage for giving enough energy to excite the phosphor to the electron beam output from the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

The scanning circuit 202 is provided with m switching elements (schematically shown by S1 to Sm in FIG. 11) inside, and each of the switching elements S1 to Sm is an output voltage of the DC voltage source Vx or 0V. One of (ground level) is selected and electrically connected to the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm of the display panel 201. Each of the switching elements S1 to Sm includes a control circuit 203.
It operates on the basis of the control signal Tscan output from the device, and in fact, it can be easily configured by combining elements having a switching function such as an FET.

The DC voltage source Vx in this example has a threshold drive voltage applied to the surface-conduction electron-emitting devices which are not scanned, based on the characteristics (threshold voltage) of the surface-conduction electron-emitting devices. It is set to output a constant voltage that is less than or equal to the value voltage.

The control circuit 203 has a function of matching the operation of each part so that an appropriate display is performed based on the image signal input from the outside. The synchronization signal Tsyn sent from the synchronization signal separation circuit 206 described below
Based on c, Tscan, Tsft, and Tmry control signals are generated for each unit.

The sync signal separation circuit 206 is a circuit for separating a sync signal component and a luminance signal component from an NTSC television signal input from the outside, and as is well known, a frequency separation (filter). If you use a circuit,
It can be easily constructed. Sync signal separation circuit 206
As is well known, the sync signal separated by is composed of a vertical sync signal and a horizontal sync signal. here,
For convenience of explanation, it is shown as Tsync. On the other hand, the luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is referred to as D for convenience.
This is shown as an ATA signal. This DATA signal is input to the shift register 204.

The shift register 204 is for converting the DATA signal serially input in time series into serial / parallel conversion for each line of the image, and based on the control signal Tsft sent from the control circuit 203. Operate. The control signal Tsft is supplied to the shift register 20.
In other words, the shift clock may be four. Also,
One line of serial / parallel converted image (corresponding to driving data for n elements of the surface conduction electron-emitting device)
Data is output from the shift register 204 as n parallel signals Id1 to Idn.

The line memory 205 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a required time,
The contents of Id1 to Idn are stored according to the control signal Tmry sent from the control circuit 203. The stored contents are output as Id'1 to Id'n and input to the modulation signal generator 207.

The modulation signal generator 207 is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices according to each of the image data Id'1 to Id'n, and its output signal is , Terminals Doy1 to Doyn are applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device in the display panel 201.

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

That is, when a pulsed voltage is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device, electron emission does not occur even if a voltage below the threshold voltage is applied, but a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage is applied. If it does, electron emission occurs. At that time, firstly, it is possible to control the intensity of the output electron beam by changing the peak value of the voltage pulse. Secondly, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam by changing the width of the voltage pulse.

Therefore, as a method of modulating the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the input signal, there are a voltage modulation method and a pulse width modulation method. In the case of performing the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 207 uses a voltage modulation method circuit that generates a voltage pulse of a constant length, but can appropriately modulate the pulse peak value according to the input data. In the case of performing the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 207 generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value, but a circuit of the pulse width modulation method that can appropriately modulate the pulse width according to the input data is used. To use.

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

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

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

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

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

The image forming apparatus of the present invention having the display panel 201 and the driving circuit as described above has terminals Dx1 to Dx.
By applying voltage from m and Dy1 to Dyn,
Electrons can be emitted from the required surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the metal back 115 can be discharged through the high voltage terminal Hv.
Alternatively, a high voltage is applied to a transparent electrode (not shown) to accelerate the electron beam, and the excited electron beam collides with the fluorescent film 114 to generate excitation / light emission, which causes a television display according to an NTSC television signal. Is what you can do.

The above-described structure is a schematic structure necessary for obtaining the image forming apparatus of the present invention used for display or the like, and the detailed parts such as the material of each member are limited to the above contents. However, it is appropriately selected so as to suit the purpose of the image forming apparatus. Further, although the NTSC system has been described as the input signal, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to this, and other systems such as PAL and SECAM systems may be used, and more scanning lines than these may be used. It is also possible to use a high-definition TV system such as a TV signal such as the MUSE system.

Next, an example of the above-mentioned ladder-type electron source and the image forming apparatus of the present invention using the electron source will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13.

In FIG. 12, 1 is a substrate, 104 is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and 304 is a common wiring for connecting the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104. Ten common wirings are provided, each having external terminals D1 to D10. are doing.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 is the substrate 1
A plurality of them are arranged in parallel on the top. This is called an element row. A plurality of these element rows are arranged to form an electron source.

