JPH11317149A - Electron emitting device and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: A material capable of preventing charging of a surface-conduction type electron-emitting device, forming a film whose leakage current is so small as to cause substantially no problem, and having a small secondary electron emission coefficient. The present invention provides a technique capable of uniformly forming a film while controlling the film thickness and the resistance value of the film with high precision. A carbon-based thin film is formed on an insulating substrate of a surface conduction electron-emitting device. Specifically, the carbon-based thin film 6
Has a conductivity of 10 ⁴ Ω / □ to 10 ¹⁰ Ω / □.
Further, the carbon-based thin film 6 is made amorphous or crystallized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron-emitting device and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a surface treatment for suppressing discharge of the electron-emitting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices using a thermionic electron-emitting device and a cold-cathode electron-emitting device have been known. The cold cathode electron emitting device includes a field emission type (hereinafter, referred to as “FE type”), a metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter, referred to as “MIM type”), a surface conduction type electron emitting device, and the like. Examples of FE type are WPDyke & WWD
olan “Field emission”, Advance in Electron Physics,
8,89 (1956) or CASpindt, “PHYSICAL Properties
of thin-film field emission cathodes with molybde
num cones ", J. Appl. Phys., 47, 5248 (1976).
And the like are known.

As an example of the MIM type, CAMead, “Operati
on of Tunnel-Emission Devices ", J. Apply.Phys, 3
2, 646 (1961) and the like are known.

Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device type include:
MIElinson, Radio Eng. Electron Phys., 10, 129
0 (1965).

[0005] The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which an electron is emitted when a current flows in a small-area thin film formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface. Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include a device using an SnO2 thin film by Elinson et al. And a device using an Au thin film [G. Dittmer: "Thin Solid Films", 9, 317 (1).
972)], using a thin film of In 2 O 3 / SnO 2 [M. Hartwell and CGFonstad: “IEEE Trans.ED Con
f. ", 519 (1975)], using a carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22 (19
83)] have been reported.

As a typical example of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the above-mentioned M.S. Figure 21 shows the device configuration of Hartwell
Is shown schematically in FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate. Reference numeral 4 denotes a conductive thin film, which is formed of a metal oxide thin film or the like formed by sputtering in an H-shaped pattern, and an electron emitting portion 5 is formed by an energization process called energization forming described later.
The element electrode interval L in the figure is 0.5 to 1 mm, W '
Is set at 0.1 mm.

Conventionally, in these surface-conduction electron-emitting devices, the electron-emitting portion 5 is subjected to an energization process called energization forming before the electron emission.
It was common to form That is, the energization forming means applying a DC voltage or a very slowly increasing voltage, for example, about 1 V / min, to both ends of the conductive thin film 4 and energizing the conductive thin film 4 to locally destroy, deform or alter the conductive thin film. To form the electron-emitting portion 5 in a high resistance state. In the electron emitting portion 5, a crack is generated in a part of the conductive thin film 4, and electrons are emitted from the vicinity of the crack.
The surface conduction type electron-emitting device that has been subjected to the energization forming process causes the electron-emitting portion 5 to emit electrons by applying a voltage to the conductive thin film 4 and causing a current to flow through the device.

The above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device has an advantage that a large number of devices can be arranged and formed over a large area because the structure is simple and the production is easy. Therefore, various applications that make use of this feature are being studied. For example,
Examples include a charged beam source and a display device. As an example in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged and formed, as will be described later, surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel, and both ends of each element are connected by wiring (also referred to as common wiring). An electron source in which many rows are arranged (for example,
JP-A-64-031332, JP-A-1-2837
No. 49, 2-257552, etc.).

In recent years, particularly in image forming apparatuses such as display apparatuses, flat panel display apparatuses using liquid crystal have become widespread instead of CRTs. However, since they are not self-luminous, they must be equipped with a backlight. Therefore, development of a self-luminous display device has been desired. As the self-luminous display device, there is an image forming apparatus which is a display device in which an electron source in which a large number of surface conduction type emission elements are arranged and a phosphor which emits visible light by electrons emitted from the electron source are combined. (For example, USP 5,066,8
83).

[0010]

However, in the thin image forming apparatus, the electron-emitting device obtains luminance by causing an accelerated electron beam to enter the phosphor. These electron-emitting devices are handled in a vacuum. One of the causes of the instability of the electron emission characteristics in a vacuum is that if the surface of the insulating substrate is exposed near the electron emission portion, the potential on the surface becomes unstable, resulting in unstable electron emission. And Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 02-072534 by the present applicant.

In an image forming apparatus that responds to an input signal, an insulating substrate is usually used because each electron-emitting device needs to be electrically separated. However, when a high voltage is applied to the phosphor in the image display unit, a potential is generated on the insulating surface around the opposing electron-emitting device due to the vacuum and the capacitance division determined by the dielectric constant of the insulator. The better the insulation, the longer the time constant of this potential and the potential remains charged.

Further, when electrons are emitted from the electron-emitting device in this state, the electrons collide with the charged insulating surface. As electrons are accelerated, secondary electrons are generated when charged particles such as electrons and ions are injected into the insulating substrate surface.
Particularly, it has been experimentally confirmed that an abnormal discharge is caused under a high electric field, so that the electron emission characteristics of the device are significantly reduced. In the worst case, the device is destroyed. Although there is still no clear point about this abnormal discharge phenomenon, the surface of the surface is charged by the injection of the electrons and ions emitted from the element, or the electron is multiplied by the light emission from the secondary electron emission on the charged insulating surface. , It is possible to discharge.

In order to prevent the instability of the electron emission characteristics in a vacuum and the deterioration of the discharge of the element, a proper conductive film (antistatic film) so that the insulating surface is not exposed.
It is effective to cover the device, but a leak current flows between the device electrodes by this film, so that the apparent efficiency of the device is reduced. Here, the efficiency refers to a current (hereinafter referred to as an electron emission current Ie) emitted in a vacuum with respect to a flowing current (hereinafter referred to as an element current If) when a voltage is applied to a pair of opposing element electrodes of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. ).

That is, it is desirable that the device current is as small as possible and the emission current is as large as possible. However, since the leak current of the antistatic film is added to the device current, the efficiency is reduced.

Further, secondary electrons emitted when charges or electrons are injected depend on the material.
It is preferable to select a material having a small secondary electron emission coefficient.

In order to solve these problems, it is preferable to form a coating that can prevent charging and that has a small leakage current so as not to cause a substantial problem. There is a demand for a technique capable of uniformly forming a film while controlling its film thickness and resistance value with high precision.

