JP3483546B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using an electron emitting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a plurality of planar electron-emitting devices and an image-forming member (for example, a phosphor, a resist material, etc.) that forms an image by irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting devices, Collision of electrons causes light emission, discoloration,
There is a thin image forming apparatus in which a member that is charged, deteriorated, and the like face each other. As an example of this image forming apparatus, FIGS. 35 and 36 show schematic diagrams of a conventional electron beam display apparatus. Here, FIG. 36 shows A- in FIG.
It is an A'sectional view.

The structure of the conventional electron beam display device shown in FIGS. 35 and 36 will be described in detail.
Reference numeral 1 is a rear plate, 111 is an outer frame, and 109 is a face plate, which form an envelope and hold the inside of the envelope in vacuum. 103a and 103b are electrodes, 1
Reference numeral 04 denotes an electron emitting portion, which allows the electron emitting device 1
05 is formed. 102a (scan electrode) and 1
02b (information signal electrode) is a wiring electrode and is connected to the electrodes 103a and 103b, respectively. Reference numeral 106 is a glass substrate, 107 is a transparent electrode, 108 is a phosphor (image forming member), and a face plate 109 is formed of these. Further, 112 is a bright spot of the phosphor,
Reference numeral 110 is a support member for supporting the atmospheric pressure. The above electron beam display device applies a predetermined signal voltage to the scanning electrodes 102a and the information signal electrodes 102b arranged in an XY matrix, so that an electron beam corresponding to an information signal is emitted as desired fluorescent light as an image forming member. The image is displayed by colliding with the body 108. In addition, the electron-emitting device 1
Reference numeral 05 denotes a thermoelectron emission device that emits electrons by heating the electron emission unit 104, USP 3,755,70.
The field emission device technically disclosed in US Pat. No. 4 and US Pat. No. 4,904,895, or the surface conduction electron-emitting device technically disclosed in USP 5,066,883 can be used.

Here, in the above-mentioned flat type electron beam display apparatus, since the inside of the envelope is kept in vacuum, the rear plate 101 and the face plate 109 are held.
Is subject to atmospheric pressure, and to support this atmospheric pressure,
As shown in FIG. 36, the support member 110 is arranged between the rear plate 101 and the face plate 109. Further, the supporting member 110 is usually formed of an insulating material in order to have withstand voltage of the high voltage applied between the phosphor 108 (or the transparent electrode 107) and the electron-emitting device 105. There is. Since the atmospheric pressure becomes larger as the electron beam display device has a larger screen, the supporting member becomes an indispensable constituent member for simplification, size reduction and weight reduction of the entire device.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional electron beam display apparatus, as shown in FIGS. 35 and 36, the supporting member 110 is formed of an insulating material, and therefore the apparatus is used. Due to the driving of (1), an unexpected electron beam or ion collides with the supporting member, and the surface of the supporting member is electrically charged, resulting in the following problems.
That is, (1) the orbit of the electron beam is bent, the irradiation amount of the electron beam to a desired phosphor in the pixel is changed, and uneven brightness and uneven color occur. Further, when the charge amount is large, the electron beam does not collide with a desired fluorescent substance, which causes unexpected irradiation of the fluorescent substance adjacent thereto and causes crosstalk. (2) Since the amount of charge on the support member changes with time, the trajectory of the electron beam changes with time, causing fluctuations in luminance over time.
(3) Discharge is generated from the charged support member, and the electron discharge element is damaged by the discharge, or the electric insulation of the support member is deteriorated.

As a method of preventing the support member from being charged by an electron beam, for example, as shown in FIG. 37 (cross-sectional view), a method of covering the periphery of the insulating material portion of the support member 110 with a metal cover 113, etc. Was adopted (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-64-
41150). In FIG. 37, reference numeral 114 is a member for holding the metal cover 113 on the support member 110. The metal cover 113 is electrically connected to the transparent electrode 107. Therefore, the same voltage as that applied to the transparent electrode 107 (phosphor 108) is applied to the metal cover 113, It is kept at the same potential as the transparent electrode 107. Here, since a high electric potential capable of trapping an electron beam is generally applied to the transparent electrode 107, when such a high-potential metal cover is arranged in the vicinity of the electron-emitting device 105, the electron-emitting device 105 emits light. The trajectory of the generated electron beam is bent toward the metal cover 113 side, which causes the following new problems. That is, (4) a part of the electron beam is captured by the metal cover, the amount of the electron beam applied to the phosphor is reduced, the phosphor provided near the supporting member becomes dark, and uneven brightness occurs. . (5) Since the voltage applied to the transparent electrode (phosphor) cannot be raised to a certain value or more, the brightness is dark and the phosphors emitting red and blue light cannot be used, so that a full-color image cannot be displayed.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to have a support structure sufficient for atmospheric pressure, prevent crosstalk, and
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus with improved image contrast or brightness uniformity. Further, the object of the present invention is to
An object of the present invention is to provide a stable image forming apparatus in which fluctuation of luminance with time is prevented. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of obtaining a color image with high contrast or high brightness. A further object of the present invention is to provide a long-life image forming apparatus that prevents discharge of the supporting member.

[0008]

The above object can be achieved by the present invention described below. That is, the first aspect of the invention is to provide an electron-emitting device, an image forming member for forming an image by irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device, and a conductive material for supporting the envelope in the envelope. An image forming apparatus including a support member having a means for controlling the potential of the support member to be equal to or lower than the maximum potential applied to the electron-emitting device.

According to a second aspect of the invention, an electron-emitting device that emits electrons by applying a voltage between electrodes in an envelope, and an image-forming member that forms an image by irradiating an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device. And an electrically conductive support member for supporting the envelope, wherein the support member is electrically connected to one of the electrodes.

[0010]

[0011]

The present invention will be described in detail below. The main feature of the present invention is, as described above, that a support member controlled to a specific potential is arranged as the support member. That is, the support member according to the present invention not only improves the atmospheric pressure resistance of the envelope and prevents the surface of the support member from being charged, but also includes an image forming member for an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device. It also has a function of suppressing fluctuations in the flight trajectory and flight amount of the laser beam with time and supplementing efficient irradiation of an electron beam to a predetermined image forming member.

[0012] The present inventors first of all, when imparting the above-mentioned function to the image forming apparatus, the provision of such function becomes indispensable as the image forming surface of the apparatus becomes larger (larger screen). In view of the fact that the support member becomes an indispensable constituent member as the screen of the device becomes larger, it is possible to make the support member also have the above-mentioned function so as to simplify the structure of the entire device, reduce the size, and reduce the weight. It was found to be optimal above. Furthermore, the present inventors conducted the following study to find out what kind of potential is most suitable to be applied to the supporting member when the supporting member also has the above function.

The above study was carried out using the evaluation device shown in FIG.
It was. In FIG. 3, 25a and 25b are phosphors, 2
4a and 24b are electron beams to the phosphors 25a and 25b.
Transparent electrode for encouraging the capture of the
V₁ Power source for applying the voltage, 22 is a face plate, 2
9a and 29b are electric currents (in the phosphor 25a
The current that flows is the pixel current I₁ , The current flowing through the phosphor 25b
Crosstalk current I ₂ (Hereinafter referred to as)) for measuring
A flow meter, 20 is an electron-emitting device, which faces the phosphor 25a side.
And is arranged on the rear plate 23. Also, 21
Is the voltage V applied to the electron-emitting device 20.₂ Power supply for applying 2
6 is a supporting member, which is appropriately arranged near the electron-emitting device 20.
And is made of an insulating material, as described later,
It is either formed of a conductive material. 27 is
When the support member is made of a conductive material, the support
Potential V on the member₃ Is a power supply for applying

