High-brilliance 11keV X-ray Source

This Small Business Innovation Proposal aims to establish the feasibility of developing a high flux x-ray source using a patent-pending microstructured anode comprised of Platinum microstructures embedded in a diamond substrate. The resulting source will provide a breakthrough in achievable throughput for the application of rapid integrated circuit (IC) inspection, due to two major innovative advantages: 1) the sources high brightness resulting from its innovative thermal strategies; and 2) the 11.1 keV characteristic energy enabled by the use of platinum as an x-ray target material, which provides ideal transmission through the range of angles of incidence required for inspection of standard IC configurations. The access to a high brightness 11.1 keV characteristic x-ray beam is unique to the proposed x-ray source, and will enable throughput gains expected around 2-3X over 9 keV gallium x-ray sources for rapid integrated circuit inspection.