US3424909A - Straight parallel channel electron multipliers - Google Patents

Straight parallel channel electron multipliers Download PDF

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Publication number
US3424909A
US3424909A US538900A US3424909DA US3424909A US 3424909 A US3424909 A US 3424909A US 538900 A US538900 A US 538900A US 3424909D A US3424909D A US 3424909DA US 3424909 A US3424909 A US 3424909A
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United States
Prior art keywords
canals
electron
diode
electron multiplier
parallel channel
Prior art date
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Expired - Lifetime
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US538900A
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English (en)
Inventor
Henri Rougeot
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Thales SA
Original Assignee
CSF Compagnie Generale de Telegraphie sans Fil SA
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Publication date
Priority claimed from FR10462A external-priority patent/FR1465381A/fr
Application filed by CSF Compagnie Generale de Telegraphie sans Fil SA filed Critical CSF Compagnie Generale de Telegraphie sans Fil SA
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Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J43/00—Secondary-emission tubes; Electron-multiplier tubes
    • H01J43/04—Electron multipliers
    • H01J43/06—Electrode arrangements
    • H01J43/18—Electrode arrangements using essentially more than one dynode
    • H01J43/24—Dynodes having potential gradient along their surfaces

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to electron multipliers of the type in which a beam of primary electrons is multiplied through a series of secondary electron emissions within a set of straight, parallel channels, placed in a longitudinal electric field.
  • electron multipliers of the type specified comprise an insulating body, pierced by canals of a very small diameter.
  • the inner walls of the canals are coated with a very thin electrically resistive layer, having properties of secondary electron emission with a coeflicient 6 1.
  • a beam of primary electrons penetrating into the canals under different angles causes a series of secondary electron emissions on the internal coatings.
  • the number of electrons at the output of the canals is then greatly increased as compared with the primary beam.
  • the manufacture of the emissive coatings for those electron multipliers is rather difiicult because the diameter of the canals does not exceed a few tens of microns, while the thickness and the electric resistivity of the coating layers must be uniform over the entire length of the canals.
  • Another difiioulty lies in the necessity of preventing the electric current that flows in the coatings from attaining an excessive value which could deteriorate the canals.
  • This invention has for its object an improved structure of electron multiplier in which the drawbacks and inconveniences of the prior art structures are avoided.
  • an electron multiplier of the type specified is characterized in that the canals are pierced in the body of a silicon diode, biased in the reverse direction.
  • the silicon by itself, possesses a secondary electron emission coefficient greater than 1.
  • the electric current that traverses the silicon is zero or negligible since the diode is in the reverse or blocking condition.
  • FIGURE 1 shows a light intensifier that utilizes an electron multiplier of the known art
  • FIGURES 2 and 3 represent an electron multiplier in accordance with the present invention, FIGURE 3 being a section along line III-III of FIGURE 2;
  • FIGURE 4 represents schematically a light intensifier utilizing an electron multiplier in accordance with the present invention.
  • the prior art light intensifier represented in FIGURE 1, comprises within an air-evacuated enclosure an insulating cylinder 2, for example of glass pierced by canals 3 whose internal walls are coated with a coating 4 made of a resistive substance, deposited by surface treatment and capable of releasing secondary electrons with a ratio 5 1 when submitted to the impact of primary electrons.
  • a coating 4 made of a resistive substance, deposited by surface treatment and capable of releasing secondary electrons with a ratio 5 1 when submitted to the impact of primary electrons.
  • On the opposite sides of cylinder 1 are photocathode 5 and a fluorescent screen 6, between which a source of current 7 establishes a DC. voltage of a few hundreds or a few thousands of volts.
  • the extremities of the canals 3 facing the photocathode are carried at a potential somewhat lower than the screen.
  • the electron multiplier of FIGURE 1, formed by the cylinder 2 and the canals 3, is replaced by the improved electron multiplier shown in elevational view in FIGURE 2 and in sectional view in FIGURE 3.
  • This novel electron multiplier comprises a thick diode of the surface barrier type, formed by a monocrystal of silicon 11 of high resistivity, bearing on one of its faces a rectifying gold contact 12 and on the other face an aluminum layer 13- that provides an ohmic, i.e., non-rectifying contact.
  • Canals I14 having a diameter of the order of 30 microns and spaced apart, for example, by one hundred microns from each other, are pierced into the diode whose thickness is about 1 millimeter.
  • a source of DC. voltage 15 sets ahe rectifying contact 12 at 1,000 volts With respect to the aluminum layer (reverse bias), whereby an accelerating electric field is produced along the entire length of the canals.
  • Thick diodes can be made in different manners. If a monocrystal of silicion of high resistivity, for example, 1 mm. thick, is available, canals of a few tens of microns are pierced in that sample by an electron beam, or by laser effect, or by any other process. In order to eliminate surface dislocations and, if necessary, to enlarge the "holes, the sample is soaked for a few minutes in an etching solution. The surface 'barrier type diode is then formed by evaporating obliquely on one of its faces a thin layer of gold and on the other face a layer of aluminium or indium.
  • the space charge zone that defines the zone of the electric field will extend over the entire thickness of the crystal.
  • the diode may also be constructed in an n-i-p type rectifier, !well known to those skilled in the art.
  • Lithium (n impurity) is diffused in a monocrystal of p silicon, thus producing an n region (excess of lithium),
  • the i region is enlarged by draining the lithium ions in an electric field obtained by biasing the diode in the reverse direction.
  • the temperature must be comprised between 100 and 200 degrees.
  • the dead 11 and p portions are reduced by grinding and pickling, and the diodes thus obtained may have a thickness of a few millimeters.
  • a modification of the technique for manufacturing thick diodes also known to those skilled in the art, consists in totally suppressing the n region and depositing on the concerned face a layer of gold. Thereafter, like previously, one proceeds with piercing the canals, pickling, and deposting the contacts.
  • FIGURE 4 represents schematically a light intensifier utilizing the electron multiplier of FIGURES 2 and 3. It comprises a photocathode 21, the electron multiplier symbolized by the block 22, and a fluorescent screen 23. A source of voltage 24 and a voltage divider 25 permit to set the various elements at appropriate potentials.
  • the silicon diode of the electron multiplier 22 is disposed in the reverse direction with the gold face (rectifying contact) facing the photocathode 21 and the aluminium side facing the fluorescent screen 23.
  • the photocathode 21 here converts a light image into an electron image.
  • the latter penetrates into the multiplier 22 from which it emerges intensified and strikes the fluorcesent screen 23 on which it produces an image having increased brilliancy as compared with the initial image.
  • An electron multiplier comprising a diode constituted by a silicon wafer and two metal layers in rectifying and non-rectifying contact with the two faces of said wafer, respectively, said diode being pierced transversely with approximately straight, parallel canals, a source of direct current potential connected at its negative and positive terminals to said rectifying and non-rectifying layers, respectively, for biassing said diode in the reverse direction and simultaneously establishing a longitudinal electric field within said canals, means for injecting primary electrons into said canals at the negative potential end thereof at various angles with respect to the inner surfaces of the canals, thereby causing multiple secondary electron emissions from said surfaces within the canals, and means for picking up the multiplied electrons emerging from said canals at the positive potential end thereof.
  • a light intensifier including an electron multiplier as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a photocathode opposite the negative potential face of said silicon wafer, a fluorescent screen opposite the positive potential face of said silicon wafer, and means for setting said photocathode and said fluorescent screen at direct current potentials lower than said negative potential and higher than said positive potential, respectively.
  • An electron multiplier comprising a photocathode, an anode and between said photocathode and anode a relatively thick diode structure of the barrier type having two faces and provided with relatively small canals extending through said diode structure from one face to the other, and rectifying contact means on one of said faces and non-rectifying contact means on the other of said faces.

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  • Image-Pickup Tubes, Image-Amplification Tubes, And Storage Tubes (AREA)
  • Primary Cells (AREA)
US538900A 1965-03-24 1966-03-24 Straight parallel channel electron multipliers Expired - Lifetime US3424909A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR10462A FR1465381A (fr) 1965-03-24 1965-03-24 Perfectionnements aux multiplicateurs d'électrons

Publications (1)

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US3424909A true US3424909A (en) 1969-01-28

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US (1) US3424909A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
GB (1) GB1081829A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
NL (1) NL6603797A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (20)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3612946A (en) * 1967-08-01 1971-10-12 Murata Manufacturing Co Electron multiplier device using semiconductor ceramic
US3622828A (en) * 1969-12-01 1971-11-23 Us Army Flat display tube with addressable cathode
US3666957A (en) * 1971-01-25 1972-05-30 Bendix Corp Brightness limiter for image intensifiers
US4119852A (en) * 1976-01-30 1978-10-10 Thomson-Csf Solid detector for ionizing radiation
US5086248A (en) * 1989-08-18 1992-02-04 Galileo Electro-Optics Corporation Microchannel electron multipliers
US5705079A (en) * 1996-01-19 1998-01-06 Micron Display Technology, Inc. Method for forming spacers in flat panel displays using photo-etching
US5716251A (en) * 1995-09-15 1998-02-10 Micron Display Technology, Inc. Sacrificial spacers for large area displays
US5719623A (en) * 1993-03-23 1998-02-17 Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. Streak tube
US5729244A (en) * 1995-04-04 1998-03-17 Lockwood; Harry F. Field emission device with microchannel gain element
US5730636A (en) * 1995-09-29 1998-03-24 Micron Display Technology, Inc. Self-dimensioning support member for use in a field emission display
US5795206A (en) * 1994-11-18 1998-08-18 Micron Technology, Inc. Fiber spacers in large area vacuum displays and method for manufacture of same
US5851133A (en) * 1996-12-24 1998-12-22 Micron Display Technology, Inc. FED spacer fibers grown by laser drive CVD
US5888112A (en) * 1996-12-31 1999-03-30 Micron Technology, Inc. Method for forming spacers on a display substrate
US5916004A (en) * 1996-01-11 1999-06-29 Micron Technology, Inc. Photolithographically produced flat panel display surface plate support structure
US5990601A (en) * 1971-02-22 1999-11-23 Itt Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc. Electron multiplier and methods and apparatus for processing the same
US6155900A (en) * 1999-10-12 2000-12-05 Micron Technology, Inc. Fiber spacers in large area vacuum displays and method for manufacture
US6491559B1 (en) 1996-12-12 2002-12-10 Micron Technology, Inc. Attaching spacers in a display device
US6522061B1 (en) 1995-04-04 2003-02-18 Harry F. Lockwood Field emission device with microchannel gain element
US20040183028A1 (en) * 2003-03-19 2004-09-23 Bruce Laprade Conductive tube for use as a reflectron lens
US20100090098A1 (en) * 2006-03-10 2010-04-15 Laprade Bruce N Resistive glass structures used to shape electric fields in analytical instruments

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2998541A (en) * 1958-07-29 1961-08-29 Westinghouse Electric Corp Transmission storage tube
US3128408A (en) * 1958-09-02 1964-04-07 Bendix Corp Electron multiplier
US3341730A (en) * 1960-04-20 1967-09-12 Bendix Corp Electron multiplier with multiplying path wall means having a reduced reducible metal compound constituent

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2998541A (en) * 1958-07-29 1961-08-29 Westinghouse Electric Corp Transmission storage tube
US3128408A (en) * 1958-09-02 1964-04-07 Bendix Corp Electron multiplier
US3341730A (en) * 1960-04-20 1967-09-12 Bendix Corp Electron multiplier with multiplying path wall means having a reduced reducible metal compound constituent

