Sensors and Actuators A 122 (2005) 113–123

A MEMS-based solid propellant microthruster with Au/Ti igniter

K.L. Zhang a , S.K. Chou a,∗ , S.S. Ang b , X.S. Tang c
a Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119260, Singapore
b Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
c Institute of Materials Research & Engineering, 3 Research Link, Singapore 117602, Singapore

Received 28 October 2004; accepted 4 April 2005

Available online 6 June 2005

Abstract

A solid propellant microthruster with Au/Ti igniter is demonstrated as an improved micropropulsion system for microspacecraft. The new
design provides the microthruster with a high degree of flexibility, maneuverability and integration. Single microthruster and microthruster
arrays have been successfully fabricated using standard microfabrication technologies. The propellant combustion process in the micro-
chamber of the microthruster has been visually observed. Initial tests employing gunpowder-based solid propellants, have produced 2.11 × 10−5
to 1.15 × 10−4 N s of total impulse and 2.68–14.65 s of specific impulse at sea level, and 3.52 × 10−5 to 2.22 × 10−4 N s of total impulse and
4.48–28.29 s of specific impulse in vacuum. The performance of the solid propellant microthruster with Au/Ti igniter is also compared with
that of a solid propellant microthruster having a wire igniter.
© 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: MEMS; Micropropulsion; Microthruster; Solid propellant; Au/Ti igniter

1. Introduction microthruster, cold/hot-gas microthruster, hall microthruster,

field emission microthruster, colloid microthruster and
The application of microelectromechanical systems pulsed plasma microthruster [1–4]. The solid propellant
(MEMS) technologies to space field initiates the state-of- microthruster is a relatively new class of micropropulsion
the-art microspacecraft. The motivations behind the devel- system. Its concept is based on the combustion of the
opment of microspacecraft are to reduce mission costs and energetic propellant stored in the micro-chamber. The
increase launch rates by reducing launch masses, to reduce solid propellant microthruster presents the following main
mission risk and increase mission flexibility by launching a advantages: (1) it has no elaborate system of pumps, valves
cluster of microspacecrafts rather than a single large conven- and fuel lines so that the system complexity is reduced and
tional spacecraft, and to open up new application areas of system miniaturization is increased; (2) it has no moving
space technology. Building microspacecraft necessitates the parts, therefore, the friction problem is eliminated; (3) the
development of every subsystem so as to maintain the high propellant leakage possibility is very low compared with
degree onboard capability. Micropropulsion is an important gas or liquid propellant microthruster; (4) it has the ability
subsystem that should be significantly addressed. The mi- to combine compact size with a relatively high specific
cropropulsion system has many potential applications in mi- impulse performance. Consequently, the solid propellant
crospacecraft such as primary propulsion, attitude control, microthruster is being studied extensively in the past years
delta-v maneuvers, drag compensation and orbit adjustment. [5–8]. Their main design concepts are based on the three-
Recently, several kinds of MEMS-based micropropulsion layer sandwich configurations, which normally comprise
systems are being investigated, such as bi/mono-propellant three parts, namely, a combustion chamber, a micronozzle
(or burst diaphragm) and an igniter. A building block design
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +65 68742215; fax: +65 67791459. different from sandwich configuration is proposed by Zhang
E-mail address: [email protected] (S.K. Chou). et al. [9]. This design has several advantages over the former

0924-4247/$ – see front matter © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.sna.2005.04.021
114 K.L. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 122 (2005) 113–123

