An X-ray microcalorimeter that consists of an x-ray absorber to transfer the incident photon energy to the temperature rise, a temperature sensor to detect the temperature change and suspending beams for thermal isolation from the substrate have been fabricated. Titanium/Gold thin film transition edge sensor (TES) is used as the temperature sensor. We fabricated and tested the first prototype in the previous study and obtained the transition temperature of 0.52 K, energy resolution of 550 eV (FWHM) for 6 keV radiation. These values were smaller than that of expected. We applied a Sn absorber and redesigned the microstructure of the x-ray microcalorimeter. Consequently, we have obtained 158 eV at 5.9 keV radiation of the energy resolution, which is about 4 times higher than that of the first prototype. This value is nearly equal to the conventional X-ray CCD. The highest energy resolution of the x-ray microcalorimeter of our design is estimated to approximately 5 eV at the operating point of 0.2 K. To realize such a good energy resolution calorimeter array, we are going to improve the sensitivity of the TES by optimizing the process condition. A Sn absorber formed by electroplating is also under evaluating simultaneously. It is necessary to fabricate uniform array structures.

Date Published: 20 October 2000
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 4230, Micromachining and Microfabrication, (20 October 2000); doi: 10.1117/12.404915

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4230:
Micromachining and Microfabrication
Kevin H. Chau; M. Parameswaran; Francis E.H. Tay, Editor(s)