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Completed TRL 3 (started at 2, targeting 3)
The mini-EPMA instrument's electron source is a novel addressable array of carbon nanotube field emitters. The critical new technology enabling the mini-EPMA instrument is the addressable array of field emitters. Each field emitter is a carbon nanotube “forest” grown in a circular region on a wafer substrate. The key challenge was to achieve robust nanotube growth on a wafer patterned for electrical addressability.
The Mini-EPMA under development will enable advanced, fine-scale in situ mapping of the elemental composition of planetary materials. Composition provides key evidence about the processes by which rocks, soils, and ices were formed and altered.
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