USA flag logo/image

An Official Website of the United States Government

The Use of Boron Nitride for Improved Cold-Cathode Electron Field Emission…

Award Information

Agency:
Department of Defense 		Branch:
Air Force 		Award ID:
62678 		Program Year/Program:
2004 / STTR
Agency Tracking Number:
F033-0354 		Solicitation Year:
N/A 		Solicitation Topic Code:
N/A 		Solicitation Number:
N/A
Small Business Information
ElectroDynamic Applications, Inc.
P.O. Box 131460 Ann Arbor, MI 48113-
View profile »
Woman-Owned: No
Minority-Owned: Yes
HUBZone-Owned: No
 
Phase 2
Fiscal Year: 2004
Title: The Use of Boron Nitride for Improved Cold-Cathode Electron Field Emission Technology
Agency / Branch: DOD / USAF
Contract: FA9550-04-C-0061
Award Amount: $749,929.00
 

Abstract:

Low-power Hall thrusters offer potentially important advantages for certain military applications but issues of lifetime and efficiency degradation at lower powers are issues hindering its utilization. A factor impacting efficiency is that the state-of-the-art techniques for electron generation used for neutralization (such as hollow cathodes operating on the same propellant as the thruster) do not scale down in mass, power, and propellant consumption as readily as the miniaturized thrusters themselves. This proposal out-lines the development of a field emitter cathode utilizing the chemically inert, tough, low work-function ma-terial Boron Nitride (BN) and corresponding testing of a low power Hall thruster to better understand cath-ode integration. The desirable characteristics of leading electron emission materials such as molybdenum tips and Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) are well known. However, the chemical reactivity of these materials, especially carbon, in oxidizing environments presents significant limitations with respect to their applica-tion in Hall thrusters and other propulsion technologies (both operational and handling factors). The propel-lantless nature of this approach eliminates the neutralizer as a degrading factor for efficiency and its supe-rior material properties offer the possibility of long lifetime operation.

Principal Investigator:

Jonathan Van Noord
Senior Engineer
7349306692
vannoord@edapplications.com

Business Contact:

Brian Gilchrist
President/Treasurer
7349306692
gilchrist@edapplications.com
Small Business Information at Submission:

ELECTRODYNAMIC APPLICATIONS, INC.
P.O. Box 131460 Ann Arbor, MI 48113

EIN/Tax ID: 383479349
DUNS: N/A
Number of Employees:
Woman-Owned: No
Minority-Owned: No
HUBZone-Owned: No
Research Institution Information:
University of Michigan
Div of Research Devel & Admin, Room 1058; 3003 So.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Contact: Tom Zdeba
Contact Phone: (734) 764-8510
RI Type: Nonprofit college or university