Chris Curtin

Chris Curtin worked at Tektronix for 26 years, focusing on display technology.

Career

• Two summers working for Tek while attending Lewis and Clark College
• Graduated in June 1963 with a BS degree in Physics
• June 1963 to June 1989 at Tek in various CRT Design and Manufacturing roles
• Retired in 2001 after Flat CRT development at Candescent Technologies in San Jose, CA

Tek Products

• Assisted with the 321A, 422, 647, 453 and 549 CRT designs.
• Project Manager for the CRTs in the 601, 7514, 7613, and 7623.
• Supervised development of various storage CRTs as a Group and Department manager.
• After a stint in CRT Manufacturing, named Display Device Operations General Manager.

Tek Patents

• 3,798,494 Non-Storage Electron Multiplier Operation of Transmission Storage Tubes
• 3,742,286 Fast Writing Bistable Storage Tube and Method of Operation

Field Emission Display Patents

• 6,853,135 Apparatus for Removing Contaminants from a Display Device
• 6,731,061 Dual Layer Electroplated Structure for a Flat Panel Display Device
• 6,541,912 Auxiliary Chamber and Display Device With Improved Contaminant Removal
• 6,448,949 System and Method for Improving Emitter Life in Flat Panel Field Emission Displays
• 6,369,784 System and Method for Improving Emitter Life in Flat Panel Field Emission Displays
• 6,356,013 Flat Panel Display with Wall Segments
• 6,323,590 Wall Assembly and Method for Attaching Walls for Flat Panel Display
• 6,225,737 Wall Assembly and Method for Attaching Walls for Flat Panel Display
• 6,194,830 Multi-Compartment Getter-Containing Flat-Panel Device
• 6,176,753 Wall Assembly and Method for Attaching Walls for Flat Panel Display
• 6,140,762 Wall Assembly and Method for Attaching Walls for Flat Panel Displays
• 6,133,893 System and Method for Improving Emitter Life in Flat Panel FEDs
• 6,111,351 Wall Assembly and Method for Attaching Walls for Flat Panel Display
• 5,977,706 Multi-Compartment Getter-Containing Flat-Panel Device
• 5,964,630 Method of Increasing Resistance of Flat-Panel Device to Bending, and Associated Getter-Containing Flat-Panel Device
• 5,900,301 Structure and Fabrication of Electron-Emitting Devices Utilizing Electron-Emissive Particles which Typically Contain Carbon
• 5,897,414 Technique for Increasing Yield of Matrix Addressable Device
• 5,725,787 Fabrication of Light-Emitting Device with Raised Black Matrix for use in Optical Devices Such as Flat-Panel Cathode-Ray Tubes
• 5,686,790 Flat Panel Device with Ceramic Backplate
• 5,672,083 Fabrication of Flat Panel Device Having Backplate that includes Ceramic Layer
• 5,608,283 Electron-Emitting Devices Utilizing Electron-Emissive Particles which Typically Contain Carbon
• 5,576,596 Optical Devices Such as Flat-Panel Cathode-Ray Tubes, having Raised Black Matrix
• 5,532,548 Field Forming Electrodes on High Voltage Spacers
• 5,477,105 Structure of Light-Emitting Device with Raised Black Matrix for use in Optical Devices Such as Flat-Panel Cathode-Ray Tubes
• 5,216,324 Matrix-addressed flat panel having a transparent base plate

Tutorials and Short Courses Presented

• Vacuum Microelectronics Engineering; UC Davis; June 1-3. 1995; “Flat-panel Displays”.
• SID Symposium 1995; Short Course on “Fundamentals of Emissive Displays”; co-authored with Peter Seats
• SID Symposium 1997; Short Course on “Fundamentals of Emissive Displays”; co-authored with Carlo Infante

Tektronix Publications

• Curtin C.J., Hutcheon, J.R., Mason, Wm., McTeague, J., “A Large Screen Display for Bistable Storage of up to 17,000 Characters”. 1973 SID Digest of Technical Papers, p. 98.
• Curtin, C.J., “Recent Advances in DVST’s”, SID Digest, 1977.

Field Emission Display Publications

• G. Hopple and C. Curtin; FED Life and Reliability; Information Display, April/May 2000; p. 34-37
• C. Curtin and Y. Iguchi; Scaling of FED Display Technology to Large-Area Displays; SID 2000 Digest, p. 1263-1265.
• G. Hopple, C. Curtin and Y. Hatano; Thin CRT Display Technology Operating Life and Reliability Issues; SID 2000 Digest, p. 1257-1259.
• C. J. Spindt, T. Fahlen, J. M. Macaulay, C. Curtin, and R. M. Duboc; ThinCRT Flat-Panel-Display Construction and Operating Characteristics; SID 1998 Digest, p. 95-98.