Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 428 Returning to Dongyang
This year's Spring Festival is on January 14th, which is very close to Lunar New Year's Eve. However, after his teacher left, Zhai Da did not immediately enter the Spring Festival mode. Instead, he stayed in Harbin for an extra week, devoting himself to the reverse engineering of CVD epitaxial equipment.

No, or perhaps we should rephrase it as "research and development".

With guidance from his teacher, he began to try to change from a single-substrate cavity to a multi-substrate cavity, expand the synchronization of the cavity, reduce the aspect ratio, and install a honeycomb structure baffle at the gas inlet to suppress turbulence as much as possible.

Zhai Da originally planned that three substrates would be sufficient, but in practice he found that with more than three substrates, there was little difference between four or five, and it actually increased the room for maneuver.

Only with six or more substrates will the increased space requirements necessitate an additional heating and air shower system, which would be counterproductive.

Although physical limitations prevent a complete solution to the turbulence problem, a systems engineering perspective allows for corrections in other directions, which improves uniformity to an acceptable level.

This includes adding infrared array heating to electromagnetic induction heating, and applying silicon carbide power devices to gas valve control, achieving high-frequency switching and suppressing vortexes.

A high frequency of dozens of beats per second can paralyze a person, let alone airflow.
With this trade-off, the theoretical uniformity of adhesion remains basically the same, but the efficiency has increased more than fourfold.

In this process, Zhai Da gradually came to appreciate the power of "On Systems Engineering," or rather, the power of this "philosophy of science."

Real-world feedback is always partial and fragmented, and tackling technical challenges inevitably encounters current "limits," a problem that many technical workers face.

Even some big shots can get stuck on a single point and make no progress for years.

However, if one can always elevate their perspective and use scientific thinking to view the overall situation, unexpected breakthroughs can be found.

That "equipment" book, handwritten and revised by the teacher, is not just an item placed in the equipment slot, but also a "book" that Zhai Da often takes out to read and reflect upon.

Zhai Da was not only enjoying the benefits of his equipment, but also the wisdom of a giant.

Just as the teacher said, human science and technology are already very advanced, but our ability to use known science to solve practical problems is not advanced enough. Breakthroughs in academia have long since moved beyond the word "application".

For example, scientific breakthroughs made decades ago may still not be applied to human production and daily life decades later; this is a very common situation.

The difference between the two may lie in the lack of methods for "solving practical problems".

After his teacher left, free from academic worries, and with the assistance of the [Time-Slowing Cube] and telekinesis, Zhai Da, despite only being in seclusion at the research institute for a week, made more progress than he had in the previous one or two months, and had already preliminarily determined the path for independently developing "CVD epitaxial equipment".

When not using cheats, Zhai Da also involved Cheng Mo, allowing him to familiarize himself with the industrial requirements of the equipment as much as possible, laying the groundwork for subsequent software development and control debugging.

The other party will leave later and return earlier than Zhai Da. If Zhai Da's prediction is correct, they will be back in Harbin soon.

According to industrial naming conventions, this device should be called:

A five-unit epitaxial CVD system for silicon carbide with an ultra-large cavity infrared matrix.

It's a bit long, you can just remember the first four words.

This device has little to do with TEL's prototype. At most, it was just an initial tool for Zhai Da to explore. The self-developed device has a number of unique technologies, and even its design concept is different from the mainstream ideas in the market.

It's twice the size of the original, but one unit is equivalent to five of the old ones.
Based on the price of the prototype, the equivalent production capacity would require 6500 million. However, Zhai Da estimates that his system would only cost around 800 million.

This is the cost advantage brought about by technological change, which far exceeds the effect of exploiting human resources.

This is why "science is the primary productive force," rather than "management."

Moreover, this ultra-large cavity approach can provide valuable insights for tackling upstream challenges in substrate fabrication, and may even lead to higher levels of engineering design, the development of more common components, and the standardization of processes.

Delicious.

Zhai Da couldn't help but think of the group of talented designers in the Soviet Union back then, who created many amazing things under limited conditions.

After so many years of autopsies, the Goose is practically obsolete, but the old Soviet stuff from decades ago isn't too outdated now, and it's sturdy and durable.

A stainless steel airplane flies at Mach 2.5. Forget about whether it's invisible or not, I'm just asking you, isn't it fast?

In a sense, it was also a masterpiece by a group of people who viewed engineering problems from a global perspective. However, they lacked a master to summarize it into a systematic science. Furthermore, with no successors, they sat on a treasure trove of knowledge, gradually declined, and were completely unable to pick up the wisdom of their predecessors.

Amidst a busy and fulfilling work schedule, time gradually slipped away to less than three days before the Spring Festival.

On January 11th, the seventh day after the teacher left Harbin, Zhai Da also boarded a plane for his return journey.

However, their identities remain different.

Although he has not yet received his graduation certificate and degree certificate, and many exam results have not yet been released, he can basically call himself a "bachelor".

