Courtyard House: A Major Power's Heavy Industry, Hand-Crafted Nuclear Fusion

Base 001, Workshop 701.

The atmosphere was even more somber than when the chip was "lit up" a week earlier.

Although Su Zheng put forward the ingenious idea of ​​"making game consoles with defective chips", reality gave everyone a rude awakening.

Even if the standard is lowered to "just enough to run Tetris", the current yield rate is still stuck at around 5% and just won't go up.

What does this mean?

This means that out of every 100 chips produced, 95 are junk that can't even be considered scrap.

This means that the cost of the "Red Star Game Machine" remains high, making it impossible to implement the "price killer" strategy that Su Zheng mentioned.

"I can't do this anymore, I really can't do this anymore."

The old factory manager in charge of the production line slammed his hat on the table, his eyes red-rimmed. "Yesterday, to rush that batch of prototypes for the Canton Fair, we worked non-stop for twenty-four hours. And the result? Two thousand wafers, and in the end, we only managed to pick out less than a thousand usable chips! This isn't production; this is burning money! This is crime!"

Old Chen was also sighing heavily, his mouth full of blisters.

"Minister Su, is our equipment too outdated? After all, it's a hand-made lithography machine; isn't the precision still insufficient?"

Su Zheng sat at the head of the conference table, toying with a discarded chip in his hand.

He didn't speak, but just stared quietly at the few scratches on the surface of the chip that were almost invisible to the naked eye.

"It's not a problem with the equipment."

Su Zheng suddenly spoke up, "I've already calibrated the equipment's precision; 0.9 micrometers is fine. The problem lies in... the environment."

"Environment?" The old factory director's eyes widened. "Minister Su, this is a super cleanroom with constant temperature and humidity! We get showered three times before entering and leaving, and we don't even dare to fart. Isn't this environment enough?"

"In the micrometer-scale world, what we consider 'clean' is actually no different from a garbage dump."

Su Zheng stood up and turned to look at Ye Xinyi, who was sitting in the corner typing on the keyboard.

"Xinyi, is the data processing finished?"

"I'm done running."

Ye Xinyi pushed up her glasses, picked up the heavy laptop, and walked to the projector.

"Over the past three days, I have mobilized 80% of the computing power of the Red Star II computer to conduct a full simulation of the airflow, static electricity distribution, and personnel movement in Workshop 701."

A complex fluid dynamics model diagram appeared on the screen. Countless red lines flowed like blood vessels in the perspective view of the workshop.

"What is this?" Old Chen was completely baffled.

"This is the 'trajectory of dust'."

Ye Xinyi's voice was cold and clear. "Through simulation, I discovered three abnormal data clusters. At these points, the concentration of dust particles was more than ten times that of other areas. This is the 'ghost' that's preventing the yield rate from increasing."

"ghost?"

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Walk."

Su Zheng put on his dustproof suit. "Let's go to the workshop and catch ghosts."

……

After changing, the group once again entered the brightly lit cleanroom.

Su Zheng walked at the front. This time, his eyes were exceptionally sharp. In his "Eye of Truth," the entire workshop was no longer a vast expanse of white, but filled with countless floating particles.

Those particles were dancing wildly in the area marked by Ye Xinyi.

"The first ghost is here."

Su Zheng stopped in front of an automatic glue applicator.

This machine is responsible for evenly applying photoresist to the surface of the wafer. The machine runs smoothly and there are no visible problems.

"This...this machine is pretty good, isn't it?" the old factory manager asked doubtfully.

"listen."

Su Zheng pointed to the exhaust vent at the bottom of the machine.

Everyone held their breath, and could only hear a slight buzzing sound.

"The frequency is wrong."

Su Zheng squatted down and reached out to touch the filter of the exhaust vent. "The vibration frequency of this typhoon fan resonates with the frequency of the centrifuge next to it. Although it's very slight, this resonance causes the dust accumulated on the filter to... fall off."

He suddenly opened the filter cover.

A very thin layer of dust had accumulated on the inner wall of the exhaust vent. Under the influence of resonance, this dust was falling like snowflakes, gradually settling onto the wafer that had just been coated with adhesive.

"Oh My God……"

The old factory manager was deathly pale. This dust, falling onto the uncured photoresist, looked like giant meteorite craters!

"Replace with a magnetic levitation fan, or install vibration damping pads."

Su Zheng calmly ordered, "Write it down."

"The second ghost."

Su Zheng walked to a row of cleaning tanks.

This is the wafer cleaning area, where the highest purity deionized water is used.

"The water is fine; we test it every day," the technician in charge of water quality hurriedly explained.

"The water is fine, but the people are the problem."

Su Zheng pointed to a female worker who was cleaning the wafers. She was wearing thick rubber gloves and moving with precision as she carefully picked up the wafer basket.

"stop."

Su Zheng walked over and said, "Take off your gloves."

The female worker was startled and timidly took off her gloves.

"Look inside the gloves," Su Zheng said, pointing to the inside of the gloves.

Everyone crowded around to take a look and saw a layer of white powder on the inside of the glove.

"This is talcum powder, used to prevent sticking," the old factory manager explained. "Is there a problem with this? The gloves aren't torn."

"Static electricity".

Ye Xinyi added, "Rubber gloves generate static electricity of up to several thousand volts when rubbed. Although this layer of talcum powder is inside, it will be 'attracted' to the surface of the glove under the action of a high-voltage electrostatic field, and then fall into the cleaning solution during operation."

