Performance of microstrip gas chambers with conductive surface coating of doped amorphous silicon carbide (a-Si:C:H)

A new technique involves the use of doped amorphous silicon carbide (a-Si:C:H) as a conductive surface coating in the fabrication of microstrip gas chambers, to eliminate the effect of charge accumulation on the substrate surface. The performance of these detectors made in this way has been tested, measuring gas gains with respect to several operating parameters such as time, anode voltage (Va), backplane voltage (Vb), and drift voltage (Vd). Doped a-Si:C:H film is a conductive surface coating that works well, and is an attractive alternative to other surface treatments of the substrate, because its resistivity can be easily controlled over a wide range by doping, it has a naturally good radiation hardness, and large areas can be coated at relatively low cost.