Chapter 1141 The world changed by light (Third update, please subscribe)
Sometimes life is so wonderful.
A chance encounter can change a person's destiny.
The fate of many people has changed inadvertently. Sometimes, he himself is not aware of this change.
But unlike many people, Gao Kun knew that his fate should have changed that weekend.
On the first weekend of January 1957, he and thirty-six young master's students received an invitation from the official residence. In the smoking room of the official residence, these young scholars from various universities in Nanyang discussed science with you. From chemistry to physics, from electronics to biology.
From that day on, the smoking room of the official residence became a place that many young scholars yearned for.
Not because it is the smoking room of the official residence, but because Your Excellency - Your Excellency is like an inspirer, always able to give them some enlightenment in their academic field.
Gao Kun had a very intuitive understanding of this. At that time, he was exploring how to use light waves to transmit information.
Like many experts and scholars, Gao Kun also believes that the amount and speed of information transmitted by light waves will far exceed all current transmission methods.
Because King's Laboratory had successfully developed a ruby laser as early as 50 years ago, he combined the characteristics of lasers with the waveguide technology he was studying, and then proposed the idea of a "laser catheter."
Once you have an idea, the next step is to verify it.
At this time, Gao Kun also discovered that lasers cannot be transported as a carrier, and this road is not feasible. But others are still at a loss.
That night, in the smoking room of the official residence, after Gao Kun mentioned his research, Your Excellency was smoking a cigar and thinking about it, and then said:
"Since light is used to transmit Information, the laser can’t fill the carrier, so just find another carrier!”
"It's not possible to shoot light from point A to point B, that means a conductor is needed to ensure and maintain the light from point A to point B without any obstruction."
Conductor!
His Excellency's suggestion at that time made Gao Kun's eyes light up, although he was still confused about the choice of conductor at the time.
But finally there is a direction.
And you also proposed the use of transparent materials as the transmission medium for laser.
Then Kun Kao began to research transparent materials. He consulted a lot of information and found that the attenuation rate of transparent materials was too large and could not achieve long-distance transmission. However, Kao Kun also discovered the problem.
The reason why the attenuation rate in quartz fiber transmission is too large is because the transparent material contains impurities and is impure.
Then the question is, if there is ultra-pure transparent material - that is, ultra-pure glass fiber, wouldn't this problem be solved?
Gao Kun wrote this bold conjecture into a research conclusion and published it in a professional journal.
He proposed in the paper: The transmission loss of light in optical fiber mainly comes from impurities in the material, rather than the imperfect fiber structure; the glass must be purified, and the transmission loss of high-purity quartz optical fiber can be reduced to Very low. He also specifically calculated that the transmission distance of light in this optical fiber can reach more than 100 kilometers. He believed that it was possible to create an unprecedentedly transparent glass, although it was not yet clear how.
When many experts saw this paper, they didn't have much reaction. After all, Kao Kun was just an unknown researcher.
And his idea is quite bold.
After all, glass is generally used to make decorations and utensils, and there is no ultra-pure glass fiber at all.
For something that they don’t know whether it can be realized, few manufacturers are willing to spend manpower and material resources to research pure glass fiber.
This put his research into a passive state.
But just a month later, he received a call from Schott Glass Company in Yongning, who were willing to conduct research in this area. They were willing to carry out research and development of high-purity glass fiber, so Gao Kun told them the standards that high-purity glass fiber should meet.
SCHOTT Glass Company is Germany's most prestigious glass manufacturer, producing a variety of glass products including optical glass. When General Patton's Third Army occupied Jena, the same company as Zeiss , in addition to some equipment being demolished, hundreds of technical personnel also came to Nanyang. Like Zeiss, SCHOTT built a factory in Nanyang with the support of the company.
So Yongning Short was born.
With the first-class glass company in Asia.
The addition of SCHOTT changed everything.
In the past two years, Gao Kun has devoted himself wholeheartedly to this research. Even if he leaves the laboratory and returns home at night, how to improve the transparency of glass, what methods to use to conduct experiments, and how to use complex mathematical operations to prove his Theories are always lingering in my mind, whether I am awake or asleep, and various questions still linger.
It wasn’t until a few months ago that SCHOTT finally produced the high-purity glass fiber required by Kao Kun.
After that, Gao Kun once again devoted himself to experimental research. Now, in a university laboratory, Gao Kun smiles as a red laser beam passes through fiberglass.
……
God said: "Let there be light!" And there was light.
Is there a God? It's not important.
Light has changed mankind!
When the laser passes through the glass fiber, even Gao Kun, the inventor, does not know how the combination of light and glass will change the world. At least in February 1959, the world had never known it. Just like two years ago, when Li Yi'an gave his acceptance speech in Stockholm, Zhang Jingye and six partners used light irradiation for the first time at GAD Company. , obtained the first photolithography integrated circuit.
