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Thousands of microelectronic components are flying on every spacecraft, enabling them to complete critical missions. In this lab, we study microelectronics to understand how they work, and more importantly, how they break. This knowledge helps our customers make smart decisions about what parts to use to ensure their systems are sufficiently reliable. 
We investigate the entire life cycle of a component, including design, fabrication, how the component reacts to stress such as space radiation or extreme temperatures, and finally, we do failure analysis after the fact.
To accomplish all this, our lab features a suite of state-of-the-art tools, including CT scanners, a plasma focused ion beam, a transmission electron microscope, and more. Aerospace is able to investigate problems deeply and provide information that is unattainable by the vast majority of contractors.
We are constantly striving to improve our analysis capabilities and develop techniques in anticipation of problems in future materials, devices, and technologies. We provide solutions when programs and customers have no other options.
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3D printed parts are becoming more common for space applications, but it’s a new process and the material properties are still being studied. Our experts created this crystallographic orientation map of a 3D printed aluminum alloy part with a special scanning electron microscope technique.
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3D printing is becoming more popular, and if we’re going to use 3D printed materials in the challenging environment of space, we want to know everything about them, down to the last atom. Fortunately, this microscope can help with that.
This Inconel 718 sample is a Ni-based superalloy typically used in high-temperature applications such as launch vehicles due to its strength at elevated temperatures.
Electrons accelerated to three-quarters the speed of light were focused to a probe and scanned across the sample collecting scattered electrons at each point. The probe size is below the diameter of an atom, 0.1 nm, and can detect the difference between being on an atomically sharp column of atoms (bright dots) to being in-between a column of atoms (dark regions).
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A purple nitrogen plasma is seen at the end of a Bismuth ion source in the ToF-SIMS during routine maintenance.
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A unique microelectronics characterization technique, developed at Aerospace, is capable of mapping resistance, potential, and electric field in off-the-shelf parts at high resolution. This 3D rendering, calculated based on a transmission electron microscope image, shows the potential drop in a capacitor.
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Actually, yes, these CT scanners function on the same basic principles as medical CT scanning. A series of 2D X-ray images are captured by the scanner and then combined using software to create a 3D model. The only difference is that here the subject is rotated for each image while the CT scanner remains stationary. In medical settings, the CT scanner rotates while the patient remains stationary. Aren’t you glad?
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Aerospace has over 30 years of experience helping countless programs understand the effect of radiation on relevant materials and devices. We want to ensure a full mission life for anything that is sent into space. This image shows samples sitting in one of our irradiators, ready to be tested.
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Because of the radiation risk, this lab has safeguards to keep all our scientists safe. For example, the irradiators have 6 inches of lead around them. Also, our staff wear sensors when they enter the room that would let them know if there was a problem.
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Critters are not in our charter, but ants are very interesting little machines, and when one of them wandered into our scanner, we decided to snap some images.
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Detecting problems at the atomic scale requires the best instruments and the brightest minds. This lab has both.
Anticipating the trend toward smaller devices, in 2015, Aerospace’s experts worked with the manufacturer to custom-design this $5M transmission electron microscope and attached instruments. This specially designed room was meticulous prepared to allow the microscope to operate without any type of vibration or disturbance. Our scientists constantly tune and maintain the instrument to achieve the level of sophistication required to solve our customers’ hardest problems.
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Electronic devices keep getting smaller and smaller. These days, some of the critical components are only a handful of atoms in size. To put this in perspective, a single atom is .1 nm in diameter and the wavelength of visible light is ~500 nm. So an atom is 5000 times smaller than the wavelength of light!
Just an atom or two out of place can change the properties of a material. So to detect problems, scientists need to be able to look at individual atoms and see how they are arranged. This microscope lets them do that.
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Have you ever tried to take a photo and missed it because the event happened too fast? Try taking a photo of an electron moving through a sample at three-quarters the speed of light. A normal camera can’t do it, but the one on this microscope can.
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In 2020, Aerospace installed this CT scanner that’s six times larger than the lab’s previous scanners, unlocking a host of new capabilities.
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In this CT scan of a circuit board, all layers can be viewed separately, which is very useful for tracing wiring.
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Installing this 16 x 11 x 11.5 ft CT scanner in Aerospace’s existing lab was like building a ship in a bottle. A 10-foot by 10-foot hole was cut into the side of the building, allowing a forklift to carry in more than a dozen lead-lined panels, weighing a collective 25 tons. The panels were then carefully installed in a precise, overlapping arrangement to create a seal that prevents X-ray leaks and protects the scientists working in the lab.