Bringing joy from the new technological achievements, Zhai Da felt refreshed and invigorated when he returned home for the Spring Festival.

At noon, Zhai Da and Lu Wei arrived at Lianshi Baita Airport. Wu Yue will stay a few more days as usual this year and return just in time, but she will no longer drive with her cousin to challenge her buttocks. Xu Xuejun, on the other hand, returned even earlier and is probably already at his run-down workshop.

In the past two years, Xu Xuejun has made a lot of money. As an A-level employee and factory manager of Yueda Catering, he earns about two million a year. However, the old man is all alone. Apart from paying off his daughter and son-in-law's mortgage in Rongcheng in one go, he still lives the same life.

Pushing large bags of luggage, Zhai Da and Lu Wei came out together.

Yu Xiaoli, with Tang Xiaokui by her side, waved continuously as they reached the exit. With a car, Ms. Yu was now able to pick people up.

Tang Xiaokui jogged over and, as she wished, was lifted up by Zhai Da and sat in his arms.

"Brother! Welcome back!"

Zhai Da held Tang Xiao Kui in one arm, chuckled, and weighed her in his hand: "As expected of a primary school student, she seems to have some knowledge in her head now, she's a bit heavy."

This girl is growing up really fast; she's almost 1.7 meters tall and will be wearing a red scarf (a symbol of the Young Pioneers).
In his previous life, Zhai Da had seen some, including a 1.8-meter-tall boy wearing a red scarf. Kids of this generation grow up so fast.
He and his mother hugged each other from the side: "Mom, I'm back."

Ms. Yu smiled and said, "You're a bit thinner than you look on TV."

"TV cameras make me look fat, and I'm by no means thin."

Zhai Da wished he could lift his shirt and show off his washboard – there's a kind of thinness that only your mom thinks you're thin.
By setting Tang Xiaokui aside and letting the three ladies have some fun, we finally had a chance to deal with the only outsider here.

Li Kangda, the county magistrate of Dongyang.

The local official, with whom he had dealt with many times, smiled and said:
"Mr. Zhai, welcome back to your hometown."

"Uncle Li, you flatter me. Li Dongdong is my classmate. Please just call me Xiao Zhai."

The two shook hands, and Zhai Da said, "Why don't we head to the parking lot first?"

"Together, together."

Compared to last year, Li Kangda's attitude was not as natural, but because of his relationship with Li Dongdong, they were still somewhat closer.

He came here specifically because he learned that Zhai Da was planning to invest in Dongyang.

The reason for appearing in a private capacity without any other people is to allow for a private exchange before any official business.

High-ranking officials, like Minister Lu, prefer to discuss everything openly, but a county magistrate obviously handles things differently.

About three weeks ago, Dongyang, the "person involved," received news that Zhai Da planned to move back to invest in building a semiconductor factory and set up the headquarters there.

This is equivalent to suddenly owning a globally renowned software technology company and about to own the world's most advanced semiconductor industry.

At first, he didn't believe it. As more and more evidence came from other sources, he was first shocked, then excited. But after calming down, some worries arose, and he was afraid that he couldn't handle it.

After all, I've never done it before.

This matter started directly from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and was pushed towards the provincial level. When Lu Qinjian said at the time that he would "help contact local areas," he meant more than just making a phone call.

While Zhai Da was engrossed in his final exams, two separate groups of people from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the provincial government had already come down to conduct inspections.

This undoubtedly put even more pressure on Li Kangda.
If this investor wasn't Zhai Da, Li Kangda could have ignored it and focused on getting the project done first. But Zhai Da, a proud resident of Dongyang, even presumptuously stated that he was Zhai Da's elder and a link between them.

Li Kangda didn't want things to end badly for everyone.

Although the majority of the "support" comes from the national and provincial levels, the actual implementation is here; there are many things that need attention, such as daily necessities like rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea.

On the way to the parking lot, Li Kangda couldn't help but say, "Xiao Zhai, we have received the notification that we will fully cooperate with you in the industrial development. Dongyang will definitely give it our full support. If there are any problems, we will solve them together."

The subtext is: there will inevitably be some problems.

It served as a kind of preventative measure.

Zhai Da nodded and said, "Uncle Li, there's no need to worry. When it comes to setting up an industry, especially a special industry like semiconductors, there will be a lot of trouble no matter where you go."

Do you think that just because you go to Beijing, Shanghai, Yanghe, or Shenzhen, you can lie down there and everything will go smoothly? You'd have to deal with everyone, from top to bottom, first.
Dongyang, or rather, the industrial endowment, resource support, and geographical conditions of the scattered northern region, have all been verified. Beyond that...
Zhai Da said, "If you encounter a mountain, just open it up; if you encounter a river, just build a bridge."

Li Kangda nodded emphatically: "Don't worry about that. At least I can guarantee that I will be the one to swing the first axe."

(End of this chapter)