Development, Characterization and Qualification of first GEM foils produced in India

TL;DR

This paper reports the successful development and characterization of the first GEM foils produced in India, demonstrating their quality and suitability for high-energy physics applications.

Contribution

First successful production and detailed characterization of GEM foils in India using double-mask etching technique.

Findings

GEM foils meet quality control standards

Uniform hole sizes achieved

Low leakage currents observed

Abstract

The increasing demand for Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) foils has been driven by their application in many current and proposed high-energy physics experiments. Micropack, a Bengaluru-based company, has established and commercialized GEM foils for the first time in India. Micropack used the double-mask etching technique to successfully produce 10 cm $\times$ 10 cm GEM foil. In this paper, we report on the development as well as the geometrical and electrical properties of these foils, including the size uniformity of the holes and leakage current measurements. Our characterization studies show that the foils are of good quality and satisfy all the necessary quality control criteria.