| Abstract Scope |
Porous silicon (PS) is a widely studied material and holds great potential in the realization of novel Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). When impregnated with any one of a number of oxidizers, porous silicon can function as an energetic material. Because silicon is widely used in micromachining and CMOS processes, PS can be integrated on-chip alongside a MEMS sensor. This new class of energetic can be used for applications requiring on-chip power, propulsion, and fuzing. The strength of the energetic reaction, which is comparable to traditional energetics, is controlled by altering processing parameters to tune PS thickness, porosity, specific surface area, and surface terminations. Currently, the correlation between PS morphology and energy release rate is unclear. Here we characterize the structure of the PS prior to ignition, using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. This characterization is coupled with calorimetry data. Lastly, on-chip energetic PS devices are presented. |