Preparation and Ignition Properties of Tantalum Nitride Thin-Film Energy Transducers

Tantalum nitride (TaN) has excellent electrical properties that can be used as an energy transducer in the ignition field. In this study, TaN film transducers with different bridge parameters were designed and fabricated in an attempt to reduce its energy consumption. The ignition sensitivity of the film transducers was tested using the Langley method. The results revealed that the ignition voltage is the lowest when the thickness of the film is 0.9 µm. If the thickness and length of the bridge film are fixed, the ignition voltage of the transducer first decreases and then increases with the width of the bridge film increases. When the thickness and width of the bridge film are fixed, the ignition voltage of the transducer is first decrease and then increase with the length of the bridge film increases. We also evaluated the ignition mechanism of TaN film transducers. By comparing the performance of TaN, semiconductor bridge (SCB), and nickel–chromium (Ni–Cr) film transducers, the TaN and SCB transducers are proven to have similar ignition performances, which are better than the Ni–Cr transducer. The negative temperature coefficient of TaN and the positive feedback after the initial electrothermal ignition promoted the growth and strengthening of plasma in the bridge film, allowing the medicament to ignite quickly. When the feasibility of the process and the influence of the bridge film parameters on ignition sensitivity are considered, the preferred design parameters of the transducer are a thickness of 0.9 µm and a bridge film size of 0.3 mm×0.3 mm. This study shows that TaN can be utilized as a high-performance transducer.