Developments and the preliminary tests of resistive GEMs manufactured by a screen printing technology

We report promising initial results obtained with new resistive-electrode GEM (RETGEM) detectors manufactured, for the first time, using screen printing technology. These new detectors allow one to reach gas gains nearly as high as those achieved using ordinary GEM-like detectors with metallic electrodes. However, due to the high resistivity of its electrodes the RETGEM, in contract to traditional hole-type detectors, have the advantage of being fully spark protected. A primary benefit of these new RETGEMs is the availability of screen printing technology to many research laboratories; this accessibility encourages the possibility to manufacture these GEM-like detectors with the electrode resistivity easily optimized for particular experimental or practical applications.