Chapter 490 Then I’ll be relieved
For half a month, the theme was waiting for the lithography machine.
Since Shi Lei said "basically certain", it is actually foolproof.
To be honest, it is not difficult to simply "buy a photolithography machine".
Asma's lithography machine business is not for charity. The ultimate goal is to make money.
China is a big market anyway, and chip manufacturers like Huaxin International - strictly speaking, they should be foundries, are already one of Asma's customers.
The problem is that the photolithography machine Li Yan wants to buy is purely for research.
The basic logic of business operation is profit.
The fate of lithography machines used for research is equivalent to being scrapped.
After I bought this thing, I didn't use it for production to make money, but I threw it into a bottomless abyss with no hope.
It’s not like China has never built lithography machines before, it’s even one of the first batches that started very early.
However, the investment in this thing was too great, and the benefits were far away. In that era when having enough food was more important and the development foundation was the core, there was no soil for survival at all.
This delay delayed Asma from becoming king.
Technical barriers are best read when everyone is immature. Once the industrial system matures, barriers become unattainable.
Apart from anything else, doesn’t Shi Lei himself, who leads the research and development of lithography machines, know the specific difficulties of lithography machines?
Li Yancai read some information and already understood everything about it.
The accumulation of hidden technology is like traveling back in time and showing them a helicopter.
The thing is there. Even if I dismantle it for you, can you build it?
The principle is like a bamboo dragonfly. You can understand it when you listen to it, but what next?
Just an advanced immersion DUV deep ultraviolet lithography machine often has tens of thousands of parts. If a bunch of senior talents are required to record and dismantle it, there is a high probability that they will not be able to put it back together.
In the global industrial chain, some parts don’t even have a clue how to produce them. It’s a fantasy to think that you can study and learn just by buying one and dismantling it.
What's more, what Li Yan wants is Asma's most advanced DUV model currently in mass production.
After buying such an expensive gadget, the most valuable thing is to take it apart and see what's going on. No one's money comes from the strong wind.
Moreover, Asma has American blood in her body, and they will not allow things like "buying it back and dismantling it" to happen easily.
Therefore, buying a photolithography machine alone is really a difficult task.
Li Yan couldn't buy it even if he had money.
He not only had to use some method to make his purchasing behavior go unnoticed, but also had to have the absolute right to use this photolithography machine.
The final solution was very simple. Officials lobbied Huaxin International to buy it, and Li Yan paid the full price directly after buying it.
"I'll dismantle it later, so don't complain." Li Yan told Shi Lei.
Hearing this, Shi Lei broke into a cold sweat, "If that's what you need, you don't actually need to go to such trouble. I also have disassembled machines, and there's more than one."
“Old models with manufacturing processes of 65nm and above have little significance in research.”
"We haven't even developed the old 65nm model you mentioned. Do you mean to develop the immersion model in one step?"
"...Do you want to hear the truth?"
"Blow it."
This old man Shi is also interesting.
"I want to directly deal with extreme ultraviolet and euv."
Unexpectedly, Shi Lei had no reaction and just smiled, "Okay, okay, ambition is a good thing."
Perfunctory, nakedly perfunctory.
After all, the wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light is only 13.5nm, which is much shorter than the 193nm wavelength of deep ultraviolet light used in the "previous generation product" DUV lithography machine that China has not yet been able to produce.
If deep ultraviolet is still considered an "existing" technical barrier, then extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines can be said to be all barriers.
Their expectation for Li Yan is that he can make some breakthroughs in the manufacturing of photolithography machines.
To expect Li Yan's future technology to develop a DUV is completely insane.
Therefore, "ambition is a good thing."
On October 18, 2011, Li Yan received his immersion DUV lithography machine.
Shi Lei's team and Huaxin International's scientific research team gathered in the conference room of Future Technology and provided a large amount of relevant information on the use of lithography machines as requested by Li Yan.
It can be called a detailed version of the super-super-large instruction manual.
"Shiyuan, I have a question." Li Yan said, "If we have the size and position of each part of the lithography machine, and understand the functions and relationships of all parts, can we replicate the lithography machine one-to-one?"< br>
"This is something we have been doing, but not to mention whether it can be done or not, even if we can do it, it will only be a breakthrough in the integration of photolithography technology. Light source, alignment, these are also technical barriers." Data consistency' is the solution... Oh, if you are talking about these things, you can get exactly the same data, then..."
After saying this, Shi Lei fell into confusion under the confused eyes of Wei Benjian, chief engineer of Huaxin International.
