Forced slumping of Si foils for x-ray space telescopes

Presenter: Radka Havlíková

Future astronomical projects on large space x-ray imaging telescopes require novel substrates and technologies for the construction of their reflecting mirrors. The mirrors must be lightweight and precisely shaped to achieve a large collecting area with a high angular resolution. The new materials and technologies must be cost-effective as well. Currently, very promising materials are silicon foils. Therefore, we focused on the precise shaping of silicon foils using a thermal forming process. In this process, we applied an additional vertical force to slump the foils in the temperature region in which the foils undergo the hot plastic deformation. Then, the shape and the surface micro-roughness of the foils were precisely measured. In our experiments, we varied heat-treatment temperature and time to study the effects on the foils’ shape and surface quality. The obtained data and relations can be used for modelling to optimize this Si shaping procedure.

O. Jankovsky, M. Mika, L. Pina, R. Havlikova, L. Sveda, R. Hudec, D. Cerna, A. Inneman