As described above, if the stability of the electron emission characteristics and the life are improved, a high-quality image forming apparatus such as a flat television can be realized in an image forming apparatus using a phosphor as an image forming member. Is done.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a structure and a manufacturing method of a stable surface conduction electron-emitting device, and to provide an electron source and an image forming apparatus using the same.

[0019]

The present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems relates to an electron-emitting device in which the surface of an insulating substrate around an electron-emitting portion is coated with a carbon-based thin film and a method of manufacturing the same. A surface conduction electron-emitting device having a pair of opposing device electrodes formed on an insulating substrate and a conductive thin film including an electron-emitting portion, wherein carbon is deposited on the insulating substrate of the surface-conduction electron-emitting device. A system thin film is formed.

More specifically, the conductivity of the carbon-based thin film is set to 1
0 is ^{4 Ω} / □ from ¹⁰ 10 Ω / □ with.

Further, the carbon-based thin film is made amorphous or crystallized.

According to the present invention, in an apparatus for forming an image in accordance with an input signal using an electron source provided with a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices on a substrate, at least a phosphor and an electron source are used. In the configured image forming apparatus, a carbon-based thin film is formed on a wall surface of a support of a container that holds a vacuum.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device having a pair of opposed device electrodes formed on an insulating substrate having a carbon-based thin film and a conductive thin film including an electron-emitting portion. In the method, the carbon-based thin film emits electrons in organic molecules, and the carbon-based thin film is formed by electron beam polymerization.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device having a pair of opposing device electrodes formed on an insulating substrate having a carbon-based thin film and a conductive thin film including an electron-emitting portion. In the method, graphite-like microcrystals are dispersed and formed in an insulating thin film.

[0025]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are a plan view and a sectional view, respectively, showing the structure of a basic surface conduction electron-emitting device. The basic configuration of the device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, 1 is a substrate, 4 and 5 are device electrodes, 3 is a thin film including an electron emitting portion, 2 is an electron emitting portion, and 6 is a carbon-based thin film. Here, the thin film 3 including the electron emitting portion is
It is preferable to show a sheet resistance value of 107 Ω / □ or less. The sheet resistance value of the thin film 3 including the electron-emitting portion is limited as a resistance value at which a good electron-emitting portion can be formed in a forming process of the electron-emitting portion 2 described later, that is, a forming process. To form a good electron emission portion,
It is preferable that the resistance value is in the range from 0 ³ Ω / □ to 10 ⁷ Ω / □. However, after forming the electron-emitting portion 2,
When the voltage applied through the device electrode is sufficiently high
It is preferable that the resistance value of the thin film 3 including the electron-emitting portion is lower. For this reason, as described later in detail, the thin film 3 including the electron-emitting portion is formed as a metal oxide semiconductor thin film having a resistance value of 10 ³ Ω / □ or more and 10 ⁷ Ω / □ or less, and is reduced after forming. It can be used as a low-resistance metal thin film. Therefore,
The lower limit of the resistance value of the thin film 3 including the final electron emitting portion is not particularly limited. Here, the resistance value of the thin film 3 including the electron-emitting portion means a resistance value measured in a region not including the electron-emitting portion 2.

On the other hand, the carbon-based thin film 6 is a carbon-based thin film containing carbon as a main component, and desirably has a resistance of 10 ⁴ Ω / □ to 10 ¹⁰ Ω / □. This is because, as will be described later, in the electron emission characteristics of the device, it is preferable that the device current be as small as possible, so that the resistance value of the carbon-based thin film 6 is 10 ⁸ Ω.
/ □ is preferred. In addition, the carbon-based thin film 6
In order to have a secondary electron emission number, the specific resistance is preferably 10 ¹⁰ Ω / □ or less.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention, except that the electron-emitting portion 2 is formed perpendicular to the substrate 1 in FIG. It is the same as the electron-emitting device.

Next, the manufacturing method will be described step by step with reference to FIG.

First, the substrate 1 is washed to form device electrodes 4 and 5 (FIG. 2A).

Next, a thin film 3 for forming an electron-emitting portion is formed (FIG. 2B).

Next, a carbon-based thin film 6 is formed (FIG. 2).
(C)). As the material of the carbon-based thin film 6, a thin film having a small secondary electron emission coefficient that can easily obtain a uniform film over a large area is preferable, and a carbon material can be suitably used as described later. This step may be performed before the formation of the electron-emitting-portion-forming thin film 3. Generally, a thin film tends to have an island-like structure, and a continuous and uniform thin film is preferable in order to obtain a desired sheet resistance value. In this regard, carbon thin films are advantageous. It has been experimentally confirmed that a carbon thin film having a thickness of 1 nm or more becomes uniform in a continuous film. Further, carbon is known to have a small secondary electron emission coefficient. Examples of the method for forming the carbon thin film include a sputtering method, a vacuum evaporation method, a coating method, a polymerization method using an electron beam with a carbon-based gas, a plasma method, a CVD method, and the like. A stable carbon thin film can be easily obtained by any of these methods. The detailed film formation will be described in Examples.

Next, the electron emitting portion 2 is formed by forming.
And an activation process is performed (FIG. 2D).

The method for manufacturing the electron-emitting device according to the present invention has been described above.

The basic characteristics of the electron-emitting device are not affected by the formation of the carbon-based thin film 6 in the present invention. This is because the resistance value of the carbon-based thin film 6 is sufficiently high (108 Ω / □ or more), so that the leakage current flowing through the carbon-based thin film 6 is smaller than the device current observed during electron emission. Because it is small enough.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the charging of the insulating substrate surface is prevented and the secondary electron emission coefficient is small even if the charging is performed. Can be. For this reason, the instability of the electron emission characteristics due to the potential instability of the insulating surface and the discharge between the vicinity of the element and the anode are suppressed, so that stable electron emission characteristics for a long time can be obtained.

As described above, the electron-emitting device according to the present invention has stable electron emission characteristics over a long period of time, that is, monotonically increases the device current If and the emission current Ie with respect to the voltage applied to the device. Applications can be expected.

Although the basic configuration and manufacturing method of the surface conduction electron-emitting device have been described above, according to the concept of the present invention,
If the surface conduction electron-emitting device has three characteristics, it is not limited to the above-described configuration and the like, and can be applied to an image forming apparatus such as an electron source and a display device described later.

[0039]

(Embodiment 1) The basic structure of a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention is the same as the plan view and sectional view of FIGS. 1a and 1b.

