Focused electron-bombarded detector
AssigneeIntevac, Inc.
InventorsVerle Aebi, Ross A. LaRue, Kenneth Costello, Stephen J. Bartz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A focused electron-bombarded (FEB) ion detector comprising an MCP, focusing means, and a collection anode disposed in a detector body. The collection anode includes a diode for receiving the focused output electron beam from the MCP. The gain between the input ion current to the MCP and the detector output signal from the diode is on the order of 1-100 million, depending on the device configuration and applied biasing voltages.
Claims18
A charged particle detector comprising:
- a microchannel plate for generating electrons in response to the impact of a charged particle on a surface of the microchannel plate;
- acceleration means for accelerating the electrons generated by the microchannel plate;
- focusing means for focusing the accelerated electrons in a predetermined direction along an electron beam path;
- and
- transducer means comprising a solid state diode for detecting the electrons focused by the focusing means and for generating a signal representative of energy of the charged particle.
A charged particle detector comprising:
- microchannel plate means for generating electrons in response to the impact of charged particles on a surface of the microchannel plate means;
- accelerator means for accelerating the electrons generated by the microchannel plate;
- focusing means for focusing the electrons generated by the microchannel plate in a predetermined direction along an electron beam path, the focusing means comprising a focusing ring surrounding the electron beam path;
- and
- a diode for detecting the electrons focused by the focusing means and for generating a signal representative of energy of the charged particles.
A method of a charged particle detector for measuring a flux of a charged particle input moving along a current path comprising the following steps of:
- placing a microchannel plate in the current path;
- applying a bias voltage to the microchannel plate to generate an electron beam output from the charged particle input impacted on a surface of the microchannel plate;
- accelerating the electron beam output;
- focusing the accelerated electron beam output onto a detecting diode;
- and
- generating an energy signal proportional to the flux of the charged particle input.
A charged particle detector in which a collection area is at least a hundred times greater than an output area of a transducer at an output end of the detector comprising:
- a collection transducer comprising at least a microchannel plate to generate electrons in response to the impact of a charged particle on a surface of the microchannel plate;
- accelerator means for accelerating the electrons generated by said microchannel plate;
- focusing means for focusing said accelerated electrons along a predetermined electron beam path;
- and
- transducer means comprising a diode for detecting the focused electrons and for generating a signal representative of energy of the charged particle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.