Progress Towards Arrays of Microcalorimeter X-ray Detectors

Published

September 1, 2001

Author(s)

Sae Woo Nam, David A. Wollman, Dale Newbury, Gene C. Hilton, Kent D. Irwin, David A. Rudman, Steven Deiker, Norman F. Bergren, John M. Martinis

Abstract

The high performance of single-pixel microcalorimeter EDS (υcal EDS) has been shown to be very useful for a variety of microanalysis cases. The primary advantage of υcal EDS over conventional EDS is that factor of 25 improvement in energy resolution (3 eV in real-time). This level of energy resolution is particularly important for applications such as nanoscale contaminant analysis where it is necessary to resolve peak overlaps at low x-ray energies. Because υcal EDS offer practical solutions to many microanalysis problems, several companies are proceeding with commercialization of single-pixel υcal EDS technology. Two drawbacks limiting the application of υcal EDS are its low count rate (500 x^-1) and small area (0.04 mm² for a bare single pixel, 5 mm² with a polycapillary optic). We are developing a 32x32 pixel array with a total area of 40 mm^2^ and with a total count rate between 10⁵s^-1. In this paper, we briefly describe our progress towards a system with an array of microcalorimeter x-ray detectors.

Proceedings Title

Proc., Microscopy and Microanalysis Conf.

Volume

7

Issue

2

Conference Dates

August 5-9, 2001

Conference Location

Long Beach, CA, USA

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

arrays, EDS, microcalorimeter, x-ray detectors

Citation

Nam, S. , Wollman, D. , Newbury, D. , Hilton, G. , Irwin, K. , Rudman, D. , Deiker, S. , Bergren, N. and Martinis, J. (2001), Progress Towards Arrays of Microcalorimeter X-ray Detectors, Proc., Microscopy and Microanalysis Conf., Long Beach, CA, USA (Accessed October 9, 2025)