Microbulk
Microbulk refers to a technology used to fabricate amplification structures for micropattern gaseous detectors. It denotes a family of ultra-thin foils produced by chemically etching a copper-clad polyimide (commonly kapton) sheet to create a microstructured amplification layer. The resulting foils are characterized by very smooth surfaces and a regular microscopic pattern that acts as the gas multiplication region when placed under an electric field in a gas mixture.
In production, a thin polyimide sheet with copper cladding is used as the starting material. Through selective
Applications and use cases include gas detectors in particle and nuclear physics, X-ray imaging, and low-background
Advantages of microbulk technology include smooth surfaces leading to uniform gain, reduced outgassing, favorable radiopurity, and