From a university student to a chief academician

Chapter 231 Lithography Machine Research Success

Move forward in time by three months!
Xiaxin International, conference room!

Qu Guangfu is currently having a meeting with all the directors.

The entire conference room was filled with a dignified atmosphere, and everyone had worried expressions on their faces.

Qu Guangfu was the first to break the silence and said, "Mr. Yang, come and report the situation."

A middle-aged man said, "Okay."

After finishing speaking, he opened the folder in front of him and said, "As we all know, since the end of last year, ASML has invested in several chip manufacturing companies in Xiaguo."

"After several months of development, these chip manufacturing companies have been able to mass-produce 14nm chips on a small scale."

"Recently, ASML, together with TSMC, restricted the sales of 14nm chips to Xiaguo, reducing sales by a quarter."

Don't underestimate a quarter, because Xia Guo's chip demand is very large.

So, reducing by a quarter is a lot.

"ASML then switched hands and sold low-end lithography machines to Xia Guo at a large price cut."

"But these lithography machines are sold selectively, and only sold to our company's rival companies."

"So, this leads to very cheap prices for 22nm, 28nm, 40nm, 65nm and 90nm chips on the market."

"The price of 14nm chips has also increased."

When everyone heard this, they felt heavy in their hearts.

ASML played this hand very beautifully.

Attack Xiaxin International in many ways.

[-]. Sponsor Xiaxin International's rival company.

[-]. Let these rival companies manufacture low-end chips, causing the price of low-end chips in Xia Kingdom to be greatly reduced.

Xiaxin International's market is mostly low-end chips.

Moreover, the best chips made by Xiaxin International are 14nm chips.

It's just that compared with TSMC, the quality is only 90% of TSMC's performance.

The output is not as good as TSMC.

As for 12nm chips, they can't be manufactured yet.

14. Restricting the sales of 14nm chips to Xiaguo, resulting in a higher price of [-]nm chips.

However, due to the company invested by ASML, it can mass-produce 14nm chips on a small scale.

Therefore, the price of 14nm chips in the market has increased, and these companies can manufacture 14nm chips.

As a result, these companies' 14nm chips are in short supply.

However, the situation of Xiaxin International is very worrying.

Originally, Xiaxin International could manufacture 14nm chips.

Now, many domestic companies can manufacture 14nm chips.

The advantage of Xiaxin International is gone in an instant.

And everyone knows that the reason why ASML did this is because Ye Fei developed a carbon-based chip lithography machine.

This makes ASML feel the crisis.

If Ye Fei does not develop a carbon-based chip lithography machine.

Well, ASML won't do that either.

A director suggested: "Mr. Qu, why don't you ask Academician Ye to stop the research for a while!"

Qu Guangfu looked at the director who spoke, and glared, "Are you confused? How can Academician Ye's research stop?"

The director said in embarrassment: "But... if Academician Ye Fei's research doesn't stop, ASML will trap us to death. Look at how much our company's market value has dropped in the past half a year?"

"In just half a year, our company's market value has dropped by tens of billions."

"It's only been half a year. Who knows when Academician Ye will be able to develop a carbon-based chip."

"If he can't develop it in ten years."

"How much will our company lose?"

"ASML and TSMC can afford it, can we afford it?"

Some directors nodded slightly when they heard what the director said.

Indeed, both ASML and TSMC can afford it, but their company can't afford it.

"Even, those domestic chip manufacturing companies, with the help of ASML, will quickly catch up with us in chip manufacturing technology, and maybe even surpass us."

"At that time, our company will no longer be the leading company in chip manufacturing in Xia Country."

Everyone was shocked, the director was right!
All the directors looked at Qu Guangfu, wanting to see how Qu Guangfu would make a decision.

Qu Guangfu was very embarrassed. He didn't want the company's market value to decrease, and he didn't want the company to be the leading company in Xiaguo's chip manufacturing.

But he didn't want Ye Fei to stop his research.

His original intention is very simple, that is to let Xia Guo have its own chips, be able to manufacture high-end chips, and no longer rely on foreign imported chips.

However, he is the chairman of the company, and he is responsible for the company and the interests of the directors.

All the directors watched Qu Guangfu without speaking for a long time, and some directors urged: "Director Qu, you can't wait any longer. If you have a hard time talking to Academician Ye, I will go and talk to Academician Ye. I think he will understand our difficulties. .”