How could he have such a strange idea?
Of course, if you can know the materials, sizes, locations and relationships of all parts and components, and if you can manufacture them at the corresponding industrial level, you can indeed replicate all industrial products.
But that can't be said... Even if all the parts are reproduced one-to-one and you know where they should be, "how to install them" is still a huge problem.
The order and timing of assembly may ultimately affect the final operation effect...
However, if, as Li Yan said, you can understand the "function" of all the parts, you can reverse the order in which the parts are installed.
Even if you know all this, you won't be unable to find a way to install it.
Shi Lei was stunned again.
Why does he still have such outrageous ideas?
He was actually thinking about what would happen if Li Yan did all this.
It was as if he was quarreling with a child, wondering "what will happen if we do everything".
When did you have this level of confidence in Li Yan?
But he couldn't help but continue to think, if what Li Yan said was true, what was the biggest problem——
"Corresponding industrial level." Shi Lei said, "Even if all of this is true, the most critical point is still missing, a sufficiently matching industrial level."
"Then I'll feel relieved."
Wei Benjian is a thin, middle-aged man who likes to wear a beret, like an artist.
But he believes that Li Yan is an artist now and is engaging in performance art called showmanship.
Shi Lei was also stunned. He saw the youngest man and woman in his team couldn't hide their excitement and was speechless for a moment.
"I'm only worried about something unexpected, or a force majeure that really has no solution." Li Yan said, "Matching the industrial level is an expected difficulty. I understood it as early as when I came into contact with the concept of lithography machines. Everyone here should also understand. ”
Wei Benjian spoke, "Then why are you relieved? The problem will not become insignificant just because it is realized earlier."
"If it is a certain theoretical difficulty, then I will really have a headache for a while. But if you say that China, a country, cannot create anything if it has enough data, I don't believe it."
Before Shi Lei had time to speak, Li Yan immediately answered his words:
"Take the alignment system as an example. If we could have all the data of a complete alignment system and understand the function of each lens in it, do you really think we just can't make it?"
No one dares to express negative views at this time.
"It's nothing more than using more materials and using more process trial and error." Li Yan said, "Our current goal is not to achieve mass production, but to build it. As long as there is one, there are ways to make two, three, four or five." Where is the light source? ”
"That's the principle. The wavelength of 193nm is not an insurmountable difficulty. As for extreme ultraviolet... What I want to do now is to wait for the day when extreme ultraviolet can be solved, and I can directly upgrade from DUV to EUV. ”
"I'm a little interested..." Wei Benjian looked at Li Yan with a smile, "Why are you obsessed with lithography machines? We at Huaxin International have some different ideas. Chips do not necessarily have to rely on the technology of lithography machines, and extreme ultraviolet does not It must be the only way.”
"There are also carbon-based chips, photonic chips, and quantum chips. Chip performance can even be improved in disguise through software improvements," Li Yan said.
"It seems you have done a lot of homework."
"Carbon-based chips are obviously more distant achievements. Photonic chips and quantum chips are not substitutes for current chips. One is the upgrading of the electronics industry, and the other is to play a role in specific scenarios." Li Yan said, "If it were me, I would do the same. We will advance these researches simultaneously and strive to be at the forefront of the world, but the more we do this, the less likely we are to allow mature and advanced technologies to be put in front of us, but we will only be stuck.”
Wei Benjian's eyes became clear.
"I can have what others don't have; I must have what others have." Li Yan stood up as he spoke.
"Okay!" The two young people in Shi Lei's team couldn't help but applaud.
However, Shi Lei still wanted to pour cold water on him, "Li Yan, I have to remind you that even if all of the above are true, the program is still a troublesome matter. How to use it is also..."
He stopped again.
Check out the 16-9 book bar to see the correct version!
Li Yan looked at him with a half-smiling expression.
Shi Lei laughed dumbly and shook his head.
If he doesn't even question Li Yan's ability to understand the functions, data and relationships of all parts, why should he question his computer skills?
The domestically developed operating system... was almost invented by him alone.
Shi Lei suddenly understood where his confidence in Li Yan came from.
An outrageous task means trusting outrageous people.
In the next two months, Li Yan just immersed himself in the research room with the photolithography machine - it was actually a renovated underground workshop...
Because Li Yan himself said that it was "still in the preparation period" and that "I will ask you if I have any questions," Shi Lei and SMIC's research team were somewhat isolated.
I don’t know how to help, and I don’t know how to participate even if I participate.