to the end of the glass protruding out from the silicon part
of the microthruster. The protruding glass part of the mi-
crothruster is installed into a special micro-connector to re-
alize the connection with the motherboard, which contains
the power source, addressing electronics and communication
ports.
The fabrication is performed using MEMS fabrication
tools at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering
(IMRE). The simplified fabrication process is shown in Fig. 2.
The process starts with a 550 ␮m thick double polished Pyrex
7740 glass substrate. Positive photoresist is spin-coated onto
the Pyrex glass and patterned using photolithography through
a designed mask-1. A metal layer of Ti with the thickness of
206 nm is deposited by e-beam evaporation. The Ti layer acts
as both the resistor and the adhesion layer. Then a metal layer
of Au with the thickness of 77 nm is deposited onto the Ti
layer through e-beam evaporation. The Au layer acts as both
the conductor and contact pad. Metal Ti and Au lift-off is per-
formed in acetone with ultrasonic for 20 min. After solvent
and DI-water clean, the Pyrex substrate with Ti and Au metals
is spin-coated and patterned using photolithography by a de-
Fig. 1. Schematic of a single microthruster. signed mask-2. After the exposed photoresist is removed, the
substrate is put into Au etchant. The Au in the designed area is
removed and the Ti is exposed as the resistor. The Pyrex sub-
designs, such as higher fabrication efficiency, more design strate is diced into separate chips along the designed dice lines
flexibility and better bonding quality. However, this design by a dicing machine. The SEM of the fabricated single igniter
employs a special wire as the igniter, which is not optimum with Ti as the resistor and Au as the conductor is shown in
for high-level integration and batch fabrication. In this paper, Fig. 3. The SEM of the enlarged part of Ti resistor is shown in
a new solid propellant microthruster design is proposed, Fig. 4.
which not only inherits the advantages of the building block A double-polished 4 in. (1 0 0) oriented silicon wafer with
design in Ref. [9], but also is more suitable for high-level inte- the thickness of 750 ␮m is cleaned and deposited by spin coat-
gration and batch fabrication. The design, fabrication process ing at 1000 rpm to a positive photoresist thickness of 12 ␮m.
and assembly of the solid propellant microthruster are de- After the photoresist is patterned by exposure to UV light
tailed. Facilities developed to characterize the characteristics through mask-3, the exposed photoresist is developed. With
of the solid propellant microthruster are described. Lastly, the pattern transferred through photolithography, a deep re-
the experimental results of the micro-combustion, thrust and active ion etching (DRIE) is carried out on the silicon wafer.
impulse testing are presented. The performance of the solid When the photoresist is stripped and the wafer is cleaned, a
propellant microthruster with Au/Ti igniter is also compared thermal oxidation process is performed. After thermal oxida-
with that of the solid propellant microthruster having a wire tion, the entire silicon wafer is covered by the silicon dioxide
igniter. with a thickness of 246 nm. The insulation performance of the
silicon wafer is improved by the thermal oxidation process.
Consequently, the ignition efficiency is increased due to the
2. Design and fabrication minimization of the possible current leakage. The resulting
silicon wafer trench depth is 400 ␮m after DRIE. The silicon
Fig. 1 shows the schematic of a proposed single mi- wafer is diced into separate chips along the designed dice
crothruster in our system. In the new design, a metal ig- lines by a dicing machine. Fig. 5 shows the front-side view
niter is deposited by lift-off method on a sodium-rich glass of the microthruster. Fig. 6 is the SEM of the microthruster
wafer. A silicon wafer is fabricated using microfabrica- cross-section. It can be seen that the sidewalls are vertical dur-
tion technologies to contain a combustion chamber and a ing and after the etching. The nozzle divergent part is shown
convergent–divergent nozzle. The glass layer and the silicon in Fig. 7. It shows that a well-defined nozzle structure can
layer are bonded together to form a three-dimensional mi- be maintained to deep depth as well as highlighting the wall
crothruster. The chamber is then loaded with the solid pro- smoothness.
pellant. Once ignited, the resultant gas expands through the The glass wafer with the Au/Ti igniter and the silicon
convergent–divergent nozzle as its velocity increases drasti- wafer with the trench are cleaned using ultrasonic agitation,
cally, thus producing the desired thrust and impulse bit. A rinsed in DI water and blown dry with a nitrogen gas. This
larger piece of glass wafer is used and connection is made is followed by an anodic bonding process at 400 ◦ C and a
 K.L. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 122 (2005) 113–123 115

Fig. 2. Microthruster fabrication process flow.

voltage of 1100 V. A reliable bond between the silicon layer into a special micro-connector to realize the connection
and glass layer is then formed although there is a 246 nm with the power source. The fabricated three-dimensional
silicon dioxide layer between the silicon and the glass. microthruster with igniter and solid propellant is shown in
The protruding glass part of the microthruster is installed Fig. 8.

Fig. 3. SEM of Au/Ti igniter on the glass chip. Fig. 4. SEM of Au/Ti igniter.
116 K.L. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 122 (2005) 113–123

Fig. 8. Microthruster with igniter and propellant.

Fig. 5. SEM of the microthruster front-side. redeemed by developing the solid propellant microthruster
arrays. The microthruster array is more robust than a sin-
gle microthruster and can produce controlled, vectored thrust
according to the applications [9]. One of the fabricated mi-
crothruster layers is shown in Fig. 8. The protruding glass part
of the microthruster array is installed into a special micro-
connector to realize the connection with the motherboard,
which contains the power source, addressing electronics and
communication ports. The microthruster layer and the micro-
connector have the same pitch of 0.8 mm. The gold on the
protruding glass part of the microthruster is held tightly with
plated contact area (gold) of the micro-connector to realize a
good ohmic contact as shown in Fig. 9. A schematic of the
way to address and ignite single microthrusters individually
in the microthruster array is shown in Fig. 10.
The new design not only inherits all the advantages of the
design in Ref. [9], such as higher fabrication efficiency, more
Fig. 6. SEM of the microthruster cross-section. design flexibility and better bonding quality, but also has sev-
eral other advantages. First, the new design employs the Au/Ti
One disadvantage of the solid propellant microthruster is igniter instead of the wire igniter, which is more suitable for
that it is generally not restartable. Therefore, it cannot ful- batch fabrication and the ignition efficiency and reliability
fill some function required by microspacecraft, for example, are improved. Second, adding addressing capability is one
orbit trimming. However, this disadvantage can be partially key part of developing the microthruster array. The new de-
sign makes the realization of addressing capability easier by
employing the special micro-connector. In addition, a higher
level of integration can be possibly achieved. Third, the new
design creates an end burning of the solid propellant by ig-
niting the propellant from the end of the micro-chamber. The
end burning delivers a constant thrust level for considerably
longer burn durations, which is supplied by a consistent burn
surface area. Lastly, the design makes it more convenient to
observe the propellant combustion process visually inside the
micro-scale device.

3. Experimental testing

3.1. Thrust and impulse testing system

A specific testing stand is developed to prove the feasibil-

Fig. 7. SEM of the nozzle divergent part. ity of the new design and to achieve the characteristics of the
 K.L. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 122 (2005) 113–123 117

Fig. 9. Front and side views of the microthrusters installed a micro-connector.

Fig. 10. Schematic of addressing single microthrusters in an array.

solid propellant microthruster both at sea level and in vacuum. a charge amplifier, a data acquisition system and a dc power
A schematic drawing of the setup is shown in Fig. 11. The supply to measure the produced thrust precisely. The Kistler
stand consists of a high-speed digital video camera to capture quartz force sensor produces an electric charge proportional
the propellant microcombustion, a piezoelectric force sensor, to the applied force with the unit [pC]. High sensitivity, high
rigidity and very small transverse sensitivity are outstanding
features of this sensor. The sensor is calibrated by Kistler In-
strument Corporation with a sensitivity of −118.8 pC/N and
a threshold of 0.5 mN. The Kistler charge amplifier is used
to convert the very small electric charge generated by the
force sensor into a proportionate voltage, which is calibrated
using an integral potentiometer. The Dewetron acquisition
system combines video and data acquisitions in a MIL-STD
package with a built-in computer and display, which is very
useful for capturing microcombustion and testing thrust
synchronously. The force sensor is installed tightly into a
specially designed heavy platform to minimize the possible
vibration due to the thrust, and to allow a convenient power
supply. The performance of the microthruster in a vacuum
environment is very important because the microspacecraft
will operate in space eventually. Therefore, a specially de-
signed vacuum chamber with optical access, a Bellow valve,
Fig. 11. Schematic of thrust and impulse testing system. a vacuum gauge and a vacuum pump are combined into the
118 K.L. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 122 (2005) 113–123

testing system to simulate the microthruster performance in

space.

