Gas Electron Multipliers have been developed by CERN back in 1996, for purposes of high energy physical experiments. They are a development of a multiwire proportional chamber, which has been developed by G. Charpak. This invention got him a Nobel Prize in physics back in 1992.
GEM is constructed out of 50 µm foil coated with 5 µm layers of copper, at both sides, with a network of specifically shaped holes with a diameter of 60-80µm on the surface of the metal and 40-60µm holes in half of the foil’s thickness. The holes have a peculiar hourglass, double-cone shaped cross section. Thanks to that shape, when voltage is applied in between the top and the bottom layer of the foil, the electrical field in the holes achieves strength of up to 50kV/cm, which creates an avalanche of multiplied electrons. TTA Techtra is the only company in Europe which gained a right to use CERN developed technology in order to produce GEM foils.
Typical GEM foils parameters:
We produce GEM foils with different parameters on request.
