JP3423527B2 - Electron emitting element, electron source substrate, electron source, display panel, and method of manufacturing image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to a surface conduction electron-emitting device, an electron source using the electron-emitting device, an electron source substrate, and a method for manufacturing an image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are known two types of electron-emitting devices, a thermoelectron-emitting device and a cold cathode electron-emitting device. The field emission type (hereinafter referred to as FE type), the metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter referred to as MIM type) is used for the cold cathode electron emission device.
And surface conduction electron-emitting devices. As an example of the FE type, there are “WP Dyke & WW Dolan,“ Fie.
Idemission ”, Advance in El
electron Physics, 8 89 (195
6) ”or“ CA Spindt “Physic
al Properties of thin-fil
m field emission cathodes
with mollybdenium cones ”,
J. Appl. Phys. , 47, 5248 (197)
6) ”and the like are known. An example of the MIM type is "C.
A. Mead, “Operation of Tunne
l-Emission Devices ", J. App.
l. Phys. , 32,646 (1961) "and the like are known.

As an example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device type,
"MI Elinson, Radio Eng. El
electron Phys. , 10, 1290 (196
5) ”and the like. Surface conduction electron emission
The element is a film surface for a small area thin film formed on the substrate.
Electrons are emitted by passing a current in parallel with. this
As the surface conduction electron-emitting device, there are
By SnO₂  Thin film, Au thin film
[G. Dittmer: Thin Solid Film
s, 9, 317 (1972)], In₂O ₃/ SnO₂Thin
By membrane [M. Hartwell and C.I.
G. Fonstad: IEEE Trans. EDC
onf. 519 (1975)], depending on the carbon thin film
Mono [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22]
(1983)] and the like have been reported.

As a typical element structure of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the above-mentioned M. The Hartwell device configuration is schematically shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a substrate.
Reference numeral 4 denotes a conductive thin film, which is composed of a metal oxide thin film or the like formed by sputtering in an H-shaped pattern, and the electron emission portion 5 is formed by an energization process called energization forming described later. The element electrode spacing L1 in the figure is 0.5 to 1 mm,
W'is set to 0.1 mm.

Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, it is general that the electron-emitting portion 5 is formed by subjecting the conductive thin film 4 to an energization process called energization forming in advance before the electron emission. It was That is, the energization forming is performed by applying a direct current voltage or a very slow rising voltage to both ends of the conductive thin film 4 to locally destroy, deform or alter the conductive thin film to make it into an electrically high resistance state. That is, the electron emitting portion 5 is formed.
The electron emitting portion 5 emits electrons from the vicinity of a crack generated in a part of the conductive thin film 4. In the surface conduction electron-emitting device that has been subjected to the energization forming process, a voltage is applied to the conductive thin film 4 and a current is passed through the device so that electrons are emitted from the electron-emitting portion 5.

Since the surface conduction electron-emitting device has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture, it has an advantage that a large number of devices can be arrayed over a large area. Therefore, application of a charged beam source, a display device, and the like, which makes use of this feature, is being studied. As an example in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are formed in an array, as will be described later, surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel, which is called a ladder-type arrangement, and each end is wired (also referred to as common wiring). Examples thereof include electron sources in which a large number of connected lines are arranged (for example, JP-A-64-031332, JP-A-1-283749, and 2-257552). In addition, particularly in image forming apparatuses such as display devices, in recent years,
Flat panel display devices using liquid crystal have become widespread in place of CRTs, but there are problems such as having to have a backlight because they are not self-luminous, and development of self-luminous display devices has been desired. . Examples of the self-luminous display device include an image forming device that is a display device in which a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in an electron source and a phosphor that emits visible light by electrons emitted from the electron source is combined. (For example, USP 5,066,883).

FIG. 14 shows the structure of the electron-emitting device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-56822. In the figure, 1 is a substrate, 2 and 3 are device electrodes, 4 is a conductive thin film, and 5 is an electron emitting portion. There are various methods for manufacturing the electron-emitting device, and the device electrodes 2 and 3 are formed on the substrate 1 by a general vacuum deposition technique or photolithography technique, for example. Next, the conductive thin film 4 is formed by a dispersion coating method or the like. After that, a voltage is applied to the device electrodes 2 and 3 to carry out an energization process, and
To form.

[0008]

However, since the conventional method for manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device having the above-mentioned structure is mainly based on the semiconductor process, the conventional technique emits a large area of electrons. It is difficult to form an element, requires a special and expensive manufacturing apparatus, and has a drawback of high production cost.

Further, according to the conventional technique, the position accuracy of the electron-emitting device is determined by the alignment accuracy due to the mask alignment in the photolithography technique, and it is difficult to correct the alignment during the process step.

Furthermore, when an electron-emitting device having a device electrode formed by using a printing technique such as offset printing or screen printing was examined, a dispersion coating liquid to be a conductive thin film was produced by a semiconductor process or a printing technique in particular. Since it is absorbed by the device electrode, and the absorbed amount varies from lot to lot, there is a problem that the resistance varies.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electron-emitting device, an electron source substrate, an electron source, a display panel, and an image forming apparatus. Firstly, the electron-emitting device can be easily formed over a large area at low cost. To be able to do it. Secondly, it is possible to correct the formation position of the electron-emitting device. Third, it is necessary to form a conductive thin film having a uniform resistance.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, in the method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device, an electron source substrate, an electron source, a display panel and an image forming apparatus of the present invention, a conductive thin film is formed between a pair of device electrodes. In the step of forming an electron-emitting device by applying a solution containing a material for forming an electron in the form of droplets, at least 1 is formed before the electron-emitting device is formed.
Once, at least one droplet is applied to the alignment site prepared at the time of forming the element electrodes, and
And the droplet applying device are aligned, and the droplet is applied.
Is performed by an inkjet method .