Each element row can be independently driven by applying an appropriate drive voltage between the common wiring 304 of each element row (for example, the common wiring 304 of the external terminals D1 and D2). That is, a voltage exceeding the threshold voltage may be applied to the element row where the electron beam is desired to be emitted, and a voltage lower than the threshold voltage may be applied to the element row where the electron beam is not desired to be emitted. The application of such a drive voltage applies to the common wirings D2 to D9 located between the element rows, the common wirings 304 adjacent to each other, that is, the external terminals D2 and D3, D4 and D5, D6 and D7 and D8 adjacent to each other. The common wiring 304 of D9 and D9 may be integrated into the same wiring.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the structure of a display panel 301 provided with the above-mentioned ladder-type electron source, which is another example of the electron source of the present invention.

In FIG. 13, 302 is a grid electrode, 303 is an opening through which electrons pass, D1 to Dm are external terminals for applying a voltage to each surface conduction electron-emitting device, and G1 to G1.
Gn is an external terminal connected to the grid electrode 302. Further, the common wiring 304 between each element row is formed on the substrate 1 as an integrated single wiring.

Note that, in FIG. 13, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 9 indicate the same members, and a big difference from the display panel 201 using the electron source of the simple matrix arrangement shown in FIG. The point is that the grid electrode 302 is provided between 116.

The grid electrode 302 is provided between the substrate 1 and the face plate 116 as described above. The grid electrode 302 is capable of modulating the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104, and the electron beam is applied to the stripe-shaped electrode provided orthogonal to the device row in the ladder-type arrangement. To pass
A circular opening 303 is provided for each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104.

The shape and arrangement position of the grid electrode 302 are
It does not necessarily have to be as shown in FIG. 13, and a large number of openings 303 may be provided in a mesh shape, and the grid electrode 302 may be provided, for example, around or near the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104. Good.

The external terminals D1 to Dm and G1 to Gn are connected to a drive circuit (not shown). Then, by applying a modulation signal for one image line to the columns of the grid electrode 302 in synchronization with the sequential driving (scanning) of the element rows one column at a time, irradiation of each electron beam to the fluorescent film 114 is performed. The image can be displayed line by line.

As described above, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is
An image formation that can be obtained by using the electron source of the present invention in either a simple matrix arrangement or a trapezoidal arrangement and is suitable not only as a display device for the television broadcast described above but also as a display device for a video conference system, a computer, etc. The device is obtained. Further, it can also be used as an exposure device of an optical printer configured with a photosensitive drum.

[0142]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples.

Example 1 The structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device used in this example is the same as that shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b). In the electron source of this embodiment, five surface conduction electron-emitting devices having the same shape are formed on the substrate 1. This is shown in FIG. The same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same members.

The method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device is basically the same as the method described with reference to FIG. The basic configuration and manufacturing method of the surface conduction electron-emitting device used in this example will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

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

The manufacturing procedure will be described below with reference to FIGS.

Step-a On a substrate 1 in which a 0.5 μm-thick silicon oxide film is formed on a cleaned soda-lime glass by a sputtering method,
A pattern having a desired electrode shape opening is formed with a photoresist (RD-2000N-41, manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.),
A Ti film having a thickness of 50 A and a Ni film having a thickness of 1000 Å were sequentially deposited by a vacuum evaporation method. The photoresist pattern was dissolved in an organic solvent and the Ni / Ti deposited film was lifted off to form device electrodes 4 and 5 with a device electrode spacing L1 of 3 μm and a width W1 of 300 μm.

Step-b Next, in order to pattern the conductive thin film 3 for forming the electron emission portion 2 into a predetermined shape, a vapor deposition mask which is often used is placed on the device electrodes 4 and 5 to form a film. Thickness 100
A 0 angstrom Cr film was deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation, and organic Pd (ccp4230 manufactured by Okuno Chemical Industries Co., Ltd.) was spin-coated with a spinner on the film.
It was heat-baked at 0 ° C. for 10 minutes. The conductive thin film 3 formed of fine particles containing Pd as the main element has a film thickness of 100 Å and a sheet resistance value of 2
It was × 10 4 Ω / □. Incidentally, the fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are gathered as described above, and as a fine structure thereof, not only the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other. (Including islands), the particle size refers to the diameter of the fine particles whose particle shape can be recognized in this state.

Next, the Cr film and the thin film 3 after firing were etched with an acid etchant to form a desired pattern.

Through the above steps, the device electrodes 4, 5 and the conductive thin film 3 etc. were formed on the substrate 1.

