Development of Au-coated THGEM for single photon, charged particle, and neutron detection

We report the successful development of Au-coated Thick Gas Electron Multipliers (THGEMs) based totally on homemade industrial PCB technology in China. THGEMs with various dimensions and substrates have been produced and tested. Production achievements include sensitive areas up to 500×1000 mm2, hole diameters down to 200μm, thicknesses down to 150μm, rims from 20 to 120μm, and feasibility of mass production. In addition, effective techniques have been applied to improve the quality and performance of THGEMs. The effective gain, gain stability, gain uniformity, and energy resolution in Ar-based and Ne-based gas mixtures were studied. Test results of X-rays, VUV&UV lights, cosmic ray muons, and alpha particles show that these kinds of THGEMs are promising.