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Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by baybal2 on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @04:52AM (#18909979)
Smallest scale fabs can fit the whole cycle in one building: wafer production, CMP, gases facility, front-end, back-end and etching/deposition/doping lines. Some 180nm level fabs are like that, and rely on equipment unification in between back-end/front-end/etch/deposition/doping lines.

Big questions:

1. How to make wafers in low/no gravity? Without convection, you can't purify silicon. May be you will rely on an entirely chemical process to grow a crystal?

2. Expensive gases will have to be recycled, not neutralised and disposed.

3. How will you do wet etch in zero/low gravity? Will you go plasma only?

Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by cperciva on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @05:25AM (#18910119)
If you want gravity, you use centrifuges. Not really a problem.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by daeken on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @05:30AM (#18910149)
And this gives you the benefit of applying exactly the force you want. I'm no materials scientist, but I imagine this could allow for some potential gains in efficiency/quality/whatever.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by baybal2 on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @10:08AM (#18911601)
> Not really a problem.

Your gravity vector will have to be uniform, otherwise your crustal will turned curved.

Your centrifuge will have to be either very large, or you will have to find out how to do that without convetion

Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by rusk on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @06:33AM (#18910405)
is this kind of simulated gravity sufficient for the convection processes described?
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by mnw21cam on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @07:35AM (#18910705)
I think Einstein might have something to say about that one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivalence_principle

Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by jerf on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @11:01AM (#18912079)
Linear acceleration is equivalent to gravity. Spinning is not; it introduces the Coriolis psuedo-force or however you prefer to look at it, which allows it to be distinguished from gravity.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by mnw21cam on Wednesday January 16, 2019 @10:38AM (#18921703)
I concede the point, but counter with the fact that completely flat gravitational fields are implausible, so you could technically distinguish between linear acceleration (which has the same acceleration everywhere) and acceleration due to gravity (which doesn't, and hence generates a tide).

The effect on a stationary point sized object is equivalent in all three cases. When your object moves then the spinning artificial gravity can be distinguished. When your object is no longer point sized then both gravity and spinning fake gravity can be distinguished from linear acceleration fake gravity.

Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by jerf on Wednesday January 16, 2019 @10:42AM (#18921754)
I concede you have out-pedantic'd me. :)
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by rusk on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:04AM (#18911147)
Not sure how this supports or refutes GP claim ...

EDIT I mean - we’re talking about convection right? Which I understand to involve circulation of air currents ... does your link have anything on this topic? I guess with a large enough centrifuge there might be no difference but it was unclear whether what was being referred to was large habitable centrifuges or the type more commonly found in labs ...