Electron emission display

Abstract

An electron emission display that can mitigate or prevent problems of an arc discharge and a wire disconnection due to increases in resistance at portions where a sealing member contacts electrodes includes: an electron emission device on which upper surfaces of electrodes are exposed, a front panel that is disposed in front of the electron emission device, the front panel being of a phosphor material, and a sealing member that seals a space formed by the electron emission device and the front panel by being disposed on the edges of the space in contact with the electrodes. The electrodes are formed on an entire surface of the electron emission device with a narrow width at an end portion of the electron emission device where the electrodes are connected to an external power source, and the sealing member contacts the electrodes closer to the space than end portions of the electrodes where the width of the electrodes is narrowed.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the present invention, and many of the attendant advantages thereof, will be readily apparent as the present invention becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference symbols indicate the same or similar components, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a conventional electron emission display that uses a FED;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the field emission device (FED) of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of an electron emission display according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of the electron emission display of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of portion V of the electron emission display of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an electron emission device that constitutes the electron emission display of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of an electron emission display according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XIII-XIII of the electron emission display of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a plan view of an electron emission device that constitutes the electron emission display of FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which exemplary embodiments of the present invention are shown.

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of an electron emission display 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of the electron emission display 100 of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of portion V of the electron emission display 100 of FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a plan view of the electron emission device 100 that constitutes the electron emission display of FIG. 3.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the electron emission display 100 includes an electron emission device 101 and a front panel 102 disposed in front of the electron emission device 101.

The electron emission device 101 includes a base substrate 110, cathodes 120, gate electrodes 140, a first insulating layer 130, and electron emission sources 150.

The base substrate 110 is a board member having a predetermined thickness, and can be a glass substrate formed of quartz glass, glass containing small amounts of impurities, such as Na, sheet glass, or glass coated with SiO₂, an oxide aluminum substrate, or a ceramic substrate. In order to realize a flexible display apparatus, the base substrate 110 can be formed of a flexible material.

The cathodes 120 extend in a direction on the base substrate 110, and can be formed of a conventional electrically conductive material, for example, a metal such as Al, Ti, Cr, Ni, Au, Ag, Mo, W, Pt, Cu, Pd, or an alloy of these metals; a metal such as Pd, Ag, RuO₂, Pd—Ag, or a printed conductive material comprising a metal oxide and glass; a transparent conductive material such as ITO, In₂O₃, or SnO₂; or a semiconductor material such as polysilicon. Particularly, when the process of transmitting light from the rear of the base substrate 110 is required, the cathodes 120 may be formed of a transparent conductive material such as ITO, In₂O₃, or SnO₂.

The gate electrodes 140 are insulated from the cathodes 120 by the first insulating layer 130. The gate electrodes 140 can be formed of a conventional electrically conductive material as the cathodes 120.

In order to realize images so as not to simply function as a lamp that generates visible light, the cathodes 120 and the gate electrodes 140 may be alternately disposed as depicted in FIG. 3. Also, in regions where the cathodes 120 and the gate electrodes 140 are alternately disposed, electron emission source holes 131 are formed to dispose electron emission sources 150.

The first insulating layer 130 is interposed between the gate electrodes 140 and the cathodes 120 to insulate there between, thereby preventing short circuits between the gate electrodes 140 and the cathodes 120.

The electron emission sources 150 are disposed to electrically connect to the cathodes 120 at a lower level with respect to the gate electrodes 140. The electron emission sources 150 can be formed of any material having a needle shape. In particular, the electron emission sources 150 may be formed of a carbon material such as Carbon Nano-Tubes (CNTs) having a low work function and a high B function, graphite, diamond, Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC), or a nano material, such as nano tubes, nano wires, and nano rods. In particular, the CNTs have an electron emission characteristic, and thus, enable driving an electron emission display at a low voltage. Therefore, the use of the CNTs as an electron emission source is advantageous for manufacturing a large screen display device.

In the electron emission device 101 having the above structure, electrons are emitted from the electron emission sources 150 due to an electric field formed between the cathodes 120 and the gate electrodes 140 when a negative voltage is supplied to the cathodes 120 and a positive voltage is supplied to the gate electrodes 140.

The front panel 102 includes a phosphor layer 70.

The phosphor layer 70 is formed of a Cathode Luminescence (CL) phosphor material that can generate visible light when the phosphor layer 70 is excited by accelerated electrons. Phosphor materials that can be used by the phosphor layer 70 include, for example, a red phosphor material, such as SrTiO₃:Pr, Y₂O₃:Eu, Y₂O₃S:Eu, etc., a green phosphor material, such as Zn(Ga, Al)₂O₄:Mn, Y₃(Al, Ga)₅O₁₂:Tb, Y₂SiO₅:Tb, ZnS:Cu, Al, etc., and a blue phosphor material, such as Y₂SiO₅:Ce, ZnGa₂O₄, ZnS:Ag, Cl, etc. However, the phosphor material of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The front panel 102 can further include a front substrate 90 and an anode 80 arranged on the front substrate 90.

The front substrate 90 is a board member having a predetermined thickness like the base substrate 110, and can be formed of the same material as the base substrate 110. The anode 80 is formed of a conventional electrically conductive material like the cathodes 120 and the gate electrodes 140. In particular, the anode 80 may be a transparent electrode so that visible light generated from the phosphor layer 70 can be transmitted forward.

The electron emission device 101 that includes the base substrate 110 and the front panel 102 that includes the front substrate 90 maintain a predetermined distance from each other to form a vacuum space 103. Spacers 60 are disposed between the electron emission device 101 and the front panel 102 to maintain a predetermined distance between the electron emission device 101 and the front panel 102, and can be formed of an insulating material.

