Thin-film phosphor deposition
AssigneeL-3 Communications Corporation-Insight Technology Division
InventorsJon Burnsed, Stephen Styonavich
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An enhanced vision system includes an image intensifier that includes a phosphor screen. The phosphor screen includes a thin-film phosphor layer deposited, patterned, transferred, or otherwise disposed on the substrate using a thin-film deposition technique. A conductive layer is deposited across at least a portion of the phosphor layer. The relatively smooth morphology of the phosphor layer beneficially permits the use of a relatively thin conductive layer. The use of a relatively thin conductive layer advantageously reduces the operating voltage between an electron multiplier and the phosphor screen. A secondary electron emitter may be disposed across at least a portion of the conductive layer.
Claims37
An image intensifier phosphor screen comprising:
- a substrate;
- a phosphor layer that includes at least one thin-film deposited phosphor layer deposited using at least one of:
- chemical solution deposition (CSD);
- chemical bath deposition (CBD);
- chemical vapor deposition (CVD);
- plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD);
- atomic layer deposition (ALD);
- physical vapor deposition (PVD);
- molecular beam epitaxy (MBE);
- sputtering;
- pulsed laser deposition;
- or cathodic arc deposition (arc-PVD);
- wherein the at least one thin-film deposited phosphor layer includes a thin-film layer having a root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness of from:
- about 0.3 nanometers (nm) to about 5 nm disposed across at least a portion of the substrate;
- and
- a conductive layer having a thickness of less than 500 nanometers (nm) deposited across at least a portion of the phosphor layer.
A method of forming an image intensifier phosphor screen, the method comprising:
- depositing, via thin-film deposition that includes at least one of:
- chemical solution deposition (CSD);
- chemical bath deposition (CBD);
- chemical vapor deposition (CVD);
- plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD);
- atomic layer deposition (ALD);
- physical vapor deposition (PVD);
- molecular beam epitaxy (MBE);
- sputtering;
- pulsed laser deposition;
- or cathodic arc deposition (arc-PVD), a thin-film phosphor layer across at least a portion of a substrate;
- wherein the the-thin-film phosphor layer includes a layer having a root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness of from:
- about 0.3 nanometers (nm) to about 5 nm;
- and
- depositing a conductive layer having a thickness of less than 500 nanometers (nm) across at least a portion of the thin-film phosphor layer.
An image intensifier, comprising,
- a photocathode;
- a multichannel plate having a first surface and a second surface, the first surface of the microchannel plate spaced apart from the photocathode forming a first vacuum space therebetween;
- a phosphor screen spaced apart from the second surface of the multichannel plate forming a second vacuum space therebetween, the phosphor screen comprising:
- a phosphor layer that includes at least one thin-film deposited phosphor layer deposited using at least one of:
- chemical solution deposition (CSD);
- chemical bath deposition (CBD);
- chemical vapor deposition (CVD);
- plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD);
- atomic layer deposition (ALD);
- physical vapor deposition (PVD);
- molecular beam epitaxy (MBE);
- sputtering;
- pulsed laser deposition;
- or cathodic arc deposition (arc-PVD) disposed across at least a portion of the substrate;
- wherein the at least one thin-film deposited phosphor layer includes a thin-film layer having a root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness of from:
- about 0.3 nanometers (nm) to about 5 nm;
- and
- a conductive layer having a thickness of less than 500 nanometers (nm) deposited across at least a portion of the phosphor layer;
- and
- a twisted fiber optic bundle having a first end and a second end twisted 180 degrees with respect to the first end, the first end of the twisted fiber optic bundle disposed proximate the phosphorescent display.
A system for forming an image intensifier phosphor screen, the system comprising:
- a substrate;
- means for depositing a thin-film phosphor layer having a root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness of from:
- about 0.3 nanometers (nm) to about 5 nm across at least a portion of the substrate;
- and
- means for depositing a conductive layer having a thickness of less than 500 nanometers (nm) across at least a portion of the thin-film phosphor layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.