3.2. Propellant compositions and microthruster

dimensions

Gunpowder-based solid propellant is employed here for

the present experimental testing. The solid propellant consists
of 90% (mass fraction) gunpowder (75% potassium nitrate,
15% charcoal and 10% sulfur), 6% ammonium perchlorate,
3% aluminum and 1% Fe2 O3. Adding ammonium perchlo-
rate is to lower the ignition temperature and to improve the
specific impulse of the propellant. Aluminum is used to
increase flame temperature and specific impulse. Fe2 O3 is Fig. 12. Geometry of the single microthruster.
utilized as the combustion catalyst. Testing the single mi-
crothruster enables us to furnish a more precise performance Table 1
Mass of the microthruster and propellant
measurement than the microthruster array and is more bene-
ficial for optimizing the microthruster geometry. Therefore, Single microthruster
a single microthruster is first tested in the current experiment. Unfueled mass (mg) 14.9
Fig. 12 shows the dimensions of the single microthruster Fueled mass (mg) 15.7
Propellant mass (mg) 0.8
for the present study. The 100 ␮m plane in the nozzle throat
Mass fraction (%) 5.10
is to avoid sharp edges and facilitate the fabrication. The
microthruster has different nozzle divergence lengths (L),
half divergence angles (a), combustion chamber widths The loaded propellant mass affects the microthruster per-
(Wc ), microthruster throat widths (Wt ) and microthruster exit formance in terms of specific impulse that is defined as the
widths (We ). As a result, different chamber-throat section ratio of total impulse to propellant weight. Therefore, the pro-
ratios (Ac /At ) and exit-throat section ratios (Ae /At ) are pellant mass should be measured precisely before the firing.
available for evaluation. Because the DRIE process creates The fine propellant power is charged gently by hand with the
the common etch depth for various features, the chamber assistance of a precision balance. Table 1 shows the masses
and nozzle have the same depth of 400 ␮m. Consequently, of the microthruster and propellant. The unfueled mass is the
Ac /At is equal to Wc /Wt and Ae /At is equal to We /Wt . microthruster mass before loading, the fueled mass means

Fig. 13. Solid propellant microthruster firing (images are acquired at 30,000 frames/s).
 K.L. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 122 (2005) 113–123 119

Fig. 14. Original signal of the microthruster testing.

the microthruster mass with the propellant loaded and the to the mechanical shock, or cause the fuel in neighboring
propellant mass fraction equals the ratio of the propellant cavities to ignite unexpectedly caused by the thermal shock
mass to the mass of the fueled microthruster before firing. because of the high thermal conductivity of silicon [6]. For
The propellant mass fraction (5.1%) of the current design is our design, the walls are not broken after combustion. The
much lower than that (16%) of previous study by Teasdale et propellant in the neighboring cavity is not ignited during com-
al. [7]. An improved design is expected to increase the pro- bustion despite the spacing among the single microthrusters
pellant mass fraction and to increase the specific impulse of in the layer is only 600 ␮m.
the microthruster.
3.4. Thrust and impulse testing
3.3. Microcombustion experiment
The thrust and impulse measurements are performed both
Microcombustion experiment is performed to visually val- at sea level with the ambient temperature of approximately
idate the feasibility of the solid propellant microthruster de- 300 K and in vacuum with the back pressure of 80 Pa. To
sign. The increased surface area-to-volume ratio that comes more efficiently capture the thrust and impulse signals, the
with the small size of the microthruster may cause chemical dynamic acquisition rate of the acquisition system is selected
and thermal quenching. The quenching may cease the mi- as 100,000 samples per second.
crocombustion [10], which is needed to be addressed. Con- Fig. 14 shows a typical measurement signal in vacuum for
tinuous combustion is observed successfully after igniting the single microthruster with Wc = 1000 ␮m, Wt = 500 ␮m,
the gunpowder-based solid propellant with the Au/Ti igniter. L = 600 ␮m and a half divergence angle a = 12◦ . When the
The combustion lasts for about 0.7 ms for a typical single gunpowder-based propellant is ignited, its combustion is ex-
microthruster. A series of frames from a high-speed digital tremely rapid. Consequently, the energy of the propellant
video camera of the combustion are shown in Fig. 13. A mi- is released within very short time, producing a high peak
crothruster layer is installed into a micro-connector during value of thrust. This propulsion mechanism may more aptly
the experiment as shown in Fig. 9. The images are acquired be called explosive propulsion than rocket propulsion. The
at 30,000 frames/s. The combustion process of the propel- peak value of the thrust produced is approximately 0.13 N.
lant can be visually observed in the new design because of Ignition occurs with input voltage of 8 V. Although current is
the transparent property of the Pyrex-7740 glass. It can be not measured directly, the dc power supply current output of
seen that the propellant is ignited initially at some point near 20 mA is observed at the time of ignition. The ignition power
the igniter. The combustion occurs and propagates to the en- is then estimated to be 0.16 W. The data acquisition and the
tire surface and then progresses rapidly. The ejected plume power supply are set to begin simultaneously. Accordingly,
from the convergent-divergent nozzle exit can also be visu- the ignition delay can be acquired through the measurement
ally observed from Fig. 13. The propellant explosion in one signal as shown in Fig. 14. The ignition delay is found to
microthruster cavity may shatter the walls of that cavity due be 12.940 s and the ignition energy is then estimated to be
120 K.L. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 122 (2005) 113–123

