Twelve physics problems, eight sectors, the deserts on the map.
96 cells across 12 rows and 8 sectors, 4 deserts, 109 actors cited
Every column is a sector. Every row is a physics problem that keeps coming back.
The color of each cell is the state of that sector's handle on that problem. The
deserts, in the site's blue, are the real subject of the page: recognized
problems, near-empty fields, almost nobody on them in the open.
Maturity
IndustrializedSolved well enough to ship at scale. The recipes hold.
Active, empiricalWorked every day, mastered by craft, still without a predictive model.
OpenRecognized and unsolved. People are on it.
DesertReal problem, near-empty field. Almost nobody is on it in the open.
MarginalLittle at stake for this sector. The thin cell is the information.
Twins
Row / Sector →
Semi eqp
Chip fabs
Fusion
Big science
Quantum
Vac elec
Vac supply
Space test
Tap a cell for the challenge and actors. Tap a row title for the horizontal read.
Twins
Seven trans-sector pairings.
One physics under different names, in different buildings. Hover a twin above to
see the cells it binds; the note is the shared story.
High voltage processing, RF processing, seasoning, boronization, multipaction conditioning. One ritual, no model.
High voltage & conditioning · Vac elec, High voltage & conditioning · Big science, High voltage & conditioning · Space test, Plasma-surface · Semi eqp, Plasma-surface · Fusion
Q-disease in niobium, tritium inventory, hydrogen-limited trap lifetimes, blistered EUV mirrors. One enemy.
Tin debris, cavity field emitters, tritiated dust, final optics under fire. The same speck.
Particles & contamination · Semi eqp, Particles & contamination · Big science, Particles & contamination · Fusion, Particles & contamination · Space test
No gauge survives the millikelvin stage, no gauge fits a sealed tube. Both run inferred.
In-situ metrology & data · Quantum, In-situ metrology & data · Vac elec
Electric propulsion backsputter and the first-wafer effect: the test installation manufactures its own result.
Plasma-surface · Space test, Plasma-surface · Semi eqp
Screening data has a home, rate data does not. Contamination codes from another era, datasheets that do not compose.
Simulation & data · Vac supply, Simulation & data · Space test, Stimulated desorption · Vac supply
Metal, ceramic and vacuum meet on one line. Tube collectors, DC photoguns, megavolt neutral beam bushings: the same line fails first.
High voltage & conditioning · Vac elec, High voltage & conditioning · Big science, High voltage & conditioning · Fusion
Method
A map that takes positions.
Every cell here is graded, and a grade is a position: falsifiable on purpose.
The grades rest on three tiers of evidence, unequal by design.
Verified: checked against a working corpus or lived at the bench.
Structural: a standard or a database that exists or does not.
Assessed: a synthesis across eight sectors, stated plainly.
A map that refuses to grade is not a map, so this one will contain errors, and
the deal is public: wrong cells get corrected and logged here. If you work one
of these cells and the grade is wrong,
tell me.
Where the map claims an absence, the sources for what does exist sit inside
the cell.
Corrections
Nikon removed from the stimulated desorption equipment cell: the challenge as written is EUV and Nikon is not. An actor fix, not a regrade. The hydrogen supply cell now carries its unit, 1e-13 mbar l/s/cm2. A triple junction twin added across the three high voltage cells that share the metal-ceramic-vacuum line.
Electric propulsion facility effects regraded from desert to open after a field check: a dedicated NASA institute and a 2024 review exist. The open-data cells rewritten to name what exists, the Goddard outgassing database and cleanliness standards, and what does not: rate-resolved outgassing data and in-operation particle certification.
