JPH09330647A - Electron emitting element, electron source with the electron emitting element, image forming device with the electron source, and manufacture of the electron emitting element - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electron emitting element having a stable characteristic and high efficiency and display a high-intensity image abundant in operation stability by covering at least a part of an electron emission section with a film mainly made of a metal nitride formed by the chemical vapor phase epitaxy method. SOLUTION: An electron emission section 5 is formed with high-resistance cracks formed on a part of a conductive film 4, and its characteristic depends on the thickness, nature, material, and manufacture of the conductive film 4. Specific conductive fine grains may exist in the electron emission section 5. A metal nitride film 10 mainly made of a metal nitride is made of the metal nitride for at least a part of the composition, and it contains other metals. The metal nitride is not necessarily limited to a nitride of a single metal element, and it may be a composite nitride containing multiple metal elements. The metal nitride is selectively deposited on the conductive film 4 by the chemical vapor phase epitaxy method to form the metal nitride film 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron-emitting device, an electron source in which a large number of electron-emitting devices are arranged, and an image forming apparatus such as a display device or an exposure device configured by using the electron source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, two types of electron-emitting devices are known, which are a thermoelectron-emitting device and a cold cathode electron-emitting device. The field emission type (hereinafter, referred to as “F
It is called "E type". ), Metal / insulating layer / metal type (hereinafter referred to as “M
IM type ". ) And surface conduction electron-emitting devices.

[0003] As an example of the FE type, W. P. Dyke
and W. W. Dolan, "Field Emis
zone ", Advance in Electron
Physics, 8, 89 (1956) or C.I.
A. Spindt, “Physical Proper
ties of thin-filmfield em
issue cathodes withmollyb
denum cones ", J. Appl. Phys.
s. , 47, 5248 (1976).

An example of the MIM type is C.I. A. Mea
d, “Operation of Tunnel-Emi
session Devices ", J. Appl. Phys.
s. , 32, 646 (1961).

As an example of the surface conduction electron-emitting device,
M. I. Elinson, RadioEng. Elec
Tron Phys. , 10, 1290 (1965).

[0006] The surface conduction electron-emitting device utilizes a phenomenon in which electrons are emitted by passing a current through a small-area thin film formed on an insulating substrate in parallel with the film surface. Examples of the surface conduction electron-emitting device include a device using a SnO ₂ thin film by Elinson et al., And a device using an Au thin film [G. Dittmer: "ThinSolid
Films ", 9,317 (1972)] , In 2 O 3
/ SnO ₂ thin film [M. Hartwell a
nd C.I. G. FIG. Fonstad: “IEEE Tran
s. ED Conf. , 519 (1975)], and those based on carbon thin films [Hisashi Araki et al .: Vacuum, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 22 (1983)] and the like have been reported.

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

In these surface conduction electron-emitting devices, it is general that the electron-emitting portion 5 is formed in advance on the conductive film 4 by an energization process called energization forming before the electron emission. That is, the energization forming means that a voltage is applied to both ends of the conductive film 4, and the conductive film 4 is locally destroyed, deformed or deteriorated to change the structure, and the electrons in an electrically high-resistance state are formed. This is a process for forming the emission unit 5. In the electron emitting portion 5, a crack is generated in a part of the conductive film 4, and electrons are emitted from the vicinity of the crack. Then, in an atmosphere containing a gas of an organic substance, an activation process in which a pulse is repeatedly applied is performed in the same manner as forming, whereby carbon or a carbon compound is deposited in the vicinity of the electron emission portion, and the electron emission amount is increased.

The above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device has an advantage that a large number of devices can be arrayed over a large area because of its simple structure. Therefore, various applications for utilizing this feature are being researched. For example, a charged beam source,
Application to an image forming apparatus such as a display device is exemplified.

Conventionally, as an example in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are formed in an array, surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in parallel and both ends (both device electrodes) of each surface conduction electron-emitting device are wired. An electron source in which a large number of rows (also referred to as a ladder-type arrangement) in which each of the rows is connected by (also referred to as common wiring) is mentioned (for example, JP-A-64-31332, 1-283749, and JP-A-2-283749). -257552).

In particular, in the case of a display device, a flat panel display device similar to a display device using liquid crystal can be used, and a self-luminous display device that does not require a backlight is used as a surface conduction type electron emission device. There has been proposed a display device in which an electron source in which a number of elements are arranged and a phosphor that emits visible light when irradiated with an electron beam from the electron source are combined (US Pat. No. 5,066,883).

[0012]

With respect to the electron-emitting device used in the above-mentioned electron source, image forming apparatus, etc., there is a demand for more stable electron emission characteristics and improved electron emission efficiency so that a bright display image can be stably provided. Have been.

The electron emission efficiency is, for example, in the case of the surface conduction electron-emitting device described above, when a voltage is applied across the conductive film, a current (hereinafter referred to as "device current") flowing through the conductive film is called. .) And the current emitted in a vacuum (hereinafter referred to as “emission current”), and an electron-emitting device having a small device current and a large emission current is desired.

If the electron emission characteristics and efficiency which can be controlled stably are further improved, for example, in an image forming apparatus using a phosphor as an image forming member, a bright and high-quality image forming apparatus with low current can be used. For example, a flat television is realized. Further, as the current is reduced, the cost of a drive circuit and the like constituting the image forming apparatus can be reduced.

However, the above-mentioned M. In the Hartwell electron-emitting device, satisfactory electron-emitting characteristics and electron-emitting efficiencies have not always been obtained. In fact, it is extremely difficult to provide

Therefore, the electron-emitting device used for the above-mentioned applications is required to have a good electron-emitting characteristic with respect to a practically applied voltage and to be able to maintain the characteristic for a long time. is there.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned technical problems to be solved, and to provide an electron-emitting device having stable electron-emitting characteristics and improving electron-emitting efficiency. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus having high brightness and excellent operation stability.

[0018]

The structure of the present invention to achieve the above object is as follows.

That is, the first aspect of the present invention is an electron-emitting device including a conductive film having an electron-emitting portion between a pair of opposing electrodes, wherein at least a part of the electron-emitting portion is chemically vapor-deposited. An electron-emitting device characterized by being coated with a film containing a metal nitride as a main component formed by a method.

The electron-emitting device according to the first aspect of the present invention is further characterized in that "the film containing the metal nitride as a main component is formed on one of the conductive films with the electron-emitting portion as a boundary. Is also arranged "," the film containing metal nitride as a main component is composed of polycrystalline, single crystalline, amorphous, or a mixed crystal thereof "," surface conduction type ""It is an electron-emitting device", "the work function of the metal nitride is smaller than the work functions of other constituent materials of the electron-emitting portion", "the melting point of the metal nitride is the constitution of the conductive film". "Above the melting point of the material".

A second aspect of the present invention is a method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to the first aspect of the present invention, which comprises at least a forming step of forming an electron-emitting portion in the conductive film, and chemical vapor deposition. And an activation step of forming a film containing metal nitride as a main component by a method.

The second manufacturing method of the present invention is further characterized in that "the activation step is performed by applying a voltage to the pair of electrodes under reduced pressure", and "applying to the pair of electrodes". The voltage to be applied is also applied in pulses ”.

A third aspect of the present invention is an electron source that emits electrons in response to an input signal, wherein a plurality of the electron-emitting devices of the first aspect of the present invention are arranged on a substrate. It is in the electron source.

The third electron source of the present invention is further characterized in that "a plurality of the electron-emitting devices are arranged in a ladder shape, and both device electrodes of each electron-emitting device are arranged in two rows in parallel. It is connected to the wiring and has modulation means. "
That is, "the plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix, one device electrode of each electron-emitting device is connected to a row wiring, and the other device electrode of each electron-emitting device is connected to the row wiring. “Connected to orthogonal column wiring” is also included.

Further, a fourth aspect of the present invention is an apparatus for forming an image based on an input signal, which is constituted by at least the electron source of the third aspect of the present invention and an image forming member. Image forming apparatus.

As a result of a detailed study on the deterioration of the electron emission efficiency and the electron emission characteristic of the electron-emitting device, the present inventor found that the life of the device (deterioration time of the electron emission characteristic) is mainly driven by the conductive film. It was found to be limited by aging. This is because surface conduction electron emission is cold electron emission, but a device current with a relatively large current density flows in a very thin film, and during electron emission, electrons are especially on the high potential side of the electron emitting portion. It is considered that since the scattering occurs on the conductive film, the temperature in the vicinity of the electron emitting portion gradually rises, and the conductive film on the high potential side mainly melts and aggregates.

