Study of etching processes in the GEM detectors

Gaseous Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors are known to operate stably at high gains and high particle fluxes. Though, at very high gains and fluxes it was observed that the insulating polyimide layer between the GEM electrodes gets etched, changing the original shape of the hole, and therefore varying the gain and the energy resolution of the detector. The idea of the project to observe degradation effect of the GEM foils during the Triple GEM detector operation in extreme conditions under X-ray radiation.