"The chip is very small, only the size of a fingernail, but the technology involved is extremely complex, no less than building aircraft carriers and aircraft."
"There are billions of transistors in every square inch. Use a high-power microscope to observe the internal structure of the chip. It is more complex than any city in the world."
"It is said that if you put mustard seeds into your body, one grain of sand will create a world, and one leaf will create a bodhi tree. That's it!"
"Of course, as Mr. Liu said, this chip is man-made, not God. As long as we are willing to work hard, everything is possible."
Li Chun's voice was very loud.
As an expert in chip research, he was deeply inspired by Liu Yuan's firm belief.
He studied chip manufacturing. He originally wanted to develop his ambitions after returning to China and make up for his country's shortcomings in this area. However, chips are really not something that can be decided by one person.
It is too huge, too complicated, involves too many things, and the funds required for research and development are extremely huge. Without a firm belief and strong support, it is impossible to develop this thing.
What's more, we have to research this thing and related software, equipment, etc. from beginning to end.
"The raw material for making chips is very simple, that is, sand, which can be found almost everywhere. But we first need to deoxidize and purify the sand. The purity of the silicon wafers used to make chips must exceed 99.99999%, which is almost 100%.
purity."
"In this regard, it is not difficult. As long as you are willing to spend money, you can purchase relevant equipment and instruments internationally, and the related technology is not difficult."
"The next step is to slice the silicon ingot and cut it into circular silicon wafers, commonly known as wafers. The wafers must be mirror-level smooth."
"The problem in this step is how to cut the wafer thin and flat!"
"The fourth step is to apply glue to the wafer. This requires the use of special glue, and we also need to re-research it ourselves."
"The fifth step of photolithography is to use a photolithography machine to engrave all the designed chip circuits on the wafer to form the core circuit network of the chip."
"This step is also the most difficult step, because it includes a key piece of equipment, the photolithography machine!"
"Lithography machines are something we can't buy even if we have money. We have to research them from start to finish ourselves, and this is a systematic and huge project."
When he said this, Li Chun also paused slightly.
Manufacturing chips, just by talking about it in such a simple way, everyone can understand how difficult it is.
Compared with building aircraft carriers, manufacturing chips is even more difficult. Sometimes, the smaller things are, the more difficult they are to manufacture, while huge things are easier to manufacture.
The most difficult part of manufacturing chips is the photolithography machine.
The principle of photolithography technology is very simple. It uses the light emitted by a photolithography machine to pass through a patterned photomask to expose a thin film coated with a specific photoresist.
When the photoresist is exposed to light, its properties will change, causing the pattern on the photomask to be copied onto the sheet.
The principle is so simple, and there is nothing too complicated. In layman's terms, it is to use light to pass through a mask model and shine on the sheet. The glue coated on the sheet will change its properties under the irradiation of the light.
form a figure.
The principle is very simple.
But it is very difficult to actually do it, because the design involves accuracy issues.
An extremely complex circuit must be built on a silicon chip the size of a fingernail, and billions of transistors must be built on it with nanometer-level precision.
This is the difficulty!
There are only a handful of companies in the world that can produce photolithography machines, but there is only one company that can produce them for chip manufacturing, and that is Helan's ASML.
The price of a photolithography machine is also extremely expensive. It can easily cost hundreds of millions of green coins, or even hundreds of millions of green coins. The key is that they will not sell it to you unless you pay them.
"...The entire manufacturing process seems to have only 11 steps when we talk about it now, but in fact, there are thousands of processes involved. The photolithography step alone requires thousands of repeated operations.
It’s complicated and requires extremely high craftsmanship.”
"The yield rate of each process must be guaranteed to be 100%, otherwise the final yield rate and qualification rate will be very low. Even if each process has a yield rate of 99%, it will have too many processes and is too complicated.
, in the end, the yield will be very low, and the cost of manufacturing will be very high."
Li Chun talked for more than two hours before briefly explaining the general steps of chip manufacturing.
"Hiss~"
When everyone present heard this, they couldn't help but take a breath of air.
