Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Toru Kanno

Akira Kaneko

Kaoru Tomii

Keiko Morishita

A vacuum microelectronic field-emission device includes: a substrate; an emitter portion formed to have at least an wedge portion extending in parallel to the substrate, the emitter portion being supported by the substrate; a gate portion formed a first given distance apart from the tip of the emitter portion, the gate portion being supported by the substrate, the gate portion being electrically insulated from the emitter portion; and a collector portion formed a second given distance apart from a tip of the emitter portion, the collector portion being supported by the substrate, the second given distance is equal to or larger than the first given distance, the collector portion being electrically insulated from the emitter portion and the gate portion.

Functional vacuum microelectronic field-emission device

An electron emission element includes a substrate, a base electrode formed on the substrate, an emitter connecting portion formed on a part of the base electrode, and an emitter formed on the emitter connecting portion and having a wedge. The wedge of the emitter has a mesa shape in section. The wedge of the emitter has an upper surface and a lower surface which is wider than the upper surface. The wedge of the emitter has an edge provided with a lower corner of an acute angle in section. The electron emission element further includes an insulating layer formed on the substrate and spaced from the wedge of the emitter by a given gap, and a control electrode formed on the insulating layer for enabling electrons to be emitted from the edge of the emitter. The wedge of the emitter may have an inverted-mesa shape.

Electron emission element

An electron emission element includes an insulating substrate. A base electrode is formed on the insulating substrate. A plurality of emitters are formed on the base electrode and are arranged radially with respect to a given point. The emitters have wedge shapes with their respective tips facing inward. An insulating layer is formed on the substrate and the base electrode, and is spaced from the wedges of the emitters by given gaps. A control electrode is formed on the insulating layer for enabling electrons to be emitted from the tips of the wedge-shaped emitters.

An electron emission device is employed as an electron emission source in various applications using an electron beam. The electron emission device has a cathode layer having an edge, and a control electrode spaced and electrically insulated from the cathode layer, for drawing electrons from said edge of the cathode layer. When a voltage is applied between the cathode layer and the control electrode, a developed electric field is concentrated on the edge of the cathode layer to cause the edge to emit electrons. The electron emission device can easily be manufactured with a high yield since it does not have a needle tip for emitting electrons. A method of manufacturing the electron emission device is also disclosed.

Electron field emission device

An MIM type of electron emission element having a thin insulating film formed below an electron emission region of a metal layer, with that electron emission region of the metal layer consisting of an array of thick and thin portions, distributed throughout the electron emission region. Improved efficiency and uniformity of of emission are obtained, due to the low resistance of the thick portions, which apply a supply voltage to the thin portions of the metal layer, while the thin portions can be made sufficiently thin to maximize the electron emission.

MIM cold-cathode electron emission elements

An electron-emitting device including; electrical insulating substrates (1); an intermediate layer having a metal layer (2) and an insulating material layer (3) or having an insulating material layer (3), superposed in the thickness direction of said electrical insulating substrates (1) so as to be provided between said electrical insulating substrates (1) in the manner that it is recessed from one side surfaces of said electrical insulating substrates (1); a cathode material (4) provided at the middle portion of said intermediate layer, one end of said cathode material (4) protruding from the insulating material layer (3) that constitutes said intermediate layer; and a gate electrode (5) provided on said electrical insulating substrate (1) on the side where said intermediate layer is recessed.

Electron-emitting device and process for making the same

Structures and methods of manufacture for field emission cathodes having cathode tips of minute size, whereby a block formed of pairs of substrates each having a patterned thin layer of cathode material sandwiched therebetween is sliced into a plurality of sections, to obtain array substrates each having an array of exposed regions of cathode material. A metal layer for constituting electron extraction electrodes and corresponding extraction apertures is formed over these exposed regions and appropriately shaped, after first forming mask layer portions upon the exposed cathode material regions.

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Kawasaki, Japan

Toru Kanno