The method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention is basically the same as that shown in FIG. Hereinafter, a basic configuration and a manufacturing method of the device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. (Step-a) On a substrate 1 in which a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 0.5 μm is formed on a cleaned blue plate glass by a CVD method, a pattern to be a gap G between the device electrodes 4 and 5 and a device electrode is formed by photoresist. (RD-2000N-41 manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.) were formed, and 50 angstrom thick Ti and 1000 angstrom thick Pt were sequentially deposited by a vacuum evaporation method. The photoresist pattern is dissolved with an organic solvent, the Pt / Ti deposited film is lifted off, the device electrode interval L1 is set to 10 microns, and the device electrode width W1 is set to 30.
The device electrodes 4 and 5 having 0 μm were formed. (Step-b) The mask of the thin film 3 for forming the electron-emitting portion of the electron-emitting device according to this step is a mask having an inter-element electrode gap L1 and an opening in the vicinity thereof. It is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation, and organic Pd (ccp4230 manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) is further spin-coated with a spinner at 300 ° C.
For 12 minutes. The electron emitting portion forming thin film 4 composed of fine particles of Pd as the main element thus formed had a thickness of 100 Å and a sheet resistance of 2 × 10 ⁴ Ω / □. The fine particle film described here is, as described above, a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and as its fine structure, not only a state in which the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other. Refers to the state of the membrane (including islands)
The particle diameter refers to the diameter of the fine particles whose particle shape can be recognized in the above state. (Step-c) The Cr film and the fired electron-emitting-portion-forming thin film 3 were etched with an acid etchant to form a desired pattern.

The device electrodes 4 and 5 and the thin film 3 for forming an electron emission portion were formed on the substrate 1 by the above steps. (Step-d) After the substrate 1 on which the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the thin film 3 for forming electron-emitting portions have been formed is again washed and dried, the entire surface of the substrate 1 is subjected to a carbon-based thin film
Covered.

The carbon thin film was formed by RF magnetron sputtering. The target used was C (purity 99.
99%). The gas used was Ar, and the partial pressure of Ar was 5 m.
At Torr, the sputter power is 5 W / □. The film thickness is controlled by the sputtering time.

Then, as described above, the carbon thin film is
On the substrate, 1 nm, 2 nm, 3 nm, 5 nm,
Films of 10 nm and 20 nm were formed to obtain a C thin film. Number of layers
When the sheet resistance of the substrate was measured by the four probe method,
~ 5 × 10 when thickness is 1 nm ⁸ Ω / □, thickness 2nm
Come, ~ 1 × 10⁸ Ω / □, 6 × 10 when thickness is 3 nm
⁷ 4 × 10 when Ω / □ and film thickness is 5 nm⁷ Ω / □, film thickness
2 × 10 for 10 nm⁷ Ω / □, thickness 20nm
1 × 10⁷ Ω / □. In addition, these carbon-based
The relationship between the thickness of the thin film and the resistance was changed by changing the sputtering conditions.
Can be changed by heat treatment, atmosphere treatment, etc.
Entities are not universal.

In order to evaluate the state of charging of the carbon-based thin film, an evaluation circuit shown in FIG. 3 was provided. 1 is an insulator substrate, 20 is an electrode for grounding from the back surface of the insulator substrate, and 30 is an electrode grounded to ground. Reference numeral 6 denotes a carbon-based thin film. Reference numeral 80 denotes a probe electrode for observing the state of charging, and this potential is connected to a surface voltmeter 90.
Reference numeral 50 denotes an anode electrode connected to the high-voltage power supply 70. In such a measurement system, the substrate and the anode electrode are in a vacuum vessel, and the measurement is performed in a vacuum.

The result will be described with reference to FIG. When the anode voltage Va is applied from the high voltage power supply 6 at a certain time,
When the carbon-based thin film 4 is not provided, that is, when only the insulating substrate is used, the potential of the probe electrode is divided by a capacity determined by the distance between the vacuum and the dielectric constant of the insulating substrate and the space, and charged to a positive potential. The higher the insulation, the longer this positive potential is stored. When the anode voltage Va is turned off, the anode voltage Va is charged to a negative potential.

For example, when Va is applied at about 5 KV, the probe potential may increase by 2 KV or more. In this case, a high voltage is applied between the grounded electrode 3 and the probe electrode 8, resulting in dielectric breakdown and discharge. There is.

On the other hand, when a carbon-based thin film is formed on an insulating substrate, the potential attenuates with a certain time constant as shown in FIG. This time constant is attenuated by the same configuration, that is, the time constant determined by the resistance of the carbon-based thin film when the capacitance is the same, and the potential becomes 0 V. If the potential is 0 V, a high potential difference is not generated between each electrode, so that dielectric breakdown does not occur.

Based on this measurement, the state of charging when the thickness of the carbon-based thin film was set to 1 nm to 20 nm was measured. As a result, it was found that the charge was immediately attenuated at any thickness. Incidentally, the decay time at 1 nm was about 10 ms. Also, at any film thickness,
The structure of the thin film was a continuous film, and the connection was good electrically.

Experimentally, the conductivity of the carbon-based thin film was 10 ⁴ Ω /
When the value is from □ to about 10 ¹⁰ Ω / □, the decay time is 1 s or less, and it has been found that dielectric breakdown does not occur even when the high voltage is increased by about 20 KV.

From the above examination, it is found that the thickness of the carbon-based thin film is 1
nm. (Step -e) Next, in step -e not shown in FIG. 2, was placed in the measurement evaluation apparatus shown in FIG. 6, and evacuated by a vacuum pump, after reaching the vacuum degree of 2 × 10 ^-5 Torr Then, a voltage was applied between the element electrodes 4 and 5 of the element from a power supply 31 for applying the element voltage Vf to the element, and an energization process (forming process) was performed. FIG. 5 shows a voltage waveform of the forming process.

In the figure, T1 and T2 are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform, and in this embodiment, T1 is 1 millisecond, T1
2 was set to 10 milliseconds, and the peak value (peak voltage at the time of forming) of the rectangular wave was increased in steps of 0.1 V to perform the forming process. During the forming process, a resistance measurement pulse was simultaneously inserted between T2 at a voltage of 0.1 V to measure the resistance. The forming process was terminated when the value measured by the resistance measurement pulse became about 1 M ohm or more, and at the same time, the application of the voltage to the element was terminated. The forming voltage VF at this time was 5.0V.

Thereafter, while maintaining the element in a vacuum, 1
Annealing was performed at 50 ° C., and the thin film 3 including the electron-emitting portion and the carbon thin film 6 were simultaneously reduced. (Step-f) Subsequently, in a step-f not shown in FIG. 2, an acetone-sealed ampule was introduced into a vacuum through a slow leak valve to maintain 1.0 × 10 ⁻³ Torr.

Next, the triangular wave shown in FIG. 5 was changed to a rectangular wave, the peak value was set to 14 V, and the element subjected to the forming process was activated.

