The microcalorimeter for industrial applications

Abstract

To achieve the dramatic increases in x-ray spectral resolution (<20 eV at 1.5k eV) desired by market segments such as the semiconductor industry, NIST developed a transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeter. To bring this exciting, yet demanding, new technology to the industrial users, certain criteria must be addressed. Aspects of resolution, cooling and hold time, count rates as well as vibrations are considered. Data is presented to the present efforts to handle these issues as well as discussing development plans for the future.

Review of superconducting transition-edge sensors for x-ray and gamma-ray spectroscopy

“…These measurements included demonstrations of chemical shift detection [178,179]. A commercial instrument called POLARIS from Vericold appeared in 2002 [180]. This instrument contained one TES x-ray sensor and a polycapillary optic to increase the effective solid angle of the sensor.…”

TES detectors applications for scientific instruments in space and on the ground

“…As can be seen by the ongoing activities the TES systems are also penalized by the need for deep cryogenic cooling implying costly and bulky cryocoolers, nevertheless the achievable energy resolution is more than an order of magnitude better than what obtained with the best SDD so that it is realistic than some niche applications could be found where a carefully optimized TES design may worth the efforts of a small-series industrialization [9].…”

Review – Characterisation and analysis of surface engineered thin films

“…Microcalorimeter based detectors provide resolutions down to ,20 eV but they have yet to find a wide application due to their high cost. 38 Procedures for quantification of EDX are well established and with care can provide accuracy of better than 2%. 39 Modern methods using peak/background intensity ratios provide good quantification without standards and can cope well with rough samples and poorly defined geometry.…”