According to the present invention, by coating the electron-emitting portion and the conductive film with the film containing metal nitride as the main component, higher electron-emitting efficiency is achieved and the deterioration with driving is suppressed. I will get it. As a result, it is possible to realize an electron-emitting device capable of maintaining stable and highly efficient electron-emitting characteristics, and further it is possible to realize an image forming apparatus capable of forming a good image for a long period of time with high brightness and excellent operation stability. .

[0028]

Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.

The electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied is classified into the cold cathode type electron-emitting device as described above. Among them, the surface conduction type electron-emitting device is particularly preferable from the viewpoint of electron emission characteristics. Is preferred. Therefore, the surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described below as an example.

The basic structure of the surface conduction electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied is roughly classified into a planar type and a vertical type. First, the basic structure of a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic views showing an example of the configuration of a planar surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention. FIG. 1A is a plan view and FIG. 1B is a longitudinal sectional view. In FIG. 1, 1
Is a substrate, 2 and 3 are device electrodes, 4 is a conductive film, 5 is an electron emitting portion, and 10 is a film containing metal nitride as a main component (hereinafter referred to as “metal nitride film”).

Examples of the substrate 1 include quartz glass, glass having a reduced impurity content such as Na, blue plate glass, a laminate of blue plate glass with SiO ₂ laminated thereon by sputtering, ceramics such as alumina, and a Si substrate. Can be used.

The material of the opposing device electrodes 2 and 3 is
Common conductor materials can be used, for example Ni, C
metals or alloys such as r, Au, Mo, W, Pt, Ti, Al, Cu, Pd and Pd, Ag, Au, RuO ₂ , Pd
It is appropriately selected from a printed conductor composed of a metal such as —Ag or a metal oxide and glass, a transparent conductor such as In ₂ O ₃ —SnO ₂ and a semiconductor conductor material such as polysilicon.

The element electrode interval L, the element electrode length W, the shape of the conductive film 4 and the like are designed in consideration of the applied form and the like. The element electrode spacing L can be preferably in the range of several hundreds nm to several hundreds μm, and more preferably several μm to several tens μm in consideration of the voltage applied between the device electrodes.
Can be in the range of.

The length W of the device electrode can be in the range of several μm to several hundred μm in consideration of the resistance value of the electrode and the electron emission characteristics. The film thickness d of the device electrodes 2 and 3 can be in the range of several tens nm to several μm.

In addition to the structure shown in FIG.
It is also possible to have a structure in which the conductive film 4 and the opposing device electrodes 2 and 3 are laminated in this order on top.

As a material constituting the conductive film 4, for example, Pd, Pt, Ru, Ag, Au, Ti, In, Cu,
Metals such as Cr, Fe, Zn, Sn, Ta, W, and Pb;
oxides such as dO, SnO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , PbO, Sb ₂ O ₃ , HfB ₂ , ZrB ₂ , LaB ₆ , CeB ₆ , Y
Borides such as B ₄ and GdB ₄ , TiC, ZrC, HfC,
Carbides such as TaC, SiC and WC, TiN, ZrN,
Examples include nitrides such as HfN, semiconductors such as Si and Ge, and carbon.

As the conductive film 4, a fine particle film composed of fine particles is preferably used 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 forming conditions described later, but normally, it is several Å to several hundred nm. It is preferably in the range, and more preferably in the range of 5 to 50 nm. The resistance value is Rs
Is preferably 10 ² Ω / □ to 10 ⁷ Ω / □. Note that Rs is an amount that appears when the resistance R measured in the length direction of a thin film having a width w and a length l is written as R = Rs (l / w). The fine particle film described here is a film in which a plurality of fine particles are aggregated, and its fine structure is not only in a state in which fine particles are individually dispersed and arranged but also in a state in which fine particles are adjacent to each other or overlap each other (some fine particles are (Including cases where they are aggregated to form an island structure as a whole)
Has taken. The particle size of the fine particles is in the range of several to several hundreds of nm, preferably in the range of 1 to 20 nm.

In the present specification, the term “fine particles” is frequently used, and its meaning will be described.

Small particles are called "fine particles", and smaller ones are called "ultra fine particles". It is widely known that particles smaller than "ultrafine particles" and having a number of atoms of about several hundreds or less are called "clusters".

However, each boundary is not strict, and changes depending on what kind of property is focused on. Further, “fine particles” and “ultrafine particles” may be collectively referred to as “fine particles”, and the description in this specification is in line with this.

For example, in “Experimental Physics Course 14: Surfaces and Particles” (edited by Kinoshita Yoshio, published by Kyoritsu Shuppan, September 1, 1986), “particles in this paper have diameters of about 2-3 μm to 10 nm. And especially when it is referred to as ultrafine particles, the particle size is about 10 nm to 2-3 n.
It means up to about m. It is not exactly strict because both are collectively written as fine particles, but it is a rough guide. When the number of atoms constituting a particle is from 2 to several tens to several hundreds, it is called a cluster. (Page 195, lines 22 to 26).

In addition, the definition of "ultra-fine particles" in the "Hayashi / Ultra-fine Particle Project" of the New Technology Development Corporation has a lower limit of the particle size, which is as follows.

In the "Ultrafine particle project" (1981 to 1986) of the Creative Science and Technology Promotion System, particles having a size (diameter) in the range of about 1 to 100 nm are called "ultrafine particles". Then, one ultrafine particle is about 100-
It is an aggregate of about 10 ⁸ atoms. Ultra-fine particles are large to giant particles on an atomic scale. ("Ultra Fine Particles-Creative Science and Technology" Hayashi Tax, Ryoji Ueda, Akira Tazaki
Edited by Mita Shuppan 1988, page 2, lines 1 to 4) /
"A particle even smaller than an ultrafine particle, that is, a single particle composed of several to several hundred atoms, is usually called a cluster" (ibid., Page 2, lines 12 to 13).

Based on the above general term,
In the present specification, "fine particles" are aggregates of a large number of atoms and molecules, the lower limit of the particle size is several Å to 1 nm, and the upper limit thereof is several μm.
I will refer to something of a degree.

The electron-emitting portion 5 is composed of a high-resistance crack formed in a part of the conductive film 4, and depends on the film thickness, film quality, material of the conductive film 4 and a method such as energization forming described later. It will be what you did. In some cases, conductive fine particles having a particle size in the range of several 数 to several tens of nm are present inside the electron-emitting portion 5. The conductive fine particles contain some or all of the elements of the material forming the conductive film 4.

At least half of the composition of the film 10 containing metal nitride as a main component is made of metal nitride, and additionally contains a metal or the like. The metal nitride used for this purpose is not limited to a nitride of a single metal element, but may be a composite nitride containing a plurality of metal elements. The metal nitride film 10 is formed by selectively depositing on the conductive film 4 by a chemical vapor deposition method. Specifically, for example, selective deposition can be performed by applying a voltage between the device electrodes 2 and 3 in a gas phase containing a mixture of an organometallic compound or a metal halide and NH ₃ or nitrogen.

The metal nitride film 10 is usually composed of polycrystalline, single crystalline, amorphous, or a mixed crystal thereof.

It is preferable that the above metal nitride has a work function lower than that of other substances constituting the electron emitting portion, preferably 4 eV or less, and has a high melting point, preferably about 3000 ° C. Specifically, for example, TaN, T
iN and the like. As a result, preferable electron emission characteristics are obtained, and operation stability equal to or higher than that of the conventional one is expected.

In the electron-emitting device of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, at least a part of one or both of the conductive films 4 with the electron-emitting portion 5 as a boundary is mainly composed of the above metal nitride. And is covered with a film 10. Although depending on the distance between the device electrodes 2 and 3, the metal nitride film 10 formed by the chemical vapor deposition method may also be deposited on the device electrodes.

Next, a vertical type surface conduction electron-emitting device will be described.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an example of the configuration of a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device according to the present invention. The same portions as those shown in FIG. Signs are attached. 21 is a step forming part. The substrate 1, the device electrodes 2 and 3, the conductive film 4, the electron emission portion 5, and the metal nitride film 10 as a main component are made of the same material as in the case of the planar surface conduction electron emission device described above. be able to. The step forming portion 21 can be made of an insulating material such as SiO ₂ formed by a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. The film thickness of the step forming portion 21 corresponds to the device electrode interval L of the flat surface conduction electron-emitting device described above, and is several hundreds n.
It can be in the range of m to several tens of μm. This film thickness is set in consideration of the manufacturing method of the step forming portion and the voltage applied between the element electrodes, but is preferably in the range of several tens nm to several μm.

The conductive film 4 is laminated on the device electrodes 2 and 3 after the device electrodes 2 and 3 and the step forming portion 21 are formed. The electron-emitting portion 5 is the step forming portion 21 in FIG.
However, depending on manufacturing conditions, forming conditions, and the like, the shape and position are not limited to these.

There are various methods for manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention. One example will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, the same parts as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those shown in FIG.