They invented the world's first contact lithography machine. As the name suggests, the contact lithography machine simply and roughly covers the photomask on the silicon wafer. The photomask is in direct contact with the photoresist layer, and then illuminated and exposed directly, similar to a camera.
However, the failure rate and cost of this photolithography method are very high. A photomask can only be used a dozen times at most. Therefore, the price of chips produced by GAD is often very high.
But the aerospace industry saved it. Although the integrated circuits produced by GAD are worth thousands of yuan each, it is nothing to the aerospace industry - whether it is an artificial satellite, a spaceship or a rocket. , both require faster and smaller computers.
So, relying on the support of Nanyang Aeronautics and Space Administration, GAD Company survived.
However, as the founder of the company, Zhang Jingye is very aware of the weakness of the company's products - they are too expensive. Even the Aeronautics and Space Administration finds it too expensive
“We need a better lithography machine, which should be able to provide cheaper integrated circuits!”
After receiving the second round of venture capital, Zhang Jingye started new research while recruiting troops.
"Zeiss engineer, when will you arrive?"
In the office, Zhang Jingye asked anxiously.
"The appointment time is at ten o'clock in the morning."
After the secretary answered, Zhang Jingye looked at his watch first, then nodded and said:
"At 9:50, please remind me."
Afterwards, Zhang Jingye looked through the information in his hand. Two years ago, after they invented the contact lithography machine, there were several new ones in Nanyang. Companies have begun to engage in research in this area.
Their joining not only intensifies competition, but also promotes the development of this industry.
In order to improve production efficiency and reduce costs, engineers made improvements on the original basis and added a platform that can move horizontally and vertically, as well as a microscope for measuring the spacing and overlay between photomasks and silicon wafers. , so that the two are as close as possible but not in direct contact during lithography. This is the progressive lithography machine.
The improved photolithography machine prevents the photoresist from contaminating the photomask, but it brings new problems. Light has wave-particle duality. Due to the diffraction effect of light, the photolithography machine’s The accuracy decreases, and the longer the wavelength of the light source, the more serious the diffraction phenomenon. In addition to being limited by the diffraction effect of light, the distance between the photomask and the photoresist also determines the accuracy of photolithography. The larger the distance, the greater the error between the projection on the silicon wafer and the pattern on the mask.
In order to further improve the lithography machine, Zhang Jingye thought of Zeiss. They are experts in optical instruments. Maybe they can give some suggestions to help the company get out of the current predicament.
Just like that, time passed quickly while flipping through the information in his hand. At the reminder of his secretary, Zhang Jingye went downstairs. As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, a Zeiss engineer also arrived.
"My surname is Xu, Xu Huichuan."
Xu Huichuan introduced himself that although he is very young, he is also a very good optical engineer, which is why the company sent him here.
After a brief exchange of greetings, they walked into the elevator together. As soon as they entered the elevator, Zhang Jingye introduced his idea to the other party.
"I understand what you mean, which is to weaken the diffraction effect of light as much as possible. Well, I almost understand it. It is not difficult."
Xu Huichuan, an optical engineer, almost understood it before he even got out of the elevator. The other person also knows how to solve the problem.
Zhang Jingye said in surprise:
“Isn’t it difficult?”
“It should be very simple to achieve it. It should be very simple to achieve it through the combination of optical lenses. The process of weakening the diffraction effect of light is not complicated. I basically already have an idea..."
After getting out of the elevator, Xu Huichuan explained his idea. His idea was actually not complicated. In fact, most technologies were like this. At the beginning, the technical difficulty was very low. In another world, even until In the 1980s, because photolithography machines were not even as complex as cameras at the time, there were dozens of photolithography machine manufacturers, and many optical companies were involved, including Japan's Nikon. Nikon's first-generation photolithography machine was launched in the 1980s. When it was launched, many problems arose, but with the joint efforts of many companies, the technical problems were overcome, allowing Nikon to sell high-performance lithography machines to the United States in 1982, which were even more stable and automated than GCA. Excellent. By the late 1980s, Nikon and Canon already occupied 70% of the market share, and ASML had just been founded in a leaky factory shed near the Philips office in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
In any case, the threshold for many technologies is very low at the beginning.
Just like now, just over three months later, with the joint efforts of Xu Huichuan and many engineers from Yongning Zeiss, they equipped the photolithography machine with matching optical lenses and successfully developed the world's first A masked lithography machine!
Light, just like this, has once again been further applied quietly. No one knows what kind of world light will bring humans to!
(End of this chapter)