Carbon Nanotube Field Emission Display

Abstract

An excellent performance of carbon nanotubes as field-emitters wasdemonstrated using a high-voltage FED (field emission display) elementsat SID (Society for Information Display) in 1998, where a light-sourcetube for an outdoor large-size display and diode-type flat panel werepresented with a screen-printed nanotube cathode {[}1]. The diode FEDpanel image was presented by Samsung at SID in 1999 {[}2]. After that, atriode structure that describes an x-y addressable high-luminance FEDpanel was introduced at IDRC (International Display Research Conference)in 1999. The experimental panel gave approximately 7 X 105 cd/m(2) ofgreen light at 6 kV, at approximately 1 mA/cm(2) d.c.-driving condition{[}3]. The driving voltage was decreased to less than 100 V, andhomogeneous emission was realized by NEC at IDW (International DisplayWorkshops) in 2000 {[}4]. On the other hand, a thermal CVD (chemicalvapor deposition) technology was applied for making large-areahigh-luminance segment-displays at IDRC in 2000 {[}5]. The results showthe excellent performance of carbon nanotube FED as flat panel displays,which are applicable to large-size TV devices. This panel will not onlybe suitable for future TV displays but also light sources for fieldsequential color LCDs.