To provide a field emitting type cold cathode having a low emission threshold voltage and high current density and to provide a manufacturing method capable of producing it with a simple process, in a field emitting cold cathode having a gate and an emitter of a carbon film.

In this manufacturing method, electric field intensity at the tip of an emitter is enhanced by forming the emitter formed of a carbon film 2 into a needle-like projection structure having sharp tips and by forming a gate 3 in its extreme vicinity, and a threshold voltage is lowered and current density is heightened by uniformly forming the minute needle-like emitter all over the region of the emitter. A field emitting type cold cathode having the gate 3 and the emitter of the carbon film 2 is easily manufactured by using a photolithography process only once. In particular, by using hydrogen plasma processing, the removal of a graphite-based carbon film deposited on the gate and the process for forming a diamond-based carbon film or diamond film into the needle-like structure can be carried out at the same time.