In the activation process, a pulse voltage was applied between the device electrodes while measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie in the measurement and evaluation apparatus shown in FIG. Efficiency η
Since (Ie / Ifx 100%) reached a maximum in about 30 minutes, the energization was stopped, the slow leak valve was closed, and the activation process was terminated. (Step-g) Thus, in step-g, which is not shown in FIG. 2, the electron emission portion 2 was formed to manufacture the electron emission element 84, and the electron emission characteristics were evaluated.

The distance between the anode electrode and the electron-emitting device was 4 mm, the potential of the anode electrode was 5000 V, and the degree of vacuum in the vacuum apparatus at the time of measuring the electron emission characteristics was 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ Torr. When a device voltage of 14 V was applied between the electrodes 5 and 6 of the device, the electron emission characteristics were extremely stable, and the device was not destroyed by discharge or the like.

When a sample without a carbon-based thin film was evaluated for comparison, the change in the amount of electron emission with time was large, and discharge occurred within 5 hours, destroying the device.

As described above, according to the carbon-based thin film of the present invention,
Electron emission characteristics that were stable and did not generate discharge were obtained. Embodiment 2 In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a sample in which a carbon-based thin film is first formed on a substrate will be described. (Step-a) An aqueous solution of a commercially available carbon dispersion material (particle size: 0.1 μm) was spin-coated on the cleaned blue sheet glass 1. As the carbon dispersion material, a material containing graphite as a main component and added with TiO2 to reduce electric conductivity was used.
Depending on the spin coating conditions and the concentration of the aqueous solution, carbon-based thin films 6 having various thicknesses can be formed. A heat treatment was performed at 200 ° C. to stabilize the carbon-based thin film. Here, the carbon-based thin film is called a carbon-based thin film because the resistivity is varied by mixing impurities with carbon in order to optimize the relationship between the film thickness and the resistance value. On the soda-lime glass substrate 1 covered with the carbon-based thin film thus prepared, a pattern to be a gap G between the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the device electrode was formed by photoresist (RD-2000N-4).
1 Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.)
0 A of Ti and 1000 A of Pt were sequentially deposited. The photoresist pattern was dissolved in an organic solvent, and the Pt / Ti deposited film was lifted off to form device electrodes 4 and 5 having a device electrode interval L1 of 10 microns and a device electrode width W1 of 300 microns.

Then, the sheet resistance of the substrate for various film thicknesses was measured by a four-point probe method.
At 8 × 10 ⁸ Ω / □ and 0.2 μm in film thickness, 1
× 10 ⁸ Ω / □, when the film thickness is 0.4 μm, 5 × 10 ⁷ Ω
/ □, when the film thickness was 0.6 μm, 1 × 10 ⁷ Ω / □, and when the film thickness was 1.0 μm, it was 2 × 10 ⁷ Ω / □. Note that the relationship between the film thickness and the resistance value can be changed by changing the impurity material and the mixing ratio in the graphite, spin coating conditions, aqueous solution concentration, heat treatment conditions, and the like, and the above relationship is not universal. .

Further, in the same manner as in Example 1, the potential was measured for various film thicknesses. In this case as well, it was found that the potential attenuated at a time constant of 10 ms or less and was 0 V at any film thickness.

X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were performed to evaluate the crystallinity of the prepared carbon-based thin film.
As a result, at 0.4 μm or less, amorphous
It was found that in the range of μm or more, it was a mixture of amorphous and crystalline.

Further, the substrate of each of the above-mentioned carbon-based thin films was irradiated with an electron beam, and its secondary electron emission coefficient was measured. When an electron beam is incident at 5 kV, the secondary electron emission coefficient is 0.2
It was 1 or less when the film thickness was not less than μm.

When the thickness was 0.1 μm, the secondary electron emission coefficient was 2 or more, and a charging phenomenon which was reflected on the characteristics of the underlying substrate was observed.

According to the above two considerations, in this embodiment, 0.
A carbon-based thin film having a thickness of 4 μm was used.

Further, in this embodiment, an electron-emitting device was manufactured in the same steps as those of Step-e, Step-f and Step-g described in the first embodiment. In this electron-emitting device, the distance between the anode electrode and the electron-emitting device was 2.8 mm, the potential of the anode electrode was 6000 V, and the degree of vacuum in the vacuum device at the time of measuring the electron emission characteristics was 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ Torr. When a device voltage of 14 V was applied between the electrodes and 6, the electron emission characteristics were extremely stable, and the device was not destroyed by discharge or the like.

For comparison, a sample prepared in the same manner except that the carbon-based thin film 6 was not formed was evaluated.
In the sample without the carbon-based thin film, abnormal discharge occurred within 1 hour and the device was destroyed.

As described above, according to the antistatic film of the present invention,
Electron emission characteristics that were stable and did not generate discharge were obtained. Also,
At the same time, it was found that the antistatic film according to the present invention may be amorphous or crystalline. (Embodiment 3) This embodiment is an example of an image forming apparatus in which many surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a part of the electron source. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in the figure. However, FIG.
2. In FIG. 13, the same symbols indicate the same components. Here, 1 is a substrate, and 82 is X corresponding to Dxn in FIG.
Direction wiring (also referred to as lower wiring); 83, a Y-direction wiring (also referred to as upper wiring) corresponding to Dyn in FIG. 9; 3, a thin film including an electron emitting portion; 4, 5, element electrodes; 6, an antistatic film; 13
1 is an interlayer insulating layer, 152 is element electrodes 4 and 5 and lower wiring 8
2 is a contact hole for electrical connection with the second.