Fig. 16. Thrust and total impulse variations with the Ae /At in vacuum.
Fig. 15. Variation of the thrust with the combustion time.

2.070 J. The large ignition energy is mainly caused by the and impulse levels. If Ae /At is too big, nozzle exit pressure is
large heat loss because the thin film ignition heater is directly lower than ambient pressure. The nozzle is over-expanded.
deposited on the glass substrate. Another possible reason is The fluid in the over-expanded nozzle attains a lower exit
due to the lower ignition power supplied for the ignition, pressure than ambient pressure as the nozzle has exit area too
which causes the ignition delay very long. An optimum igni- large for optimum. Moreover, separation of the flow often
tion power is expected to be decided and to reduce the ignition takes place inside the divergent portion of an over-expanded
energy. nozzle. The diameter of the jet is smaller than the nozzle exit
Fig. 15 is an enlarged plot of the combustion region shown diameter. There is discontinuity at the separation location
in Fig. 14. The combustion process and thrust production and the thrust is reduced. However, if Ae /At is too small,
process can be seen in Fig. 15. The combustion duration the gas expansion is incomplete. The nozzle exit pressure is
is about 0.66 ms and the peak value of thrust is around higher than ambient pressure. The nozzle is under-expanded.
0.13 N. At t = 0.00 ms, the Au/Ti igniter is energized and Both the over-expansion and under-expansion affect the
the propellant combustion is triggered, generating the thrust nozzle performance. Optimum expansion is achieved when
and impulse. The thrust increases rapidly and achieves its the gas exits at ambient pressure. Fig. 16 shows the thrust and
peak value at t = 0.25 ms. The high value of thrust lasts for total impulse variations with Ae /At in vacuum. The single
about 0.05 ms and decreases gradually. By t = 0.66 ms, the microthrusters have a similar chamber width of 1000 ␮m,
propellant combustion is complete, and the impulse has been a similar divergence length of 600 ␮m and a similar half
delivered. Total impulse, defined as the integration of thrust divergence angle of 12◦ . It can be seen that the peak thrust in-
over combustion time, is an important factor to describe the creases from 0.13 to 0.60 N and the total impulse is changed
propulsion performance [11]. For this single microthruster, from 3.52 × 10−5 to 2.22 × 10−4 N s when Ae /At increases
total impulse is 3.52 × 10−5 N s. The total impulses of our from 1.47 to 1.78. Therefore, it is one possible way to vary
microthrusters are similar to those reported by Lewis [5], the thrust and total impulse to satisfy different requirements
even though the design and propellant are different. Teasdale by adjusting the microthruster exit–throat area ratio. The
et al. also showed some results for their solid propellant thrust curve trends in Fig. 16 are somewhat different, espe-
microrocket [7]. The thrust of their solid propellant micro- cially for Ae /At = 1.63. This is mainly caused by differing
rocket can last for several seconds employing HTPB/AP as contact areas between the propellant and the igniter, non-
the solid propellant, but the peak values of the thrust are uniformities in the propellant grain. The specific impulse is
10–15 mN. another important metric for evaluating the solid propellant
microthruster performance. According to the experimental
3.5. Microthruster performance variation with results, specific impulses of 4.48–28.29 s are generated in
exit–throat area ratio vacuum, which are much less than those of traditional solid
rockets. This is mainly caused by the gunpowder-based
The nozzle exit–throat area ratio (Ae /At ) is a major driver propellant’s relatively low specific impulse, the small size of
of the microthruster performance. It will impact the gas the microthruster and possible incomplete combustion of the
expansion process. As a result, it will also impact the thrust propellant.
 K.L. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 122 (2005) 113–123 121

