Chapter 32 Looks like a seven-nanometer chip
Wang Chengdong said: "Open it and take a look."
Xu Zhijun hesitated for a moment and said, "Take it to the testing department first, and invite Zhou Hua to look at it together."
Zhou Hua is a senior chip testing engineer and he is the most familiar with chips.
Whether the chip is made well or not can be seen with the naked eye.
Of course, the specific performance needs to be tested on the development board and the entire process can only be determined.
At the same time, Huayao headquarters, hardware testing department.
Chip test engineer Zhou Hua just finished a meeting with his department and walked to his workstation.
The atmosphere of the meeting was too good and everyone was not very energetic.
This is normal. The company is currently in a crisis-ridden situation, and major changes may occur at any time.
Of course, everyone still retains hope. After all, Huayao has survived through strong winds and waves and will not be defeated so easily.
Colleague Liu Sanyang followed and asked in a low voice: "Brother Hua, do you think we can still have fun?"
Zhou Hua asked: "What do you mean?"
Liu Sanyang said: "I think the situation is not right recently, and others are saying that our Huayao may not be able to survive."
Zhou Hua raised his eyebrows: "What nonsense are you talking about? Why can't you hold on anymore?"
"This... we may not have any chips available in the future."
Zhou Hua was silent.
Anyone who is not a fool can see this trend.
In the past, their chip testing department was very busy, testing several chips every week, but recently the work has been extremely light, with almost no work to do.
Liu Sanyang added: "Brother Hua, I think we should find a home quickly. The department will be abolished sooner or later."
Zhou Hua waved his hand: "Okay, you can look for it if you want. I won't look for it anyway."
Liu Sanyang glanced at Zhou Hua, as if he was looking at a stubborn fool.
At this moment, someone called Zhou Hua.
"Zhou Hua, come here."
Zhou Hua and Liu Sanyang were shocked. Actually, the big boss came, two of them.
The visitors were none other than Xu Zhijun and Wang Chengdong.
I saw Xu Zhijun still carrying a box in his hand.
The kind of boxes that employees in the test department are all too familiar with are the boxes that contain chips and wafers.
Zhou Hua hurried over and greeted the two big guys.
Xu Zhigang said: "There is a chip inside, I need you to see it."
Zhou Hua was stunned for a moment: "Mr. Xu, new one?"
Xu Zhigang said casually: "Other companies sent it, let's check the quality first."
Zhou Hua responded and took the box.
The three of them walked to the workroom.
Liu Sanyang hesitated for a moment and then followed, wanting to see what the big guys had brought.
It's really strange. How come other companies are sending new chips at this time?
Arriving at the workroom, Zhou Hua placed the box on the workbench and prepared to unpack it.
At this time, Wang Chengdong and Xu Zhijun were actually a little nervous.
In fact, the two of them had little hope.
Wang Chengdong asked in a low voice: "Mr. Xu, what level of chip do you think it is inside?"
Xu Zhijun replied without hesitation: "It would be good to have 50 nanometers."
Wang Chengdong nodded.
In 2018, mature process chips are more than 28 nanometers. Although the 50 nanometer process lags behind, there are many related chip products. Semiconductor manufacturing companies with this technology are considered to be at a good level.
Semiconductor companies that can produce processes below 20 nanometers are so rare that you can count them with just one hand.
There is only one company in mainland China that can produce chips with processes below 20 nanometers, and that is Huaxin International. It is unlikely that other companies will do so.
With a "pop" sound, Zhou Hua had already opened the lid of the box.
There are twelve grooves in the box, and a chip is placed in each groove.
There is also a round object fixed on the lid of the box.
The three of them were stunned.
That's actually a twelve-inch wafer! Twelve-inch wafers indicate that at least 28-nanometer level chips will be used, otherwise nine-inch wafers will be used.
Wang Chengdong and Xu Zhijun looked at each other with disbelief on their faces.
Xu Zhijun said: "No way, twelve inches..."
Wang Chengdong immediately said to Zhou Hua: "Let's take a look at the level of the wafer first."
Zhou Hua responded, carefully took out the wafer, and looked at the transistors on it with the naked eye.
Wang Chengdong and Xu Zhijun also stretched their necks and stared desperately.
Zhou Hua looked at it for two or three minutes before gently putting the wafer down.
The two asked at the same time: "How is it?"
Zhou Hua looked confused: "Okay, it seems to be less than ten nanometers..."
"ah!?"
"impossible!"
"Did you see it wrong!"
Zhou Hua said quickly: "I, I just judge based on experience. The specific number of nanometers needs to be detected by instruments."
Wang Chengdong and Xu Zhijun realized that they were too excited just now.
Zhou Hua added: "Then let me look at the chip again?"
"Look, let's see what's going on."
When Wang Chengdong spoke, he was a little anxious.
Wang Chengdong is a solid science and engineering man. He has seen countless wafers. Although his naked eye resolution is not as high as Zhou Hua's, it is not bad.
When Wang Chengdong looked at the surface of this wafer just now, he knew that this thing was not simple. It was definitely not something that a small factory or even a small workshop could make.
Wang Chengdong actually had a glimmer of hope in his heart.
Zhou Hua carefully took out a chip and said, "This chip... is packaged very well."
Zhou Hua turned the chip over and looked at the pins carefully, showing a look of astonishment.
Xu Zhijun asked: "How is it? What is the level of this chip?"
Zhou Hua looked at it carefully, looking left and right, up and down, forward and back, and finally answered: "This, this... seems to be a seven-nanometer chip."
"Wha, what!?"
"Seven nanometers!?"
Xu Zhijun and Wang Chengdong's voices were so loud that they almost jumped up on the spot.
There is no way, I simply can't help it.
What Zhou Hua said was nothing short of thunderous to their ears.
The attention of employees not far away was also attracted, but they could only watch from a distance, whisper to each other.
"What's going on? Why are Mr. Wang and Mr. Xu so excited?"
"They seemed to be looking at the chip."
"Where did the chip come from at this time?"
"Who knows? Why don't you ask?"
"Don't make trouble..."
At this time, Wang Chengdong also took out a chip from the box and looked at it carefully.
The stitches are very dense and neatly arranged, at least there are no flaws visible to the naked eye.
This illustrates at least two points.
First, this chip is made using an advanced process, at least a design below ten nanometers.
Second, the packaging level of this chip is very strong, which is the level of first-tier manufacturers.
However, Wang Chengdong also knows very well that this is only what can be seen with the naked eye. The actual level of this chip requires comprehensive testing before a conclusion can be drawn.
After a while, Wang Chengdong, Xu Zhijun and Zhou Hua found a conference room.
Xu Zhijun asked: "This chip still needs to be fully tested."
Wang Chengdong nodded: "If you want to do it, do it as soon as possible."
Xu Zhijun looked at Zhou Hua and said, "By the way, we have to keep it a secret. No one else can know about this. Do you understand?"
Zhou Hua nodded quickly and agreed.
(End of chapter)