Long-time ECSE faculty Dr. Partha Dutta, now an emeritus professor, is leading a project to grow semiconductor crystals in space on board the International Space Station (ISS). The semiconductor crystal manufacturing experimental payload was launched on the SpaceX-31 commercial resupply mission on November 4, 2024, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The payload is for the production of a novel class of Semimetal-Semiconductor Composite Bulk Crystals. The investigation will be conducted in the NASA-owned Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA) furnace. According to Dr. Dutta, "this mission is focused on microgravity enabled semiconductor manufacturing and will leapfrog prior science investigations in the SUBSA furnace to a commercial scale process development on ISS."
For the full press release, please see https://www.unitedsemiconductorsllc.com.