A thin-film bolometer for particle current measurements

Abstract
Design and performance of a Ge thin film bolometer is described. The device is used for measurement of neutral charged particle fluxes in the low keV range. It has an active area of 7 mm2 and a total thickness of about 25 mu m. It can be operated at room temperature and is compatible with vacua of 10-8 Torr. The detection limit for heavy particle beams is of the order of 5 mu W or 70 mu W cm-2 respectively, corresponding to a temperature increase of about 0.05 degrees C.