ELECTRON EMISSION ELEMENT AND ELECTRON EMISSION ELEMENT MANUFACTURING METHOD

摘要

An electron emission element (10A) includes an emitter (12) formed by a dielectric body, an upper electrode (14) and a lower electrode (16) to which a drive voltage Va for emitting electrons is applied. The upper electrode (14) is formed by scale-shaped conductive particles on the upper surface (12a) of the emitter (12) and has a plurality of openings (20). The portion of the upper electrode (14) opposing to the emitter (12) in the circumferential portion (26) of the openings (20) is apart from the emitter (12). Moreover, a circumferential portion (26) of the openings (20) has an acute angle shape, in a cross sectional view, toward the inner brim (26b) of the openings (20) as the tip end of the circumferential portion (26), i.e., a shape in which electric lines of force are concentrated. With the aforementioned configuration, it is possible to increase the electron emission amount as compared to the conventional electron emission element.