In the normal gate carbon nanotube field emission display (CNT-FED), the gate electrode is used to modulate and address the electron beam. This article proposes a novel gate architecture made on a glass substrate with diabololike funnels. Chemical corrosion was utilized to produce diabolo funnels in the glass dielectric layer. A metal layer was screen printed on the lower surface of the glass-mesh plate as an electron extraction gate electrode. MgO film was vaporized on the wall of the diabolo funnels. The electrons from CNT are transported in a diabolo mode via secondary electron emission over the wall of the diabolo funnel placed above the subemitters. As a result, electrons including the secondary electrons and backscatters are generated and the brightness of the diabolo mode gate architecture CNT-FED could increase obviously. (c) 2007 American Vacuum Society.