Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 423 The Philosophy of Science

After the group of visitors came out of the electrical engineering laboratory, the decorations for New Year's Eve outside were basically completed.

Besides the various places being decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, the area around Root Pond is the most festive.

A dozen or so plastic lanterns floated in the pool, and tables and chairs were set up all around, including several indoor terraces and a water bar nearby.

Several television sets were set up at various angles, ready to broadcast the New Year's Eve gala later.

Tonight's attendees included over a hundred of the 150 full-time employees of the research institute (some of whom would choose to spend time with family or make other plans), as well as expatriate members from various mobile phone manufacturers who joined in the fun. The food was served as a buffet, filling more than a dozen tables.

By this time, many people were already listening to the water from the small platform on the second floor or by the pool, creating quite a lively scene.

Seeing such a comfortable environment, Qian Xuesen smiled with satisfaction.

He never considered "suffering" as something he should do. His generation had suffered enough "suffering" so that they could see their descendants enjoy "sweetness" in the future.

It would be a joke if, after generations of hard work, people were still starving in the Gobi Desert.

"Is the teacher tired?"

"Fortunately."

"Then I'll take you to see one last thing, and then we can get some rest and wait for the New Year!"

As he spoke, Zhai Da pushed Old Qian towards the cleanroom in the farthest corner.

We won't give the teachers cleanroom suits; at most, we'll wipe down their wheelchairs. Since fewer people go in, it shouldn't be a big problem.

He was wearing a full cleanroom suit, and with a stomp of his foot, the positive pressure valve slowly opened.

"Sizzle".
With a soothing voice, the gradually upgraded laboratory was revealed to the teacher.

It was completely different from when Lu Qinjian came a month ago. At that time, the entire laboratory only had some loose parts placed in the center. In terms of "silicon carbide vapor deposition CVD", the completion rate was no more than 30%.

However, in the past month or so, especially in the period before exam week, with the help of the [Slow Time Cube (Pseudo)], Zhai Da has been practicing telekinesis while assembling the cube, and his progress has been rapid.

He no longer worries about the procurement of individual key components during mass production, as these issues can be addressed by discussing the requirements with suppliers after reverse engineering is completed and the technology is finalized.

He began to completely solve the first problem with external tools. For example, a gas spray component with a special coating was not available nationwide and its metal material was also uncommon. He directly purchased a batch of alloy ingots from overseas, used CNC machining to produce blanks, then hand-polished them, and finally put them into a metal sputtering equipment for coating.

The outer shell of the reaction chamber also uses a similar technique, with a precision that even exceeds that of the mass-produced version of TEL's original equipment.

If we can do it, we will do it; if we can't, we will optimize and modify the plan. Currently, the equipment assembly progress is approaching 80%, and it will soon enter the debugging stage.

For high-precision instruments, debugging requires a level of technical skill that is no easier than assembling a complete set of hardware, and it also needs to be coordinated with the software.

Teacher Zhai Dawei introduced the equipment, especially the reverse engineering approach and the differences between domestic and foreign technologies.

“CVD is an important part of silicon carbide semiconductors. In many processes, self-sufficiency in this part can save more than 20% of the cost. However, the largest cost item is still the substrate, which accounts for 40% of the cost. My ultimate hope is to reduce the cost of silicon carbide semiconductors to 10-15% of the current cost.”

This also means that related industries overseas will be devastated.

Sometimes the media misuses the term "rolling" in industry; it's not something that ordinary people understand as "exploiting employees," especially in high-end manufacturing, where technological innovation and self-reliance are the key.

"Perhaps there isn't enough market momentum yet. Companies running on this path globally are somewhat complacent. After all, compared to technological progress, technological blockade is easier and can still make money. For example, it seems that schools were badly let down by TEL's prototype."

In fact, if we go back more than a decade or so to the era when silicon carbide was widely used, which Zhai Da was familiar with, Japan had already lost its leading position in the field of silicon carbide.

Just like many other industries they run.

Because of its small size, the region can only rely on foreign markets and resources, but unfortunately, neither of these markets is easy to navigate.

China and Japan have a long-standing feud, and Japan itself is also quite conflicted.

Amei was even more violent, treating Chun Chun like a blood bag and sucking it.

Qian Lao didn't comment on these things. Instead, after pondering for a moment, he said, "If we follow the specifications of a 'single-piece reaction chamber,' wouldn't the efficiency be a bit too low?"

Zhai Da was taken aback: "Uh, if we enlarge the cavity, for example, with simultaneous deposition on two trays, the cavity volume will be larger, and the turbulence problem of the gas system will be more complex, affecting uniformity." Although starting with zero frames is a technical issue, he answered quickly.

The teacher shook his head and said, "While turbulence is difficult to predict, it can be intervened. Instead of giving up on efficiency improvements simply because of turbulence issues, we should think about how to solve the ultimate goal."

