Characteristics of the Energetic Micro-initiator Through Integrating Al/Ni Nano-multilayers with Cu Film Bridge

An energetic micro-initiator through integrating Al/Ni nano-multilayers with Cu film bridge was investigated in this study. The Cu film bridge was initially fabricated with wet etching, and Al/Ni nano-multilayers were alternately deposited on the surface of Cu film bridge by magnetron sputtering. The periodic layer structure of Al/Ni nano-multilayers was verified by scanning electron microscopy. The exothermic reaction in Al/Ni nano-multilayers can be initiated with onset reaction temperature as low as 503 K, and the total reaction heat is about 774.6 J/g. This energetic micro-initiator exhibited improved performances with lower threshold voltage, smaller initiation energy, and higher explosion temperature compared with Cu film bridge. An extra violent explosion phenomenon with longer duration time and larger quantities of ejected product particles was detected on this energetic micro-initiator by high-speed camera. Overall, the electric explosion performances of Cu film bridge can be improved evidently with the integration of Al/Ni nano-multilayers.