"That's right, Director Qu, we can't wait any longer, or we'll all be finished."

"Director Qu, you should start from the interests of the company!"

"Director Qu..."

Qu Guangfu's head was muddled, and his heart was very tangled.

There seemed to be two villains in his mind.

A villain said to stop Ye Fei's research, so that ASML would not kill Xiaxin International, and Xiaxin International would still be the leading company in chip manufacturing in Xiaguo.

A villain said that he would not stop Ye Fei's research, although it would cause Xiaxin International a lot of losses for the time being.

But if Ye Fei develops a chip, Xiaxin International will take off completely, which will also be of great benefit to Xia Guo.

"Okay!" Qu Guangfu waved his hands and scolded.

All the directors shut up instantly.

Qu Guangfu glanced at everyone, and said coldly: "I decided not to stop the research of Academician Ye, and continue to study the chip."

"Although it will cause a lot of losses to the company, we must take a long-term view and not only focus on immediate interests, but not consider the future."

"What is a temporary loss?"

"If we can manufacture 12nm chips, the temporary loss will be earned back in the future."

"Maybe this time will be very long, five years, ten years."

"Or, never see."

"However, please believe in me, in Academician Ye, we will definitely succeed."

"I hope you will join me and be willing to make this bet."

"As long as we succeed, our company will not only be a leading chip manufacturing company, but also become the world's top chip manufacturing company."

"At that time, the market value of the company will grow exponentially."

"Of course, if you don't want to make this bet, you can leave, and I will buy your shares at the market price."

Hearing Qu Guangfu's words, the eyes of many directors flickered.

Obviously, they didn't want to make this bet with Qu Guangfu.

Although, Qu Guangfu's vision of the future is very good.

But everything is ahead of time because Ye Fei can develop the chip.

If it can't be developed, Qu Guangfu is drawing a big cake.

However, is the 12nm chip so easy to develop?

If the research and development is so good, Xia Guo has spent a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources in the past few decades, and it will not be unable to develop it so far.

After a long time, after the meeting, Qu Guangfu returned to the office with a tired face.

The siege of the directors at the meeting exhausted Qu Guangfu physically and mentally.

In the next three months, because of ASML's attack on Xiaxin International, the market value of Xiaxin International fell rapidly.

Many directors couldn't bear this situation and sold their shares. Xiaxin International bought their shares at market price.

The outside world is full of opinions on Xiaxin International.

Seeing Xiaxin International's stock, many stockholders stayed away as if they were disgusted with stinky shit.

On this day, Qu Guangfu came back from the conference room. The remaining directors of the company are all those who are willing to bet on the future with him.

Qu Guangfu walked into the office with a tired face, and sat down on the sofa.

Qu Guangfu said: "The chip manufacturing company invested by ASML has expanded the scale of manufacturing 14nm chips, and the price of 14nm chips on the market is a little lower than three months ago."

“However, for every penny they scale up in chip manufacturing, our company’s market value decreases.”

"Hey……"

At this time, Qu Guangfu's cell phone rang.

Qu Guangfu weakly took out the phone from his pocket and glanced at it.

"Huh?" Qu Guangfu asked suspiciously, "It's the office of the chip research institute."

After speaking, he connected the phone.

"Hi, I'm Qu Guangfu!"

"Director Qu!" Assistant Ye Fei said excitedly, "Our 12nm chip analog lithography machine has been successfully developed."

"The development is successful!" Qu Guangfu said.

As soon as he finished speaking, Qu Guangfu was stunned. He quickly sat up straight and said loudly, "Say it again."

"Our 12nm chip analog lithography machine has been successfully developed."

Qu Guangfu widened his eyes excitedly, and said, "Say it again."

"Mr. Qu, our 12nm chip analog lithography machine has been successfully developed!"

Qu Guangfu listened to his heart pounding like a drum.

His breathing became heavy, and he said, "You wait for me, I'll come right away."

Mr. Qu quickly stood up and walked outside.

The chip research institute is located in the suburbs of Modu, and it takes an hour to drive there from Xiaxin International.

However, Qu Guangfu asked the driver to speed up, and the car arrived in 10 minutes.

As soon as the car stopped, Qu Guangfu opened the door and got out of the car.

He trotted all the way to the lithography machine research institute.

The assistant behind him also followed him with a bag.

At the gate of the institute, Ye Fei's assistant greeted him.

