The present application claims priority from Japanese application serial JP 2004-151334 filed on May 21, 2004, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
The present invention relates to a display apparatus, its display module and display panel. Particularly, the present invention is appropriate for a field emission display apparatus.
A basic structure of a field emission display apparatus is described in, for example, the special feature “Basic knowledge of an electronic display for young engineers” in the April 2004 issue of a technical magazine “Electronic Material”, pages 94 to 102 (non-patent document 1). The field emission display apparatus is so structured that a cathode substrate on which many electron sources for emitting electrons are formed and an anode substrate to which phosphors are applied are placed opposite each other via a gap. Electrons emitted from the electron source corresponding to each pixel impinge on the phosphor to emit light, so that the field emission display apparatus displays images.
In the field emission display apparatus, the gap needs to be secured and vacuously sealed. In many cases, a plurality of thin spacers are set up between the anode substrate and cathode substrate to prevent the gap from collapsing due to the atmospheric pressure. However, the production, placement, and structure of the spacers which are thin enough not to be seen from the outside are difficult. Moreover, charge-up of the spacers causes turbulence of images. Therefore, a display panel structure requiring less or no spacers is desirable. It can be considered that an anode substrate and cathode substrate are made thick to decrease the flexing due to the atmospheric pressure. However, in a large screen pane over thirty-two inches, a display panel itself becomes very heavy. Patent documents relating to this are as follows.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H3(1991)-236143 (patent document 1) discloses a conventional display apparatus. A vacuum vessel of this display apparatus includes a front plate formed of a transparent glass plate and a back plate formed of metal and having a box shape. Additionally, another back cover formed of metal and having a box shape is provided covering this back plate to make vacuous a space between the back plate and back cover, so that the lightening is achieved.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H7(1995)-296746 (patent document 2) discloses a conventional image display apparatus. This image display apparatus includes a first envelope in which an image display member is disposed and a second envelope which covers the whole of the first envelope. The insides of both envelopes are made vacuous, so that the deformation of the first envelope due to the atmospheric pressure is prevented.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-100355 (patent document 3) discloses a conventional display apparatus. In this display apparatus, a silicon substrate on which electron sources are formed is placed on a plane glass substrate on the electron source side, a glass substrate on the phosphor side is placed opposite the glass substrate on the electron source side, and a metal network is embedded in or attached to the glass substrate on the phosphor side. Accordingly, a strength of the glass substrate on the phosphor side is improved to achieve the thinning and lightening of the glass substrate on the phosphor side.
However, in the display apparatus of the patent document 1, the back cover receiving the atmospheric pressure has a box shape similar to the back plate. Accordingly, although the deformation of the back plate can be prevented, the back cover needs to be made thick to withstand the atmospheric pressure. In this point, a problem about the lightening remains.
In the display apparatus of the patent document 2, the second envelope receiving the atmospheric pressure covers the whole of the first envelope. Accordingly, the deformation of the first envelope due to the atmospheric pressure can be prevented, but the second envelope needs to be made thick to withstand the atmospheric pressure. In this point, a problem about the lightening remains.
Further, in the display apparatus of the patent document 3, since the strength of the anode substrate is improved because of the embedding of the metal network, the anode substrate is hardly collapsed. However, a flexural rigidity of the anode substrate is not improved so much. Accordingly, when the anode substrate is made thin, its flexural rigidity is decreased to increase its flexing, so that an appropriate gap between the electron sources and phosphors cannot be maintained. The patent document 3 does not disclose how to thin and lighten the cathode substrate.
An object of the present invention is to provide a display apparatus, its display module and display panel in which high resolution, lightening, and thinning can be achieved.
