Development of Semiconductor Bridge Igniter

We have developed a polysilicon semiconductor bridge (SCB) igniter which produces a plasma discharge that ignites explosive materials pressed against the bridge. Our experiments have demonstrated that the SCB produces a hot plasma that ignites explosives, when driven with a short, low energy peak. The SCB, a heavily-doped film, typically 100 $\mu\textrm{m}$long by 300 $\mu\textrm{m}$ wide 5 $\mu\textrm{m}$ thick, is 30 times smaller in volume than a conventional bridge. We described the SCB operation and processing, and the requirement of obtaining a plasma discharge in order to ignite the explosive material.