JPH0945232A - Method for manufacturing electron-emitting device, electron source, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: An electron-emitting device having uniform characteristics that can be used as an electron beam source of an image forming apparatus is obtained. SOLUTION: After measuring a resistance value R1 of a conductive film 3,
A method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device, in which an electron-emitting portion 2 is formed by applying an appropriate forming voltage according to the resistance value R1. [Effect] An electron-emitting device having uniform characteristics can be obtained even when the resistance value R1 of each device before forming varies, and the electron-emitting device is formed by using a plurality of electron-emitting devices formed on the same substrate. In this image forming apparatus, uneven brightness and uneven image are suppressed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention particularly relates to an image of a cold cathode type electron-emitting device, an electron source in which a large number of such devices are arranged, and an image of a display device, an exposure device or the like constructed by using the electron source. The present invention relates to a manufacturing technique of a forming device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices are known, which are a thermoelectron-emitting device and a cold cathode electron-emitting device. Field emission type (hereinafter, referred to as "FE")
Type ". ), Metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter referred to as “MI
It is called "M type". ) And surface conduction electron-emitting devices.

[0003] As an example of the FE type, W. P. Dyke
and W. W. Dolan, “Field Em
"Ission", Advance in Elect
ron Physics, 8, 89 (1956) or C.I. A. Spindt, “Physical
Properties of thin-filmfi
eld emission cathodes wit
h mollybdenum cones ”, J. A.
ppl. Phys. , 47, 5248 (1976)
And the like are known.

An example of the MIM type is C.I. A. Mea
d, “Operation of Tunnel-Em
"Ission Devices", J. Appl.
Phys. , 32,646 (1961) and the like are known.

As an example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device,
M. I. Elinson, Radio Eng.
Electron Phys. , 10, 1290 (1
965) and the like.

[0006] The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electrons are emitted by passing a current through a small-area thin film formed on an insulating substrate in parallel with the film surface. Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include a device using an SnO ₂ thin film by Elinson et al. And a device using an Au thin film [G. Dittmer: "Thin Solid
Films ", 9, 317 (1972)], In ₂
O ₃ / SnO ₂ thin film [M. Hartwell
and C.I. G. FIG. Fonstad: "IEEE T
rans. ED Conf. , 519 (197
5)], using a carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum,
26, No. 1, p. 22 (1983)].

The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electron emission occurs when a current is applied to a conductive film formed on an insulating substrate in parallel with the film surface.

As a typical configuration example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, a conductive film such as a metal oxide which connects between a pair of device electrodes provided on an insulating substrate is referred to as forming in advance. The thing which formed the electron emission part by the electricity supply process is mentioned. Forming is performed by applying a DC voltage or a very slow rising voltage across the conductive film, for example, 1 V /
A process that is usually performed by applying and applying a rising voltage for about 1 minute to locally destroy, deform or alter the conductive film to change the structure and form an electron-emitting portion in an electrically high resistance state. Is. The electron emission is performed from the vicinity of the crack generated in the electron emitting portion by applying a voltage to the conductive 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 to each other (also referred to as common wiring) is arranged (also referred to as a ladder arrangement) (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-31332 and 1-283).
749, and 2-257552). 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. 506).
No. 6883).

[0011]

However, in the electron-emitting device as described above, the energization forming has conventionally been performed under the same condition for each device. Therefore, if the device resistance before energization forming varies, it depends on the device. Since the forming voltage is too high and an excessive current flows through the element, and conversely, the forming voltage is too small and sufficient cracks do not occur in the element, so that the element state after forming tends to vary.

Therefore, in the conventional electron-emitting device in which the electron-emitting portion is formed by the energization forming, variations in the electrical characteristics are likely to occur due to the variations in the resistance of each element before the energization forming, and the electron source and the image forming apparatus. When applied to, there was a problem of causing uneven brightness and uneven image.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an electron source and an image forming apparatus which eliminate the variation in the characteristics of the electron-emitting device in which the electron-emitting portion is formed by the energization forming, and which have very little brightness unevenness and image unevenness. The purpose is to do.

[0014]

The constitution of the present invention made to achieve the above object is as follows.

That is, the first aspect of the present invention comprises the step of measuring the resistance value R1 of the conductive film between the electrodes and then applying a forming voltage according to the resistance value R1. In the manufacturing method.

The above-mentioned first method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device of the present invention is further characterized in that "the voltage corresponding to the resistance value R1 is a voltage having a voltage peak proportional to the square root of the resistance value R1". That is, "after applying the forming voltage, the resistance value R2 of the conductive film is measured, and the resistance value R2 is measured.
Is lower than a predetermined resistance value R, a forming voltage having a peak voltage higher than the peak voltage of the forming voltage is applied.
It is also a surface conduction electron-emitting device ".

