Sail across the sea

Chapter 411 How did you get this formula?

"Chief Engineer Yun, have we applied for a patent for the photoresist technology we developed?" Gao Fan asked.

Yun Zhongming shook his head and said, "No."

"Why don't you apply?" Gao Fan asked.

Yun Zhongming said, "There are two reasons for this. First, we are a military industry department, and the technologies we have developed in the past have been used internally, so we don't have the habit of applying for patents. Second, applying for a patent means disclosing the technical details. If others know your technical details, it's easy for them to find a way to circumvent your patent, isn't it?"

"But if you license your technology to Moriya, wouldn't they directly obtain your technical details?"

"We had already received the technology transfer fee by then, so even if they had the technical details, we didn't care."

"If they use these technical details to apply for patents, you'll have to pay them patent fees when you start production. Have you thought about that?"

“Isn’t that a bit much?” Bi Liansheng interjected.

"Why not? Is it because they're kind-hearted?" Gao Fan asked with a smile, he was so angry at Bi Liansheng that he laughed.

Bi Liansheng said, "After all, we developed this technology. They bought it from us and are now trying to charge us again. That's just unreasonable."

"If you have 100 million yuan in patent licensing fees a year, do you think the other party would choose to accept the money or choose to reason with you?"

"That's impossible. How could there be a million in patent licensing fees in a year? All the photoresist we produce in a year isn't even worth that much."

"I understand……"

Gao Fan slapped his forehead; he didn't know how to talk to these two.

The photoresist developed by Fenglin is for both military and civilian use. The military portion will be used in military enterprises that produce chips, and Sengu is unlikely to collect patent fees from these enterprises. As for the civilian portion, in Bi Liansheng's humble opinion, it's only worth three to five tons, which isn't worth much money, so collecting patent fees is even less worthwhile. I believe Sengu wouldn't bother with that.

Ultimately, it's because Fenglin Institute had no business acumen whatsoever. They were eager to sell their technology as soon as someone offered 1 million yen, equivalent to 160 million RMB.

"Listen to me on this matter. Arrange for someone to apply for a patent immediately. There are specialized patent agencies in the country that can process patent applications in Europe, America, and Japan simultaneously. Once you've obtained the patent, it's not too late to negotiate with Moriya." Gao Fan was too lazy to reason with these two and made his request directly.

Bi Liansheng remained silent, only glancing at Yun Zhongming. Yun Zhongming coughed lightly and said, "This matter still depends on the institute's opinion. I estimate that the institute probably doesn't approve of doing this."

Gao Fan chuckled and said, "If that's the case, then I might have to offend Fenglin Police Station."

"What do you mean?" Yun Zhongming asked in surprise. Gao Fan said, "Since Fenglin Institute doesn't want to apply for the patent, then I will apply for it. Once I get the patent approved, the negotiations between Fenglin Institute and Sengu can end. Because this technology no longer belongs to Fenglin Institute, if Sengu wants to obtain this technology, it can only negotiate with me."

Bi Liansheng's expression changed drastically. He asked, "We don't agree. On what grounds do you apply for a patent? Applying for a patent requires complete technical data. Do you think they will agree to it if you apply out of thin air?"

Gao Fan casually picked up a pencil from Yun Zhongming's desk, tore off a piece of letter paper, scribbled a few molecular formulas on it, handed it to Bi Liansheng, and said, "Director Bi, is this the complete technical data you mentioned?"

Bi Liansheng glanced at it and was stunned. The paper clearly showed the main components of the photoresist they had developed, especially several key additives, which were exactly the same as the formula in their laboratory.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, he turned and glared at Gao Fan, asking sharply, "Gao Fan, how did you get this formula? Did Xu Yun tell you?"

“Xu Yun doesn’t know this recipe either,” Gao Fan said with a shrug.

What Xu Yun initially provided to Lab 08 was only the research ideas; the specific formula was determined through experimentation. At that time, Xu Yun had already returned to school to attend classes and did not participate in the subsequent research and development, so he did not have complete technical details.

Gao Fan was able to write down the formula because he had already implicitly included the idea of ​​raw material selection in his explanation of the technical secrets to Xu Yun. He believed that as long as Laboratory 08 followed this technical route and produced qualified products, then the formula must be these.

The formulas written by Gao Fan did not involve detailed proportions. The same set of compounds, when combined in different proportions, can produce different effects. Many proportions are reasonable and can be used to meet different work requirements.

Gao Fan didn't know the specific ratio of the photoresist developed by Fenglin, and he didn't want to guess, so he just wrote down a formula that included the names of the compounds. But that was enough to fool Bi Liansheng.

To say it was a bluff wouldn't be entirely true. If Fenglin Institute remained stubborn and refused to accept his advice, Gao Fan wouldn't hesitate to return to Peking University, ask Yang Kai for help, and develop a few complete formulas to claim the patents. That would be better than giving the patents away to the Japanese for nothing.

Yun Zhongming restrained Bi Liansheng, who was about to explode, frowned and thought for a while before asking, "Xiao Gao, why do you insist that we apply for a patent? You have to give us a reason."

Gao Fan let out a long sigh and said, "Chief Engineer Yun, Director Bi, to be honest, it was I who encouraged Xu Yun to develop the i-line and KrF photoresist, and I also provided the main technical ideas. Because I understand this technical approach very well, I was able to guess the final formula."

"I hope that the Fenglin Institute can develop these two types of photoresists so that China can gain an early advantage in the field of photoresists."

"We developed i-line photoresist before Moriya and applied for a patent. Photoresist manufacturers worldwide must pay us patent fees to use this technology. We can also set up a factory ourselves and sell this photoresist to integrated circuit manufacturers worldwide."

"Subsequently, we can use patent revenue and sales revenue to support the research and development of the next generation of photoresists, so that foreign companies such as Moriya will always be able to produce by purchasing our patent licenses."

“Once they get used to using our licenses, their own research and development will be interrupted. After several generations of accumulation, we can become the monopolist of the most cutting-edge photoresist in the world, which will give us more say in the face of international competition.”

(End of this chapter)