An investigation into the SiC anti-ablation membrane of MEMS microthrusters

Silicon-based MEMS microthruster matrix has gained great attention as a micro-impulsion system in recent years, especially in application of attitude control of the nanosatellites. Although silicon serves well as the structural material for microthruster matrix in several aspects, its ability to resist ablation is rather weak. In this paper, SiC membrane is introduced to the surface of micro-chambers in order to enhance the ablation resistance of silicon-based MEMS microthrusters. A time-efficient four-step deposition process was carried out to prepare high-quality cavity-free SiC membrane. Microthrusters with SiC membrane coverage were tested under high-energy propellant experiment. The result shows that the SiC membrane can perfectly resist the ablation of microthrusters from nano-Al/CuO propellant.