Next, the manufacturing method will be specifically described in the order of steps with reference to FIGS. (Step-a) On a substrate 1 in which a 0.5 μm thick silicon oxide film was formed on a cleaned blue sheet glass by a sputtering method, Cr having a thickness of 50 A and a thickness of 6000 A were formed by vacuum evaporation.
Are sequentially laminated, and then the photoresist (AZ1370)
After spin coating and baking with a spinner, a photomask image is exposed and developed to form a resist pattern of the lower wiring 82, and the Au / Cr deposited film is wet-etched to form a lower wiring of a desired shape. 82 is formed. (Step-b) Next, an interlayer insulating layer 151 made of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 μm is deposited by RF sputtering. (Step-c) A photoresist pattern for forming the contact hole 152 is formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in the step b, and the interlayer insulating layer 151 is etched using the photoresist pattern as a mask to form the contact hole 152. Etching is performed using RIE (Reactive I) using CF4 and H2 gas.
on Etching) method. (Step-d) Thereafter, a pattern to be the device electrodes 4 and 5 and the gap G between the device electrodes is formed by photoresist (RD-20).
00N-41 manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.), and a 50 Å thick Ti and a 1000 Å thick Ni 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 having a device electrode interval L1 of 3 μm and a device electrode width W1 of 300 μm. (Step-e) After forming a photoresist pattern of the upper wiring 83 on the device electrodes 4 and 5, Ti having a thickness of 50 Å and Au having a thickness of 5,000 Å are sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation, and unnecessary portions are lifted off. Was removed to form an upper wiring 83 having a desired shape. (Step-f) The mask of the thin film 2 for forming the electron-emitting portion of the electron-emitting device according to this step is a mask having an electrode gap G between the devices and an opening in the vicinity thereof. 141 is deposited and patterned by vacuum evaporation, and organic Pd
(Ccp4230 manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) was spin-coated with a spinner and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes. The thickness of the thus formed electron-emitting-portion-forming thin film 3 made of fine particles of Pd as the main element is 10 μm.
0 angstrom, sheet resistance 5 × 10 ⁴ Ω / □
Met. The fine particle film described here is, as described above, a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and has a fine structure not only in a state in which the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged,
Fine particles are films that are adjacent to each other or overlapped (including islands), and the particle size refers to the diameter of the fine particles whose particle shape can be recognized in the above state. (Step-g) The Cr film 141 and the fired electron-emitting-portion-forming thin film 3 were etched with an acid etchant to form a desired pattern. (Step-h) A pattern was formed such that a resist was applied to portions other than the contact hole 152, and Ti having a thickness of 50 Å and Au having a thickness of 5000 Å were sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation. By removing unnecessary portions by lift-off, the contact holes 14 are removed.
2 embedded. (Step-i) A carbon-based thin film 6 was formed in the same steps as in Example 1.

Through the above steps, the lower wiring 82, the interlayer insulating layer 141, the upper wiring 83, the element electrode 4,
5, an electron emission portion forming thin film 3, a carbon-based thin film 6, and the like were formed.

FIG. 8 shows an electron-emitting device manufactured in substantially the same steps as in FIG. 2, and is formed on a wall surface perpendicular to the electron-emitting portion 2 substrate 1. Here, the insulating thin film 31 in FIG. 8 is provided to provide the above-described vertical wall surface.

Also, in the case of the electron-emitting device of FIG. 7 in which the carbon-based thin film 6 is formed directly on the substrate 1, the manufacturing process is basically the same as that of FIG.
Same as 15.

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.

After fixing the substrate 1 on which many planar surface conduction electron-emitting devices have been manufactured as described above on the rear plate 91, the face plate 9 is placed 5 mm above the substrate 1.
6 (formed by forming a fluorescent film 94 and a metal back 95 on the inner surface of a glass substrate 93) via a support frame 92, and frit glass is applied to the joint of the face plate 96, the support frame 92, and the rear plate 91. It was applied and baked for 10 minutes or more at 400 ° C. to 500 ° C. in the air or in a nitrogen atmosphere to seal. In addition, since the support frame 92 is usually made of glass which is an insulator, a carbon-based thin film is formed so that the inside of the support frame is not charged.

The fixing of the substrate 1 to the rear plate 91 was also performed with frit glass. In FIG. 10, reference numeral 84 denotes an electron-emitting device, and reference numerals 82 and 83 denote device wirings in the X and Y directions, respectively.

The fluorescent film 94 is composed of only a phosphor in the case of monochrome, but in the present embodiment, the phosphor has a stripe shape, a black stripe is formed first, and each color phosphor is applied to the gap. Then, a fluorescent film 94 was manufactured. A slurry method was used to apply a phosphor to a glass substrate 93 using a material mainly composed of graphite, which is commonly used as a material of a black stripe.

A metal back 95 is usually provided on the inner side of the fluorescent film 94. The metal back was manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film after the fluorescent film was manufactured, and then vacuum-depositing Al.

The fluorescent film 9 is further provided on the face plate 96.
In some cases, a transparent electrode (not shown) is provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 84 in order to increase the conductivity of the phosphor film 4. did.

At the time of performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of color, the phosphors of each color must correspond to the electron-emitting devices, so that sufficient alignment was performed.

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, external terminals Dxo1 to Doxm and Doy1 to Doyn. A voltage is applied between the electrodes 5 and 6 of the electron-emitting device 84 through the
Was formed by subjecting the electron-emitting-portion-forming thin film 2 to a forming process. The voltage waveform of the forming process is the same as in FIG. 5B.

In this embodiment, T1 is 1 millisecond and T2 is 10
Milliseconds were performed in a vacuum atmosphere of about 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ Torr.

In the electron-emitting portion 2 thus prepared, fine particles mainly composed of palladium element were dispersed and arranged, and the average particle size of the fine particles was 30 angstroms.

Next, acetone was introduced into the panel from the exhaust pipe of the panel through a slow leak valve, and 1.0 × 10
Maintained ^-3 Torr. The activation process was performed while measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie at the same rectangular wave as the forming, at a wave height of 14 V, and a degree of vacuum of 2 × 10 ⁻⁵ Torr. As described above, the forming and activating processes were performed to form the electron-emitting portion 2, and the electron-emitting device 84 was manufactured.

Next, the gas was evacuated to a degree of vacuum of about 10 ⁻⁶ Torr, and an exhaust pipe (not shown) was welded by heating with a gas burner to seal the envelope.

Finally, in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing,
Getter treatment was performed by a high-frequency heating method.

In the image display device of the present invention completed as described above, the scanning signal and the modulation signal are supplied to the respective electron-emitting devices from signal generating means (not shown) through the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn. , By applying electrons, a few kV is applied to the metal back 09 or a transparent electrode (not shown) through the high voltage terminal Hv.
The above high pressure is applied to accelerate the electron beam, and the fluorescent film 08
Then, the image was displayed by exciting and emitting light.

In this case also, a stable image was displayed, and no electron beam deflection or the like was observed near the support frame, and no destruction or the like by discharge was observed.

