JPH06295661A - Manufacture of surface conduction type electron emission element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a manufacturing method for a surface conduction electron emission element in which each element can be formed with high precision even on a large-sized substrate, and in which each element is provided with a uniform electron emission strength. CONSTITUTION:A resist pattern 11 is formed on an insulation substrate 1 by direct drawing, and the insulation substrate 1 is etched to the resist pattern 11 to form a step part 13 having a smaller surface than the resist pattern 11. An element electrode material 12 is laminated on it, the resist pattern 11 is eliminated, and metal or metal compound film 2 is formed to cover the step part 13 at least. An electron emission part 3 is then formed in part of the metal or metal compound film 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices are known, a thermoelectron source and a cold cathode electron source. The cold cathode electron source includes a field emission type (FE), a metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter abbreviated as MIM), and a surface conduction electron emitting device (SC).
E) etc.

As an example of the field emission type, W. P. Dyk
e & W. W. Dolan, “Field Emissi”
on ”, Advance in Electron P
hysics, 8, 89 (1956) and C.I. A. S
pindt, "Physical property"
s of thin film-field emis
sion cathodes with mollybd
enum cones ", J. Appl. Phys.,
47, 5248 (1976) and the like are known.

An example of the MIM type is C.I. A. Mea
d, "The tunnel-emission am
plier, J. et al. Appl. Phys. , 32, 6
46 (1961) and the like are known.

As an example of the SCE type, M. I. Elin
son, Radio Eng. Electron P
ys. 10 (1965) and so on. The SCE utilizes a phenomenon in which electron emission occurs when a current is passed through a thin film having a small area formed on a substrate in parallel with the film surface.

As the surface conduction electron-emitting device (SCE), the one using the SnO ₂ thin film by the above-mentioned Erinson, the one using the Au thin film [G. Dittmer: "T
"Hin Solid Films", 9, 317 (19)
72)], by In ₂ O ₃ / SnO ₂ thin film [M.
Hartwell and C.I. G. Fonstad:
"IEEE Trans.ED Conf.", 519
(1975)], by a carbon thin film [Hiraki Araki
Others: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22 (1983)] and the like are reported.

As a typical element structure of these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, the above-mentioned M. The Hartwell device configuration is shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is an insulating substrate. The electron emitting portion forming thin film 2 is composed of an H-shaped metal oxide thin film formed by sputtering, and the electron emitting portion 3 is formed by an energization process called forming described later. Further, L1 in the figure is approximately 0.5 mm to 1 mm, and W is approximately 0.1 mm. In addition, 4 will be called a thin film including an electron emitting portion.

Conventionally, in these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, it has been general that the electron-emitting portion forming thin film 2 is formed with an electron-emitting portion 3 in advance by an energization process called forming before the electron emission. . That is, the forming means that a voltage is applied to both ends of the electron emitting portion forming thin film 2 to locally energize the electron emitting portion forming thin film to locally destroy, deform or alter the electron emitting portion forming thin film to make it into an electrically high resistance state. That is, the emission part 3 is formed. In some cases, the electron emitting portion 3 may have a crack in a part of the electron emitting portion forming thin film 2, and the electron may be emitted from the vicinity of the crack. Hereinafter, the thin film for forming an electron emitting portion including the electron emitting portion generated by forming is referred to as a thin film 4 including an electron emitting portion.

In the surface conduction electron-emitting device that has been subjected to the forming process, a voltage is applied to the thin film 4 including the above-mentioned electron-emitting portion, and a current is caused to flow on the surface of the device so that electrons are emitted from the above-mentioned electron-emitting portion 3. It is a thing.

[0010]

However, the conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device as described above has the following problems. (1) In a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged, in order to make the electron emission intensity of each electron-emitting device uniform by uniformizing the forming, an electrode for applying a potential to the thin film for forming an electron-emitting portion is used. It is necessary to narrow the distance between several μm and several tens of μm, but in order to form an element with an accuracy of several μm, it is necessary to form the element using photolithography technology to which semiconductor technology is usually applied. I won't.

However, when an electron-emitting device arranged in an XY matrix is formed using a large-sized substrate (about 5 inches square or more), even if the photolithography technique is used, the deflection of the mask and the adhesiveness of the mask may be reduced. It is difficult to secure sufficient accuracy due to unevenness and the occurrence of joints, and there was a problem from the viewpoint of implementation.