1) The substrate 1 is thoroughly washed with a detergent, pure water, an organic solvent, etc., and after the element electrode material is deposited by the vacuum deposition method, the sputtering method, etc., the substrate 1 is deposited on the substrate 1 by, for example, the photolithography technique. The device electrodes 2 and 3 are formed (see FIG. 3).
(A)).

2) On the substrate 1 on which the device electrodes 2 and 3 are provided,
An organometallic solution is applied to form an organometallic film. As the organic metal solution, a solution of an organic compound containing the metal of the material of the conductive film 4 as a main element can be used. The organic metal film is heated and baked, and is patterned by lift-off, etching or the like to form the conductive film 4 (FIG. 3).
(B)). Here, the method of applying the organic metal solution has been described as an example, but the method of forming the conductive film 4 is not limited to this, and a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, a chemical vapor deposition method,
It is also possible to use a dispersion coating method, a dipping method, a spinner method, or the like.

3) Subsequently, a forming process is performed. As an example of a method of the forming step, a method by an energization process will be described. When electricity is supplied from a power supply (not shown) between the device electrodes 2 and 3, an electron emitting portion 5 having a changed structure is formed at the portion of the conductive film 4 (FIG. 3C). According to the energization forming, the conductive film 4 is locally formed with a portion having a structural change such as breakage, deformation or alteration. This portion constitutes the electron emission section 5. FIG. 4 shows an example of the voltage waveform of the energization forming.

The voltage waveform is particularly preferably a pulse waveform.
For this purpose, the method shown in FIG. 4 (a) in which a pulse having a constant pulse peak value is continuously applied and the method shown in FIG. 4 (b) in which a pulse is applied while increasing the pulse peak value are used. is there.

First, the case where the pulse peak value is a constant voltage will be described with reference to FIG. T1 in FIG.
And T2 are the pulse width and pulse interval of the voltage waveform. The peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during energization forming) is
It is appropriately selected depending on the form of the surface conduction electron-emitting device. Under such conditions, for example, a voltage is applied for several seconds to several tens minutes. The pulse waveform is not limited to a triangular wave, and a desired waveform such as a rectangular wave can be adopted.

Next, the case where the voltage pulse is applied while the pulse crest value is increased will be described with reference to FIG.
T1 and T2 in FIG. 4B can be the same as those shown in FIG. 4A. The peak value of the triangular wave (peak voltage during energization forming) can be increased, for example, by about 0.1 V steps.

The end of the energization forming process can be detected by applying a voltage that does not locally destroy or deform the conductive film 4 during the pulse interval T2, and measuring the current. For example, a current flowing when a voltage of about 0.1 V is applied is measured, and a resistance value is obtained. When a resistance of 1 MΩ or more is indicated, the energization forming is terminated.

4) After the forming, the element is subjected to a treatment called an activation step for selectively growing the metal nitride film 10. By this activation process, the device current If and the emission current Ie can be remarkably changed.

The formation of the film 10 containing metal nitride as a main component is performed by, for example, depositing an organometallic compound or a metal halide and NH in a vacuum container kept at a vacuum degree of about 10 ^-2 to 10 ^-5 Torr. Introduce a mixture of ₃ or nitrogen,
It is formed by applying the same voltage as in energization forming. That is, by a chemical vapor deposition method, an organometallic compound or a metal halide present in a vacuum and NH
A mixture of ₃ or nitrogen is decomposed to form a deposited film 10 containing metal nitride as a main component and also a metal depending on conditions (FIG. 3D).

Specific examples of the organometallic compound or metal halide used here include pentadimethylaminotantalum, tetradimethylaminotitanium, tetradiethylaminotitanium, tetradimethylaminozirconium, tetradiethylaminozirconium, TiCl ₄ ,
TaCl _4, HfCl _4, such as VCl _4, and the like.

In the activation process, the efficiency η (value obtained by dividing the emission current Ie by the device current If) is calculated while measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie, and the activation process is performed at the time when the efficiency is maximized. Can be ended.

According to the activation process (that is, the metal nitride film forming process) according to the present invention, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, a part of the electron-emitting portion 5 which is deformed and altered by the forming process is mainly treated. On the high potential side, metal and metal nitride formed by chemical vapor deposition are deposited. It is also possible to reverse the polarity of the voltage during the above process and deposit the same metal and metal nitride film on both the high potential side and the low potential side.

5) It is preferable that the electron-emitting device obtained through these steps is subjected to a stabilizing step. In this step, substances introduced for activation treatment in the vacuum container,
This is a step of exhausting the remaining organic substances. It is preferable to use a vacuum exhaust device that does not use oil so that the oil generated from the device does not affect the characteristics of the element. Specifically, a vacuum exhaust device such as a sorption pump or an ion pump can be used.

The partial pressure of the substance introduced during the activation treatment in the vacuum container and the remaining organic component is 1 × 10 1 at which metal, metal compound, carbon and carbon compound are not newly deposited.
^-8 Torr or less is preferable, and further 1 × 10 ^-10 To
rr or less is particularly preferable. Further, when evacuating the inside of the vacuum vessel, the entire vacuum vessel is heated, and the inner wall of the vacuum vessel,
It is preferable to facilitate exhausting the residual substance molecules adsorbed on the electron-emitting device. The heating conditions at this time are 80 to 250.
It is desirable to treat at ℃, preferably 150 ℃ or more, as long as possible, but not limited to this condition,
The conditions are appropriately selected according to various conditions such as the size and shape of the vacuum container and the structure of the electron-emitting device. The pressure inside the vacuum container must be as low as possible, 1 × 10 ^-7 Torr
The following is preferable, and 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ Torr or less is particularly preferable.

It is preferable that the atmosphere at the time of driving after carrying out the stabilizing step is the atmosphere at the end of the stabilizing treatment, but the atmosphere is not limited to this, and metal compounds and organic substances are sufficiently removed. If so, even if the pressure itself is increased to some extent, it is possible to maintain sufficiently stable characteristics. By adopting such a vacuum atmosphere, the generation of new deposits can be suppressed, and H ₂ O adsorbed on the vacuum container or the substrate,
O _{2 and the} like can be removed, and as a result, the device current If and the emission current Ie are stabilized.

The basic characteristics of the electron-emitting device to which the present invention is applicable obtained through the above steps will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a vacuum processing apparatus. This vacuum processing apparatus also has a function as a measurement and evaluation apparatus. Also in FIG. 5, the same parts as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those shown in FIG.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 55 denotes a vacuum vessel,
Reference numeral 6 denotes an exhaust pump. An electron-emitting device is provided in the vacuum vessel 55. Reference numeral 51 denotes a power supply for applying a device voltage Vf to the electron-emitting device; 50, an ammeter for measuring a device current If flowing through the conductive film 4 between the device electrodes 2 and 3; An anode electrode for capturing the emission current Ie emitted from the unit 5, a high-voltage power supply 53 for applying a voltage to the anode electrode 54, and a reference numeral 52 for measuring the emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission unit 5. It is an ammeter. As an example, the measurement can be performed with the voltage of the anode electrode 54 in the range of 1 kV to 10 kV and the distance H between the anode electrode 54 and the electron-emitting device in the range of 2 to 8 mm.

In the vacuum container 55, equipment necessary for measurement in a vacuum atmosphere such as a vacuum gauge (not shown) is provided.
The measurement and evaluation can be performed in a desired vacuum atmosphere.

The exhaust pump 56 is composed of a normal high vacuum system such as a turbo pump and a rotary pump, and an ultra high vacuum system such as an ion pump. The entire vacuum processing apparatus provided with the electron-emitting device substrate shown here can be heated by a heater (not shown). Therefore, by using this vacuum processing apparatus, the steps after the above-described energization forming can be performed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing the relationship between the emission voltage Ie and the device current If measured using the vacuum processing apparatus shown in FIG. 5 and the device voltage Vf. In FIG. 6, since the emission current Ie is significantly smaller than the device current If, it is shown in arbitrary units. The vertical and horizontal axes are linear scales.

As is clear from FIG. 6, the surface conduction electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied has the following three characteristic properties regarding the emission current Ie.

That is, first, when an element voltage of a certain voltage (referred to as a threshold voltage; Vth in FIG. 6) or more is applied to the present element, the emission current Ie rapidly increases, while on the other hand, when the element voltage is equal to or lower than the threshold voltage Vth. Almost no Ie is detected. That is, it is a non-linear element having a clear threshold voltage Vth with respect to the emission current Ie.

Secondly, since the emission current Ie monotonously increases with the element voltage Vf, the emission current Ie can be controlled by the element voltage Vf.

Thirdly, the emitted charges trapped in the anode electrode 54 (see FIG. 5) depend on the time for applying the device voltage Vf. That is, the amount of charge captured by the anode electrode 54 can be controlled by the time during which the device voltage Vf is applied.