A second aspect of the present invention is a method of manufacturing an electron source having an electron-emitting device and a driving means for driving the electron-emitting device, wherein the electron-emitting device is manufactured by the first manufacturing method of the present invention. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electron source manufacturing method.

The second method of manufacturing an electron source according to the present invention is further characterized in that "the electron source is an electron source having at least one element row in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected in parallel. That is, the "electron source is an electron source in which a plurality of element rows in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected are arranged in a matrix".

The third aspect of the present invention is to provide an electron-emitting device,
In a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus having an image forming member and a driving unit that controls irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron emitting device to the image forming member according to an information signal, An image forming apparatus manufacturing method is characterized by being manufactured by the first manufacturing method of the present invention.

The third method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus of the present invention is further characterized in that: "In the image forming apparatus, an image having at least one element row in which a plurality of the electron-emitting devices are connected in parallel is formed. That is, the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of element rows in which a plurality of the electron-emitting devices are connected are arranged in a matrix.

According to the present invention, even if the element resistance value R1 before energization forming varies from element to element, R1
Which can prevent an excessive current from flowing through a small element and the incomplete cracking of a large R1 element, and can make the electrical characteristics of each element uniform after energization forming. Is.

[0022]

As described above, the present invention relates to an electron-emitting device, an electron source including a plurality of the electron-emitting devices, and a novel method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus using the same.
The structure and operation of each invention will be further described below.

The electron-emitting device according to the present invention is classified into the cold cathode type electron-emitting device as described above. Among them, the surface conduction type electron-emitting device is particularly preferable from the viewpoint of electron emission characteristics and the like. Is. Therefore, the surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described below as an example.

FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b) are views showing the basic structure of a surface conduction electron-emitting device suitable for the present invention.
In the figure, 1 is a substrate, 2 is an electron emitting portion, 3 is a conductive film, and 4 and 5 are electrodes (element electrodes).

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

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
Printed conductors composed of metals or metal oxides and glass and the like, transparent conductors such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂ , and semiconductor conductor materials such as polysilicon are appropriately selected.

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

The device electrode spacing L is preferably several hundred angstroms to several hundreds of micrometers, more preferably several micrometers to several tens of micrometers depending on the voltage applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5. .

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.

In the electron-emitting device shown in FIG. 1, the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the conductive film 3 are laminated on the substrate 1 in this order. 3, the device electrodes 4 and 5 may be laminated in this order.

The conductive 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 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 thickness of the conductive film 3 is 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 / □ sheet. It is the resistance value.

The fine particle film is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and the fine structure thereof is not only a state in which fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged but also a state in which fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (some fine particles). Also includes the case where they are aggregated to form an island-like structure as a whole).

In the present specification, the term “fine particles” is frequently used, and the meaning will be described.

Small particles are called "fine particles", and smaller ones are called "ultra fine particles". It is widely known that particles smaller than "ultrafine particles" and having a number of atoms of about several hundreds or less are called "clusters".

However, each boundary is not strict, and changes depending on what kind of property is considered and classified. Further, “fine particles” and “ultrafine particles” may be collectively referred to as “fine particles”, and the description in this specification is in line with this.

For example, in "Experimental Physics Course 14 Surface / Particles" (edited by Yoshio Kinoshita, published on September 1, 1986 by Kyoritsu Publishing Co., Ltd.), "fine particles in this paper have a diameter of about 2-3 μm to 10 nm. And especially when it is referred to as ultrafine particles, the particle size is about 10 nm to 2-3 n.
It means up to about m. It is not exactly strict because both are collectively written as fine particles, but it is a rough guide. When the number of atoms constituting a particle is from 2 to several tens to several hundreds, it is called a cluster. (Page 195, lines 22 to 26).

In addition, the definition of "ultra-fine particles" in the "Hayashi / Ultra-fine Particle Project" of the New Technology Development Corporation has a lower limit of the particle size, which is as follows.

In the "Ultrafine particle project" (1981-1986) of the Creative Science and Technology Promotion System, particles having a size (diameter) in the range of about 1 to 100 nm are called "ultrafine particles". Then, one ultrafine particle is an aggregate of about 100 to 10 ⁸ atoms. From the atomic scale, the ultrafine particles are large to huge particles. "(" Ultrafine particles- Creative Science and Technology "Takashi Hayashi, Ryoji Ueda, Akira Tasaki ed .; Mita Publishing 198
8 years, page 2, lines 1 to 4) / "Even smaller than ultrafine particles, that is, composed of several to several hundred atoms 1
Individual particles are usually called clusters "(ibid., Page 2, lines 12-13).

