Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 379, Section 377: Research team assembled in Europe, returns home, transistor and polycrystalline silicon fabrication.
With the first batch of 2000 million yuan in hand, Fang Wen immediately prepared to spend it.

We must convert money into resources, talent, technology, and equipment and bring them back to China as soon as possible.

Fang Wen had a plan in mind, mainly focusing on two aspects: transitioning from vacuum tubes to transistors and from radial engines to turbine engines.

The former forms the foundation of the future semiconductor industry, while the latter is the essential high-efficiency engine technology for new fighter jets that will dominate the skies.

Achieving transistor technology by the end of the 30s was challenging, but not entirely impossible.

The key is to build a highly efficient research team.

Therefore, before Christmas, Fang Wen traveled back and forth between several well-known science universities and research institutes in Europe.

These include École Polytechnique, ETH Zurich, Royal Polytechnic University of Turin, Delft University of Technology, Technical University of Munich, and Technical University of Berlin.

Fortunately, these institutions are all located in places with convenient transportation, with airports nearby, so Fang Wen can fly a rented small private plane to travel between several places.

By Christmas time, he had visited the physics departments of several universities and offered high salaries to recruit members for his research teams.

News of a wealthy businessman from the East recruiting physics researchers spread among European science and technology researchers.

The irresistible high salaries and the unprecedented research projects are attracting many tech talents.

According to the invitations sent by Fang Wen to various polytechnics and universities, the unified recruitment interview meeting will be held at the Hotel Royal Monsault in Paris.

Furthermore, anyone who comes with an invitation will have their round-trip travel expenses reimbursed, and their accommodation and meals will be covered.

Therefore, once Christmas was over, scientific researchers from all over Europe began to arrive in Paris.

12 month 27 day.

The day after Christmas.

The entire third floor of the Royal Monsault Hotel was booked out. Technologists from all over Europe who came to apply for jobs filled out application forms under the guidance of staff from Taishan's Paris branch, and then waited in the waiting room.

Those whose numbers are called will enter the next interview room for an interview.

The interviewer was Fang Wen.

After a day of talking with the applicants, Fang Wen extended offers to some of them and invited them to dinner that evening.

In the evening, the group arrived at the banquet venue.

Fang Wen greeted them with a smile.

After taking his seat, he said, "Thank you all for joining my research team. You come from different parts of Europe and don't know each other well, so let me introduce you."

He started by introducing the first person on his left: "Worcester Kane, PhD in Electronics from the Technical University of Berlin."

Somewhat balding Worcester Kane stood up: "I used to work in the R&D department of Berlin Television AG, mainly responsible for the development of television receiver and transmitter tubes and photovoltaic cells with secondary amplifiers."

What he said sounded very high-tech; most people wouldn't understand it, but even researchers in the field would.

He was a highly skilled individual who had been involved in television technology development since 1937. Fang Wen offered him very generous compensation before he was recruited.

Fang Wen then introduced the other members of the research team.

William Short was an expert in vacuum tube technology.

Fritz White is a researcher in the field of materials physics.

Gerhard Ter is an expert in materials chemistry.

Bayer Planck, Applied Mechanical Engineer.

Hermann Ott, experimental physicist.

These six people are the research team that Fang Wen promised to hire at a high price.

At this moment, the six people still did not know what they were supposed to do. Fang Wen was not in a hurry to explain. Instead, he warmly welcomed them to join him and then let them check into the hotel rooms to rest.

The next day, employees from Taishan Airlines' Paris branch knocked on their door and brought six people to the hotel's conference room.

There, Fang Wen shared his vision with the research team.

"I assembled this team primarily to develop new types of current control devices. In my view, the vacuum tubes that are widely used today are still quite primitive and can be improved upon. I call them transistors. A transistor is a solid-state semiconductor device that can control current on a tiny scale. Compared to vacuum tubes, transistors have higher reliability, lower power consumption, and smaller size."

After a pause, Fang Wen guided everyone's train of thought.

"Think about it, if we can make tiny transistors, it will mean that electronic devices will be more complex and have more functions. We could even implement logic circuits using specific currents."

The six listened attentively to Fang Wen's words.

Worcester Kane said, "Is the logic circuit similar to the binary adder that Bell Labs made last month?"

Fang Wen was stunned, as he was unaware of this, so he asked Worcester Kane to explain.