To achieve the object of the present invention, a display apparatus having a thin display panel and a control unit for controlling the display panel includes: an anode substrate; a cathode substrate which is placed opposite the anode substrate and forms an electron emitting chamber vacuously sealed between the cathode substrate and the anode substrate; electron sources formed on the electron emitting chamber side of the cathode substrate; phosphors which are formed on the electron emitting chamber side of the anode substrate and receive electron beam from the electron sources to emit light; and a pressure support formed on the back of the electron emitting chamber side of the cathode substrate. The pressure support includes a vacuum seal member which forms a pressure supporting chamber vacuously sealed between the pressure support and the cathode substrate independently of the electron emitting chamber, and a reinforcement member which is formed of a member having a gap, which is sandwiched between the vacuum seal member and the cathode substrate in the pressure supporting chamber, and at least both end portions of which span a bonding area of the cathode substrate for the anode substrate. The control unit controls the electron sources.
A more preferable concrete structure is as follows.
(1) The reinforcement member is structured by use of any one of a honeycomb structure, a rib structure, a porous body, and a structure where a plurality of cloth fibers are laminated.
(2) The cathode substrate is formed thinner than the anode substrate. The vacuum seal member is formed thinner and lighter than the cathode substrate.
(3) In addition to (2), the vacuum seal member is formed of a flexible metal thin plate.
(4) A vacuum of the pressure supporting chamber is lower than that of the electron emitting chamber.
(5) The control unit is so structured that a substrate installing an IC is placed on a planar portion of the vacuum seal member.
(6) Many wirings for driving the electron sources formed on the cathode substrate are provided. The wirings are drawn from the electron sources to an outer area of the electron emitting chamber. The control unit is connected to the drawn portion of the wirings via a flexible wiring plate.
(7) The wirings are partially thinned on the bonding area for the anode substrate and cathode substrate.
(8) The cathode substrate has an evacuation port to evacuate the electron emitting chamber. The pressure support is placed on a portion except the evacuation port.
(9) In addition to (8), the cathode substrate is formed to be a quadrilateral, and has the evacuation port on its corner. The pressure support is formed by notching a portion corresponding to the evacuation port.
To achieve the object of the present invention, in a display module in which a thin display panel and a control unit for controlling the display panel are integrally combined, the display panel includes an anode substrate, a cathode substrate which is placed opposite the anode substrate and forms an electron emitting chamber vacuously sealed between the cathode substrate and the anode substrate, electron sources formed on the electron emitting chamber side of the cathode substrate, phosphors which are formed on the electron emitting chamber side of the anode substrate and receives electron beam from the electron sources to emit light, and a pressure support formed on the back of the electron emitting chamber side of the cathode substrate. The pressure support includes a vacuum seal member which forms a pressure supporting chamber vacuously sealed between the pressure support and the cathode substrate independently of the electron emitting chamber, and a reinforcement member which is formed of a member having a gap, which is sandwiched between the vacuum seal member and the cathode substrate in the pressure supporting chamber, and at least both end portions of which span a bonding area of the cathode substrate for the anode substrate. The control unit controls the electron sources.
To achieve the object of the present invention, a display panel includes an anode substrate, a cathode substrate which is placed opposite the anode substrate and forms an electron emitting chamber vacuously sealed between the cathode substrate and the anode substrate, electron sources formed on the electron emitting chamber side of the cathode substrate, phosphors which are formed on the electron emitting chamber side of the anode substrate and receive electron beam from the electron sources to emit light, and a pressure support formed on the back of the electron emitting chamber side of the cathode substrate. The pressure support includes a vacuum seal member which forms a pressure supporting chamber vacuously sealed between the pressure support and the cathode substrate independently of the electron emitting chamber, and a reinforcement member which is formed of a member having a gap, which is sandwiched between the vacuum seal member and the cathode substrate in the pressure supporting chamber, and at least both end portions of which span a bonding area of the cathode substrate for the anode substrate. The control unit controls the electron sources.
According to the present invention, by suppressing deformation of the cathode substrate by use of the pressure support, the display apparatus and its display module and display panel in which high resolution, lightening, and thinning can be achieved can be obtained.