(2) By the structure that an artificial heat concentration portion or a thermal gradient is generated, a crack formed by forming is artificially formed at a fixed place, and the electron emission intensity of each element is further uniformized. However, it is possible to make such an artificial heat concentration portion or a heat gradient within the length L of the electron emission portion forming thin film 2 with an accuracy of several microns or more. difficult.

Due to the above problems, the surface conduction electron-emitting device has not been positively applied industrially, although it has the advantage that the device structure is simple. .

The inventors of the present invention have conducted a study in view of the above problems, and as a result, in the production of a plurality of arrayed surface conduction electron-emitting devices, a large-sized substrate is obtained by using a self-alignment lithography technique and a direct writing technique. Also in the above, each element can be formed with high precision, and each element can manufacture a surface conduction electron-emitting device having a uniform electron emission intensity.

[0015]

That is, according to the present invention, in a method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device, the step of directly drawing a second film pattern on the first layer, the second step Etching the first layer with respect to the second film pattern to form a step portion having a smaller area than the second film pattern,
A step of laminating a third film thereon, a step of removing the second film pattern to form a metal or metal compound film so as to cover at least the step portion, and a part of the metal or metal compound film A method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device, characterized in that the method further comprises the step of forming an electron-emitting portion.

In the method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention, a step of laminating an intermediate film on the first layer, and a second film pattern can be directly drawn on the intermediate film. A step of forming, a step of etching the intermediate film and the first layer with respect to the second film pattern to form a step portion having an area smaller than that of the second film pattern in the first layer, and Stacking a third film, removing the intermediate film and the second film pattern to form a metal or metal compound film so as to cover at least the step portion, and a part of the metal or metal compound film A method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device, characterized in that the method further comprises the step of forming an electron-emitting portion.

In the present invention, the intermediate film is preferably a silicon nitride film or a polycrystalline silicon film. Also,
It is preferable that the first layer is an insulating substrate, the second film pattern is a resist pattern, and the third film is a device electrode material.

The present invention will be described in detail below. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of a method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention. A method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, first,
The insulating substrate 1 as the first layer is thoroughly washed with a detergent, pure water and an organic solvent, and then a resist is applied with a spinner,
A linear pattern 11 is directly formed as a second film pattern (see FIG. 1A). As the insulating substrate, for example,
Quartz, soda glass, silicoboric acid glass, etc. are used.

As a direct drawing method, a method using a laser beam or an electron beam is generally used. If the resist used at this time is a laser, AZ3000, OFPR
-800, TSMR-8800, THMR, PFI, U
There are R-1100 series etc., and if it is an electron beam, EBR-9, AZ-5200, OEBR, PMMA, S
AL-600 series etc. are mentioned.

Then, after the resist is baked, the substrate 1 is etched using this pattern to form a step portion 13 so that side etching occurs on both sides of the resist (see FIG. 1B). The etching method used at this time is preferably isotropic etching. For wet etching, there are hydrofluoric acid-based etching solutions such as hydrofluoric nitric acid, dilute hydrofluoric acid, and buffer hydrofluoric acid. There is CF _{4 of the} system.

Subsequently, the element electrode material 12 is laminated as a third film on the pattern while leaving the pattern (see FIG. 1C). Any material may be used as the material of the element electrode as long as it has conductivity, and for example, nickel metal can be cited. Further, for example, the element electrode interval L is 2 μm, the element electrode length W is 300 μm, and the film thickness d of the element electrodes 5 and 6 is 1000 Å.

Next, after the pattern 11 is peeled off, an electrode pattern for one pixel is formed in order to separate the formed electrode for each pixel, and the electrodes 5a, 6 other than the pattern are formed.
A is removed by etching to form electrodes 5 and 6.

On the insulating substrate between the device electrodes 5 and 6 provided on the insulative substrate 1, the organic metal is spread over the device electrodes 5 and 6 and left to stand, so that the organic metal thin film is removed. Form. Then, the organometallic thin film is heated and baked to form the electron emission portion forming thin film 2 (see FIG. 1D). The organic metal solution means Pd, Ru, Ag, A
u, Ti, In, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, T
It is a solution of an organic compound containing a metal such as a, W, or Pb as a main element.

After the electron-emitting device formed by the above method is evacuated, a voltage is applied between the device electrodes 5 and 6 by a power source (not shown) and an energization process called forming is performed to form an electron-emitting portion forming thin film 2. The electron-emitting portion 3 having a changed structure is formed in the above area, particularly near the step portion 13 formed by side etching. This energization process locally destroys, deforms or modifies the electron emission portion forming thin film 2,
The site where the structure is changed is referred to as an electron emitting portion 3 (see FIG. 2E). It was observed that the electron emitting portion 3 was composed of fine metal particles.