As can be understood from the above description, the surface conduction electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied can easily control the electron emission characteristics according to the input signal. By utilizing this property, it is possible to apply to various fields such as an electron source and an image forming apparatus having a plurality of electron-emitting devices.

FIG. 6 shows an example in which the element current If monotonously increases with respect to the element voltage Vf (hereinafter referred to as “MI characteristic”). However, the element current If is a voltage control type with respect to the element voltage Vf. Negative resistance characteristics (hereinafter referred to as "VCNR characteristics"
Say. ) (Not shown). These properties can be controlled by controlling the steps described above.

Application examples of the electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied will be described below. By arranging a plurality of surface conduction electron-emitting devices to which the present invention can be applied on a substrate, for example, an electron source or an image forming apparatus can be configured.

Various arrangements of the electron-emitting devices can be adopted. As an example, each of a large number of electron-emitting devices arranged in parallel is connected at both ends, a large number of rows of electron-emitting devices are arranged (referred to as a row direction), and a direction perpendicular to the wiring (referred to as a column direction). There is a ladder-type arrangement in which electrons from the electron-emitting devices are controlled and driven by control electrodes (also referred to as grids) disposed above the electron-emitting devices. Separately, a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix in the X and Y directions, and one of the electrodes of the plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged in the same row is commonly connected to a wiring in the X direction. One example is one in which the other of the electrodes of a plurality of electron-emitting devices arranged in the same column is commonly connected to a wiring in the Y direction. This is a so-called simple matrix arrangement. First, the simple matrix arrangement will be described in detail below.

The surface conduction electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied has the three characteristics as described above. That is,
When the electron emission from the surface conduction electron-emitting device is equal to or higher than the threshold voltage, it can be controlled by the peak value and the width of the pulse voltage applied between the opposing device electrodes. On the other hand, below the threshold voltage, almost no emission occurs. According to this characteristic, even when a large number of electron-emitting devices are arranged, if a pulse-like voltage is appropriately applied to each of the devices, a surface conduction electron-emitting device is selected according to an input signal, and the amount of electron emission is determined. Can be controlled.

Based on this principle, an electron source substrate obtained by arranging a plurality of electron-emitting devices to which the present invention can be applied will be described below with reference to FIG. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 71 denotes an electron source substrate, 72 denotes an X-direction wiring, and 73 denotes a Y-direction wiring.
74 is a surface conduction electron-emitting device, and 75 is a connection.

The m X-direction wirings 72 are Dx1, Dx
2,..., Dxm, and can be formed of a conductive metal or the like formed using a vacuum deposition method, a printing method, a sputtering method, or the like. The material, thickness and width of the wiring are appropriately designed.
The Y-direction wiring 73 is formed of n of Dy1, Dy2,.
It is formed in the same manner as the X-direction wiring 72. These m X-direction wires 72 and n Y-direction wires 7
An interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is provided between
Both are electrically separated (m and n are both positive integers).

The interlayer insulating layer (not shown) is made of SiO ₂ or the like formed by using a vacuum 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-directional wiring 72 is formed. The material and the production method are appropriately set. The X-direction wiring 72 and the Y-direction wiring 73 are respectively drawn out as external terminals.

A pair of device electrodes (not shown) constituting the surface conduction electron-emitting device 74 are connected to m X-direction wires 72 and n Y-direction wires 73 by a connection 75 made of a conductive metal or the like. It is electrically connected.

The material forming the wiring 72 and the wiring 73, the material forming the connection 75, and the material forming the pair of element electrodes may be partially or entirely the same or different from each other. Good. These materials are appropriately selected, for example, from the above-mentioned material for the device electrode. When the material forming the element electrode is the same as the wiring material, the wiring connected to the element electrode can also be called an element electrode.

The X-direction wiring 72 is connected to a scanning signal applying means (not shown) for applying a scanning signal for selecting a row of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices 74 arranged in the X direction.
On the other hand, 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 is connected to the Y-direction wiring 73. 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 configuration, individual elements can be selected and driven independently using a 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. 8, 9 and 10. FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing an example of a display panel of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a fluorescent film used in the image forming apparatus of FIG. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a drive circuit for performing display according to an NTSC television signal.

In FIG. 8, 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 face plate on which a metal back 85 and the like are formed. Reference numeral 82 denotes a support frame, and a rear plate 81 and a face plate 86 are connected to the support frame 82 using frit glass or the like. Reference numeral 88 denotes an envelope, which is sealed by firing at a temperature range of 400 to 500 ° C. for 10 minutes or more in the atmosphere or nitrogen, for example.

Reference numeral 74 denotes an electron-emitting device as shown in FIG. Reference numerals 72 and 73 denote an X-direction wiring and a Y-direction wiring connected to a pair of device electrodes of the 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 substrate 71, if the substrate 71 itself has sufficient strength, the separate rear plate 81 can be unnecessary. That is, the support frame 82 is directly sealed to the substrate 71, and the envelope 8 is formed by the face plate 86, the support frame 82 and the substrate 71.
8 may be configured. On the other hand, by installing a support (not shown) called a spacer between the face plate 86 and the rear plate 81, the envelope 88 having sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure can be configured.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a fluorescent film. The fluorescent film 84 can be composed of only a phosphor in the case of monochrome. In the case of a color fluorescent film, a black conductive material 91 called a black stripe (FIG. 9A) or a black matrix (FIG. 9B) or the like and a fluorescent material 92 may be used depending on the arrangement of the fluorescent materials. it can. The purpose of providing the black stripe and black matrix is
In the case of color display, the color separation between the phosphors 92 of the necessary three primary color phosphors is made black to make color mixing less conspicuous, and a decrease in contrast due to reflection of external light on the phosphor film 84 is suppressed. It is in. Black conductive material 91
As the material of, other than a commonly used material containing graphite as a main component, a material having conductivity and low light transmission and reflection can be used.

The method of applying the fluorescent substance to the glass substrate 83 can employ a precipitation method or a printing method irrespective of monochrome or color. Usually, a metal back 85 is provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 84. The purpose of providing a metal back is
The light emitted from the phosphor toward the inner surface is converted into a face plate 8.
Improve the brightness by reflecting the light on the 6 side.
The purpose is to function as an electrode for applying an electron beam acceleration voltage, and 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 evaporation or the like.

The face plate 86 further has the fluorescent film 8
A transparent electrode (not shown) may be provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 84 in order to increase the conductivity of the phosphor film 84.

When performing the above-mentioned sealing, in the case of color, it is necessary to make each color phosphor correspond to the electron-emitting device, and sufficient alignment is indispensable.

The image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 8 is manufactured, for example, as follows.

[0102] Within the envelope 88, similar to the aforementioned stabilization step, while being heated appropriately, ion pump, by an exhaust device not using oil, such as a sorption pump evacuated through an exhaust pipe (not shown), 10 ^- After the atmosphere is made sufficiently low in an organic substance having a vacuum degree of about ⁷ Torr, sealing is performed. In order to maintain a vacuum degree after the envelope 88 is sealed, a getter process may be performed. This is because a getter (not shown) disposed at a predetermined position in the envelope 88 is heated by heating using resistance heating, high-frequency heating, or the like immediately before or after the envelope 88 is sealed. This is a process for forming a deposited film. A getter typically contains Ba as a principal component, the adsorption effect of the vapor deposition film, for example, 1 × 10 ^-7
It maintains the degree of vacuum of Torr or more. here,
The steps after the forming process of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be set appropriately.

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

The display panel 101 has terminals Dx1 to Dx
m, terminals Dy1 to Dyn, and a high-voltage terminal 87 to connect to an external electric circuit. Terminals Dx1 to Dxm sequentially drive electron sources provided in the display panel 101, that is, a group of surface conduction electron-emitting devices arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns in a matrix (row by row). A scanning signal for performing the scanning is applied. The terminals Dy1 to Dyn include
A modulation signal for controlling an output electron beam of each element of one row of surface conduction electron-emitting devices selected by the scanning signal is applied. The high voltage terminal 87 is supplied with a DC voltage of, for example, 10 K [V] from a DC voltage source Va, which is sufficient to excite the electron beam emitted from the surface conduction electron-emitting device to excite the phosphor. It is an accelerating voltage for applying high energy.

The scanning circuit 102 will be described. The circuit includes m switching elements (S1 to S
m is schematically shown). Each switching element selects either the output voltage of the DC voltage power supply Vx or 0 [V] (ground level),
It is electrically connected to terminals Dx1 to Dxm of the display panel 101. Each of the switching elements S1 to Sm operates based on a control signal Tscan output from the control circuit 103, and can be configured by combining switching elements such as FETs, for example.

