I started with a ship full of max-level veterans, and I'm just a complete noob.

"Don't touch the main circuit. First, tighten the clamps. I'll check the last set of data right away."

Jiang Ming pushed open the door to the semiconductor laboratory of the Institute of Physics. The smell of rosin, alcohol and baked quartz mixed together and hit his work clothes. Wang Shouwu and Xie Xide were bending over in front of the imported high-frequency oscilloscope. Da Liu stood next to the test bench, his right hand on the resonant cavity tuning knob and his left hand holding a small screwdriver.

In the center of the experimental table was a device box, with twelve newly packaged silicon double-diffused triodes neatly arranged in a black foam tank. The pins had been uniformly cut and tin-plated, and the numbers were pressed onto the edge of the box cover. Next to it were the second-round diffusion records, annealing temperature curves, and high-frequency resonance test tables.

"Jiang Gong, you've finally arrived."

Da Liu turned around, sweat still clinging to his forehead from the heat lamp. He placed the screwdriver on the edge of the table and pointed to the curve on the oscilloscope screen that was creeping to the right. "The seventh one has already passed 790 MHz. The fixture just wobbled slightly, and the curve dropped back to 760 MHz. Professor Wang told me to stop and wait for you."

Jiang Ming walked to the screen, first looking at the oscilloscope's time reference, then at the connection between the grounding plate and the resonant cavity of the test fixture, and then reached out and touched the fixing nut. The metal nut still carried the temperature from the equipment's operation.

"The clamping plate was under uneven pressure, and the right clamping plate was half a thread higher than the left. It was re-fixed, and the grounding copper strip was flattened along the original route. The tester was only responsible for turning the knob, and the recorder was responsible for reading the value. The two actions were separate."

Da Liu immediately picked up a wrench, Wang Shouwu stepped aside to make way for him, and Xie Xide turned to the marked page of the photoconductivity spectroscopy record book, stopping the pencil tip on the surface density of states column, waiting for Jiang Ming to confirm the test conditions.

Everyone in the lab knows what 800 MHz means, but no one dares to say it out loud. Several batches of samples had shown beautiful curves around 600 MHz in the past, but then the curves dropped rapidly due to junction depth dispersion, base region broadening, or fixture parasitic capacitance. The closer we get to the target, the easier it is for the readings to turn expectations into disappointment.

Jiang Ming took tube number seven out of the component box, checked the pin orientation, put it into the fixture, and signaled Da Liu to turn on the test power.

As the filament current, bias voltage, and collector current stabilized sequentially, the curve on the oscilloscope slowly climbed from the left. When it passed the 500 MHz, 600 MHz, and 700 MHz scales, the shoulders of the people next to the experimental table tightened. Wang Shouwu placed his palms on the table and his eyes followed the curve closely.

After 780 trillion, the curve continues to rise.

Da Liu pressed his thumb against the tuning knob, afraid that the force in his hand would affect the test results. He pulled the knob back a little, and the resonance peak appeared on the right side of the screen, and then stabilized along the scale line.

"Eight hundred and six."

Xie Xide read out the reading, then glanced down at the record sheet. "The phase change matches the previous set; the parasitic oscillation has been suppressed."

Jiang Ming reached out and took the recording pen, added the fixture number and grounding method to the test conditions column, and then asked Da Liu to replace the No. 8 tube.

"Continue testing, first check the repeatability."

Wang Shouwu looked up at him, his eye sockets darkened from staying up all night, but his voice remained clear as that of the person in charge of the experiment: "If No. 8 and No. 9 can still get 800 megabits, then this batch of processes can be considered stable."

Jiang Ming understood the weight behind those words. A single sample hitting the high-frequency scale only proved that a certain local condition was met. Only when all twelve tubes could work under similar conditions did it mean that the diffusion furnace control, surface treatment, annealing time, and packaging structure formed a replicable process chain.

The curve of tube number eight fluctuated around 794 MHz. Xie Xide immediately checked the photoconductivity spectrum record and found that the surface state density of tube number eight was slightly higher than that of tube number seven. Jiang Ming asked her to adjust the bias back to the standard value and asked Da Liu to check the grounding path between the shield and the measurement bridge.