Step-c Next, the substrate 1 having the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the conductive thin film 3 formed thereon is placed in the measurement / evaluation system of FIG. 3 and evacuated by a vacuum pump to 2 × 10 −5. After the degree of vacuum of torr was reached, a voltage was applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 from a power supply 31 for applying the device voltage Vf, and an energization process (forming process) was performed. The voltage waveform of the forming process has a waveform as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 4B, T1 and T2 are the pulse width and the pulse interval of the voltage waveform. In this embodiment, T1 is 1 ms and T2 is 10 ms, and the peak value of the triangular wave (at the time of forming) The peak voltage was increased in 0.1 V steps to perform the forming process. Further, during the forming process, at the same time, a resistance measurement pulse was inserted between T2 at a voltage of 0.1 V to measure the resistance. The forming process was terminated when the measured value by the resistance measurement pulse became about 1 M ohm or more, and at the same time, the application of the voltage to the surface conduction electron-emitting device was terminated. The surface conduction electron-emitting device has a forming voltage VF of 5.0V and 5.1V.
There was one.

Step-d Subsequently, a rectangular wave having a crest value of 14 V was applied to the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device subjected to the forming treatment for activation. As described above, the activation process is performed between the device electrodes 4 and 5 in the measurement and evaluation system of FIG. 5 by the device current If and the emission current I.
The measurement was performed by applying the pulse voltage while measuring e. The degree of vacuum in the measurement / evaluation apparatus of FIG. 5 at this time is 1.
It was 0 × 10 −5 torr. The activation treatment was completed in about 20 minutes.

Further, the surface conduction electron-emitting device produced in the above process is evacuated using an ultrahigh vacuum evacuation device which does not use vacuum oil in the measurement and evaluation system of FIG.
After the surface conduction electron-emitting device was heated and baked at 120 ° C. for about 10 hours to perform a stabilization process, the electron emission characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device were measured.

The distance between the anode electrode 54 and the surface conduction electron-emitting device in FIG.
Was set to 1 kV, and the degree of vacuum in the vacuum apparatus at the time of measuring electron emission characteristics was set to about 1 × 10 −6.5 torr (partial pressure of organic matter: 1 × 10 −7.5 torr or less). .
The driving waveform pulse applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a pulse width of 100 microseconds and a peak value of 14 μs.
It was set to V.

Table 1 shows the measurement results of the emission current characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device.

Emission current-device voltage characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this example (saturation value as described in the embodiment).
Was measured with a triangular wave having a device voltage (peak value) of 14 V and a pulse width of 100 microseconds, and showed a monotonically increasing characteristic in which the emission current was almost uniquely determined with respect to the device voltage, and device voltage fluctuation was a problematic range. It was below. Further, the device current of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this example also showed a monotonically increasing characteristic which was almost uniquely determined with respect to the device voltage.

From Table 1, surface conduction electron-emitting devices # 1 to # 1 are shown.
Focusing on the emission current up to # 4, the emission current amount of the surface conduction electron-emitting device # 5 is changed to that of other surface conduction electron emission devices # 1 to # 1.
A pulse having a peak value of 14 V or more (correction waveform) is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device # 5 so as to correct the emission current amount of # 4, and Vmax is updated to update the surface conduction electron-emitting device # 5. The device characteristics of No. 5 were changed. Specifically, the peak value of the correction waveform is stepped up in 0.1 V steps with 14 V as a reference, and the actual driving voltage is 14 V or 30 each time.
A characteristic of the surface conduction electron-emitting device # 5 is measured by applying a microsecond pulse, and the emission current of the surface conduction electron-emitting device # 5 is 0.
A correction process was performed on the surface conduction electron-emitting device # 5 by increasing the peak value of the correction waveform until it substantially coincided with 9 μA.

As a result, the peak value of the correction waveform is 14.3.
When V, the amount of emitted electrons of the surface conduction electron-emitting device # 5 becomes almost equal to 0.9 microA of the other surface conduction electron-emitting devices # 1 to # 4, and all surface conduction electron emission devices are It was possible to obtain almost the same amount of emitted electrons.

As described above, in the electron source of the present invention, the selected surface conduction electron-emitting device is subjected to the correction step of applying the correction waveform different from the driving waveform in advance, so that Since variations in device characteristics can be eliminated, it is possible to obtain an electron source having uniform electron emission characteristics.

[0161]

[Table 1]

Example 2 Five surface conduction electron-emitting devices were formed on the substrate by the same method as in Example 1, and a forming process, an activation process and a stabilizing process were performed to prepare an electron source.

When the electron emission characteristics of this electron source were measured under the same measurement and evaluation system and under the same conditions as in Example 1, only one of the five surface conduction electron-emitting devices had an emission current of 1.
0 micro A, and the other four surface conduction electron-emitting devices had 0.9 micro A. Incidentally, as in the first embodiment,
Each surface conduction electron-emitting device had MI characteristics.

Therefore, by applying a pulse (correction waveform) having a pulse width of 100 microseconds or more to the surface conduction electron-emitting device with an emission current of 1.0 microA, P
Wmax was updated to change the element characteristics. Specifically, the pulse width of the correction waveform is increased in steps of 10 microseconds with 100 microseconds as a reference, and at each time, an actual drive voltage of 14 V and a pulse of 100 microseconds are applied to measure the element characteristics. The surface conduction electron-emitting device was subjected to a correction process by increasing the pulse width of the correction waveform until the emission current of the other surface conduction electron-emitting device was substantially equal to 0.9 μA. As a result, the amount of emission current of each surface conduction electron-emitting device was about 0.9 microA, and almost the same amount of emission current could be obtained from all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices.