In the case of this example, the DC voltage source Vx determines that the driving voltage applied to the non-scanned element is equal to or lower than the electron emission threshold voltage based on the characteristics (electron emission threshold voltage) of the surface conduction electron-emitting element. It is set to output such a constant voltage.

The control circuit 103 has a function of matching the operation of each unit so that appropriate display is performed based on an image signal input from the outside. The control circuit 103 controls the synchronization signal Tsync sent from the synchronization signal separation circuit 106.
, Tscan, Tsft and T
mry control signals are generated.

The synchronizing signal separating circuit 106 is a circuit for separating a synchronizing signal component and a luminance signal component from an NTSC television signal input from the outside, and uses a general frequency separating (filter) circuit or the like. Can be configured. The synchronizing signal separated by the synchronizing signal separating circuit 106 includes a vertical synchronizing signal and a horizontal synchronizing 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. This DATA signal is output to the shift register 10
4 is input.

The shift register 104 is for serially / parallel converting the DATA signal input serially in time series for each line of an image, and is based on a control signal Tsft sent from the control circuit 103. (In other words, the control signal Tsft may be rephrased as a shift clock of the shift register 104). Data for one line of serial / parallel converted image (equivalent to drive data for n electron-emitting devices)
Are 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 only, and stores the contents of Id1 to Idn as appropriate according to a control signal Tmry sent from the control circuit 103. The stored contents are output as Id′1 to Id′n and input to the modulation signal generator 107.

Modulation signal generator 107 outputs image data I
a signal source for appropriately driving and modulating each of the surface conduction electron-emitting devices according to each of d′ 1 to Id′n;
The output signal is applied to the surface conduction electron-emitting device in the display panel 101 through the terminals Dy1 to Dyn.

As described above, the electron-emitting device to which the present invention can be applied has the following basic characteristics regarding the emission current Ie. That is, electron emission has a clear threshold voltage Vth, and electron emission occurs only when a voltage equal to or higher than Vth is applied. For a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold, the emission current also changes according to the change in the voltage applied to the device. From this, when a pulse-like voltage is applied to this element, for example, when a voltage lower than the electron emission threshold voltage is applied, electron emission does not occur, but when a voltage higher than the electron emission threshold voltage is applied, electrons are not emitted. A beam is output. At this time, the pulse peak value V
By changing m, the intensity of the output electron beam can be controlled. Further, by changing the pulse width Pw, it is possible to control the total amount of charges of the output electron beam.

Therefore, as a method of modulating the electron-emitting device according to the input signal, a voltage modulation method, a pulse width modulation method, or the like can be adopted. When implementing the voltage modulation method, the modulation signal generator 107 generates a voltage pulse of a fixed length, and a voltage modulation circuit capable of appropriately modulating the peak value of the voltage pulse according to input data. Can be used. When carrying out the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 107 uses a pulse width modulation method that generates a voltage pulse having a constant peak value and appropriately modulates the width of the voltage pulse according to the input data. A circuit can be used.

The shift register 104 and the line memory 10
5 can be a digital signal type or an analog signal type. 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 synchronization signal separation circuit 106 into a digital signal. For this purpose, an A / D converter is provided at the output of the synchronization signal separation circuit 106. Just do it. In this connection, the circuit used for the modulation signal generator 107 is slightly different depending on whether the output signal of the line memory 105 is a digital signal or an analog signal. That is, in the case of the voltage modulation method using a digital signal, the modulation signal generator 107 includes:
For example, a D / A conversion circuit is used, and an amplification circuit and the like are added as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, the modulation signal generator 107 includes, for example, a high-speed oscillator, 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. (Comparator) is used. If necessary, an amplifier for amplifying the voltage of the pulse width modulated 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, for example, an amplification circuit using an operational amplifier or the like can be used as the modulation signal generator 107, and a level shift circuit or the like can be added as necessary. In the case of the pulse width modulation method, for example, a voltage-controlled oscillation circuit (VCO) can be employed, and an amplifier for amplifying the voltage up to the drive voltage of the surface conduction electron-emitting device can be added as necessary.

In the image forming apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, which has such a configuration, by applying a voltage to each of the electron-emitting devices via the terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 to Dyn outside the container, the electron-emitting devices can emit electrons. Occurs. A high voltage is applied to the metal back 85 or a transparent electrode (not shown) via the high voltage terminal 87 to accelerate the electron beam. The accelerated electrons collide with the fluorescent film 84 and emit light to form an image.

The configuration of the image forming apparatus described here is an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention. The input signal has been described in the NTSC system. However, the input signal is not limited to this. In addition to the PAL and SECAM systems,
A TV signal composed of more scanning lines than these (for example,
A high-definition TV system such as the MUSE system can also be adopted.

Next, the above-mentioned ladder-type electron source and image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a ladder-type electron source. In FIG. 11, reference numeral 110 denotes an electron source substrate, and 111 denotes an electron-emitting device. Reference numeral 112 denotes common wirings D1 to D10 for connecting the electron-emitting devices 111, and these are drawn out as external terminals. A plurality of electron-emitting devices 111 are arranged on the substrate 110 in parallel in the X direction (this is called an element row). A plurality of the element rows are arranged to constitute an electron source. By applying a drive voltage between the common wires of each element row, each element row can be driven independently. That is, a voltage equal to or higher than the electron emission threshold is applied to the element rows where the electron beam is to be emitted, and a voltage equal to or lower than the electron emission threshold is applied to the element rows where the electron beam is not desired to be emitted. For example, the common wirings D2 to D9 located between the element rows may be formed by integrating D2 and D3 into the same wiring.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing an example of a panel structure in an image forming apparatus provided with a ladder type electron source. Reference numeral 120 denotes a grid electrode, 121 denotes an opening through which electrons pass, D1 to Dm denote external terminals, and G1 to Gn denote external terminals connected to the grid electrode 120. 1
Reference numeral 10 denotes an electron source substrate in which the common wiring between the element rows is the same wiring. In FIG. 12, the same portions as those shown in FIGS. 8 and 11 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those shown in these drawings. A major difference between the image forming apparatus shown here and the image forming apparatus having the simple matrix arrangement shown in FIG. 8 is whether or not the grid electrode 120 is provided between the electron source substrate 110 and the face plate 86.

In FIG. 12, 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 111, and allows the electron beam to pass through a stripe-shaped electrode provided orthogonal to the ladder-type element row. Therefore, one circular opening 121 is provided for each element. The shapes and arrangement positions of the grid electrodes are not limited to those shown in FIG. For example, a large number of through holes may be provided as openings as meshes, and grid electrodes may be provided around or near the surface conduction electron-emitting device.

The external terminals D1 to Dm and the grid external terminals G1 to Gn are electrically connected to a control circuit (not shown).

In the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, a modulation signal for one line of an image is simultaneously applied to the grid electrode rows in synchronization with sequentially driving (scanning) the element rows one by one. 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 of the present invention described above is a display apparatus for a television broadcast, a display apparatus such as a video conference system and a computer, and an image forming apparatus as an optical printer using a photosensitive drum or the like. Etc. can also be used.

[0125]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below with reference to specific examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples, and each element within a range in which the object of the present invention is achieved. This also includes those in which substitutions or design changes have been made.

[Embodiment 1] The structure of a basic surface conduction electron-emitting device according to this embodiment is the same as the plan view and sectional view of FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b). In FIG. 1, 1 is a substrate, 2 and 3 are device electrodes, 4 is a conductive film, 5 is an electron emitting portion, and 10 is a metal nitride film.

The method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device according to this example is basically the same as that shown in FIG.
The basic structure and manufacturing method of the device according to this embodiment will be described in sequence with reference to FIGS.

Step-a A substrate 1 was obtained by forming a 0.5 μm thick silicon oxide film on the cleaned soda-lime glass by a sputtering method. This board 1
On top of that, a pattern which is to be a gap between the device electrodes 2 and 3 and a desired device electrode is formed by a photoresist (RD-2000N-
41 / manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.), and Ti having a thickness of 5 nm and Ni having a thickness of 100 nm were sequentially deposited by a vacuum vapor deposition method. Dissolve the photoresist pattern with an organic solvent,
The i / Ti deposited film is lifted off, and the device electrode distance L = 3 μ
m, and the device electrodes 2 and 3 having a device electrode width W = 300 μm were formed (FIG. 3A).

Step-b The mask for forming a conductive film in this step is a mask having an inter-element electrode gap and an opening in the vicinity thereof. With this mask, a Cr film (not shown) having a film thickness of 100 nm is vacuum-deposited. Deposition and patterning, and organic Pd on it
(Ccp4230 / Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) was spin-coated with a spinner and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes. The thickness of the conductive film 4 formed of fine particles containing Pd as the main element thus formed was 10 nm, and the sheet resistance value was 2 × 10 ⁴ Ω / □. This Pd particle film is
The film was a collection of a plurality of fine particles. Subsequently, the Cr film was etched with an acid etchant and lifted off to form a conductive film 4 having a desired pattern (FIG. 3).
(B)).

