In this chapter, the first micropattern gaseous detector, the microstrip gas counter, invented in 1988 by A. Oed, is presented. It consists of alternating anode and cathode strips with a pitch of less than 1 mm created on a glass surface. It can be considered a two-dimensional version of a multiwire proportional chamber. This was the first time microelectronic technology was applied to manufacturing of gaseous detectors. This pioneering work offers new possibilities for large area planar detectors with small gaps between the anode and the cathode electrodes (less than 0.1 mm). Initially, this detector suffered from several serious problems, such as charging up of the substrate, discharges which destroyed the thin anode strips, etc. However, by efforts of the international RD28 collaboration hosted by CERN, most of them were solved. Although nowadays this detector has very limited applications, its importance was that it triggered a chain of similar developments made by various groups, and these collective efforts finally led to the creation of a new generation of gaseous detectors-micropattern detectors.
Shear modulus of two-dimensional colloidal crystals
