Manufacturing of Semiconductors and Thin-film Integrated Coating
Facility Description
MSTIC is designed to produce semiconductors and metallic films in space. It includes a swappable production vacuum chamber, swappable gas cylinders, a crew serviceable computer and high voltage power supplies to produce a fully contained autonomous sputtering system. The thin film electrical devices are produced with a “3D printed” direct write sputtering process utilizing high-density, high-flux plasmas at low temperature and pressures. The process includes additive and subtractive manufacturing. The PVD (physical vapor deposition) sputtering acts as an additive process for depositing material on the surface of a substrate.
The CVD (chemical vapor deposition) acts as a subtractive process for cleaning, removing, or milling materials from the surface of the substrate rather than as an additive process. Both processes involve plasma-based emitters. The emitter gasses can be mixed to accomplish nitriding or reactive sputtering. The CVD gasses can be used for cleaning or condensation for organic thin film deposition. Manufacturing these films on-orbit may lead to more uniform crystal lattices through minimization of fractal formation from columnar growth and thickness uniformity of the films, which improve conductivity and power efficiently and ultimately device performance.
Availability:The general availability status of the facility. Available. Please contact the facility manager.
ISS Environment:The facility location (internal or external to the ISS.) Internal
Owner:The entity that owns the facility. Redwire Space
Operator/Implementation Partner:The entity or ISS National Lab Implementation Partner that operates the facility.
Redwire Space
Developer(s):The entity, or entities, that developed the facility.
Redwire Space
Facility Manager:The name of the facility manager and their organization.
Rachel Ormsby
Redwire Space
Manager Email:The facility manager's email address.
rachel.ormsby@redwirespace.com
Parent Facility:Any facility that is necessary to operate the facility described on this webpage. i.e., a parent facility is one level higher in the operational hierarachy. EXPRESS Rack
Child Facility:Facilities that can be operated within the facility described on this webpage.
Sponsoring Space Agency:The government space agency that sponsors investigations that use the facility. NASA
Equipment Category:"The facility's ISS National Lab equipment designation type. Designations include:
1. ISS National Lab Commercial Service Provider (CSP) Facility
2. Support Hardware
3. Capability Capability
Additional Information:Additional resources to learn more about the facility.
Successfully demonstrated aboard the ISS, where it is available now.
Redwire Space Announces Strategic Expansion of its In-Space Manufacturing Technology Portfolio to Tap into Global Semiconductor Market
MSTIC on NASA’s SSRE