A new contactless device internal test technique is introduced based on a scanning force microscope enabling dynamic voltage contrast within passivated integrated circuits. A spatial resolution below 500 nm and voltage resolution down to voltages of 0.2 V amplitude are achieved. For the first time static voltage contrast obtained with the scanning force microscope is shown on passivated integrated circuits. Potential and limits of this test technique are discussed.
Mankind is setting to colonize space, for which the manufacturing of habitats, tools, spare parts and other infrastructure is required. Commercial manufacturing processes are already well engineered under standard conditions on Earth, which means under Earth’s gravity and atmosphere. Based on the literature review, additive manufacturing under lunar and other space gravitational conditions have only been researched to a very limited extent. Especially, additive manufacturing offers many advantages, as it can produce complex structures while saving resources. The materials used do not have to be taken along on the mission, they can even be mined and processed on-site. The Einstein-Elevator offers a unique test environment for experiments under different gravitational conditions. Laser experiments on selectively melting regolith simulant are successfully conducted under lunar gravity and microgravity. The created samples are characterized in terms of their geometry, mass and porosity. These experiments are the first additive manufacturing tests under lunar gravity worldwide.
Laser melting experiments were carried out with the MOONRISE payload, installed on the mobile manipulator, MIRA3D. The MOONRISE payload was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of additive processing of lunar regolith with the help of lasers on the Moon within a lunar surface mission in the next years. The development of hardware for the flight to the moon is well advanced and, if successful, would pave the way for the use of laser melting for production of components from regolith. The aim of the experiments described in this article was to test the planned scenario on the Moon, especially the interaction between laser payload, manipulator, and soil surface, and to identify suitable process parameters for production of two-dimensional (2D) objects. The ability to produce 2D objects is an important intermediate step on the way to produce large three-dimensional structures such as habitats, walls, or foundations. During the experiments, specimens with a size of *20 • 20 • 4 mm were repeatedly produced. As analog material, two synthetic lunar soils produced with the modular regolith simulant systems from Technische Universität Braunschweig (TUBS) were used. The experiments were conducted under Earth gravity and atmospheric conditions. This article describes the hardware used, procedure for carrying out the experiments, and properties of the produced samples.
In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technologies pave the way for a sustainable colony on the Moon. Above all, the construction of structures using only the available resources is an important factor in reducing costs and logistical effort. The MOONRISE project aims to melt lunar regolith using lasers on mobile platforms for the additive manufacturing of structures. This process is called Mobile Selective Laser Melting (M-SLM) and has the advantage that only electrical energy and a moving system are required. For a proof-of-principle experiment of M-SLM, which aims for creating 0D, 1D and 2D fused regolith structures on the lunar surface, we designed the MOONRISE payload. The MOONRISE payload can be accommodated on a rover or a robotic arm to ensure mobility for the melting experiments.An Engineering Model (EM) of the payload including a fiber coupled diode laser was developed and environmentally tested. The dimension of the payload is 1.5 U CubeSat. It has a mass of about 2.5 kg with further reduction potential towards flight model (FM) development. Verification tests with the EM were continued by attaching it to a robotic arm to create 2D regolith structures, i.e. flat rectangular specimens. Further tests with the EM were carried out under low gravity conditions in the large-scale research device Einstein-Elevator at the Hannover Institute of Technology (HITec), which allows experiments under zero gravity conditions for about four seconds. The Einstein-Elevator also enables adjustment of the gravity level from 0 to 5 g, a feature that was used to carry out melting experiments with the EM under lunar gravity conditions.
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