Chapter 319 - 281: We Can Make This Needle
Li Dong came out of the North Building of the School of Chemistry and immediately pulled out his phone to call Lin Wei.
The phone had barely rung once before it was answered instantly.
"Hello, Li Dong. What’s up?"
The voice on the other end was even more brisk than usual.
Li Dong was taken aback for a moment. ’Are things at Huaxuan this fast now? Has even Lin Wei started answering my calls instantly?’
He cleared his throat.
"Oh, it’s nothing much. I was just wondering about that algorithm. How’s the implementation coming along?"
The other end suddenly went silent.
Li Dong waited for two or three seconds, but there was no response, so he said, "Hello?" again.
"President Lin?"
Lin Wei finally spoke.
"About that... it’s hard to say."
Li Dong: ???
’What does "it’s hard to say" mean?’ He subconsciously translated those four words into a more concrete question.
"What about my money?"
The words had barely left his mouth, but Li Dong felt perfectly justified. After all, the agreement they had signed was right there in black and white.
The person on the other end coughed twice.
"It’s not about the money."
Li Dong: "...?"
’Then what is it about?’
Just as he was about to ask another question, Lin Wei’s tone suddenly grew serious, as if he had made some kind of decision.
"Give me a minute. I’ll call you right back."
Then he hung up.
Li Dong stared at his phone screen, completely bewildered.
’I just asked about the algorithm?’
’Why does President Lin sound like the sky is falling?’
’Am I getting the money or not?’
About five minutes later, the phone rang again. Li Dong quickly picked up.
"President Lin?"
"Li Dong." Lin Wei’s voice on the other end had returned to its usual briskness. "When are you free? How about you make a trip to Shanghai?"
Li Dong was instinctively taken aback. He had a lot on his plate recently.
There was the Langlands meeting he had to attend, he had to keep an eye on the data stream for Teacher Wu and Teacher Lu, and he also had to sit in on the SNN special topics course at the School of Information Science...
He was mentally calculating his schedule.
Lin Wei on the other end naturally added another sentence.
"To talk about the money."
Li Dong: "..."
He cleared his throat.
"Tomorrow, then."
There was a second of silence on the other end before Lin Wei’s voice sounded again.
"Okay."
Li Dong could tell that the "Okay" carried a hint of resignation.
After hanging up, Li Dong chuckled to himself.
’Money, huh? It really is a wonderful thing. It can make a person clear their entire schedule in a second.’
Next, Li Dong found his uncle’s number and dialed. The phone on the other end rang for a long time before it was answered.
"Hello? Xiaodong?"
There was a lot of static on Li Yang’s line.
"Uncle, are you still at the Huaxuan training?"
"I am." Li Yang laughed.
"It’s an all-day, closed-door training. I’m sitting here listening properly, let me tell you."
With that, he was clearly warmed up and ready to talk.
"There are over thirty people in our group. The managers from the other factories all brought their R&D or technical people, but our factory never really had that kind of department before."
"I’ve scouted a few people recently. In a couple of days, I’m going to have a formal talk with one of them—a graduate student from your Yan University, no less."
Li Dong: "Oh?"
"To run into one of your alumni here in Shanghai... It must be fate."
Li Yang laughed happily.
"Isn’t it, though?"
Li Dong was still muttering to himself, ’Uncle’s processing plant has really hit it big. He can even recruit graduate students from Yan University now.’
"Uncle."
Li Dong steered the conversation back on topic.
"I’m coming to Shanghai tomorrow. We should meet up."
Li Yang perked up as soon as he heard this.
"Of course! Your uncle will treat you to a good meal."
Li Dong smiled and hung up the phone.
After hanging up, Li Dong headed back to the North Building of the School of Chemistry. He needed to get a copy of the detailed process sheet for that "needle" from Lu Mingyuan.
He had a copy of the process sheet himself, but a few lines had been circled by Teacher Lu and marked with the word "Internal." He wasn’t sure if he could share it, so he had to go over it with Teacher Lu in person to sort out the parts that could be disclosed.
When he pushed open the lab door, Lu Mingyuan was at the main console, staring at a set of data.
Seeing Li Dong return, Lu Mingyuan asked, a bit surprised.
"What are you doing back here?"
Li Dong walked up to him and said in a low voice.
"Teacher Lu, about the process sheet for that needle... could you prepare a copy for me with all the non-confidential parts?"
Lu Mingyuan put down his pen.
"What do you need that for?"
Li Dong answered honestly.
"I’m going to Shanghai tomorrow. I’m going to Huaxuan Technology to see if they can make it."
As soon as he said that, Lu Mingyuan froze for a moment, then laughed and shook his head.
"Kid, do you know what Huaxuan does? They work on photolithography machines and front-end processes for integrated circuits. Their entire production line is set up to mill graphic lines that are tens of nanometers wide on twelve-inch wafers."
"And what do we need? We need a free-standing coaxial probe tip. The end face needs to be sub-nanometer, and it has to have a whole coaxial stack: a PtIr core, SiO₂ insulation, and an outer gold film for grounding."
"On top of that, it later needs to be aligned with a synchrotron radiation beamline to within a few nanometers in a 30K low-temperature, ultra-high vacuum environment. These two things, they’re work from two completely different manufacturing worlds."
"Huaxuan could turn their entire production line upside down and they still wouldn’t find a single machine that can mill the apex for this needle of yours."
Li Dong listened, understanding the situation perfectly well in his heart. He nodded.
"Teacher Lu, I’m not going there assuming Huaxuan has a machine like that right now. I’m just going to ask and see if we can figure something out."
Lu Mingyuan sighed.
"Figure something out... It can’t be done."