Manufacture of field emission device

Details Manufacture of field emission device Manufacture of field emission device

1998-09-03

2001-12-11

Smith, Matthew (Department: 2825)

Semiconductor device manufacturing: process

Electron emitter manufacture

C438S022000, C257S010000, C257S079000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06329214

ABSTRACT:

This application is based on Japanese patent application No. 9-241364 filed on Sep. 5, 1997, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a field emission device, and more particularly to a method of manufacturing a field emission device having an emitter tip with a small radius of curvature and a small apex angle.
b) Description of the Related Art
A field emission element emits electrons from a sharp tip of an emitter (electric field emission emitter) by utilizing electric field concentration. For example, a flat panel display can be structured by using a field emitter array (FEA) having a number of emitters. Each emitter controls the luminance or the like of a corresponding pixel of the display.
A conventional manufacture method of a field emission device will be described. First, an emitter having a starting rough shape is made of emitter material. Thereafter, a focussed ion beam (FIB) is applied to the tip of the emitter to make a sharp emitter tip. This technique is disclosed In “Tip Surface Modification of Si Field Emitter Arrays” by M. Takai et al, Proceedings of the 2nd International Display Workshops, Oct. 19, 1995 at Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka, Japan.
This technique makes the emitter sharp by using FIB. Specifically, ions of material having a large atomic weight, such as Ga, are converged into a beam having a very small diameter by using an electronic lens or the like, and this beam is applied to an emitter.
The diameter of the beam is 20 to 240 nm which is smaller than the tip diameter of an emitter. In order to apply the beam to each emitter for a predetermined time, high precision alignment is required. With a manufacture method using FIB, the process time becomes long as the-number of emitters becomes large.
With the method using FIB, a lens system for passing a beam therethrough is required in order to form an effective beam, and also an alignment system is required to precisely align the tip of each emitter with the beam, because the beam diameter is small. Since the lens and alignment systems are required, the manufacture system becomes complicated and expensive.
With this method, since a beam is applied to each emitter after alignment, it takes a long time to sharpen the tips of all emitters. Furthermore, since the lens and alignment systems are required, the manufacture system becomes complicated and expensive.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a manufacture method of a field emission device capable of sharpening the tip of an emitter (electron emitting electrode) in a short time and with ease.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a field emission device, comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a field emitter array having a plurality of electron emitting elements made of conductive material capable of emitting electrons upon application of an electric field, and (b) impinging particle beams upon the plurality of electron emitting elements at the same time to mill a tip of each electron emitting element and form a sharp tip.
As a particle beam is impinged upon the electron emitting element, its tip is sharpened by milling. As the particle beams are impinged upon a plurality of electron emitting elements at the same time, the tips of the plurality of electron emitting elements can be sharpened at the same time.
Since the tips of the plurality of electron emitting element can be sharpened at the same time, the process time can be shortened. Since the particle beams are impinged upon the plurality of electron emitting elements, a high precision alignment system and a high precision lens system are not required to that a field emission device can be manufactured by a simple and inexpensive system.


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S. Wolf and R.N. Tauber, Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era, vol. 1 Lattice Press, Calif. Pp 532-535, 1986.*
M. Takai,Tip Surface Modification of Si Field Emitter Arrays,Oct. 19, 1995, pp. 15-18.

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