DocumentCode :
847644
Title :
Spacer visibility problem in field emission displays due to surface contamination
Author :
Xie, Chenggang ; Wei, Yi
Author_Institution :
Motorola Labs, Motorola Inc., Tempe, AZ, USA
Volume :
50
Issue :
12
fYear :
2003
Firstpage :
2348
Lastpage :
2352
Abstract :
Spacer visibility is a critical issue in field emission displays (FEDs). Many reasons can lead to visible spacers, such as charging due to secondary electron emission under electron bombardment. In this paper, we will present results on spacer visibility due to chemical contamination on the spacer surface. We have identified Na contamination as the cause for the white spacer problem observed in the early developing stage of FED. The diffusion of Na from spacers to its adjacent cathode area during field emission operation caused higher field emission current from those field emitters. We believe the higher emission is due to the temporary gettering effect from the Na species, which cleaned the local field emitters. We have also found the existence of Pb on the spacer surface could create the dark spacer problem. To avoid any spacer visibility problem, the spacer surface must be kept clean. Any post clean procedure used to clean the surface should not leave any trace of elements such as Na, or Pb.
Keywords :
field emission displays; getters; surface charging; surface contamination; work function; charging; chemical contamination; dark spacer problem; early developing stage; electron bombardment; field emission displays; secondary electron emission; spacer visibility problem; surface contamination; temporary gettering effect; white spacer problem; Anodes; Cathodes; Electron beams; Electron emission; Field emitter arrays; Flat panel displays; Mass spectroscopy; Surface charging; Surface cleaning; Surface contamination;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
0018-9383
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/TED.2003.819056
Filename :
1255595
Link To Document :
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