Process-c Next, the substrate 1 is placed in the vacuum container 55 of the vacuum processing apparatus shown in FIG.
It was installed inside and subjected to forming treatment. In particular,
The vacuum container 55 is evacuated using the exhaust pump 56, and 2 × 10
^The degree of vacuum was ^-5 Torr. Next, the element voltage Vf is applied to the element.
From the power source 51 for applying the
A voltage was applied between them, and an energization process (forming process) was performed to form the electron emitting portion 5 (FIG. 3C). The voltage waveform of the energization forming process is shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, T1 in FIG. 4B is set to 1 m.
s and T2 were set to 10 ms, a rectangular wave was used instead of a triangular wave, and the crest value of the rectangular wave (peak voltage during forming) was raised in 0.1 V steps to perform the forming process. During the forming process, a resistance measuring pulse of 0.1 V was inserted between T2 to measure the resistance. When the forming process ends, the measured value of the resistance measurement pulse is about 1
When it was over MΩ, the application of voltage to the device was stopped at the same time. At this time, the forming voltage of a typical element was about 5.1V.

[0132] Following step -d, penta-dimethylamino tantalum using NH ₃ gas to a carrier, is introduced into the vacuum chamber 55 inside through a slow leak valve (not shown), the container by operating the exhaust system The inside was maintained at a pressure of 1.0 × 10 ⁻³ Torr. Next, a triangular wave pulse having a peak value of 14 V shown in FIG. 4A was applied to the element subjected to the forming treatment to carry out an activation treatment to form a metal nitride film 10 (FIG. 3).
(D)). At this time, when the activation process was performed while measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie, the electron emission efficiency η
Since (Ie / If) reached its maximum in about 30 minutes, the energization was stopped, the slow leak valve was closed, and the activation process was completed.

The electrical characteristics of the electron-emitting device thus obtained were subsequently evaluated using the above vacuum processing apparatus (see FIG. 5).

Specifically, the distance H between the anode electrode 54 and the electron-emitting device is 4 mm, and the potential of the anode electrode 54 is 1 mm.
A device voltage of 14 V was applied between the device electrodes 2 and 3 with kV, the degree of vacuum in the vacuum chamber 55 set to 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ Torr, and the device current If and emission current Ie flowing at that time were measured. In the electron-emitting device of the present embodiment, the device current If and the emission current Ie are stable from the initial measurement, hardly change even during long-time driving, and the device current If is 2.1 mA and the emission current is 14 V at the device voltage of 14V. Ie was 2.0 μA, and the electron emission efficiency η was 0.1%.

The morphology of the element observed with a scanning electron microscope is
It is similar to that shown in FIG. That is, depending on the direction in which the voltage is applied to the device during the activation process, the electron emission portion 5 mainly
A film containing TaN as a main component and containing a small amount of metal (the film 10 containing a metal nitride as a main component) was formed on the higher potential side than a part of the above. When observed with a higher magnification FE-SEM, this coating appeared to be formed around the metal fine particles forming the conductive film 4 and also between the fine particles.
Further, when the surface of the device was observed with a TEM or the like, a film containing a metal nitride composed of polycrystalline or amorphous as a main component was observed on the surface of the film.

Example 2 An electron-emitting device as shown in FIG. 1 was produced in exactly the same manner as in Example 1 except that step-d in Example 1 was carried out as follows.

Step-d TiCl ₄ was introduced into the vacuum container 55 through a slow leak valve (not shown) using NH ₃ gas as a carrier, and the exhaust system was operated to adjust the inside of the container to 1.0. × 10
The pressure was maintained at ^-3 Torr. Next, a triangular wave pulse having a peak value of 14 V shown in FIG. 4A was applied to the element subjected to the forming treatment for activation, and a film 10 containing metal nitride as a main component was formed (see FIG. d)). At this time, when the activation process was performed while measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie, the electron emission efficiency η reached the maximum in about 30 minutes, so the energization was stopped there, the slow leak valve was closed, and the activation was performed. The process is complete.

When the electric characteristics of the electron-emitting device thus obtained were evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1, the device current If and the emission current Ie of the electron-emitting device of this example were stable from the initial measurement. As a result, the device current If was 2.2 mA, the emission current Ie was 2.3 μA, and the electron emission efficiency η was 0.1% at a device voltage of 14 V, even if the device was driven for a long time.

The morphology of the element observed with a scanning electron microscope is
It is similar to that shown in FIG. That is, depending on the direction in which the voltage is applied to the device during the activation process, the electron emission portion 5 mainly
On the higher potential side than a part of
A film having i (the film 10 containing metal nitride as a main component) was formed. When observed with a higher magnification FE-SEM, this coating appeared to be formed around the metal fine particles forming the conductive film 4 and also between the fine particles.

For comparison, TiCl ₄ and NH ₃ gas were not introduced into the vacuum container 55, and the exhaust system was operated to maintain the pressure inside the container at 1.0 × 10 ⁻³ Torr. The same electron emission characteristics were evaluated for the device manufactured by activation. As a result, when the device voltage is 14 V, the device current If is 2.2 mA and the emission current Ie is 1.7 μm.
The electron emission efficiency η was 0.08%.

[Embodiment 3] In this embodiment, an image forming apparatus is manufactured using an electron source in which a large number of surface conduction electron-emitting devices are arranged in a simple matrix.

FIG. 13 shows a plan view of a part of a substrate on which a plurality of conductive films are arranged in matrix. In addition, A- in the figure
A sectional view taken along the line A'is shown in FIG. However, the same reference numerals in FIGS. 13 and 14 indicate the same members. Here, 1 is a substrate, 72 is an X-direction wiring (also called lower wiring) corresponding to Dxm in FIG. 7, 73 is a Y-direction wiring (also called upper wiring) corresponding to Dyn in FIG. 7, 4 is a conductive film, Reference numerals 2 and 3 are element electrodes, 161 is an interlayer insulating layer, and 162 is a contact hole for electrical connection between the element electrode 2 and the lower wiring 72.

First, the method of manufacturing the electron source substrate of this embodiment will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. In addition, the steps-a to h described below include (a) to (d) of FIG. 15 and (e) to (h) of FIG. 16, respectively.
Corresponding to.

Step-a A substrate 1 was obtained by forming a 0.5 μm thick silicon oxide film on the cleaned soda-lime glass by a sputtering method. This board 1
5 nm thick Cr and 600n thick by vacuum evaporation
m of Au are sequentially laminated, and then photoresist (AZ137
0 / made by Hoechst Co., Ltd. by spin coating and baking by a spinner, and then exposing and developing a photomask image, and the lower wiring 72
Resist pattern was formed, and the Au / Cr deposited film was wet-etched to form a lower wiring 72 having a desired shape.

Step-b Next, an interlayer insulating layer 161 made of a silicon oxide film having a thickness of 1.0 μm was deposited by the RF sputtering method.

Step-c Contact hole 1 is formed in the silicon oxide film deposited in Step b.
A photoresist pattern for forming 62 was formed, and the interlayer insulating layer 161 was etched using this as a mask to form a contact hole 162. Etching is CF ₄
And using the H ₂ gas RIE (Reactive Ion
Etching) method.

Step-d After that, a pattern was formed using a photoresist (RD-2000N-41 / manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.) in order to obtain a device electrode and a gap between the device electrodes, and a thickness of 5 was formed by a vacuum deposition method.
nm Ti and 100 nm thick Ni were sequentially deposited.
Dissolve the photoresist pattern with an organic solvent and use Ni / Ti
The deposited film is lifted off and the device electrode interval L is set to 3 μm,
The device electrodes 2 and 3 having a device electrode width W of 300 μm were formed.

Step-e After forming a photoresist pattern for the upper wiring on the device electrodes 2 and 3, Ti having a thickness of 5 nm and Au having a thickness of 500 nm are formed.
Were sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation, and unnecessary portions were removed by lift-off to form the upper wiring 73 having a desired shape.

Step-f The mask for forming a conductive film in this step is a mask having an inter-element electrode gap and an opening in the vicinity thereof. With this mask, a Cr film 163 having a film thickness of 100 nm is deposited by vacuum evaporation. Patterning and organic Pd (c
cp4230 / Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. was spin-coated with a spinner and heated and baked at 300 ° C. for 10 minutes. The conductive film 4 formed of fine particles of Pd as a main element thus formed had a film thickness of 10 nm and a sheet resistance value of 2 × 10 ⁴ Ω / □. This Pd fine particle film was a film in which a plurality of fine particles were aggregated.

