Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi – Process – With assembly or disassembly
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-24
2002-11-26
Ramsey, Kenneth J. (Department: 2879)
Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi
Process
With assembly or disassembly
Reexamination Certificate
active
06485345
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an electron beam apparatus supporting member arranged in an airtight container in an electron beam apparatus having the airtight container in which an electronic source is contained, an electron beam apparatus supporting member manufactured by using the method, and an electron beam apparatus such as an image-forming apparatus having the electron beam apparatus supporting member.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally there are known two types of electron-emitting devices; a hot-cathode device and a cold-cathode device. As the cold-cathode device among these, there are known a surface conduction electron-emitting device, a field emission device (hereinafter also referred to as an FE device), and a metal-insulator-metal emission device (hereinafter also referred to as an MIM device), for example.
The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon that electrons are emitted by flowing current on a thin film having a small area formed on a substrate, so as to be in parallel with its film surface. As the surface conduction electron-emitting device, there are known one with an SnO
2
thin film [M. I. Elinson, Radio Eng. Electron Phys., 10, 1290, (1965)], one with an Au thin film [G. Dittmer: “Thin Solid Films,” 9, 317 (1972)], one with In
2
O
3
/SnO
2
thin film [M. Hartwell and C. G. Fonstad: “IEEE Trans. ED Conf.,” 519 (1975)], and one with a carbon thin film [Hisashi Araki et al.: “Vacuum,” vol. 26, No. 1, 22 (1983)], for example.
As a typical example of a device configuration of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices,
FIG. 15
shows a plan view of a surface conduction electron-emitting device with an In
2
O
3
/SnO
2
thin film to M. Hartwell et al. as set forth in the above. In the surface conduction electron-emitting device with an In
2
O
3
/SnO
2
thin film, an electroconductive thin film
904
made of metallic oxide is formed in a sputtering process on a surface of an insulating substrate
901
as shown in FIG.
15
. The electroconductive thin film
904
is formed in an H-shaped plane as shown in FIG.
15
. The electroconductive thin film
904
is subjected to an energization operation called energization forming described later, by which an electron-emitting region
905
is formed in a central portion of the electroconductive thin film
904
. A gap L shown in
FIG. 15
is set to 0.5 to 1 mm and a width W of a region where there is formed the electron-emitting region
905
of the electroconductive thin film
904
is set to 0.1 mm. While the electron-emitting region
905
is represented by a rectangle in the center of the electroconductive thin film
904
in
FIG. 15
, a position and a shape of the electron-emitting region
905
are typical ones and they do not represent a position and a shape of an actual electron-emitting region
905
faithfully.
Giving an example of
FIG. 15
for a description in the above surface conduction electron-emitting devices including the device to M. Hartwell, generally the electroconductive thin film
904
is subjected to an energization operation called energization forming before an electron emission, by which the electron-emitting region
905
is formed on the electroconductive thin film
904
. The energization forming means that a constant dc voltage or a dc voltage increasing at a very slow rate of approx. 1 V/min or so, for example, is applied at both ends of the electroconductive thin film
904
for energizing in order to destruct, deform, or change in quality the electroconductive thin film
904
locally to form the electron-emitting region
905
having an electrically high resistance on the electroconductive thin film
904
. At this point, a fissure is generated in a part of the electroconductive thin film
904
locally destructed, deformed, or changed in quality. If a voltage is appropriately applied to the electroconductive thin film
904
after the above energization forming, an electron emission occurs in the vicinity of the fissure generated in the electroconductive thin film
904
.
In addition, as FE devices, there are known one described in “Field emission,” Advance in Electron Physics, 8, 89 (1956) to W. P. Dyke & W. W. Dolan et al. or one described in “Physical properties of thin-film field emission cathodes with molybdenium cones,” J. Appl. Phys., 47, 5248 (1976) to C. A. Spindt et al.
As a typical example of the FE devices,
FIG. 16
shows a sectional view of a device to C. A. Spindt et al. as set forth in the above. In a conventional FE device, as shown in
FIG. 16
, emitter wiring
961
made of electroconductive materials is formed on a substrate
960
as shown in FIG.
16
. On the surface of the emitter wiring
961
, an emitter cone
962
and an insulating layer
963
are formed, respectively, and a gate electrode
964
is formed on a surface of the insulating layer
963
. This FE device emits an electric field from a tip portion of the emitter cone
962
by applying a voltage appropriately to a portion between the emitter cone
962
and the gate electrode
964
.
As another configuration of the FE device, there is a structure in which an emitter and a gate electrode are arranged on a substrate almost in parallel with a surface of the substrate instead of the laminated structure as shown in FIG.
16
.
As an MIM device, there is known one described in C. A. Mead, “Operation of tunnel-emission Devices,” J. Appl. Phys., 32, 646 (1961), for example. Referring to
FIG. 17
, there is shown a sectional view showing a typical example of the MIM device. In a conventional MIN device, as shown in
FIG. 17
, a lower electrode
971
made of a metal is formed on the substrate
970
. On a surface of the lower electrode
971
, a thin insulating layer
972
having a thickness of approx. 100 angstroms is formed on a surface of the lower electrode
971
and an upper electrode
973
made of a metal having a thickness of approx. 80 to 300 angstroms on a surface of the insulating layer
972
. In this type of the MIM device, a voltage is appropriately applied to a portion between the upper electrode
973
and the lower electrode
971
, by which electrons are emitted from a surface of the upper electrode
973
.
The above cold-cathode device is capable of achieving an electron emission at a lower temperature in comparison with the hot-cathode device, and therefore it does not need a thermal heater. Accordingly, the cold-cathode device has a configuration simpler than that of the hot-cathode device, by which it can be manufactured as a fine device. Additionally even if a lot of cold-cathode devices are arranged at a high density on the substrate, it does not easily have a problem such as heat fusion on the substrate. Furthermore, the cold-cathode device has an advantage of a rapid response contrary to the hot-cathode device whose response speed is relatively low since it is operated by heating with the heater.
Accordingly, research on applications of the cold-cathode device has been actively performed.
For example, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a particularly simple configuration among cold-cathode devices and is easy to manufacture, thus having an advantage that a lot of devices can be formed over a large area. Therefore, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-31332 to this applicant, for example, research has been done on a method for driving with arranging a lot of surface conduction electron-emitting devices. As for an application of an electron beam apparatus using this type of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, research has been done on image-forming apparatuses such as an image display and an image recording apparatus and charging beam sources, for example.
Particularly as an application of an electron beam apparatus to an Image display, as disclosed in specifications of U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,883 to this applicant, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-257551, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Op
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Ramsey Kenneth J.
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