[0039] Based on the general notation as described above,
In the present specification, “fine particles” are an aggregate of a large number of atoms and molecules, and the lower limit of the particle size is several Å to 10 Å, and the upper limit is several μm.
I will refer to something of a degree.

As the material forming the conductive film 3, for example, Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu,
Metals such as Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, and Pb;
oxides such as dO, SnO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO, Sb ₂ O ₃ , HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ , LaB ₆ , CeB ₆ , Y
Borides such as B ₄ and GdB ₄ , TiC, ZrC, HfC,
Carbides such as TaC, SiC and WC, TiN, ZrN,
Examples include nitrides such as HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, and carbon.

The electron emitting portion 2 is, for example, a crack formed in a part of the conductive film, and the electron emission is performed from the vicinity of this crack. This crack is formed depending on the film thickness of the conductive film 3, the film quality, the material, the energization forming conditions described later, and other manufacturing methods. Therefore, the position and shape of the electron emitting portion 2 are shown in FIG.
It is not limited to the position and shape as shown in.

Inside the cracks, there may be conductive fine particles having a particle diameter of several angstroms to several hundred angstroms. The conductive fine particles are similar to some or all of the elements of the material constituting the conductive film 3. Further, it is desirable that the electron emitting portion 2 and the conductive film 3 in the vicinity thereof have a film containing carbon as a main component.

Next, an example of a method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device which is the main object of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, 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, a device electrode material is deposited by a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method or the like, and then on the surface of the substrate 1 by a photolithography technique or the like. The device electrodes 4 and 5 are formed (FIG. 2A).

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 element electrode 5 are connected to each other to form an organic metal film. still,
The organic metal solution is a solution of an organic compound whose main element is a metal of the constituent material of the conductive film 3 described above. Then, the organic metal film is heated and baked, and is patterned by lift-off, etching or the like to form the conductive film 3 having a desired pattern shape (FIG. 2B).

Although the organic metal solution coating method has been described here, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, vacuum vapor deposition method, sputtering method, chemical vapor deposition method, dispersion coating method, dipping method, spinner method, etc. It is also possible to form an organic metal film.

3) Subsequently, a forming process by energization is performed.

When a voltage higher than a certain voltage is applied from the 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 film 3 (FIG. 2).
(C)). By this energization treatment, the conductive film 3 is locally destroyed, deformed or denatured, and the site where the structure is changed is the electron emitting portion 2.

The greatest feature of the present invention relates to the forming process, that is, the resistance value R1 of the conductive film 3 is measured in advance before applying the forming voltage, and the resistance value R1 is appropriately set according to the resistance value R1. The forming voltage is applied to form the electron emitting portion 2.

Specifically, it is preferable that the forming voltage is, for example, a voltage having a voltage peak proportional to the square root of the resistance value R1.

The resistance value R2 of the conductive film 3 is measured even after the forming voltage is applied. If the resistance value R2 is lower than a predetermined resistance value (for example, 1 M ohm), the peak voltage of the forming voltage is further increased. It is preferable to apply a forming voltage having a higher peak voltage than that.

The steps from the forming step onward can be performed in a measurement / evaluation system as shown in FIG. This measurement evaluation system will be described.

In FIG. 3, 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 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,
56 is an exhaust pump.

The electron-emitting device, the anode electrode 54 and the like are installed in a vacuum device 55, and this vacuum device 55 is equipped with necessary equipment such as a vacuum gauge (not shown) so that the electron-emitting device can be operated under a desired vacuum. It is possible to measure and evaluate.

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 electron-emitting device are
The heater can heat up to about 200 ° C. This measurement and evaluation system configures the display panel and its inside as the vacuum device 55 and its inside at the stage of assembling the display panel as will be described later, so that the measurement and evaluation in the forming step and the subsequent steps described later are performed. It is applied to processing.

4) Next, it is preferable to perform an activation treatment for depositing carbon or a carbon compound on the region including the electron emitting portion 2.

As a method for depositing carbon or a carbon compound in a region including the electron emitting portion 2, a usual method such as vacuum vapor deposition, sputtering, CVD, ion plating can be used, but a vacuum atmosphere in which an organic substance exists. Below, the method of applying a voltage pulse between the device electrodes 4 and 5 is more preferable because it is simple. In particular, in the case of the surface conduction electron-emitting device, this method significantly improves the electron emission characteristics.

