Patent ID: 8008849

Claim:
A flat panel display comprising: a plurality of electrically addressable pixels, each of said pixels being electrically addressable by including a conductive pad that is coated with a phosphor; a plurality of thin-film (TFT) driver circuits each being electrically coupled to an associated at least one of said pixels, respectively; a passivating layer on said thin-film transistor driver circuits and at least partially around said pixels; a conductive frame on said passivating layer, wherein conductor elements of said frame are positioned between said pixels to substantially surround each of said pixels, and edges of said conductive frame include an insulating layer; and a plurality of nanostructures on said conductive frame; a substrate supporting said pixels including said phosphor coated conductive pad, said TFT driver circuits, said passivating layer and said conductive frame, means for applying a known voltage to said conductive frame, said known voltage being less than an electron emission threshold voltage of said nanostructures; and means for addressing one of said pixels using said associated driver circuit, wherein said addressing causes application of a voltage to said pixel to create a potential different greater than said emission threshold voltage.