Although FIG. 16 shows an electron source in which the electron-emitting devices are wired in a ladder shape, the method of manufacturing the image display device is the same.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a ladder-type electron source. In FIG. 16, an electron-emitting device 84 is provided on the electron source substrate 1. Common wiring 12
412 (Dx1 to Dx10) are for connecting the electron-emitting devices 84. A plurality of the electron-emitting devices 84 are arranged on the substrate 1 in parallel in the X direction (this is called an element row). A plurality of the element rows are arranged to constitute an electron source. By applying a drive voltage between the common wires of each element row, each element row can be driven independently.
That is, a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold is applied to an element row that wants to emit an electron beam, and a voltage equal to or lower than the electron emission threshold is applied to an element row that does not emit an electron beam. The common wirings Dx2 to Dx9 between the element rows are, for example, Dx2, Dx3
Can be the same wiring.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing an example of a panel structure in an image forming apparatus having a ladder-type electron source. The grid electrode 132 is provided with holes 133 through which electrons pass. D1, D2,... Dm
Is a terminal outside the container. Gn are external terminals connected to the grid electrode 132. Electron source substrate 1
In, the common wiring between the element rows is the same wiring. In FIG. 17, the substrate 1 and the face plate 96
A grid electrode 132 is provided between them. The grid electrode 132 is for modulating the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device, and allows the electron beam to pass through a striped electrode provided orthogonally to the ladder-type arrangement element row. One circular hole 133 is provided for each element. The shape and installation position of the grid are not limited to those shown in FIG. For example, a large number of passage openings may be provided in a mesh shape as holes, and a grid may be provided around or near the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

The external terminals D1, D2,... Dm and the external terminals G1, G2,... Gn of the grid container are electrically connected to a control circuit (not shown).

In the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, a modulation signal for one line of an image is simultaneously applied to the grid electrode rows in synchronization with sequentially driving (scanning) the element rows one by one. This makes it possible to control the irradiation of each electron beam to the phosphor and display an image one line at a time.

The carbon-based thin film used in the present invention is suitable for coating not only electron-emitting devices but also other parts of an image forming apparatus using the same.

FIG. 18 shows the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 10 further provided with a vacuum support. This vacuum support 200 keeps the face play and the flatness of 96,
It is provided to maintain the strength of the entire image display panel 111. That is, when an image is displayed while emitting electrons, the electrons cause charge-up on the surface of the vacuum support body 200. Carbon-based thin films are also useful for preventing such charge-up. (Embodiment 4) Next, an example of a configuration of a driving circuit for performing television display based on an NTSC television signal on a display panel configured using electron sources in a simple matrix arrangement will be described with reference to FIG. explain. In FIG. 19, the scanning circuit 1 is used to drive the image display panel 111.
12, a control circuit 113, a shift register 114, a line memory 115, a synchronization signal separation circuit 116, a modulation signal generator 117, and DC voltage sources Vx and Va.

The display panel 111 has terminals Dx1 to Dx
m, terminals Dy1 to Dyn, and a high-voltage terminal Hv. Terminals Dx1 to Dxm
The electron source provided in the display panel, that is, m
A scanning signal is applied to sequentially drive the electron-emitting device groups arranged in a matrix in a matrix of rows and n columns, one row at a time (n devices).

A modulation signal for controlling the output electron beam of each of the electron-emitting devices in one row selected by the scanning signal is applied to the terminals Dy1 to Dyn. The high-voltage terminal Hv is supplied with a DC voltage of, for example, 10 KV from a DC voltage source Va, which is used to apply sufficient energy to the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device to excite the phosphor. Acceleration voltage.

The scanning circuit 112 will be described. This circuit includes m switching elements inside (in the figure, S1 to Sm are schematically shown). Each switching element is connected to the output voltage of the DC voltage source Vx or 0
One of V (ground level) is selected, and is electrically connected to terminals Dx1 to Dxm of the display panel 101. The switching elements S1 to Sm are connected to the control circuit 10
3 operates based on the control signal Tscan output by the control signal 3 and can be configured by combining switching such as an FET.

In the case of the present embodiment, the DC voltage source Vx determines that the drive voltage applied to the unscanned element is equal to or lower than the electron emission threshold voltage based on the characteristics (electron emission threshold voltage) of the electron emission element. It is set to output such a constant voltage.

The control circuit 113 has a function of matching the operation of each unit so that appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. The control circuit 113 generates control signals Tscan, Tsft, and Tmry for each unit based on the synchronization signal Tsync sent from the synchronization signal separation circuit 116.

The synchronizing signal separating circuit 116 is a circuit for separating a synchronizing signal component and a luminance signal component from an NTSC television signal input from the outside, and uses a general frequency separating (filter) circuit or the like. Can be configured. The synchronization signal separated by the synchronization signal separation circuit 116 is composed of a vertical synchronization signal and a horizontal synchronization signal.
This is shown as a SYNC signal. The luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is referred to as a DATA signal for convenience. The DATA signal is input to the shift register 114.

The shift register 114 is for serially / parallel converting the DATA signal input serially in time series for each line of an image, and is based on a control signal Tsft sent from the control circuit 113. (Ie, the control signal Tsft can be said to be a shift clock of the shift register 104). The data for one line of the image subjected to the serial / parallel conversion (corresponding to drive data for N electron-emitting devices) is output from the shift register 104 as N parallel signals Id1 to Idn.

The line memory 115 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a required time, and stores the contents of Id1 to Idn as appropriate according to a control signal Tmry sent from the control circuit 113. The stored contents are output as I'd1 to I'dn and input to the modulation signal generator 117.

The modulation signal generator 107 outputs the image data I '
It is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the electron-emitting devices in accordance with each of d1 to I'dn, and the output signal is applied to the electron-emitting devices in the display panel 111 through terminals Dy1 to Dyn. .

As described above, the electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied has the following basic characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie. That is, a clear threshold voltage Vth is required for electron emission.
And electron emission occurs only when a voltage higher than Vth is applied. For a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold, the emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the device. From this, when applying a pulsed voltage to this element,
For example, when a voltage lower than the electron emission threshold is applied, electron emission does not occur, but when a voltage higher than the electron emission threshold is applied, an electron beam is output. At that time, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled by changing the pulse peak value Vm. Further, by changing the pulse width Pw, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam.

Therefore, as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device in accordance with the input signal, a voltage modulation method, a pulse width modulation method, or the like can be employed. When implementing the voltage modulation method, a circuit of a voltage modulation method that generates a voltage pulse of a fixed length and modulates the peak value of the pulse appropriately according to input data is used as the modulation signal generator 117. be able to.

In implementing the pulse width modulation method,
As the modulation signal generator 107, a pulse width modulation type circuit that generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value and appropriately modulates the width of the voltage pulse according to input data can be used.

The shift register 114 and the line memory 11
5 can be either a digital signal type or an analog signal type. This is because the serial / parallel conversion and storage of the image signal may be performed at a predetermined speed.

When the digital signal type is used, it is necessary to convert the output signal DATA of the synchronizing signal separation circuit 116 into a digital signal. For this purpose, an A / D converter may be provided at the output section of the 116. In connection with this, the line memory 11
Depending on whether the output signal of 5 is a digital signal or an analog signal,
The circuit used for modulation signal generator 117 is slightly different. That is, in the case of the voltage modulation method using a digital signal, for example, a D / A conversion circuit is used as the modulation signal generator 117, and an amplification circuit and the like are added as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 117 includes, for example, a high-speed oscillator, a counter for counting the number of waves output from the oscillator, and a comparator for comparing the output value of the counter with the output value of the memory. (Comparator) is used. If necessary, an amplifier for amplifying the pulse width modulated signal output from the comparator to the drive voltage of the electron-emitting device can be added.

