SBIR-STTR Award

Microchannel Plate event multipliers capable of operation at cryogenic temperatures are currently not commercially available from any supplier. The proposed development of cryogenic-compatible MCPs will enable photon/electron/ion/alpha detection with high spatial resolution and sub-nanosecond event timing at cryogenic temperatures with very low background rates. All existing MCPs are manufactured with the aim of operation at room temperature. We will develop new MCPs capable of operation at low temperatures by developing novel emission and conduction films for our Atomic Layer Deposition MCP technology. The existing MCP technology cannot provide devices stable at low temperatures due to the very limited control on emission and conduction properties of the MCP pores determined by the hydrogen firing process of lead glass. The negative thermal coefficient of resistance and extremely high resistance at low temperatures makes the existing MCPs non capable to recharge in a reasonable time after each event and thus prevents their use at low temperature applications. The resistance of our nano-engineered films can be controlled in a very large dynamic range by tuning the deposition process in our in-house manufactured deposition chambers. We will produce and thoroughly test the low temperature compatible MCPs at temperatures ranging between 300 and ~10 K. The new proposed MCPs should be scalable to large areas with low manufacturing costs