Lessons Learned from Early Microelectronics Production at Sandia National Laboratories

During the 1980s Sandia designed, developed, fabricated, tested, and delivered hundreds of thousands of radiation hardened integrated circuits (IC) for use in weapons and satellites. Initially, Sandia carried out all phases, design through delivery, so that development of next generation ICs and production of current generation circuits were carried out simultaneously. All this changed in the mid-eighties when an outside contractor was brought in to "produce" ICs that Sandia developed, in effect creating a crisp separation between development and production. This "partnership" had a severe impact on operations, but its more damaging effect was the degradation of Sandia’s microelectronics capabilities. This report outlines microelectronics development and production in the early eighties and summarizes the impact of changing to a separate contractor for production. This record suggests that low volume production be best accomplished within the development organization.