3.6. Microthruster performance variation with

chamber–throat area ratio

The classical law r = apnc is used to determine the burn

rate for the combustion of the propellant. r is the burn rate
that is defined as the spatial rate of change of the burning
surface normal to the propellant surface. a (temperature
coefficient) is an empirical constant influenced by the initial
propellant grain temperature. The rate exponent n, called the
combustion index, is independent of the initial propellant
grain temperature and describes the effect of chamber pres-
sure on the burn rate [11]. The classical law expresses the fact
that the burn rate is dependent on the propellant composition
and the chamber pressure. The chamber pressure, however,
is determined by the equilibrium that should exist between
the gas generation rate and the nozzle exhaust flow rate.
Thus, the stable pressure level that is achieved is determined
by the propellant composition and the ratio between the
propellant burning area Ac and the nozzle throat area At .
Consequently, as far as the nozzle design is concerned, Fig. 18. Microthruster performance comparison at sea level and in vacuum.
the Ac /At ratio is an important parameter that impacts the
microthruster performance. By increasing the Ac /At ratio, 3.7. Microthruster performance comparison at sea level
the chamber pressure is greatly increased and the gas can be and in vacuum
accelerated to a higher velocity, resulting in a greater thrust
level. The microthruster testing is performed both at sea level
Fig. 17 shows the thrust and total impulse variations with and in vacuum (80 Pa). Fig. 18 shows the performance com-
Ac /At at sea level. The single microthrusters have a similar parison at sea level and in vacuum for the microthrusters
chamber width of 1000 ␮m, a similar divergence length of with a similar divergence length of 600 ␮m and a similar
600 ␮m and a similar half divergence angle of 12◦ . It can be half divergence angle of 12◦ , whereas the Ac /At ratio is dif-
seen that the peak thrust increases from 0.05 to 0.34 N and the ferent. When Ac /At equals 2.5, the thrust peak value is in-
total impulse is changed from 2.11 × 10−5 to 1.15 × 10−4 N s creased from 0.08 to 0.32 N, the total impulse is changed
when Ac /At increases from 2.00 to 3.85. Specific impulses from 2.81 × 10−5 to 9.16 × 10−5 N s and the specific impulse
of 2.68–14.65 s are produced at sea level, which are similar is increased from 3.58 to 11.67 s while the back pressure is
to Teasdale’s results (10–15 s) using HTPB/AP as the solid changed from sea level to vacuum. When Ac /At equals 2.7,
propellant [7]. the peak thrust changes from 0.10 to 0.43 N, the total impulse
increases from 3.28 × 10−5 to 1.44 × 10−4 N s, and specific
impulse increases from 4.18 to 18.35 s while the back pres-
sure changes from sea level to vacuum. The microthruster
performance is considerably improved in vacuum. One rea-
son for the improvement is the increase of the exit-ambient
pressure difference in vacuum. The other possible reason is
due to the flow pattern distinction of the microthruster jet. At
sea level, the jet flow is probably subsonic because of the high
back pressure. However, in vacuum, the jet flow is probably
supersonic due to the low back pressure. The supersonic jet
produces higher thrust and impulse than the subsonic jet.

