Practical considerations in the design and construction of tissue-equivalent proportional counters

The design and construction techniques required to produce high quality tissue-equivalent proportional counters are not difficult, but there are a few special considerations. Since there are many options at each stage of the design and construction, and each choice may affect subsequent steps in the process, it is important to consider the entire process. Many successful techniques have been developed by the research groups that have constructed specialised detectors for the requirements of their research. These techniques can generally be extended to the construction of other detectors. Information on design, materials selection, and construction techniques which have proved to be useful in the construction of a wide variety of detectors is presented.