Energetic Nanoporous Silicon Devices

Nanoporous energetic silicon is a promising new material for on-chip integration of energetic materials. We demonstrate several advances in the integration of nanoporous energetic silicon, including monolithic integration of a hotwire initiator on nanoporous energetic silicon, with 2.8-V ignition. We also demonstrate lithographically patterned arrays of energetic devices that are independently addressable through integrated initiators with no sympathetic ignition. Monolithic integration of the energetic material with a surface micromachined microelectromechanical systems sensor is also shown. The performance and failure mechanisms of the hotwire initiator are examined, and preliminary measurements of the thrust and propagation velocity are reported.