Study of the influence of the dielectric layer thickness in a CNT-FED

An experimental investigation is carried out to study the influences of the dielectric layer thickness variation on the field emission characteristics and luminance distribution in a CNT-FED fabricated by screen-printing. Two steps are contained in the investigation: (1) the dielectric layer thickness fluctuations are presented with an ultrasonic thickness gauge, and (2) a simulation model is constructed to study the corresponding influences of the dielectric layer thickness fluctuations on the field emission characteristics and luminance uniformity on the screen. Our findings indicate that the dielectric layer thickness fluctuations are mainly larger than 5 μm, which mean the dielectric layer thickness fluctuation is an important cause of the non-uniform luminance distribution according to the analysis results from our simulation model. From the simulation results, we also determine the tolerance of the dielectric layer thickness in a CNT-FED to achieve uniform luminance and spot size on the screen.