A plurality of embodiments of the present invention are explained below with reference to the figures. The same numeral in each figure shows the same component or the corresponding component.
A display apparatus of a first embodiment of the present invention is explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 13.
First, an overall structure of a display apparatus 70 of this embodiment is explained with reference to
This display apparatus 70 is an example applied to a television set, and includes a body 65, a display panel module 71, and speakers 66. The display apparatus of the present invention is applicable to a display apparatus for, e.g., a personal computer and DVD.
A display panel module 71 is thin and light, and mounted in the body 65. An anode substrate 2 of the display panel module 71 is exposed from a front window (shaded portion of
The body 65 is formed thin because of thinning of the display panel module 71. A power source, television tuner, control unit, and so on are stored in the body 65, and connected to the display panel module 71. The speakers 66 are mounted to, for example, both sides of the body 65.
Next, the display panel module 71 is explained with reference to
The display panel module 71 is structured by integrally combining the display panel 72 with the control unit 73, and can display images by converting image data introduced from the outside. Because of this modular integrally-combined display panel 72 and control unit 73, an ability verification and check for the display panel 72 can be executed when the module is independent, and the display apparatus 70 can be easily assembled.
The control unit 73 is so structured that integrated circuits 62 are mounted on a control board 61. The integrated circuits 62 are comprised of a microprocessor, an amplifier, a memory, and so on. Since the control unit 73 is placed on a planar portion of an outer surface of the vacuum seal member 8, the control unit 73 can be easily placed.
The electron sources 3 are connected to the control unit 73 via the wiring 63 and flexible wiring plate 64, and controlled by the control unit 73. The wiring 63 is formed on the cathode substrate 4. One side of the wiring 63 is connected to the electron sources 3 in the electron emitting chamber 6, and the other side is drawn to the outside of the electron emitting chamber 6. The wiring 63 drawn to the outside and wiring formed on the control board 61 are connected by the flexible wiring plate 64 to connect the electron sources 3 and control unit 73.
Next, the display panel 72 is explained with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.
The display panel 72 includes an anode substrate 2, a planar cathode substrate 4 which is placed opposite the anode substrate and forms an electron emitting chamber 6 vacuously sealed between the cathode substrate 4 and the anode substrate 2, electron sources 3 formed on the electron emitting chamber side of the cathode substrate 4, phosphors 1 formed on the electron emitting chamber side of the anode substrate 2 and receive electron beam from the electron sources 3 to emit light, and a pressure support 74 formed on the back of the electron chamber side of the cathode substrate 4.
The anode substrate 2 is formed of a planar transparent glass whose surface is applied a film of the phosphors 1. The anode substrate 2 is formed to be a quadrilateral (more especially, rectangle). The cathode substrate 4 forms many electron sources 3 on its surface, and is formed in a planar fashion. The cathode substrate 4 is formed to be a quadrilateral (more especially, rectangle) rather larger than the anode substrate 2, and formed thinner than the anode substrate 2.
As a material of the cathode substrate 4, glass is preferably used, for example, because of the easiness of a forming process flow of the electron sources 3 and wiring 63 and because of consistency of its thermal expansion coefficient with that of the anode substrate 2. A silicon substrate and a metal plate such as kovar and 42 alloy, having an insulation layer on its surface, may be used. A material of a frame 5 is the same as that of the cathode 4.
The anode substrate 2 and cathode substrate 4 are bonded via the frame 5 so that the phosphors 1 and electron sources 3 are opposed to each other and in parallel with each other. The shape of the frame 5 is almost the same as the shape of the anode substrate 2. The cathode substrate 4 is formed rather larger than the shape of the frame 5. A space between the anode substrate 2 and cathode substrate 4 is formed as the electron emitting chamber 6 whose periphery is sealed by the frame 5. The electron emitting chamber 6 is evacuated. Electrons emitted from the electron sources 3 impinge upon the phosphors 1 so that the phosphors 1 emit light to display images.
