Two novel monolithic silicon substrate slapper detonators

Two slapper detonators constructed of silicon with conventional microelectronic fabrication techniques were demonstrated. In both devices, a barrel was formed by preferentially etching a cavity in the substrate. The conductive bow-tie of the slapper was fabricated by two different techniques. The first technique involved selectively depositing metal at the base of the cavity (i.e., metal bow-tie structure). The second approach involved the selective diffusion of impurities into the base of the cavity to greatly increase the conductivity of the silicon (i.e., diffused bow-tie structure). It is demonstrated that both devices operated as intended. The diffused bow-tie device exhibited an interesting effect due to the negative thermal coefficient of the resistivity of the silicon. The effect may be exploited to improve the EMI (electromagnetic interference) and ESD (electrostatic discharge) insensitivity of the device