In the case of the voltage modulation method using an analog signal, an amplification circuit using, for example, an operational amplifier can be used as the modulation signal generator 117, and a level shift circuit and the like can be added as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, for example, a voltage controlled oscillation circuit (VCO) can be employed, and an amplifier for electrically amplifying the driving voltage of the electron-emitting device can be added as necessary.

In such an image forming apparatus (display apparatus) of the present invention, each of the electron-emitting devices is provided with a terminal D outside the container.
By applying a signal voltage and a scanning voltage via 1 to Dm and G1 to Gn, electron emission occurs. High voltage terminal H
A high voltage is applied to the metal back 85 or a transparent electrode (not shown) via v to accelerate the electron beam. The accelerated electrons collide with the fluorescent film 94 and emit light to form an image.

The configuration of the image forming apparatus described here is an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, and various modifications can be made based on the technical concept of the present invention. Although the NTSC system has been described as the input signal, the input signal is not limited to the NTSC system. In addition to the PAL and SECAM systems, a TV signal including a larger number of scanning lines, such as the MUSE system, may be used. High-definition TV system and AT
The V method can also be adopted.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention is configured using an image forming apparatus (display apparatus) for television broadcasting, an image forming apparatus (display apparatus) such as a video conference system or a computer, and a photosensitive drum. It can also be used as an image forming apparatus as an optical printer.

Next, FIG. 20 shows image information provided from various image information sources such as television broadcasting on a display panel using the surface conduction electron-emitting device described above as an electron beam source. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display device configured to be able to do so. 18 in the figure
00 is a display panel, 1801 is a display panel driving circuit, 1802 is a display panel controller, 1803 is a multiplexer, 1804 is a decoder, 1805 is an input / output interface circuit, and 1806.
Denotes a CPU, 1807 denotes an image generation circuit, and 1808 and 1
809 and 1810 are image memory interface circuits, 1811 is an image input interface circuit, 18
12 and 1813 are TV signal receiving circuits, and 1814 is an input unit. (Note that, when the present display device receives a signal including both video information and audio information, such as a television signal, it naturally reproduces audio simultaneously with the display of video. Descriptions of circuits, speakers, and the like related to reception, separation, reproduction processing, storage, and the like of audio information that is not directly related to features will be omitted.) Hereinafter, the function of each unit will be described along the flow of image signals.

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 1813 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wireless transmission system such as radio waves or spatial optical communication. The format of the received TV signal is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, various systems such as the NTSC system, the PAL system, and the SECAM system. Further, a TV signal (for example, a so-called high-quality V including the MUSE system) composed of a larger number of scanning lines than the above is suitable for taking advantage of the display panel suitable for a large area and a large number of pixels. Signal source. The TV signal received by the TV signal receiving circuit 1813 is output to the decoder 1804.

The TV signal receiving circuit 1812 is a circuit for receiving a TV image signal transmitted using a wired transmission system such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. As with the TV signal receiving circuit 1813, the type of the TV signal to be received is not particularly limited, and the TV signal received by this circuit is also output to the decoder 1804.

Further, the image input interface circuit 18
Reference numeral 11 denotes a circuit for receiving an image signal supplied from an image input device such as a TV camera or an image reading scanner.
4 is output.

An image memory interface circuit 1810 is a circuit for taking in an image signal stored in a video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR). The taken-in image signal is output to a decoder 1804.

An image memory interface circuit 1809 is a circuit for taking in an image signal stored in a video disk. The taken image signal is output to a decoder 1804.

An image memory interface circuit 1808 is a circuit for taking in an image signal from a device storing still image data, such as a so-called still image disk.
804.

The input / output interface circuit 180
Reference numeral 5 denotes a circuit for connecting the display device to an external computer, a computer network, or an output device such as a printer. Image data and text
In addition to inputting and outputting graphic information, control signals and numerical data can be input and output between the CPU 1806 provided in the display device and the outside in some cases.

The image generating circuit 1807 is provided with image data, character / graphic information input from the outside via the input / output interface circuit 1805, or a CPU.
A circuit for generating display image data based on the image data and character / graphic information output from 1806. Within this circuit, for example, a rewritable memory for storing image data and character / graphic information, a read-only memory for storing image patterns corresponding to character codes, and a processor for image processing And other circuits necessary for generating an image.

The display image data generated by this circuit is output to the decoder 1804. In some cases, the display image data can be output to an external computer network or printer via the input / output interface circuit 1805.

The CPU 1806 mainly performs operations related 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 1803, and an image signal to be displayed on the display panel is appropriately selected or combined. At that time, a control signal is generated for the display panel controller 1802 in accordance with the image signal to be displayed, and the display frequency, the scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced), the number of scanning lines on one screen, and the like are displayed. The operation of the device is appropriately controlled.

Further, image data, character / graphic information is directly output to the image generation circuit 1807, or an external computer or memory is accessed via the input / output interface circuit 1805 to access the image data / character / graphic data. Enter graphic information. Note that the CPU 1806
May, of course, relate to work for other purposes. For example, it may directly relate to a function of generating and processing information, such as a personal computer or a word processor. Alternatively, it may be connected to an external computer network via the input / output interface circuit 1805 as described above, and work such as numerical calculation may be performed in cooperation with an external device.

The input unit 1814 is connected to the CPU 18.
06 is for the user to input commands, programs, data, and the like. For example, in addition to a keyboard and a mouse, a joystick, a barcode reader,
Various input devices such as a voice recognition device can be used.

Further, the decoder 1804 is provided with the 1807.
And a circuit for inversely converting various image signals input from the image signal 1813 into three primary color signals or a luminance signal and an I signal and a Q signal. It is preferable that the decoder 1804 has an internal image memory as shown by a dotted line in FIG. This includes, for example, the MUSE method,
This is for handling a television signal that requires an image memory when performing the inverse conversion. In addition, the provision of the image memory facilitates the display of a still image, or enables image processing and editing including image thinning, interpolation, enlargement, reduction, and synthesis in cooperation with the image generation circuit 1807 and the CPU 1806. This is because there is an advantage that it can be easily performed.

The multiplexer 1803 is provided by the C
A display image is appropriately selected based on a control signal input from the PU 1806. That is, the multiplexer 1803 selects a desired image signal from the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 1804, and outputs the selected image signal to the drive circuit 1801. In that case, by switching and selecting an image signal within one screen display time, it is possible to divide one screen into a plurality of areas and display different images depending on the areas, as in a so-called multi-screen TV. .

