A Microfabricated Planar Electrospray Array Ionic Liquid Ion Source With Integrated Extractor
This paper reports the design, fabrication, and experimental characterization of a fully microfabricated planar array of externally fed electrospray emitters that produces heavy molecular ions from the ionic liquids EMI-BF[subcript 4] and EMI-Im. The microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) electrospra...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
2010
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59347 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3001-9223 |
| Summary: | This paper reports the design, fabrication, and experimental characterization of a fully microfabricated planar array of externally fed electrospray emitters that produces heavy molecular ions from the ionic liquids EMI-BF[subcript 4] and EMI-Im. The microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) electrospray array is composed of the following two microfabricated parts: 1) an emitter die with as many as 502 emitters in 1.13 cm[superscript 2] and 2) an extractor component that provides assembly alignment, electrical insulation, and a common bias voltage to the emitter array. The devices were created using Pyrex and silicon substrates, as well as microfabrication techniques such as deep reactive ion etching, low-temperature fusion bonding, and anodic bonding. The emitters are coated with black silicon, which acts as a wicking material for transporting the liquid to the emitter tips. The extractor electrode uses a 3-D MEMS packaging technology that allows hand assembly of the two components with micrometer-level precision. Experimental characterization of the MEMS electrospray array includes current-voltage characteristics, time-of-flight mass spectrometry, beam divergence, and imprints on a collector. The data show that with both ionic liquids and in both polarities, the electrospray array works in the pure ionic regime, emitting ions with as little as 500 V of bias voltage. The data suggest that the MEMS electrospray array ion source could be used in applications such as coating, printing, etching, and nanosatellite propulsion. |
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