A positive-reading silicon vidicon for X-ray imaging

A silicon vidicon that uses an n on p silicon diode array for a target was designed. The electron beam landing energy is 600 eV, and all the diodes are charged to a reversed bias by secondary electron emission. With the high electron beam energy, it is possible to sharply focus the beam into a sheet beam, which can be used to simultaneously bombard several separate linear diode arrays in a detector scheme for a bent-crystal X-ray spectrometer. By such a method, the bandwidth requirement of the data-transmission system is reduced by a factor equal to the number of separate linear arrays that are simultaneously bombarded. Data are presented on the diode-charging mechanism, with emphasis on the method used to determine the potential of the diode n-surface. Examples are shown of the tube being used to detect 25-keV X-rays.