Sail across the sea

Chapter 408 Contributing Some Strength

Moriya Co., Ltd. is the world's most famous photoresist manufacturer, holding more than 40% of the international photoresist market share.

i-line photoresist is a next-generation product being developed by Moriya Corporation, and some progress has already been made, with testing underway.

The development of KrF photoresist has also begun, but the progress is a bit slow. After all, the advent of KrF lithography machines may not be until five years later, so Moriya is not in a particular hurry.

Several other international companies are also developing i-line photoresist, with progress roughly the same as Moriya Corporation. Moriya isn't particularly concerned about competition from these companies because their development strategies are similar, and the final products won't differ significantly in performance. Competition mainly depends on the relationships between each company and integrated circuit manufacturers.

Integrated circuit manufacturers will not easily change their photoresist suppliers unless other companies' products have a very clear advantage.

The products we're developing now are considered first-generation products. We need to identify problems in their application and then make improvements and iterations, which is a rather lengthy process.

Quite by chance, engineers from Moriya Corporation came across a report in a Chinese academic journal about the development of new i-line and KrF photoresists by the China Fenglin Research Institute. The article did not disclose technical details such as the chemical composition of the photoresists, but listed several parameters such as solubility, thermal properties, and film-forming properties.

The technicians compared these parameters with the photoresist they were developing and came to the conclusion that either the Chinese were exaggerating, or they had adopted a different research approach that was superior to that of other photoresist manufacturers.

The technical department reported this situation to President Akira Tanihara, who then instructed the marketing department to assess the matter. The marketing department stated that, in accordance with the usual practice of Chinese research institutions, the data disclosed in journals is often exaggerated, for example, presenting a chance result from a particular experiment as a general level, but overall it is still relatively reliable.

The technical department believes that even after removing some of the hype, the achievements of the Chinese are at least no worse than those of Moriya Corporation, and they have definitely used a new approach. If Moriya Corporation can grasp this approach, it may be able to overcome some of the current obstacles and produce products with significantly superior performance compared to its competitors.

Based on this conclusion, the marketing department issued a warning: if the Chinese technology fell into the hands of Moriya's competitors, it could enable them to develop better products, thereby threatening Moriya's traditional market.

After listening to the reports from both departments, Akira Tanihara waved his hand and instructed Fujiki, the deputy director of the marketing department, to go to China to discuss cooperation with the Maple Forest Research Institute, making sure to acquire the technology from the Chinese. The technology department sent a technician named Jiro Iwai to accompany him as Fujiki's technical assistant.

It would have been unimaginable in the past for a Japanese company to collaborate with China's military industry. But now, the possibility of such cooperation has emerged.

Several years ago, the state put forward the requirement to transfer military technology to civilian use. Since last year, the pace of "military-to-civilian" conversion by military enterprises has accelerated sharply. The Ministry of Aerospace also held the first Science and Technology Achievement Exchange and Trade Fair in Pujiang, which was internally called the "Double Fair", exhibiting as many as 1200 military-to-civilian products.

Fujiki and his delegation found the Maple Forest Research Institute through diplomatic channels. The institute was both surprised and delighted to hear that a Japanese company had come to them seeking cooperation. They first arranged for the two Japanese men to stay in the institute's guesthouse, and then urgently consulted the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for approval on whether they could cooperate with the Japanese company.

The State Science and Technology Commission responded that, provided that no secrets are leaked and no security interests are harmed, cooperation with Japanese companies can be carried out, following the domestic policy of converting military equipment to civilian use.

Thus, Fujiki and Jiro Iwai met with Yun Zhongming and Bi Liansheng and proposed to them a collaboration in the field of photoresist research.

What are your terms for cooperation?

Yun Zhongming asked Fujiki.

“We can send technical personnel to help your institute improve its research on i-line and KrF photoresists, and the research results will be jointly owned by both of us,” Fujiki said generously. “However, our i-line and KrF photoresists have already passed technical evaluation. If the information I’ve seen is accurate, our development approach may be more mature than yours. What kind of assistance can you provide us?” Bi Liansheng asked.

Jiro Iwai shook his head and said, "Mr. Bi, if I may be so bold, our Moriya Company is among the world's leading companies in photoresist research and development. The development approach you mentioned is one we tried before, but we found serious flaws in it, so we abandoned it and adopted a better approach instead."

"You're saying our development approach is something you've tried before?"

"Yes."

"Then tell me, what serious flaws exist in our approach?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bi, but we will not provide these technical know-hows before both parties sign a cooperation agreement."

"Then at least you can tell me what your technical approach is, right?"

"If I'm not mistaken, you should have used some kind of linear phenolic resin as the main film-forming resin, and the photosensitizer should be a diazonoquinone compound."

"This shouldn't be hard to guess, right? Isn't the difficulty in figuring out the additives?"

"Regarding additives, we have conducted various experiments, but I cannot go into the details here, I apologize."

"Understandable."

The two technicians deferred to each other, with Jiro Iwai's face showing a calm and even slightly arrogant expression. Bi Liansheng, on the other hand, clearly lacked confidence and could only force a smile.

"I am very grateful for your willingness to help us improve our product. However, I have one question: what benefits do you expect to gain from this?"

Yun Zhongming set aside the technical issues and asked Fujiki Jiefa a question.

"China and Japan are friendly countries, and we are very willing to contribute to China's modernization," said Fujiki.

"Thank you."

Yun Zhongming cursed inwardly, but still smiled and said:
"We appreciate Moriya Corporation's kindness. However, in the process of developing i-line photoresist, we used some technologies that are still classified within our system, and these technologies are not suitable for disclosure to outsiders."

"Therefore, although we very much hope to have an opportunity to learn from the experts at Moriya Company, we can only express our regret regarding the development of i-line photoresist and KrF photoresist."

(End of this chapter)