IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE, vol.45, no.3, pp.244-248, 1998 (SCI-Expanded)
Breakdown mechanisms and spurious pulses, the precursors to some breakdowns, were studied experimentally for both uncoated and coated Microstrip Gas Counters (MSGC's) of different geometries, as well as for MicroGap Counters (MGC's) and for the "Compteur A Trou" (CAT). It was found that in all cases the breakdowns occurred through surface streamers, although the exact mechanism of streamer formation depended on the particular detector design.