Patent ID: 8120550

Claim:
A flat panel display comprising: a plurality of electrically addressable pixels; a plurality of thin-film transistor (TFT) driver circuits each being electrically coupled to an associated one of said pixels; a plurality of substantially perpendicular walls surrounding each of said pixels, said walls being of an insulating material; a conductive layer positioned on top of at least one of said substantially perpendicular walls, said conductive layer being of a comparable size to said walls; and one or more edge emitters associated with each of said pixels, positioned on top of the conductive layer, wherein each of said edge emitters includes a plurality of substantially parallel elongated portions extending over a portion of said associated pixel; wherein, exciting said edge emitters, through said conductive layer, and addressing associated ones of said pixels using said associated driver circuits causes said edge emitters to emit electrons that induce corresponding ones of said pixels to emit light.