Also, in order to maintain the vacuum space 103 formed by the electron emission device 101 and the front panel 102 in a vacuum state, edges of the vacuum space 103 are sealed using a sealing member 105, and then, the vacuum space 103 is evacuated. The sealing member 105 may be a glass frit.

The sealing member 105 contacts an upper surface of the electron emission device 101 when the sealing member 105 seals the edges of the vacuum space 103 formed by the electron emission device 101 and the front panel 102. The sealing member 105 contacts the gate electrodes 140 exposed on the upper surface of the electron emission device 101. The sealing member 105 must have a predetermined width W, refer to FIG. 6, so that the vacuum space 103 can be maintained at a predetermined vacuum state even if an external impact of a predetermined magnitude is applied to the sealing member 105. The sealing member 105 is located at an outside of the vacuum space 103 closer to the vacuum space 103 than end portions of the gate electrodes 140 having a narrow width to be connected to a terminal (not shown). That is, the sealing member 105 is disposed to contact a portion of the gate electrodes 140 where the width of the gate electrodes 140 is maintained uniform. In this way, when the sealing member 105 is disposed to contact portions of the gate electrodes 140 where the width of the gate electrodes 140 is maintained uniform, the width of the gate electrodes 140 exposed on an upper surface of the electron emission device 101 is wider than in the prior art and the sealing member 105 contacts portions of the gate electrodes 140 where resistance is low. Therefore, even if resistance in the gate electrodes 140 increases in the portions where the sealing member 105 contacts the gate electrodes 140, the magnitudes of the increase in resistance is low. Accordingly, an arc discharge or a wire disconnection at the contact points can be avoided.

The operation of the electron emission display 100 having the above structure is as follows.

A negative (−) voltage is supplied to the cathodes 120 and a positive (+) voltage is supplied to the gate electrodes 140 so that the electron emission sources 150 formed on the cathodes 120 can emit electrons. Also, a high positive (+) voltage is supplied to the anode 80 to accelerate the electrons towards the anode 80. When the high positive (+) voltage is supplied to the anode 80, the electrons emitted from the needle shaped material that constitutes the electron emission sources 150 proceed towards the gate electrodes 140, and then, are accelerated towards the anode 80. The electrons that accelerate towards the anode 80 collide with the phosphor layer 70. Then, the phosphor material of the phosphor layer 70 is excited and emits visible light.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are a partial perspective view of an electron emission display 200, and a cross-sectional view taken along line XIII-XIII of the electron emission display 200 of FIG. 7, respectively, according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, if the electrodes exposed on an upper surface of an electron emission device 201 are focusing electrodes 145, the focusing electrodes 145 are disposed to contact a sealing member 105 at inner portions where the width of the focusing electrodes 145 has been narrowed. In this case also, as described with reference to FIG. 3, an area of contact between the focusing electrodes 145 and the sealing member 105 is increased. Therefore, the increase in resistance in the focusing electrodes 145 can be mitigated, and an arc discharge and a wire disconnection can be avoided when a current flows in the focusing electrodes 145, thereby realizing a stable driving of the electron emission display 200.

The electron emission device 201, according to the present embodiment, further includes a second insulating layer 135 covering an upper surface of the gate electrodes 140 of FIG. 3 and focusing electrodes 145 formed on the second insulating layer 135. When the focusing electrodes 145 are further included, electrons emitted from an electron emission source 150 can focus toward the phosphor layer 70 and can prevent the dispersion of the electrons in lateral directions.

In the electron emission display according to the present invention, the problems of an arc discharge and a wire disconnection in the electrodes can be prevented since a sealing member contacts the electrodes located on an upper surface of the electron emission device, thereby realizing a stable driving of the electron emission display.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. An electron emission display, comprising: an electron emission device includes electrodes having exposed upper surfaces;a front panel arranged in front of the electron emission device, the front panel being of a phosphor material; anda sealing member adapted to seal a space defined by the electron emission device and the front panel, the sealing member being disposed on edges of the space contacting the electrodes;wherein the electrodes are arranged on an entire surface of the electron emission device, the electrodes having narrow portions arranged at an end portion of the electron emission device where the electrodes are arranged to be connected to an external power source; andwherein the sealing member contacts the electrodes closer to the space than the end portions of the electrodes where the narrow portions of the electrodes are arranged.

2. The electron emission display of claim 1, wherein the phosphor material generates visible light upon being excited by accelerated electrons.

3. The electron emission display of claim 1, wherein the front panel further comprises: a front substrate arranged parallel to the electron emission device and facing the electron emission device; andan anode arranged under the front substrate close to the phosphor material to accelerate electrons emitted by an electron emission source toward the phosphor material.

4. The electron emission display of claim 1, wherein the electron emission device comprises: a base substrate;a plurality of cathodes arranged on the base substrate; anda plurality of gate electrodes electrically insulated from the cathodes;wherein the electrodes exposed on an upper surface of the base substrate are gate electrodes.

5. The electron emission display of claim 1, wherein the electron emission device comprises: a base substrate;a plurality of cathodes arranged on the base substrate;a plurality of gate electrodes electrically insulated from the cathodes; anda plurality of focusing electrodes disposed above the gate electrodes and electrically insulated from the cathodes;wherein the electrodes exposed on an upper surface of the electron emission device are focusing electrodes.

6. The electron emission display of claim 1, wherein the sealing member comprises frit glass.