Siheyuan: The Era of Core Generation

Chapter 170 Second-generation semi-lithography machine
Zhao Ye and Professor Ci squatted in the underground workshop of No. [-] laboratory again, just like a few years ago.

Looking at the spare parts all over the floor, Professor Ci felt a toothache.

This time, Zhao Ye was really uncharacteristically, saying that he wanted to upgrade the lithography machine, but there was no technical route information for the upgrade, nor a verification experiment report.What's even more exaggerated is that there is not even a design drawing!
Where is this attitude towards scientific research?Professor Ci's excitement just now, was immediately infuriated by Zhao Ye's "child's play" scientific attitude!
Did I teach you so?

The two of them were just like this, arguing and proceeding.

Although Zhao Ye didn't draw any pictures, he had a complete design idea and even a complete design drawing in his mind.

He just spliced ​​the things in reality into the appearance in his mind bit by bit.

Of course, most of the parts are still parts of the second-generation lithography machine, but some parts have been modified.

The modification part is also simple, what Zhao Ye needs is basically processed on site.Professor Ci and Professor Xie looked at Zhao Ye's operation and really couldn't imagine it.

No matter how you look at it, it looks like a bad carpenter on the street making furniture. It's completely trying!
"Zhao Ye, what the hell are you doing? You don't even have a blueprint, can you do it?"

Professor Ci couldn't help saying this again.Frankly speaking, he has no confidence at all.What Zhao Ye did was against the common sense of scientific research.

"Teacher, don't worry, I just made a slight improvement on the previous equipment, and didn't make any major changes. The principle is still the same as before."

"Then what improvements have you made? You have to write an explanatory document! If you don't have time, you can tell me, and I can write it."

"Hey, it's just a small change. Don't worry if you write it or not. Let's make the finished product first, and when the improvement is completed, we have plenty of time to write it, right?"

"After the revision? What's the use of writing that after the revision?" Professor Ci finally couldn't bear it anymore. Your university is for nothing?Do you not remember the basic procedure of doing research?I really regret it, I shouldn't have let you graduate in the first place!

"Stop arguing, master and apprentice, if you keep arguing, it will be dark!" Professor Xie couldn't listen any longer, and the argument between the master and apprentice didn't stop all day long.

In fact, Professor Xie can also understand Professor Ci's thoughts. People who do research are like this. Whenever they see a new technology, they want to know his whole picture at the first time.Now watching my students operate step by step, but I don't know the principles and methods, I am definitely anxious.

It took two full days for Zhao Ye to complete the corresponding parts and assemble the entire equipment.

"Why does it feel a bit strange?" Professor Ci looked at the equipment in front of him and said to himself.

"Teacher, you will know in a while." After Zhao Ye finished speaking, he began to operate the equipment and prepare for the silicon wafer processing.

"Yezi, is the photoresist you used a new recipe? I don't think it's the same as the one used before." Professor Xie saw that the material Zhao Ye added to the equipment was very different from the previous material. The difference is why this question arises.

"Well, yes, in order to match the new equipment, I made some improvements to the previous photoresist." Zhao Ye kept his hands on and explained to Professor Xie.

After a set of preparatory work was completed, Zhao Ye returned to the lithography machine.The two professors looked at Zhao Ye and filled a glass container of the lithography machine with a light blue liquid.

"what is this?"

"water."

"What water?"

"Pure water, water with a purity of four nines." Zhao Ye explained.After the water is cleaned step by step, it will show such a light blue color.

Zhao Ye didn't say any more, but was going to personally operate the newly assembled lithography machine in front of him and experiment with his ideas.

"Zhao Ye, why do you need to add water? What's the reason?" Professor Ci stared at him with wide-eyed eyes, his mind full of all kinds of storms.

"Teacher, this actually uses the refraction of water. Through the refraction of a layer of water, when the light hits the silicon wafer, it will naturally shift in one direction. As long as we control the angle and direction of exposure, It can improve the chip manufacturing process to a higher level."

"Refraction of water? So simple?" Professor Ci couldn't believe it when he heard the answer.

"It's not simple at all. I think Yezi really put a lot of thought into this design. Think about it, water is a liquid, how to control the fluctuation of water is a big problem." Professor Xie finished reading Zhao Ye's Operation, and then carefully looked at Zhao Ye's design ideas, to be honest, she was completely impressed.

Such a delicate design can really be described as ingenious and clumsy.

