Deep reactive ion etching:: a promising technology for micro- and nanosatellites

We discuss deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) as a promising technology that can be readily applied in the micromanufacturing of low-thrust propulsion systems to be used on future generations of micro- and nanosatellites. This dry processing technique permits the fabrication of high-aspect-ratio silicon structures and intricate morphologies, both with tight tolerances, in a repetitive and controllable fashion that lightweight space vehicles will exploit with the introduction of smaller thrust components for precise; maneuvering and attitude control. The etching approach described herein is counted among the present state of the art techniques utilized in the current trend toward miniaturization of sensors and actuators. This trend is being propelled by the increased technological capability as the enabling factor for size reduction. Scaling laws, especially the cube-square law, can be successfully applied for obtaining macropower from microdevices manufactured with the silicon technology that has developed for microelectronics applications, including DRIE. The application of this plasma etching technique in the fabrication and testing of silicon supersonic micronozzles is also described.