Calculation of the vacuum pressure gradient in field emission displays

The usual design of field-emission displays (FEDs) often results in high va cuum pressure gradients inside the glass plates of the device, and this is the main limitation to the widespread availability of large area FEDs. In t his paper, we perform theoretical calculations using the finite element met hod for determining the pressure distributions in several pumping configura tions, including a new FED configuration known as porous FED or pFED. The a pproach here is capable of clarifying the design issues influencing the fin al pressure relevant to the field-emission display devices. (C) 2001 Elsevi er Science B.V. All rights reserved.