"Teacher, to be honest, this is a bit opportunistic. Although we have improved the manufacturing process with this method, its limitations are still very large. With this method, we can only do a lot on the basis of existing theories. Fine processing." Zhao Ye explained.

"That's great!" The more Professor Ci thought about it, the more he felt that Zhao Ye was a real genius.

To be honest, compared with Zhao Ye, everyone in this laboratory should be ashamed. Including him, after more than a year, they still failed to improve the processing technology of the chip, but what about Zhao Ye?How many days have you been back?In such a short period of time, the craftsmanship has been improved a step further.

"Mr. Ci, Mr. Xie, if we really want to improve the chip manufacturing process to the next order of magnitude, this method is not enough. We still need to find a way to make a theoretical breakthrough."

The two professors nodded. What Zhao Ye said was the truth. The progress of chips cannot only be improved by improving the processing level.

How to arrange more transistors in a smaller space, this problem also involves theoretical breakthroughs in transistors.In Zhao Ye's previous life, the change from five microns to three microns was an all-round breakthrough in the field of microelectronics, especially the theoretical leap from non-penetrating PN junctions to penetrating PN junctions in the theory of micro-transistors.

This technology has also been expanded to the entire industrial control field, which is the most commonly used IGBT technology in later generations.

This technology is actually evolved from the GBT technology used in the three-micron process chip.

Zhao Ye is also doing experiments in this area. He is actually not very proficient in this technology. Although the father of the system gave the information, the information is the information, and the technology is the technology.The technology in reality cannot be realized by reading a few materials.

In the middle, a lot of experiments, summarization and expansion are needed.Especially expansion, this is the most difficult for Zhao Ye.

Experiments can be done in a simulated laboratory. Here, there is no need to consider any funding or materials, as long as he has enough "energy", it's nothing more than taking an extra shower.

But expansion really requires him to use his own brain.

The abilities given by the system are more experimental.But designing experiments requires a human brain.Generally speaking, you have to tell the system what experiments you are going to do and what to analyze.

For chips with a three-micron process technology, Zhao Ye's understanding was still simple.

In his space, using the current theory of transistor generation, it is impossible to achieve a similar size below three microns anyway.This is not to say that Zhao Ye's space ability is not good, but also to say that even if such a craft is realized in space, there is no way to transplant it into actual production.

Because the requirements are too high. If the processing technology in reality can reach such a level, what three microns do they have to conquer? Wouldn't it be better to directly enter the nanometer era?
Therefore, after Zhao Ye searched a lot of information, he still wanted to put the three-micron technology aside.Letting it go here is not to say that it will not be done, but to concentrate a lot of resources on the current technology development and application.The main task of Professor Ci and Professor Xie is to overcome the theoretical research of [-]-micron technology.

In this regard, Zhao Ye can also give a research direction and framework, and even help several teachers to do verification experiments.But asking him to put a lot of energy into research and development in the laboratory, Zhao Ye couldn't do it.

His task is to find a way out for technology, so that the technology in our hands can be turned into a practical product, and then turned into foreign exchange and our comprehensive strength.If the program-controlled switchboard in the next step does not require a special chip, Zhao Ye would not leave the program-controlled communication network system alone, and come to build a second-and-a-half-generation lithography machine first.

Because in the entire program-controlled system, a large number of FPGA chips need to be used.The so-called FPGA chip translates to "Field Programmable Gate Array".The biggest feature of this chip is that it can use programs, that is, software, to control and plan the functions of the chip.

Sound amazing?Control hardware with software!In fact, the biggest difference between it and traditional chips is that many logic cell arrays are concentrated on this type of chip.When his flip-flops fire, he uses small look-up table capabilities to implement combinatorial logic.The input terminal of the flip-flop will start the logic circuit of the tower, thus forming a basic logic unit that can realize both combinational logic function and sequential logic function.

These modules are connected to each other or to input or output modules.In this way, he can use the static storage unit inside the chip to store and convert data to realize various functions of the logic unit, or connect to that logic module and react accordingly.

Therefore, this chip can be programmed an infinite number of times.When this chip is in use, its internal logic can be changed infinitely to achieve different functions.And this kind of chip technology is a kind of chip that is necessary in the program-controlled telephone system designed by Zhao Ye, and it cannot be replaced.

In order to achieve this goal, Zhao Ye had to improve the lithography machine by half a step.Meet the minimum technical requirements for the production of such chips.

In addition, not only FPGA chips need new lithography machines, but the production of display chips also requires new lithography machines.

(End of this chapter)