Su Zheng nodded: "For a 1-micron process, a single talcum powder particle is like a mountain. It can block the light from the photolithography process and cause a break in the circuit."

"Replace all gloves with powder-free nitrile gloves. Also, operators must use an anti-static door to enter and exit."

"The third ghost... is the most hidden."

Su Zheng led everyone to the core area of ​​the lithography machine.

This is the cleanest place, but also the place where the product yield killer is most rampant.

Su Zheng stood in front of the "hand-made lithography machine" and stared at its conveyor belt.

This is a black rubber conveyor belt responsible for feeding wafers into the exposure area.

"Who purchased this conveyor belt?" Su Zheng asked.

"It's...it's Old Zhang from the logistics department." Old Chen wiped his sweat. "He bought imported wear-resistant rubber, it's quite expensive."

"It is wear-resistant, but not heat-resistant."

Su Zheng reached out and touched the edge of the conveyor belt. "When the lithography machine is working, the ultraviolet lamps generate heat. When this conveyor belt gets heated, it releases a small amount of sulfide gas."

"gas?"

"Yes. This gas is invisible to the naked eye, but it reacts with moisture in the air to form a very thin layer of fog on the lens surface."

Su Zheng pointed to the expensive lens. "Xinyi, the simulation data just now showed that the light transmittance in this area decreased by 0.5% after two hours of operation, right?"

"It's 0.52%," Ye Xinyi corrected. "That's enough to cause underexposure and blurry edges."

Dead silence.

The workshop was deathly silent.

No one expected that the reason for the low yield rate was the vibration of the fan, the powder in the gloves, and the gas emitted from the conveyor belt.

This isn't industrial production; it's like embroidery, like performing surgery!

"This is the semiconductor industry."

Su Zheng's voice echoed in the workshop, carrying a powerful and awe-inspiring force: "It's not something you can do well just by being strong or having a loud voice. It requires extreme precision and reverence for every tiny detail."

"I've caught those three ghosts."

Su Zheng turned around, his gaze sweeping over everyone present. "You have twelve hours to make the changes. After twelve hours, I want to see the new data."

"Is it possible?"

"able!"

The old factory manager's roar shook the ceiling: "If you can't do it, I'll offer my head!"

……

Twelve hours later.

Five o'clock in the morning.

Workshop 701 was brightly lit again, but this time, the atmosphere was completely different.

A new conveyor belt has been installed, the fan has been fitted with shock absorbers, and all the gloves have been replaced.

A new batch of wafers is fed into the lithography machine like a flowing stream, and then sent for etching, implantation, cleaning...

Every step was eerily quiet.

The faint vibration was gone, as was the crackling sound of static electricity.

The entire production line seemed to have become a precision clock, precisely meshing and operating under the command of Ye Xinyi's algorithm.

Eight o'clock in the morning.

The test results for the first batch of 2000 wafers have been released.

Inside the central control room.

When the tester printed out the long statistical report, his hands were shaking so badly he could barely hold the paper.

"Read it!" Old Chen was so anxious his throat was parched.

"Good...good product rate..."

The tester swallowed hard, then looked up abruptly, his eyes filled with incredulous elation. "85.4%!"

"How many?!"

"85.4%!" the tester shouted. "Minister Su! We did it! An 85% yield rate! And 40% of them are Grade A!"

"Whoosh—!"

Applause, cheers, and the sound of hats flying instantly filled the control room.

The old factory director plopped down on the ground, covered his face, and tears streamed through his fingers.

85%!

What does this mean?

This means that costs have dropped by twenty times!

This means that "Red Star Chips" are no longer delicate flowers in the laboratory, but industrial products that can be mass-produced like cabbages!

Su Zheng watched this scene with a slight smile on his lips.

He turned to look at Ye Xinyi beside him.

"Thanks to your simulation," Su Zheng said in a low voice.

"It's all thanks to your eyes," Ye Xinyi replied casually, but the smile in her eyes was impossible to hide.

"Minister Su!"

Old Chen rushed over excitedly, "That's great! That's really great! With this yield rate, we can not only meet the needs of the 'Red Star-1' car and subsequent missiles, but also... that game console..."

"That game console can be supplied freely now."

A glint of light flashed in Su Zheng's eyes. "Inform the delegation at the Canton Fair that the price of the 'Game Boy' will be reduced by another 20%."

"It's going to go down even more?" Old Chen was stunned. "It's already dirt cheap."

"What I want is not to make money."

Su Zheng walked to the map and pressed his finger heavily on the North American continent. "What I want is... distribution. I want this machine to spread like a virus, filling every American child's Christmas stocking within a month."

"When they all have our machines in their hands and are playing our games."

"Those politicians want to blockade us? They should ask their children if they'd agree!"

……

Three days later, at the Canton Fair.

When that simple booth with the "Red Star Electronics" sign displayed the shocking price tag "Game Boy: $49.9"...

The entire exhibition hall was buzzing with excitement.

Buyers from all over the world were waving their checkbooks like crazy.

"I want 50,000 units!"

"I'll take them all! 100,000 units!"

"Get out of here! I saw it first!"

Meanwhile, at the distant 001 base.

The assembly line in Workshop 701 is roaring day and night.

Those three "ghosts" that Su Zheng caught have become the guardians of the yield rate.

Under Ye Xinyi's algorithmic monitoring and Su Zheng's process tuning, this seemingly rustic production line is unleashing an industrial torrent that will shake the world.

This is the magic of yield rate.

This is the awakening of Chinese manufacturing.

……