3.8. Comparison between microthrusters with Au/Ti

igniter and wire igniter

A solid propellant microthruster with wire igniter is

developed in Ref. [12], which has the similar design
as the solid propellant microthruster with Au/Ti igniter.
Fig. 19 shows the performance comparison between the
microthruster with Au/Ti igniter and the microthruster with
Fig. 17. Thrust and total impulse variations with the Ac /At at sea level. wire igniter at sea level. The two kinds of microthrusters have
122 K.L. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 122 (2005) 113–123

for Ac /At = 3.33). This is because of the lower propellant

mass (Table 1) of the microthruster with Au/Ti igniter
compared with that of the microthruster with wire igniter.
A non-linear drop can be observed from the thrust curves
of the microthruster with wire igniter. This is probably
caused by the combustion instability of the solid propellant
in the microthruster as stated in Ref. [12]. The wire igniter
and ignition slot in the microthruster are supposed to be the
possible causes of the combustion instability due to the flow
disturbance. The instability is harmful to the microthruster
performance and the hardware. However, the combustion
instability does not occur for the microthruster with Au/Ti
igniter. Because the wire igniter is replaced by the thin film
igniter deposited on the glass layer. Therefore, the igniter
does not disturb the gas flow.

3.9. Repeatability of the thrust and total impulse

measurement

Fig. 20 plots the repeatability of the thrust and total im-

Fig. 19. Performance comparison between microthrusters with Au/Ti igniter pulse measurements for different microthruster samples with
and wire igniter. the same dimensions. The total impulses for the three sam-
ples are 1.14 × 10−4 , 1.17 × 10−4 , 1.15 × 10−4 N s, respec-
a similar chamber width of 1000 ␮m, a divergence length of tively. The results are within the experimental uncertainty and
600 ␮m and a half divergence angle of 12◦ The propellants establish the repeatability of the measurements. The small
employed for experiment are nearly identical except that difference is mainly caused by the non-uniformities in the
the potassium perchlorate in Ref. [12] is replaced by ammo- propellant grain.
nium perchlorate here. Nevertheless, the mass fractions of
potassium perchlorate and ammonium perchlorate are very
small (6%). The thrusts and total impulses produced by the 4. Conclusion
microthrusters with Au/Ti igniter and wire igniter are similar
for same Ac /At . This is due to the identical geometries and A MEMS-based solid propellant microthruster with Au/Ti
similar propellant employed. However, specific impulses igniter is successfully developed for satisfying the propulsion
produced by the microthruster with Au/Ti igniter are higher requirements of the microspacecraft. The new design is suit-
than those generated by the microthruster with wire igniter able for batch fabrication with a high degree miniaturization.
(14.65 s versus 11.32 s for Ac /At = 3.85; 7.57 s versus 6.68 s It has high fabrication efficiency, much design flexibility and
good bonding quality. The feasibility of the new design is
proven by microcombustion experiment, thrust and impulse
measurements. Propellant combustion in the micro-chamber
is visually observed through the transparent glass layer of the
microthruster. Initial tests employing gunpowder-based solid
propellant, have produced 0.05–0.34 N of thrust peak value
and 2.11 × 10−5 to 1.15 × 10−4 N s of total impulse at sea
level, and 0.13–0.60 N of thrust peak value and 3.52 × 10−5
to 2.22 × 10−4 N s of total impulse in vacuum. The solid pro-
pellant microthruster with Au/Ti igniter presents similar total
impulse, but a higher specific impulse than the solid propel-
lant microthruster with wire igniter. A detailed study about
the ignition process is needed to be performed by experi-
ment and/or simulation so as to optimize the efficiency of the
ignition process.

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by NUS under Grant R-265-000-

Fig. 20. Repeatability of the thrust measurements. 150-112. The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the
 K.L. Zhang et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 122 (2005) 113–123 123

Institute of Materials Research & Engineering, NUS MSTI [12] K.L. Zhang, S.K. Chou, S.S. Ang, Development of a solid propellant
Lab, Advanced Manufacture Lab, Impact Mechanics Lab, microthruster with chamber and nozzle etched on a wafer surface,
J. Micromech. Microeng. 14 (6) (2004) 785–792.
and Thermo Lab for their contributions to the microthruster
fabrication and testing.

