Characterization of large diameter ultra-thin vacuum windows for soft X-ray applications

TL;DR

This paper introduces ultra-thin, large-diameter silicon nitride vacuum windows designed for soft X-ray applications, demonstrating their durability and transparency through extensive testing and measurements.

Contribution

The development and testing of novel 200 nm and 300 nm thick silicon nitride windows with large diameters for soft X-ray use, with validated pressure resistance and transparency.

Findings

Windows withstand pressure differences above 1 bar.

Transparency measurements match expected values across 50 eV to 15 keV.

Windows perform well in vacuum and overpressure tests.

Abstract

We present novel, ultra-thin, large-diameter silicon nitride windows for various soft X-ray applications. Together with the company NORCADA, we developed windows with 200 nm and 300 nm thickness withstanding pressure differences above 1 bar. The windows have an open diameter of 14 mm. They were intensively vacuum- and overpressure-tested, showing very good results. At a measurement campaign at the synchrotron radiation source SOLEIL in France, the transparency of the windows was measured over a range from 50 eV to 15 keV, giving results comparable with the expected transparencies.