Although the placement area of the electron sources is illustrated as one area because of the omission in
A pressure support 74 includes a vacuum seal member 8 and a reinforcement member 7. The vacuum seal member 8 forms a pressure supporting chamber 8A vacuously sealed between itself and the cathode substrate 4 independently of the electron emitting chamber 6. The reinforcement member 7 is formed of a member having a gap, and sandwiched between the vacuum seal member 8 and cathode substrate 4 in the pressure supporting chamber 8A. At least both end portions of the reinforcement member 7 span the bonding area 23 for the cathode substrate 4 and anode substrate 2. The vacuum seal member 8 is formed of a flexible thin metal plate, and formed thinner and lighter than the cathode substrate 4. Since the pressure supporting chamber 8A is formed independently of the electron emitting chamber 6, gas, dust, and so on generated in the pressure supporting chamber 8A do not come into the electron emitting chamber 6.
The reinforcement member 7 having a gap in its inside is placed on the back of the electron source forming surface of the cathode substrate 4. The vacuum seal member 8 overlies the reinforcement member 7. A periphery of the vacuum seal member 8 is bonded to the cathode substrate 4. The inside of the reinforcement member 7 is evacuated. As a result, a pressure support 74 is formed. Accordingly, the reinforcement member 7 is pressed on the cathode substrate 4 to function as a core of the vacuum seal member 8.
In the field emission display panel 72, when the atmospheric pressure is directly applied to the cathode 4 due to the evacuation of the inside of the electron emitting chamber 6, the cathode substrate 4 flexes toward the inside of the electron emitting chamber 6. Accordingly, an appropriate space between the phosphors 1 and electron sources 3 cannot be maintained. When the cathode substrate 4 is thickened to decrease the flexing, for example a large panel over thirty-two inches is increased in weight to decrease its commercial value.
In this embodiment, since the vacuum seal member 8 forming the pressure supporting chamber 8A vacuously sealed between the vacuum seal member 8 and the cathode substrate 4, and the reinforcement member 7 which is formed of a member having a gap, which is sandwiched between the vacuum seal member 8 and cathode substrate 4 in the pressure supporting chamber 8A, and whose both end portions span the bonding area for the cathode substrate 4 and anode substrate 2, are provided, the cathode substrate 4 can be prevented from directly receiving the atmospheric pressure. The reinforcement member 7 is formed having gaps inside to have both a light weight and enough flexural rigidity to support the atmospheric pressure. Therefore, the flexing of the cathode substrate 4 is decreased even when the cathode substrate 4 is thin, so that high resolution, lightening, and thinning can be achieved.
Especially, in this embodiment, as the reinforcement member 7, a honeycomb structure, a rib structure, a porous body, a structure in which a plurality of fibers are laminated, or the like can be selected independently of the vacuum seal member 8. Accordingly, a structure and material which have a high flexural rigidity and are light can be selected as the reinforcement member 7, achieving high resolution, lightening, and thinning.
The periphery of the reinforcement member 7 is covered with the vacuum seal member 8. The inside of the reinforcement member 7 is evacuated to be pressed on the cathode substrate 4. In the assembling process of the field emission display panel, for example, heat may be generated in the production process due to, e.g., the heat when the anode substrate 2, cathode substrate 4, and the frame are bonded. In this embodiment, even when a thermal expansion coefficient difference between the reinforcement member 7 and cathode substrate 4 is large, slippage occurs between the reinforcement member 7 and cathode substrate 4 because the reinforcement member 7 is not bonded to the cathode substrate 4. Accordingly, the thermal stress due to the thermal expansion coefficient difference can be suppressed, and warp and destruction is hardly generated in the cathode substrate 4. Therefore, it is advantageous that a wide selection of a material for the reinforcement member 7 is possible.
