Aluminium oxide microchannel plates

Microchannel electron multipliers of a new type are proposed - anodic alumina microchannel plates (MCP). They implement the conventional concept of lead glass microchannel plate with a new material - anodic aluminium oxide. Anodic alumina is a very suitable material for microchannel plates due to presense of natural microchannels. Diameters of these channels lie in the range of 0.02 - 0.5 μm, channels of greater diameter can be easily produced by means of additional processing based on the presence of intrinsic microchannel structure. We have produced MCPs with channel diameters 0.2 - 8 μm and thickness 40 - 150 μm. We have also developed two methods of deposition of conductive and emissive films inside MCP channels: plasma sputtering and liquid-phase deposition from metallo-organic precursors. MCP samples with NiO-MgO and Cu-CuO-BeO-MgO coatings have demonstrated promising results. Alumina MCP potentially have serious advantages over traditional lead glass MCP: they are much cheaper, large area plates (hundreds of cm2) can be easily produced, spatial resolution can be much better (due to smaller channel diameter)