The following evaluations were performed using the evaluation device shown in FIG. First, as an electron-emitting device, (a) a surface conduction electron-emitting device, which will be described later in Examples, (b) USP 3,75
Vertical field emission device described in US Pat. No. 5,704, (C) USP
The lateral field emission device described in No. 4,904,895 was used. Here, schematic configuration diagrams of the electron-emitting devices (b) and (c) are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively. The vertical field emission device shown in FIG. 4 (cross-sectional view) includes a pair of low-potential side electrodes 31a and high-potential side electrodes 31b stacked on a substrate 30 with an insulating layer 32 interposed therebetween, and the high-potential side electrodes 31b. And insulating layer 3
A second opening 34 is formed by an electron emitting portion 33 disposed so as to be electrically connected to the low potential side electrode 31a, and by applying a predetermined voltage between the electrodes 31a and 31b, the electron It is an element that emits an electron beam from the emitting portion 33. Further, the horizontal field emission device shown in FIG. 5 is electrically connected to the pair of low potential side electrodes 41 a and high potential side electrodes 41 b arranged in parallel on the substrate 40 and the low potential side electrodes 41 a, and the substrate 40 Is an element which is formed by an electron emitting portion 43 arranged in parallel with and in a non-contact manner, and emits an electron beam from the electron emitting portion by applying a predetermined voltage between the electrodes 41a and 41b. In addition, the electron-emitting device (b),
(C) is generally 50 V to 200 between the pair of electrodes.
By applying a voltage as high as V, electrons are emitted from the sharp end of the electron emitting portion. Since the applied voltage is high, a velocity component is obtained in the high potential side electrodes 31b and 41b, and the electron beam flies.

(Evaluation I-1) The electron-emitting device of the above (a)
20 and a supporting member 26 made of an insulating material
I, V₁ 1 kV to 4 kV, V₂ 5V to 30V, device
The degree of vacuum inside is 2 × 10 ^-Five~ 3 x 10^-7that of torr
The pixel current I at that time
₁ , And the crosstalk current I₂ Change over time
I evaluated it. The evaluation result is shown in FIG.

As is apparent from FIG. 6, the insulating support member is
When used, a certain time (T₁ ) By the above drive,
Pixel current I₁ Abruptly decreases, and for a certain time (T
₂ ), The crosstalk current I₂ A sharp increase in
I started. Where T₁ And T ₂ Is the degree of vacuum in the device, V
₁ , And V₂ Depending on each of the above setting values, but the above range
At these setting values in₁ 1 second to 60 minutes, T₂ 
Is in the range of several minutes to 120 minutes, and is almost the same as shown in FIG.
Showed a tendency. Such a pixel current I₁ Decrease and
And crosstalk current I₂ Occurrence of the above (b), (c)
The same was confirmed in the electron-emitting device of.

[0017] As (Evaluation I-2) support member 26, a conductive supporting member, except for setting the V ₃ arbitrarily from the range of -30V~30V, similarly to the evaluation I-1, the pixel The changes with time of the current I ₁ and the crosstalk current I ₂ were evaluated. The evaluation result is shown in FIG.

As is apparent from FIG. 6, when the conductive support member is used, the pixel current I ₁ is irrespective of the above-mentioned set values of the degree of vacuum in the device, V ₁ , V ₂ and V _3. No change in the crosstalk current I ₂ with time was observed. This is because, in the image forming apparatus, the change in the irradiation amount of the electron beam to each pixel forming an image with time and the unexpected irradiation of the electron beam to the pixel are not caused, and therefore the image contrast or the image brightness is reduced. It means that it has excellent uniformity and does not cause crosstalk.

(Evaluation II-1) Using the electron emitting element 20 of (a) above and the supporting member 26 made of a conductive material, the degree of vacuum in the apparatus, V ₁ and V ₂ are evaluated I respectively.
Set arbitrarily from the same range as -1, and set V ₃ to -30V
The pixel current I ₁ was measured when changing from 1 to 30V. The results are shown in Fig. 7.

(Evaluation II-2) As the electron-emitting device 20, the electron-emitting device described in (b) above was used, and V ₂ was 50 V or more.
Set arbitrarily from the range of 200V, except for changing the V ₃ from -50V to 200V were measured the pixel current I ₁ in the same manner as Evaluation II-1. The results are shown in Fig. 7.

(Evaluation II-3) Evaluation II except that the electron emitting device described in (c) above was used as the electron emitting device 20.
The pixel current I ₁ was measured in the same manner as in −2. Figure 7
Shown in.

The results of the above evaluations II-1 to III are shown in FIG. However, in the figure, Ie is the maximum pixel current value obtained under each of the above conditions, Vd is the V ₃ value set under each of the above conditions (that is, in the present invention, an electron-emitting device). Since the low potential side electrode of is set to 0 V, this value means the maximum potential value applied to the electron-emitting device used).

As is apparent from FIG. 7, each curve of the graph is represented by the type of electron-emitting device, the degree of vacuum in the device, V
There are two inflection points at V ₃ = 0 V and V ₃ = Vd irrespective of the set values of ₁ and V _{2 in} the respective ranges. That is, when V ₃ is 0 V or less, the pixel current I ₁ is almost I.
unchanged at e, pixel current I is in the range V ₃ is 0V~Vd
Only a slight decrease in ₁ is exhibited, but when V ₃ exceeds Vd, a significant decrease in pixel current I ₁ is exhibited.

As described above, the inventors of the present invention are concerned with the efficiency of irradiation of the electron beam to the image forming member and the problem of unexpected electron beam irradiation (crosstalk) to the adjacent image forming member depending on the electron emitting device used. It was found that the relationship largely depends on the relationship between the applied electron emission voltage (V ₂ ) and the potential (V ₃ ) applied to the support member, and as described above, the support member is applied to at least the electron-emitting device. The inventors have found that controlling the potential to be equal to or lower than the maximum potential (Vd) can drastically improve the above-mentioned problems of irradiation efficiency and crosstalk, and arrived at the present invention.

The means for controlling the potential of the supporting member are (a) voltage applying means for applying an electron emitting voltage to the electron emitting element, and (b) for applying an electron emitting voltage to the electron emitting element. It is roughly classified into another voltage applying means provided independently of the voltage applying means.

In the above (a), the potential of the supporting member is set by electrically connecting the supporting member to one of the electron-emitting device electrodes (a pair of electrodes for applying a voltage to the electron-emitting portion). Is controlled to the desired potential. Further, in this case, as is clear from the above-described examination result, it is preferable to connect the electron-emitting device electrode to the low potential side electrode.

In the above (b), another voltage applying means in the apparatus capable of controlling the supporting member to the desired potential may also be used, but a dedicated voltage applying means is independently arranged,
This may be electrically connected to the support member.
Further, in these cases, as is clear from the above-described examination results, it is preferable that the means is a means for applying a voltage of 0 V or less (potential of the low potential side electrode of the electron-emitting device).

Other components of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail below. In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, first, the electron emitting element may be either a hot cathode or a cold cathode as long as it is conventionally used as an electron source of the image forming apparatus. In addition, the electron emission efficiency and the response speed decrease due to thermal diffusion into the substrate on which it is arranged. Further, there is a limit to the high density arrangement of the hot cathode and the image forming member because the image forming member may be deteriorated by heat. In view of the above points, in the present invention, the electron-emitting device is preferably a cold cathode such as a surface conduction electron-emitting device, a semiconductor electron-emitting device, a field electron-emitting device described later, and particularly, these Among the cold cathodes, the use of an electron-emitting device called a surface conduction electron-emitting device is (1) high electron emission efficiency can be obtained in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, and (2) the device structure is simple. , Easy to manufacture, many elements can be arrayed and formed on the same substrate, (3) fast response speed,
(4) It is particularly preferable because it has advantages such as further excellent brightness contrast.

Here, the surface conduction electron-emitting device means, for example, MI Elinson.
n) and other known cold cathode devices are known [Radio Engineering Electron Physics (Radio Engineering Electron Phys.
s. ) 10: 1290-1296, 1965
Year]. This utilizes a phenomenon in which a thin film having a small area formed on a substrate causes electron emission by causing a current to flow in the film in parallel, and is generally called a surface conduction electron-emitting device. . As this surface conduction electron-emitting device, SnO ₂ (S
b) Using thin film, using Au thin film [Gee Ditmer "Sin Solid Films" (G. Dit
tmer: "ThinSolid Films") No. 9
Vol. 317, 1972], by ITO thin film [M. Hartwell and CG Fon, "M. Hartwell and CG Fon"]
stad; "IEEE Trans.ED Con
f. ") Page 519, 1983], etc. are reported.