Qu Guangfu said: "Take me to see Academician Ye."

"Okay, follow me." The assistant said.

Soon, they entered the laboratory.

Ye Fei is currently having a meeting with the researchers.

Ye Feidao: "The simulation research has been completed, and the next step is to manufacture the lithography machine."

Everyone nodded, they were very excited.

The simulation research has been completed. As long as there are no uncontrollable factors, the lithography machine manufacturing should be fine.

Simulation research is like researching the blueprints made by machines, and then manufacturing lithography machines is based on the blueprints.

"Academician Ye!" At this moment, Qu Guangfu opened the door and entered.

Behind him, Ye Fei's assistant and Qu Guangfu's assistant followed.

Qu Guangfu walked towards Ye Fei quickly, and said nervously, "Is the analog lithography machine really successfully developed?"

Before witnessing it with his own eyes, Qu Guangfu did not believe what Assistant Ye Fei said.

Ye Fei nodded and said, "It's true."

"Is it a 12nm chip carbon-based lithography machine?"

"Yes!"

Qu Guangfu said excitedly, "Let me see."

"it is good!"

After Ye Fei finished speaking, he turned on the computer next to him, and there was a simulated lithography machine on it.

Qu Guangfu saw the simulated lithography machine on the computer screen, his eyes trembled, and his heart and hands trembled.

"Hahaha..." He laughed excitedly: "Successful, successful."

Qu Guangfu turned around, held Ye Fei's hand with both hands, quickly shook it up and down, and said excitedly: "Academician Ye, I don't know what to say now, thank you, thank you very much, thank you very much."

Ye Fei smiled and said, "This is what I should do."

It took a long time for Qu Guangfu to calm down.

But there was still a smile on the corner of his mouth.

Qu Guangfu asked, "When will the lithography machine be manufactured?"

Ye Feidao: "I'm about to send someone to purchase parts, and manufacture them as soon as they are in place."

Qu Guangfu said seriously: "Are any of these parts difficult to purchase? If it is difficult, I will definitely help."

The reason why Xia Guo could not manufacture a lithography machine was due to technical problems, and second, some parts could not be produced by machines, but could only be produced by hand.

However, the number of parts produced by hand is limited after all.

However, these parts can be manufactured by machines abroad.

Seeing Qu Guangfu's serious look, Ye Fei knew what Qu Guangfu was thinking.

Ye Fei smiled and said: "Don't worry, remember what I said at the time, the lithography machine I developed must be completely domestically produced and independent."

"Since it is completely domestically produced and independent, no matter whether it is technology or parts, it is independently owned by Xia Guo, and no foreign technology or parts are mixed."

"These parts can be produced by machines in our country."

Hearing this, Qu Guangfu breathed a sigh of relief.

If Xia Guo cannot produce it with machines, then the parts can only be imported from foreign countries.

But in this way, if foreign countries do not sell it to Xiaxin International, the lithography machine cannot be manufactured.

One month later!
Ye Fei, Qu Guangfu, researchers from the Lithography Research Institute and directors of Xiaxin International.

Come to the lithography machine research institute to watch the lithography machine developed by Ye Fei.

The whole body of the lithography machine is white, with a length, width and height of 2.5 meters.

The photolithography machine is placed in a sterile laboratory, and all researchers work in protective clothing.

Ye Fei and the others could only watch the situation inside through the glass.

At the moment, there are five researchers in the sterile laboratory.

Ye Fei said through the microphone, "Turn on the power and start working!"

After the words fell, the researchers in the sterile laboratory started to start the lithography machine.

Soon, the lithography machine was powered on and started working.

Everyone watched nervously.

"Laser activated!"

"Light source activated!"

"Beam transmission started!"

"Excited about the projection lens!"

"Wafer transfer system starts!"

"The mask table is activated!"

"Scan wafer stage started!"

The graphene sheet is placed on the scanning wafer stage, and the graphene sheet is made of graphene and carbon nanotubes.

When the projection lens touches the graphene sheet, a burst of laser light flashes.

In the blink of an eye, a 12nm chip the size of a fingernail was manufactured.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the chip was manufactured.

However, this tone has not been completely let go.

After all, chips are nothing when they are manufactured.

Only when high-quality chips are manufactured, they can rest assured.

Ye Fei said into the microphone: "Chip parameter test!"

Soon, the researcher carefully took the chip to test.

