Method of manufacturing a field electron emission cathode having at least one cathode electrode

This invention relates to field emission devices and in particular to methods of manufacturing addressable field electron emission cathodes. Preferred embodiments of the present invention aim to provide low manufacturing cost methods of fabricating multi-electrode control and focusing structures. A field electron emission cathode is manufactured by depositing on an insulating substrate , by low resolution means, a sequence of a first conducting layer , a field emitting layer and a second conducting layer to form at least one cathode electrode. There is then deposited on the cathode electrode by low resolution means, a sequence of an insulating layer and a third conducting layer , to form at least one gate electrode. The structure thus formed is then coated with a photoresist layer . The photoresist layer is then exposed by high resolution means to form at least one group of emitting cells, the or each such group being located in an area of overlap between a cathode electrode and gate electrode. To complete the cells, the conducting and insulating layers are etched sequentially to expose the field emitting layer in the cells, and remaining areas of the photoresist layer are removed. Thus, field emitting materials and devices can be manufactured using relatively low cost techniques.