"For example, while expanding the cavity, reducing the length-to-diameter ratio can effectively reduce the vortex region. At the same time, installing a honeycomb structure baffle at the gas inlet can further break up the large vortex."

Zhai Da's eyes lit up.

"Furthermore, looking beyond the surface, the impact of turbulence on you lies in uniformity. If there are other measures to compensate, it is not unbearable. I have two ideas: one is to use infrared array heating, which can improve temperature uniformity and thus compensate for deposition uniformity; the other is high-frequency switching of air valves, which can also avoid vortices caused by continuous airflow. Silicon carbide power devices should be able to do this easily."

The teacher is a master of mechanics, especially in gas mechanics and thermodynamics, where he is a pioneer.

Instead of following Zhai Da's line of thought, the old man directly proposed several completely new perspectives.

Old Qian patted Zhai Da's hand and said earnestly:
"Xiao Zhai, when dealing with complex matters, you must grasp the overall picture. Some things may seem harmful and useless, but if you put them in the context of the whole and pay attention to their interactions, you can make different discoveries."

"This kind of thinking will not break through the rigid framework of science, but it is of great help to the process of human beings changing nature. It can help a person gain support across disciplines, fields, and even eras."

"In my view, science is already very advanced, but humanity's ability to use known scientific knowledge to solve problems is not advanced enough. In other words, the utilization rate within existing systems is too low. Take this situation, for example. Don't wait for someone to unravel the mystery of turbulence; instead, treat it as a part of a whole. You might find that what limits you is not a principle of a particular natural science, but the lack of scientific thinking. This is systems engineering."

The teacher's voice was not loud, but it resonated with Zhai Da like a great bell.

All I can say is that a teacher is indeed a teacher. Even though he has been away from the front line for decades, his wisdom is not only about breakthroughs in a certain cutting-edge field, but also about a more fundamental way of thinking.

Perhaps in the eyes of a teacher, all science in the world is a "systems project".

Mr. Qian smiled and asked, "Did it inspire you?"

Zhai Da nodded: "It's very significant. If we explore according to your ideas, we might be able to find a completely different path."

If the dual-substrate reaction chamber problem can be solved, then how far away is the "triple-substrate" problem?

Furthermore, once the volume of the reaction chamber increases to a certain extent, the effects of turbulence and other factors begin to have marginal utility, so what's the point of continuing to increase it?

The larger the reaction chamber, the more "space" there is to work with, until another boundary of limitation is reached.
It is not impossible to go directly from single-layer deposition to batch deposition.

However, what benefited Zhai Da the most was the teacher's "systems thinking approach".

"To my shame, I had read your book 'On Systems Engineering' before, but I probably didn't fully grasp its meaning and have unconsciously forgotten how to apply it."

"This is normal. 'Systems Engineering' is one of my favorite achievements, but the information conveyed by real life is always specific and singular, pulling people to forget to think more comprehensively. It is more abstract than my earlier 'Engineering Cybernetics,' so it includes me as well. I need to remind myself from time to time."

Zhai Da said earnestly, "I'll find it again and read it once more."

Professor Qian laughed and said, "No need to look for it. I brought you a copy. As your teacher, I also prepared a gift for you. I guessed that you would encounter this kind of confusion because you are leading the entire research institute and doing many complicated things."

Zhai Da was taken aback: "You brought it?"

"Congratulations, host. A special blue item has been discovered: [On Systems Engineering (Handwritten Manuscript) (Revised and Annotated by the Author)]: This is the field of research he devoted himself to most diligently in his later years, the one he cared about most deeply, and the one he achieved the most. It is also one of the results he valued and was most satisfied with. As a science of thought, it possesses the quality of not being eliminated by the times."

Ownership: Owned, Activated.

"Equipment Effect 1: The wearer can greatly increase their ability to analyze, understand and coordinate complex problems, and can more easily discover key points in complex systems as if by instinct."

"Equipment Effect 2: Manuscript-type equipment of various disciplines can be fused with it to increase the wearer's learning and comprehension abilities in the corresponding field. The rarity must be lower than blue. After fusion, the original equipment content will not be reflected, but the effect will be inherited and enhanced (try to collect all disciplines, you may have unexpected changes)."

"Special Effects → Crowd as System: Equipment effects 1 and 2 are reduced by 80%, but are changed to a group bonus with no range limit. It only determines whether the user belongs to the same faction as the owner. It can be manually turned off to restore the original single-person bonus."

"Unlocking Mission: Lead others to complete 10 complex system tasks (1/10)."

"Note 1: You may have noticed that the strength of special effects is closely related to whether you are standing among the crowd or above them, and how many people you can unite."

"Note 2: Combining his scientific literacy and wisdom with Marxist philosophy gave him a completely new perspective on things, which is both an epistemology and a methodology, and is the 'philosophy of science'."

(End of this chapter)