(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat panel display and, more particularly, to a flat panel display which has spacers for maintaining the cell gap in a constant manner.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, flat panel displays (FPDs) have a faceplate, a backplate, and a side wall that are combined together to form a vacuum tight cell. The vacuum degree of the cell is established to be about 10xe2x88x927 torr.
In such a flat panel display, compared to other display devices, it is difficult to constantly maintain the cell gap due to the difference between the internal pressure and the external atmospheric pressure. For this reason, one or more spacers are provided within the cell to maintain the cell gap in a constant manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,650,690 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,683 discloses a method of fabricating a field emission display that has a gripper disposed on the faceplate, a locator disposed on the backplate, and a spacer wall interposed between the gripper and the locator. The spacer wall for securing the internal space of the device is formed with ceramic or glass, and interposed between the faceplate and the backplate via the gripper and the locator.
However, in the above structure, the gripper and the locator for holding the spacer wall should be separately provided, resulting in increased production cost and complicated processing steps (for example, photolithography for a photosensitive material).
Furthermore, in order to fit the spacer wall between the gripper and the locator, each spacer should be inserted into the gripper or the locator. This requires elaborate working conditions while making it difficult to maximize work efficiency.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a flat panel display which can mount spacers without separate fixation members.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a flat panel display which can be fabricated in a simplified manner.
These and other objects may be achieved by a flat panel display including a faceplate, and a backplate combined with the faceplate to form a vacuum tight cell. An image production unit is provided within the cell to produce display images from the cell. A plurality of spacers are mounted within the cell such that the spacers are placed at a non-display area. The spacers are held between the faceplate and the backplate. A pair of alignment members are connected to the spacers in a body to align the spacers at the non-display area in a constant manner.
Each alignment member is connected to one-sided end portions of the spacers. A longitudinal axis of each spacer is preferably positioned substantially parallel to a side of the cell.
A pair of subsidiary alignment members may be arranged perpendicular to the alignment members to form a rectangular frame.
Each spacer is provided with a plurality of exhaust grooves. The exhaust grooves are arranged at the spacer in the longitudinal direction while being spaced apart from each other with a predetermined distance.
Each spacer may be further provided with a plurality of grooves for preventing image distortion. The image distortion preventing grooves are arranged at the spacer in the longitudinal direction while being spaced apart from each other with a predetermined distance.