High-voltage research and development at Philips Display Components

Robust high-voltage product designs and manufacturing processes are of vital importance in cathode ray tube production. Ever increasing demands on performance and cost price require a continuous improvement of the high-voltage quality of Philips' products; in particular the electron gun. Here, the authors show examples of their development program for high-voltage quality improvement, covering the complete chain of research, design, manufacturing, conditioning, testing and failure analysis. Application of fundamental high-voltage knowledge in an industrial environment is discussed. Research includes simulations and experiments on charging behaviour of insulator surfaces. Fundamental research of metal surface treatment techniques and design details is carried out with field emission imaging techniques. Design rules are applied during the development of new electron gun types. The emphasis in production is on clean manufacturing methods and on process control. Systematic root-cause analysis of tube failure provides valuable input for improvements over the complete activity chain.