As described above, in the method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention, the electrode interval for applying the potential to the electron-emitting portion forming thin film 2 is several μm to several tens μm even when a large substrate is used. In order to narrow the size to a certain extent, it is preferable to use direct drawing on a substrate by a light or electron beam composed of one or more linear pieces. With this method, not only the length between the electrodes can be accurately determined while correcting the deflection and warpage of the substrate, but also the straight line makes it possible to continue the process without lowering the throughput. In addition, it is possible to form a highly accurate pattern on a large-sized substrate by directly drawing without worrying about the joint.

Further, using the linear pattern, the insulating layer of the insulating substrate existing around the pattern is etched and removed, and further until the lower part of the linear pattern is slightly etched ( Excessive etching (generally called side etching) is performed. Subsequently, an electrode material for applying an electric potential to the electron emission portion forming thin film 2 is vapor-deposited while leaving the pattern, and this method enables the formation of electrodes having a highly accurate inter-electrode distance.

Further, the presence of the side etching not only facilitates lift-off of the electrodes, but also causes a crack in the relatively thick region of the insulating layer which can be a heat concentration portion and mechanical thermal stress during forming. A step is formed. As a result, it became possible to artificially create the position where cracks were formed due to forming.

Next, FIG. 2 is a schematic structural view of a surface conduction electron-emitting device manufactured by the method of the present invention.
2A is a plan view, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB. In the figure, 1 is an insulating substrate, 5 and 6 are device electrodes, 4 is a thin film including an electron emitting portion, and 3 is an electron emitting portion.

Of the thin film 4 including the electron emitting portion in the present invention, the electron emitting portion 3 is composed of a large number of conductive fine particles having a particle diameter of several Å to several hundred Å, and the thin film other than the electron emitting portion 3 is thin film. 4 is a fine particle film. The fine particle film is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and its fine structure is not only in a state where the fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged, but also in a state where the fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (including an island shape). Insert the membrane. In addition to this, a thin film 4 including an electron emitting portion
May be a carbon thin film or the like in which conductive particles are dispersed.

Specific examples of the thin film 4 including an electron emitting portion include Pd, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu and C.
Metals such as r, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, Pb, Pd
Oxides such as O, SnO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO, Sb ₂ O ₃ , HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ , LaB ₆ , CeB ₆ , and YB
₄ , boride such as GdB ₄ , TiC, ZrC, HfC, T
Carbides such as aC, SiC, WC, TiN, ZrN, Hf
Nitride such as N, semiconductor such as Si and Ge, carbon, Ag
Mg, NiCu, Pb, Sn and the like. The thin film 4 including the electron emitting portion is also formed by a vacuum vapor deposition method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method, a dispersion coating method, a dipping method, a spinner method or the like.

The basic characteristics of the electron-emitting device according to the present invention produced by the above-described manufacturing method are measured by using the measurement / evaluation apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a measurement / evaluation apparatus for measuring electron emission characteristics of the device having the configuration shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, 1 is an insulating substrate, 5 and 6 are device electrodes, 4 is a thin film including an electron emitting portion, and 3 is an electron emitting portion. Further, 31 is a power supply for applying a device voltage Vf to the device, 30 is an ammeter for measuring a device current If flowing through the thin film 4 including an electron emitting portion between the device electrodes 5, 6.
34 is an anode electrode for capturing the emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission portion of the device, 33 is the anode electrode 3
A high voltage power source for applying a voltage to 4 and an ammeter 32 for measuring the emission current Ie emitted from the electron emitting portion 3 of the device.

When measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie of the electron-emitting device, a current 31 is applied to the device electrodes 5 and 6.
And an ammeter 30 are connected to each other, and an anode electrode 34 to which a current 33 and an ammeter 32 are connected is arranged above the electron-emitting device. Further, the electron-emitting device and the anode electrode 34
Is installed in a vacuum device, and the vacuum device is equipped with equipment necessary for the vacuum device such as an exhaust pump and a vacuum gauge (not shown), and the measurement and evaluation of this element can be performed under a desired vacuum. ing. The voltage of the anode electrode is from 1 kV to
10 kV, the distance H between the anode electrode and the electron-emitting device is 3
It measured in the range of mm-8 mm.

The basic manufacturing method of the electron-emitting device according to the present invention can be constructed by partially changing it.

