  We have developed a gating foil for the time projection chamber envisaged as
a central tracker for the international linear collider experiment. It has a
structure similar to the Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) with a higher optical
aperture ratio and functions as an ion gate without gas amplification. The
transmission rate for electrons was measured in a counting mode for a wide
range of the voltages applied across the foil using an $^{55}$Fe source and a
laser in the absence of a magnetic field. The blocking power of the foil
against positive ions was estimated from the electron transmissions.
