Rebirth of Northland Technology

Photoelectric meeting room.

The three young people gathered together again.

Although the young faces betray their true age, these few are not ordinary young people.

Since Gu Ming and You Tian withdrew from the Boy Scouts one after another, Ye Jing, a girl, became the actual leader of the Boy Scouts.It was this experience that laid a solid foundation for her future development.

Yan Liang put more energy on the technological evolution of TFT-LCD, and now he has a trace of elite temperament.

A series of reserve technologies are slowly taking shape in his hands. Five-step lithography is one of his works.A batch of patented technologies such as IPS and FFS provide "Full Color Technology" with confidence to deal with future challenges.

————————

"It's time for "Project One" to start."

The last zero project was unanimously opposed by everyone, which led to the birth of "Full Color Technology".Otherwise, Bai Xuecheng’s company name should be changed to "Zero Point Technology".

"In fact, needless to say, we also know, are we ready for the wafer project? It's time to count!"

LCD driver chip development is not a secret matter.A group of IC professionals have been busy with this matter for more than half a year.They are not only busy, but more importantly, they burn money.

EDA software costs more than two hundred thousand US dollars per set.Although there are certain discounts for purchasing from educational institutions, hundreds of thousands of dollars are still inevitable.

This kind of large-scale integrated circuit design is certainly impossible to complete by one person.If multiple people work together, multiple sets of software are needed.The results of the project have not yet been seen, and nearly tens of millions of RMB have disappeared.

This money can't be spent in vain.

————————

"Let's talk about how to do this No. 1 project."

These two fellow villagers, as the company grows, their perspectives are constantly improving.The observation points and angles of many issues are obviously different from those of ordinary people.Standing on the shoulders of giants means this.

"I think we still have to take it step by step. We have not accumulated in the wafer industry. The current top priority is to tie the domestic advanced technology, that is, 2 micron technology."

Ye Jing first gave suggestions.

In 1986, the Ministry of Electronics Industry put forward the "531" development strategy, which is to popularize 5 micron technology, develop 3 micron technology, and tackle 1 micron technology.

Six years have passed. Except for the one-micron goal that was not reached, the other two have almost been completed.The 1.5 micron step projection lithography machine was successfully developed in 1985.This is also the follow-up 908 project, which proposes the basis for entering 1 micron.

At this point in time, many domestic fabs have adopted 4-5 inch wafers, 2-3 micron technology.

The hard work of these predecessors was not in vain, it brought a sufficiently high starting point for Optoelectronics.

Of course, in recent years, the progress of international semiconductor technology has not stopped.The newly built fabs have progressed to 0.5 microns.

————————

"I don't agree with this view. What is the purpose of our project? If the ultimate goal is not achieved, what is the point of spending so much money to build a useless fab?

To go, we must go to the most advanced, 0.35 microns directly!"

With continuous success, Yan Liang's ambitions also continue to grow.Especially the several reserve technologies in his hands gave him greater enterprising spirit.

In his eyes, the so-called electronic giants in the world are just that.What else do they have besides a bit of bad money?Withered bones in the mound.

LED business, the starting point of optoelectronics is very high, the first in the world is the first.

Although TFT-LCD is almost the same, it is at least the first wave.If the wafer turns to follow someone else’s ass, isn’t it detrimental to your own glorious image!

"0.35 micron? Have you ever talked about it? Where is the technology source? Do you know how much it costs to build a 0.35 micron fab?"

With the gradual improvement of the wafer process, the cost of the wafer factory is also gradually increasing.This is also the main reason why 908 is only 2 billion, but 909 has risen to 10 billion.

The core difference between the two is that the process of 908 is 0.9 microns, and the process of 909 is 0.5 microns.

The cost of a 0.35 micron fab has risen to the level of $1 billion internationally.(The popularity of 0.35 microns in international batches occurred after 1995. PentiumPro was the first chip in the world to adopt this process (P854), the first batch produced.)

Of course, there are other differences, such as output, wafer size, etc.

If the wafer process is so easy, the broken lithography machine would not have to affect the hearts of so many people.

The two quickly quarreled by themselves.

————————

"Yongxing, what's your opinion? You didn't call us to watch the quarrel."

"What you said is right, but nothing is right."

"how to say?"

"The fab has to go, but we must also consider the reality. It is useless to shout slogans. We have not accumulated after all.

But at the same time, our goal must be achieved, and money must not be spent for nothing!If it is just a 2 micron fab, it is meaningless."

"Huh? What do you mean? Both sides let you say everything!"

The two fellow students felt that there was a problem with their ears.

"This time I plan to use 2 micron semiconductor equipment and technology to produce 1 micron chips!"

...

"how can that be?"

"I knew there must be something in your head."

Two people with different personalities sighed completely differently after pondering for a while.

"You are not kidding. If there is such a technology, why do so many companies around the world invest so much money every year to improve their processes and increase the accuracy of production equipment? What is the 908 project doing?"

Ye Jing is relatively conservative in nature, and looks more at risk.

"This technology is available. That's why this project is called Project One. Its confidentiality level is even higher than that of the LCD ODF process."

————————

"Okay, just say it. We are ready."

This is not the first time that Cheng Yongxing convened the two to discuss some highly confidential scientific and technological information.

After the continuous baptism of MEMS, LED, and LCD, the two people are no strangers to the wafer process.

In later generations, when people talk about semiconductor equipment, it is the lithography machine.It is generally believed that the lithography machine is the only bottleneck for China's lagging behind in semiconductor technology.

This sentence is right and wrong.

Yes, it is because, in the field of semiconductor technology, China's representative equipment is the lithography machine.

Other equipment, such as etching equipment, and the international advanced level, even if there is some gap, the gap is not so big, even some equipment, domestic equipment has begun to counterattack the international market.

The lithography machine determines the semiconductor manufacturing process only after 2005.This is what everyone on earth knows, ASML's Battle of Tianwang Mountain.

ASML fought a turnaround on the immersion lithography machine and overturned several Japanese competitors in one fell swoop, thus establishing its monopoly in the lithography machine market.

————————

But in fact, before and after 2005, none of the core technologies that determine the manufacturing process of semiconductor chips were lithography machines.Because at this time, the wavelength of the light wave has not hit the limit (193nm).

China already has a 1.5-micron lithography machine, but other auxiliary processes cannot achieve such high precision.

For decades, the requirements for lithography equipment were mainly based on Moore's Law, which achieved higher resolution by reducing the wavelength and increasing the numerical aperture (NA).

However, there are only a few available wavelengths of the laser, and it will be unsustainable to reduce the laser wavelength several times.

Since 2004, lithography machines have begun to use DUV lasers with a wavelength of 193nm. No one thought that the lithography light source was stuck at 193nm and could not improve for more than ten years.

Even if the immersion lithography machine is used, it only makes the wafer process successfully break through a few nodes.

After a period of time, the process evolution route of semiconductor technology encountered similar problems again.Technological breakthroughs in later generations of 14nm, 10nm and 7nm.It is not achieved by upgrading the lithography machine.

In the case that the lithography machine cannot be upgraded, in order to break through this obstacle, people began to look for other directions to break through.

————————

As the brains of scientists opened up, an effective method was really found!

What's more gratifying is that this method is very simple and especially suitable for this era.

Without changing the equipment technology level, the wafer manufacturing process can be improved!

The reason why this method has not been widely publicized is because all fabs are using it.The technology everyone is using naturally loses its mystery and interest.

The black under the light refers to this situation.