Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi – Process – With start up – flashing or aging
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-15
2003-04-01
Ramsey, Kenneth J. (Department: 2879)
Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi
Process
With start up, flashing or aging
C445S024000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06540575
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method of manufacturing an electron-beam source having a plurality of electron-emitting devices and an image forming apparatus using the electron-beam source an, an activation processing method.
Conventionally, two type of electron-beam sources, namely thermionic cathodes and cold cathode electron-beam sources, are known as electron-emitting devices. Examples of cold cathode electron-beam sources are electron-emitting devices of field emission type (hereinafter abbreviated to “FE”), metal/insulator/metal type (hereinafter abbreviated to “MIM”) and surface-conduction emission type (hereinafter abbreviated to “SCE”).
Known examples of the FE type electron-emitting devices are described by W. P. Dyke and W. W. Dolan, “Field Emission”, Advance in Electron Physics, 8, 89 (1956) and by C. A. Spindt, “Physical properties of thin-film field emission cathodes with molybdenum cones”, J. Appl. Phys., 47,5248 (1976).
A known example of the MIM type electron-emitting devices is described by C. A. Mead, “Operation of Tunnel-Emission Devices”, J. Appl. Phys., 32,646 (1961).
A known example of the SCE type electron-emitting devices is described by, e.g., M. I. Elinson, “Radio Eng. Electron Phys., 10, 1290 (1965) and other examples to be described later.
The SCE type electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon where an electron emission is produced in a small-area thin film, which has been formed on a substrate, by passing a current parallel to the film surface. As the SCE type electron-emitting device, electron-emitting devices using an Au thin film, an In
2
O
3
/SnO
2
thin film, a carbon thin film and the like are reported by G. Dittmer, “Thin solid Films”, 9,317 (1972), M. Hartwell and C. G. Fonstad, “IEEE Trans. ED Conf.”, 519 (1975), Hisashi Araki et al., “Vacuum”, vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22 (1983), in addition to an SnO
2
thin film according to Elinson mentioned above.
FIG. 34
is a plan view of the SCE type electron-emitting device according to Hartwell and Fonstad described above, as a typical example of device construction of these SCE type electron-emitting devices. In
FIG. 34
, reference numeral
3001
denotes a substrate;
3004
, a conductive thin film of a metal oxide formed by an spattering, having a H-shaped pattern. An electron emission portion
3005
is formed by electrification process referred to as “forming” to be described later. In
FIG. 34
, the interval L is set to 0.5-1 mm, and the width W is set to 0.1 mm. Note that the electron emission portion
3005
is shown at approximately the center of the conductive thin film
3004
, with a rectangular shape. For the convenience of illustration, however, this does not exactly show the position and shape of the actual electron emission portion
3005
.
In these conventional SCE type electron-emitting devices by M. Hartwell and the others, typically the electron emission portion
3005
is formed by performing electrification processing (referred to as “forming processing”) on the conductive thin film
3004
before electron emission. According to the forming process, electrification is made by applying a constant direct current where voltage increases at a very slow rate of, e.g., 1V/min., to both ends of the conductive film
3004
, so as to partially destroy or deform the conductive film
3004
, thus form the electron emission portion
3005
with electrically high resistance. Note that the destroyed or deformed parts of the conductive thin film
3004
have a fissure. Upon application of appropriate voltage to the conductive thin film after the forming processing, electron emission is made near the fissures.
The above-described SCE type emitting devices are advantageous since they have a simple structure and they can be easily manufactured. Therefore many devices can be formed on a wide area. Then, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-31332 by the present applicant, a method for arranging and driving a lot of devices has been studied.
Regarding application of SCE type electron-emitting devices to, e.g., image forming apparatuses such as an image display apparatus and an image recording apparatus, and electron-beam sources have been studied.
Especially, as application to image display apparatuses, as shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,833 by the present applicant, an image display apparatus using the combination of a SCE type electron-emitting device and a fluorescent material which emits light upon reception of electronic beam has been studied. This type of image display apparatus is expected to have better characteristics than other conventional image display apparatuses. For example, in comparison with recently focused liquid crystal display apparatuses, the above display apparatus is superior in that it does not require a backlight since it is a self light-emitting type and that it has a wide view angle.
The present inventors have examined various SCE type electron-emitting devices having various structures, of various materials, according to various manufacturing methods. Further, the inventors have studied an electron-beam source where a large number of SCE type electron-emitting devices are arranged, and an image display apparatus utilizing the electron-beam source.
The inventors have also examined an electron-beam source by an electrical wiring method as shown in FIG.
31
. The electron-beam source is constructed by arranging SCE type electron-emitting devices two-dimensionally, into a matrix.
In
FIG. 31
, numeral
4001
denotes SCE type electron-emitting devices;
4002
, row-direction wiring; and
4003
, column-direction wiring. The line-and column-direction wiring
4002
and
4003
actually have limited electric resistances. However, in
FIG. 31
, the electric resistances are indicated as wiring resistances
4004
and
4005
. The wiring in
FIG. 31
is referred to as “simple matrix wiring”.
Note that in
FIG. 31
, the electron-beam source is shown with a 6×6 matrix for the convenience of illustration. However, the matrix size is not limited to this arrangement but may be any size as far as the matrix have devices of a number for a desired image display in case of, e.g., an electron-beam source for an image display apparatus.
In the electron-beam source having matrix-wired surface-conduction electron-emitting devices as shown in
FIG. 31
, to output a desired electron beam, appropriate electric signals are applied to the row- and column-direction wirings
4002
and
4003
. For example, to drive SCE type electron-emitting devices in an arbitrary one line in the matrix, a selection voltage Vs is applied to the row-direction wiring
4002
at the line to be selected, at the same time, a non-selection voltage Vns is applied to the row-direction wiring
4002
at the lines not to be selected. In synchronization with this operation, a drive voltage Ve for outputting an electron beam is applied to the column-direction wiring
4003
. According to this method, if voltage down by the wiring resistances
4004
and
4005
are ignored, the SCE type electron-emitting devices of the selected line receive a Ve−Vs voltage, while the SCE type electron-emitting devices of the non-selected lines receive a Ve−Vns voltage. If the voltages Ve, Vs and Vns are respectively set to an appropriate voltage value, an electron beam having a desired intensity is emitted only from the surface-conduction electron-emitting devices of the selected line. Further, if drive voltages Ve's of different values are applied to respective wire of the column-direction wiring
4003
, electron beams of different intensities are emitted from the respective devices of the selected line. As the surface-conduction electron-emitting devices have a high response speed, an electron-beam emission period can be varied by changing an application period of applying the drive voltage Ve.
Thus, the electron-beam source having a simple-matrix wired SCE type electron-emitting devices provides various possibilities of application. For example, it can be used as an electron-beam source f
Suzuki Hidetoshi
Suzuki Noritake
Yamaguchi Eiji
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Ramsey Kenneth J.
LandOfFree
Method of manufacturing electron-beam source and image... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method of manufacturing electron-beam source and image..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method of manufacturing electron-beam source and image... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3058541