Further, the absorption amount of the droplet to the element electrode is estimated by the optical signal of the reflected light or the transmitted light from the droplet applied to the alignment portion, and the droplet applying position and the element electrode are aligned with each other. After performing the above step, a droplet is applied between the device electrodes. Further, it is characterized in that the droplets are applied by an inkjet method such as a method of generating bubbles by applying thermal energy and discharging the droplets.

By the above method, a conductive thin film can be formed without using a photolithography technique, alignment is improved because alignment is performed before forming an electron-emitting device, and a device electrode is formed by a printing technique. In this case, the amount of liquid droplets absorbed by the device electrode can be estimated,
Variations in resistance of the conductive thin film can be reduced, and yield can be improved.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a surface conduction electron-emitting device manufactured by a manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view showing a procedure of the manufacturing method.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 is a substrate, 2 and 3 are element electrodes forming an element electrode pair, 4 is a conductive thin film, 5 is an electron emitting portion, 6 is a droplet applying device, and 7 is a liquid. drop,
Reference numeral 10 is an alignment portion produced when the element electrodes 2 and 3 are formed, 8 is a droplet applied to the alignment portion 10 before the conductive thin film 4 is formed, and 9 is an optical detection means such as an optical microscope.

As the droplet applying device 6, any device may be used as long as it can form an arbitrary droplet, but it can be controlled particularly in the range of about ten and several ng to ten and several μg. In addition, an inkjet type device is preferable because it can easily form a minute amount of droplets of about several tens ng or more. Examples of such an inkjet device include an inkjet device that uses a piezoelectric element and the like, and an inkjet device that forms bubbles in a liquid by thermal energy and ejects the liquid as droplets.

The droplets used for forming the conductive thin film 4 may be any droplets, but any desired material can be dispersed in water, a solvent or the like. Alternatively, a dissolved liquid, an organometallic compound solution, a solution containing an organometallic complex, and the like can be given.

As the substrate 1, quartz glass, glass having a reduced content of impurities such as Na, soda lime glass, a glass substrate on which SiO ₂ is deposited by a sputtering method, or a ceramic substrate such as alumina is used.

As the material of the device electrodes 2 and 3 facing each other, a general conductive material can be used, and Ni, Cr, A can be used.
Metals or alloys such as u, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd, Pd, As, Ag, Au, RuO ₂ , P
It can be selected from a printed conductor composed of a metal such as d-Ag or a metal oxide and glass, a transparent conductor such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO _{2 and} a semiconductor material such as polysilicon.

The element electrode interval L, the element electrode length W ', and the shape of the conductive thin film 4 are designed in consideration of the applied form and the like. The element electrode interval L is preferably in the range of several thousand angstroms to several hundreds of micrometers, and more preferably 1 micrometer to 100 micrometers in consideration of the voltage applied between the element electrodes.

The device electrode length W1 is in the range of several micrometers to several hundred micrometers in consideration of the resistance value of the electrodes and the electron emission characteristics. Also, the film thickness d of the device electrodes 2 and 3
Ranges from 100 Angstroms to 1 micrometer.

For the conductive thin film 4, it is preferable to use a fine particle film composed of fine particles in order to obtain good electron emission characteristics. The film thickness is appropriately set in consideration of the step coverage to the device electrodes 2 and 3, the resistance value between the device electrodes 2 and 3, and the energization forming condition described later, etc., but is usually in the range of several angstroms to several thousand angstroms. Is preferable, and more preferably in the range of 10 angstroms to 500 angstroms. The sheet resistance value R is 10 squared to 1
It is 0 to the 7th power Ω. Note that R _s is a value that appears when the resistance R of a thin film having a thickness of t, a width of w and a length of 1 is R = R _s (l / w), and the resistivity of the thin film material is ρ. Then R _s
= Ρ / t. Here, the forming process will be described by taking an energization process as an example, but the forming process is not limited to this, and any method may be used as long as it is a method of forming a crack in a film to form a high resistance state.

The material forming the conductive thin film 4 is P
d, Pt, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu, C
Metals such as r, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W and Pb, Pd
It is appropriately selected from oxides such as O, SnO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO and Sb ₂ O ₃ .

The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and its fine structure has a state in which fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, or a state in which fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (some fine particles are It also includes the case where they are aggregated to form an island structure as a whole). The particle size of the fine particles is in the range of several angstroms to 1 μm, preferably in the range of 10 angstroms to 200 angstroms.

The electron emitting portion 5 is composed of a crack having a high resistance formed in a part of the conductive thin film 4, and depends on the film thickness, film quality, material of the conductive thin film and a method such as energization forming described later. Becomes Inside the electron emission part, 1
In some cases, conductive fine particles having a particle size of 000 angstroms or less are included. The conductive fine particles contain some or all of the elements of the material forming the conductive thin film 4. The electron emitting portion 5 and the conductive thin film 4 in the vicinity thereof may contain carbon or a carbon compound.

An example of the manufacturing method will be described below with reference to FIG.

The substrate 1 is thoroughly washed with a detergent, pure water, an organic solvent, etc. and dried, and then a device electrode material is deposited by a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, a printing method or the like, and then a photolithography technique is used. The element electrodes 2 and 3 and the alignment marker portion 10 are formed on the substrate 1 by using (FIG. 2A).

On the substrate 1 on which the element electrodes 2 and 3 and the alignment marker portion 10 are provided, the droplet 7 is applied to the alignment marker portion 10 with the organometallic solution by the droplet applying device 6. As the organic metal solution, the conductive thin film 4 described above is used.
It is possible to use a solution of an organometallic compound containing a metal of the above material as a main element (FIG. 2B).

Then, for example, using an optical microscope 9, the presence or absence of the organometallic thin film 8 in the alignment marker portion 10 is confirmed. If there is, a scale (not shown) is used to determine the gap between the device electrodes 2 and 3 and the organic material. The distance from the metal thin film 8 is measured, and the conductive thin film 4 is placed at the center of the gap between the device electrodes 2 and 3.
The droplet applying device 6 and the element electrodes 2 and 3 are aligned so that

When there is no organometallic thin film 8 on the alignment marker site 10, the droplet 7 is applied again to the alignment marker site 10. This application is performed by using the organic metal thin film 8
Is repeated with the optical microscope 9, and then the above-mentioned alignment is performed.

