Development of thin-film metal hydrides for integration into field emission displays

We report on the development of solid-state hydrogen sources utilizing thin -film metal hydrides. We demonstrate that integration of these metal hydrid e thin films facilitate a practical method to introduce controlled amounts of hydrogen into sealed field emission display assemblies. To prove the con cept, we operated Mo field emitter arrays without emission current loss for 400 h of continuous operation with titanium-hydride-coated stainless steel anode plates. Comparable arrays operated in the absence of hydride films, but in ultrahigh vacuum, had emission current degradation of over 50% in le ss than 100 h of operation. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.