Mechanical impulse enhancement in a microsystem based on nanoporous silicon combustion

Abstract

Nanostructured porous silicon impregnated by solid state oxidizer has been studied in order to provide the mechanical impulse for jet-propulsion microsystems. The system with jet-propulsion motion on a silicon chip has been tested for impulse measurements. The silicon chip has been fastened on a carrying platform through an elastic spacer. The elastic spacer promotes the combustion and prevents from explosion of porous silicon fast oxidation. It is shown that such a microsystem gains the impulse up to 200-220 mN•s.