FIELD EMISSION THRUSTER

BY:
SIDDHARTH KUSHWAHA
2211016118
Introduction
 Field emission thruster is an electrical propulsion system.
 Field emission refers to the process of using a strong
electric field to produce a spray of charged ions and/or
droplets.
 Specific impulses up to 10,000 seconds can be
achieved.
 Field emission driven by electrostatic forces
 Field-ion emission from metal surfaces was examined initially by
Tsong and Muller.
 When used for propulsion, thrusters use the field emission process
by accelerating the ions and droplets past an electrode,
producing thrust through high velocity expelled mass.
 Field emission theory
 Fowler-Nordheim (FN) theory describes the field emission process in
terms of a tunneling current density J through a potential barrier
between a planar surface and a vacuum.
3
−8𝜋𝜔(𝜍) 2𝑚𝑒 𝜏𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘
𝑒 3𝐸2
 𝐽= exp
8𝜋ℎ𝜏𝑙 2 (𝜍) 3ℎ𝑒𝐸

 where e is the elementary electrical charge, E is the electric field, h is

Planck’s constant, 𝜏𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 is the material work function, me the mass of
the electron, and two empirical functions 𝑙 𝜍 = 1 + 0.1107𝜍 1.33 and
𝜔(𝜍)=1-𝜍 1.69 .
 Physically, 𝜍 is a material-specific parameter describing relative
electron attachment.
 A larger 𝜍 implies greater charge mobility.
 However, conventional FN theory does not represent
accurately the experimental behaviour of field emitters.
 This deviation is because the emitters are curved, typically with
a radius of curvature of around 50 μm.
What is Field emission thruster?
 Also called Field Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP) thruster.
 It is an advanced electrostatic space propulsion concept.
 A form of ion thruster, that uses liquid metal (usually
either caesium, indium or mercury) as a propellant.
 Uses an electric field to extract and accelerate atomic ions.
 The thrust level ranges from micro- to milli-Newton
Construction
How it works?
 A FEEP device consists of an emitter and an accelerator
electrode.
 A potential difference of the order of 10 kV is applied
between the two, which generates a strong electric
field at the tip of the metal surface.
 High electric field generates surface instabilities which
give rise to Taylor cones on the liquid surface.
 At a threshold value of 109 V, atoms on the surface of
the tip are ionized.
 Ions are accelerated by the same field that created
them, producing a thrust.
 A separate neutralizer is required to maintain charge
neutrality.
Taylor cone
 A Taylor cone refers to the cone observed in
electrospinning, electrospraying and hydrodynamic
spray processes from which a jet of charged particles
emanates above a threshold voltage.
 For a fluid assumed to be a perfect conductor, the
conical surface is an equipotential. Therefore to balance
the surface tension, the potential gradient must be
proportional to 1/ 𝑟 . Expressed in polar coordinates, the
electric field which satisfies this stress condition has the
potential
 𝑈 = 𝑈ҿ + 𝐴₁ 𝑟𝑃₀. ₅(cos𝚹)
 where the line 𝚹= 0 or 𝚹 = 180 is the axis of the cone, A₁
is an integration constant and P₀.₅ is the Legendre
function of order 1/2 . If 𝚹 = ҿ is the conical equipotential
surface where U = Uҿ, then P₀.₅ (cos 𝚹) = 0
 The only angle within that range at which the forces
balance is at ҿ = 49.3𝑜

Formation
 When a small volume of electrically conductive liquid is
exposed to an electric field, the shape of liquid starts to
deform from the shape caused by surface tension.
Instabilities
 Rayleigh droplets are generated if the propellant is not
transported rapidly enough to fully replenish the amount
emitted.
 Time to form a droplet
ℎ𝑗𝑒𝑡
𝑡𝑗𝑒𝑡 = ; h is jet height
𝑣𝑗𝑒𝑡

v is jet velocity
 If this time needed to form a droplet is less than that needed
for the liquid to flow along the jet, a Rayleigh droplet is
produced.
 Experimental and theoretical work showed that neutral
droplets symmetrically elongate parallel to the electrical
field as polarization-induced charge densities develop at
opposite ends of the droplets.
 The elongating droplets become unstable when the
applied electric field reaches a critical limit, 𝐸𝑐𝑜 . This field is
known as the Taylor limit.
Critical current
 The higher the emission current, the greater the Taylor
cone instability that triggers the production of droplets.
 Theoretically, instabilities should occur on sharp needles
only above the critical current 𝐼𝑐
13.4𝜋𝜎 2 𝜌
 𝐼𝑐 =
𝐸𝑖 𝑚𝜖𝑜 𝜖𝑜

where 𝐸𝑖 is the ion evaporation field.

Minimum voltage
 There is a critical minimum electric field below which ion
emission will not occur.
 Below this field potential, the liquid gradually deforms
into a Taylor cone with an apex half angle approaching
the critical 49𝑜 as the voltage increases.
 ion emission occurs at voltage 𝑈𝑜
2𝑑𝑡𝑒 𝑟𝑐 𝜎
𝑈𝑜 =ln( )
𝑟𝑐 𝜖𝑜

𝑟𝑐 is the needle radius of curvature and 𝑑𝑡𝑒 the tip to

electrode distance.
Thruster description
 The liquid metal ion source (LMIS) thruster as built and
tested by the ARCS consists of a needle covered in the
element indium reacting to an applied electric potential
from an extractor ring held at -6 kV.
 When the field strength at the tip reaches 1 V/nm, a
cone of indium is then ionized from the surface and
accelerated over a fine tungsten needle that is about 1
cm long and 50 μm wide.
 Depending on the mass flow rates, either ions or droplets
are observed coming from the tip.
Needle FEEP emitting ions and droplets
Propellants used

 Cesium and Indium; alternative propellants are

Rubidium and Gallium.
 A propellant for such a type of thruster has to have a
high atomic mass to achieve sufficient thrust levels.
 Good wetting capabilities (Wetting is the ability of a
liquid to maintain contact with a solid surface).
 A low melting point and ionization energy.
Propellant considerations
 Atomic mass
 Capillary / needle flow
 Diffusion rate
 Droplet emission
 Environmental concerns
 Melting temperature
 Resistance to vacuum breakdown
 Vaporization
 Voltage standoff
 Wetting
 Resistance to vacuum breakdown
 Vaporization
 Voltage standoff
 Wetting