Next, the droplet 7 is applied between the element electrodes 2 and 3 by using the droplet applying device 6 while correcting the application amount in consideration of the amount of the droplet applied to the alignment marker portion 10, and the organic metal Form a thin film. Then, the organic metal thin film is heated and baked to form the conductive thin film 4 (FIG. 2C).

Subsequently, a forming process is performed. As an example of this forming processing method, a method based on energization processing will be described. When electricity is applied between the device electrodes 2 and 3 by using a power source (not shown), an electron emitting portion 5 having a changed structure is formed at the site of the conductive thin film 4 (FIG. 2D). According to this energization forming, the conductive thin film 4 is locally formed with a structurally changed portion such as destruction, deformation or alteration. This portion becomes the electron emitting portion 5. An example of the voltage waveform of energization forming is shown in FIG. A pulse waveform is particularly preferable as the voltage waveform. For this, the method shown in FIG. 5 (a) in which a pulse having a constant pulse peak value is continuously applied, and the voltage pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value in FIG.
There is a method shown in (b). T1 and T2 in FIG. 5A are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform. Normally, T1 is set in the range of 1 microsecond to 10 milliseconds, and T2 is set in the range of 10 microseconds to 100 milliseconds. The peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during energization forming) is appropriately selected according to the form of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. Under such conditions, the voltage is applied for several seconds to several tens of minutes. The pulse waveform is not limited to the triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave can be adopted. Figure 5
T1 and T2 in (b) can be the same as those shown in FIG. 5 (a). The peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during energization forming) can be increased in steps of, for example, 0.1V.

The end of the energization forming process can be detected by applying a voltage that does not locally break or deform the conductive thin film 4 during the pulse interval T2 and measure the current. For example, the device current flowing by applying a voltage of about 0.1 V is measured, the resistance value is obtained, and the energization forming is terminated when a resistance of 1 M ohm or more is shown.

It is preferable that an activation treatment is applied to the element which has finished forming. By applying the activation process,
The device current If and the emission current Ie change remarkably. The activation treatment is performed, for example, in an atmosphere containing a gas of an organic substance,
The pulse application can be repeated in the same manner as the energization forming. This atmosphere can be formed by using the organic gas remaining in the atmosphere when the inside of the vacuum container is evacuated using, for example, an oil diffusion pump or a rotary pump, and is also sufficiently evacuated by an ion pump or the like. It can also be obtained by introducing a gas of a suitable organic substance into a vacuum. The preferable gas pressure of the organic substance at this time is appropriately set depending on the case because it varies depending on the form of application, the shape of the vacuum container, the type of the organic substance, and the like. Suitable organic substances include alkanes, alkenes, alkyne aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, amines, phenols, carboxylic acids, organic acids such as sulfonic acids, and the like. Specific examples thereof include methane, ethane, propane, etc., saturated hydrocarbons represented by C _n H _{2n + 2} , ethylene, propylene, etc., unsaturated hydrocarbons represented by a composition formula such as C _n H _2n , Benzene, toluene, methanol, ethanol, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl amine, ethyl amine, phenol, formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid and the like can be used. By this treatment, carbon or a carbon compound is deposited on the element from the organic substance existing in the atmosphere, and the element current If and the emission current Ie are significantly changed. The termination of the activation process is determined while measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie. The pulse width, pulse interval,
The pulse peak value and the like are set appropriately.

Carbon and carbon compounds mean HOPG (Hi
ghly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite), PG (Pyrolyti
Graphite), GC (Glassy Carbon), etc. (HOPG is a graphite with a nearly perfect crystal structure, PG is a crystal grain with a crystal grain of about 200 angstroms and GC is a little disordered, GC is a crystal grain of about 20 angstroms. It means that the disorder of the crystal structure is further increased) or amorphous carbon (carbon containing amorphous carbon or a mixture of amorphous carbon and the fine crystals of graphite), and its film thickness is 500 angstroms or less. Preferably
It is more preferably 300 angstroms or less.

The electron-emitting device obtained through the activation process is preferably subjected to stabilization treatment. This treatment is preferably carried out when the partial pressure of the organic substance in the vacuum container is 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ Torr or less, preferably 1 × 10 ⁻¹⁰ Torr or less. The pressure in the vacuum container is preferably 10 ⁻⁵ to 10 ⁻⁷ Torr or less, and particularly preferably 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ Torr or less. It is preferable to use a vacuum evacuation device that evacuates the vacuum container without using oil so that the oil generated from the device does not affect the characteristics of the element. Specifically, a vacuum evacuation device such as a sorption pump or an ion pump can be used. Further, when the inside of the vacuum container is evacuated, it is preferable to heat the entire vacuum container so that the organic substance molecules adsorbed on the inner wall of the vacuum container or the electron-emitting device can be easily exhausted. The vacuum evacuation condition in the heated state at this time is preferably 80 to 200 ° C. for 5 hours or more, but is not particularly limited to this condition, and the size and shape of the vacuum container,
It changes depending on various conditions such as the structure of the electron-emitting device. The partial pressure of the organic substance is determined by measuring the partial pressure of the organic molecule having a mass number of 10 to 200, which has carbon and hydrogen as the main components, and integrating the partial pressures.

It is preferable to maintain the atmosphere at the end of the above-mentioned stabilization process as the atmosphere at the time of driving after the stabilization process, but the present invention is not limited to this, and if the organic substance is sufficiently removed, Even if the degree of vacuum itself is slightly lowered, it is possible to maintain sufficiently stable characteristics. By adopting such a vacuum atmosphere, the deposition of new carbon or carbon compound can be suppressed, and as a result, the device current If and the emission current I
e is stable.

