Si microchannel plates for image intensification

Abstract

Glass microchannel plates (MCPs) have been in use by numerous manufactuers in a variety of electron multiplication applications. Conventional fabrication of MCPs follow the lines of glass drawing and etching technology. Core and clad glass are drawn together, stacked, drawn again, and finally stacked in the desired pattern. The soluble core is removed with wet chemical processing. These techniques are beginning to run into their feasible limits in terms of channel size, open area ratio, uniformity, and material issues. A strong desire exists to fabricate MCPs with accepted lithographic techniques using Si as the base material to improve uniformity and throughput. Open area ratios of as high as 95% have been achieved using lithography. However, attempts to meet other channel plate characteristics met with little success due to thermal runaway or arcing during operation, high voltage is required for electron gain. Processing improvements have lead to the complete oxidation of the Si matrix eliminating the conducting Si in the channel walls of the Si MCPs allowing high voltages to be supported. Complete oxidation of the Si to silica allows processing temperatures high than conventional glass matrices can withstand. This fact allows for high temperature growth of conductive and secondary emissive materials on the channel walls of the structure. Si MCPs with gain have now been fabricated and tested with voltages comparable to conventional glass MCPs. Channel plate characteristics such as operating voltage, strip current, and gain for Si MCPs will be presented and compared to glass MCPs.