"No wonder it is said that manufacturing chips is as difficult as putting a man on the moon."
"Can we really make such a complex process, with so many steps, and such strict requirements?"
After Lu Yong heard this, he couldn't help but shake his head.
To be honest, he is not optimistic about Liu Yuan's chip plan. He has invested huge funds, manpower and material resources to research this thing, and if it is researched, it may not bring much benefit to the company.
It would be more practical to put all our energy into biotechnology research and research on several more drugs.
But Liu Yuan is the boss, he is a wage earner, and the boss's words are imperial edicts. Even if he doesn't like it, he still has to do it. How could he meet a willful boss?
He also obtained relevant information and content in advance and had a general understanding of the difficulty of manufacturing chips. It was really difficult.
Now after listening to Li Chun's speech, I suddenly feel that it is even more difficult, and I no longer have any confidence.
"Yes, hearing Professor Li say this makes me feel as if I have reached the sky."
Yi Han also followed suit.
"Difficult, of course it is difficult. If it were not difficult, the world would have been in ruins long ago, and our country would not need to import hundreds of billions of green dollars in chips from abroad every year."
Li Chun smiled and nodded.
"Hundreds of billions of green coins?"
When everyone present heard this, they couldn't help but exclaimed in surprise.
"Our country spends hundreds of billions of green coins a year to import this chip?"
Wang Wei said with some disbelief that our country alone spends hundreds of billions to import these small chips every year.
"Yes, in 2018, our country's chip import volume exceeded 300 billion green coins, accounting for 60% of the global integrated circuit market. The import volume has even surpassed oil, becoming the number one imported commodity.
.”
Li Chun replied solemnly.
When I said this, I couldn't help but feel sad.
"300 billion green coins!"
"I feel really sad!"
"With 300 billion green coins a year, the chips in exchange may fit on an airplane."
"But how much goods do we need to export abroad to get back 300 billion green coins?"
"Clothes and shoes are all shipped out by who knows how many ships. Our Chinese people have worked so hard to provide cheap labor. Calculated at 5,000 yuan per person per month, 300 billion green coins, that is more than 2,000 billion national currency.
That’s the value of one month’s labor of 400 million people.”
"Four hundred million people worked hard for a month to get back only the chip for this aircraft."
"I don't know how everyone feels. Anyway, I feel unconvinced."
"We have two shoulders carrying one head, so why can't we earn this money?"
"If nothing else, as long as we can produce chips, we can save this 2 trillion. We are the world's largest customer, but we have not received the respect we deserve."
“If they say they cut off the supply, they will cut off the supply; if they say they say they will raise the price, they will raise the price!”
"Our necks are being strangled!"
Liu Yuan stood up, looked around, and said in an extremely angry voice.
Spending 300 billion green coins a year to buy this chip, after all, it takes 400 million people a month's labor to get it back. Thinking about it makes people feel aggrieved. What's even more embarrassing is that they also say that if the supply is cut off, the supply will be cut off.
, raise the price when you say it will, with an attitude of whether you want to buy or not.
"There are indeed huge difficulties in manufacturing chips, but we come one by one, and we overcome every difficulty, just like climbing a mountain. We climb step by step, step by step, and one day we will be able to climb
Go up."
"Not for anything else, just to be able to fight for a breath!"
"If those of us who are engaged in science and technology do not study these things, then who will study this thing? Will we always be strangled by others and can only be engaged in low-end and mid-range industries?"
Liu Yuan's words were deafening, and made everyone who had no confidence secretly clench their fists.
“If a country or a nation wants to become strong, it must have people who are brave enough to forge ahead and open up a bright road for the descendants behind them.”
"What we at Xinghai Technology do is high technology. We will do whatever is difficult."
"I would like to express my position to everyone here. Regarding the chip research project, I will invest unlimited funds in it."
"We just want to fight for the chance to come up with this chip and break their monopoly!"
PS: I don’t know if I don’t know. I’ll be shocked when I calculate it. Hundreds of billions of green coins, hundreds of millions of people work for a month~