The vacuum atmosphere in which the organic substance is present in the activation treatment step is formed by utilizing the organic gas remaining in the atmosphere when the inside of the vacuum container is evacuated using, for example, an oil diffusion pump or a rotary pump. Besides, it can be obtained by introducing a gas of an appropriate organic substance into a vacuum that has been sufficiently evacuated by an ion pump or the like. The preferable gas pressure of the organic substance at this time varies depending on the above-described application form, the shape of the vacuum vessel, the type of the organic substance, and the like, and is appropriately set according to the case. Suitable organic substances include alkanes, alkenes, alkyne aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes,
Ketones, amines, phenols, carboxylic acids, organic acids such as sulfonic acids and the like can be mentioned. Specifically, methane, ethane, propane and the like, saturated hydrocarbons represented by C _n H _{2n + 2} , ethylene, Unsaturated hydrocarbons represented by compositional formulas such as propylene and C _n H _2n , benzene, toluene, methanol, ethanol, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methylamine, ethylamine, phenol, formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, etc. Can be used. By this treatment, carbon or a carbon compound is deposited on the device from the organic substance existing in the atmosphere, and the device current If and the emission current Ie are significantly changed.

The above-mentioned carbon and carbon compound include, for example, graphite (so-called HOPG ', PG (, GC), HOPG being a substantially complete crystal structure of graphite, P
G indicates that the crystal grains were about 200Å and the crystal structure was slightly disturbed, and GC indicates that the crystal grains were about 20Å and the crystal structure was further disturbed. ) And amorphous carbon (referring to amorphous carbon and a mixture of amorphous carbon and fine crystals of graphite), and the deposited film thickness thereof is preferably 500 angstroms or less, more preferably 300 angstroms or less.

5) It is preferable to perform a stabilization process in which the electron-emitting device thus manufactured is driven and operated in a vacuum atmosphere having a vacuum degree higher than those in the forming step and the activation step. More preferably, in a vacuum atmosphere having a high degree of vacuum, after heating at 80 to 150 ° C., the operation is driven.

A vacuum atmosphere having a vacuum degree higher than that in the forming step and the activation step means, for example, about −10
It is a vacuum atmosphere having a vacuum degree of 6th torr or more,
More preferably, it is an ultra-high vacuum system, and the degree of vacuum is such that carbon and carbon compounds are hardly newly deposited.

That is, by encapsulating the electron-emitting device in the above-mentioned vacuum atmosphere, it becomes possible to suppress further deposition of carbon and carbon compounds, and thereby the device current If and emission current Ie are stabilized. .

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

The basic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device described below are that the voltage of the anode electrode 54 of the measurement / evaluation system of FIG. 3 is 1 kV to 10 kV, and the distance H between the anode electrode 54 and the surface conduction electron-emitting device is 2 Usually, the measurement is performed by setting it to 8 mm.

First, the emission current Ie and the device current If,
A typical example of the relationship with the element voltage Vf is shown in FIG. still,
In FIG. 4A, the emission current Ie is markedly smaller than the device current If, and therefore is shown in arbitrary units.
The vertical axis and the horizontal axis are linear scales.

As is apparent from FIG. 4A, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has the following three characteristic characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie.

First, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a certain voltage (referred to as a threshold voltage: Vt in FIG. 4A).
When the device voltage Vf exceeding h) is applied, the emission current Ie rapidly increases, while at the threshold voltage Vth or less, the emission current Ie is hardly detected. That is, it is a nonlinear element having a clear threshold voltage Vth with respect to the emission current Ie.

Secondly, since the emission current Ie has the 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. 3) 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 in FIG. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4B, the device current I
f is a voltage control type negative resistance characteristic (V
In some cases, it may be referred to as a CNR characteristic). 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, even in the surface conduction electron-emitting device in which the device current If has the VCNR characteristic with respect to the device voltage Vf, the emission current Ie has the MI characteristic with respect to the device voltage Vf.

Due to the characteristic characteristics of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention as described above, even in an electron source or an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of devices are arranged, the amount of emitted electrons can be easily controlled according to an input signal. Therefore, it can be applied to various fields.

Next, as an example of the electron source according to the present invention, an electron source in which a plurality of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices described above are arranged will be described. First, the arrangement method of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices will be described.

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

According to the 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 configuration of the electron source having the simple matrix arrangement, which is an example of the electron source according to the present invention, will be further described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 5, 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 direction wirings 103, and is electrically separated to form a matrix wiring. Note that both m and n are positive integers.

The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is SiO ₂ or the like formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method or the like, and has a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the substrate 1 on which the X-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. The X-direction wiring 102 and the Y-direction wiring 103 are respectively drawn out as external terminals.