Various arrangements of electron-emitting devices can be adopted. As an example, a large number of electron-emitting devices arranged in parallel are connected at both ends, and a large number of rows of electron-emitting devices are arranged (referred to as a row direction), and in a direction orthogonal to this wiring (referred to as a column direction). There is a ladder-like arrangement in which a control electrode (also referred to as a grid) arranged above the electron-emitting device controls and drives electrons from the electron-emitting device. Separately, a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix in the X and Y directions, and one of electrodes of the plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged in the same row is commonly connected to a wiring in the X direction. For example, the other of the electrodes of the plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged in the same column is commonly connected to the wiring in the Y direction. This is a so-called simple matrix arrangement.

First, the simple matrix arrangement will be described in detail below. An electron source substrate obtained by arranging a plurality of electron-emitting devices in a matrix will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 6, 71 is an electron source substrate, 72 is an X-direction wiring, 7
Reference numeral 3 is a Y-direction wiring. 74 is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and 75 is a wire connection. The surface conduction electron-emitting device 74 may be either the flat type or the vertical type described above.

The m X-direction wirings 72 are DX1 and DX.
2, ..., DXm, and can be made of a conductive metal or the like formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. The wiring material, film thickness, and width are appropriately designed. The Y-direction wiring 73 includes DY1, DY2, ..., DYn.
Of n wirings and is formed similarly to the X-direction wiring 72. An interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is provided between the m X-direction wirings 72 and the n Y-direction wirings 73 to electrically isolate the two (m and n are both Positive integer).

The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is made of SiO ₂ or the like formed by a vacuum vapor deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method or the like. For example, it is formed in a desired shape on the entire surface or a part of the substrate 71 on which the X-direction wiring 72 is formed. , The manufacturing method is set. The X-direction wiring 72 and the Y-direction wiring 73 are drawn out as external terminals. A pair of electrodes (not shown) forming the surface conduction electron-emitting device 74 are electrically connected by m X-direction wirings 72, n Y-direction wirings 73, and a connection 75 made of a conductive metal or the like. .

The material forming the wires 72 and 73, the material forming the connection 75, and the material forming the pair of element electrodes may be the same or different in some or all of the constituent elements. Good. These materials are appropriately selected, for example, from the above-mentioned material of the device electrode. When the material forming the element electrode and the wiring material are the same, the wiring connected to the element electrode can also be referred to as an element electrode.

A scanning signal applying means (not shown) for applying a scanning signal for selecting the row of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 74 arranged in the X direction is connected to the X-direction wiring 72. On the other hand, the Y direction wiring 73 is connected to a modulation signal generating means (not shown) for modulating each column of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 74 arranged in the Y direction according to an input signal. The driving voltage applied to each electron-emitting device is supplied as a difference voltage between the scanning signal and the modulation signal applied to the device.

In the above structure, individual elements can be selected and driven independently by using simple matrix wiring.

An image forming apparatus constructed by using an electron source having such a simple matrix arrangement will be described with reference to FIGS. 7, 8 and 9. 7 is a schematic view showing an example of a display panel of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a fluorescent film used in the display panel of FIG. Figure 9 shows NTSC
It is a block diagram showing an example of a drive circuit for displaying according to a television signal of a system.

In FIG. 7, 71 is an electron source substrate on which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged, 81 is a rear plate to which the electron source substrate 71 is fixed, and 86 is a fluorescent film 84 on the inner surface of a glass substrate 83.
And a metal back 85 and the like. Reference numeral 82 is a support frame, and the rear plate 81 and the face plate 86 are connected to the support frame 82 by using frit glass or the like. 88 is an envelope constituted by these, for example, 4 in the atmosphere or nitrogen.
It is baked in a temperature range of 00 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more and sealed. 74 corresponds to the electron emitting portion in FIG.
Reference numerals 72 and 73 denote an X-direction wiring and a Y-direction wiring connected to the pair of device electrodes of each surface conduction electron-emitting device.

The envelope 88 is composed of the face plate 86, the support frame 82, and the rear plate 81 as described above. Since the rear plate 81 is provided mainly for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the electron source substrate 71, if the electron source substrate 71 itself has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 81 can be omitted. That is, the support frame 82 is directly attached to the substrate 71, and the face plate 86, the support frame 82, and the substrate 7 are sealed.
The envelope 88 may be configured with one. On the other hand, by installing a support body (not shown) called a spacer (atmospheric pressure resistant support member) between the face plate 86 and the rear plate 81, the envelope 88 having sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure is configured. You can also do it.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing the fluorescent film 84.
In the case of monochrome, the fluorescent film 84 can be composed of only the fluorescent material. In the case of a color phosphor film, it can be composed of a black member 91 called a black stripe or a black matrix and a phosphor 92 depending on the arrangement of the phosphors. In the case of color display, the purpose of providing the black stripes and the black matrix is to make the color-separated portion between the phosphors 92 of the three primary color phosphors black so as to make the color mixture inconspicuous and to contrast due to external light reflection. It is to suppress the decrease of. As the material of the black stripe, in addition to the commonly used material containing graphite as a main component, any material that transmits and reflects light little can be used.

As a method for applying the phosphor to the glass substrate 83, a precipitation method, a printing method or the like can be adopted regardless of monochrome or color. A metal back 85 is usually provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 84. The purpose of providing the metal back is to improve the brightness by specularly reflecting the light toward the inner surface side of the light emission of the phosphor toward the face plate 86 side, and to act as an electrode for applying an electron beam acceleration voltage, This is to protect the phosphor from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the envelope. The metal back can be manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called “filming”) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film after manufacturing the fluorescent film, and then depositing Al using vacuum deposition or the like. The face plate 86 further has a fluorescent film 8
In order to improve the conductivity of No. 4, a transparent electrode (not shown) may be provided on the outer surface side (the glass substrate 83 side) of the fluorescent film 84.

When performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of color, it is necessary to associate each color phosphor with the electron-emitting device.
Sufficient alignment is essential.

The display panel shown in FIG. 7 is manufactured, for example, as follows. Similar to the above-described stabilization process, the envelope 88 is appropriately heated and exhausted through an exhaust pipe (not shown) by an exhaust device that does not use oil, such as an ion pump or a sorption pump, and has a pressure of about 10 ⁻⁷ Torr. After making the atmosphere of a vacuum degree of a sufficiently small amount of an organic substance, it is sealed. In order to maintain the vacuum degree after the envelope 88 is sealed,
Getter processing can also be performed. This is the envelope 88
Immediately before or after the sealing of (1) or (2) is performed, the getter arranged at a predetermined position (not shown) in the envelope 88 is heated by heating using resistance heating or high frequency heating to form a vapor deposition film. Processing. The getter usually has Ba or the like as a main component, and due to the adsorption action of the deposited film, for example, 1 × 10
The vacuum is maintained at ^-5 Torr or 1 × 10 ^-7 Torr.

Next, a configuration example of a drive circuit for performing television display based on an NTSC television signal on a display panel constructed by using an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement will be described with reference to FIG. . In FIG. 9, 1
Reference numeral 01 is an image display panel, 102 is a scanning circuit, 103 is a control circuit, and 104 is a shift register. Reference numeral 105 is a line memory, 106 is a synchronizing signal separation circuit, 107 is a modulation signal generator, and Vx and Va are DC voltage sources.

The display panel 101 has terminals Dox1 to Dox.
xm, terminals Doy1 to Doyn, and a high voltage terminal Hv are connected to an external electric circuit. Terminals Dox1 to D
oxm is a scanning signal for sequentially driving an electron source provided in the display panel, that is, a group of surface conduction electron-emitting devices that are matrix-wired in a matrix of M rows and N columns row by row (N elements). Is applied.

A modulation signal for controlling the output electron beam of each element of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices of one row selected by the scanning signal is applied to the terminals Doy1 to Doyn. The high-voltage terminal Hv is supplied with a DC voltage of, for example, 10 K [V] from the DC voltage source Va, which is sufficient to excite the phosphor into the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device. It is an accelerating voltage for applying energy.

The scanning circuit 102 will be described. The circuit is provided with M switching elements inside (schematically shown by S1 to Sm in the figure). Each switching element selects either the output voltage of the DC voltage source Vx or 0 [V] (ground level),
The terminals Dox1 to Doxm of the display panel 101 are electrically connected. Each switching element of S1 to Sm is
It operates based on the control signal Tscan output from the control circuit 103, and can be configured by combining switching elements such as FETs.

In the case of the present example, the direct-current voltage source Vx is a driving voltage applied to an unscanned element based on the characteristics (electron emission threshold voltage) of the surface conduction electron-emitting element. It is set to output a constant voltage that is less than or equal to the voltage.

The control circuit 103 has a function of matching the operation of each unit so that an appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. The control circuit 103, based on the synchronization signal Tsync sent from the synchronization signal separation circuit 106, outputs Tscan, Tsft, and Tm to each unit.
Each ry control signal is generated.

The sync signal separation circuit 106 is a circuit for separating the sync signal component and the luminance signal component from the NTSC system television signal input from the outside, and uses a general frequency separation (filter) circuit or the like. Can be configured. The sync signal separated by the sync signal separation circuit 106 is composed of a vertical sync signal and a horizontal sync signal, but is shown here as a Tsync signal for convenience of explanation. The luminance signal component of the image separated from the television signal is represented as a DATA signal for convenience. The DATA signal is input to the shift register 104.

The shift register 104 is for serial / parallel conversion of the DATA signal serially input in time series for each line of the image, and is based on the control signal Tsft sent from the control circuit 103. The control signal Tsft can be said to be the shift clock of the shift register 104. The serial / parallel converted image data for one line (corresponding to driving data for N electron emission elements) is output from the shift register 104 as N parallel signals Id1 to Idn.

The line memory 105 is a storage device for storing data for one line of an image for a required time, and stores the contents of Id1 to Idn as appropriate in accordance with the control signal Tmry sent from the control circuit 103. The stored contents are output as I′d1 to I′dn and input to the modulation signal generator 107.

The modulation signal generator 107 outputs the image data I ′.
It is a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices according to each of d1 to I'dn, and the output signal is a surface conduction electron in the display panel 101 through terminals Doy1 to Doyn. Applied to the emitting element. The electron-emitting device has the following basic characteristics with respect to the emission current Ie. That is, a clear threshold voltage Vt for electron emission
There is h, and electron emission occurs only when a voltage higher than Vth is applied. For voltages above the electron emission threshold,
The emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the element.
Therefore, when a pulsed voltage is applied to this element, for example, electron emission does not occur even if a voltage below the electron emission threshold is applied, but when a voltage above the electron emission threshold is applied, an electron beam is emitted. Is output. At that time, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled by changing the pulse peak value Vm. Further, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the electron beam output by changing the pulse width Pw. Therefore, a voltage modulation method, a pulse width modulation method, or the like can be adopted as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device according to the input signal. When carrying out the voltage modulation method, as the modulation signal generator 107, a circuit of the voltage modulation method is used that generates a voltage pulse of a fixed length and appropriately modulates the peak value of the pulse according to the input data. be able to.

When implementing the pulse width modulation method,
As the modulation signal generator 107, it is possible to use a circuit of a pulse width modulation system that generates a voltage pulse having a constant crest value and appropriately modulates the width of the voltage pulse according to input data.

The shift register 104 and the line memory 10
The digital signal type 5 and the analog signal type 5 can be adopted. This is because the serial / parallel conversion and storage of the image signal may be performed at a predetermined speed.

