Claims
- 1. A method for making a field emission display baseplate, the method comprising:forming a plurality of emitters on a substrate; forming a dielectric layer on the substrate, the dielectric layer having a plurality of openings each of which surrounds a respective one of the emitters; and forming a layer of germanium on the dielectric layer, the germanium layer having a plurality of openings each of which surrounds a respective one of the emitters.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein:forming a dielectric layer comprises forming a dielectric layer on the planar surface and the plurality of emitters; and forming a conductive layer comprises: forming a first layer including polysilicon on the dielectric layer; forming a second layer including germanium on the first layer; and forming a third layer including polysilicon on the second layer.
- 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:treating the dielectric layer and the conductive layer to remove at least those portions of the dielectric layer and the conductive layer directly above tips of the plurality of emitters to provide a plurality of openings in the conductive layer each concentric with a tip of one of the plurality of emitters; and etching the dielectric layer to expose at least tips of the plurality of emitters.
- 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the treating step comprises polishing the conductive layer and the dielectric layer via a chemical-mechanical polishing process.
- 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising placing a faceplate in a plane parallel to a plane of tips of the plurality of emitters, the faceplate comprising a cathodoluminescent layer formed on a transparent conductive layer in turn formed on a transparent insulator.
- 6. The method of claim 1 wherein forming a plurality of emitters on a substrate includes forming a plurality of emitters on a substrate wherein each of the plurality of emitters forms a drain of a FET in an active display.
- 7. The method of claim 1 wherein forming a layer of germanium includes forming a layer of polycrystalline germanium.
- 8. The method of claim 1 wherein forming a layer of germanium
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a divisional of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/126,494, filed Jul. 29, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,278,229.
GOVERNMENT RIGHTS
This invention was made with government support under Contract No. DABT63-93-C-0025 awarded by Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). The government has certain rights in this invention.
US Referenced Citations (13)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
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