As described above, in the electron source of the present invention, the selected surface conduction electron-emitting device is subjected to the correction step of applying the correction waveform different from the drive waveform in advance, whereby Since variations in device characteristics can be eliminated, it is possible to obtain an electron source having uniform electron emission characteristics.

Embodiment 3 This embodiment is an example of an image forming apparatus using an electron source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix.

A plan view of a part of the electron source is shown in FIG. 16 is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG.
7 and FIG. However, the same reference numerals in FIG. 15, FIG. 16, FIG. 17, and FIG. 18 indicate the same members.

Here, 1 is a substrate, 102 is an X-direction wiring (also called lower wiring), 103 is a Y-direction wiring (also called upper wiring), 3 is a thin film including an electron emitting portion, 4 and 5 are element electrodes,
151 is an interlayer insulating layer, 152 is the element electrode 5 and the lower wiring 10.
2 is a contact hole for electrical connection.

Next, the manufacturing method will be specifically described in the order of steps based on FIGS. 17 and 18. The following steps a to h correspond to (a) to (h) in FIGS. 17 and 18.

Step-a On a substrate 1 in which a 0.5 μm thick silicon oxide film was formed on a cleaned blue plate glass by a sputtering method, vacuum vapor deposition was used to deposit Cr having a thickness of 50 Å and a thickness of 600.
After sequentially stacking Au of 0 angstrom, a photoresist (AZ1370 manufactured by Hoechst) is spin-coated by a spinner and baked, and then a photomask image is exposed and developed to form a resist pattern of the lower wiring 102.
The u / Cr deposited film was wet-etched to form the lower wiring 102 having a desired shape.

Step-b Next, an interlayer insulating layer 151 made of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 micron was deposited by the RF sputtering method.

Step-c Contact hole 1 is formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in Step b.
A photoresist pattern for forming 52 was formed, and the interlayer insulating layer 151 was etched using this as a mask to form a contact hole 152. Etching is CF ₄
And Reactive Ion using H ₂ gas
-Etching) method.

Step-d After that, a pattern to be the device electrode 5 and the gap G between the device electrodes is formed by a photoresist (RD-2000N-41, manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.), and a Ti film having a thickness of 50 angstrom is formed by a vacuum deposition method. Then, Ni having a thickness of 1000 Å was sequentially deposited. The photoresist pattern was dissolved in an organic solvent and the Ni / Ti deposited film was lifted off to form device electrodes 4 and 5 with a device electrode spacing L1 of 3 μm and a width W1 of 300 μm.

Step-e After forming a photoresist pattern for the upper wiring 103 on the device electrodes 4 and 5, Ti having a thickness of 50 Å,
Au of thickness 5000 Å is sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation, and unnecessary portions are removed by lift-off.
The upper wiring 103 having a desired shape was formed.

Step-f Next, a Cr film 121 having a film thickness of 1000 Å is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation, and an organic P film is formed on the Cr film 121.
d (ccp4230, Okuno Seiyaku Co., Ltd.) was spin-coated with a spinner, and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes. In addition, the thickness of the thin film 3 formed of fine particles whose main element is Pd is 100 angstrom,
The sheet resistance value was 5 × 10 4 Ω / □. Incidentally, the fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are gathered as described above, and as a fine structure thereof, not only the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other. (Including islands), the particle diameter means the diameter of the fine particles whose particle shape is recognizable in the above state.

Step-g The Cr film 153 and the baked thin film 3 were etched with an acid etchant to form a desired pattern.

Step-h A resist was applied to the area other than the contact hole 152 to form a pattern, and Ti having a thickness of 50 Å and Au having a thickness of 5000 Å were sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation. Contact holes 152 were filled by removing unnecessary portions by lift-off.

Through the above steps, the lower wiring 10 is formed on the substrate 1.
2, interlayer insulating layer 151, upper wiring 103, device electrode 4,
5, the conductive thin film 3 and the like were formed.

Next, an example in which a display device is configured by using the electron source created as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

After fixing the substrate 1 provided with the large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 on the rear plate 111 as described above, the face plate 116 (fluorescent on the inner surface of the glass substrate 113) is placed 5 mm above the substrate 1. The support frame 11 is formed by forming the film 114 and the metal back 115.
2, the face plate 116, the support frame 1
12. Frit glass was applied to the joint portion of the rear plate 111, and baked by baking at 400 ° C. to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more in the air or a nitrogen atmosphere to seal the frit glass. Further, the frit glass was also used to fix the substrate 1 to the rear plate 111.

