A new design of the gaseous imaging detector: Micro Pixel Chamber

The novel gaseous detector "Micro Pixel Chamber (Micro PIC)" has been devel oped for X-ray, gamma-ray and charged particle imaging. This detector consi sts of double sided printing circuit board (PCB). The stable operation of M icro PIC is realized by thick substrate and wide anode strips. One of the m ost outstanding feature is the process of production and the cost. The base technology of producing Micro PIC is same as producing PCB, then detector with large detection area (more than 10 cm. x 10 cm) can be made by present technology. Our first tests were performed using 3 cm x 3 cm detection are a with a readout of 0.4 mm pitch. The gas gain and stability were measured in these tests. The gas gain of 10(4) was obtained using argon ethane (8:2) gas mixture. Also, there was no discharge between anodes and cathodes in t he gain of 10(3) during two days of continuous operation. Although some dis charges occurred in the higher gain (approximately 10(4)), no critical dama ge on the detector was found. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.