Rebirth: My 80s

Chapter 876 The "Most Difficult" News
The factory area of ​​"Zhili Optoelectronics" company was decorated with lights and decorations today.

After the company was acquired by Huadian Group, in addition to the original boss, everyone from the management to the workshop workers were happy.

After all, it’s nice to enjoy the shade with a big tree at your back.

The operating conditions of Zhili Optoelectronics in recent years have not been good. Monthly paydays are often delayed, which makes employees distressed and worried.

I'm afraid that the company won't be able to survive and will go bankrupt.

Their company does very little work on the market. In fact, there are no more than five companies in Hong Kong. It is not that easy to find a job.

After the "promise" was given to Huadian Group, I no longer had to worry about it. My monthly salary arrived on time, precisely at three o'clock in the afternoon of the same day.

Everyone in Zhili knows that Huadian Group is the industry of the legendary richest man, and of course, their company is also now.

However, the company has been part of Huadian Group for more than four months. Not to mention ordinary employees, not even the general manager has met the general manager.

Therefore, I feel more or less like being left out...

Chip packaging requires the use of many kinds of materials, such as substrates of various materials, interposers, lead frames, adhesive materials, etc.

"What we currently lack is mainly in the substrate area. Different chips often need to be matched with different substrates. There are too many categories. High-end substrates require a lot of pressure to develop."

He replied: "Chairman, please give me some time. I need to have a meeting with the people in the R&D department to discuss, set your instructions into strategic goals, and then make budgets and plans."

There is a strong festive atmosphere in the factory area, which is almost spotless and the employees are full of enthusiasm for work.

Packaging is an indispensable part of the chip manufacturing process, the last end.

"What is the 83%? What is the situation of the other 17%?" Li Jiankun asked.

Ta-ta-ta-ta!

So young, Ma Huachang thought to himself, even younger than rumored.

It is unimaginable how long this man's brain is and what kind of elite education he has received. He has become the richest man in Hong Kong City at the age of more than 20 years old.

"Are you feeling pressured or do you have no hope?" Li Jiankun asked sideways.

The surprise came suddenly. General Manager Ma Huachang only received notice last night that the big boss would come to work on optical and television inspections today.

"Currently, the company's self-production rate of materials ranks first in Hong Kong and even Southeast Asia. Sales of materials has also become a core profit point of the company."

Zhiji Optoelectronics was one of the companies that he had crossed the red triangle box and must win.

“After so many years of hard work, we have achieved some success.

Go to sleep!
Ma Huachang was the general manager of a large company. He hurriedly mobilized connections, made banners with welcome slogans overnight, and convened a meeting with all managers of the company.

“So since the company was founded, we have paid more attention to the self-research of raw materials.

"I understand."

The sound of leather shoes hitting the self-leveling ground extended from the door of Factory No. 1 to the inside.

His wife asked him why he was going out so late at night. Why didn't he go to bed?

God knows how mixed feelings Ma Huachang felt at that time.

"I want to make 100% of my own packaging materials. How much money do you need and how long will it take?" Li Jiankun stopped and stared at him.

After the chip is packaged, it can be supplied to the market.

Li Jiankun waved his hand to interrupt him: "I didn't let you become fat in one bite. What I mean is that all packaging materials suitable for the mainstream chips in the current market will be self-owned.

The latter took a step forward and introduced it in detail.

Ma Huachang followed Vice President Wu of the head office, but his eyes always fell on the leader, paying careful attention to the changes in his expression.

It is rumored that he has a net worth of hundreds of billions.

It is equivalent to putting a shell on the chip.

Ma Huachang hurriedly replied: "83%. Our core business is chip packaging, which belongs to the category of OEM. If materials are purchased on a large scale, the profit will be quite limited. To put it bluntly, we can only earn a labor fee.

Only then did we create such a situation——

“If we can’t reach this point, there’s no point in going global and becoming a leader in the industry.”

"How high can the company's self-production rate in packaging materials be?" Li Jiankun looked around and asked seemingly casually.

Ma Huachang didn't dare to look at her, and hunched over, unable to analyze what the words meant, so he could only tell the truth:

"This..." Ma Huachang scratched his head and said, "Chips around the world are constantly being updated and iterated, we..."

Probably it can only be described as genius.

This team of more than ten people also stopped at the same time.

The original Baotong Company's chip packaging business was contracted to them, so he knew about this company a long time ago.

Breathtaking numbers.

"People in the R&D department are still confident, as long as... there is sufficient financial support."

Wu Bolong stepped aside and motioned for Ma Huachang to come closer and report. This issue was obviously not something that could be explained clearly in a few sentences.

The acquisition was not in vain, Li Jiankun was happy but didn't show it.

Ma Huachang sighed secretly, this goal was quite realistic.

Li Jiankun nodded slightly.

Judging from the tone, Zhiji Optoelectronics is capable of realizing all self-owned mainstream chip packaging materials.

This is undoubtedly good news.

Solved the problem of chip back-end packaging.

Although packaging materials are not considered core materials in the entire chip manufacturing process.

……

……

These days, Li Jiankun is either inspecting the company or on his way to inspect the company.

Scattering a lot of money will certainly have an effect.

He has acquired almost all companies in the chip field in Hong Kong - if there are similar duplications, he will choose the stronger ones for acquisition.

This type of technology-based companies used to be basically in the hands of British-funded consortiums.

