Fabrication of full-color phosphor screen by electrophoretic deposition for field emission display application

The photolithographic patterning of an indium-tin oxide (ITO) on a glass substrate and electrophoretic deposition were combined to prepare a full-color screen for field emission display application. The patterns with a pixel of 400 mu m on the ITO-glass were made by etching the ITO with well-prepared etchant composed of HCl and FeCl3, which played an important role in forming the uniform screen. The electrophoretic process was carried out to deposit red, green, and blue phosphors on the patterned ITO-glass with optimized process parameters such as bias time and salt condition. The ITO etching process, combined with the electrophoretic method, was cost effective, provided distinct patterns, had a low level of contamination, and resulted in reduced process steps compared with conventional processes. Applying a reverse bias on the dormant electrode while depositing the phosphors on the stripe pattern was critical in preventing cross-contamination of each phosphor in a pixel. Also, the resistivity due to the long electrode in our proposed pattern could be effectively reduced by dividing it into segments. (C) 2000 The Electrochemical Society. S0013-3651(99)07-015-9. All rights reserved.