Electric lamp and discharge devices – With luminescent solid or liquid material – Vacuum-type tube
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-24
2004-10-12
Cariaso, Alan (Department: 2875)
Electric lamp and discharge devices
With luminescent solid or liquid material
Vacuum-type tube
C313S497000, C313S411000, C313S258000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06803715
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electron beam apparatus wherein a first substrate, which includes an electron-emitting device, is positioned opposite a second substrate, for projecting an electron discharged by the electron-emitting device, and wherein a spacer is provided between the first substrate and the second substrate.
2. Related Background Art
Since a plane type display device is thin and light, it has been focused on as a replacement for a Braun tube display device. Especially for a display device that employs together an electron-emitting device and a phosphor that emits light when irradiated by an electron beam, a characteristic superior to that of conventional display devices of other types is expected. Compared with, for example, the liquid crystal display device that has been popular, a plane type display device is superior because a backlight is not required, it is a self-emission type and has a large viewing field angle.
Conventionally, there are two well known types of electron-emitting devices: a heat-cathode device and a cold-cathode device. As a cold-cathode device, for example, a surface conduction electron-emitting device, a field-emitting device (hereinafter referred to as a FE type), and a metal/insulating layer/metal emission device (hereinafter referred to as an MIM type) are known.
As a surface conduction electron-emitting device, for example, a device described by M. I. Elinson, Radio Eng. Electron Phys., 10 1290 (1965), and another device that will be described later are known.
The surface conduction electron-emitting device employs a phenomenon that permits electron emissions when a current flows in parallel to the surface of a small thin film that is formed on a substrate. As a surface conduction electron-emitting device, not only the device proposed by Elinson, which employs an SnO
2
thin film, but also a device that uses an Au thin film (“Thin Solid Films”, G. Dittmer, 9, 317(1972)), a device that uses In
2
O
3
/SnO
2
(“IEEE Trans. ED Conf.”, M. Hartwell and C. G. Fonstad, 519 (1975)), and a device that uses a carbon thin film (“Vacuum”, Hisashi Araki et al., vol. 26, No. 1, 22 (1983)) have been reported.
As a specific example of the device arrangements for these surface conduction electron-emitting devices,
FIG. 30
is a plan view of a device proposed by M. Hartwell, et al. In
FIG. 30
, an electroconductive thin film
3004
of metal oxide is formed in a flat H shape on a substrate
3001
by sputtering. An electron-emitting region
3005
is formed by performing, for the electroconductive thin film
3004
, an operation called energization forming, which will be described later. In
FIG. 30
, an interval L is set to 0.5 to 1 mm and a width W is set to 0.1 mm. For convenience sake, the electron-emitting region
3005
is represented as having the rectangular shape shown in the center of the electroconductive thin film
3004
; however, this shape is merely a specific example, and the actual position and shape of the electron-emitting region are not precisely shown.
Since when compared with a hot-cathode device a cold-cathode device emits electrons at a low temperature, it does not require a heater. Therefore, a cold cathode device is arranged more simply than is a hot-cathode device, and a delicate device can be fabricated. Further, even when multiple devices are arranged at a high density on a substrate, a problem such as the heat welding of the substrate seldom occurs. In addition, while the response speed of a hot-cathode device is low because to operate it must be heated by a heater, the response speed of the cold-cathode device is high.
Therefore, the study of the employment of a cold-cathode device has become very popular.
Since of the cold-cathode devices, the surface electroconductive electron-emitting device in particular is structured simply and is easily fabricated, and multiple devices can be formed in a across a wide area, methods for arranging and driving multiple devices are therefore studied, as is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 64-31332, submitted by the present applicant.
Further, an image forming apparatus, such as an image display apparatus or an image recording apparatus, and an electron beam apparatus, such as a charge beam source, are studied for application with a surface conduction electron-emitting device.
An image display apparatus that employs both a surface conduction electron-emitting device and a phosphor that emits light when an electron collision occurs is: especially studied as an example application, as is disclosed by the present applicant in U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,883 and Japanese Patent Publications No. 2-257551 and No. 4-28137.
FIG. 31
is a perspective view of an example display panel that serves as a flat panel image display, with one part of the panel cut away in order to show the internal structure. In
FIG. 31
, reference numeral
3115
denotes a rear plate;
3116
, a side wall; and
3117
, a face plate. The rear plate
3115
, the side wall
3116
and the face plate
3117
form an envelope (an airtight container) to maintain a vacuum inside the display panel.
A substrate
3111
is fixed to the rear plate
3115
, and cold-cathode devices
3112
are arranged in an N×M matrix shape on the substrate
3111
(N and M are positive integers of two or greater, and are determined as needed in accordance with the target number of display pixels). As is shown in
FIG. 31
, the N×M cold-cathode devices
3112
are laid out along M lines of row-directional wiring
3113
and N lines of column-directional wiring
3114
. The portion constituted by the substrate
3111
, the cold-cathode devices
3112
, the row-directional wiring
3113
and the column-directional wiring
3114
is called a multi-electron beam source. At least at portions where the lines of row-directional wiring
3113
and the lines of column-directional wiring
3114
intersect, insulating layers (not shown) are formed between lines of wiring, and electric insulation is maintained.
A phosphor film
3118
, which is prepared using phosphors, is deposited on the lower surface of the face plate
3117
, and phosphors (not shown) in three primary colors, red (R), green (G) and blue (B), are painted on it. Further, a black member (not shown) is located between the individual phosphors that constitute the phosphor film
3118
, and a metal backing
3119
composed of Al, etc., is formed on the surface of the phosphor film
3118
, near the rear plate
3115
.
D
x1
to D
xM
, D
y1
to D
yN
and Hv are airtight electric terminals used to electrically connect the display panel to an electric circuit (not shown). D
x1
to D
xM
are electrically connected to the lines of row-directional wiring
3113
of the multi-electron beam source; D
y1
to D
yM
, are electrically connected to the lines of column-directional wiring
3114
of the multi-electron beam source; and Hv is electrically connected to the metal back
3119
.
A vacuum of approximately 1.3×10-3 [Pa] (10-6 [Torr]) is maintained inside the airtight container, and as the display area of the image display apparatus is increased, means is required to prevent the deformation or the destruction of the rear plate
3115
and the face plate
3117
, which could occur due to the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the airtight container. A method according to which the rear plate
3115
and the face plate
3116
are thickened not only results in an increase in the weight of the image display apparatus, but also in the distortion of an image or parallax when viewed obliquely, whereas structure support members (called spacers or ribs)
3120
formed of a comparatively thin glass plate, as shown in
FIG. 31
, provide support and resist the atmospheric pressure. With this arrangement, normally an interval of a submilimeter or several millimeters is maintained between the substrate
3111
, on which the multi-beam electron source is mounted, and the face plate
3117
, on which the phosphor film
Mitsutake Hideaki
Sanou Yoshihisa
Tajima Hisao
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
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