In FIG. 9, reference numerals 102 and 103 denote X-direction and Y-direction wirings, respectively.

In the case of monochrome, the fluorescent film 114 is composed of only the fluorescent material 122, but in this embodiment, the fluorescent material 122 is used.
Adopts a stripe shape (FIG. 10A), a black stripe is first formed, and the phosphors 12 of each color are provided in the gap.
2 was applied to produce a fluorescent film 114. As a material for the black stripe, a material which is commonly used and whose main component is graphite was used.

A slurry method was used as a method for applying the phosphor 122 to the glass substrate 113. In addition, the fluorescent film 11
A metal back 115 was provided on the inner surface side of No. 4. The metal back 115 was manufactured by performing smoothing processing (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film 114 after manufacturing the fluorescent film 114, and then vacuum-depositing Al.

The face plate 116 may be provided with a transparent electrode (not shown) on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 114 in order to further enhance the conductivity of the fluorescent film 114, but in this embodiment, the metal back 115 is used. Since sufficient conductivity was obtained only by itself, it was omitted.

When performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of a color, the phosphors 122 of the respective colors and the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 must correspond to each other.

The atmosphere in the glass container completed as described above is exhausted by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, the external terminals Dx1 to Dx
A voltage is applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 through xm and Dy1 to Dyn, and the electroconductive thin film 3 is subjected to a forming process to form an electron-emitting portion 2.
It was created.

The voltage waveform of the forming process is shown in FIG.
Same as (b). Further, in the present embodiment, T1 is 1 ms and T2 is 10 ms, and about 1 × 10 −5 tor.
It was performed under a vacuum atmosphere of r.

[0188] The electron-emitting portion 2 created in this way
Was in a state in which fine particles containing a palladium element as a main component were dispersed and arranged, and the average particle diameter of the fine particles was 30 Å.

Next, an activation process was performed while measuring the device current If and emission current Ie at a peak value of 14 V, a pulse width of 30 microseconds, and a vacuum degree of 2 × 10 −5 vacuum degree.

By performing the forming step and the activation step as described above, the electron surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 having the electron-emitting portion 2 was manufactured.

After that, the system was switched to an ultrahigh vacuum exhaust system of a pump system which does not use oil such as an ion pump, and the temperature was 120 ° C.
After baking for a sufficient time, the stabilization process was performed. The degree of vacuum after baking is 1 × 10 minus 6.5 tor.
At about r, the partial pressure of organic matter is 1 × 10 minus 7.5 to the power t
It was about orr.

Next, an exhaust pipe (not shown) is welded by heating with a gas burner to seal the envelope, and in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing, a getter treatment is performed by a high frequency heating method. I went.

Each surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 is driven with a driving waveform to examine the electron emission characteristics of each surface conduction electron-emitting device 104, and the surface conduction for which the correction waveform is selected is the same as in the first embodiment. A correction process was applied to the electron emission devices 104 to make the electron emission characteristics of all the surface conduction electron emission devices 104 substantially equal. As a result, all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104 can obtain almost the same amount of electron emission by the same drive waveform, and a uniform electron source can be obtained.

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention completed as described above, the scanning signal and the modulation signal are respectively sent to the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 from the signal generating means (not shown) through the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn. Electrons are emitted by applying the voltage and a metal back 114 or a transparent electrode (not shown) is provided through the high voltage terminal Hv.
High voltage of several kV or more is applied to the electron beam to accelerate the electron beam,
An image was displayed by colliding with the fluorescent film 115 and exciting and emitting light.

The image forming apparatus of this embodiment can obtain an extremely stable image with a small luminance distribution. Also,
A high-contrast display having excellent gradation characteristics and full-color display characteristics was obtained.

Example 4 Five surface conduction electron-emitting devices were formed on the substrate by the same method as in Example 1. Then, forming was performed by applying the voltage waveform shown in FIG. 4A between the respective element electrodes in the same measurement and evaluation apparatus system as in Example 1. At this time, T1 in FIG. 4A was set to 1 msec, T2 was set to 10 msec, and the peak value of the triangular wave was kept constant at 14V. After this,
A stabilizing process was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 to prepare an electron source.

The electron emission characteristics of the obtained electron source were measured under the same measurement and evaluation system and under the same conditions as in Example 1. Only one of the five surface conduction electron-emitting devices had an emission current of 1. It was 0 micro A, and the other four were 0.9 micro A. As in Example 1, each surface conduction electron-emitting device had MI characteristics.

Therefore, in the same manner as in Example 1, a voltage pulse (correction voltage) having a peak value of 14 V or more is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device having an emission current of 1.0 μA. Thus, Vmax was updated, and a correction process for changing the element characteristics was performed. As a result, the amount of emission current of each surface conduction electron-emitting device was about 0.9 μA.
Therefore, almost the same amount of emission current could be obtained from all the surface conduction electron-emitting devices.