Further, the device electrodes (not shown) of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 facing each other 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 a part of the 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. The wires to these device electrodes may be collectively referred to as device electrodes when the material is the same as the device electrodes. 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 in detail later, 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 according to the present invention, which is constructed by using the electron source having the above-mentioned simple matrix arrangement, will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8. 6 is a basic configuration diagram of the display panel 201, and FIG. 7 is a fluorescent film 114.
8 is a diagram showing the display panel 201 of FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a driving circuit for performing television display in accordance with a TSC television signal.

In FIG. 6, 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.
13 is a face plate in which a fluorescent film 114 and a metal back 115 are formed on the inner surface. Reference numeral 112 denotes a support frame, and frit glass or the like is applied to the rear plate 111, the support frame 112, and the face plate 116, and is applied in the air or in nitrogen. Then, the envelope 118 is formed by baking at 400 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more for sealing.

In FIG. 6, 102 and 103 are a pair of device electrodes 4 and 5 of the surface conduction electron-emitting device 104 (see FIG. 1).
The X-direction wiring and the Y-direction wiring connected to the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn, respectively.

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

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. 7A) or a black matrix (see FIG. 7). 7
(B)) a black conductive material 121 and a phosphor 122 called
It is composed of The purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the mixed portions between the phosphors 122 of the three primary colors necessary for color display black so that mixed colors and the like are not noticeable, and to reflect external light on the fluorescent film 114. Is to suppress a decrease in contrast due to As a material of the black conductive material 121, not only a material mainly containing graphite, which is often used, but also a material having conductivity and low light transmission and reflection may be used. it can.

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

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the fluorescent film 11
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. 7) toward the inner surface side to be emitted from 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.

At the time of performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of a color, the phosphors 122 of the respective colors have to correspond to the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 104, so that it is necessary to perform sufficient alignment.

The inside of the envelope 118 is evacuated through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a predetermined degree of vacuum, it is sealed. Further, a getter process can be performed to maintain the degree of vacuum after the envelope 118 is sealed. This is the envelope 118
Immediately before or after the sealing is performed, a getter (not shown) arranged at a predetermined position in the envelope 118 is heated by resistance heating or high frequency heating to form a vapor deposition film. The getter usually contains Ba or the like as a main component, and is for maintaining a vacuum degree of, for example, 1 × 10 −5 to 1 × 10 −7 torr due to the adsorption action of the vapor deposition film.

Incidentally, each manufacturing process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device after the above-mentioned forming treatment is usually performed by the envelope 11
It is performed immediately before or after the sealing of No. 8, and the content thereof is as described above. In the electron source having the above structure, the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm, Dy1 to Dyn
The forming process can be performed by energizing each surface conduction electron-emitting device via the.

The display panel 201 described above can be driven by a driving circuit as shown in FIG. 8, for example. still,
In FIG. 8, 201 is a display panel, 202 is a scanning circuit, 203 is a control circuit, 204 is a shift register, 20
5 is a line memory, 206 is a sync signal separation circuit, 207
Is a modulation signal generator and Vx and Va are DC voltage sources.

As shown in FIG. 8, the display panel 201
Are 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. Among them, the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm are each provided with a surface conduction electron-emitting device provided in the display panel 201, that is, a group of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns. (N elements at a time)
A scanning signal for sequentially driving is applied.

On the other hand, the external terminals Dy1 to Dy
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 n. 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 includes therein m switching elements (schematically shown by S1 to Sm in FIG. 8), and each of the switching elements S1 to Sm is an output voltage of the DC voltage source Vx or 0V. (Ground level)
Either one of them 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 operates based on the control signal Tscan output from the control circuit 203,
In fact, it can be easily configured by combining elements having a switching function such as FETs.

The DC voltage source Vx in this example has a threshold drive voltage applied to the surface-conduction type electron-emitting devices which are not scanned, based on the characteristics (threshold voltage) of the surface-conduction type 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 an image signal input from the outside. The synchronization signal Tsyn sent from the synchronization signal separation circuit 206 described below
Based on c, each control signal of Tscan, Tsft, and Tmry is 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 externally input NTSC television signal, and as is well known, a frequency separation (filter). If you use a circuit,
It can be easily configured. Sync signal separation circuit 206
The sync signal separated by is composed of a vertical sync signal and a horizontal sync signal, as is well known. here,
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 serially / parallel converting the DATA signal serially input in time series 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 (equivalent to drive data for n elements of 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 , And is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device in the display panel 201 through the terminals Dy1 to Dyn.

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, no electron emission occurs 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, first, 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 generates a voltage pulse having a fixed length, and uses a voltage modulation circuit capable of appropriately modulating the pulse peak value according to input data. In the case of performing the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 207 generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value, but a pulse width modulation method circuit capable of appropriately modulating the pulse width according to input data. Used.

