Characterization of porous silicon for micropyrotechnic application

The current interest towards developing and deploying functional microscale devices is aimed at increasing the efficiency while reducing the cost, mass, and energy consumption. While functional microelectromechanical systems provide several advantages, their reduced length scales also pose several formidable problems in terms of powering and actuating such devices. One promising means to address this problem is to incorporate small amounts of high-energy-density energetic materials on-board microscale systems, and use the stored chemical energy for power and actuation, which is known as micropyrotechnics. The reactive properties of materials change significantly as their dimensions shrink to the nanoscale domain, and the high reactivity of nanoscaled/nanostructured materials can be exploited to form a new class of energetic materials known as nanoenergetic materials (nEMs), which are capable of sustaining a reactive wave propagation at sub-millimeter length scales. A nEM of significant interest in this regard is nanoporous silicon (PS), which is capable of high energy densities, efficient chemical energy conversion even at small length scales, and monolithic integration onto microscale devices. This work deals with understanding the behavior of porous silicon-solid oxidizer composites, which is required for successful micropyrotechnic applications.;As a part of this research effort, PS was prepared from silicon substrates with different dopant atom types and concentrations, and was characterized using SEM, BET, and sound speed measurements. Energetic composites were prepared by depositing oxidizers (sodium, magnesium, or calcium perchlorate salts) within the nanoscale pores. The reactive wave propagation within the energetic composites was characterized by high speed imaging and spectroscopic temperature measurements using multiwavelength pyrometry. The interaction between the condensed phase and the gaseous medium was studied in a high speed shadowgraphy system used to visualize the density gradients in the gas. Thermal analysis by simultaneous thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to characterize the interfacial reactions between PS and the oxidizer. The experimental results were combined with thermochemical equilibrium calculations and reaction models to understand the reactive wave propagation in PS composites.;A detailed combustion analysis of energetic PS composites indicated that heavily doped P or N-type silicon substrates (resistivity between 0.001 to 0.005 O-cm) yield PS substrates which always exhibit low reactive wave propagation speeds on the order of 1 m/s. PS composites prepared from heavily doped N-type substrates were found to yield higher reactive wave propagation speeds than PS prepared from heavily doped P-type substrates, which is a consequence of the difference in the microstructure of the PS formed. Changing the amount of oxidizer within the pores of PS etched from heavily doped silicon substrates was found to not affect the reactive wave propagation speeds or temperatures obtained. A reaction model incorporating thermochemical equilibrium calculations and diffusion considerations showed that the inhomogeneity of PS-oxidizer composites is important, despite pore diameters being on the order of a few nanometers. Further, one of the significant problems associated with PS composites, the deposition of oxidizer within the pores, was shown to be less important than the specific surface area and microstructure of PS in terms of the reactive wave propagation.;PS prepared from low doped P or N-type substrates (with resistivity between 1 to 20 O-cm) was found to exhibit reactive wave propagation speeds on the order of 100 to 1000 m/s. The high speeds in the case of PS prepared from low doped N-type substrates were found to be a consequence of randomly forming micro-crack patterns. PS etched from low doped P-type substrates exhibited the highest reactive wave propagation speeds (∼1000 m/s) and were capable of driving strong shock waves in the gaseous medium above the PS. Activation energy estimations from thermal analysis, and sound speed measurements were used to narrow down the mechanisms responsible for the high speed reactive wave propagations as a combination of heat transfer through the condensed phase and permeation of hot gaseous products within the porous layers, or reactive wave propagation assisted by high speed crack propagations in crystalline PS.;A novel technique to control the reactive wave propagation speeds in nEMs was developed, and successfully demonstrated using PS. Standard microfabrication techniques such as photolithography and plasma etching were used to create organized microscale structures in PS, which resulted in a two-order-of-magnitude enhancement in the reactive wave propagation speeds (from 2 m/s to 500 m/s). The creation of controlled microscale structures in PS results in the formation of hierarchical structures which organize the reactive material (the nanoscale features) in specific geometric configurations (imposed by the microscale features) conducive to effective permeation of the gaseous reaction products, which results in enhanced reactive wave propagation rates.