Characterization of borosilicate microchannel plates functionalized by atomic layer deposition

Abstract

Borosilicate microcapillary arrays have been functionalized by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) of resistive and secondary emissive layers to produce robust microchannel plates (MCPs) with improved performance characteristics over traditional MCPs. These techniques produce MCP’s with enhanced stability and lifetime, low background rates, and low levels of adsorbed gas. Using ALD to functionalize the substrate decouples the two and provides the opportunity to explore many new materials. The borosilicate substrates have many advantages over traditional lead glass MCPs, including the ability to be fabricated in large areas (currently at 400 cm²).