IIT Madras & ISRO Launch Indigenous SHAKTI Semiconductor Chip for Aerospace Applications

IIT Madras and ISRO have jointly developed and successfully activated an Atmanirbhar SHAKTI-based semiconductor chip designed for aerospace applications.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and ISRO have pioneered the development and successful booting of an Atmanirbhar aerospace-grade SHAKTI-based semiconductor chip. The SHAKTI microprocessor project is spearheaded by Prof. V. Kamakoti at the Prathap Subrahmanyam Centre for Digital Intelligence and Secure Hardware Architecture (PSCDISHA) in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

SHAKTI-based Semiconductor Chip

The SHAKTI class of systems is built on RISC-V, an open-source Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) designed for custom processors. Backed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, under the 'Digital India RISC-V' (DIRV) initiative, SHAKTI promotes the indigenous development of microprocessor-based products that deliver top-tier security and transparency for users adopting RISC-V technology.

The 'IRIS' (Indigenous RISCV Controller for Space Applications) chip, developed from the SHAKTI processor baseline, is designed for a wide range of applications, including IoT, computing systems, and strategic needs. This breakthrough is part of ISRO’s ongoing efforts to indigenize semiconductors for its critical applications, Command and Control Systems, and other essential functions, supporting its commitment to an 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' in space technologies.

The ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) in Thiruvananthapuram proposed the concept of a 64-bit RISC-V-based controller and partnered with IIT Madras to define the specifications and design of the semiconductor chip. The chip's configuration was developed to meet the common functional and computational needs of existing sensors and systems used in ISRO missions. To enhance the design's reliability, fault-tolerant internal memories were integrated with the SHAKTI core.

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, 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.”

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