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

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

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 modulation signal generator 207 is slightly different.

That is, in the case of the voltage modulation method using a digital signal, for example, a well-known D / A conversion circuit may be used as the modulation signal generator 207, and an amplification circuit or the like may be added if necessary. In the case of a pulse width modulation method using a digital signal, the modulation signal generator 207 includes, for example, a high-speed oscillator, a counter (counter) for counting the number of waves output from the oscillator, and an output value of the counter and an output value of the memory. It can be easily configured by using a circuit in which comparators for comparison are combined. Further, if necessary, an amplifier 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 according to the present invention having the display panel 201 and the driving circuit as described above has terminals Dx1 to Dx1.
By applying a voltage from Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn, electrons can be emitted from a required surface conduction electron-emitting device, and the metal back 1 is supplied through the high voltage terminal Hv.
15 or a transparent electrode (not shown) is applied with a high voltage to accelerate the electron beam, and the accelerated electron beam is irradiated with the fluorescent film 114.
By the excitation / emission caused by collision with the NTS
The television display can be performed according to the C system television signal.

The above-described structure is a schematic structure necessary for obtaining an image forming apparatus used for display or the like, and the detailed parts such as the material of each member are not limited to the above contents. It is appropriately selected so as to suit the application of the image forming apparatus. Also, NTS as an input signal
Although the C system has been described, 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 a TV signal including more scanning lines than these, for example, A high definition TV system such as the MUSE system may be used.

Next, an example of the above-mentioned ladder-type electron source and an image forming apparatus according to the present invention configured using the electron source will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

In FIG. 9, 1 is a substrate, 104 is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, 304 is a surface conduction electron-emitting device 1.
There are 10 common wirings for connecting 04, each having external terminals D1 to D10.

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. These element rows are arranged in a plurality of rows to constitute 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. 10 is a diagram showing the structure of a display panel 301 having the above-mentioned ladder-type electron sources.

In FIG. 10, 302 is a grid electrode, 303 is an opening for passing electrons, 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 integral same wiring.

Note that, in FIG. 10, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 6 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. 6 is that the substrate 1 and the face plate are different. 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. 10, 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 column of the grid electrode 302 in synchronization with sequentially driving (scanning) the element rows one by one, each electron beam is irradiated on the fluorescent film 114. And images can be displayed line by line.

As described above, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention can be obtained by using either the simple matrix arrangement or the trapezoidal arrangement of the electron source, and not only the above-mentioned display apparatus for television broadcasting, An image forming apparatus suitable as a display device such as a video conference system and a computer can be obtained. Furthermore, the present invention can be used as an exposure device of an optical printer including a photosensitive drum.

[0127]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples, and each is within a range in which the object of the present invention is achieved. It also includes elements that have undergone element replacement or design changes.

Example 1 The structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device of this example is the same as that shown in FIG. 1, and its manufacturing method will be described below based on the manufacturing process chart of FIG.

Step-a Using the thoroughly washed soda-lime glass substrate 1, Ti having a thickness of 5 nm and Pt having a thickness of 30 nm were sequentially deposited by a vacuum evaporation method. Patterning was performed by photolithography to form device electrodes 4 and 5 having a device electrode spacing L of 2 μm and a width W of 300 μm (FIG. 2A).

Step-b Next, an organic Pd complex (ccp4230, Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.)
Was applied by a spinner and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes to form a conductive film 3 mainly composed of fine particles of palladium oxide. By photolithography, patterning was performed into a shape as shown in FIG.

Step-c The substrate 1 which has undergone the above steps is subjected to the vacuum device 5 of the measurement evaluation system of FIG.
Installed in 5 and evacuated by the vacuum pump 56, 2 × 10
After the vacuum degree of −5 torr is reached, a voltage is applied between the device electrodes 4 and 5 from a power source 51 for applying the device voltage Vf, and an energization process (forming process) is performed so that the electron emitting portion 2 is removed. Formed (FIG. 2 (c)).

In the present embodiment, the ammeter 50 also serves as a current detecting means for detecting the resistance value R1 of the conductive film 3, and the power source 51 detects the resistance value R1 of the conductive film 3. At the same time as the voltage applying means, it also serves as a voltage applying means for applying an appropriate forming voltage according to the resistance value R1. Further, 57 evaluates the resistance value R1 of the conductive film 3 based on the information of the current detecting means 50, and the voltage applying means 5
1 is a microprocessor for controlling so as to apply an appropriate forming voltage according to the resistance value R1.

