Differential pressure process for fabricating a flat-panel display face plate with integral spacer support structures and a face plate produced by such process

An apparatus for molding a laminar glass substrate into a one-piece face plate assembly for a flat-panel display, the face plate assembly having a laminar face plate with protruding spacer support structures, the apparatus comprising:

• a laminar template having a first major planar face and a second major planar face and an array of mold holes perpendicular to the first major planar face and the second major planar face being formed of a material having a coefficient of expansion substantially similar to that of said laminar glass substrate, each mold hole in said laminar template corresponding to a desired location of a spacer support structure on the laminar face plate;
• a manifold block having at least one generally planar surface uniformly sealably positionable against said first major planar face substantially throughout said first major planar face, said block also having an array of mating ports on said planar surface, each such port mating with an adjacent major surface of said template and aligning with at least one mold hole in said template;
• and
• means for creating a pressure differential between an ambient atmosphere surrounding the temporary structure and a pressure prevailing within the mold holes when a generally laminar glass substrate is sealably positioned in contact with said second major planar face, such that the pressure within the mold holes is less than that of the ambient atmosphere, the pressure differential causing each of the mold holes to fill with material from the glass substrate when the sealably-positioned substrate becomes plastic when heated at the prevailing pressure conditions.