Stories
SCL Pitches Indigenous Space-Grade Chips to Private Firms to Beat Import Delays
- •The government-run Semiconductor Laboratory is offering its indigenously developed space-grade chips to private firms as a reliable alternative to imports.
- •SCL director general Kamaljeet Singh highlighted that using domestic devices helps address supply-chain delays, procurement challenges, and counterfeit risks.
- •SCL offers customized solutions, prototypes, and fit-and-form replacements for startups and commercial space entities.
- •The Mohali-based facility boasts a strong reliability record with zero field failures in components supplied to ISRO over the past 40 years.
- •The outreach initiative led by IN-SPACe aims to boost domestic capabilities and encourage the adoption of local semiconductor technology in satellites and launch vehicles.
Key Questions Answered
The Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) is offering its indigenously developed, space-grade chips to private firms to bypass import delays, procurement difficulties, and counterfeiting risks. During an IN-SPACe meeting, SCL director general Kamaljeet Singh stated that the lab is open to developing prototypes, offering customized solutions, and providing fit-and-form replacements for startups and commercial entities.
SCL has a strong reliability record, having supplied semiconductor devices to the strategic sector like ISRO for spacecraft, satellites, and launch vehicles without a single field failure over the past 40 years. Their components feature strong screening and reliability criteria, with around 15 products having flight heritage, 33 qualified, and 40 silicon-validated.
SCL's 180-nanometre chip fabrication line is located in Mohali. It supports multiple devices, including analogue, digital, radio-frequency, and mixed-signal chips utilized in satellite systems, payloads, launch vehicle avionics, and onboard electronics.
