Proposal to develop a radiation hard microvalve amplifier and associated radiation detectors for experiments at the LHC

We propose the development of novel vacuum microvalves with field emission cathodes, fabricated using microengineering techniques; this to be followed by development of front end electronics using these devices and fabricated using standard IC techniques. Such devices would be radiation hard (greater than 1 E9 Rads), low power, small size, high speed and insensitive to temperature. They would be expected to have at least a ten year life in the operating environment. Development would extend the fabrication principles already established at THORN EMI Central Research Laboratories. Bump bonding of these circuits to silicon pixel detectors is proposed, as is an investigation into the use of mobile ions to automatically compensate for radiation damage in the detectors as it occurs.