TV Camera Tubes with Large Silicon Diode Array Targets Operating in the Electron Bombarded Mode

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with electron-bombarded-silicon (EBS)-target camera tubes in which the diode array senses, amplifies, and stores information from a photoemissive surface. In the EBS mode, the diode array uses electron–hole pair generation as the mechanism to provide high target gain, of the order of 2500 for 10 keV photoelectrons. This high gain makes EBS tubes the most sensitive camera tubes known. They also resist burns from high lights and perform well under difficult environmental conditions. An EBS tube works in the following manner: light is imaged on the fiber-optic input surface and is transmitted to the photoemissive surface through the fiber bundles. The emitted photoelectrons are accelerated to and focused on the target by the electrostatic image section. The electrons strike the target with energies of up to 12 keV and create a charge pattern corresponding to the image on the fiber-optic input. EBS camera tubes offer extremely high sensitivity. Resolution performance has been limited, however, by the 16-mm target. Higher resolution has now been realized by the development of tubes with 25 mm EBS targets. Performance of the tubes has been shown to be excellent and not significantly reduced by lag, dark current, or low mesh-voltage effects.