Biographies
References
K.L. Zhang received the BS degree in mechanical engineering in 1997
from Dong Hua University, China. From 2000 to 2001, he was a research
[1] J. Mueller, Thruster options for microspacecraft: a review and eval- engineer in LENNOX. He is pursuing the PhD degree in mechanical
uation of existing hardware and emerging technologies, in: 33rd engineering at the National University of Singapore. His current research
AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibi- interests are in modeling, simulation, design and testing of micro-systems.
tion, 1997. AIAA Paper 97–3058.
[2] E.Y. Choueiri, Overview of U.S. academic programs in electric S.K. Chou received his bachelor of engineering (BEng.) from the Uni-
propulsion, in: 35th AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference, 1999. AIAA versity of Singapore. He obtained his diplome d’etudes approfondies
Paper 99-2163. (DEA) and docteur-ingenieur (Dr-Ing) from the Ecole Nationale Su-
[3] Bayt, R.L., Analysis, fabrication, and testing of a MEMS-based mi- perieure d’Arts et Metiers, Paris, on a French Government Scholarship.
cropropulsion system, Ph.D. Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of In 1980, he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National
Technology, 1999. University of Singapore, as a lecturer. Dr. Chou was the Head of the De-
[4] A.P. London, A.H. Epstein, J.L. Kerrebrock, High-pressure bipropel- partment of Mechanical Engineering from 1998 to 2003. He is presently
lant microrocket engine, J. Propul. Power 17 (4) (2001) 780–787. professor of mechanical engineering and vice-dean (external and indus-
[5] D.H. Lewis Jr., S.W. Janson, R.B. Cohen, E.K. Antonsson, Digital try relations) of the Faculty of Engineering. His most recent research
micropropulsion, Sens. Actuators A 80 (2000) 143–154. interest is in micro-thermal systems and their application in power gen-
[6] D.W. Youngner, S.T. Lu, E. Choueiri, J.B. Neidert, R.E. Black III, eration and propulsion. Related topics include heat transfer in micro-jet
K.J. Graham, D. Fahey, R. Lucus, X. Zhu, MEMS Mega-pixel Micro- impinging flows, the performance of micro-jet arrays, micro-combustors
thruster Arrays for Small Satellite Stationkeeping, in: 14th Annual and micro photovoltaic power generators.
AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, AIAA Paper SSC00-X-
2, August 21–24, 2000. S.S. Ang received his BSEE degree from the University of Arkansas,
[7] D. Teasdale, V. Milanovic, P. Chang, K.S.J. Pister, Microrockets for MSEE degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the PhD
smart dust, Smart Mater. Struct. 10 (2001) 1145–1155. degree from the Southern Methodist University. He was with Texas In-
[8] C. Rossi, S. Orieux, B. Larangot, T.D. Conto, D. Esteve, Design, struments Inc., Dallas, from 1981 to 1988. Since 1988, he has been with
fabrication and modeling of solid propellant microrocket-application the University of Arkansas where he is a professor of electrical engi-
to micropropulsion, Sens. Actuators A 99 (1–2) (2002) 125–133. neering. He was with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the
[9] K.L. Zhang, S.K. Chou, S.S. Ang, MEMS-based solid propellant National University of Singapore from 2001 to 2002. His current research
microthruster design, simulation, fabrication and testing, J. Micro- interests are bio-sensors, MEMS and microelectronics. He has authored
electromech. Syst. 13 (2) (2004) 165–175. and co-authored more than 200 journal papers and presentations.
[10] D.H. Lee, S. Kwon, Heat transfer and quenching analysis of com-
bustion in a micro combustion vessel, J. Micromech. Microeng. 12 X.S. Tang received his BSc degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University in
(5) (2002) 670–676. 1994 and MEng degree from Cornell University in 2001. He is presently
[11] G.P. Sutton, O. Biblarz, Rocket Propulsion Elements, John Wiley & a senior research officer in Institute of Materials Research & Engineering,
Sons, New York, 2001. Singapore. His research area is micro/nano fabrication technology.