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It’s all very fine and well to see atoms, but how do you know what kind of atoms you’re looking at? With more than 100 different elements in the periodic table, it’s important to know which ones are present in a sample. It turns out that electrons change color when they pass through a sample, depending on what kind of atoms are present. Using this technique, our scientists can determine with great accuracy which atoms are there, allowing us to solve tricky problems for our customers.
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Many enjoy living in Southern California because the temperature stays moderate. This microscope, however, takes that to a whole new level. Any temperature changes could cause materials to expand and contract, interfering with the imaging. Special controls make sure this room doesn’t change more than 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit in an hour!
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Microelectronic circuits and devices are built layer by layer and are incredibly complex. Sometimes the devices have multiple silicon wafers stacked on each other. As the devices get more complex, it requires more finesse to cut them apart and inspect them. This plasma focused ion beam is a state-of-the-art instrument that is able to delicately slice, dice, and analyze the tiny but intricate microelectronic devices of today.
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Most devices face challenges from high-energy radiation. However, it turns our that some devices actually have more trouble with a low dose of radiation. This low dose-rate irradiator gives off 3,000 times less radiation than the other one in the room, and is specifically for testing those types of devices.
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Our scientists can use the ToF-SIMS to figure out why a part failed. For example, the instrument measured which materials were present in an operational amplifier, at various depths of the device. The bar on the right shows the depth, and each of the four boxes on the left show how much of a given material was present at that depth. This helped identify an unwanted material (sodium), which was determined to be the root cause for the device failure.
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Our specialty is materials science, looking at the reliability and performance of microelectronic devices that are critical to space technology like GPS, weather satellites, and more. In contrast, special medical research facilities might have a microscope like this focused on biological research—looking at the COVID-19 virus, for example.
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Since our labs are near the beach, it was inevitable that the two mix at some point. These just-for-fun CT scans show the amazing symmetry of a sand dollar skeleton. Check out the gas-exchanging pores and the mouth (the petal-like pattern on the bottom).
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Space is a tough neighborhood. Anything we send into space needs to be tough also. There’s a lot more high-energy radiation in space than on the surface of the Earth, and it can damage and degrade components like solar cells, microelectronics devices, and composite materials. In this lab, we test components and materials by exposing them to the same type of radiation they would experience in space.
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The CT scanning lab is supported by the extensive knowledge in Aerospace’s other laboratories, allowing us to quickly engage experts in metallurgy, materials science or whatever else the challenge calls for. The goal is to solve a problem, not just deliver images for someone else to interpret.
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The Microelectronics Labs have a variety of instruments that can analyze components at a huge range of spatial resolutions. Explore the various labs to learn more.
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The Photolithography Mask Aligner shines ultraviolet light onto parts of a device, using a mask (a metal pattern) to ensure all layers of the microelectronic device are aligned during fabrication.  
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The ToF-SIMS shoots an ion beam at a sample and then analyzes the ions that come off the material surface to determine what elements and molecules are present in the material. This allows our scientists to identify contaminants and corrosion products in microelectronics and other components.
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The X-PREP is a delicate micromachining tool that is used to mill into a component so the inside can be examined.
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The demand for radiation testing on space components is only increasing. With the new need for rapid system acquisition and the lowering cost for access to space, there is increased interest in using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components in space. Because these parts weren’t designed for space, their radiation tolerance is generally lower than traditional space hardware, and also highly variable. This will require new testing paradigms for higher throughput testing. Aerospace stands ready to pioneer these new testing approaches for a rapidly evolving space enterprise.
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The goal is to keep out any stray ultraviolet (UV) light that might interfere with the UV sensitive materials and the UV light used by the Photolithography Mask Aligner. 
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The microscope is floating on an air table, not attached to the walls of the room. Even if someone were jackhammering in another part of the building, this microscope could still take perfect images of atoms without being jostled.
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The mug on the right was placed inside the Co-60 irradiator, and demonstrates the effects of radiation on glass.
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Things are not so easy breezy in this lab. Air flowing into the room can actually disrupt the operation of this precision instrument. So instead of having one big pipe to let air into the room, this room has lots of little pipes that spread out the air flow and don’t disturb the microscope.
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This 7000 Ci Co-60 irradiator contains a block of Cobalt-60, an artificially produced element that gives off radiation. It’s a simple and relatively inexpensive way to emulate the space environment and rapidly assess risk to critical satellite components. For example, we can put a part in here for a few days, which tells us how degraded the part would be after being in space for 10 years. The block of Cobalt-60 loses its radioactivity over time, and has to be replaced every five years or so.
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This E-beam Evaporator uses an electron beam to heat and evaporate metal, which is then used to coat electronics as part of the device fabrication process.  
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This Nanotom, one of the lab’s three CT scanners, is used to scan the smallest parts, and it can image at a submicron resolution.
