MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

MIT EECS
1995 (Spring Semester)
Colloquium Series

Monday, May 15, 1995

FIELD EMITTER ARRAY FLAT PANEL DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY

Tayo Akinwande

MTL, EECS, MIT

Displays are one of fastest growing segments of the semiconductor market, expected to exceed $14B by the end of the decade. The rapid growth comes from demand for intelligent human-machine interfaces and portable systems. Future growth areas are head-mounted and cockpit display systems. These systems require flat panel displays with high resolution, high brightness and low power consumption.

No current display meets all these requirements. The cathode ray tube (CRT) has the highest luminous efficiency (brightness per unit power) and is thought to be most pleasing emissive display technology. The available flat panel display technologies cannot attain the luminous efficiency and brightness of the CRT.

The field emitter array display is essentially a flat CRT. It is a two-dimensional array of matrix-addressable electron sources, proximity focused on a phosphor screen. The devices are fabricated using integrated circuit and micro-machining technologies. This display adds thinness and random adressability to the high brightness, high luminous efficiency and good angular viewability of the CRT.

The talk will describe the operating principles of field emitter array display, competing design approaches, fabrication technology and results of the author's research to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology.