Method for improving MCP gain by vacuum baking process

Abstract

The application provides a method for improving the gain of a microchannel plate by using a vacuum baking process, which uses a skin glass tube and a core glass rod as a basis, and is processed by two times of wire drawing, screen arrangement, hot melting and pressing, slicing, rough grinding, polishing, etching, hydrogen reduction and film plating to obtain a microchannel plate wafer, and the film layer of the microchannel plate wafer is completed. After that, the microchannel plate wafer is placed in a vacuum environment, and high-temperature baking is performed at a preset baking temperature to obtain a microchannel plate with high gain. The application places the microchannel plate wafer in a vacuum environment after the microchannel plate wafer is prepared, and then performs high-temperature baking at a preset baking temperature. By high-temperature and high-vacuum baking, various gaseous reactants and products that may be adsorbed in the film plating process are removed, and a microchannel plate with high gain is obtained. The gain of the obtained microchannel plate is controlled through the process of vacuum baking, including the control of baking temperature and baking time, and the gain of the microchannel plate can be at least 10 4 times the above gain.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of microchannel plates, and more particularly to a method for improving the gain of MCPs through a vacuum baking process. Background Art

[0002] A microchannel plate (MCP) is a thin honeycomb-structured fine hollow glass fiber panel composed of many parallel channels with secondary electron multiplication capabilities, and can be used to detect various particles such as electrons, neutrons, ions, high-energy particles, X-rays, etc. and electromagnetic waves with relatively high energy. Microchannel plates have the advantages of small size, light weight, high gain, high spatial resolution, low noise, etc., and can be widely applied to fields such as military, optoelectronic instruments, high-energy particle detection, radiation detection, etc.

[0003] Currently, the core component of a low-light-level image intensifier is a microchannel plate, and the resolution and imaging of the image intensifier are closely related to the gain of the microchannel plate.

[0004] The traditional preparation process of a microchannel plate is based on a silicate skin glass tube containing lead and bismuth elements and an acid-soluble core glass rod. After being processed through two drawing, screen arranging, hot pressing, slicing, rough grinding, polishing, etching, hydrogen reduction, coating and other processes, it is prepared. In the previous preparation process, after the coating process, testing is often directly carried out, and after passing the test, it is stored as a qualified product. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for increasing the gain of a microchannel plate. By additionally adding a vacuum baking process after the coating process, the gain level of the microchannel plate is improved.

[0006] According to the first aspect of the purpose of the present invention, a method for improving the gain of MCPs using a vacuum baking process is proposed, including:

[0007] A method for improving the gain of MCPs using a vacuum baking process. After using a skin glass tube and a core glass rod as a basis, through two drawing, screen arranging, hot pressing, slicing, rough grinding, polishing, etching, hydrogen reduction, coating processes to obtain a microchannel plate blank, the microchannel plate blank is placed in a vacuum environment and subjected to high-temperature baking at a preset baking temperature to obtain a high-gain microchannel plate.

[0008] As an optional implementation manner, the vacuum environment has a vacuum degree better than 1×10 -4 Pa.

[0009] As an optional implementation manner, the vacuum degree of the vacuum environment is controlled within 0 to 1×10 -4 Pa.

[0010] As an optional implementation, the baking temperature is controlled between 100 and 800°C.

[0011] As an optional implementation, the baking temperature is controlled between 200 and 400°C, and the gain of the prepared MCP reaches more than 10,000.

[0012] As an optional implementation, the baking temperature is controlled at 250-400°C, and the gain of the prepared MCP reaches over 19000.

[0013] As an optional implementation, the baking temperature is controlled at 280-380°C, and the gain of the prepared MCP reaches more than 30,000.

[0014] As an optional implementation, the high-temperature baking time is 1 to 8 hours.

[0015] As an optional implementation, the high-temperature baking time is 2 to 8 hours.

[0016] According to a second aspect of the present invention, an MCP prepared according to the foregoing method is provided, wherein the gain of the microchannel plate is greater than or equal to 10. 4 .

[0017] According to the above technical solution of the present invention, in the proposed method, after preparing the original microchannel plate, the original microchannel plate is placed in a vacuum environment and baked at a preset baking temperature. Through high-temperature and high-vacuum baking, various gaseous reactants and products that may have been adsorbed during the coating process are removed, resulting in a high-gain microchannel plate. The gain of the obtained microchannel plate is controlled by the vacuum baking process, including the control of baking temperature and baking time, achieving at least 10... 4 The above-mentioned gains, especially the ability to increase the gain of the microchannel plate to over 20,000 by optimizing the baking temperature and baking time, and the gain obtained through testing to over 60,000, are all achieved. Compared with a single microchannel plate with the same aspect ratio prepared by traditional processes, a better gain level can be obtained under the same applied high voltage test conditions. Detailed Implementation

[0018] To better understand the technical content of this invention, specific embodiments are described below.

[0019] The embodiments disclosed herein are not necessarily intended to encompass all aspects of the invention. It should be understood that the various concepts and embodiments described above, as well as those described in more detail below, can be implemented in any of many ways, because the concepts and embodiments disclosed herein are not limited to any particular implementation. Furthermore, some aspects of the invention disclosed may be used alone or in any suitable combination with other aspects of the invention disclosed.

[0020] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for improving the gain of an MCP using a vacuum baking process is proposed, the process comprising the following steps:

[0021] A method for enhancing the gain of microchannel plates (MCPs) using a vacuum baking process involves using a glass tube as a base and a glass rod as a core. The process includes two drawing steps, screen arrangement, hot-melt pressing, slicing, rough grinding, polishing, etching, hydrogen reduction, and coating to obtain the microchannel plate substrate, where the microchannel plate film layer is complete. After this, the substrate is placed in a vacuum environment and baked at a preset high temperature to obtain a high-gain microchannel plate.

[0022] As an optional implementation, the vacuum environment has a vacuum level better than 1×10⁻⁶. -4 Pa.

[0023] As an optional implementation, the vacuum environment is controlled at a vacuum level of 0 to 1 × 10⁻⁶. -4 Pa.

[0024] As an optional implementation, the baking temperature is controlled between 100 and 800°C.

[0025] As an optional implementation, the baking temperature is controlled between 200 and 400°C, and the gain of the prepared MCP reaches more than 10,000.

[0026] As an optional implementation, the baking temperature is controlled at 250-400°C, and the gain of the prepared MCP reaches over 19000.

[0027] As an optional implementation, the baking temperature is controlled at 280-380°C, and the gain of the prepared MCP reaches more than 30,000.

[0028] As an optional implementation, the high-temperature baking time is 1 to 8 hours.

[0029] As an optional implementation, the high-temperature baking time is 2 to 8 hours.

[0030] Below, we will take the fabrication of a microchannel plate with a channel aperture of 6 μm, a channel spacing of 7.2 μm, a plate thickness of 0.30 mm, and an aspect ratio of 48 as an example to further describe an exemplary implementation of the above-mentioned method of the present invention.

[0031] It should be understood that the microchannel plates prepared in the embodiments of the present invention still use silicate glass tubes containing lead and bismuth elements and acid-soluble core glass rods as the base. After two processes of wire drawing, screen arrangement, hot melting and pressing, slicing, rough grinding, polishing, etching, hydrogen reduction and coating, the original microchannel plate is prepared.

[0032] The materials for the aforementioned outer glass tube and core glass rod can be the applicant's existing materials, and subsequent processing can be carried out according to existing mature processes, such as double drawing (single-filament drawing, multi-filament drawing), screen arrangement, hot melting and pressing, slicing, rough grinding, polishing, etching, hydrogen reduction, and coating processes.

[0033] This allows us to obtain the original microchannel plate.

[0034] After that, we placed the original microchannel plate on a baking fixture and put it in a vacuum baking device, then evacuated and baked it. Example

[0035] The baking temperature is 220℃, the baking time is 2 hours, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa. Example

[0036] The baking temperature is 250℃, the baking time is 2 hours, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa. Example

[0037] The baking temperature is 280℃, the baking time is 2 hours, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa. Example

[0038] The baking temperature is 300℃, the baking time is 2 hours, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa. Example

[0039] The baking temperature is 320℃, the baking time is 2 hours, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa. Example

[0040] The baking temperature is 350℃, the baking time is 2 hours, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa. Example

[0041] The baking temperature is 380℃, the baking time is 2 hours, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa. Example

[0042] The baking temperature is 400℃, the baking time is 2 hours, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa.

[0043] The vacuum high-temperature baking process according to Examples 1-8 above was carried out. By controlling the baking time and vacuum degree and adjusting the baking temperature, the test gain of the microchannel plate obtained is shown in the table below. It can be seen that the gain first increases and then decreases with the change of temperature. The gain is the highest when the baking temperature is 350℃.

[0044] The baking temperature is controlled between 200 and 400°C, and the gain of the prepared MCP reaches over 10,000.

[0045] When the baking temperature is controlled between 250 and 400°C, the gain of the prepared MCP reaches over 19,000.

[0046] When the baking temperature is controlled between 280 and 380°C, the gain of the prepared MCP reaches over 30,000.

[0047] Table 1 - Gain Test Results

[0048]

[0049] Example 9

[0050] The baking temperature is 350℃, the baking time is 2 hours, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa. Example

[0051] The baking temperature is 350℃, the baking time is 4 hours, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa. Example

[0052] The baking temperature is 350℃, the baking time is 6 hours, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa. Example

[0053] The baking temperature is 350℃, the baking time is 8 hours, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa.

[0054] The vacuum high-temperature baking process according to Examples 9-12 above was carried out. By controlling the baking temperature and vacuum degree and adjusting the baking time, the test gain of the microchannel plate obtained is shown in the table below. The gain remained basically unchanged with the baking time, and the gain was the highest when the baking time was 4h.

[0055] Table 2 - Gain Test Results

[0056]

[0057] Therefore, through the analysis of the gain test results in Tables 1 and 2 above, we found that the gain reaches its maximum of over 68,000 when the baking temperature is 350℃, the baking time is 4h, and the vacuum degree is 1.0E-4Pa.

[0058] While the present invention has been disclosed above with reference to preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the invention. Those skilled in the art can make various modifications and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be determined by the claims.

Claims

1. A method for improving the gain of an MCP using a vacuum baking process, characterized in that, Using glass tubes and core glass rods as a base, and undergoing two processes of wire drawing, screen arrangement, hot-melt pressing, slicing, rough grinding, polishing, etching, hydrogen reduction, and coating to obtain the microchannel plate substrate, the substrate is placed in a vacuum environment. After the coating process, an additional vacuum baking process is added, subjecting the substrate to high-temperature baking at a preset temperature to obtain a high-gain microchannel plate with a gain greater than or equal to 10. 4 ; In the additional vacuum baking process, the vacuum level of the vacuum environment is less than 1×10⁻⁶. -4 Baking temperature is controlled at 200-400℃, and baking time is 2-8 hours.

2. The method for improving MCP gain using a vacuum baking process according to claim 1, characterized in that, The baking temperature is controlled between 250 and 400°C.

3. The method for improving MCP gain using a vacuum baking process according to claim 1, characterized in that, The baking temperature is controlled between 280 and 380°C.

4. A microchannel plate, characterized in that, The microchannel plate is prepared according to any one of claims 1 to 3 using a vacuum baking process to enhance the MCP gain, wherein the gain of the microchannel plate is greater than or equal to 10. 4 .

Images