A typical device configuration of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices is shown in FIG. In the figure, 51a and 5
1b is an electrode for obtaining an electrical connection, 52 is a thin film formed of an electron emitting material, 54 is a substrate, and 53 is an electron emitting portion. Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, an electron-emitting portion is formed in advance by an energization heating process called a forming process before the electron emission. That is, by applying a voltage between the electrodes 51a and 51b, the thin film 52 is energized, and the Joule heat generated thereby locally destroys, deforms or modifies the thin film 52, and thus has a high electrical resistance. An electron emission function is obtained by forming the electron emission portion 53 in the state. It should be noted that an electrically high resistance state means that a part of the thin film 52 has a thickness of 0.5 μm
It refers to a discontinuous state film having a crack with a length of 5 μm and having a so-called island structure inside the crack. The island structure is generally a film in which fine particles having a diameter of several tens of angstroms to several microns are present on a substrate, and each fine particle is spatially discontinuous and electrically continuous. Conventionally, in the surface conduction electron-emitting device, a voltage is applied to the above-mentioned high resistance discontinuous film by electrodes 51a and 51b, and a current is caused to flow on the device surface so that electrons are emitted from the fine particles.

In addition, the present inventors have proposed USP 5,066,
883, a technical disclosure of a novel surface conduction electron-emitting device in which fine particles for emitting electrons are dispersedly arranged between electrodes. This electron-emitting device has advantages over the conventional surface-conduction-type electron-emitting device, such as higher electron emission efficiency. A typical device configuration of this surface conduction electron-emitting device is shown in FIG. In FIG. 9, 51a and 51b are electrodes for obtaining electrical connection, 55 is an electron emitting layer, a thin film (electron emitting portion) in which fine particles 56 having a particle diameter within the range of 10Å to 10 μm are dispersedly arranged,
Reference numeral 54 is an insulating flat substrate. In particular, in FIG.
The thin film 55 has a sheet resistance of 10 ³ Ω / □ to 10 ⁹ Ω / □, and the electrode interval is preferably 0.01 μm to 100 μm.

As described above, various types of electron-emitting devices can be used in the present invention, but in particular, the emission electrons thereof, such as the above-mentioned cold cathode, among others, the surface conduction electron-emitting device and the field-emission device, can be used. Electron-emitting device with a large initial velocity of
In particular, an electron beam emitted from an electron emitting portion formed between electrodes, such as an electron emitting device having an initial velocity of emitted electrons of 4.0 eV to 200 eV, or a surface conduction electron emitting device or a field emission device. When the voltage is applied, a velocity component is obtained in the direction of the electrode on the high potential side and flies, so that the trajectory of the electron beam is deflected toward the electrode on the high potential side with respect to the vertical direction. The decrease in electron emission efficiency and crosstalk occur as more prominent problems. Therefore, the potential control technique of the supporting member of the present invention is extremely effective especially in an image forming apparatus using such an electron emitting element.

In the present invention, the image forming member emits light when irradiated with an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device.
Any material may be used as long as it is formed of a material that causes discoloration, charging, deterioration, or deformation, and examples thereof include a phosphor and a resist material. Especially when a phosphor is used as the image forming member,
The image formed is a luminescent (fluorescent) image, but in the case of forming a full-color luminescent image, the image forming member is formed of three primary color luminescent materials of red, green and blue.

Next, regarding the positional relationship between the electron-emitting device and the image forming member described above, for example, as shown in (A) FIG. 1, the electron-emitting device 5 and the image forming member 8 are arranged inside the envelope. The base surfaces 6 and 1 are opposed to each other. Alternatively, (B) as shown in FIG. 17, the electron-emitting device 75 and the image forming member 7
8 and 8 are juxtaposed on the same base 71 surface in the envelope. Here, in particular, in the case of (B), positive ions generated by collision of emitted electrons with the residual gas in the envelope are less likely to collide with the electron emitting element, and therefore the electron emitting element is not deteriorated. Since it can be prevented considerably, the life of the electron-emitting device longer than that of the above (A) can be obtained. In the case of (B), the electron beam trajectory is deflected in the direction of the high potential side electrode with respect to the vertical direction, as in the case of a surface conduction electron-emitting device, a field emission device, etc., as an electron-emitting device. This is a preferable mode in the electron emitting device.

In the present invention, the support member may be a member made of a conductive material or an insulating member such as glass whose surface is coated with a conductive material. Further, the support member may be one in which conductivity is imparted, and in this case, the conductivity imparting region is arranged so as to be located at least in the vicinity of the electron emitting portion of the electron emitting element.

Further, in the present invention, the supporting member may be arranged in any manner as long as it can be arranged to support the envelope against atmospheric pressure, and it is not always necessary to arrange it for each electron emitting portion. Absent.

Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device is modulated in accordance with the information signal (control of emitted electron amount including ON / OFF of emitted electron).
When performing, the modulation means is further provided. As shown in FIG. 11, (I) the modulation means may be a modulation electrode 18a arranged on the same substrate 1 surface as the electron-emitting device 5 or an insulating layer on the electron-emitting device 5 as shown in FIG. Means for controlling the amount of emitted electrons by applying a voltage according to an image information signal to the modulation electrode 60 laminated via 62 to form a desired potential surface in the vicinity of the electron emitting portion, (II)
As shown in FIG. 1, with respect to a plurality of electron-emitting portions 4 arranged in the XY matrix on the surface of the substrate 1, XY is similarly set.
By applying a desired voltage according to an image information signal to the scanning electrodes 2a and the information signal electrodes 2b arranged in a matrix and connected to each of the electron emitting portions, the desired electron emitting portions are selectively selected. Examples include means for emitting electrons.

The above-mentioned components are arranged in the envelope, and the inside of the envelope has a vacuum degree of 10 ^-5 to 10 ^-9 torr in view of the electron emission characteristics of the electron-emitting device, and the above-mentioned support is provided. The members are arranged so as to have a sufficient support structure with respect to the atmospheric pressure applied to the vacuum envelope, and the shape, arrangement position, and the like are appropriately determined.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention also includes the following optical printer. As shown in FIGS. 31 to 33, the optical printer according to the present invention uses, as a light emission source 83, a device in which an image forming member of the above-described image forming device is configured by a light emitting body, and emits light according to an information signal as described above. By forming a pattern and irradiating the recording medium (86, 88, 89) with light rays emitted from the light-emitting body according to the light-emitting pattern, the photosensitive pattern is recorded when the recording medium is a photosensitive material, When the recording medium is a heat-sensitive material, a heat-sensitive pattern is formed on the surface of the recording medium. The optical printer is a support for supporting or transporting a recording medium (for example, the drum 87 and the transport roller 85 in FIGS. 31 and 32).
The recording medium may be a photosensitive drum 89 as shown in FIG.

Further, the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific examples.

[0041]

Embodiment 1 FIGS. 1 and 2 show an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA 'of FIG. In the figure, 1 is a rear plate,
Reference numeral 11 is an outer frame, and 9 is a face plate, which form an envelope. 4 is an electron emitting portion, 3a and 3b are electrodes for applying a voltage to the electron emitting portion,
These form the electron-emitting device 5. 2a and 2b are wiring electrodes, particularly 2a is a scanning electrode, 2b
Are used as information signal electrodes, which are electrically connected to the electrodes 3a and 3b, respectively. 6 is a glass substrate, 8 is a phosphor (image forming member), 7 is a transparent electrode for applying a voltage to the phosphor, and these forms the face plate 9. 12 is a bright spot of the phosphor, 10 is a conductive support member for supporting the atmospheric pressure applied to the envelope, and 13 is a power supply for applying a predetermined potential to the conductive support member.

