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 Prideaux这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目旨在将高质量、低成本、剪切通道微通道板(SMCP)(TM)商业化。在早些时候的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)和哈勃先进相机生产高质量、50毫米格式的SMCP。NASA SBIR奖提供了大量25 mm格式的MCP晶圆。其目标是使用这些晶片来优化以商业可接受的成本制造高质量SMCP的工艺。将建立最优的剪切工艺，验证刻蚀和还原程序，并量化一些成品SMCP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。在该设施中生产的SMCP将在快速定时和位置灵敏探测器系统中有非常广泛的科学和商业应用。这些技术包括飞行时间质谱学、ELTV和软X射线成像和光谱学、军用和民用夜视、微光光谱学，以及散斑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. ***