Embodiment 5 In FIG. 19, image information provided from various image information sources including, for example, television broadcasting can be displayed on a display panel using the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron source. It is a diagram showing an example of an image forming apparatus of the present invention configured as described above.

In the figure, 16100 is a display panel and 1
Reference numeral 6101 denotes a display panel drive circuit, and 16102.
Is a display controller, 16103 is a multiplexer, 16104 is a decoder, 16105 is an input / output interface circuit, 16106 is a CPU, 16107 is an image generation circuit, 16108, 16109 and 1611.
0 is an image memory interface circuit, 16111 is an image input interface circuit, 16112 and 161.
Reference numeral 13 is a TV signal receiving circuit, and 16114 is an input unit.

When receiving a signal including both video information and audio information, such as a television signal, the present image forming apparatus naturally reproduces audio at the same time as displaying video. Descriptions of circuits, speakers, and the like relating to reception, separation, reproduction, processing, storage, etc. of audio information that are not directly related to the features of the present invention will be omitted.

The functions of the respective parts will be described below along the flow of image signals.

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 16113 is a circuit for receiving a TV signal transmitted using a wireless transmission system such as radio waves or spatial optical communication.

The TV signal system to be received is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include NTSC system, PAL system and SEC.
Any method such as AM method may be used. Further, a TV signal having a larger number of scanning lines than these, for example, a so-called high-definition TV such as the MUSE system, is a signal suitable for taking advantage of the display panel suitable for a large area and a large number of pixels. Is the source.

The TV signal received by the TV signal receiving circuit 16113 is output to the decoder 16104.

The TV signal receiving circuit 16112 is a circuit for receiving a TV signal transmitted using a wire transmission system such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. A TV for receiving, similar to the TV signal receiving circuit 16113.
The signal system is not particularly limited, and the TV signal received by this circuit is also output to the decoder 16104.

Image input interface circuit 16111
Is a circuit for capturing an image signal supplied from an image input device such as a TV camera or an image reading scanner, and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 16104.

Image memory interface circuit 161
10 is a video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR)
The circuit for fetching the image signal stored in is output to the decoder 16104.

Image memory interface circuit 161
Reference numeral 09 denotes a circuit for capturing the image signal stored in the video disc, and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 16104.

Image memory interface circuit 161
Reference numeral 08 denotes a circuit for taking in an image signal from a device that stores still image data, such as a still image disc,
The captured still image data is input to the decoder 16104.

Input / output interface circuit 16105
Is a circuit for connecting the display device to an external computer, a computer network, or an output device such as a printer. It is of course possible to input / output image data and character / graphic information, and in some cases, input / output control signals and numerical data between the CPU 16106 of the image forming apparatus and the outside. .

The image generation circuit 16107 receives image data, character / graphic information, or CPU 1 input from the outside via the input / output interface circuit 16105.
6106 is a circuit for generating display image data based on image data and character / graphic information output from the 6106. Inside this circuit, for example, a rewritable memory for storing image data and character / graphic information, a read-only memory that stores image patterns corresponding to character codes, a processor for image processing, etc. , And the circuits necessary for image generation are incorporated.

The display image data generated by this circuit is output to the decoder 16104, but in some cases, it may be output to an external computer network or printer via the input / output interface circuit 16105.

The CPU 16106 mainly carries out operations relating to operation control of the display device and generation, selection and editing of a display image.

For example, a control signal is output to the multiplexer 16103 to appropriately select or combine image signals to be displayed on the display panel. In that case, a control signal is generated to the display panel controller 16102 according to the image signal to be displayed, and the display frequency of the display device, the scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced), the number of scanning lines in one screen, and the like of the display device. The operation is controlled appropriately. In addition, the image data or the character / graphic information is directly output to the image generation circuit 16107, or the external computer or memory is accessed through the input / output interface circuit 16105 to display the image data or the character / graphic information. input.

The CPU 16106 may also be involved in work 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 input / output interface circuit 161
It is also possible to connect to an external computer network via 05 and collaborate with an external device for work such as numerical calculation.

The input unit 16114 is the CPU 1610.
6 is for the user to input commands, programs, data, etc., and various input devices such as a joystick, a bar code reader, a voice recognition device, etc. can be used in addition to the keyboard and mouse. .

The decoder 16104 is a circuit for inversely converting various image signals input from the above 16107 to 16113 into three primary color signals, or luminance signals and I signals and Q signals. It is desirable that the decoder 16104 has an image memory therein, as indicated by a dotted line in the figure. This is for handling a television signal which requires an image memory for reverse conversion, for example, including the MUSE system.