As shown in the figure, the electron-emitting device 5 and the phosphor 8 as an image forming member are arranged on the bases (rear plate 1 and glass substrate 6) facing each other in the envelope. Further, the conductive supporting member 10 is arranged between the bases so as to support the atmospheric pressure applied to the rear plate 1 and the face plate 9. However, as shown in FIG. 2, the support member 10 is arranged between the electron-emitting devices 5 on the rear plate side, and electrically connected to the phosphor 8 and the transparent electrode 7 on the face plate side. It is placed in a non-contact state. That is, the potential of the support member 10 is
Indeed, it is defined by the potential applied from the power supply 13.

The electron-emitting devices 5 are the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting devices, and a plurality of these electron-emitting devices are arranged in an XY matrix, and the electrodes 3a of all the electron-emitting devices are connected to the scanning electrode 2a, and the electrodes are connected. 3b is an information signal electrode 2b
Are connected to the electrodes, and electrons are emitted by applying a voltage between the electrodes 2a and 2b according to an information signal,
It has a so-called simple matrix structure.

Transparent electrode 7 forming face plate 9
(Not shown) is connected to an external power source, and a predetermined voltage is applied to the phosphor 8 disposed adjacent to the transparent electrode 7 through the transparent electrode 7. This voltage is usually 80
It is 0 V to 6 kV, but is not limited to this range. When displaying a color image, the phosphor 8 is replaced with a phosphor of three primary colors of red, green and blue.

Next, the manufacturing method of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment will be described.
I will briefly explain about it. The image forming apparatus of this embodiment is
． First, wash the insulating substrate as the rear plate 1 thoroughly.
Cleaning and commonly used evaporation techniques and photolithography
-Using technology, create electrodes 3a and 3b, and then
The signal electrode 2b is similarly created. ． Next, information signal
To obtain electrical insulation between the pole 2b and the scanning electrode 2a, this
Form an insulating layer (not shown) at the intersection of
And deposition technology and patterning technology (photolithography
The scanning electrode 2a is formed by
It Here, in the above steps, the electrode material is
Ni, gold, or aluminum that has a sufficiently low air resistance
It is made of a material whose main component is nickel, etc.
As SiO₂ Are used. Also, surface conduction type
In the output device, the electron emission efficiency is particularly important.
The width G (electrode gap) between the electrodes 3a and 3b is
0.01 μm to 100 μm, particularly 0.1 μm to 10 μm
m is preferable, and in this embodiment, it is 2 μm.
did. In addition, the length L of the electron emitting portion 4 is 300 μm, and
The arrangement pitch of the child emission elements 5 was 1.2 mm. next,
． Electrodes 3a facing each other using the gas deposition method
Between Pb and 3b form a Pd ultrafine particle film with a particle size of about 100Å
To achieve. As the material of the ultrafine particles, Ag, A in addition to Pd
Metallic materials such as u and SnO₂ , In₂ O₃ Oxide materials such as
Are preferred, and in surface-conduction type emission devices
In particular, the particle size is 10Å in terms of its electron emission efficiency.
It is preferable to set within the range of 10 μm,
The particle film is 10³ Ω / □ -10⁹ Ω / □ sheet resistance
Is preferably adjusted so that In addition, the gas
In addition to the position method, for example, organometallic dispersion coating
And then heat treated to form an ultrafine particle film between the electrodes.
The desired characteristics can be obtained by forming the. ． Next
Then, place the face plate 9 on the glass substrate 6 normally
ITO, which is widely used in vacuum deposition and patterning techniques
A transparent electrode 7 is made of a material, and the transparent electrode 7
It is created by stacking the optical bodies 8. ． Next, the conductive support
The holding member 10 is arranged as shown in FIG. Where the conductivity
The photosensitive support member is made by processing the photosensitive glass 10a, and
The one provided with the conductive film 10b was used. Also, the conductivity
Of the flexible support member T₂ Is 150 μm, height T₁ Is 150
It was formed to have a thickness of 0 μm. ． As described above,
Rear plate 1 and face plate on which output elements are arranged
The outer frame 11 with a thickness of 1.5 mm is placed between the
Between the rear plate 1 and the outer frame 11
Apply frit glass between the frame 11 and 1 at 410 ℃
Bake for 0 minutes or more to bond them. At this time,
The electric support member 10 is in the vertical direction with respect to the rear plate 1.
The rear plate 1 and the face play
It will be an atmospheric pressure supporting column between the above and the other side. ． next,
The atmosphere inside the envelope created as described above is converted to a vacuum pump.
So exhaust and 10^-6-10 ^-7The vacuum degree was set to torr
After that, a forming process is performed, and the envelope is sealed.
To do.

Next, a method of driving the image forming apparatus of this embodiment described above will be described. First, of the plurality of scan electrodes 2a to which the plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected, an electron emission voltage of 14V is applied to a desired one line and 1/2 (7V) of the electron emission voltage is applied to other lines. An information signal electrode 2b to which an element for emitting electrons is connected in accordance with the information signal for one line of the image while each voltage is applied.
Is applied to the information signal electrode 2b to which another electron-emitting device is connected, and 1/2 (7V) of the electron-emitting voltage is applied to the information signal electrode 2b. This operation is performed by the adjacent scan electrode 2a.
By sequentially performing the above, the electron emission for one image is performed, and an emission image by the phosphor 8 is obtained. Here, the conductive support member 10 in the device is preset by the power supply 13 to a potential of 14 V or less which is the maximum potential applied to the electron-emitting device.

According to the image forming apparatus of this embodiment described above, an extremely stable luminescent image having no unevenness in brightness and no change in brightness over time was formed. In addition, during driving of the device, discharge that would cause fatal damage to the electron-emitting device did not occur, and long-life image display was possible. Further, the phosphor voltage can also be set to 1 kV or higher, and color images can be displayed by replacing the phosphor 8 in the apparatus with the three primary color phosphors.

Example 2 The image forming apparatus of this example was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the structure of the conductive support member 10 of Example 1 was changed as shown in FIG. 10 (cross-sectional view). Was done. That is, the conductive support member 15 of the present embodiment has a conductivity imparting region (conductive film 1).
5b) is formed so as to be located only in the vicinity of the electron-emitting device 5, and the conductive film 15b is not covered in the vicinity of the phosphor 8.

Also in this example, the same effect as in Example 1 was confirmed. Furthermore, since the vicinity of the phosphor 8 of the conductive support member 15 is an insulating region (photosensitive glass 15a), the phosphor voltage by the transparent electrode 7 can be set higher than that in the first embodiment. Therefore, it is possible to display an image with higher brightness, and it is possible to obtain a color image more easily.

Embodiment 3 FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, and FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ of FIG.

In FIGS. 11 and 12, 17a and 17b
Is a wiring electrode of the electron-emitting device 5, and each electrode 3
a, 3b. In addition, the wiring electrode 17a,
A plurality of electron-emitting devices (surface conduction electron-emitting devices) 5 are arranged between 17b, and a plurality of line-shaped electron sources are formed on the rear plate 1. 18a is an ON / O switch for an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device in response to an information signal.
A modulation electrode for controlling the FF, which is arranged in an XY matrix with respect to the line-shaped electron source. Here, although not shown, the wiring electrodes 17a and 17b and the modulation electrode 18a are electrically insulated by an insulating material. Reference numeral 16 is a conductive support member, which is disposed on the electrode 3b and is electrically connected so that the surface of the conductive support member 16 has the same potential as the electrode 3b.
The image forming apparatus of the present embodiment described above was manufactured by a method similar to that of the first embodiment.

Next, a driving method of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment will be described. Through the transparent electrode 7 through the phosphor 8, the
A voltage of 8 to 6.0 kV is applied. Further, the wiring electrode 17a is set to 0 V and the wiring electrode 1 is connected to the desired line-shaped electron source.
A voltage is applied by setting 7b to 14V, and a predetermined voltage is applied to the plurality of modulation electrodes 18a in accordance with the information signal for one line of the display image to obtain a desired electron-emitting device according to the information signal. More electron beam is emitted. Here, the potential of the conductive support member 16 is the maximum potential 14 applied to the electron-emitting device 5 through the wiring electrode 17b and the electrode 3b.
Controlled by V. Regarding the voltage applied to the modulation electrode, the electron beam can be controlled to be off at -50 V or less,
With the above, ON control was possible. Also, -60V to 40
The emitted electron amount of the electron beam could be continuously changed between V, and gradation display was possible.

