Claims
- 1. A method for controlling a field emission display comprising:providing an emitter site in electrical communication with a power source and configured for electron emission; providing a grid configured to apply a voltage potential to the grid to initiate the electron emission; providing a display screen configured to receive the electron emission to form an image; applying a voltage potential proximate to the emitter site; and enabling the grid to initiate the electron emission in a direction towards the voltage potential and away from the grid.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein applying the voltage potential comprises enabling the display screen.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the grid is performed with an anode sensing circuit configured to enable the grid when a VAnode is high and to discharge the grid when the VAnode is low.
- 4. A method for controlling a field emission display comprising:providing a baseplate comprising an emitter site, and a grid configured to bias the emitter site to initiate an emission of electrons from the emitter site; providing a display screen configured to receive the electrons to form an image; applying a voltage potential between the display screen and the emitter site; and initiating electron emission from the emitter site with the electrons attracted by the voltage potential towards the display screen and away from the grid.
- 5. The method of claim 4 wherein applying the voltage potential comprises establishing a VAnode at the display screen.
- 6. The method of claim 4 further comprising discharging the grid if a VAnode at the display screen is low.
- 7. A method for controlling a field emission display comprising:providing an emitter site in electrical communication with a power source and configured for electron emission; providing a grid configured to apply a voltage potential to the grid to initiate the electron emission; providing a display screen configured to receive the electron emission to form an image; providing a control circuit configured to sense a voltage at the display screen; applying a voltage potential proximate to the emitter site; sensing the voltage at the display screen using the control circuit; and enabling the grid to initiate the electron emission in a direction towards the voltage potential and away from the grid provided the voltage at the display screen is above a first level.
- 8. The method of claim 7 further comprising discharging the grid when the voltage at the display screen is below a second level.
- 9. The method of claim 7 wherein the voltage at the display screen comprises a VAnode and the first level comprises a high.
- 10. The method of claim 7 wherein the control circuit comprises a fault detection circuit configured to discharge the grid upon detection of a fault signal.
- 11. A method for controlling a field emission display comprising:providing a baseplate comprising an emitter site, and a grid configured to bias the emitter site to initiate an emission of electrons from the emitter site; providing a display screen configured to receive the electrons to form an image; providing a detection circuit configured to sense a voltage at the display screen and to provide a high signal and a low signal based upon the voltage at the display screen; applying a voltage potential between the display screen and the emitter site; initiating electron emission from the emitter site with the electrons attracted by the voltage potential towards the display screen and away from the grid provided the detection circuit provides the high signal; and discharging the grid provided the detection circuit provides the low signal.
- 12. The method of claim 11 wherein the detection circuit comprises a peak detector.
- 13. The method of claim 11 wherein the detection circuit comprises a comparator.
- 14. The method of claim 11 wherein the detection circuit comprises a Schmitt trigger.
- 15. The method of claim 11 wherein the detection circuit comprise a logical inverter.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/623,509, filed Mar. 28, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,791, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/509,501 filed on Jul. 28, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,560.
Government Interests
This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DABT63-93-C-0025 awarded by Advanced Research Project Agency (“ARPA”). The government has certain rights in this invention.
US Referenced Citations (19)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry |
Notes on Using the Spindt-type Field Emission Cathode, Capp Spindt, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, Oct., 1976. |
Cathey, David A. Jr., “Field Emission Displays”, published in VLSI, Taiwan, May-Jun., 1995. |
Continuations (1)
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Date |
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08/623509 |
Mar 1996 |
US |
Child |
09/261589 |
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US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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08/509501 |
Jul 1995 |
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08/623509 |
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US |