Further, the display panel controller 1
A circuit 802 controls the operation of the drive circuit 1801 based on a control signal input from the CPU 1806.

First, as a signal related to the basic operation of the display panel, a signal for controlling an operation sequence of a power supply (not shown) for driving the display panel is output to the drive circuit 1801. Further, as a method related to the display panel driving method, a signal for controlling, for example, a screen display frequency and a scanning method (for example, interlace or non-interlace) is output to the drive circuit 1801.

In some cases, a control signal for adjusting image quality such as brightness, contrast, color tone, and sharpness of a displayed image may be output to the drive circuit 1801.

A drive circuit 1801 is a circuit for generating a drive signal to be applied to the display panel 1800, and includes an image signal input from the multiplexer 1803 and the display panel controller 18
02 operates based on a control signal input from the control signal F.02.

The function of each part has been described above. With the configuration illustrated in FIG. 1, in the present display device, image information input from various image information sources is displayed on the display panel 180.
0 can be displayed. That is, various image signals including television broadcasting are supplied to the decoder 1804.
After being inversely converted in, the signal is appropriately selected in the multiplexer 1803 and input to the drive circuit 1801. On the other hand, the display controller 1802 generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the driving circuit 1801 according to the image signal to be displayed. The drive circuit 1801 controls the display panel 180 based on the image signal and the control signal.
A drive signal is applied to 0. Thus, an image is displayed on display panel 1800. These series of operations are totally controlled by the CPU 1806.

In the present display device, the image memory built in the decoder 1804, the image generation circuit 18
07 and information selected from the information, as well as image information to be displayed, such as enlargement, reduction, rotation, movement, edge enhancement, thinning, interpolation, color conversion,
It is also possible to perform image processing such as image aspect ratio conversion and the like, and image editing such as synthesis, deletion, connection, replacement, and fitting. Although not particularly described in the description of the present embodiment, a dedicated circuit for processing and editing audio information may be provided as in the above-described image processing and image editing.

Therefore, the present display device can be used as 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 computer terminal device, an office terminal device such as a word processor,
It is possible to combine functions such as game machines with one unit,
Extremely wide range of applications for industrial or consumer use. FIG. 1 shows only an example of a configuration of a display device using a display panel using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source, and it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this. For example, among the components in FIG. 1, circuits relating to functions that are unnecessary for the intended purpose may be omitted. Conversely, additional components may be added depending on the purpose of use. For example, when the present display device is applied to a videophone, it is preferable to add a television camera, an audio microphone, a lighting device, a transmission / reception circuit including a modem, and the like to the components.

In the present display device, in particular, it is easy to make the display panel thin using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source, so that the depth of the display device can be reduced.

In addition, a display panel using a surface conduction electron-emitting device as an electron beam source is easy to enlarge the screen, has high luminance, and has excellent viewing angle characteristics. Images can be displayed with good visibility.

[0137]

As described above, according to the present invention, the electron emission characteristics of the electron-emitting device become extremely stable, and the device can be prevented from being deteriorated due to discharge.

Further, in an electron source which emits electrons in response to an input signal, an electron source in which a plurality of the above-described electron-emitting devices are arranged on a substrate is provided. An arrangement method having a plurality of rows of electron-emitting devices connected to the wiring and further having a modulation means, or a substrate in which m X-directional wirings and n Y wirings are electrically insulated from each other. By providing an electron source in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices in which a pair of device electrodes of the electron-emitting device are connected to the directional wiring are arranged, each electron-emitting device can be manufactured stably and with high yield. Now you can.

Further, the image forming apparatus is an apparatus for forming an image based on an input signal, and is characterized by comprising at least an image forming member and the electron source. In addition, the stability of the electron emission characteristics and the life have been improved. For example, in an image forming apparatus using a phosphor as an image forming member, a high-quality image forming apparatus such as a color flat television has been realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a manufacturing process diagram of the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a charging evaluation circuit according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a probe potential.

FIG. 5 is a forming voltage waveform diagram according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an apparatus for measuring and evaluating a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of an electron source according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a fluorescent film.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a simple matrix type electron source.

FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken along line AA ′ of the simple matrix type electron source.

FIG. 14 shows a manufacturing process of a simple matrix type electron source ((a)).
-(D)) The figure.

FIG. 15 shows a manufacturing process of a simple matrix type electron source ((e)).
-(I)) FIG.

FIG. 16 is a plan view of a ladder-type electron source.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus using a ladder-type electron source.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of a vacuum support in an image forming apparatus using a simple matrix type electron source.

FIG. 19 is a configuration diagram of a drive circuit of a display panel using a simple matrix type electron source.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of an image display device of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a plan view of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Insulating substrate 2 Electron emission part 3 Conductive thin film 4, 5 Element electrode 6 Carbon-based thin film 50 Anode electrode 65 Measurement and evaluation device 66 Vacuum pump 70 High voltage power supply 82 Lower wiring 83 Upper wiring 93 Glass substrate 94 Fluorescent film 95 Metal back 96 Face plate 131 First issue insulating film 132 Grid electrode 133 Void 151 Contact hole 200 Vacuum support

Claims (7)

[Claims] An electron-emitting device formed on an insulating substrate and having a pair of opposing device electrodes and a conductive thin film including an electron-emitting portion, wherein an anode is disposed at a position facing the electron-emitting device. An electron-emitting device, wherein a carbon-based thin film is formed on a front surface or a back surface of the electron-emitting device. 2. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device. 3. The electric conductivity of the carbon-based thin film is 10 ⁴ Ω / □.
3. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the resistance is from 10 to 10 ¹⁰ Ω / □. 4. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the carbon-based thin film is made amorphous or crystallized. 5. An image forming layer comprising an electron source provided with a plurality of electron-emitting devices having the carbon-based thin film according to claim 1 on the substrate, wherein the electron source is An image forming apparatus, wherein the carbon-based thin film is formed on a surface of a support that is installed in a vacuum and holds the vacuum. 6. A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device comprising a carbon-based thin film, comprising a pair of opposing device electrodes formed on an insulating substrate, and a conductive thin film including an electron-emitting portion, A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device, wherein the carbon-based thin film is formed by emitting electrons in organic molecules and polymerizing the electron beam. 7. A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device comprising a carbon-based thin film, comprising a pair of opposing device electrodes formed on an insulating substrate and a conductive thin film including an electron-emitting portion,
The method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device, wherein the carbon-based thin film is formed by applying a solution in which graphite-like microcrystals are dispersed in an insulating material.