Performances of RETGEM with resistive electrodes made of kapton foils

THGEM with resistive Kapton electrodes (RETGEM) has been developed to make the THGEM more tolerant to discharges. At higher gains with resistive electrodes, serious discharges may travel to the streamer mode, in contrast to violent sparks in conventional GEMs. These streamers are mild and less dangerous to the detector and the front-end electronics. RETGEM looks very promising, and its basic properties are being studied. Recently we developed and tested the THGEM with electrodes using 20 um thick resistive kapton foils. The new RETGEM performs at a lower discharge current, has a lower discharge probability, and has a good energy resolution of 27% and a high effective gas gain and long-term stability.