alt Hacker NewsThe best silicon single crystals still contain impurities at the 1E-11 level. This project is about doing crystal growing in low gravity (the ultra-high purity is only achieved due to the growth process). The vacuum of space is a lot worse than what can be achieved in the lab, especially in low orbits.
Replies
boothby • last Saturday at 4:38 PM
What I'm struggling with is the hard radiation, which causes defects and even impurities even if you start with isotopically pure feedstock
3eb7988a1663 • last Saturday at 10:58 PM
What is the current defect rate preventing from happening? If you can lower it three orders of magnitude, what then becomes possible?
There have been experiments to create higher vacuums in space, which have been used to grow semiconductor crystals:
https://scfh.ru/en/papers/vacuum-in-the-wake/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_Shield_Facility
I'm not saying it's practical, but it's pretty cool.