Charge-up suppressing member, charge-up suppressing film,...

Details Charge-up suppressing member, charge-up suppressing film,... Charge-up suppressing member, charge-up suppressing film,...

1999-01-21

2002-04-02

Patel, Ashok (Department: 2879)

Electric lamp and discharge devices

With luminescent solid or liquid material

Vacuum-type tube

C313S497000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06366014

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charge-up suppressing film being hard to be charged, having less charges, and/or being capable of rapidly suppressing charges, and to a member constituting the charge-up suppressing film. The invention also relates to an electron beam apparatus and an image forming apparatus using the member.
2. Related Background Art
Two types of electron-emitting devices are known which are roughly classified into a thermal electron-emitting device and a cold cathode electron-emitting device. The types of a cold cathode electron-emitting device include a surface conduction emitting type, a field emission type (hereinafter called an FE type), a metal/insulator/metal type (hereinafter called an MIM type), and the like.
Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device are disclosed in Radio Eng. Electron Phys., by M. I. Elinson, 10, 1290 (1965) and other papers. The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes the phenomenon that when current is flowed in a thin film having a small area formed on a substrate in a direction parallel to the film surface, electron emission occurs. Reported thin films for a surface conduction electron-emitting device include an SnO
2
thin film by Elinson et al, an Au thin film (“Thin Solid Films”, by G. Ditter, 9, 317 (1972)), an In
2
O
3
/SnO
2
thin film (“IEEE Trans. ED Conf.”, by M. Hartwell and C. G. Fonstad, 519 (1975)), a carbon thin film (“Vacuum”, by Hisashi ARAKI, et al. vol. 26, No. 1. p. 22 (1983)), and the like.
As a typical example of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, the structure of an element proposed by M. Hartwell is schematically shown in FIG.
20
. In
FIG. 20
, reference numeral
3001
represents a substrate, and reference numeral
3004
represents an electroconductive thin film which is made of a metal oxide thin film having an H-character shape formed through sputtering. An electron-emitting region
3005
is formed in the electroconductive thin film by an energization operation called an energization forming operation to be described later. A distance L is set to 0.5 to 1 mm, and a width W is set to 0.1 mm. The electron-emitting region
3005
is shown in the center of the electroconductive thin film
3004
as having a rectangular shape. These shape and position are schematically shown by way of example only for the convenience of drawing the device structure, and do not show actual shape and position.
Conventionally, the electron-emitting region
3005
of a surface conduction electron-emitting device is generally formed in the electroconductive thin film
3004
by the energization operation called the energization forming operation, so as to enable electron emission. With the energization forming operation, a d.c. voltage or a voltage rising very gently, e.g., at about 1 V/min, is applied across opposite ends of the electroconductive thin film
3004
to locally break, deform, or decompose the film
3004
to from the electron-emitting region
3005
having a high electric resistance. Fissures are formed partially in the electroconductive thin film
3004
locally broken, deformed, or decomposed. Electrons are emitted from the fissures and nearby areas when a proper voltage is applied to the electroconductive thin film
3004
after the energization forming operation.
Examples of the FE type are disclosed in “Field emission”, by W. P. Dyke & W. W. Dolan, Advance in Electron Physics, 8, 89 (1956), “Physical properties of thin-film field emission cathodes with molybdenum cones”, by C. A. Spindt, J. Appl. Phys., 47, 5248 (1976) and other papers.
A typical example of the structure of the FE type device proposed by C. A. Spindt, et al is shown in the cross sectional view of FIG.
21
. In
FIG. 21
, reference numeral
3010
represents a substrate, reference numeral
3011
represents an emitter wiring made of electroconductive material, reference numeral
3012
represents an emitter cone, reference numeral
3013
represents an insulating layer, and reference numeral
3014
represents a gate electrode. As a proper voltage is applied between the emitter cone
3012
and gate electrode
3014
of this device, electrons are emitted from the tip of the emitter cone
3012
. Another structure of the FE type device has the emitter and gate electrode disposed on the substrate generally in parallel to the substrate surface, as different from the lamination structure shown in FIG.
21
.
Examples of the MIM type are disclosed in “Operation of Tunnel-Emission Devices”, by C. A. Mead, J. Appl., Phys., 32, 646 (1961) and other papers. A typical example of the MIM type device structure is shown in the cross sectional view of FIG.
22
. In
FIG. 22
, reference numeral
3020
represents a substrate, reference numeral
3021
represents a lower electrode made of metal, reference numeral
3022
represents an insulating film as thin as about 100 angstroms, and reference numeral
3023
represents an upper electrode made of metal and having a thickness of about 80 to 300 angstroms. When a proper voltage is applied across the upper electrode
3023
and lower electrode
3021
of the MIM type device, electrons are emitted from the surface of the upper electrode
3023
.
As compared to a hot cathode electron-emitting device, a cold cathode electron-emitting device can emit electrons at a lower temperature so that a heater is not necessary. Therefore, the structure of the cold cathode electron-emitting device is simple and a small device can be manufactured. Furthermore, even if a number of devices are mounted on a substrate at a high integration, a problem that the substrate is heated and melted is not likely to occur. As different from a slow response time of the hot cathode electron-emitting device because it operates by heating the cathode with a heater, the cold cathode electron-emitting device has a fast response time.
From the above reasons, researches are widely conducted in order to use cold cathode electron-emitting devices in various fields.
For example, since the structure of a surface conduction electron-emitting device among cold cathode electron-emitting devices is simple and the manufacture thereof is easy, a number of elements can be disposed in a large area. A method of driving a number of devices disposed on a substrate has been studied, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 64-31332.
As applications of surface conduction electron-emitting devices to an image forming apparatus such as an image display apparatus and an image forming apparatus, a charged beam source and the like have been studied. An application to the image display apparatus has been studied which uses a combination of surface conduction electron-emitting devices and fluorescent members radiating light upon application of an electron beam, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,883, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 2-257551 and 4-28137. The image forming apparatus using a combination of surface conduction electron-emitting devices and fluorescent members has excellent characteristics expected more than other types of conventional image forming apparatuses. For example, as compared to recently prevailing liquid crystal display apparatuses, the image forming apparatus is of a self light emission type so that it has advantages such as no back light and a broad view angle.
A method of driving a number of FE type devices disposed on a substrate is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,895 assigned to the present assignee. An example of application of FE type devices to an image forming apparatus is a flat panel display apparatus reported, for example, in “Recent Development on Microtips Display at LETI”, by R. Meyer, Tech. Digest of 4th Int. Vacuum Micro electronics Conf., Nagahama, pp. 6 to 9 (1981).
An example of an image forming apparatus using a number of MIM type devices is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 3-55738.
Of the image forming apparatuses using electron-emitting devices, a thin, flat pan

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