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This atomic force microscope uses a finely pointed probe that is scanned at or near the surface of a sample to learn about the structure and electrical or mechanical properties.
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This atomic force microscopy image shows the surface morphology of a silicone contaminant film.
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This connector has broken wire strands and what is known as “bird-caging" (notice the shape of the wires) indicated by the yellow arrows. Instead of cutting into the connector to see what's going on, this CT scan provides a non-destructive way to look inside the part and identify potential problems.
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This focused ion beam shoots ions at a sample to image it or to mill off tiny pieces. It has a built-in scanning electron microscope to image materials.
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This furnace, which is used to grow dielectric films, reaches temperatures over 2000°F.  
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This is a piece of a high power laser diode that was life-tested for nearly three years and suddenly completely degraded even though there were no signs that it would fail. To assess this failure, Aerospace’s experts used a focused ion beam to cut out this tiny sample and the transmission electron microscope to produce this image, which is only 26 microns tall (less than a human hair) and shows the damaged part. Laser diodes are used for optical communications in space, and it’s critical for Aerospace to analyze failures like these to ensure that microelectronics work as expected during a mission.
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This is the first-ever graphene spin field effect transistor, which was fabricated and tested here in Aerospace's Microelectronics Cleanroom. Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms, and this transistor has the potential to reduce the size, weight, and power of microelectronic devices. 
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This lab has three CT scanners that each have their own unique capabilities. The v|tome|x is the lab’s mid-sized scanner, and it images at micron resolution.
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This microscope behind this door is so precise that any noise or vibration in the room can distort the image of the sample. Even the heartbeat of the operator can cause a problem! When performing the most sensitive scans, the scientist will operate the instrument from outside the room.
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This scanning electron microscope directs a focused beam of electrons at a material and analyzes how they interact and reflect off the surface. It can image smaller items than a light microscope.  
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This scanning electron microscope has two probes that contact electrical devices and run a current through them to help measure performance. 
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Thousands of microelectronic components are flying on every spacecraft, enabling them to complete critical missions. In this lab, we study microelectronics to understand how they work, and more importantly, how they break. This knowledge helps our customers make smart decisions about what parts to use to ensure their systems are sufficiently reliable. 
We investigate the entire life cycle of a component, including design, fabrication, how the component reacts to stress such as space radiation or extreme temperatures, and finally, we do failure analysis after the fact.
To accomplish all this, our lab features a suite of state-of-the-art tools, including CT scanners, a plasma focused ion beam, a transmission electron microscope, and more. Aerospace is able to investigate problems deeply and provide information that is unattainable by the vast majority of contractors.
We are constantly striving to improve our analysis capabilities and develop techniques in anticipation of problems in future materials, devices, and technologies. We provide solutions when programs and customers have no other options.
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Using X-rays, scientists can look inside a part or system without having to physically alter it, an important tool in non-destructive testing that prevents unwanted damage to a part or the potential loss of critical data about what led to a failure.
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Using the ToF-SIMS, our scientists looked at which chemicals and compounds were present in a mirror. They measured at various depths of the mirror: the bar on the left shows the depth and each of the 14 boxes on the right show how much of a given material is present. Using this technique, we can identify how the mirror corrodes and find ways to prevent it.
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With 3D printing, components can be made faster, cheaper, and with novel shapes that are hard to create with conventional manufacturing. However, 3D printing is not as well understood as traditional methods of manufacturing, and there are a lot of unknowns. Aerospace experts are helping to fill that knowledge gap. We used a special scanning electron microscope technique to reveal this grain structure of a 3D printed titanium alloy used for structural applications in aerospace systems.  
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You may be more familiar with a light microscope, in which light shines on a specimen. A transmission electron microscope works similarly, but electrons are transmitted through the specimen instead of light.
Because electrons have a smaller wavelength than light, it’s possible to view much smaller objects, and because of the way electrons interact with atoms as they pass through a sample, it’s possible to determine the chemical makeup of these very small objects at the same time as imaging them.
This microscope “sees” what other microscopes can’t.
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You’ve just entered the Aerospace Microelectronics Cleanroom. If you were here in person, you’d be wearing a lab coat, hairnet, gloves and booties—we want to ensure no dirt or dust enters the lab and contaminates the delicate microelectronic devices.  
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“Tin whiskers” are extrusions that can sprout from tin plating and cause electrical shorts in space hardware. Aerospace studies this undesirable phenomenon.
Both these images are from a scanning electron microscope. One is a whisker extending from a piece of tin and the other is the electron diffraction pattern from a tin whisker. 
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The Aerospace Corporation
www.aero.org
John Binkley
SYSTEMS DIRECTOR
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The Aerospace Corporation
www.aero.org
John Binkley
SYSTEMS DIRECTOR
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