And each company has more or less the skills to make a living.

For example, the "Tonghui Film" company he came to today. Tonghui Film was founded in the 1950s. In the past, it mainly produced various types of camera film and video tapes. In the 1970s, it kept pace with the times and created a new department - the film department.

R&D and manufacturing of photomasks.

This thing is one of the core materials for chip manufacturing!

Normally, the first step in manufacturing a chip is photolithography, which is printing the circuit pattern onto the wafer.

Before photolithography, you need to prepare a mask, which is a photomask based on a pre-designed circuit diagram. The photomask is similar to a negative. After the special light source of the photolithography machine passes through the photomask and then through the photoresist, the circuit diagram can be printed on the wafer.

After acquiring Tonghui Film Company, Li Jiankun was only responsible for the film plate department.

Of course, if there is no such department, just from the perspective of making money, this company can also be bought.

The mainland market is currently in great demand for new things like color film, and this company has very solid technology in this area, otherwise it would not have the confidence to develop photomasks.

Now, Li Jiankun is wearing a white coat and is in a pure white laboratory.

The hand wearing gloves of the same color held a pair of tweezers, with a film-like object the size of a fingernail held on the tip.

This is a photomask.

It looks unremarkable, just like ordinary film.

But the manufacturing difficulty is quite high.

In the 2020s before Li Jiankun was reborn, more than 70% of the global photomask market was still in the hands of American, Japanese and Korean companies.

With this technology in hand, coupled with the photolithography machine, the first step of the chip manufacturing process is half completed——

Still missing some photoresist.

However, now there is a problem...

"Can Tonghui's level of manufacturing photomasks reach the second level?" He asked sideways, with seven or eight white coats waiting next to him.

A person nearby smiled coquettishly. Naturally, he did not dare to brag in front of this person: "It can only reach the third gear."

Li Jiankun's joyful mood dimmed a lot.

In other words, it cannot even reach the third level.

You can do it, but you can only do the worst...

Coincidentally, this is not the first similar situation Li Jiankun has encountered.

Yesterday he went to inspect a chemical supplies factory capable of producing wet electronic chemicals.

The company is not small, and this type of wet electronic chemicals is widely used in the semiconductor market.

Whether it is photolithography chips or etched circuit boards, the wafers must be rinsed repeatedly during the manufacturing process, which requires the use of wet electronic chemicals.

There are many types, such as etching solution, developer, polar solution, hydrofluoric acid, sulfuric acid, hydrogen peroxide, isopropyl alcohol, etc.

The same goes for this chemical supplies factory now owned by Huadian.

It can produce a lot of wet electronic chemicals and sell them pretty well, but they are all the worst kind and can be called inferior.

On high-end chips, it is basically unusable...

"We are trying every means to improve our technical level and take the manufacturing and production of high-end photomasks as a strategic development goal. The head office wants money, recruitment, and full support. I have only one request:
“In the shortest possible time, improve your technical level!”

Several senior executives accompanying Tonghui Company hurriedly responded.

Just sharpen your head and delve into it. What else can you do? This person has spoken personally...

Li Jiankun sighed secretly. Just as he thought, after acquiring and integrating these companies, he could indeed produce some chip manufacturing materials.

However, the technology is not up to par.

The ones that come out are all very poor.

These companies still need to develop vigorously and spend money like a bottomless pit...

He could only comfort himself in this way:

1. Whether the quality is good or not, at least there are a lot of materials available.

2. For many materials, at least there is a foundation for research and development, so that they are not like a headless fly.

When leaving Tonghui Film Company, Wu Bolong, the vice president of Huadian Group, saw that the big boss was depressed, and thought to himself:
"Chairman, we are currently negotiating to acquire a company. If we successfully acquire it, we will be able to obtain a key material for chip manufacturing that is above the standard."

"Oh? What?" Li Jiankun asked.

"Photoresist."

Li Jiankun: "!!!"

He perked up instantly.

Among the core materials for chip manufacturing, photoresist is definitely a difficult research and development problem, perhaps the only one.

For example, the Special Administrative Region Huadian Research Institute has no clue about this.

As for materials such as wet electronic chemicals, Huadian Research Institute actually also conducts research.

Photoresist sounds like a kind of glue, but in fact it is almost the same.

It is an organic compound that is in liquid form. It is coated on the surface of the wafer. After being exposed to ultraviolet light, its solubility in the developing solution will change, and then it dries into a film that can transfer the pattern on the photomask. onto the silicon wafer.

The difficulty with this thing is that the ingredients are extremely complex and the manufacturing process is difficult to master.

The main components of photoresist are: polymer resin, color paste, monomer, photoinitiator, solvent and additives.

The question is what solvent and what additives are all a mystery.

It's useless to understand these, you have to know the detailed ratio.

There are many technical problems involved in development, including oligomer structure design and screening, synthesis process determination and optimization, active monomer screening and control, color paste fineness control and stability, product formula design and optimization, product production process Adjustments will be made in terms of optimization and stability, final use condition matching and tolerance adjustment...

Obscure or not?
This is what the boss of the institute told Li Jiankun.

However, even if you know how this thing was made, you still can't carry out effective research without having specific information.

"Which company?" he asked with green eyes.

"Star Port Formation." Wu Bolong replied.

"Get it at all costs!"

(End of this chapter)