The anode substrate 2 is exposed to the outside to show audiences the light emitted from the phosphors 1. Thus, it is not preferable that the pressure support 74 is placed on the front surface side of the anode substrate 2. As described in this embodiment, the cathode substrate 4, which does not affect on the appearance, is preferably lightened by use of the pressure support 74. Accordingly, the whole of the display panel can be lightened while maintaining the good appearance design. In light of the lightening, the cathode substrate is preferably thinner than the anode substrate, and can be remarkably thinned by providing the pressure support 74.
In the example shown in
Next, a concrete structure of the cathode substrate 4 is explained with reference to
Many scanning lines 21 and data lines 22 for controlling electrons emitted from the electron sources 3 are formed on the front surface (side of the electron emitting chamber 6) of the cathode substrate 4. The scanning lines 21 and data lines 22 need to be drawn to the outside of the electron emitting chamber 6 to be connected to a control unit 73 placed outside the display panel 72. The scanning lines 21 and data lines 22 are formed extending to the outside of the substrate bonding area 23, which is shown by dotted lines in
The scanning lines 21 and data lines 22 have been described as the wiring 63 in
The substrate bonding area 23 includes an area where the wiring 63 is placed (hereinafter called a wiring area) and an area where the surface of the cathode substrate 4 is exposed (hereinafter called a non-wiring area). The wiring 63 collectively means the scanning lines 21 and data lines 22. In the wiring area, adhesive forces between solder glass and the wiring 63 and between the wiring 63 and cathode substrate 4 may be lower than that of the non-wiring area. In this case, the wiring area is made smaller than the non-wiring area to increase a bonding strength of the substrate bonding area 23. The wiring area can be made smaller by thinning the wiring, but the thinning is limited in light of securing a current amount for driving the electron sources 3. As shown in the plane view of
The number of the scanning lines 21 and data lines 22 is not limited to that shown in
Next, the reinforcement member 7 is explained with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10.
The reinforcement member 7 is preferably formed of a structure and material which are light and have a high flexural rigidity, and can function by use of a honeycomb structure. A flexural rigidity of a plane is in proportion to a length in its parallel direction, and to the cube of its thickness. As shown in
The reinforcement member 7 is not limited to the structure shown in
As shown in
Cloth fibers laminated to have a predetermined thickness may be used as the reinforcement member. For example, glass fiber may be used. The fiber it self has a small flexural rigidity. The cloth fibers are compressed by the atmospheric pressure, and then relative slippage of the cloth fibers is restrained. Therefore, vacuously sealed cloth fibers have a flexural rigidity. Further, since there are many spaces between the fibers, the lightening can be achieved, and the vacuum sealing is easily achieved. In this method, a reinforcement member having a large area can be easily produced at low cost by means of, for example, a weaving loom and non-woven fabric formation. Since the cloth fibers are flexible in the atmosphere, treatment of the reinforcement member in case of its installation is easy.
As described above, since the reinforcement member 7 is extremely lower in density than the cathode substrate 4 formed of, for example, glass, the cathode substrate 4 is preferably as thin as possible compared to the reinforcement member 7 in light of lightening as long as a flexural rigidity against the atmospheric pressure can be secured by both of the cathode substrate 4 and reinforcement member 7. At least, the cathode substrate 4 is preferably thinner than the reinforcement member 7.
The vacuum seal member 8 is placed covering the reinforcement member 7. The outer periphery of the vacuum seal member 8 is bonded to the cathode substrate 4. The inside of the vacuum seal member 8 including the inside of the reinforcement member 7 is evacuated, so that the surface of the vacuum seal member 8 receives the atmospheric pressure to press the whole of the reinforcement member 7 on the cathode substrate 4 equally. As a result, a local stress concentration can be prevented. Therefore, it is preferable that the vacuum seal member 7 is flexible, and has a thickness and material with which out-of-plane deformation is easily carried out. The vacuum seal member 7 needs a strength enough not to be broken due to the atmospheric pressure. For example, a thermal expansion coefficient of the vacuum seal member 8 is preferably near that of the cathode substrate 4 so that thermal deformation hardly occurs even when heat is generated in the bonding process for the frame 5 and cathode substrate 4. For example, a kovar thin plate and a metal thin plate such as 42 alloy, steel, copper, and aluminum may be used. Since a problem about the thermal deformation does not arise frequently when a rigidity of the vacuum seal member 8 is lower than that of the cathode substrate 4, a resin film having a high heat resistance, and so on can be used.