In this example, the voltage waveform shown in FIG. 11 was used during the forming process. In FIG. 11, 21 is an R1 measuring voltage for measuring the element resistance value R1, and 22 is a forming voltage having a voltage peak proportional to the square root of R1.

The R1 measuring voltage 21 has a pulse width of 0.1 s.
ec, a rectangular pulse having a pulse peak value VR = 0.1,
When the peak current value detected by the ammeter 50 is IP, the resistance value R1 of the conductive film 3 is evaluated as R1 = IP / VR.

The forming voltage 22 is a rectangular pulse having a pulse width of 0.1 sec and a pulse peak value Vf = C1 × √R1 with C1 as an appropriate proportional coefficient.

As described above, the energization forming means
It is a means to generate cracks that are electron emission parts by energization processing, and since Joule heat generated during energization is the main factor, the minimum input required for the input power required to generate cracks. Threshold P as power
th exists.

Here, the threshold value Pth can be expected to be substantially the same if the element structures are substantially the same and the pulse widths are the same even if the resistance value R1 before forming varies. Therefore, the forming voltage threshold V
th is (Vth) with respect to the element whose element resistance is R1.
² / R1 = Pth (= constant) is satisfied.

In the element of this example, Pth was 0.080.
It was measured as W and determined to be Vth = 0.28√R1.
As the proportional coefficient C1 with respect to the forming voltage 22 having the voltage peak Vf proportional to the square root of R1, the square root of the threshold Pth as the minimum input power required for the forming process is 1 or more and 1.5 or less. The value multiplied by was used. Specifically, a value of C1 = 1.1 × √ (Pth) = 1.1 × √ (0.080) = 0.31 was used with the above coefficient as 1.1. That is, by using as the peak value Vf of the forming voltage a voltage slightly larger than the forming threshold, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of cracks in the element from being incomplete and prevent an excessive current from flowing through the element. did.

That is, by applying the R1 measuring voltage 21 for measuring R1 and then applying the forming voltage 22 having the above-mentioned voltage peak Vf proportional to the square root of R1, an appropriate value according to the element resistance R1 is obtained. Element voltage R1 before forming is applied
Even if there are variations in the
On the contrary, incomplete cracking of the element was prevented.

(Embodiment 2) In this embodiment, the voltage waveform shown in FIG. 12 is used during the forming process in the first embodiment.

In the forming process of this embodiment, the resistance value R2 of the conductive film 3 after the application of the forming voltage is measured. When the resistance value R2 is lower than the predetermined resistance value R0, the peak voltage of the forming voltage is measured. Same as Example 1 except that the forming voltage having a higher peak voltage is applied again.

In FIG. 12, 31 is 21 of the first embodiment.
Similarly to (see FIG. 11), R1 measurement voltage for measuring R1, and 32 is a forming voltage having a voltage peak proportional to the square root of R1 as in 22 of Example 1 (see FIG. 11). . However, in this example, a triangular wave pulse was used as the forming voltage. Also, 3
Reference numerals 3 and 34 are R2 measuring voltages for measuring the resistance value R2 of the conductive film 3 after the forming voltage is applied. Reference numeral 35 denotes a re-forming voltage applied when the resistance value R2 is lower than a predetermined resistance value R0, and has a peak voltage Vf2 higher than the peak voltage Vf1 of the forming voltage 32. On the other hand, when the resistance value R2 is higher than the predetermined resistance value R0, the reforming voltage 35 is not applied.

Here, the resistance value R0 is selected, for example, as R0 = R1 × 100, considering that the resistance value increases by about two digits when the forming is completed.
When R0 is selected in this way, when the resistance value R2 of the conductive film 3 after the application of the forming voltage is R2> R0, the forming is completed and the complete crack structure is formed. It is possible to detect, and in the case of R2 <R0, it can be detected that the forming has not been completed yet and the crack structure is incomplete.

That is, in this embodiment, after the forming voltage 32 is applied, the resistance value R2 of the conductive thin film 3 is measured. When the resistance value R2 is lower than the predetermined resistance value R0, the forming voltage 32 is set. Forming voltage 35 having a peak voltage Vf2 higher than the peak voltage Vf1 of
By applying, it is possible to inspect the quality of the device at the same time as the device is manufactured, and at the same time, repair the defective device in which an incomplete crack structure is detected, and to manufacture an electron-emitting device with a low defective rate. Was done.

(Embodiment 3) An example in which an electron source as shown in FIG. 5 in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix will be described.

The X-direction wiring 102, the Y-direction wiring 103, the device electrodes 4 and 5 of each surface conduction electron-emitting device 104, and their connections 105 expand the electrode forming pattern of the first embodiment, and each surface is also expanded. The conductive film 3 of the conduction electron-emitting device 104 can be formed by expanding the conductive film forming pattern of the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted here.