The provision of the image memory makes it easy to display a still image. Alternatively, the image generation circuit 1610
7 and the CPU 16106, there is an advantage that image processing and editing such as image thinning, interpolation, enlargement, reduction, and composition are facilitated.

The multiplexer 16103 is the CPU
The display image is appropriately selected based on the control signal input from the 16106. That is, the multiplexer 16
103 selects a desired image signal from the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 16104 and outputs it to the drive circuit 16101. In that case, by switching and selecting image signals 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 television. .

Display panel controller 1610
Reference numeral 2 is a circuit for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 16101 based on the control signal input from the CPU 16106.

As a signal related to the basic operation of the display panel, for example, a signal for controlling an operation sequence of a power source (not shown) for driving the display panel is output to the drive circuit 16101. As a signal relating to the display panel driving method, for example, a signal for controlling a screen display frequency and a scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced) is supplied to the driving circuit 16101.
Output to. Further, in some cases, a control signal relating to image quality adjustment such as luminance, contrast, color tone, and sharpness of a display image may be output to the driver circuit 16101.

The drive circuit 16101 is a circuit for generating a drive signal to be applied to the display panel 16100, and the image signal input from the multiplexer 16103 and the display panel controller 16 are provided.
It operates based on a control signal input from 102.

Although the function of each unit has been described above, the image information input from various image information sources can be displayed on the display panel 16100 in this image forming apparatus by the configuration illustrated in FIG. . That is, various image signals such as television broadcast are inversely converted by the decoder 16104 and then the multiplexer 16
It is appropriately selected in 103 and input to the driving circuit 16101. On the other hand, the display controller 16102
Generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 16101 according to the image signal to be displayed. Drive circuit 16
Reference numeral 101 applies a drive signal to the display panel 16100 based on the image signal and the control signal. As a result, the image is displayed on the display panel 16100. These series of operations are controlled by the CPU 16106 as a whole.

In this image forming apparatus, the image memory built in the decoder 16104 and the image generation circuit 16 are provided.
In addition to displaying the selected information from 107 and the information, the image information to be displayed may be enlarged or reduced, for example.
Image processing such as rotation, movement, edge enhancement, thinning, interpolation, color conversion, image aspect ratio conversion, combining, erasing,
It is also possible to perform image editing such as connection, replacement, and fitting. Although not particularly mentioned in the description of this embodiment, a dedicated circuit for processing and editing audio information may be provided as in the above-mentioned image processing and image editing.

Therefore, the present image forming apparatus includes a display device for television broadcasting, a terminal device for a video conference, an image editing device for handling still images and moving images, a terminal device for a computer,
It is possible to combine the functions of office terminals such as word processors, game machines, etc., with a very wide range of applications for industrial or consumer use.

It should be noted that FIG. 19 shows only an example of the structure in the case of an image forming apparatus using a display panel having a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source, and the image forming apparatus of the present invention is It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this.

For example, among the components shown in FIG. 19, circuits relating to functions unnecessary for the purpose of use may be omitted.
On the contrary, the constituent elements may be added depending on the purpose of use. For example, when the display device is applied as a videophone, a TV camera, a voice microphone,
It is preferable to add a illuminator, a transmission / reception circuit including a modem, and the like to the components.

In this image forming apparatus, since the surface conduction electron-emitting device is used as the electron source, the display panel can be easily thinned and the depth of the image forming apparatus can be reduced. In addition, a display panel using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source can easily have a large screen, has high brightness, and has excellent viewing angle characteristics, so that the image forming apparatus has a realistic and powerful image. Can be displayed with good visibility.

[0230]

As described above, the electron source of the present invention can reduce variations in the electron emission characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices themselves, and can improve the uniformity of the amount of emitted electrons. it can. Further, when the electron source of the present invention is used, an image forming apparatus such as a display device that can obtain an image with a very small luminance distribution is provided with a correction memory for driving and a complicated correction circuit which are conventionally required. It is possible to simplify the structure of the device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a forming waveform.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a measurement / evaluation apparatus used in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing typical IV characteristics at a vacuum degree of about 1 × 10 −6 Torr.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing emission current-device voltage characteristics (IV characteristics) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device used in the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electron source of the present invention in a simple matrix arrangement.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of a display panel used in the image forming apparatus of the present invention using an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement.

10 is a diagram showing a fluorescent film in the display panel of FIG.

11 is a diagram showing an example of a drive circuit for driving the display panel of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a schematic plan view of an electron source in a ladder arrangement.

FIG. 13 is a schematic configuration diagram of a display panel used in the image forming apparatus of the present invention using an electron source in a ladder arrangement.

FIG. 14 is a schematic plan view showing an electron source in Example 1.

FIG. 15 is a schematic plan view showing an electron source in Example 4.

