THE DEPENDENCE OF THE RESOLVING POWER AND SENSITIVITY OF A DISCRETE ELECTRODE DETECTOR ARRAY ON THE PROXIMITY OF A MICROCHANNEL-PLATE ELECTRON MULTIPLIER

A detector array has been designed which integrates all pulse sensing, data logging, control and interface circuitry on a single silicon chi p. In conjunction with a microchannel-plate electron multiplier (MCP) the array can be used to measure dispersed spectra of ions, electrons and photons (UV and higher energies). In order to increase the sensiti vity of the pulse sensing circuitry, non-standard steps are introduced into the fabrication process which increase cost and prototype develo pment time. In the present work it is shown that by reducing the separ ation between the MCP output and the array to about 4.5 microns an imp rovement in performance is achieved which should enable the production of high performance devices using a standard fabrication process.