Cited By (34)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3612946A (en) * 1967-08-01 1971-10-12 Murata Manufacturing Co Electron multiplier device using semiconductor ceramic
US3622828A (en) * 1969-12-01 1971-11-23 Us Army Flat display tube with addressable cathode
US3666957A (en) * 1971-01-25 1972-05-30 Bendix Corp Brightness limiter for image intensifiers
US5990601A (en) * 1971-02-22 1999-11-23 Itt Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc. Electron multiplier and methods and apparatus for processing the same
US4119852A (en) * 1976-01-30 1978-10-10 Thomson-Csf Solid detector for ionizing radiation
US5086248A (en) * 1989-08-18 1992-02-04 Galileo Electro-Optics Corporation Microchannel electron multipliers
US5719623A (en) * 1993-03-23 1998-02-17 Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. Streak tube
US5795206A (en) * 1994-11-18 1998-08-18 Micron Technology, Inc. Fiber spacers in large area vacuum displays and method for manufacture of same
US6183329B1 (en) 1994-11-18 2001-02-06 Micron Technology, Inc. Fiber spacers in large area vacuum displays and method for manufacture of same
US5729244A (en) * 1995-04-04 1998-03-17 Lockwood; Harry F. Field emission device with microchannel gain element
US6522061B1 (en) 1995-04-04 2003-02-18 Harry F. Lockwood Field emission device with microchannel gain element
US5962969A (en) * 1995-09-15 1999-10-05 Micron Technology, Inc. Sacrificial spacers for large area displays
US5716251A (en) * 1995-09-15 1998-02-10 Micron Display Technology, Inc. Sacrificial spacers for large area displays
US6083070A (en) * 1995-09-15 2000-07-04 Micron Technology, Inc. Sacrificial spacers for large area displays
US5730636A (en) * 1995-09-29 1998-03-24 Micron Display Technology, Inc. Self-dimensioning support member for use in a field emission display
US6077142A (en) * 1995-09-29 2000-06-20 Micron Technology, Inc. Self-dimensioning support member for use in a field emission display
US5916004A (en) * 1996-01-11 1999-06-29 Micron Technology, Inc. Photolithographically produced flat panel display surface plate support structure
US5840201A (en) * 1996-01-19 1998-11-24 Micron Display Technology, Inc. Method for forming spacers in flat panel displays using photo-etching
US5705079A (en) * 1996-01-19 1998-01-06 Micron Display Technology, Inc. Method for forming spacers in flat panel displays using photo-etching
US6696783B2 (en) 1996-12-12 2004-02-24 Micron Technology, Inc. Attaching spacers in a display device on desired locations of a conductive layer
US6491559B1 (en) 1996-12-12 2002-12-10 Micron Technology, Inc. Attaching spacers in a display device
US6172454B1 (en) 1996-12-24 2001-01-09 Micron Technology, Inc. FED spacer fibers grown by laser drive CVD
US5851133A (en) * 1996-12-24 1998-12-22 Micron Display Technology, Inc. FED spacer fibers grown by laser drive CVD
US6121721A (en) * 1996-12-31 2000-09-19 Micron Technology, Inc. Unitary spacers for a display device
US6010385A (en) * 1996-12-31 2000-01-04 Micron Technology, Inc. Method for forming a spacer for a display
US5888112A (en) * 1996-12-31 1999-03-30 Micron Technology, Inc. Method for forming spacers on a display substrate
US6155900A (en) * 1999-10-12 2000-12-05 Micron Technology, Inc. Fiber spacers in large area vacuum displays and method for manufacture
US6280274B1 (en) 1999-10-12 2001-08-28 Micron Technology, Inc. Fiber spacers in large area vacuum displays and method for manufacture
US6447354B1 (en) 1999-10-12 2002-09-10 Micron Technology, Inc. Fiber spacers in large area vacuum displays and method for manufacture
US6561864B2 (en) 1999-10-12 2003-05-13 Micron Technology, Inc. Methods for fabricating spacer support structures and flat panel displays
US20040183028A1 (en) * 2003-03-19 2004-09-23 Bruce Laprade Conductive tube for use as a reflectron lens
US7154086B2 (en) 2003-03-19 2006-12-26 Burle Technologies, Inc. Conductive tube for use as a reflectron lens
US20100090098A1 (en) * 2006-03-10 2010-04-15 Laprade Bruce N Resistive glass structures used to shape electric fields in analytical instruments
US8084732B2 (en) 2006-03-10 2011-12-27 Burle Technologies, Inc. Resistive glass structures used to shape electric fields in analytical instruments

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB1081829A (en) 1967-09-06
NL6603797A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1967-01-25
DE1539755B2 (de) 1972-07-27
DE1539755A1 (de) 1969-12-11

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