Development of a Precise Additively Manufactured Mechanical Assembly for Commercial Production of Lamina-Based Micro-channel Plate Detectors

The fundamental R&D issues have been solved for the production of large-area micro-channel plate photomultipliers (MCP-PMT) with the unique properties of few-hundred-micron space resolution and correlated timing resolution well below the current 10-ps frontier. However, there are still significant challenges to developing an economical large-volume production of robust detectors appropriate for use in future large HEP detectors in neutrino physics and colliders. We propose to: 1) develop a method of MCP construction based on advanced additive manufacturing technologies; 2) designing, building, testing a robust mechanical assembly; and 3) documenting the techniques needed for production at scale. The new method of MCP construction uses commercially available thin glass plates stacked vertically like books on a shelf, and low-cost MEMS and additive manufacturing methods for the direct detection of high-energy gamma rays, without the need for conventional drawn glass capillary-arrays, photocathodes, and scintillator. For this, two key necessary technologies are: 1) a mechanical assembly that contains, aligns, and protects the glass plates during assembly and functionalization, and 2) the additive manufacturing of ceramic packaging with metallic contacts that will allow utilizing the detector with a data acquisition. In the first key technology, the physical spacers would be additively manufactured to each glass plate. Additive manufacturing allows using a wide variety of materials and manufacturing techniques. In the second key technology, the mechanical assembly also is additively manufactured. The additively manufactured mechanical assembly can be composed of a number of non-conducting materials compatible with ultra-high vacuum. The deliverables for this proposal comprise the following tasks: 1) identification of additive materials and methods for the assembly; 2) determination of the additive manufacturing of ceramics packaging that satisfy collaboratively-determined reliability and robustness specifications for both the physical spacer and the mechanical assembly while under manufacturing, assembly, and operational conditions; and 3) the development of a scalable process for the assembly and testing of a pilot product. The latter will be executed in Phase II. Our team has extensive experience in MCP design, MCP simulation, MCP testing, and advanced additive manufacturing technologies. Dr. Oliver Moreno (EngeniusMicro, LLC) has expertise in semiconductor microfabrication, and additive manufacturing of semiconductors, organics, dielectrics, and architecting device physics simulations in an ongoing Phase II SBIR for a wearable gamma ray detector. Prof. John Shelton (Nanoparticle Systems LLC and Northern Illinois University (NIU)) has expertise in additive manufacturing research, including ceramics and electronics. Neal Sullivan (Angstrom Research Inc.) has long expertise in MCP functionalization and testing, and the development of low-cost gamma ray detectors for medical applications (PET scan). Prof. Henry Frisch from the University of Chicago has experience in neutrino detection, High Energy Physics experiments, and a wide range of detector development. Phase II will be supported by Dr. Camden Ertley (Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)), who has experience in the development of novel instrumentation spanning a wide range of energies that include the visible, ultra-violet, hard X-ray and gamma ray regimes.