Integration of new nano-engineered safe energetic layers with Sensors and Electronics to manufacture Safety-Critical Microsystems

ended

PyroSafe aims at (1) creating a new generation of safe and versatile energetic materials with tailored architectures at nanoscales to replace old unsafe energetic substances currently used in pyrodevices; (2) enabling a new technology based on the co-integration of electronic components with these new types of energetic layers; (3) manufacturing high energetic microsystems able to produce multiple functionalities (gas, heat, or generation of chemical species) to implement relevant emergency safety responses. This involves both evolutionary and revolutionary advances in metal/oxide materials science and engineering that constitute the focus of the proposed work. Specifically, I will develop: i. multi-scale (nm to mm) processing methodologies combining vapor-deposition techniques with additive manufacturing methods, to tailor the structural features of the energetic layers to the application needs; ii. an understanding of the physical and chemical processes at the most fundamental level to predict composition/structure/performance relationships and aging mechanisms; iii. a heterogeneous assembly process to co-integrate the energetic layers with electronic circuits. As key achievements of the project, three safety-critical microsystems, capable of detecting catastrophes and trigger quick safety responses, will be demonstrated with prototypes, ensuring that the basic research performed in initial thrusts will directly contribute to the development of novel microsystems. Overall, the PyroSafe technology will constitute a technological breakthrough in the current “pyrotechnical systems industry” by introducing a new way of thinking and manufacturing energetic materials as safe programmable and protectable components in a field led, for decades, by organic chemistry. Furthermore, the output of this research will have a deep and broad impact on the European society by introducing a real-time response to accidents in contrast to the current approach based on prevention.