Apparatus for manufacturing electron source and image forming apparatus

摘要

An electron-emitting device has a pair of device electrodes and an electroconductive thin film including an electron emitting region arranged between the electrodes. The device is manufactured via an activation process for increasing the emission current of the device. The activation process includes steps of a) applying a voltage (Vact) to the electroconductive thin film having a gap section under initial conditions, b) detecting the electric performance of the electroconductive thin film and c) modifying, if necessary, the initial conditions as a function of the detected electric performance of the electroconductive thin film.