PERFORMANCE AND SPARK DAMAGE STUDIES OF MICROGAP GAS-CHAMBERS FABRICATED WITH SELECTED ANODE METALS

Microgap gas chambers (MGCs) fabricated with selected anode metals, in cluding aluminum, gold, chromium, nickel and titanium/tungsten (10/90) have been used in order to study the effect of these different metals upon gas gain, aging, and spark damage. Gas mixtures used for systema tic tests of performance are argon/ethane (50/50) and argon/dimethyl e ther (50/50). The effects of spark damage by discharge are found to be very sensitive to the metal used for anode strips, and a systematic s tudy of spark damage effects has been made to compare their relative s ensitivity to failure, over a range of electrical discharge energies.