SBIR PHASE I: Development of High Gain Curved Channel Microchannel Plates (MCPs) with Improved Performance and Reduced Cost for Photon and Particle Detector Systems

* 9761598普里多 这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目是针对高质量，降低成本，剪切通道微通道板（SMCP）（TM）的商业化。 在早期的NASA SBIR奖下，开发了制造程序，成功地用于为哈勃太空望远镜成像光谱仪（STIS）和哈勃高级相机生产高质量的50毫米格式SMCP。 大量的25毫米格式MCP晶圆可从NASA SBIR奖获得。 我们的目标是使用这些晶片，以优化的程序，在商业上可接受的成本制造高品质的SMCP。 将建立最佳剪切工艺，验证蚀刻和还原程序，并量化许多SMCP成品的性能特征。 在第一阶段结束时，目标是开发建立专用SMCP制造和测试设施所需的所有数据，包括第二代剪切发动机。 该设施生产的SMCP将在快速定时和位置敏感探测器系统中具有非常广泛的科学和商业应用。 这些包括飞行时间质谱，ELTV和软X射线成像和光谱，军用和民用夜视，微光光谱，以及斑点图像重建和波前传感。 ***

*** 9761598 Prideaux This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is directed toward the commercialization of high-quality, reduced-cost, Sheared-channel Microchannel Plates (SMCPs)(TM). Under an earlier NASA SBIR award, fabrication procedures were developed which were successfully used to produce the high-quality, 50-mm-format SMCPs for the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), and for the Hubble Advanced Camera. A significant number of 25-mm-format MCP wafers are available from the NASA SBIR award. The objective is to use these wafers to optimize the procedures for fabricating high-quality SMCPs at a commercially-acceptable cost. The optimum shear process will be established, etch and reduction procedures will be validated, and the performance characteristics of a number of finished SMCPs will be quantified. At the end of Phase I, the goal is to have developed all of the data required to set up a dedicated SMCP fabrication and test facility, including a second-generation shear engine. The SMCPs produced in this facility will have a very wide range of scientific and commercial applications in fast-timing and position sensitive detector systems. These include time-of-flight mass spectrometry, ELTV and soft x-ray imaging and spectroscopy, military and civilian night-vision, low-light-level spectroscopy, and' speckle image reconstruction and wavefront sensing. ***