When the digital signal type is used, it is necessary to convert the output signal DATA of the sync signal separation circuit 106 into a digital signal, which may be provided with an A / D converter at the output portion of 106. In connection with this, the line memory 10
Depending on whether the output signal of 5 is a digital signal or an analog signal,
The circuit used for the modulation signal generator 107 is slightly different. That is, in the case of the voltage modulation method using a digital signal, for example, a D / A conversion circuit is used for the modulation signal generator 107, and an amplification circuit or the like is added if necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 107 includes, for example, a high-speed oscillator and a counter for counting the number of waves output from the oscillator, and a comparator for comparing the output value of the counter with the output value of the memory. A circuit that combines (comparators) is used. If necessary, an amplifier for voltage-amplifying the pulse-width-modulated modulation signal output from the comparator to the drive voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be added.

In the case of the voltage modulation method using an analog signal, the modulation signal generator 107 may be an amplifier circuit using, for example, an operational amplifier, and a level shift circuit or the like may be added if necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, for example, a voltage controlled oscillation circuit (VCO) can be adopted, and an amplifier for voltage amplification up to the drive voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be added if necessary.

In the image display device having such a structure, the external terminals Dox1 to Dx are provided in each electron-emitting device.
Electron emission occurs by applying a voltage via oxm and Doy1 to Doyn. A high voltage is applied to the metal back 85 or a transparent electrode (not shown) via the high voltage terminal Hv to accelerate the electron beam. The accelerated electrons collide with the fluorescent film 84 to emit light, and an image is formed.

The configuration of the image forming apparatus described here is an example, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention. As for the input signal, the NTSC system is mentioned, but the input signal is not limited to this, and PAL, SEC
Other than the AM method, etc.
V signal (for example, high quality T such as MUSE method)
V) method can also be adopted.

Next, a ladder type electron source and an image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. Figure 1
0 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a ladder-type electron source. In FIG. 10, 110 is an electron source substrate, and 111 is an electron-emitting device. Reference numeral 112 (Dx1 to Dx10) is a common wiring for connecting the electron-emitting device 111. A plurality of electron-emitting devices 111 are arranged in parallel in the X direction on the substrate 110 (this is called a device row). A plurality of such element rows are arranged to form an electron source. By applying a drive voltage between the common lines of each element row, each element row can be driven independently. That is, a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold value is applied to the element row where the electron beam is desired to be emitted, and a voltage equal to or lower than the electron emission threshold value is applied to the element row which does not emit the electron beam. Common wiring Dx between each element row
As for 2 to Dx9, for example, Dx2 and Dx3 can have the same wiring.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing an example of a panel structure in an image forming apparatus provided with a ladder-type electron source. 120 is a grid electrode, 121 is a hole for passing electrons, and 122 is Dox1, Dox2, ..., Dox.
m is an outer terminal of the container. Reference numeral 123 is an external terminal of the container made of G1, G2, ..., Gn connected to the grid electrode 120, and 110 is an electron source substrate in which common wiring between the element rows is the same wiring. In FIG. 11, FIG. 7 and FIG.
The same parts as those shown in 0 are designated by the same reference numerals as those shown in these figures. A major difference between the image forming apparatus shown here and the image forming apparatus having the simple matrix arrangement shown in FIG. 7 is whether or not the grid electrode 120 is provided between the electron source substrate 110 and the face plate 86.

In FIG. 11, a grid electrode 120 is provided between the substrate 110 and the face plate 86. The grid electrode 120 is for modulating the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device,
In order to allow the electron beam to pass through the stripe-shaped electrodes provided orthogonal to the ladder-shaped element rows, one circular opening 121 is provided for each element. The shape and installation position of the grid are not limited to those shown in FIG. For example, a large number of passage openings may be provided in the form of a mesh as openings, and the grid may be provided around or near the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

The external terminal 122 and the grid external terminal 123 are electrically connected to a control circuit (not shown).

In the image forming apparatus using the display panel of this example, the modulation signals for one image line are simultaneously applied to the grid electrode columns in synchronization with the sequential driving (scanning) of the element rows one column at a time. . This makes it possible to control the irradiation of the phosphor with each electron beam and display the image line by line.

The image forming apparatus having the display panels shown in FIGS. 7 and 11 is used as an optical printer constituted by using a photosensitive drum or the like in addition to a display device for television broadcasting, a display device such as a video conference system or a computer. Can also be used as an image forming apparatus or the like.

[0076]

【Example】

(Example 1) A surface conduction electron-emitting device was produced on a substrate (FIG. 12) wired in a matrix by a photolithography technique according to the following procedure. The structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device is as shown in FIG. 1, and its manufacturing procedure is shown in FIG.
It is shown in.

A quartz substrate was used as the insulating substrate 1, which was thoroughly washed with a detergent, pure water and an organic solvent, and then dried at 120 ° C.

Element electrodes 2 and 3 made of Ni and an alignment marker portion are formed on the substrate by using a general offset printing technique, and X direction wiring (upper wiring) 72, Y
The directional wiring (lower wiring) 73 and the interlayer insulating layer 74 were formed using a screen printing technique (FIG. 2A). At this time, the gap distance L between the device electrodes is 20 μm, and the width W of the electrodes 2 and 3 is
1 was 600 μm, and its thickness d was 1000 Å.

Next, an organic palladium-containing solution (CCP-4230 manufactured by Okuno Chemical Industries Co., Ltd.) was used as the droplet applying device 6 by using an ink jet ejecting device using a piezoelectric element. 60 μm ³ ) (FIG. 2 (b)).

Subsequently, when the intensity ratio signal of the reflected light of the organometallic thin film 8 in the alignment region was processed by the optical microscope 9, the organometallic thin film 8 could not be confirmed. Therefore, after performing step 1 again, The optical microscope 9 processed the intensity ratio signal of the reflected light. Then, since the organometallic thin film 8 was confirmed, it was estimated that the absorption amount of the organopalladium-containing solution by the device electrode was about 60 μm ^{3 for} one droplet.