By sequentially performing such an operation for adjacent linear electron sources, electron emission for one image is performed,
An emission image by the phosphor was obtained.

According to the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment described above, an extremely stable luminescent image having no unevenness in brightness and no change in brightness over time was formed, as in Example 1. In addition, during driving of the device, discharge that would cause fatal damage to the electron-emitting device did not occur, and long-life image display was possible. Further, the phosphor voltage can be set to 1 kV or more, and a color image can be displayed by replacing the phosphor in the device with a phosphor of three primary colors. Furthermore, the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment does not require a separate power supply for regulating the potential of the conductive support member 16 as compared with the first embodiment, so that the apparatus can be simplified and the cost can be reduced. Can be created.

Example 4 In this example, the image formation of Example 3 was carried out in the same manner as in Example 3 except that the voltage applied to the wiring electrode was 0V for the wiring electrode 17b and 14V for the wiring electrode 17a. Driven the device. That is, in this embodiment, the potential of the conductive support member 16 is controlled to 0 V through the wiring electrode 17b and the electrode 3b (low potential side electrode).

According to the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, substantially the same effect as that of the third embodiment can be confirmed, and the voltage applied to the modulation electrode 18a is set lower than that of the third embodiment. However, it was possible to obtain display images of almost the same quality.

Embodiment 5 FIG. 13 is a schematic perspective view of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, and FIG. 14 is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ of FIG. 18 in the figure
Reference numeral b is a modulation electrode, and 19 is a conductive support member. The image forming apparatus according to this embodiment is similar to the modulation electrode 18a according to the third embodiment.
Is arranged so as to surround both sides of the electron-emitting device as shown by 18b in FIG. 13, and further, the conductive support member in Example 3 is provided on the wiring electrode 17a as shown by 19 in FIG. Example 3 except that the surface of the conductive support member is electrically connected so as to have the same potential as the wiring electrode 17a.
It has the same configuration as.

The image forming apparatus of this embodiment is also the third embodiment.
It is driven in the same way as. Here, the potential of the conductive support member 19 is supplied to the electron-emitting device 5 through the wiring electrode 17a.
It is controlled to the maximum potential of 14 V applied to.

According to the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment described above, an extremely stable luminescent image having no unevenness in brightness and no change in brightness over time was formed, as in Example 3. In addition, during driving of the device, discharge that would cause fatal damage to the electron-emitting device did not occur, and long-life image display was possible. Further, the phosphor voltage can also be set to 1 kV or higher, and color images can be displayed by replacing the phosphor 8 in the apparatus with the three primary color phosphors. Furthermore, compared with the third embodiment, even if the voltage applied to the modulation electrode 18b is set to be lower overall, it is possible to obtain a display image of substantially the same quality.

Example 6 In this example, the voltage applied to the wiring electrode in Example 5 was set to 14 V for the wiring electrode 17b and the wiring electrode 17a.
The image forming apparatus of Example 5 was driven in exactly the same manner except that the voltage was set to 0V. That is, in this embodiment, the potential of the conductive support member 19 is controlled to 0V through the wiring electrode 17a (low potential side electrode). According to the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, substantially the same effect as that of the fifth embodiment can be confirmed, and more uniform display image can be obtained as compared with the fifth embodiment.

Embodiment 7 FIG. 15 is a schematic perspective view of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, and FIG. 16 is a sectional view taken along line AA ′ of FIG. 60 in the figure
Is a modulation electrode, 62 is an insulating layer, and 61 is a conductive support member. The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment has the same configuration as that of the fifth embodiment except that the modulation electrode 60 is provided below the electron-emitting device 5 with the insulating layer 62 interposed therebetween. It is driven in the same way as. Here, the conductive support member 61
Is controlled to the maximum potential of 14 V applied to the electron-emitting device 5 through the wiring electrode 17a.

According to the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment described above, an extremely stable luminescent image having no unevenness in brightness and no change in brightness over time was formed, as in Example 5. In addition, during driving of the device, discharge that would cause fatal damage to the electron-emitting device did not occur, and long-life image display was possible. Further, the phosphor voltage can also be set to 1 kV or higher, and color images can be displayed by replacing the phosphor 8 in the apparatus with the three primary color phosphors.

Example 8 In this example, the voltage applied to the wiring electrode in Example 7 was set to 14V for the wiring electrode 17b and for the wiring electrode 17a.
The image forming apparatus of Example 7 was driven in the same manner except that the voltage was set to 0V. That is, in this embodiment, the potential of the conductive support member 61 is controlled to 0V through the wiring electrode 17a (low potential side electrode). According to the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, substantially the same effect as that of the seventh embodiment can be confirmed, and more uniform display image can be obtained as compared with the seventh embodiment.

Embodiment 9 FIG. 17 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to a ninth embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 18 is a sectional view of FIG. 17, and FIG. 19 is FIG.
3 is a cross-sectional view of one electron-emitting device portion of FIG. As shown in these figures, this device has positive (high potential side) and negative (low potential side) electrodes 73a and 73b facing each other.
And an image forming member 78 that forms an image by irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron emitting element 75. The element 75 and the image forming member 78 are arranged side by side on the insulating substrate 71, and the atmospheric pressure applied to the vacuum container (outer surface device) including the insulating substrate 71, the support frame 80, and the face plate 79. Is provided with a conductive member wall (atmospheric pressure supporting member) 76 for supporting a component substantially perpendicular to the substrate 71 so that at least a part of its end is located above a part of the negative electrode 73b.
Since the conductive member wall 76 is electrically connected to the negative electrode 73b, it is set to the same potential (0 V) as the negative electrode 73b.

A plurality of electron-emitting devices 75 are arranged in a matrix, and the positive and negative electrodes 73a and 73 are arranged in each column.
b are connected by element wiring electrodes 72a and 72b, respectively. Each electron-emitting device 75 connected by one device-wiring electrode 72a and 72b forms one electron-emitting device array that is driven simultaneously.

The image forming member 78 is made of a phosphor,
It is formed corresponding to each electron-emitting device. Then, the image forming member rows are connected to each other in the direction orthogonal to the electron emitting element rows. The connection for each column is performed by the image forming member wiring electrode 77 arranged below each image forming member 78, and the voltage is applied to each image forming member 78 through the image forming member wiring electrode 77. Has become. Image forming member wiring electrode 77 and element wiring electrode 72
An insulator film for maintaining electrical insulation between them is disposed between a and 72b. When forming a color image, R (red), G (green), B
The image forming members 78 made of (blue) phosphor are sequentially arranged.

The electron emitting device 75 has an electron emitting portion 74 between the positive and negative electrodes 73a and 73b, and emits electrons from the electron emitting portion 74 by applying a voltage between these electrodes. It is a cold cathode type surface conduction type. The face plate 79 is transparent and is supported by the outer frame 80 with respect to the insulating substrate 71. These face plate 79, insulating substrate 71 and outer frame 8
0 forms a panel container (envelope), and the inside of the container is 10 ⁻⁵ to 10 ⁵ from the viewpoint of the electron emission characteristics of the electron emitting device.
^-7 Torr vacuum level.

Next, a method of manufacturing the device will be described. First, the insulating substrate 71 is thoroughly washed, and the device electrodes 73a and 73b, and the image forming member wiring electrode 77 are removed by N by an evaporation technique and a photolithography technique which are usually used.
It is made of a material whose main component is i. Any material may be used for these electrodes as long as they are made to have sufficiently low electric resistance.

Next, an insulating layer for electrical insulation between the image forming member wiring electrode 77 and the element wiring electrodes 72a and 72b corresponds to the element wiring electrodes 72a and 72b on the image forming member wiring electrode 77. It is formed at a position using SiO ₂ by a thin film and thick film forming technique. The thickness of the insulating layer is 5 μm here.