Next, FIG. 8 is a process drawing showing another example of the method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention. In the figure, an intermediate film of an inorganic film 14 made of silicon nitride or a polycrystalline silicon film is laminated on the insulating substrate 1 of the first layer, and the resist pattern 11 is directly drawn on the intermediate film. Other than forming the resist pattern 11 and etching the intermediate inorganic film 14 and the insulating substrate 1 to form a stepped portion having a smaller area than the resist pattern 11 on the insulating substrate 1. This is a method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device by the same method as in FIG.

Next, a method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus such as a display device using the manufacturing method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the manufacturing process of FIGS. 1A to 1D described above, a plurality of unformed electron-emitting devices 104 connected to the X-direction wiring 105 and the Y-direction wiring 106 are arranged on the substrate 101. After fixing the electron source substrate on the rear plate 102, the face plate 110 (which is formed by forming the fluorescent film 108 and the metal back 109 on the inner surface of the glass substrate 107) is supported 5 mm above the substrate 101. And fluorite glass is applied to the joint portion of the face plate 110, the support frame 103, and the rear plate 102, and is baked by baking at 400 ° C. to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more in the air or a nitrogen atmosphere to seal ( (See FIG. 4).

Further, the substrate 101 on the rear plate 102
Was also fixed with frit glass. In FIG. 4, 1
Reference numeral 04 is an electron-emitting device, and reference numerals 105 and 106 are wiring electrodes in the X and Y directions, respectively. In this aspect, as described above,
The face plate 110, the support frame 103, and the rear plate 102 constitute the envelope 111.
Since 2 is mainly provided for the purpose of reinforcing the strength of the substrate 101, if the substrate 101 itself has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 102 is not necessary, and the support frame 103 is directly sealed to the substrate 101. The face plate 110, the support frame 103, and the substrate 101 may form the envelope 111.

In the case of monochrome, the fluorescent film 108 is composed of only the phosphor, but in the case of a color fluorescent film, a black conductive material 112 and a phosphor 113 called a black stripe or a black matrix depending on the arrangement of the phosphors.
And (see FIG. 6). The purpose of providing the black stripe and the book matrix is to make the color mixture and the like inconspicuous by blackening the separately colored portions between the phosphors 113 of the three primary color phosphors necessary for color display,
This is to suppress a decrease in contrast due to reflection of external light on the fluorescent film 108. In this embodiment, the phosphor adopts a stripe shape, and a black stripe is formed first,
Phosphors of each color were applied to the gaps to form the phosphor film 108. A material containing graphite as a main component, which is often used as a material for black stripes, was used, but the material is not limited to this as long as it is electrically conductive and has little light transmission and reflection.

As the method of applying the phosphor to the glass substrate 107, the precipitation method or the printing method is used in the case of monochrome, but the slurry method is used in the present example of the color method.
Even in the case of color, the same coating film can be obtained by using the printing method. A metal back 109 is usually provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 108. The purpose of 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 to the face plate 110 side, to act as an electrode for applying an electron beam accelerating voltage, and This is to protect the phosphor from damage due to collision of negative ions generated in the enclosure. The metal back was produced by performing a smoothing treatment (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film after producing the fluorescent film, and then vacuum depositing A1.

The face plate 110 may be provided with a transparent electrode (not shown) on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 108 in order to further enhance the conductivity of the fluorescent film 108. However, in this embodiment, only a metal back is provided. Since sufficient conductivity was obtained with, it was omitted. In the case of the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of a color, since the phosphors of the respective colors and the electron-emitting devices have to correspond to each other, sufficient alignment is performed.

The atmosphere in the glass container completed as described above is exhausted by a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe (not shown), and after reaching a sufficient degree of vacuum, the external terminals Dxl to Dxm and Dyl to Dyn. Through wiring 105, 106
An electron-emitting device 10 in which an electron-emitting portion is formed by applying a voltage between them and performing the above-described forming in FIG.
4 was produced. Finally, with a vacuum degree of about 10 ^-6 Torr,
The exhaust pipe (not shown) was welded by heating with a gas burner to seal the envelope. Finally, a getter process was performed in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing. This is done at a predetermined position (not shown) in the image display device by a heating method such as resistance heating or high frequency heating immediately before or after sealing.
This is a process of heating the getter arranged in the above to form a vapor deposition film. The getter usually has Ba or the like as a main component, and maintains the degree of vacuum by the adsorption action of the vapor deposition film.

