Micropropulsion for small spacecraft: a new challenge for field effect electric propulsion and microstructured liquid metal ion sources

Mitterauer, J.

doi:10.1002/sia.1693

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(30 reference statements)

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“…Though the concept of using MEMS for FEEP is not new, successful implementation has not yet been reported [19]. This Letter describes the fabrication and simulation of such a prototype.…”

Section: Design Principlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and fabrication of field‐emission tips with self‐aligned gates

Reddy

Codner

Hainley

et al. 2016

Micro & Nano Letters

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A novel approach to the design and fabrication of field-emission tips with self-aligned gates intended for electric propulsion micro-thruster applications is presented. Their micro-electromechanical systems fabrication process is derived from the recent proliferation of research toward developing field emitter arrays, which are used primarily for field-emission flat-panel display applications. An array of micronsized tips for electric field enhancement via wet isotropic etching of silicon, using silicon nitride as a hard mask is fabricated. The wet etching is accomplished using a combination of hydrofluoric, nitric, and acetic acids. The tips were then coated with a metal layer to enhance wetting by indium, the proposed propellant. Next, a layer of SU-8 photoresist was applied by spin coating and patterned to serve as a dielectric spacer. A second layer of metal was then applied to serve as a gate electrode. In addition, the results of electrostatic simulations of the prototype is described.

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“…Though the concept of using MEMS for FEEP is not new, successful implementation has not yet been reported [19]. This Letter describes the fabrication and simulation of such a prototype.…”

Section: Design Principlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and fabrication of field‐emission tips with self‐aligned gates

Reddy

Codner

Hainley

et al. 2016

Micro & Nano Letters

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“…Their integration in microspacecrafts offers considerable advantages in terms of downscaling, mass and volume reduction as well as mission costs lowering. Several solutions are investigated, such as solid propellant microthrusters [1][2][3][4], cold-gas microthrusters [5,6], field emission electric propulsion (FEEP) [7], bi-or mono-propellant microthrusters [8,9] or vaporising liquid microthrusters [10]. By combining MEMS technology and energetic material science, large quantities of energy can be obtained.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliability of freestanding polysilicon microheaters to be used as igniters in solid propellant microthrusters

Briand

Pham

Rooij

2007

Sensors and Actuators A: Physical

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This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterisation of surface micromachined polysilicon microheaters to be used as microigniters for micropropulsion applications. The microigniters are heated up by Joule effect and the thermal losses through the substrate are minimised by suspending the microheaters above the substrate. The developed process was compatible with the integration of the nozzle part of the microthruster. The electrical, thermal and mechanical characteristics of the microheaters were studied with the aim of evaluating their reliability. Temperatures up to 470 • C could be reached with an electrical power of 45 mW/beam. The current-voltage relation followed a linear characteristic at low power; at high bias voltages, a drift of the electrical resistance was measured after a few I-V cycles at power higher than 40 mW/beam. The elastic and plastic deformation threshold of the microheaters in operation and their maximum deflection before rupture were measured. The microheaters could dissipate relatively high constant powers for a few minutes to hours. The fabricated microheaters are promising candidates for the ignition of solid propellant microthrusters.

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“…The microfabrication technology of MEMS has been successfully employed to batch-fabricate microthrusters with dimensions of several millimeters, capable of producing extremely small thrusts in the range of micro-Newtons to milli-Newtons. MEMS microthrusters reported so far are based on different physical mechanisms, such as field emission and ion extraction [2], phase transformation from liquid to gas [3][4][5] or solid to gas [6,7], resistojets [8] and digital thrusters [9]. Solid and liquid propellants have their relative merits and demerits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silicon MEMS vaporizing liquid microthruster with internal microheater

Maurya¹,

Das²,

Lahiri³

2005

J. Micromech. Microeng.

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This paper reports a silicon MEMS vaporizing liquid microthruster (VLM) with an internal p-diffused microheater. The device fabrication and testing have been briefly described. The VLM consisting of two micromachined, bonded silicon chips produces thrusts in the range of 5 µN to 120 µN with a heater power of 1 W to 2.4 W at a water flow rate of 1.6 µl s −1 using an exit nozzle of throat size 30 µm × 30 µm. A maximum thrust of 120 µN was produced with a heater power of 2 W at a water flow rate of 0.7 µl s −1 with exit nozzle of throat size 50 µm × 50 µm. The measurement has been carried out using a sensitive cantilever and a laser based lamp-and-scale arrangement. The internal microheater is expected to yield a higher efficiency compared with the external microheater.

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Micropropulsion for small spacecraft: a new challenge for field effect electric propulsion and microstructured liquid metal ion sources

Cited by 13 publications

References 32 publications

Design and fabrication of field‐emission tips with self‐aligned gates

Design and fabrication of field‐emission tips with self‐aligned gates

Reliability of freestanding polysilicon microheaters to be used as igniters in solid propellant microthrusters

Silicon MEMS vaporizing liquid microthruster with internal microheater

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