SEMICONDUCTOR SPACE MANUFACTURING NASA sends chip-making machine to space

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What if semiconductors could be fabricated in space? NASA is currently testing chip-making and 3D printing in space. The article talks about the latest news on semiconductor space manufacturing and future aspects.

NASA (National Aeronautics And Space Administration) is worldwide known to carry out space expeditions, experiments, and research. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and another space-tech giant Northrop Grumman closely compete for winning NASA contracts to deliver cargo and crew in space missions. It is important to note that a rocket is an LV (Launch Vehicle) that carries a spacecraft to the ISS (International Space Station).

Mission NG-20: NASA’s test to manufacture semiconductors in space

SpaceX and Northrop Grumman have collaborated to deliver hardware and supplies to the ISS. The mission titled “NG-20” launched from Brevard County, Florida on 30 January 2024, 17:07:15 UTC. The SpaceX “Falcon 9” rocket carried the Northrop Grumman spacecraft “Cygnus” to ISS for research and development. The mission is expected to be deorbited in July 2024.

Earlier Northrop Grumman used to execute the entire NASA mission through their rockets and spacecraft. However, Northrop Grumman rockets were heavily dependent upon foreign technology which was banned due to some reasons in the USA. So far, SpaceX has become a monopoly in launching ISS missions from the USA.

The NG-20 payload contains more than 3,700 kilograms of supplies. The main purpose of the space mission was to deliver the payload that carries necessary hardware for research investigations including 3D metal printing, thermal protection systems, medical operations using surgical robots, MSTIC (Microstructure Thin Film Coatings), and most importantly “semiconductor fabrication”.

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Why manufacture in space?

The main reason for sending a chip-making machine to space is to understand the effect of microgravity on the fabrication process. In space, there is no gravity and air like Earth. The value of the gravitational constant in space is zero or extremely small. There is no up and down as all objects are weightless.

Space manufacturing has several advantages including the absence of pollution, sedimentation, buoyancy, surface tension, hydrostatic pressure, and associated stresses. As a result, solids, liquids, and gases behave quite differently yet more stable in space.

The manufacturing projects and tests take place in Low Earth Orbit “LEO”. LEO has microgravity with an extremely small value of gravitational constant (g) about μg. It is the closest point to Earth for which you must be in space. Automated processes and robots perform manufacturing tasks, making production simpler and quicker.

However, semiconductor fabrication, 3D printing, or any other space manufacturing type has yet to be commercialized. There are several drawbacks including high budget, round trips, repeated use of the same products, lack of human intervention, and limited time.

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What does semiconductor fabrication in space mean?

NASA, Stanford, XLAB, Factories in Space, and Jacobs have released a publicly available whitepaper. This paper contains all the data about the potential of manufacturing semiconductors in space with scientific explanations and a history of experiments.

Manufacturing semiconductors in space is a part of InSPA (In-Space Production Applications). The technology could also be addressed as semiconductor space processing. Several ways are listed below to explain how space could affect semiconductor fabrication:

Pure environment
Semiconductors are manufactured in ISO-certified clean rooms, in which engineers need to wear protective clothing. Space provides an even better pollution-free pure environment for the fabrication process.

Improved crystal growth
The crystal growth process could achieve high purity in microgravity. The white paper reports that crystal growth in microgravity improves by 80% through physical, electrical, and optical properties.

Beyond silicon
Development of silicon carbide, gallium nitride, and many other wideband semiconductors plan to replace silicon. Semiconductor space manufacturing may replace industry reliance on silicon through the production of new materials.

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High stability
Space manufacturing gives rise to containerless processing. This is because the materials used in microgravity are highly stable with fewer structural defects.

Better chemical processes
Doping is critical because space has no pollution, sedimentation, and hydrostatic pressure. As a result, space could affect the diffusion of dopant atoms and processes of oxidation and deposition.

Increased yield
Semiconductor space manufacturing could further improve the overall yield with more precision, production quality, and control. Moreover, space provides better access to solar energy.

Automatic manufacturing
If successful by 2050, semiconductor space manufacturing could automate the entire process, eliminating the need for additional labor and resupply missions.

Cost-savings
Our semiconductor manufacturing part 1 article lists all the few countries that manufacture semiconductors. The global supply chain makes a chip travel 40,000 km during the production stage.

The whitepaper claims that semiconductor space manufacturing could account for 50 round trips between Earth and LEO. It reduces the cost per chip to save billions of dollars for manufacturers.

References

www.nasa.gov/missions
www.nasa.gov/general
osf.io/preprints
www.axiomspace.com/microgravity

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