Step-g The Cr film 163 and the baked conductive film 4 were etched by dry etching with Ar using a resist to obtain a conductive film 4 having a desired pattern.

Step-h A pattern was formed such that a resist was applied to portions other than the contact hole 162 portion, and Ti having a thickness of 5 nm and Au having a thickness of 500 nm were sequentially deposited by vacuum evaporation. Unnecessary portions were removed by lift-off to bury the contact holes 162.

Through the above steps, the electron source substrate 1 (FIG. 13) in which the plurality of conductive films 4 are arranged in matrix is manufactured,
Next, an image forming apparatus was manufactured using this electron source substrate 1. The manufacturing procedure will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the substrate 1 (FIG. 13) on which the plurality of conductive films 4 are matrix-wired is fixed on the rear plate 81, and then the face plate 8 is placed 5 mm above the substrate 1.
6 (formed by forming a fluorescent film 84 and a metal back 85 on the inner surface of a glass substrate 83) via a support frame 82, and a frit glass on the joint of the face plate 86, the support frame 82 and the rear plate 81. And apply in air
Sealing was performed by baking at 30 ° C. for 10 minutes or more (FIG. 8).
The fixing of the substrate 1 to the rear plate 81 was also performed with frit glass.

The fluorescent film 84 is provided in order to realize color.
A fluorescent material having a stripe shape (see FIG. 9A) was formed, a black stripe was first formed, and the fluorescent material 92 of each color was applied to the gap portion by the slurry method to form a fluorescent film 84. As a material for the black stripe, a material which is commonly used and whose main component is graphite was used.

Further, a metal back 85 is provided on the inner surface side of the fluorescent film 84. The metal back 85 is manufactured by performing a smoothing process (usually called filming) on the inner surface of the fluorescent film 84 after the fluorescent film 84 is manufactured, and then performing vacuum deposition of Al.

The face plate 86 is further provided with the fluorescent film 8
In some cases, a transparent electrode is provided on the outer surface side of the fluorescent film 84 in order to increase the conductivity of the metal back 8.
5 was omitted because sufficient conductivity was obtained.

When the above-mentioned sealing is performed, in the case of color, the phosphors 92 of the respective colors and the electron-emitting devices 74 have to correspond to each other, so that sufficient alignment is performed.

The atmosphere in the envelope 88 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 Dx1 to Dx of the container are obtained.
A voltage was applied between the device electrodes 2 and 3 through xm and Dy1 to Dyn, and the electroconductive film 4 was subjected to a forming treatment to form the electron emitting portion 5. The voltage waveform of the forming process is similar to that shown in FIG. In this embodiment, T1 is 1 ms and T2 is 10 ms, and about 1 × 10
^It was performed under a vacuum atmosphere of ^-5 Torr.

The electron-emitting portion 5 thus formed
Was composed of fine particles mainly composed of palladium element dispersedly arranged, and the average particle diameter of the fine particles was 3 nm.

Next, pentadiethylamino tantalum was introduced into the panel (envelope 88) together with NH ₃ as a carrier gas through an exhaust pipe (not shown). The activation process was performed while measuring the device current If and the emission current Ie under the vacuum of 14 V and 2 × 10 ⁻⁵ Torr with the same triangular wave as the forming.

The forming and activation treatments were performed as described above to form the electron emitting portion 5 and the electron emitting device 74 was manufactured.

Thereafter, the envelope 8 is passed through an exhaust pipe (not shown).
The inside of 8 was evacuated to a degree of vacuum of about 10 ^-6 Torr, and the exhaust pipe was welded by heating with a gas burner, and the envelope 88 was sealed. Finally, in order to maintain the degree of vacuum after sealing, a getter process was performed by a high frequency heating method.

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention completed as described above, the external terminals Dx1 to Dxm and Dy1 of the container are formed.
Through Dyn, a scanning signal and a modulation signal generated by a signal generating means (not shown) are applied to each electron-emitting device to emit electrons, and the metal back 84 is supplied with a voltage of several kV or more via the high-voltage terminal 87. An image was displayed by applying a high voltage to accelerate the emitted electrons, collide with the fluorescent film 84, and excite and emit light.

The image display device of the present example was able to stably display a good image for a long time.

[Embodiment 4] FIG. 17 shows a display panel (FIG. 8) using the above-mentioned surface conduction electron-emitting device of the present invention as an electron source, and various image information sources such as television broadcasting. It is a figure which shows an example of the image forming apparatus of this invention comprised so that the image information further provided could be displayed.

In the figure, 201 is a display panel, 100
1 is a display panel drive circuit, 1002 is a display controller, 1003 is a multiplexer, 10
04 is a decoder, 1005 is an input / output interface circuit, 1006 is a CPU, 1007 is an image generation circuit, 10
08, 1009 and 1010 are image memory interface circuits, 1011 is an image input interface circuit, 1012 and 1013 are TV signal receiving circuits, 101
Reference numeral 4 is an input unit.

When receiving a signal including both video information and audio information, such as a television signal, the present image forming apparatus naturally reproduces audio at the same time as displaying video. Descriptions of circuits, speakers, and the like relating to reception, separation, reproduction, processing, storage, etc. of audio information not directly related to the features of the present invention will be omitted.

The functions of the respective parts will be described below along the flow of image signals.

First, the TV signal receiving circuit 1013 is a circuit for receiving a TV signal transmitted using a wireless transmission system such as radio waves or spatial optical communication.

The TV signal system to be received is not particularly limited. For example, NTSC system, PAL system, SEC.
Any method such as AM method may be used. Further, a TV signal comprising a larger number of scanning lines than these, for example, a so-called high-definition TV including the MUSE system is a signal suitable for taking advantage of the display panel suitable for a large area and a large number of pixels. Source.

T received by the TV signal receiving circuit 1013
The V signal is output to the decoder 1004.

The TV signal receiving circuit 1012 is a circuit for receiving a TV signal transmitted using a wire transmission system such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. Similar to the TV signal receiving circuit 1013, the system of the TV signal to be received is not particularly limited, and the TV signal received by this circuit is also output to the decoder 1004.

Image input interface circuit 1011
Is a circuit for capturing an image signal supplied from an image input device such as a TV camera or an image reading scanner. The captured image signal is output to the decoder 1004.

Image memory interface circuit 101
Reference numeral 0 is a circuit for capturing an image signal stored in a video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR), and the captured image signal is output to the decoder 1004.

Image memory interface circuit 100
Reference numeral 9 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal stored in the video disk.
004 is output.

Image memory interface circuit 100
Reference numeral 8 denotes a circuit for capturing an image signal from a device that stores still image data, such as a still image disk, and the captured still image data is input to the decoder 1004.

The input / output interface circuit 1005 is
A circuit for connecting the display device to an external computer, a computer network, or an output device such as a printer. It is of course possible to input / output image data and character / graphic information, and in some cases, input / output control signals and numerical data between the CPU 1006 of the image forming apparatus and the outside. .

The image generation circuit 1007 receives image data, character / graphic information, or CPU 100 externally input through the input / output interface circuit 1005.
6 is a circuit for generating display image data based on the image data and character / graphic information output from 6. Inside this circuit, for example, a rewritable memory for storing image data and character / graphic information, a read-only memory storing an image pattern corresponding to a character code, a processor for performing image processing, etc. And other circuits necessary for generating an image.

The display image data generated by this circuit is output to the decoder 1004, but in some cases, it can be output to an external computer network or printer via the input / output interface circuit 1005.

The CPU 1006 mainly performs operations related to operation control of the display device and generation, selection and editing of a display image.

For example, a control signal is output to the multiplexer 1003 to appropriately select or combine image signals to be displayed on the display panel. At that time, the display panel controller 1 is operated according to the image signal to be displayed.
A control signal is generated for 002 to appropriately control the operation of the display device such as the screen display frequency, the scanning method (for example, interlaced or non-interlaced), and the number of scanning lines on one screen. Further, the image data or the character / graphic information is directly output to the image generation circuit 1007, or the external computer or memory is accessed through the input / output interface circuit 1005 to display the image data or the character / graphic information. input.

It should be noted that the CPU 1006 may also be involved in work for other purposes. For example, it may directly relate to a function of generating and processing information, such as a personal computer or a word processor. Alternatively, as described above, the input / output interface circuit 1005
The computer may be connected to an external computer network via a computer, and work such as numerical calculation may be performed in cooperation with an external device.

The input unit 1014 is used by the user to input commands, programs, data, etc. to the CPU 1006. For example, a keyboard, a mouse, a joystick, a bar code reader, a voice recognition device, and the like can be used. An input device can be used.