16 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A ′ in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a manufacturing procedure of the electron source in the third embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a manufacturing procedure of the electron source in the third embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus according to a fifth exemplary embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Base 2 Electron emission part 3 Thin film 4,5 Element electrode 21 Step forming member 50 Ammeter 51 for measuring element current If 51 Power supply 52 Ammeter 53 for measuring emission current Ie 53 High voltage power supply 54 Anode electrode 55 Vacuum device 56 Exhaust Pump 102 X Direction Wiring (Lower Wiring) 103 Y Direction Wiring (Upper Wiring) 104 Surface Conduction Electron Emitting Element 105 Wiring 111 Rear Plate 112 Support Frame 113 Glass Substrate 114 Fluorescent Film 115 Metal Back 116 Face Plate 118 Enclosure 121 Black Conductive Material 122 Phosphor 151 Interlayer Insulating Layer 152 Contact Hole 153 Cr Layer 201 Display Panel 202 Scanning Circuit 203 Control Circuit 204 Shift Register 205 Line Memory 206 Synchronous Signal Separation Circuit 207 Modulation Signal Generator 301 Display Panel 302 Lid electrode 303 Opening 304 Common wiring 16100 Display panel 16101 Driving circuit 16102 Display controller 16103 Multiplexer 16104 Decoder 16105 Input / output interface circuit 16106 CPU 16107 Image generation circuit 16108 Image memory interface circuit 16109 Image memory interface circuit 16110 Image memory interface circuit 16111 Image input interface Circuit 16112 TV signal receiving circuit 16113 TV signal receiving circuit 16114 Input unit

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A surface conduction electron-emitting device comprising a pair of device electrodes provided on a substrate and a thin film having an electron-emitting portion, wherein the emission current is monotonically increasing with respect to the device voltage. A plurality of surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices having a plurality of surface-conduction electron-emitting devices, and at least one of the surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices is previously applied with a correction waveform having a waveform different from the drive waveform at the time of driving the device. An electron source characterized by the above. 2. A surface conduction electron-emitting device comprising a thin film having a pair of device electrodes and an electron-emitting portion provided on a substrate, wherein the emission current and the device current are substantially unique to the device voltage. A plurality of surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices having a monotonically increasing characteristic are provided, and at least one of the surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices is previously applied with a correction waveform having a waveform different from the drive waveform at the time of driving the device. An electron source characterized by being a thing. 3. The electron source according to claim 1, wherein the peak value of the correction waveform is larger than the peak value of the drive waveform. 4. The electron source according to claim 1, wherein the pulse width of the correction waveform is larger than the pulse width of the drive waveform. 5. The electron source according to claim 1, wherein the surface conduction electron-emitting device is a flat type in which device electrodes are formed on the same surface. 6. The surface conduction electron-emitting device is of a vertical type in which device electrodes are located above and below an insulating layer and a conductive thin film including an electron-emitting portion is formed on a side surface of the insulating layer. The electron source according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which is characterized in that. 7. The device has at least one device row in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged, and wirings for driving each surface conduction electron-emitting device are arranged in a matrix. The electron source according to claim 1. 8. A device having at least one device row in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged, and wirings for driving each surface conduction electron-emitting device are arranged in a ladder shape. The electron source according to any one of claims 1 to 6. 9. An electron source according to claim 1,
An image forming apparatus comprising: a modulation unit that modulates an electron beam emitted from the electron source according to an information signal, and an image forming member that forms an image by irradiation of the electron beam from the electron source. 10. A method of manufacturing an electron source comprising a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the method comprising: forming a plurality of pairs of element electrodes on a substrate; and forming a conductive thin film between each pair of element electrodes. A forming step, an activating step, a stabilizing step of holding each surface conduction electron-emitting device under a vacuum higher than the forming step and the activation step, and a selected surface conduction electron-emitting device And a correction step of applying a correction waveform different from the drive waveform during driving to adjust the electron emission characteristics. 11. A method of manufacturing an electron source having a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the method comprising: forming a plurality of pairs of element electrodes on a substrate; and forming a conductive thin film between each pair of element electrodes. A forming process, a stabilizing process of holding each surface conduction electron-emitting device under a vacuum higher than that of the forming process, and a waveform different from the driving waveform when driving the selected surface conduction electron-emitting device. And a correction step of adjusting the electron emission characteristic by applying the correction waveform of 1. 12. The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 10, wherein the peak value of the correction waveform is larger than the peak value of the driving waveform. 13. The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 10, wherein the pulse width of the correction waveform is larger than the pulse width of the drive waveform. 14. An electron source is manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 10, and the obtained electron source is modulated by an electron beam emitted from the electron source according to an information signal, and A method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus, characterized by being combined with an image forming member which forms an image by irradiation of an electron beam from an electron source.