The Gain and Time Characteristics of Microchannel Plates in Various Channel Geometries

Microchannel plates (MCPs) are widely used as electron, ion, and X-ray detectors. The gain factor and time resolution of the MCP are strongly dependent on its operating and geometry parameters (applied voltage, length-to-diameter ratio, bias angle, and electrode penetration depth). Measurements about this dependence are sparse and do not cover the full range of the parameters. In this paper, 3-D single channel models are developed in computer simulation technology studio suit to systematically and comprehensively calculate the MCP gain and time resolution for various operating and geometry parameters. Furman secondaries electron emission model is employed in our simulation. Simulated result of the gain versus bias voltage is validated by the available experimental data. Finally, geometry parameters of L = 373.6 μm, D = 10 μm, hin = hout = 5 μm, and θ = 12° are proposed to optimize the MCP performances. Simulation results show that the gain, mean transit time, and transit time spread of the optimized MCP are expected to reach 128012, 128 ps and 19 ps at the applied voltage of 1000 V.