"Don't chase the peak adjustment; first, maintain the baseline conditions."

Jiang Ming pointed to the fluctuations on the screen and said, "The worst thing for high-frequency devices is to keep changing the testing environment for the sake of a nice number. The process needs to be tested, and the data also needs to be able to be replicated by others."

As required, Da Liu returned to the standard offset, and the curve dropped from 801 terabit to 798 terabit, and then stabilized at around 799 terabit. The recorder immediately copied the three consecutive readings into the table.

The number nine tube reaches 812 megawatts.

When Wang Shouwu read the numbers aloud, only the faint sounds of the oscilloscope fan and the incubator relay remained in the laboratory. Several senior researchers looked up, first at the screen, then at the device box, as if to confirm whether they had read the scale incorrectly.

Jiang Ming took the process card for tube number nine and checked the diffusion temperature, annealing time, junction depth measurement, reverse leakage current and current gain column by column. Then he spread out the test tables of the twelve tubes in two columns and compared the range of discrepancies in cutoff frequency, gain and junction capacitance.

"Number 9 is not an isolated result. The high-frequency ends of numbers 7 to 10 are all above 790 MHz, the reverse leakage current is within the allowable range, and the gain dispersion is controlled within 8%."

He tapped the table with a pencil, "This batch of pipes has reached the engineering application line. The theoretical design goals are still ahead, and the first batch of applications can already be delivered."

Xie Xide pushed the photoconductivity spectrum record book in front of Jiang Ming. On the page was a set of surface state curves that had been repeatedly measured. She filled in the closed lines along the curves, and the pencil left a continuous and clear trace on the paper.

"The surface state density has also been reduced, the closed-loop energy can adapt to process changes, and the oxide layer treatment plays a role."

She looked up at Jiang Ming and said, "The remaining differences will have to be reduced through mass production processes."

Jiang Ming nodded, put tube number nine back into the foam tank, and then divided the twelve samples into two batches. Samples numbered one to six were sent to the Third Electronics Factory for impact aging tests, while samples seven to twelve were left at the Institute of Physics to extract high-frequency parameters. All the envelopes were individually numbered, and a record was kept for transportation, handover, and retesting at the station.

"The batch from the factory will be tested first with temperature cycling, vibration, and switching shock. The batch from the Institute of Physics will have complete parameters extracted. Don't treat the twelve tubes as a single achievement. We need to know under what conditions each tube deteriorates later."

This arrangement brought the people in the lab back to their senses. Wang Shouwu picked up a pen and filled in the test conditions on the handover form, while several young lab technicians picked up the device boxes, moving much more slowly than usual.

Da Liu tightened the clamp again and retested tube number 9 as Jiang Ming requested. The oscilloscope curve climbed over 800 MHz again and finally landed near 811 MHz, with continuous readings remaining stable.

"Fitting factors have been ruled out."

Da Liu tightened the clamp again and retested tube number 9 as Jiang Ming requested. The oscilloscope curve climbed over 800 MHz again and finally landed near 811 MHz, with continuous readings remaining stable.

"We've ruled out the fixture issue." Da Liu put the wrench back on the tool tray, his shoulders relaxing. "Eight hundred and twelve isn't a coincidence."

The pressure that had been weighing on everyone's chests finally dissipated. Old Sun took out a box of his treasured Daqianmen cigarettes from the canvas bag by the door and handed them to the researchers one by one. He kept only the last one for himself, lit it with a match, and first looked at the seal on the cigarette box.

"We have to give out cigarettes today; even if we try to save them, it won't stop us from celebrating."

Short bursts of laughter echoed in the laboratory. Wang Shouwu held the cigarette in his hand, but hesitated to light it.

He pulled out a neatly bound results report from the pile of test reports on the table, turned to the last page with the author's name, gently pressed his fingertip over the author order column, and then pulled out the author list.

He walked up to Jiang Ming with the form in his hand; the 800 trillion curve that had just climbed on the page still had fresh ink on it.

"Jiang, sign this first."

Jiang Ming took the signature form, his gaze falling on the title before moving down the page.

The first curve the recorder had just drawn into the report was still stretching across the paper, but the first author in the order column was empty, as if it were waiting for him to put his pen to paper.