Not long ago, a researcher at Bell Labs in the United States cut a U-shaped contact from an aluminum can and connected them with wires to form a very simple binary addition circuit.

This circuit, consisting of two batteries, two relays, and two small light bulbs, is very similar to the adder that Fang Wen had Bai Zeshan make. It also controls the current to turn the light bulbs on and off, thus producing the corresponding binary addition result.

He smiled and said, "It is this kind of logic circuit. Following this line of thought, we can develop and manufacture a simple decimal computer. But that is just an application. What I want to do is make a change. Transistors will completely replace vacuum tubes in the future and become a completely new basic electronic component."

“But how can we conduct this kind of research? We know nothing about transistors,” William Short asked.

Indeed, vacuum tubes are relatively simple, while transistors are more complex and involve some unexplored theories.

Fang Wen knew these theories because he had a lot of knowledge about semiconductors due to his work in his previous life, and he was able to organize this knowledge and put it to good use.

He took out a piece of paper.

"The working principle of transistors involves complex physical issues such as the band structure of semiconductor materials, carrier transport, and quantum effects. Here are some basic theories for you to take a look at and get a basic understanding. As for specific research work, we'll talk about it when we get back to Asia."

The paper was passed around among the six people, and the new knowledge inside fascinated them.

Fang Wen then talked to them about working in Asia.

Do we need to bring family members? Are there any other living issues? And what about the procurement of basic research equipment for the research lab?

After the conversation, Fang Wen asked Paul, the manager of the Paris branch, to handle their problem, while he and Bai Zeshan left.

After leaving the conference room, Fang Wen and Bai Zeshan arrived at the hotel lobby on the first floor.

Whitney was waiting for him there.

Fang Wen walked over and asked directly, "Has Pratt & Whitney developed a high-power engine yet?"

"Not yet. There are some technical difficulties, and it's impossible to break through in a short time," Whitney replied.

"Do you know which companies are currently developing turbocharged engines?"

"The UK is researching a centrifugal turbine engine, and Germany is doing similar research, but they are using axial-flow turbine engine technology. In addition, GE is also conducting similar research, and we are planning to cooperate with GE to install their turbocharger into the Hornet 1830 engine, which would increase the power to 1200 horsepower."

Originally, I wanted to inquire about the research progress of turbine engines in various countries so that I could acquire turbine engine technology from one of them in the future.

Unexpectedly, Pratt & Whitney's r1830 has been improved and will use turbocharging technology.

This surprised Fang Wen. It would be best if Pratt & Whitney's engine functions could be further improved, since he already knew Pratt & Whitney's series of engines very well, and he could quickly analyze and master even if turbocharging technology was added.

That way, it can be used for aircraft modification and deployed to the battlefield more quickly.

He looked at Whitney and said earnestly, "I have a favor to ask of you."

Whitney was surprised that Fang Wen would ask her for a favor: "What do you need me to do?"

“I need a lot of processing equipment, but there’s not enough time. I can’t complete the purchase in such a short period of time. You know, I have a lot of things to take care of in China, so I can’t stay in Europe for long.”

"You mean you want me to help? No problem. As a joint lender for the three consortia, you'll get a lot of help," Whitney agreed with a smile.

In Europe, the three consortia also have their own channels and can accomplish many things. It wouldn't be difficult for them to fulfill Fang Wen's request to purchase a batch of processing equipment for military use.

A day later, Whitney got hold of a list.

This list contains a large number of military-grade equipment.

The equipment there was far more complete than that at Fang Wen's bullet factory in Yangon.

Fang Wen looked at the list with great interest.

Lathes are used to process various metal parts. These lathes can precisely cut and shape metal and are indispensable equipment in weapons manufacturing.

With these, we can manufacture more spare parts independently, reducing our reliance on European components.

It can be said that in the future, gun parts, shell casings, and the like will no longer need to be imported from Europe.

There's also a planer.

Used for planing metal parts to remove excess material or achieve the desired shape and size.

grinder.

Used for grinding metal parts to improve their surface finish and precision.

It also has a 75mm artillery shell production line, a 20mm autocannon production line, and a 12.7mm heavy machine gun bullet production line.

With these, the Taishan Independent Regiment's firepower advantage will no longer be a concern.

The purchase of this equipment cost $600 million and will be transported to Yangon via a cargo ship operated by Taishan International.

In addition, a group of technical staff from Europe were hired to go there together as technical mentors.