Next, the element wiring electrodes 72a and 72b are made of a material containing Ni as a main component by a vapor deposition technique and an etching technique. At this time, the device electrodes 73a and 73b
Are connected by the device wiring electrodes 72a and 72b so that the device electrodes 73a and 73b form the electron emitting portions 74 facing each other. In the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the electrode gap G (see FIG. 19) between the device electrodes 73a and 73b is 0.01 μm to 1 in view of electron emission efficiency.
00 μm, particularly 0.1 to 10 μm is suitable, and here it is formed to 2 μm. The length L (see FIG. 17) of the facing portion corresponding to the electron emitting portion 74 is formed to be 300 μm. The width S2 of the device electrodes 73a and 73b (see FIG.
It is desirable that the reference) is narrow, but in reality, it is 1-100μ.
m is more preferable, and 1 to 50 μm is most preferable. Here, the distance S1 between the element electrode 73a and the image forming member 78 adjacent thereto shown in FIG. 19 is 80 μm,
The width S2 of the device electrodes 73a and 73b is 50 μm, and the distance S3 between the device electrode 73b and the image forming member 78 adjacent thereto is 200 μm. Further, the arrangement pitch of the element wiring electrodes 72a and 72b is 1 mm, and the arrangement pitch of the electron emitting portions 74 is 1 mm.

Next, an electron emission portion 74 is formed by providing an ultrafine particle film between electrodes facing each other by using a gas deposition method. Pd is used as the material of the ultrafine particles. Other materials include metallic materials such as Ag and Au, SnO ₂ ,
An oxide material such as In ₂ O ₃ is suitable, but is not limited to this. In the surface conduction electron-emitting device, the particle size is 10 in view of the electron emission efficiency.
The thickness is preferably set in the range of Å to 1.0 μm, and the ultrafine particle film is adjusted to have a sheet resistance of 10 ³ Ω / □ to 10 ⁹ Ω / □. In this example, the diameter of the Pd particles was set to about 100Å. In addition to the gas deposition method, desired characteristics can be obtained by forming an ultrafine particle film between the electrodes by, for example, dispersively applying an organic metal and then performing heat treatment.

Next, the image forming member 78 made of a phosphor is formed to a thickness of about 10 μm by the printing method. The image forming member 78 made of a phosphor may be formed by another method such as a slurry method or a precipitation method.

Next, the conductive member wall 76 is placed on the element electrode 73b on the negative side. The atmospheric pressure supporting member 76 is made of a conductive material, but here, a photosensitive glass which is usually used is processed and an electrode is provided on the entire surface thereof. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a metal member processed into a predetermined size may be used. The thickness T ₂ of the conductive member wall 76 is 150 μm, and the height T ₁ is 1200 μm.
(See FIG. 18).

Then, an outer frame 80 having a thickness of about 1.2 mm is arranged between the insulating substrate 71 on which the electron-emitting devices and the like are formed and the face plate 79, and the face plate 79 and the outer frame are arranged. 80 and the insulating substrate 71
Apply frit glass between the frame and the outer frame 80, and
Bake between them by baking at 30 ° C. for 10 minutes or more. At this time, as shown in FIG. 18, the conductive support member 76 is arranged so as to be perpendicular to the insulating substrate 71 so that it serves as an atmospheric pressure supporting column between the insulating substrate 71 and the face plate 79. To do.

When the glass container is completed in this way,
The atmosphere in the container is evacuated by a vacuum pump to a sufficient degree of vacuum, a forming process is performed, and the glass container is sealed. The degree of vacuum at this time is 10 ⁻⁶ to 10 ⁻⁷ torr, which is sufficient to obtain a more stable operation.

Next, the operation of the apparatus will be described. In the above configuration, the element wiring electrode 72 of a certain electron-emitting device row
When a voltage pulse of 0 V is applied to b and a voltage pulse of 14 V is applied to the corresponding device wiring electrode 72a, electrons are emitted from the electron-emitting device 75 connected to them. At this time, a voltage of 0 V is applied to the conductive support member 76 via the negative element electrode 73b. Further, a voltage corresponding to the information signal of the electron-emitting device column is applied to each image forming member 78 via the image forming member wiring electrode 77.

The electron beam emitted from each electron-emitting device 75 is deflected toward the positive electrode 73a and flies, and the voltage applied to the image forming member 78 adjacent to the positive electrode 73a. ON / OFF is controlled by. That is, if a positive high voltage is applied to the corresponding image forming member 78, it is attracted to the image forming member 78 side and collides with the image forming member 78 to cause its light emitter to emit light, thereby generating an ON state. Let In addition, the image forming member 7
If a positive and relatively low voltage is applied to 8, the image forming member 78 does not emit light, indicating an OFF state. The voltage applied to the image forming member 78 is 10 to 10 in this case.
Although it has a value in the range of 1000 V, it is a value determined by the type of phosphor used and the required brightness,
The range of the above values is not particularly limited. As a result, the image forming member 78 corresponding to the electron-emitting device column displays one line corresponding to the information signal.

Next, a voltage pulse of 14 V is applied to the element wiring electrodes 72b and 72a of the adjacent electron-emitting device row, and the display for the next one line is performed in the same manner. Further, this is sequentially performed, and an image for one screen is formed. That is,
The element wiring electrode group is used as a scanning electrode, and an XY matrix is formed by this and the image forming member array, and an image is displayed.

Here, if the definition is increased as in the case of the present embodiment, or the voltage applied to the image forming member 78 is increased, it is assumed that the structure is the same as above except that the conductive member wall 76 is not provided. If driven in the same manner,
As shown by 0, there is a problem of so-called crosstalk in which the electron beam e emitted from the electron emitting element 75 collides with the image forming member 78 for two pixels. However, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 18, since the conductive support member 76 is arranged between the pixels, crosstalk does not occur. Moreover, since the conductive support member 76 is connected to the device electrode 73b on the negative electrode side, the electron-emitting device 7
5, the electron beam e emitted from the image forming member 7 is effective.
It is made to collide with 8. Therefore, an image with higher definition can be obtained.

According to this, the surface conduction electron-emitting device 75
Can be driven in response to a voltage pulse of 100 picoseconds or less, so if one screen image is displayed in 1/30 second, 10,000 or more scanning lines can be formed.

The electron-emitting device 75 and the image forming member 7 are also provided.
8 and 8 are formed on the same substrate 71, and the electron beam collides with the image forming member by the voltage applied to the image forming member 78, so that the electron emitting element 75 is destroyed by ion bombardment and uneven brightness occurs. The uniform image is displayed over a long period of time. That is, in the surface conduction electron-emitting device, electrons having an initial velocity of several electron volts are emitted into a vacuum, but modulation using such a device is extremely effective.

In the manufacture of the device, the electron-emitting device 75 and the image forming member 78 can be easily aligned,
In addition, since thin film manufacturing technology can be used, a large-screen, high-definition display can be obtained at low cost. Further, since the interval between the electron emitting portion 74 and the image forming member 78 can be manufactured with extremely high accuracy, an extremely uniform image display device without brightness unevenness can be obtained.

When the inside of the container is evacuated, the face plate 79 and the insulating substrate 71 are pressed by the atmospheric pressure. The face plate 79 and the insulating substrate 71 to which this pressing force is applied are electrically conductive supporting members. It is supported against the pressing force by 76. Therefore, the face plate 79 and the insulating substrate 71 can be configured by using a thinner member, which allows the device to be made lighter and the screen to be easily enlarged.

Embodiment 10 FIG. 21 is a perspective view of an image display device according to a tenth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 22 is a sectional view thereof. This device is different from the device of the ninth embodiment in that the face plate 7
9, a transparent electrode 81 is provided on the surface facing the substrate 71,
Moreover, an insulator 82 is provided between the conductive support member 76 and the transparent electrode 81. Further, although not shown, a power supply for applying a voltage to the transparent electrode 81 is provided. The transparent electrode 81 has ITO (Indium Tin Oxid)
e) A film is used, but the invention is not limited to this. The insulator 82 electrically insulates the transparent electrode 81 from the conductive member wall 76, and is preferably as large as the width T2 of the conductive member wall 76. Others have the same configuration as the device of Example 9, and are manufactured in the same manner.