After a while, the parameter test results came out.

A researcher printed out the test results and handed them to Ye Fei.

Ye Fei took the parameter list, checked it, and said with a smile: "Very good!"

After speaking, he handed the parameter list to Qu Guangfu. Qu Guangfu stared at the parameter list carefully, not letting go of any numbers or words.

Qu Guangfu exclaimed: "I heard a long time ago that the performance of carbon-based chips is much stronger than that of silicon-based chips. It's true!"

Ye Fei shook his head and smiled lightly: "Fortunately, it's just ten times stronger, and there is still a lot of room for improvement."

The performance of carbon-based chips is theoretically a thousand times stronger than that of silicon-based chips.

However, the performance of the carbon-based chips developed by Ye Fei and the others is only ten times higher, and the carbon-based chips still have room for improvement by 990 times.

This is also the main research and development area of ​​Ye Fei and the others in the future, striving to increase the performance of carbon-based chips by a thousand times.

Qu Guangfu said: "This is already very good. It is also a 12nm chip, and its performance is ten times stronger than that of a silicon-based chip."

On silicon-based chips, 7nm chips are much stronger than 12nm chips.

But also very limited.

The performance of 7nm chips is 12% higher than that of 10nm chips, and the power consumption is reduced by 20%.

"Also, because the chip is made of graphene, it consumes ten times less power than a silicon-based chip."

"I can say that the 12nm chip of the carbon-based chip is much stronger than the 5nm chip."

"Now, carbon-based chips can be used not only in computers, automobiles, artificial intelligence, but also in mobile phones."

"Yeah!" Ye Fei nodded with a smile, "Yes."

Qu Guangfu looked at the people around him and asked with a smile, "How is it? I said that Academician Ye will definitely be able to develop a chip, so he must be able to develop it. You believe me to be right."

Everyone laughed and said: "Director Qu, you still have vision, we are not as good as you."

They were very excited, they made the right bet, and it was hard for Xiaxin International not to think about taking off.

And, it may become the world's largest chip manufacturing company.

After all, the performance of carbon-based chips is much stronger than that of silicon-based chips.

If carbon-based chips are put on the market, they will be snapped up frantically.

Qu Guangfu laughed and said, "Stop flattering me."

Qu Guangfu looked at Ye Fei and said, "Academician Ye, mass production of chips should be no problem!"

Ye Feidao: "As long as the lithography machines are mass-produced and the production chain is complete, chips can be mass-produced."

Qu Guangfu said: "In the next period of time, we will try our best to manufacture a large number of lithography machines, and strive to put a large number of carbon-based chips on the market within three years, at least to meet Xia Guo's demand for chips."

"En!" Everyone nodded.

叶非道：“除了12nm芯片，还可以制造出22nm、28nm、40nm、65nm和90nm芯片。”

"Carbon-based chips can completely replace silicon-based chips."

Qu Guangfu nodded and said, "That's right!"

Qu Guangfu laughed again: "But in this way, many chip manufacturing companies will be in a hurry."

If you think about it, you can know that carbon-based chips with the same nanometer are ten times stronger in performance and ten times lower in power consumption than silicon-based chips.

14nm carbon-based chips are better than 5nm silicon-based chips.

Similarly, 22nm carbon-based chips are better than 14nm silicon-based chips.

Ye Fei said with a smile: "Our country can mass-produce high-purity graphene and carbon nanotubes, and now we have photolithography machines, as long as energy is produced."

"We have opened up the upstream, midstream and downstream of chips to form a self-sufficient chip industry chain."

"So, in theory, we'll be able to manufacture chips at a lower cost."

Everyone was amazed that two-thirds of the chip industry chain was opened up by Ye Fei by himself.

The upstream is materials, which are developed by Ye Fei.

The midstream is manufacturing, which is also developed by Ye Fei.

Downstream is application, which requires the power of people all over the world to apply chips.

Everyone had to admire in their hearts, Ye Fei is really amazing.

Ye Feidao: "Also, the manufacturing cost of carbon-based chips is much lower than that of silicon-based chips."

"So, Xiaxin International can sell at the same or slightly higher price than silicon-based chips and nanochips."

"However, I hope that it can be sold at a low price in the Xiaguo market."

"Of course." Qu Guangfu smiled and said, "Academician Ye, if there is no problem, you can report the news."

Ye Fei said: "Report it!"

(End of this chapter)