Including the cost of recruiting the research team, the total cost was less than $700 million.

Fang Wen doesn't plan to squander the remaining 1300 million yuan; he'll save it for when he needs it.

Immediately afterwards, he took his research and development team members and some laboratory equipment and flew back to Asia.

12 month 30 day.

The plane landed in Wuhan.

Six members of the research team, along with their families, disembarked from the plane.

Subsequently, a Taishan Airlines shuttle bus drove to the airport to pick up Fang Wen and the others and take them to the headquarters campus.

After getting off the bus, Fang Wen talked with Fang Shouxin, who had come to greet him.

"Have their accommodations been arranged?"

"As per your request, for the sake of confidentiality and security, their residences are located within the park."

"What about the institute's offices and laboratories?"

"The annex next to the headquarters office building has been cleared out and renovated, and it is ready for entry at any time."

Have the researchers recruited domestically arrived yet?

"Two professors from the National Southwest Associated University have agreed to join and are already in the company."

"That's good. Tomorrow, we'll hold an internal celebration for the institute's opening."

"Okay, I'll take them to their accommodation first."

Fang Shouxin and the administrative staff left with six researchers and their families.

Fang Wen went up to the office building to find out about the progress made since he left.

Back in the general manager's office, his wife, Kuang Mingzhu, came over and talked to him.

During the two weeks I was away, everything was relatively normal and progressed steadily.

Especially logistics parks.

Although it was already winter, Sun Debiao and his logistics department staff had already begun setting up logistics stations in the three southwestern provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.

The capitals of the three provinces have already leased large tracts of land and are building warehouses.

The subordinate counties and cities were also led by their respective managers to carry out the construction of logistics stations.

At this rate, the logistics network in the three locations should be connected by the end of winter.

Upon learning of this situation, Fang Wen was very pleased. At present, the Japanese army was rampaging in North and South China, and the Southwest and Northwest would be important logistical bases to support the War of Resistance.

Seeing her husband's happy expression, Kuang Mingzhu sighed, "Jinan is lost."

The joy vanished instantly, and Fang Wen asked, "When did you lose it?"

"Just yesterday."

Fang Wen didn't feel much indignation about this, after all, it was history he already knew.

There's no need to put on an act in front of your wife.

He calmly said, "We are not strong enough now, so let's see how rampant they are. We will take back everything with interest later."

"Yes." Kuang Mingzhu smiled; her husband's words gave her hope.

Subsequently, Fang Wen contacted the fighter squadron of the 1st Battalion of the Taishan Independent Regiment, which was supporting Jinan, via telegram.

They were relieved to learn that the fighter squadron had suffered no losses and had returned to Xi'an Airport from Zhoujiakou after the fall of Jinan.

The following night, a small opening celebration was held at the headquarters of Taishan Airlines.

A sign that read "Taishan Research Institute" was hung at the entrance of the annex building, which will be renamed the Research Institute Building from now on.

After a brief celebration, Fang Wen and members of the research team held a meeting in the office on the second floor.

First, the two professors from China and the six researchers from Europe were introduced to each other.

Then, Fang Wen took out the materials he had compiled.

"The key difference between transistors and vacuum tubes lies in the materials used. Vacuum tubes conduct electricity by emitting electrons from a cathode heated by a filament, which is inefficient due to heat loss from the filament. Transistors, on the other hand, use semiconductors and have multiple functions such as detection, rectification, amplification, switching, voltage regulation, and signal modulation. Once developed, they will completely replace old-fashioned vacuum tubes. Our first research project is on the materials used to fabricate transistors."

Fang Wen paused for a moment, lost in thought.

Early transistors used germanium.

However, this material is not suitable for large-scale production. It was silicon, which later replaced it, that made semiconductors widely available.

Silicon is abundant in nature, and as long as there is mature extraction technology, it can be put to use directly.

Silicon-based semiconductors are made of two materials: polycrystalline silicon and monocrystalline silicon.

The former is relatively simple to prepare and easy to succeed, so Fang Wen naturally chose to pursue this direction first.

He took out the materials he had compiled and continued his explanation.

"For transistors, we chose silicon because of its good thermal stability, which can reach 150 degrees Celsius, and its superior electrical performance compared to other materials. However, the purity of silicon is very important. I have a method for preparing polycrystalline silicon, which you can take a look at first."

(End of this chapter)