In the image forming apparatus completed as described above, each of the electron-emitting devices has terminals outside the container Dxl to Dx.
Electrons are emitted by applying a voltage through m, Dyl or Dyn, and a high voltage of several kV or more is applied to the metal back 109 or the transparent electrode (not shown) through the high voltage terminal Hv to accelerate the electron beam. An image was displayed by colliding with the fluorescent film 108 and exciting and emitting light.

The configuration described above is a schematic configuration for manufacturing the image forming apparatus, and the detailed parts such as the material of each member are not limited to the above contents, and further, a plurality of electron-emitting devices. The arrangement form of the substrate 104 on the substrate 101 may be a form in which a plurality of element rows in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are connected between a pair of wiring electrodes are arranged, and in this case, the element rows are orthogonal to each other. A control electrode (normally referred to as a grid) for selecting an element that causes the phosphor to emit light is arranged in the direction. Thus, the selection is appropriately made to suit the application of the image forming apparatus.

[0044]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to examples.

Example 1 Next, FIG. 6 shows one of a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged on an XY matrix. In the figure, 1 is an insulating substrate, 5 and 6 are device electrodes, 4 is a thin film including an electron emitting portion, 3 is an electron emitting portion, 8 is an insulating layer, 7,
Reference numeral 9 indicates a matrix electrode, and 10 indicates an inter-electrode pattern including a step.

Next, a method of manufacturing the electron-emitting device of the present invention will be described with reference to the sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 6 (shown in FIG. 7). A resist, which is composed of SiO _{2 as a} main component and has a size of about 30 cm in length and 50 cm in width, which is exposed to a laser beam with a spinner, has a thickness of about 0.
It was applied to a thickness of 7 μm and a linear resist pattern 11 having a width of about 2 μm and a length of 50 cm was formed using a pattern generator (see FIG. 7A). The resist and the direct drawing method used here may be those suitable for the method such as EB direct drawing.

After the resist was baked, the insulating substrate 1 was etched using this pattern with a hydrofluoric acid-based etching solution so that a side etch of about 0.5 μm occurred on both sides of the resist (FIG. 7B). reference). Subsequently, Ti (thickness 50 Å) and Au (thickness 500 Å) which are the device electrode materials 12 were vapor-deposited by the EB vapor deposition method while leaving the above pattern (see FIG. 7C).

After the pattern 11 is peeled off, in order to separate the formed electrodes for each element, a resist having a width of about 250 μm and a length of about 700 μm is printed by using a screen printing method, and one element Electrode pattern was formed. A
u was removed with an iodine-based etching solution, and Ti was removed with a fluorine-based gas to form element electrodes 5 and 6.

An organometallic thin film was formed by applying an organometallic Pd solution between the element electrodes 5 and 6 provided on the insulating substrate 1 and leaving it to stand. After that, the organometallic thin film is heated and baked, a resist having a width of about 200 μm and a length of about 300 μm is printed using a screen printing method, and patterned by fluorine-based dry etching or the like to form an electron emission portion. A thin film 2 was formed (Fig. 7
See D).

The wirings 17 and 19 for the XY matrix are formed by patterning and baking to have an electrode width of about 150 μm using a screen printing method, and the insulating film 8 at this time is made of a liquid silica material which can be applied by a spinner. .

After the electron-emitting device formed by the above method is evacuated, an energization process called forming is performed by applying a voltage between the device electrodes 7 and 9 by a power source (not shown),
An electron emitting portion 3 having a changed structure was formed at a site of the electron emitting portion forming thin film 2, especially near the step portion 13 formed by side etching. By this energization treatment, the electron-emitting portion forming thin film 2 was locally destroyed, deformed or altered, and the site with the changed structure was formed in the electron-emitting portion 3 (see FIG. 7E).

Embodiment 2 A second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. In this example, an inorganic film 14 made of SiN was laminated on the insulating substrate 1 used in Example 1 by plasma CVD to a thickness of about 0.2 μm. Next, a resist sensitive to a laser beam was applied with a spinner to a thickness of about 0.7 μm, and a linear resist pattern 11 having a width of about 2 μm and a length of 50 cm was formed using a pattern generator (FIG. 8A). reference).

Using this pattern, the inorganic film made of SiN is dry-etched using a fluorine-based gas, and the insulating substrate 1 is side-etched to about 0.5 μm with a hydrofluoric acid-based wet etching solution. Etching was performed so as to occur on both sides (see FIG. 8B). Subsequently, the transparent conductive film ITO (thickness 500Å) which is the device electrode material 12 was vapor-deposited by the ion plating vapor deposition method with the pattern left (see FIG. 8C).