Next, by using the optical microscope 9 and a scale (not shown), the intensity ratio signal of the reflected light is processed, and the organometallic thin film 8 at the alignment marker portion and the element electrode 2 for starting the application of the droplet. , 3 is measured, and the device electrodes 2, 3 and the droplet applying device 6 are aligned so that the conductive thin film 4 is formed at the center of the gap between the device electrodes 2, 3. It was After that, the above-mentioned organic palladium-containing solution was applied to all the element electrodes by using the droplet applying device 6 in such a manner that two droplets having a droplet amount of 60 μm ³ were applied in consideration of the absorption amount.

Next, a heat treatment was carried out at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes to form a fine particle film made of fine particles of palladium oxide (PdO), which was used as the conductive thin film 4 (FIG. 2 (c)).

Next, a voltage was applied between the electrode pairs 2 and 3, and the electroconductive thin film 4 was energized (energized forming) to form the electron-emitting portion 5 (FIG. 2D).

As described above, the face plate 86, the support frame 82, and the rear plate 81 form the envelope 88 by using the electron source substrate having a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices formed on the substrate. After forming and sealing, an image forming apparatus having a display panel and a drive circuit for performing television display based on an NTSC television signal as shown in FIG. 9 was manufactured. As a result, it was possible to obtain an apparatus for forming a good image without problems.

As described above, the electron-emitting device manufactured by the manufacturing method shown in the above-mentioned embodiment not only showed good characteristics without any problems, but also provided droplets to form the conductive thin film 4. As a result, the element could be formed without performing the step of forming the pattern of the conductive thin film 4. In addition, since the droplets can be applied only to the pattern forming region, it is possible to eliminate waste of the raw material solution, which is advantageous in cost.

Before forming the conductive thin film 4, the amount of absorption to the element electrode is estimated and the alignment is performed by the organometallic thin film 8 applied by the same droplet applying device 6 to the alignment site 10 to obtain the lot. In the meantime, it is possible to reduce variations among devices, reduce uneven brightness and defects, and improve uniformity.

Further, the same effect was obtained even if the shape of the alignment portion was not a rectangle but the shapes shown in FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (d). Further, the same effect was obtained when the optical signal information was transmitted light instead of reflected light, or when the optical signal information had phase difference instead of intensity ratio.

Further, the electron source substrate obtained in this embodiment,
The electron source, the display panel, and the image forming apparatus each showed good characteristics.

Example 2 In the same manner as in Example 1, the device electrode width (W1) was 600 μm and the device electrode pair interval (L
1) A surface conduction electron-emitting device having a thickness of 1000 μm and a device electrode portion having a thickness of 1000 Å was formed in a ladder shape, and a wired electron source substrate (FIG. 10) was used. An envelope 88 is formed by the support frame 82 and the rear plate 81 and sealed to perform a display panel as shown in FIG. 11 and a television display based on an NTSC television signal as shown in FIG. An image forming apparatus having a driving circuit for performing the operation was manufactured. As a result, a good image forming apparatus similar to that in Example 1 could be obtained.

(Embodiment 3) As in Embodiment 1, using a substrate (FIG. 12) on which wirings are formed in a matrix and using an ink jet system of a type in which bubbles are generated by applying thermal energy to eject droplets. Then, a surface conduction electron-emitting device was manufactured to obtain an electron source substrate. Using the obtained electron source substrate, in the same manner as in Example 1, the face plate 86,
An envelope 88 is formed by the support frame 82 and the rear plate 81, is sealed, and has a display panel, and further has a drive circuit for performing television display based on an NTSC television signal as shown in FIG. An image forming apparatus was produced.
As a result, a good image forming apparatus similar to that in Example 1 could be obtained.

(Embodiment 4) Using a ladder wiring substrate as shown in FIG. 10, and using an ink jet system of a type in which bubbles are generated by applying thermal energy to eject droplets,
A surface conduction electron-emitting device and an electron source substrate were produced in the same manner as in Example 1. Using the obtained electron source substrate, the face plate 86, the support frame 82, and
An envelope 88 was formed with the rear plate 81 and sealed, a display panel was manufactured, and an image forming apparatus having a drive circuit for performing television display based on an NTSC television signal was manufactured. A good image forming apparatus similar to that in Example 3 could be obtained.

(Embodiment 5) In this embodiment, the conductive thin film 4 is used.
A surface conduction electron-emitting device and an electron source substrate were obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that a solution containing 0.05 wt% of Pd acetate in water was used as a solution for forming. as a result,
Example 1 despite different metal containing solutions
It was possible to obtain an electron source substrate on which elements having excellent characteristics similar to those described above were arranged.

Using the obtained electron source substrate, a face plate 86, a support frame 82, and a rear plate 81 are used to form an envelope 88 in the same manner as in Example 1, and sealing is performed to display a display panel and further. Manufactured an image forming apparatus having a drive circuit for performing television display based on an NTSC television signal as shown in FIG. As a result, Example 1
It was possible to obtain a good image forming apparatus similar to the above.

(Embodiment 6) In this embodiment, one droplet amount (1
When the absorption amount was estimated by the alignment part with the dot) set to 30 μm ³ , the number of times of applying the droplet was two. Therefore, the same as in Example 1 except that the number of times of forming the conductive thin film 4 was four. A surface conduction electron-emitting device and an electron source substrate were prepared. As a result, a good surface conduction electron-emitting device and an electron source substrate were obtained as in Example 1.

Using the obtained electron source substrate, a face plate 86, a support frame 82, and a rear plate 81 are used to form an envelope 88 in the same manner as in Example 1, and the display panel is further sealed. Manufactured an image forming apparatus having a drive circuit for performing television display based on an NTSC television signal as shown in FIG. As a result, Example 1
It was possible to obtain a good image forming apparatus similar to the above.

