India’s two top most institutes ISRO and IISC are all set to join the new found wave of atmanirvarta in chip making with new hope and energy. ISRO has a chip making facility at Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL)in Chandigarh. They are planing to build an additional fab to meet the growing demand for chip sets for rockets and satellites as it opens up the space sector to private firms and startups. SCL has a 180-nanometre facility that produces chips for strategic purposes. SCL and the Semiconductor Technology and Applied Research Centre (SITAR) in Bengaluru, which has a 100-nanometre unit, also make micro-electro mechanical systems (MeMs) and sensors that have applications in critical areas. SITAR also runs a Gallium Arsenide Enabling Technology Centre (GAETEC) in Hyderabad. ISRO is looking to build chips with 65-nanometre technology in the new fab. ISRO’s Vikram processor which is crucial for navigation and guidance control of rockets is definitly a success story. ISRO’s collaboration with IITs to build homegrown chips for Navic receivers that will increase the accuracy of navigation across remote corners of the country, will spur demand for mass manufacturing. The space agency is also looking at opportunities in the private sector, where startups and large companies are looking to build rockets, satellites and ground equipment that require chip sets to improve their performance.
Separately, a team at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru is awaiting approval for its project to build Gallium Nitride Semiconductors, which includes building the chips and also systems for applications in power electronics and radio frequency electronics used for cell phone towers in 5G applications.
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