The forming process in this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 13, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 5 are the same. Further, 61 is a current detecting means for detecting the resistance value R1 of the conductive film 3, and 63 and 64 are voltage applying means for detecting the resistance value R1 of the conductive film 3 and at the same time the resistance value R1. Is a voltage applying means for applying an appropriate forming voltage according to the above. Further, 62 is the resistance value R1 of the conductive film 3 based on the information of the current detection means 61.
Is evaluated at each selected point of the matrix, and the voltage applying means 63, 64 controls to sequentially apply an appropriate forming voltage according to the resistance value R1 of each element.

In this embodiment, the wirings 102a-c and 10 are provided.
By applying a voltage to 3a to 3c, the resistance value R1 of each conductive film matrix-wired by these is measured, and then an appropriate forming voltage corresponding to the resistance value R1 is applied using the wirings 102 and 103. By repeatedly applying the voltage, a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are formed. As a result, it becomes possible to form a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices uniformly and form a plurality of electron-emitting portions having uniform cracks on the same substrate.

[0150]

As described above, according to the present invention,
After measuring the resistance value R1 of the conductive film, by applying an appropriate forming voltage according to the resistance value R1,
Even if the resistance value R1 of each element before forming has a variation, it is possible to prevent an excessive current from flowing through the element and, conversely, the occurrence of cracks in the element to be incomplete, and to provide an electron with uniform characteristics. An emission element is obtained.

Therefore, in the electron source in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are formed on the same substrate and in the image forming apparatus using the electron source, the uneven brightness and the uneven image are suppressed,
It becomes a more reliable device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view and a vertical sectional view schematically showing an example of a surface conduction electron-emitting device which is an example of an electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a measurement / evaluation system of a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing emission current-device voltage characteristics (IV characteristics) of a surface conduction electron-emitting device suitable for the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a display panel used in an image forming apparatus using an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement according to the present invention.

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

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

FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view of a trapezoidal arrangement of electron sources according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic configuration diagram of a display panel used in an image forming apparatus using a trapezoidal arrangement of electron sources according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a forming voltage waveform in Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a forming voltage waveform in Example 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a forming process in Example 3 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2 Electron emission part 3 Conductive film 4,5 Element electrode 21 R1 measuring voltage 22 Forming voltage having a voltage peak proportional to the square root of R1 31 R1 measuring voltage 32 Forming voltage 33, 34 Forming voltage application Resistance measurement voltage after 35 35 Reforming voltage 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 57 Micro Processor 61 Current detection means for detecting resistance value 62 Microprocessor 63, 64 Voltage application means 102 X-direction wiring 103 Y-direction wiring 104 Surface conduction electron-emitting device 105 Connection 111 Rear plate 112 Support frame 113 Glass substrate 114 Fluorescent film 115 Metal Ba Reference numeral 116 face plate 118 envelope 121 black conductive material 122 phosphor 201 display panel 202 scanning circuit 203 control circuit 204 shift register 205 line memory 206 synchronization signal separation circuit 207 modulation signal generator 301 display panel 302 grid electrode 303 opening 304 Common wiring

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device, comprising the step of measuring a resistance value R1 of a conductive film between electrodes and then applying a forming voltage according to the resistance value R1. 2. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the voltage corresponding to the resistance value R1 is a voltage having a voltage peak proportional to the square root of the resistance value R1. 3. The resistance value R2 of the conductive film is measured after applying the forming voltage, and when the resistance value R2 is lower than a predetermined resistance value R, a peak voltage higher than a peak voltage of the forming voltage. A method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a forming voltage having: is applied. 4. The method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device. 5. A method of manufacturing an electron source having an electron-emitting device and driving means for driving the electron-emitting device, wherein the electron-emitting device is manufactured by the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4. And a method of manufacturing an electron source. 6. The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 5, wherein the electron source is an electron source having at least one row of elements in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected in parallel. 7. The method of manufacturing an electron source according to claim 5, wherein the electron source is an electron source in which a plurality of element rows in which a plurality of electron emitting elements are connected are arranged in a matrix. . 8. An image forming apparatus comprising: an electron-emitting device, an image-forming member, and driving means for controlling irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device to the image-forming member according to an information signal. A method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus, wherein the electron-emitting device is manufactured by the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus having at least one element row in which a plurality of the electron-emitting devices are connected in parallel. Manufacturing method. 10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of element rows in which a plurality of the electron-emitting devices are connected are arranged in a matrix. Device manufacturing method.