The voltage applied to the transparent electrode 81 is preferably set to a value such that the electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device 75 collides with the image forming member 78 uniformly.
Generally, it is 0V, although it depends on the voltage applied to the electron-emitting device 75 and the image forming member 78 and the structure of the electron-emitting device 75.
To a voltage applied to the image forming member 78.

When this device was driven and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 9, not only the same effects as in Example 9 were obtained, but also uniform electrons collide with the image forming member 78. , Higher-definition and high-quality image display was performed.

Reference Example 1 FIG. 23 is a perspective view of an image display device according to a first reference example of the present invention, FIG. 24 is a sectional view of FIG. 23, and FIG.
3 is a cross-sectional view of one electron-emitting device portion of FIG. In this device, the conductive member wall 76 has a negative electrode 73 at its lower end.
It is arranged not on b but on the insulating substrate 71 between the negative electrode 73b and the image forming member 78 adjacent thereto, and the upper end thereof is directly provided without the insulator 82.
Except that it is in contact with the transparent electrode (potential regulating electrode) 81, it has the same configuration as the device of Example 10, and is manufactured in the same manner. Therefore, the conductive support member 76 has the same potential as the transparent electrode 81.

At the time of driving, the transparent electrode 81 is preliminarily in the same range as in the case of the tenth embodiment by an external power source (not shown), and in practice, the brightness of the phosphor of the image forming member 78 and the uniformity of bright spots are uniform. The voltage value is set so that Then, it can be driven as in the case of the ninth embodiment. At that time, as in the case of Example 9, the trajectory of the electron beam e is as shown in FIG. 24, there is no crosstalk as compared with the case of FIG. 26 without the conductive member wall 76, and the action of the transparent electrode 81 is further increased. In addition, the same effect as that of the tenth embodiment can be obtained.

[0089] Example 1 1 27 is a sectional view of an image display apparatus according to a first 1 of the embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the voltage applying means of the insulator 82 and the conductive support member is removed in the image display device of the embodiment 10 (the transparent electrode 81 and the conductive support member 76 are connected).
The conductive support member 76 and the transparent electrode 81 are connected to the device electrode 73b.
And the same potential as 0 V. When the same driving as in Example 10 was performed in this example, the same effect was confirmed.

Reference Example 2 FIG. 28 is a perspective view of an image display device according to a second reference example of the present invention, and FIG. 29 is a sectional view thereof. This device
The position of the conductive support member 76 is on the negative electrode 73b as in the case of the ninth embodiment, and the conductive support member 76 and the negative electrode 7 are arranged.
3B has the same configuration as that of the device of Reference Example 1 except that the insulator 82 is disposed between the device and 3b, and is manufactured in the same manner.

The insulator 82 is for maintaining electrical insulation between the conductive support member 76 and the negative-side element electrode 73b, and is made of any insulator such as SiO ₂ , glass or the like. However, SiO ₂ is used here.
Further, it is desirable that the size of the insulator 82 is as small as possible as long as electrical insulation can be maintained. This is because when the size is significantly larger than that of the conductive support member 76, the insulator 82 is charged up by the charged beam of ions, electrons, etc., and the image becomes unstable. Therefore, the insulator 8
2 is preferably smaller than the thickness T2 of the conductive support member 76.

When this device was driven and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 9, not only the same effects as in Example 9 were obtained, but also the arrangement pitch of the image forming members 78 and the electron-emitting devices 75. Even with a smaller value, crosstalk did not occur and a bright image was displayed.

[0093] Example 1 2 Figure 30 is a schematic configuration diagram of an optical printer according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention. In the same figure, the parts given the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 17 indicate the same parts as the parts given in FIG. This device includes a light source 83,
A lens array 84 and a recording medium 86 are provided. The lens array 84 is generally formed by a SELFOC lens, is arranged between the light emitting source 83 and the recording medium 86, and forms a pattern of light emitted by the image forming member 78 of the light emitting source 83 on the recording medium 86. It forms an image on top. Light source 83
Is a one-dimensional light emitting source having only one electron-emitting device column, and is manufactured in substantially the same manner as in Example 9.
As shown in FIG. 30, the conductive support member 76 has a comb-teeth shape. In the figure, 99 is a vacuum container (enclosure) made of glass, 97 is a rear plate, and 121 is an electron-emitting device 7.
5 is an electrode for applying a voltage to the element wiring electrode 72 on the negative electrode side, 120 is an electrode for applying a voltage to the element electrode 73a on the positive electrode side, and 98 is connected to each image forming member 78 made of a phosphor. The image forming member wiring electrode 123 is an electrode for applying a voltage to the image forming member wiring electrode 98.

The recording medium 86 is prepared by uniformly coating the photosensitive composition on the polyethylene terephthalate film in a thickness of 2 μm. The photosensitive composition comprises a. Binder: Polyethylene methacrylate (trade name; Dianal BR, Mitsubishi Rayon) 10 parts by weight, b. Monomer: 10 parts by weight of trimethylolpropane triacrylate (trade name; TMPTA, Shin-Nakamura Chemical), c. Polymerization initiator: 2-methyl-2-morpholino (4-thiomethylphenyl) propan-1-one (trade name; Irgacure 9
No. 07, Ciba Geigy) 2.2 parts by weight, and prepared by using 70 parts by weight of methyl ethyl ketone as a solvent. The phosphor forming the image forming member 78 is a silicate phosphor (Ba, Mg, Zn) ₃ Si ₂ O ₇ : Pb ^2+.
Is the main material.

In this structure, a voltage of 10 to 500 V is applied to the image forming member 78 in advance via the electrode 123. Further, 0V is applied to the negative side device electrode 73b of the electron-emitting device 75, and thus 0V is also applied to the conductive support member 76.

In this state, the modulation voltage for one image line corresponding to the information signal of the image to be formed is applied to each electron-emitting device 75.
When the voltage is applied to the positive side element electrode 73a through the electrode 120, a light emission pattern for one image line is formed. The light rays of this light emission pattern form an image on the recording medium 86 via the lens array 84 and irradiate the recording medium 86. As a result, the recording medium 86 is cured by photopolymerization according to the light emission pattern, and an image for one line is formed. Next, the light emitting source 83 and the recording medium 86 are relatively moved by one line, and the image formation for the next one line is similarly performed. Then, such image formation and relative movement are repeated to form an image.

The relative movement between the light emitting source 83 and the recording medium 86 synchronized with the image forming timing for one line is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, it can be performed by driving the transport roller 85 while supporting the recording medium 86 with the support 87. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 32, the light emitting source 83 may be moved. In any case, by performing the synchronized driving, the photopolymerization pattern corresponding to the information signal is formed on the recording medium. Then, by developing this photopolymerization pattern with methyl ethyl ketone, an optical recording pattern corresponding to the information signal is formed on the polyethylene terephthalate.

According to this, it is possible to obtain a uniform, high-speed, high-contrast, clear optical recording pattern. Further, since the conductive support portion 76 is provided, a high-definition image without crosstalk is formed. Further, even if the configurations of Examples 1 to 4 are used as the light emitting source of the optical printer of this example, an optical printer having the same effect is formed.

[0099] Example 1 3 Figure 33 is a schematic configuration diagram of an optical printer according to the first and third embodiments of the present invention. This device, first embodiment light emitting source 83 and a lens array 84 operating similarly in the same configuration as in 2, where as a recording drum-shaped electrophotographic photoreceptor 89, a charger 94, a developing device 90, a static eliminator 91, and a cleaner 93 are provided to finally form an image on the paper 95. As the phosphor used for the light emitting source 83, a yellow-green light emitting phosphor of Zn ₂ SiO ₄ : Mn (P1 phosphor) is used. An amorphous silicon photoconductor is used as the electrophotographic photoconductor 89.

