Development of Silicon-Based Surface-Emitting Ballistic Electron Source and Its Application to Flat Panel Display

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To clarify the ballistic electron emission mechanism in nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) diodes and to develop a new flat panel display, fundamental studies have been conducted in terms of fabrication processing, carrier transport, and technological aspects for implementing information display. The results and significances are summarized as follows.1. Stabilization of nc-Si ballistic emitter with a high efficiencyBy introducing a technique for nanostructural control of nc-Si layer and optimizing the process parameters for electrochemical treatment, the stability of the ballistic emission under a dc operation has been significantly stabilized without affect on the efficiency. Also, the experimental and theoretical analyzes by picoseconds time-of-flight measurements and Monte-Carlo simulation, suggest that ballistic electrons are generated more efficiently in the nc-Si layer with a well controlled interfaces, and that the ballistic emission is due to a specific high-field carrier transpo … More rt in interconnected nc-Si particles.2. Prototyping of a flat panel displayUsing the above-mentioned electron emitter as an excitation source of a fluorescent screen placed at a vacuum spacing of 3.5 mm, a simple-matrix full-color flat panel display has been developed by polycrystalline silicon film technology. The emission image pattern of a proto-type simple-matrix 2.6 inches display of a 168(RGB)×126 pixels with a 50 μm pitch was sufficiently uniform with little cross talk due to the energetic and collimated electron emission in perpendicular to the device surface. The device also shows a sufficient performance for dynamic image display.3. Further development of a new emissive displayThe demonstrated availability of this device for low-temperature processing on glass substrates is very important for development of large-area flat-panel displays with high performances. As another application, it has also been demonstrated that generated ballistic electrons in nc-Si layers are useful for direct excitation of fluorescent films deposited on the nc-Si diode surface without ejecting into vacuum. This opens paths for novel solid-state surface-emitting light source and display. Less