IIT Madras & ISRO jointly develops India’s first Aerospace-Grade Semiconductor IRIS

 A significant advancement in semiconductor technology has been made by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras). They have developed and successfully tested IRIS (Indigenous RISCV Controller for Space Applications), a SHAKTI-based semiconductor chip of aerospace quality. This development was part of the effort to indigenize semiconductors used by ISRO for its applications, Command and Control Systems and other critical functions aligning with its march towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in Space Technologies.

The SHAKTI microprocessor project is led by Prof. V. Kamakoti at Prathap Subrahmanyam Centre for Digital Intelligence and Secure Hardware Architecture (PSCDISHA) in Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras.

The SHAKTI class of systems are based on RISC-V, an open-source Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), for designing custom processors. ‘SHAKTI’ is backed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, under its ‘Digital India RISC-V’ initiative (DIRV). It aims to promote indigenous development of microprocessor based products that offer best-in-class security and visibility for users adopting RISC-V technology.

The ‘IRIS’ (Indigenous RISCV Controller for Space Applications) Chip was developed from ‘SHAKTI’ processor baseline. It can be used in diverse domains from IoT and compute systems for strategic needs. 

The ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) in Thiruvananthapuram proposed the idea of a 64bit RISC-V-based Controller and collaborated with IIT Madras in defining the specifications and designing of the semiconductor chip.

The chip configuration was developed to meet the common computational and functional needs of the sensors and systems now in use in ISRO missions. The SHAKTI core was interfaced with fault-tolerant internal memories, which improved the design's dependability.

Advanced serial busses, WATCHDOG Timers, CORDIC, and other space systems all employ custom functional and peripheral interface modules that were incorporated. Multiple boot modes and hybrid memory/device extension interfaces are also used to provide for future mission expansion. In order to achieve a high-reliability, high-performance solution, the finalized design was tested on both hardware and software.

This semiconductor project is significant for the country because it was entirely completed in India and is a prime example of "Atmanirbhar Bharat." It was conceived by IISU Thiruvananthapuram, designed and implemented by IIT Madras, manufactured by SCL, Chandigarh, packaged by Tata Advanced Systems, Ltd. in Perjenahalli, Karnataka, included a motherboard PCB (Printed Circuit Board) made by PCB Power, Gujarat, assembled and mounted by Syrma SGS, Chennai, and software created by IIT Madras that booted successfully at IIT Madras.

Highlighting the importance of this new microprocessor, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “After RIMO in 2018 and MOUSHIK in 2020, this is the third SHAKTI chip we have fabricated at SCL Chandigarh and successfully booted at IIT Madras. That the chip design, chip fabrication, chip packaging, motherboard design and fabrication, assembly, software and boot - all happened inside India, is yet another validation that the complete semiconductor ecosystem and expertise exists within our country.”

Appreciating this joint effort Dr. V Narayanan, Chairman, ISRO, said, “We at ISRO are very happy that IRIS Controller conceived by IISU based on SHAKTI processor of IIT Madras could be successfully developed end-to-end with Indian resources. This marks truly a milestone in “Make in India” efforts in semiconductor design and fabrication. I congratulate all the teams involved, especially the IISU Team led by Sri Padmakumar ES and the IIT Madras team led by Prof. V. Kamakoti. I am sure that this high-performance controller, realized as per our requirements, will contribute significantly to future embedded controllers for space mission-related applications. It is planned to flight test a product based on this controller shortly and performance will be confirmed.”

Commenting on the third consecutive successful manufacturing of SHAKTI series of chip, Shri Kamaljeet Singh, Director General of SCL Chandigarh, stated, “SCL is proud to be associated with IIT Madras and ISRO in the successful development of IRIS-LV Processor. IRIS-LV Processor is fully indigenous and fabricated in SCL's 180 nm technology node encompassing mask frame design, GDS preparation and testing. Post silicon design validation & extensive electrical testing on wafer-level was conducted at SCL in close collaboration with the IIT Madras team. SCL is committed and continually working in association with academia and startups to facilitate and achieve Atmanirbharta in the realization of niche products.”