Engineering
Nanopillar Arrays For Secondary Electron Emission
WARF: P07376US
Inventors: Robert Blick, Michael Westphall, Hua Qin, Lloyd Smith
The Invention
The present invention provides systems, devices, device components and structures for modulating the intensity and/or energies of electrons, including a beam of incident electrons. In some embodiments, for example, the present invention provides nano-structured semiconductor membrane structures capable of generating secondary electron emission. Nano-structured semiconductor membranes of this aspect of the present invention include membranes having an array of nanopillar structures capable of providing electron emission for amplification, filtering and/or detection of incident radiation, for example secondary electron emission and/or field emission. Nano-structured semiconductor membranes of the present invention are useful as converters wherein interaction of incident primary electrons and nanopillars of the nanopillar array generates secondary emission. Nano-structured semiconductor membranes of this aspect of the present invention are also useful as directed charge amplifiers wherein secondary emission from a nanopillar array provides gain functionality for increasing the intensity of radiation comprising incident electrons.
Additional Information
For More Information About the Inventors
Tech Fields
For current licensing status, please contact Jennifer Gottwald at [javascript protected email address] or 608-960-9854