Micro/Nano Scale Emission Tip Fabrication for Field Emission Electric Propulsion

This work reports on the fabrication of emission tips in micro and nano scale for field emission electric propulsion (FEEP) applications. For field emission and/or electrospray colloid electric space propulsion, a conductive liquid phase propellant is required which is sprayed at an emitter with a miniaturised emission tip. It is known that this electrohydro dynamic phenomenon tends to occur easily in a relatively lower voltage applied, typically several thousand volts, when the emitter tip has a smaller size. In this work, a FEEP emitter was fabricated through electrochemical etching, and the etching condition and required process for micro/nano scale emission tips have been examined.