(Embodiment 7) In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, one alignment portion 10 is provided for each row or column.
Installed one by one, and performed absorption measurements multiple times at the alignment site by measuring the film thickness from the phase difference and performing alignment by binarizing the light intensity signal and measuring the focus. An electron-emitting device was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1. As a result, not only the same effects as in Example 1 were obtained, but also variations in the element could be made smaller than in Example 1. That is, there was an effect that a conductive thin film with less variation was obtained.

Using the obtained electron source substrate, an envelope 88 is formed by the face plate 86, the support frame 82, and the rear plate 81 in the same manner as in Example 1, and the display panel is further sealed. Manufactured an image forming apparatus having a drive circuit for performing television display based on an NTSC television signal as shown in FIG. Not only was it possible to obtain the same effects as in Example 1, but it was possible to obtain a uniform image with less uneven brightness than in Example 1.

[0098]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Before applying the containing solution in which the material of the fine particle film having the electron emitting portion is dispersed or dissolved in the form of droplets between the device electrodes,
Since the droplets are applied to the alignment portion created when the device electrode is formed, it is possible to observe whether the droplets are applied, that is, whether the organometallic thin film can be formed, and it is possible to reduce defects. it can.

Further, since the amount of liquid droplets absorbed by the device electrodes is estimated in advance and the liquid droplets are applied between the device electrodes after alignment, the device resistance can be made uniform even if the device electrodes are different. In addition, the alignment accuracy is improved, and variations in element characteristics can be reduced.

Further, since the droplets are applied by the ink jet method, there is an effect that it is possible to apply a very small amount of droplets of several tens ng or more, which is controlled in the range of several tens ng to several μg.

Therefore, the fine particle film can be formed with high alignment accuracy without using the photolithography technique. Further, in the manufacture of the image forming apparatus, the cost can be reduced and the yield can be improved, and the dispersion of the fine particle film is small, so that the brightness of the image forming apparatus becomes uniform.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the structure of a surface conduction electron-emitting device manufactured according to the present invention, in which (a) is a plan view,
(B) is a sectional view.

FIG. 2 is a process chart showing a procedure of a device manufacturing method of the present invention for manufacturing the device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating an alignment portion used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of a substrate having a matrix-shaped wiring and an alignment portion used in Example 7 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing an example of a voltage waveform of energization forming, where (a) is a case where the pulse peak value is constant and (b) is a graph.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a case where the pulse crest value increases.

FIG. 6 is a schematic partial plan view showing an example of an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement that can be manufactured according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of an example of an image forming apparatus that can be manufactured by the present invention.

8A and 8B are schematic partial views showing the configuration of the fluorescent film of the device of FIG. 7, where FIG. 8A is a diagram with a black stripe provided, and FIG. 8B is a diagram with a black matrix provided.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a drive circuit in an example of an image forming apparatus that can be manufactured according to the present invention, the drive circuit performing display in accordance with an NTSC television signal.

FIG. 10 is a schematic partial plan view of a ladder-arranged electron source that can be manufactured according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram of another example of an image forming apparatus that can be manufactured by the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic plan view of a substrate having a matrix-shaped wiring and an alignment portion used in Example 1.

FIG. 13 is a schematic plan view showing an example of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

FIG. 14 is a schematic perspective view showing another example of another conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: substrate, 2: 3: element electrode, 4: conductive thin film, 5: electron emission part, 6: droplet applying device, 7: droplet, 8: organometallic thin film, 9: optical microscope, 10: for alignment Part, 7
1: electron source substrate, 72: X direction wiring, 73: Y direction wiring, 74: surface conduction electron-emitting device, 75: connection, 8
1: rear plate, 82: support frame, 83: glass substrate,
84: phosphor film, 85: metal back, 86: face plate, 88: envelope, 91: black conductive material, 92: phosphor, 101: display panel, 102: scanning circuit, 103:
Control circuit, 104: shift register, 105: line memory, 106: synchronization signal separation circuit, 107: modulation signal generator, 110: electron source substrate, 111: electron emission element, 1
12: common wiring, 120: grid electrode, 121: holes, 122: terminal outside container, 123: terminal outside container, 112
4: Electron source substrate.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-1-261886 (JP, A) JP-A-1-296532 (JP, A) US Patent 3611077 (US, A) JP 3302249 (JP, B2) ( 58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01J 9/02 H05K 3/10-3/12

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device, comprising forming an electron-emitting device by applying a solution containing a material for forming a conductive thin film between a pair of device electrodes in a droplet state. At least one drop
One element electrode is applied to the alignment portion produced at the time of forming the element electrode, and the alignment between the pair of element electrodes and the droplet applying device is performed.
And the droplets are applied by an inkjet method.
A method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device, which is characterized by being performed . 2. The absorption amount of the droplet to the element electrode is estimated by an optical signal of reflected light or transmitted light from the organometallic thin film by the droplet applied to the alignment portion, and The manufacturing method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of aligning the applying device with the element electrode, and applying a droplet between the element electrodes after this step. 3. The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet method is a method in which bubbles are formed in the solution by thermal energy and the solution is ejected as droplets. 4. An ink jet method, according to claim 1 or a method of discharging the solution as droplets by a piezoelectric element
Is the manufacturing method described in 2 . 5. A method of manufacturing an electron source substrate, wherein a plurality of electron-emitting devices are formed by the manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 . 6. A method of manufacturing an electron source in which an electron source substrate is manufactured by the manufacturing method of claim 5 , and the electron-emitting devices are connected by wiring. 7. A step of manufacturing an electron source by the method according to claim 6 , and a rear plate having the electron source and a face plate having a fluorescent film are arranged so as to face each other via a support frame. A method of manufacturing a display panel, which comprises a step of bonding. 8. A method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus, comprising: a step of manufacturing a display panel by the method according to claim 7 ; and a step of connecting at least a drive circuit to the display panel.