Super Copy of Great Power Technology

Chapter 75 Bedroom Talk

"So, boss, you chose the 45nm process tapeout. How much did it cost?"

"It's not too much. For the 45nm process, one tapeout costs 600 million. This is an internal price, which is much cheaper than the price offered by large wafer fabs such as SMIC and TSMC."

"Let me go, 600 million is not much. Boss, you are really inhumane."

"This is the first tape-out test. I don't know if it will pass. If the tape-out fails, I have to find the problem, modify the chip design, and then tape-out again. For a novice like me, this is my first time. How can we succeed in designing a chip without tape-out four or five times?”

"It takes four or five times to successfully tape out, each time costing 600 million. In other words, designing a chip requires 2400-3000 million. This is too exaggerated. How many chips need to be sold to recover the cost."

We are all freshmen. Although we have entered the School of Microelectronics, we have almost no knowledge of the common sense in the industry.Qiao Ruida also had experience in her previous life, so she knew more about the situation.

"In our chip design industry, the cost of chip research and development is relatively high. After finalization and mass production, the production cost of each chip is very low, only a few cents. The selling price of the chip is dozens of its production cost. Hundreds of times, as long as hundreds of thousands of chips are sold, the cost can be easily recovered. The audio decoding chip I designed this time can decode music files in lossless format and is still very popular. As long as the price is higher than that of foreign chips It’s cheaper and it’s relatively easy to sell hundreds of thousands of them.”

"No wonder there are so few domestic chip design companies. The investment is too terrifying. To design a chip, the tape-out cost is tens of millions of RMB. Most companies simply cannot afford such a large amount of money."

"So, wouldn't the employment situation be very bad after graduating from our senior year in this major?"

"It is difficult for undergraduates majoring in microelectronics to enter a chip design company. The minimum threshold for them to recruit workers is a master's degree. The way out for us undergraduates is to take the postgraduate entrance examination, study abroad, or enter a wafer foundry. When Senior engineers working on the production line.”

"I'd better take the postgraduate entrance examination. In our major, there is no way out if we don't take the postgraduate entrance examination."

The sleeping session lasted for more than an hour and then ended. The four friends fell asleep one after another, and the sound of snoring could be heard in dormitory 309.

The next day, after breakfast, Qiao Ruida drove to Daxing campus again and entered the integrated circuit laboratory.The temporary pass I applied for yesterday can still be used today, which saves me the trouble of re-registering to verify my identity.Qiao Ruida went up to the second floor and found Zhou Wanda in the office.

"Ruida, you're here. Come with me quickly. The tape-out production of your chip has already started."

Seeing Qiao Ruida, Zhou Wanda immediately stood up, pulled him and walked out. It seemed that Zhou Wanda stayed in the office just to wait for Qiao Ruida's arrival.Zhou Wanda took Qiao Ruida to an elevator, pressed the down button, and waited for a few minutes before the elevator door opened.

The experimental building where Qiao Ruida and his wife are located has only ten floors above ground. Although there are two elevators, everyone is still used to climbing the stairs.Yesterday Qiao Ruida ran up and down a dozen times, always climbing the stairs. This was the first time she took the elevator. "Gong Wang, Researcher Liu, are you going to the basement level too?"

At this time, there were already two researchers in white coats in the elevator. Zhou Wanda greeted them enthusiastically, and then walked into the elevator with Qiao Ruida.Only then did Qiao Ruida know that in addition to the ten floors above ground, this experimental building also had a basement, and it had more than one floor.Looking at the instructions on the elevator, there are three floors in the basement, and at this time, the button for the negative floor has been lit.

"Yes, there is a chip tape-out trial production on the negative layer today, which requires a 45nm process. Several of us who are researching multiple exposure technology have been roped in to help."

The elevator door closed and the elevator began to descend.Zhou Wanda pulled Qiao Ruida over and introduced him to the two colleagues, "The chip to be produced today was designed by Qiao Ruida. Ruida, come, let me introduce to you. This is Senior Engineer Wang Bing. This is It’s Senior Researcher Liu Fugui, both of whom are studying multiple exposure technology.”

"Gong Wang, Researcher Liu, hello. Qiao Ruida, please take care of me." Qiao Ruida shook hands with the two and said hello, acting very modestly.

"Qiao started designing chips at such a young age, and his future is limitless."

"Classmate Qiao, what type of chip are you designing? How come you use such an advanced processing technology as 45nm? The cost of tape-out is much higher than that of the 90nm process. Since the 45nm photolithography process was conquered, a total of I haven’t used it a few times because the cost is too high and the yield rate is too low.”

"Oh, I designed an audio decoding chip for use in small MP3 players. I wanted to reduce the size of the chip and reduce power consumption as much as possible, so I chose the 45nm process."

After the three of them got to know each other, they exchanged a few pleasantries, and the topic quickly transitioned to the professional field, chatting about issues related to chip technology.

A few minutes later, the elevator stopped at the underground floor. After stepping out of the elevator, there was a passage only a few meters long. Soft light poured down from the top of the passage, illuminating the entire space.There are two rooms with hanging material rooms on both sides of the passage. The door of the room is closed at this time, and it is unknown how big the internal space is.At the end of the passage, there is a glass sliding door. At this time, the door is open, and behind it is an area illuminated by purple light.

"The chip production line has very high environmental requirements. Dust-free, no odor, no vibration, and constant temperature and humidity are the basic requirements. Therefore, most chip production lines are installed in high-standard dust-free workshops. In front is the air shower passage into the dust-free workshop. , used to remove dust and dander from the human body. After passing through, you have to put on dust-free clothes before entering the dust-free workshop."

Zhou Wanda walked in front and introduced Qiao Ruida to the air shower room and dust-free workshop.After the four people entered the air shower room, the sensor was triggered and the glass door behind them closed automatically. The violent airflow blew out from the top channel and hit the four people, blowing away the dust on their clothes.A few minutes later, the air shower ended, the light turned green, and the door to the inside of the air shower room opened.The four of them walked into the door one after another, and inside was a huge changing room.After the four people put on white dust-free clothes, they walked inside to find the real dust-free workshop.

"Hey, this dust-free workshop is too big. The visual area is at least over 2000 square meters. This is much larger than the area of ​​the laboratory building above."

(End of this chapter)