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Mechanistic Study on the Micro-optical Morphology and Electrical Properties of Microchannel Plates by Acid–Base Alternating Corrosion Processes

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Abstract

As a two-dimensional vacuum electron multiplier device, the microchannel plate (MCP) is made by solid method with lead silicate glass as the base material, and acid–base etching to remove the core material is a key step in the formation of the microchannel plate, which mainly affects the microstructure, morphology and composition of the inner wall surface, and then affects the electrical properties of the microchannel plate. The microscopic morphology of silicate glass under different etching processes was studied by scanning electron microscopy, and it was found that with the increase of acid–base alternation during the etching process, the particle density of the inner wall of the channel gradually decreased, and the energy spectrum analysis of the particles revealed that the main contents were plumbum (Pb) and bismuth (Bi); further by atomic force microscope (AFM) analysis, the particle peak height was reduced from 31.1 nm to 1.9 nm with roughness. The results of the electrical and noise properties of the microchannel plates show that an appropriate increase in acid–base alternation can effectively reduce the bulk resistance and dark current without reducing the gain of the microchannel plates. This shows that increasing the "erosion intensity" of the acid–base alternation multiple times during corrosion can effectively improve the core-skin diffusion layer, further affecting the physical and chemical transformation of the nanoscale morphology, pointing to a new direction for improving the electrical properties of microchannel plates made of silicate glass.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to North Night Vision Science & Technology (Nanjing) Research institute Co., Ltd. for financially supporting this study. We also thank Institute of Atomic and Molecular Physics, Jilin University for providing test equipment.

Funding

The project conducted in this research has not received any form of financial support or sponsor-ship. All research activities have been carried out by the researchers themselves, without any influence or control from any third-party organizations or individuals. We assure the objectivity and independence of the research findings, adhering to strict ethical standards and research guidelines.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. North Night Vision Science & Technology (Nanjing) Research Institute Co., Ltd, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211106, China

    Tao Li, Xiaoqing Cong, Jian Wang, Kai Pan, Ge Jin, Xiangbiao Qiu & Yanjian Lin

  2. Institute of Atomic and Molecular Physics, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China

    Wankai Li

Authors
  1. Tao Li
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  2. Xiaoqing Cong
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  3. Jian Wang
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  4. Kai Pan
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  6. Ge Jin
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  7. Xiangbiao Qiu
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  8. Yanjian Lin
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Contributions

Tao Li: Formal analysis, Data curation, determining the research plan, data analysis, and writing and revised the manuscript. Xiaoqing Cong: Determining the research plan, data analysis. Jian Wang: Determining the research plan, revised the manuscript. Kai Pan: Formal analysis, Data curation, data analysis. Wankai Li: Formal analysis, Data curation, data analysis. Ge Jin: Formal analysis, Data curation. Xiangbiao Qiu: Formal analysis, Data curation. Yanjian Lin: Determining the research plan, data analysis, All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Supplementary information

Increasing the acid–base alternating corrosion can effectively reduce:

1) the formation of inner wall island particles and further reduce the inner wall surface roughness. The particle peak height was reduced from 31.1 nm to 1.9 nm.

2) the dark current and the background noise.

3) Pointing to a new direction for improving the electrical properties of microchannel plates made of silicate glass.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tao Li.

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This manuscript is an origin work and has not been published elsewhere in part or in entirety and is not under consideration by another journal. We have read and understood the journal’s policies, and we believe that neither the manuscript nor the study violates any of these. There are no conflicts of interest to declare. We are looking forward to hearing your reply and with thanks for your kind consideration.

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The paper did not involve experiments related to human tissues and did not violate ethical and ethical requirements.

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Li, T., Cong, X., Wang, J. et al. Mechanistic Study on the Micro-optical Morphology and Electrical Properties of Microchannel Plates by Acid–Base Alternating Corrosion Processes. Silicon 16, 719–727 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-023-02702-1

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