Why Microgravity?
GRAVITY
µ-GRAVITY
ON EARTH
IN SPACE
Container Interactions
Containerless Processing
Impurities can leach into molten materials from the walls of their containers, leading to defects in the crystal.
In microgravity, materials can be processed without contacting the walls of their container, preventing these defects.
Flotation & Sedimentation
Diffusion Driven Mixing
Microgravity allows for diffusion driven mixing, which leads to more homogenous atomic distribution through a crystal.
Gravity causes flotation and sedimentation. In alloys that contain different elements, this can cause unwanted material segregation during crystal growth.
Natural Convection
No Natural Convection
Natural convection is the buoyancy driven heat transfer process in fluid that results from temperature-induced density differences. This temperature variation can lead to nonuniformity and defects in crystals.
In microgravity there is no buoyancy, and therefore no natural convection. Heat is transferred primarily through conduction and radiation. This results in more even heating and a more uniform crystal.
Hydrostatic Pressure
Homogenous Pressure
On Earth, liquid at the top of a container weighs on the liquid below it. This hydrostatic pressure can cause temperature and pressure fluctuations when growing large crystals.
In microgravity, there is homogenous pressure throughout a liquid. This removes fundamental limitations on the maximum size of the crystals that you can grow.
Low-Quality Crystals
Ultra High-Quality Crystals
By utilizing the inherent advantages of microgravity, we can manufacture higher quality, more consistent crystals than are possible to make on Earth. This will improve the performance of semiconductor devices and unlock new capabilities that are impossible today.
Earth’s gravity fundamentally limits the quality of the semiconductor crystals that can be grown. In the semiconductor devices that underpin our way of life, defects and nonuniformities limit device performance.