부산대학교 도서관

A method of elimination of silicon compounds from the anode wire of an aged proportional counter is presented. The aging of a counter with a 70%Ar + 30%C[O.sub.2] and a 60%Ar + 30%C[O.sub.2] + [10%CF.sub.4] working mixture was stimulated by a [sup.90]Sr [beta] source. To accelerate the process of aging, the gas mixture flow to the counter was supplied through a pipe with RTV coated wall. As a result, the amplitude of the signal decreased 70% already at accumulated charge of Q = 0.03 C/cm. The etching of the silicon compounds on the wire surface with an 80%C[F.sub.4] + 20%C[O.sub.2] gas mixture discharge led to full recovery of the operating characteristics of detector and an increase in the lifetime. A scanning electron microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy analysis of the recovered wire surface were performed. In accordance with the results, a good quality of wire cleaning from Si[O.sub.2] compounds was obtained. Keywords: gas discharge, gas discharge detectors, etching, silicon compounds, aging, anode wires, proportional counter DOI: 10.1134/S1063778817090071
INTRODUCTION Aging or degradation of operating characteristics of gas discharge detectors remains a real problem in present-day physical experiments involving high radiation load. According to the results of numerous studies [...]