They might as well just continue their own research.
The biggest help they gave Li Yan during this period was that Huaxin International took Li Yan to observe the chip production workshop countless times.
But because the operation of the lithography machine is not visible to the naked eye, they believe that the help is very limited.
What surprised the two team members the most was that Li Yan always stayed alone in the research room and even locked the door.
It’s like his mother going to practice cultivation.
Shi Lei once had a very outrageous idea: Li Yan was really engaged in metaphysics, and the lithography machine was about to be conquered by metaphysics.
Later, he went to burn incense and confess his unscientific thoughts.
To sum up, no one knows what Li Yan is doing.
Including everyone in future technology.
From the fact that Future Technology has never stopped recruiting people, we know how saturated their current workload is.
In addition, the official website provides a channel to the international market, which adds a lot of work - the entire small department has to be dedicated to the exhibition work.
Wang Zi was once worried that the company would have redundant personnel due to uncontrolled expansion.
But a quick look at the company's monthly work report shows that the current gap is still very large.
The spread of the super living circle has brought unimaginable impact.
Food delivery, online ride-hailing, PayTong, Youkan... these are all big projects related to people's livelihood, and a virtuous cycle will appear as the number of people using them increases.
The only way to "maintain quality" as Li Yan said is to increase manpower.
Moreover, Wen Xin has also analyzed that the recruitment tasks currently assigned to her by Li Yan are very obvious. The proportion of subsidiary employees responsible for managing the Super Life Circle platform is getting higher and higher. He is still very restrained in recruiting employees from the headquarters.
With so many people and so much work, it’s really stressful.
Especially during the company's business expansion period, especially at the key node of going international.
Sun Miao already had two cups of coffee a day to survive. She seemed to be in a bad mental state and had symptoms of running to Li Yan's office six times a day to ask if her boss was there.
The same goes for Cao Haibin, but he and Sun Miao have completely opposite symptoms.
Now he turned pale when he heard that Li Yan was looking for him. Li Yan had no instructions for other work in the past two months, so he just took advantage of the assembly line assigned to Cao Haibin.
It almost made Cao Haibin's head go bald.
Also under great pressure is Li Chun.
The intensity of his wave was inexplicable. He was happily living his small life in the Linjiang mansion, but the novelty had not worn off yet. He and Chen Fengling were already planting vegetables in Tianhong Garden, and suddenly he met with a senior official with a phone call. Got the noodles.
The biggest official I have ever seen before is the deputy director of the county industrial and commercial bureau. He is still a little related to him, and he usually ignores me when he gives me things.
This suddenly jumped to senior officials.
Across the row of leaders in suits and ties, the one at the end who didn't even say hello was the director of the New Taipei City Science and Technology Bureau.
How could Li Chun cope with it?
But I really can’t blame Li Yan. The official provided him with VIP access, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t have to sign the relevant documents, and it didn’t mean that he could skip the publicity part.
And Li Chun is still the nominal legal person of Future Technology.
But you can also blame Li Yan - "You have to attend anyway, right? Today I feel that the leaders are trying to force a smile. If you don't come, they will be disappointed."
On the evening of December 31, 2011, Li Chun called Li Yan.
"Senior Zhang called me and I explained. I was working on a photolithography machine, and he was worried about disturbing me, so he didn't let me come over."
"Oh, that's it..." Li Chun suddenly lost his position and could only complain a few words from the bottom of his heart, "Oh, I can't handle this kind of situation. Some leaders are still a little emotional because they don't see you coming... …”
"Who has emotions?"
Li Yan's words even carried a bit of... coercion. Even Li Chun felt the pressure, "No, son, they are not angry, that's not what I meant. Hey, it's okay. The main thing is that I can't let go."
"Thank you for your hard work, dad. I'd better trouble you to go over the signing matter. It's pointless for me to go there and watch. If there are any large-scale ceremonies and you need me to accompany you, just tell me."
Li Yan yawned as he spoke.
This made Li Chun a little alert, "I hear your voice is a little tired. Are you a little tired from working on that optical machine recently?"
"Lithography machine." Li Yan was silent for a while, "It's okay. Happy New Year in advance, dad."
"Happy New Year and get more rest."
"Yes."
After hanging up the phone, Li Yan sent another message to Wei Yunzhi: "As usual."
Then he looked at the mostly disassembled photolithography machine in front of him and took a deep breath.
“This year’s New Year’s Eve is a bit interesting.”
Overclock!
(End of chapter)