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Use of Polycapillary Optics to Increase the Effective Area of Microcalorimeter Spectrometers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

D. A. Wollman
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO80303
Christopher Jezewski
Affiliation:
X-ray Optical Systems, Inc., Albany, NY12205
G. C. Hilton
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO80303
Qi-Fan Xiao
Affiliation:
X-ray Optical Systems, Inc., Albany, NY12205
K. D. Irwin
Affiliation:
X-ray Optical Systems, Inc., Albany, NY12205
L. L. Dulcie
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO80303
John M. Martinis
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO80303
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Extract

Although the performance of high-energy-resolution microcalorimeter spectrometers for x-ray microanalysis is encouraging, the future widespread acceptance of these spectrometers as valuable microanalysis instruments depends on improvements in both achievable count rate and geometrical x-ray collection efficiency. While the maximum output count rate of our microcalorimeter (∼160 s−1) is much less than that of conventional EDS detectors operating at their highest energy resolution (∼3000 s−1), we are confident that we can significantly improve the count rate without loss of energy resolution (∼10 eV FWHM over a broad energy range). Increasing the area (and thus solid angle) of the microcalorimeter is a more difficult problem, however, as the best microcalorimeter performance is achieved using small-area (typically 250 μm by 250 μm) absorbers with low heat capacity.

This problem can be solved by using an x-ray lens to increase the collection efficiency of the microcalorimeter spectrometer. A polycapillary optic consisting of tens of thousands of fused capillaries can collect x-rays from a point x-ray source over a large solid angle and focus the x-rays onto the small-area absorber of the microcalorimeter.

Type
Advances in Instrumentation for Microanalysis and Imaging
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 1997

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References

1.Wollman, D. A.et al., these proceedings.Google Scholar
2. Contribution of the U.S. Government; not subject to copyright. This work was supported in part by the NIST Office of Microelectronics Programs.Google Scholar