Surface studies of semiconducting glass using ion beam methods

We have studied the near surface stoichiometry of a semiconducting vanadium phosphate glass for microchannel plate application using MeV ion beam techniques including Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and elastic recoil detection (ERD) analysis. A conventional microchannel plate made of dielectric lead silicate glass with a surface conducting layer was also measured for comparison. The elemental profiles of the two samples showed that the semiconducting glass have a more uniform surface structure as compared to conventional microchannel plate glasses suggesting that the former is more stable. We suggest that our results indicate microchannel plates (MCPs) made of semiconducting glass should have long-term stability and therefore should have longer service life.