Microstrip gas chambers on glass and ceramic substrates

We report developments of microstrip gas chambers (MSGC) fabricated on glass and ceramic substrates with various resistivities. Low resistivity of the substrate is found to be critical for achieving stable operation of microstrip gas chambers. The microstrip pattern consists of 10 /spl mu/m wide anodes and 90 /spl mu/m wide cathodes with a 200 /spl mu/m anode-to-anode pitch. High-quality microstrips are fabricated using the dry etch after UV-photolithography. Our chambers are tested in an Ar(90)-CH/sub 4/(10) gas mixture at atmospheric pressure with a 100 /spl mu/Ci /sup 55/Fe source. An energy resolution (FWHM) of 15% has been achieved for 6 keV soft X-rays. At a rate of 5/spl times/10/sup 4/ photons/sec/mm/sup 2/, gas gains are stable within a few percent.<
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