Field Emission Displays (FED) are new and promising flat panel displays with much reduced power consumption compared to PDP or LCD. They deliver an excellent image quality because they operate in a quite similar way to CRTs : phosphors are excited by electrons travelling in a vacuum. The difference is in the electron emitters: instead of one gun spraying electrons, FED use millions of microscopically small electron-emitting cathodes which are matrix-addressed.
FED feature high brightness and high efficiency, with a wide viewing angle, and fast response time for video viewing, with perfect color quality. Actually, they are flat, thin, and low power CRTs.

Different types of FED are being developped according to the type of electron emitters:
- Microtip emitters made out of Molybdenum.
- Surface emission displays (SED).
- Carbon nanotubes (CNT), either directly grown as an emitter on a catalyst (direct CNT), or blended with a paste that is screen-printed on the substrate (indirect CNT).

SAINT-GOBAIN DISPLAY GLASS SOLUTION

Saint-Gobain Display Glass offers a full range of glass products for the vacuum packaging of FED : substrates, spacers and frames. Our high strain point glass substrate CS77 offers the required thermal and chemical stability necessary for the high temperature manufacturing steps of cathodes and anode plates. Adapted sealing frits can be advised.
Saint-Gobain Display Glass has been leading the TAKOFF European project that gathered suppliers of materials and equipment for the future mass-manufacturing of FEDs.