In this structure, the recording medium 89 is rotated in the arrow 92b direction in synchronization with the light emitting source 83 as described above, and the paper 95 is also moved in the arrow 92a direction in synchronization. During this period, the recording medium 89 is charged to a positive voltage by the charger 94, and the light irradiation portion is discharged by the image formation irradiation of the light emission pattern from the light emission source 83 via the lens array 84 to form an electrostatic latent image pattern. It is formed. A suitable charging voltage is 100 to 500 V, but the charging voltage is not limited to this. This latent image pattern is developed with toner particles by the developing device 90. The attracted toner moves with the rotation of the recording medium 89, and when the electrostatic charge is removed by the static eliminator 91, it falls on the paper 95 located between the recording medium 89 and the static eliminator 91. Then, the paper 95 that has received the toner is subjected to a fixing process in a fixing device (not shown), whereby the image represented by the light emission source 83 is reproduced and recorded on the paper 95. At this time, the toner remaining on the photoconductor 89 moves below the cleaner 93, is wiped off by the cleaner 93, and the portion is charged again by the charger 94.

According to this, due to the above-described advantages of the light emitting source 83, a high-contrast, clear and high-resolution image is formed at high speed without exposure unevenness. Further, due to the above-described action of the conductive support member 76, it is possible to record a high-quality toner image without image blur. Also,
A printer having the same effect can be formed by using the configurations of Examples 1 to 4 as the light source of the optical printer of this example.

Reference Example 3 FIG. 34 is a schematic configuration diagram of an optical printer according to a third reference example of the present invention. The device, to apparatus of the first embodiment 2, further faceplate 79 on the surfaces of the transparent electrodes 8
1 is provided, this as the conductive support member 76 is in contact, and, except for placing the insulator 96 between the conductive support member 76 and the negative electrode 73b are similar to the device of Example 1 2 It has a configuration of and is manufactured in the same manner. However, although not shown, a power supply for applying a voltage to the transparent electrode 81 via the electrode 122 is provided.

The transparent electrode 8 is previously formed through the electrode 122.
Except that appropriate voltage to 1 is applied, it is driven in the same manner as in Example 1 2, conductive support member 76, the same potential as the transparent electrode 81 (0V) here.

[0104] Also in this case, not only to obtain the same effect as in Example 1 2, for uniform electron collisions by the image forming member 78, with higher definition, high-quality image display is performed . Further, the apparatus 131 is used as the light emitting source 83 in the first embodiment 3, it is possible to achieve higher definition and image quality.

[0105]

The image forming apparatus of the present invention, which has been described in detail above, can obtain a uniform and stable image without crosstalk or change with time, and the forming member of the vacuum container can be made thin to make the apparatus lighter and have a larger screen. Can be one. In particular, a display device having a phosphor as an image forming member is a device that can obtain an image faithful to an information signal with extremely few variations in luminance, changes in luminance, and uneven color tone.

Particularly in an apparatus in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on a substrate, there is no collision of positive ions with the electron-emitting device, and damage to the electron-emitting device can be prevented. Further, strict alignment between the electron-emitting device and the image forming member is unnecessary, and the image forming member can be arranged very easily. Therefore, after the device is manufactured, the positional relationship between the electron-emitting device and the image forming member does not change.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an evaluation device regarding a potential value applied to a conductive support member.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a conventional vertical field emission device.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a conventional lateral field emission device.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing evaluation results regarding potential values applied to a conductive support member using the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing evaluation results regarding potential values applied to a conductive support member using the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 13 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 15 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 16 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged to face each other.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 18 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 19 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining emitted electron trajectories.

FIG. 21 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 22 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 23 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 24 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 25 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 26 is a diagram for explaining emitted electron trajectories.

FIG. 27 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 28 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 29 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention of a type in which an electron-emitting device and an image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface.

FIG. 30 is an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
It is a schematic diagram of an optical printer.

FIG. 31 is an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
It is a schematic diagram of an optical printer.

FIG. 32 is an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
It is a schematic diagram of an optical printer.

FIG. 33 is an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
It is a schematic diagram of an optical printer.

FIG. 34 is an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
It is a schematic diagram of an optical printer.

FIG. 35 is a schematic view of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 36 is a schematic view of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 37 is a schematic view of a conventional image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 97: rear plate, 2a: scanning electrode, 2b: information signal electrode, 3a, 3b, 73a, 73b: electrode, 74,
4: electron emission part, 5, 75: electron emission element, 6: glass substrate, 7: transparent electrode, 8: phosphor, 9, 79: face plate, 10, 15, 16, 19, 61, 76: conductive Support member, 11: outer frame, 17a, 17b: wiring electrodes,
18a, 60: modulation electrode, 71: insulating substrate, 72a,
72b: element wiring electrode, 77: image forming member wiring electrode,
78: image forming member, 81: transparent electrode, 82: insulator,
99: vacuum container, 89, 125: recording medium.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shinya Sanshin 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Tetsuya Kaneko 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon (56) References JP 57-118355 (JP, A) JP 61-124033 (JP, A) European patent application publication 405262 (EP, A 1) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01J 31/12 H01J 29/87

Claims (28)

(57) [Claims] 1. An envelope has an electron-emitting device, an image forming member for forming an image by irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device, and a conductive material for supporting the envelope. An image forming apparatus comprising a supporting member, the image forming apparatus having means for controlling the electric potential of the supporting member to be equal to or lower than the maximum electric potential applied to the electron-emitting device. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the potential control unit is a voltage applying unit that is connected to the supporting member and applies a voltage to the supporting member. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the voltage applying unit is a unit that applies a voltage of 0 v or less. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device and the image forming member are respectively arranged on opposing substrate surfaces in the envelope. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device and the image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface in the envelope. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device has a plurality of electron-emitting portions arranged in an XY matrix, and the supporting member is arranged between the electron-emitting portions. . 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a modulator for modulating an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device according to an information signal. 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the modulation unit has a modulation electrode arranged on the same substrate surface as the electron-emitting device. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the modulation unit has a modulation electrode laminated on the electron-emitting device via an insulating layer. 10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the modulation unit has a scanning electrode and an information signal electrode which are arranged in an XY matrix and which are connected to an electron emitting portion of the electron emitting device. 11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming member is a light emitting body that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam. 12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the luminous body includes luminous bodies of three primary colors of red, green and blue. 13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming member is a light emitting body that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam, and further has a recording medium on which an image is recorded by irradiation of light from the light emitting body. apparatus. 14. The image forming member is a light-emitting body that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam, and further comprises means for supporting a recording medium on which an image is recorded by irradiation of light from the light-emitting body. Image forming device. 15. An electron-emitting device that emits electrons by applying a voltage between electrodes in an envelope, an image-forming member that forms an image by irradiation of an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device, and An image forming apparatus, comprising: a conductive supporting member for supporting an envelope, wherein the supporting member is electrically connected to one of the electrodes. 16. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the supporting member is arranged on the electrode surface. 17. The support member is 0v of the electrode.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, which is electrically connected to electrodes to which the following voltages are applied. 18. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the electron-emitting device and the image forming member are respectively arranged on opposing substrate surfaces in the envelope. 19. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the electron-emitting device and the image forming member are arranged side by side on the same substrate surface in the envelope. 20. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the electron-emitting device has a plurality of electron-emitting portions arranged in an XY matrix, and the supporting member is arranged between the electron-emitting portions. . 21. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising a modulator for modulating an electron beam emitted from the electron-emitting device according to an information signal. 22. The modulation means has a modulation electrode arranged on the same substrate surface as the electron-emitting device.
The image forming apparatus described. 23. The modulation means has a modulation electrode laminated on the electron-emitting device via an insulating layer.
The image forming apparatus described. 24. The modulation means has a scanning electrode and an information signal electrode arranged in an XY matrix and connected to an electron emitting portion of the electron emitting device.
The image forming apparatus described. 25. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the image forming member is a light emitting body that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam. 26. The image forming apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the luminous body includes luminous bodies of three primary colors of red, green and blue. 27. The image forming member is a light emitting body that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam, and further has a recording medium on which an image is recorded by irradiation of light from the light emitting body.
The image forming apparatus described. 28. The image forming member is a light-emitting body that emits light when irradiated with an electron beam, and further has a means for supporting a recording medium on which an image is recorded by irradiation of light from the light-emitting body. Image forming device.