Then, the resist pattern 11 is peeled off,
After dry-etching the inorganic film made of SiN using a fluorine-based gas, in order to separate the formed electrodes for each element, a screen printing method is used to obtain a width of about 250 μm.
A resist having a length of about 700 μm was printed to form an electrode pattern for one element. Next, the ITO was removed with an iron chloride-based etching solution to form electrodes 5 and 6.

An organic metal thin film was formed by applying an organic metal Au solution between the device electrodes 5 and 6 provided on the insulating substrate 1 and leaving it to stand. After that, the organometallic thin film is heated and baked, a resist having a width of about 200 μm and a length of about 300 μm is printed by using a screen printing method, and patterning is performed by ion milling or the like using Ar gas using this pattern. A thin film 2 for forming an electron emitting portion was formed (see FIG. 8D).

The wirings 17 and 19 for the XY matrix are formed by patterning and baking to have an electrode width of about 150 μm using a screen printing method, and the insulating film 8 at this time is a polyimide film which can be applied by a spinner.

After the electron-emitting device formed by the above method is evacuated, an energization process called forming is performed by applying a voltage between the device electrodes 7 and 9 by a power source (not shown),
An electron emitting portion 3 having a changed structure was formed at a site of the electron emitting portion forming thin film 2, especially near the step portion 13 formed by side etching. By this energization treatment, the electron-emitting portion forming thin film 2 was locally destroyed, deformed or altered, and the site with the changed structure was formed in the electron-emitting portion 3 (see FIG. 8E).

In the present embodiment, by using the insulating substrate 1 and the SiN inorganic film 14 having a low hydrofluoric acid etching rate, the resist is deformed or altered during the process, and the adhesiveness to the insulating substrate 1 is lowered. By preventing this, highly precise pattern formation became possible. The inorganic film used here is S
The material is not limited to iN, and any material having an etching rate for the etchant of the insulating substrate 1 smaller than that of the insulating substrate 1, for example, a material such as polycrystalline silicon may be used.

[0059]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the manufacture of a plurality of arrayed surface conduction electron-emitting devices,
By using the self-alignment lithographic technique and direct writing technique, each element can be formed with high precision even on a large substrate, and each element has a uniform electron emission intensity. There is an effect that a forming device can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process drawing showing an example of a method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment example of an electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an apparatus for measuring and evaluating electron emission characteristics of an electron emitting element.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a simple matrix display panel.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a black stripe or a black matrix.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an electron-emitting device according to Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a process drawing showing the method of manufacturing the electron-emitting device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a process drawing showing a method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a typical device configuration of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Insulating substrate 2 Thin film for forming an electron emitting portion 3 Electron emitting portion 4 Thin film including an electron emitting portion 5,6 Element electrode 7,9 Matrix electrode 8 Interlayer insulating layer 10 Electrode pattern 11 Resist pattern 12 Element electrode material 13 Stepped portion 14 Inorganic film 17, 19 XY matrix wiring 30, 32 Ammeter 31 Power supply 33 High-voltage power supply 34 Anode electrode

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device, comprising the step of directly drawing a second film pattern on the first layer, and the first layer with respect to the second film pattern. To form a step portion having an area smaller than that of the second film pattern, a step of laminating a third film thereon, and the second film pattern is removed to cover at least the step portion. A method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device, comprising the steps of forming a film of a metal or a metal compound as described above, and forming an electron-emitting portion in a part of the film of the metal or a metal compound. 2. The method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the first layer is an insulating substrate. 3. The method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the second film pattern is a resist pattern. 4. The method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the third film is a device electrode material. 5. A method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device, the step of laminating an intermediate film on the first layer, the step of directly forming a second film pattern on the intermediate film, A step of etching the intermediate film and the first layer with respect to the second film pattern to form a step portion having an area smaller than that of the second film pattern in the first layer, and a third film thereon. Laminating the intermediate film and the second film pattern to form a film of a metal or a metal compound so as to cover at least the step portion, and an electron emitting portion on a part of the film of the metal or the metal compound. A method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device, comprising the step of forming a. 6. The method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 5, wherein the intermediate film is a silicon nitride film or a polycrystalline silicon film. 7. The method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 5, wherein the first layer is an insulating substrate. 8. The method of manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 5, wherein the second film pattern is a resist pattern. 9. The method for manufacturing a surface conduction electron-emitting device according to claim 5, wherein the third film is a device electrode material.