Technology ofphotocathode production

Thin film photocathodes have been developed both for gas and vacuum based photodetectors. Over the last years we have gained experience in fabricating large area reflective CsI and semi-transparent mono- and bialkali-cathodes, i.e. Rb2Te and K2CsSb: Today we are producing stable cathodes with excellent quantum efficiency for large MWPC based pad detectors and Hybrid Photodiodes on a routine basis. We give an overview ofthe technologies involved in the preparation ofthe substrates, the cathode processing and the encapsulation. The dedicated processing plants and instrumentation, required for monitoring and characterisation, is discussed. r 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.