The decoder 1004 converts various image signals input from the above 1007 to 1013 into three primary color signals,
Alternatively, it is a circuit for inversely converting the luminance signal into the I signal and the Q signal. In addition, as shown by a dotted line in the figure, the decoder 100
4 preferably has an image memory inside. This is for handling a television signal that requires an image memory when performing inverse conversion, such as the MUSE method.

The provision of the image memory makes it easy to display a still image. Alternatively, the image generation circuit 1007
And the CPU 1006 in cooperation with the image thinning, interpolation,
There is an advantage that image processing and editing including enlargement, reduction, and composition become easy.

The multiplexer 1003 corresponds to the CPU 1
The display image is appropriately selected based on the control signal input from 006. That is, the multiplexer 1003
Selects a desired image signal from the inversely converted image signals input from the decoder 1004, and drives the drive circuit 1001.
Output to In that case, by switching and selecting an image signal within one screen display time, it is also possible to divide one screen into a plurality of areas and display different images depending on the areas, as in a so-called multi-screen television. .

Display panel controller 1002
Is a circuit for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 1001 based on a control signal input from the CPU 1006.

As a signal relating to the basic operation of the display panel, for example, a signal for controlling an operation sequence of a power source (not shown) for driving the display panel is output to the drive circuit 1001. A signal for controlling a screen display frequency and a scanning method (for example, interlace or non-interlace) is output to the drive circuit 1001 as a method related to the display panel drive method. In some cases, a control signal relating to image quality adjustment such as luminance, contrast, color tone, and sharpness of a display image may be output to the driving circuit 1001.

The drive circuit 1001 is a circuit for generating a drive signal to be applied to the display panel 201, based on the image signal input from the multiplexer 1003 and the control signal input from the display panel controller 1002. It works.

Although the functions of the respective parts have been described above, the image information input from various image information sources can be displayed on the display panel 201 in the present image forming apparatus by the configuration illustrated in FIG. . That is, various image signals including television broadcasting are transmitted to the decoder 10.
After being inversely converted in 04, it is appropriately selected in the multiplexer 1003 and input to the drive circuit 1001.
On the other hand, the display controller 1002 generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the drive circuit 1001 according to an image signal to be displayed. The drive circuit 1001 uses the image signal and the control signal to display the display panel 201.
Is applied with a drive signal. Thus, an image is displayed on the display panel 201. These series of operations are totally controlled by the CPU 1006.

In this image forming apparatus, the image memory built in the decoder 1004 and the image generating circuit 100 are included.
7 and information not only selected but also displayed image information such as enlargement, reduction, rotation, movement, edge enhancement, thinning, interpolation, color conversion, image aspect ratio conversion, etc. It is also possible to perform initial image processing and image editing including synthesizing, erasing, connecting, replacing, and fitting. Although not specifically mentioned in the description of the present embodiment, a dedicated circuit for processing and editing audio information may be provided as in the above-described image processing and image editing.

Therefore, the present image forming apparatus includes a display device for television broadcasting, a terminal device for video conference, an image editing device for handling still images and moving images, a terminal device for computer,
It is possible to combine the functions of office terminals such as word processors, game machines, etc., with a very wide range of applications for industrial or consumer use.

The display device shown in FIG. 17 can be variously modified based on the technical idea of the present invention. Figure 1
Of the seven constituent elements, circuits relating to functions that are unnecessary for the purpose of use may be omitted. Conversely, additional components may be added depending on the purpose of use. For example, when the display device is applied as a video telephone, it is preferable to add a television camera, a voice microphone, an illuminator, a transmission / reception circuit including a modem, and the like to the components.

In the display device of this example, the surface-conduction type electron-emitting device of the present invention, which has stable electron emission characteristics and high electron emission efficiency, is used as an electron source to form an image forming apparatus. A display image with excellent brightness and operational stability was obtained.

[0195]

As described above, according to the electron-emitting device of the present invention, it is possible to provide an electron-emitting device having stable electron emission characteristics and high electron emission efficiency.

In addition, a large number of electron-emitting devices are formed in an array,
In an electron source that emits electrons in response to an input signal, each electron-emitting device can maintain a good electron-emitting characteristic for a long time, and an image forming apparatus using such an electron source operates at high brightness. It became possible to display an image with excellent stability.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a large-area flat display which is compatible with color images, has high brightness and contrast, and has high display quality.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view and a vertical cross-sectional view schematically showing a flat surface conduction electron-emitting device which is an example of an electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a vertical surface conduction electron-emitting device which is an example of the electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method of manufacturing the surface conduction electron-emitting device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an example of a voltage waveform used for a forming process.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a vacuum processing apparatus (measurement evaluation apparatus) that can be used for manufacturing the electron-emitting device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a typical example of a relationship between an emission current Ie and a device current If and a device voltage Vf of a surface conduction electron-emitting device suitable for the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electron source of the present invention in a simple matrix arrangement.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of a display panel used in the image forming apparatus of the present invention using an electron source having a simple matrix arrangement.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a fluorescent film in the display panel of FIG.

10 is a diagram showing an example of a drive circuit for driving the display panel of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a schematic plan view of the electron source of the present invention in a ladder-type arrangement.

FIG. 12 is a schematic configuration diagram of a display panel used in the image forming apparatus of the present invention using a ladder-type electron source.

FIG. 13 is a partial plan view of an electron source substrate having a simple matrix arrangement shown in a third embodiment.

14 is a partial cross-sectional view of the electron source substrate of FIG.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating the method for manufacturing the electron source substrate in FIG.

16 is a diagram for explaining a manufacturing method of the electron source substrate of FIG.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus according to a fourth exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a plan view of a conventional surface conduction electron-emitting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2,3 Element electrode 4 Conductive film 5 Electron emission part 10 Metal nitride film 21 Step formation part 50 Ammeter 51 for measuring the element current If flowing through the conductive film 4 Element voltage Vf is applied to the electron emission element Power supply 52 for application 52 Ammeter 53 for measuring emission current Ie emitted from the electron emission part 5 High voltage power supply for applying voltage to the anode electrode 54 54 Electrons emitted from the electron emission part 5 are captured Anode electrode for 55 Vacuum pump 56 Exhaust pump 71 Electron source substrate 72 X-direction wiring 73 Y-direction wiring 74 Surface conduction electron-emitting device 75 Connection 81 Rear plate 82 Support frame 83 Glass substrate 84 Fluorescent film 85 Metal back 86 Face plate 87 High voltage terminal 88 Envelope 91 Black conductive material 92 Phosphor 101 Display panel 102 Scanning circuit 103 Control Control circuit 104 Shift register 105 Line memory 106 Synchronous signal separation circuit 107 Modulation signal generator Vx, Va DC voltage source 110 Electron source substrate 111 Electron emission element 112 Common wiring for wiring electron emission element 120 Grid electrode 121 Electrons pass through Opening 161 Interlayer insulating layer 162 Contact hole 163 Cr film

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. An electron-emitting device including a conductive film having an electron-emitting portion between a pair of electrodes facing each other, wherein at least a part of the electron-emitting portion is metal nitride formed by chemical vapor deposition. An electron-emitting device characterized by being coated with a film containing an object as a main component. 2. The film containing metal nitride as a main component is also disposed on any one of the conductive films with the electron emission portion as a boundary. Electron-emitting device. 3. The film according to claim 1, wherein the film containing metal nitride as a main component is composed of polycrystalline, single crystalline, amorphous, or a mixed crystal thereof. Electron emitting device. 4. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device is a surface conduction electron-emitting device. 5. The electron emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the work function of the metal nitride is smaller than the work functions of other constituent materials of the electron emitting portion. 6. The melting point of the metal nitride is higher than the melting point of the constituent material of the conductive film.
5. The electron-emitting device according to item 5. 7. The method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein at least a forming step of forming an electron-emitting portion in the conductive film and a chemical vapor deposition method are used. And an activation step of forming a film containing metal nitride as a main component. 8. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 7, wherein the activation step is performed by applying a voltage to the pair of electrodes under reduced pressure. 9. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 8, wherein the voltage applied to the pair of electrodes is applied in pulses. 10. An electron source which emits electrons in response to an input signal, wherein a plurality of electron-emitting devices according to any one of claims 1 to 6 are arranged on a substrate. . 11. A plurality of the electron-emitting devices are arranged in a ladder shape, both device electrodes of each electron-emitting device are connected in parallel to two row wirings, and a modulation means is further provided. The electron source according to claim 10, characterized in that 12. The plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix, one device electrode of each electron-emitting device is connected to a row wiring, and the other device electrode of each electron-emitting device is connected to the row. The electron source according to claim 10, wherein the electron source is connected to a column wiring orthogonal to the wiring. 13. An apparatus for forming an image on the basis of an input signal, comprising at least the electron source according to claim 10 and an image forming member. Forming equipment.