Novel Electro-Explosive Device Incorporating a Planar Transient Suppression Diode

In this letter, a novel, electrostatic discharge tolerant, semiconductor-based electro-explosive device was presented. The device which was called integrated semiconductor bridge (ISCB) chip consists of a monocrystalline silicon heating element, which was utilized to ignite pyrotechnic mix in weapon. Two planar transient suppression diode arrays were incorporated into the chip to protect against electrostatic discharge events. The characteristic of transient suppression diode array and electric discharge characteristic of the ISCB was tested by a capacitive discharge unit. Meanwhile, the behavior of the ISCB during electrostatic discharge events was also tested with a human body electrostatic discharge model. The results showed that the ISCB chip provided advantages including small size, fast ignition, electrostatic discharge insensitivity and low initiation energy applications.