Spacer structure having a surface which can reduce secondaries

Details Spacer structure having a surface which can reduce secondaries Spacer structure having a surface which can reduce secondaries

1999-10-07

2004-10-26

Patel, Nimeshkumar D. (Department: 2879)

Electric lamp and discharge devices

With luminescent solid or liquid material

Vacuum-type tube

C313S422000, C313S292000, C313S497000, C313S257000, C313S258000, C315S169100, C315S169400, C445S024000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06809469

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electron beam apparatus and an image producer as an application thereof, such as an image display and the like. The present invention also relates to a spacer for use in the electron beam apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
There are two types of electron emission devices currently known: a hot cathode device and a cold cathode device. As to the latter, the known devices include, for example, surface conduction electron emission devices, field emission devices (hereinafter referred to as an FE type) and metal-insulating layer-metal type electron emission devices (hereinafter referred to as an MIM type).
The surface conduction electron emission devices currently known include, for example, one disclosed by M. I. Elinson in Radio Eng. Electron Phys., 10, 1290, (1965), and the others described below.
The surface conduction electron emission devices take advantage of the phenomenon that electron emission occurs on the thin film of a small area formed on the, substrate when applying electric current parallel to the surface of the film. There are several types of surface conduction electron emission devices reported, in addition to the aforesaid device by Elinson et al. which utilizes SnO
2
thin film: one utilizing Au thin film (refer to G. Dittmer: “Thin Solid Films,” 9, 317 (1972)), one utilizing In
2
O
3
/SnO
2
thin film (refer to M. Hartwell and C. G. Fonstad: “IEEE Trans. ED Conf.,” 519 (1975)), and one utilizing carbon thin film (refer to Hisashi Araki et al. “Vacuum,” Vol. 26, No. 1, 22 (1983)).
FIG. 33
shows a plan view of the aforementioned device by M. Hartwell et al. as a typical example illustrating the construction of the surface conduction electron emission devices. In the figure, reference numeral
3001
designates a substrate and numeral
3004
designates a conductive thin film consisting of metal oxide and formed by sputtering. The conductive thin film
3004
is in the form of an H-shaped plan as shown in the figure. An electron emission portion
3005
is formed by conducting an energization treatment, known as energization forming which is to be described below, to the above conductive thin film
3004
. The spacings L and W in the figure are set for 0.5 to 1 [mm] and 0.1 [mm], respectively. For convenience's sake, in the above figure the electron emission portion
3005
is shown in the center of the conductive thin film
3004
in the form of a rectangle. The figure is, however, very schematic and does not necessarily represent the actual position and form of the electron emission portion.
In the aforesaid surface conduction electron emission devices, including one by M. Hartwell, it has been common that the electron emission portion
3005
is formed by conducting an energization treatment, called energization forming, to the conductive thin film
3004
prior to the execution of electron emission. Energization forming used herein means that a constant direct-current voltage or a direct-current voltage stepping up at a very slow rate of, for example, about 1 V/min is applied to both ends of the conductive thin film
3004
to pass a current therethrough and cause a local fracture, deformation or change in quality therein, so as to form the electron emission portion
3005
in a highly resistive state. In some part of the conductive thin film
3004
having undergone a local fracture, deformation or change in quality, a crack is to appear. When applying a proper voltage to the conductive thin film
3004
after the above energization forming, electric emission occurs in the vicinity of the above crack.
The known FE type devices include, for example, one disclosed by W. P. Dyke & W. W. Dolan in “Field Emission,” Advance in Electron Physics, 8, 89 (1956) and one disclosed by C. A. Spindt in “Physical Properties of Thin-Film Field Emission Cathodes with Molybdenium cones,” J. Appl. Phys., 47, 5248 (1976).
FIG. 34
shows a sectional view of the aforementioned device by C. A. Spindt et al. as a typical example illustrating the configuration of FE type devices. In the figure, reference numeral
3010
designates a substrate, numeral
3011
an emitter wiring consisting of a conductive material, numeral
3012
an emitter cone, numeral
3013
an insulating layer and numeral
3014
a gate electrode. In this device, field emission is caused at the tip portion of the emitter cone
3012
by applying a proper voltage between the emitter cone
3012
and the gate electrode
3014
.
There is another example of the construction of FE type devices where, unlike the laminated structure shown in
FIG. 34
, an emitter and a gate electrode are arranged on the substrate almost parallel to the substrate plane.
The known MIM type devices include, for example, one disclosed by C. A. Mead in “Operation of Tunnel-Emission Devices,” J. Appl. Phys., 32, 646 (1961).
FIG. 35
shows a typical example of the construction of MIM type devices. The figure is a sectional view, in which reference numeral
3020
designates a substrate numeral
3021
a lower electrode consisting of metal, numeral
3022
a thin insulating layer about 100 Å thick and numeral
3023
an upper electrode about 80 to 300 Å thick consisting of metal. In MIM type devices, electron emission is caused on the surface of the upper electrode
3023
by applying a proper voltage between the upper electrode
3023
and the lower electrode
3021
.
The aforementioned cold cathode devices do not need a heater for heating their cathode since they allow electron emission to occur at a lower temperature than hot cathode devices. Accordingly, their structure can be simpler than that of hot cathode devices, which allows fine devices to be produced. Further, when multiple devices are densely arranged, problems such as melting substrate by heat and the like are unlikely to occur. In addition, unlike the hot cathode devices, which are slow at response because they operate only after heated with a heater, the cold cathode devices have the advantage of being quick at response.
Thus, a lot of studies have been conducted for the application of cold cathode devices.
A surface conduction electron emission device, for example, has a particularly simple structure and is easy to produce compared with the other cold cathode devices, accordingly the application of this type devices is advantageous to forming multiple devices over a large area of the substrate. Therefore, methods have been studied to arrange and drive multiple devices on the substrate, as disclosed, for example, by the present applicants in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-31332.
As to the application of surface conduction electron emission devices, the studies have been carried out of, for example, image producer such as an image display and an image recorder, charged beam sources and the like. For the application to an image display, the display using surface conduction electron emission devices in combination with a fluorescent substance, which emits light when electron beam is applied, has been studied as disclosed by the present applicants in U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,883, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-257551 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-28137. An image display using surface conduction electron emission devices in combination with a fluorescent substance is expected to have properties superior to conventional ones using other methods. The above display may be superior to, for example, the liquid crystal display which has been in common use recently in that it does not need a backlight since it spontaneously emits light and in that it has a wide viewing angle.
A method for arranging and driving multiple FE type devices is disclosed, for example, by the present applicants in U.S. Pat. No 4,904,895. The known examples of the application of FE type devices to an image display include, for example, a planar image display reported by R. Meyer et al. (refer to R. Meyer: “Recent Development on Micro-Tips Display at LETI,” Tech. Digest of 4

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