The inside of the reinforcement member 7 is evacuated by use of at least one evacuation port (not shown in figures) provided on the surface of the vacuum seal member 8. When the inside of the reinforcement member 7 is divided into closed cells between the vacuum seal member 8 and cathode substrate 4, it becomes difficult to evacuate the whole of the reinforcement member 7 from one portion. In this case, for example in the honeycomb structure shown in
Next, relationship among the reinforcement member 7, cathode substrate 4, and evacuation port 46 is explained with reference to
When the cathode substrate 4 directly receives the atmospheric pressure without the reinforcement member 7, bending moment due to the atmospheric pressure is intensively supported near an inside end portion of the substrate bonding area 23 of the cathode substrate 4. A high tensile stress is generated on an outer surface of the cathode substrate 4 near this end portion, and thus the cathode substrate 4 can be broken. In this embodiment, to prevent this breakage, at least both end portions of the reinforcement member 7 span the bonding area 23 for the cathode substrate 4 and anode substrate 2. In other words, at least both ends 7a are placed outside an inside end portion 23a of the substrate bonding area 23. In the example shown in
To evacuate the electron emitting chamber 6, at least one evacuation port 46 can be provided to the anode substrate 2, frame 5, or cathode substrate 4. Since the evacuation port cannot be provided to the placement area of the phosphors 1 of the anode substrate 2 and the placement area of the electron sources 3 of the cathode 4 (both area are on the same picture plane, and hereinafter called an image display area), an evacuation port 46 is placed outside the image display area. To maintain the strength of the peripheries of the anode substrate 2 and frame 5, the evacuation port 46 is preferably provided to the cathode substrate 4. In this embodiment, as shown in
In a cross section in a short or long side direction of the display panel, as shown in
A vacuum inside the electron emitting chamber 6 is preferably a high vacuum of, for example, about 10−6 Torr so that the electron sources 3 emit electrons stably. On the other hand, a vacuum of the pressure supporting chamber 8A inside the vacuum seal member 8 may be enough to sufficiently press the reinforcement member 7 on the cathode substrate 4, and does not need to be high in light of shortening the production process. In other words, a vacuum of the electron emitting chamber 6 is preferably higher than a vacuum of the pressure supporting chamber 8A. Further, since the cathode substrate 4 receives a pressure corresponding to a pressure difference between the inside of the electron emitting chamber 6 and the inside of the pressure supporting chamber 8A, the pressure difference is set so that a rigidity of the cathode substrate 4 itself can resist the pressure difference.
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention is explained with reference to
In this second embodiment, a small number of spacers 52 are placed between the anode substrate 2 and cathode substrate 4. Since the spacers 52 support the anode substrate 2 when the anode substrate 2 is pressed toward the inside of the electron emitting chamber 6 due to the atmospheric pressure, the anode substrate 2 flexes small even when the anode substrate 2 is thinned, and an appropriate space can be maintained between the phosphors 1 and electron sources 3. As a result, the anode substrate 2 is made thinner than in the first embodiment, so that the whole of the field emission display panel can be lightened.
The spacers 52 are preferably thinned to, for example, about 0.1 mm so that the spacers 52 are not noticeable when images are displayed. Not to crush pixels of the display, the spacers 52 are not placed on the electron sources 3 on the cathode substrate 4. For example, as shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2004-151334 | May 2004 | JP | national |