Countercurrent 1982

Chapter 1333
On Sunday morning, in the workshop of Tianyin Chip Factory, 7 technicians led by Duan Yun and Wu Gang, as well as the two Dutch engineers, waited for the C area of ​​the clean room early, preparing for the final test of the new production line .

Wu Gang and other seven technicians all signed a confidentiality agreement. They are also among the dozens of technicians in the entire chip factory, and they are also a small number of staff who are qualified to enter Area C.

Because these four ASML lithography machines are still embargoed products, in order not to cause trouble to ASML, Duan Yun strictly blocked the news of the new production line and scraped off all the logos and marks on the machines. A layer of anti-rust paint was repainted, and there was no sign of the manufacturer on the whole machine.

In addition, Area C is connected to the current Toshiba production line in Area A. There is only one product passing conveyor belt. Wafers produced from Toshiba production lines will be transported to Area C through the conveyor belt. After photolithography processing, they will be re-transmitted to Area A. The new workshop It is very concealed, and a magnetic card access control is installed in the personnel aisle. This access control supports the entry of 20 magnetic cards. People without magnetic cards cannot enter Area C.

"Can we start?" After everything was ready, Duan Yun asked the two Dutch engineers.

"Okay." Vincent responded, then sat on the console, entered a series of passwords, and started the lithography machine.

Compared with Japan's Toshiba lithography machine, ASML's lithography machine looks more compact. It is mainly divided into three parts, the exposure table, the measurement table, and the operation table with two monitors.

After a string of codes flashed on the main display of the console, the exposure stage began to hum slightly, and then the wafer began to enter the photolithography stage.

At this moment, everyone present held their breath, and the air seemed to freeze.

Because there is no one-micron chip technology mask, Duan Yun still uses the flash memory chip mask of Toshiba’s three-micron process technology, and there is also a 6 chip mask for the imitation version of the 6052-micron process dedicated to the learning machine.

Soon, the 10 wafers completed the photolithography process in less than 5 minutes, passed through the conveyor belt, and returned to the production workshop in Area A, where the 10 wafers had to undergo a series of processes such as etching Processing, and finally yield inspection.

After completing the photolithography process of 10 Flash chip wafers, two engineers from ASML replaced the mask again, preparing to process 20 6052 imitation chips.

The manufacturing technology of 6 microns is still at the level of the late 70s. Because the internal structure is much simpler than that of flash chips, the processing efficiency is also very high. It took less than 20 minutes to process 4 wafers. Naturally, Everyone present, including Duan Yun, was surprised.

Because Toshiba's lithography machine used to process this kind of chip, it took at least 20 to 8 minutes for 9 wafers, but the efficiency of ASML's lithography machine was doubled.

In the field of chips, technology generation gap not only means the improvement of product technology, but also represents the improvement of production efficiency and the substantial reduction of cost. When the earliest 6052 chip was just developed, the price of each chip was as high as 200 US dollars. However, in the mid-80s, the price became a few dollars, which was nearly a hundred times cheaper. The most important reason was that the efficiency of advanced chip production line equipment was amazing when producing low-end chips, and the price was also low. Very cheap.

No need for too many explanations, just through the on-site demonstration, everyone present immediately saw the value of these 4 ASML lithography machines.

Although Duan Yun's Tianyin Electronics Group has not yet developed chips based on one-micron process technology, even the production of relatively backward Flash memory chips and 6052 imitation chips can greatly reduce costs and improve production efficiency. For the same chip, ASML’s lithography machine only takes half the time to complete it. If four lithography machines are started at the same time, the current limit output of flash chips will be increased by at least 4 times, reaching an astonishing 10 times per day. About 20 chips!

According to this output calculation, after Duan Yun's chip factory introduced these 4 lithography machines, the monthly output will be 600 million Flash chips, and the annual output will reach more than 7000 million chips!
In fact, in 1988, China's annual output of integrated circuits had just reached 1 million. According to the general standards at the time, a country's output of integrated circuits had reached 1 million, marking the beginning of industrialized production. In 1966, the United States It was the first to achieve it, followed by Japan in 1968. That is to say, the production of chips in China today is only equivalent to the level of Japan and the United States in the mid-to-late 60s, and the gap is very large.

Duan Yun, relying on Tianyin Group alone, can reach 70% of the country's chip production, which is quite a terrifying feat.

But even so, compared with Toshiba, whose annual chip production exceeds 5 million pieces, Duan Yun is less than 1/5 of others, and the gap is still very huge.

Moreover, Duan Yun's four lithography machines cannot form a complete production line, and other equipment needs to be imported and purchased. At this stage, only some chips with relatively low process technology can be produced.

Although a little helpless, there is also a good side, that is, Duan Yun will not immediately reveal that Tianyin Group has the ability to produce chips with a micron process, and will not arouse the vigilance of the United States, Japan and other countries.

In addition, the Duan Yun chip research and development team is developing a NAND chip with a three-micron process technology. If this chip can be successfully developed, the next step is to start developing a one-micron process storage chip. At that time, Duan Yun will have the opportunity to compete with the international community. competition from large manufacturers.

After the processing of 20 wafers was completed, Duan Yun and others went to the inspection room instead, waiting for the birth of finished chips.

"Manager Duan, we succeeded!"

More than 10 minutes later, when Wu Gang came out with the acceptance report, his face was full of excitement.

"How's the pass rate?" Duan Yun asked quickly.

"The yield rate of Flash wafers is 94%, and the yield rate of 6052 imitation chips is 100%!" Wu Gang said with a smile on his face.

"100%!?"

Hearing Wu Gang's pass rate of chips, everyone present was surprised.

In the field of chip manufacturing, there is no 100% pass rate, especially the top chip products, which can generally reach more than 80%, even if they are qualified, and if the pass rate is below [-]%, they may lose money.

Low-end chips produced by advanced lithography machines with high resolution often have a high pass rate. Although it is impossible to reach 100%, it can be infinitely close to this value.

The base of the 20-wafer test is still too small, but no matter what, at least it proves that these 4 ASML lithography machines are indeed more advanced than Toshiba's lithography machines.

(End of this chapter)