In the testing room, the Shenguang 1X-ray lithography machine is running, and a group of staff are still testing and adjusting tirelessly.
As the chief technology executive of SMIC, Li Weiguang's technical level is not bad. He stares at the behemoth in front of him with bright eyes. What a wonderful industrial flower it is.
Li Weiguang thought to himself that he hoped that this lithography machine would be a beautiful woman with beautiful appearance and wisdom, rather than a beautiful woman with beautiful appearance.
Gao Zhiyuan pointed to the lithography machine and introduced: "The lithography machine in front of you is the Shenguang 1 X-ray lithography machine developed by Shenguang Instruments. I believe everyone already knows the specific technical indicators."
Of course Li Weiguang, Zhao Jun and others knew that the technical specifications of the Shenguang 1 X-ray lithography machine were included in the attachment to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's announcement, and they had already studied it halfway.
"Mr. Gao, the accuracy of your photolithography machine can really reach 10-7 nanometers," Li Weiguang asked urgently.
"I know everyone is very suspicious. There are eight-inch silicon wafers nearby. SMIC should have brought technicians here."
Li Weiguang nodded.
Gao Zhiyuan pointed to the warehouse on one side and continued: "You can send people to hold the silicon wafers and conduct photolithography tests with our employees."
"Then we have to be respectful and obey orders." Li Weiguang turned to the people at SMIC and said, "Gong Zhang, Gong Li, please excuse me."
The two middle-aged technicians worked quickly and carefully took out the silicon wafer with the help of tools.
These silicon wafers are not only expensive, but also very fragile. Not to mention dropping them on the ground, it is best not to come into direct contact with the air, because it will be very troublesome if they are contaminated with dust.
Send the two silicon wafers into special cleaning equipment, then apply photoresist, spread the photoresist to a certain thickness, and dry the photoresist on the surface of the silicon wafer.
The process is very complicated, and there can be no mistakes. This not only tests the machinery and equipment, but also tests the level of technicians.
If there is a mistake in one of the links, not only will the work for a long time be in vain, but consumables such as silicon wafers, photoresist, and cleaning fluid will also be wasted. These are real money.
No wonder it is said that scientific research is a waste of money.
More than an hour later, the step of silicon wafer photolithography was finally reached. An eight-inch silicon wafer was fed into it by the automated equipment of the photolithography machine.
In order to avoid affecting the photolithography effect, Li Gong observed the silicon wafer through the lens of a small window for a while, then closed the small window, allowing the photolithography chamber to form a dark box.
Zhang Gong selected some mask templates (circuit diagram motherboards) on the computer, randomly selected one of the templates, and entered the size adjustment.
Because different chip circuit diagrams require different areas, the number of chips that can be carved out of one silicon wafer must be adjusted according to the actual situation.
The staff use simple gestures to communicate. Around such high-precision equipment, even speaking louder may affect the lithography results.
Lithography begins.
In about 16 seconds, the exit on the other side of the silicon wafer that has been photolithographed will appear.
Then the second silicon wafer was quickly processed, and it also came out in about 16 seconds.
Outside the testing room, Zhao Jun, Li Weiguang, Fang Long and others were all staring closely at the two silicon wafers that had been photolithographed.
Gong Zhang and Gong Li used special equipment and each person was responsible for one silicon wafer and transferred it to the electron microscope inspection room next door.
Under an electron microscope, the circuit pattern pattern on the silicon wafer is exactly the same as the template, the only difference is the size.
"It's really incredible that 7 nanometers can be achieved." Gong Li exclaimed as he looked at the electron microscope.
"Not only that, the lines carved by X-ray lithography are very neat and delicate, which is really a masterpiece." Zhang Gong added.
The two of them conducted a very comprehensive inspection on the two silicon wafers and finally generated two inspection reports.
Li Weiguang, who was anxious outside, saw the two people coming out and couldn't wait to step forward and asked: "What's the result?"
Everyone at SMIC and HiSilicon looked at the two of them nervously and expectantly, hoping it was good news, not bad news.
"Mr. Li, the accuracy of the Shenguang 1 X-ray lithography machine has indeed reached 10 to 7 nanometers, which is even better than ASML's extreme ultraviolet light." Zhang Gong explained.
Phew! Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
Li Gong handed the two test reports to Li Weiguang: "This is the specific test report."
Everyone at SMIC quickly circulated it.
After reading the detailed test report, Zhao Jun and Li Weiguang breathed heavily. This Shenguang 1 X-ray lithography machine is even stronger than ASML's top lithography machine.
At least ASML's top lithography machines currently seem to be a little unable to cope with 7-nanometer chips, while the Shenguang 1 X-ray lithography machine is more than capable.
If they knew that Huang Mingzhe deliberately limited the accuracy, they would understand why they were able to do it with ease.
"Mr. Gao, as a Chinese chip man, I pay tribute to you." Li Weiguang said excitedly.
As Chinese chip people, they live a very miserable life. All kinds of pressures at home and abroad almost make them breathless.
The emergence of the Shenguang 1 X-ray lithography machine made Li Weiguang and others feel proud, and finally no longer had to endure the cynicism of those birdies.
"We don't dare to take credit. In fact, the president must take 90% of the credit for the birth of this photolithography machine." Gao Zhiyuan said it was not an exaggeration at all.
The direction of the X-ray lithography machine was chosen by Huang Mingzhe. The two key materials came from the photosensitive material law model, and the entire software system was closely related to Huang Mingzhe.
In addition, the simulation space technology and finite element inverse analysis technology mastered by Sisi Society have promoted Shenguang Instrument Company's strength in integration and improvement.
Although everyone at SMIC and HiSilicon were very surprised, the researchers or employees of Shenguang Instruments present all agreed with Gao Zhiyuan's words. Zhao Jun and the others had no intention of asking the truth about this matter.
"Mr. Gao, I wonder how much the Shenguang 1 X-ray lithography machine costs," Zhao Jun asked quickly.
"1.5 billion units."
Gulu! Although Zhao Jun had expected that the price of the Shenguang 1 X-ray lithography machine would be very high, he did not expect that it would be as high as 1.5 billion.
Of course, the high price is understandable. Shenguang Instruments’ research and development expenses must be earned back, and no one wants to lose money when doing business.
But then he relaxed, because there is a subsidy for purchasing the Shenguang 1X-ray lithography machine, and the state's subsidy is as high as 40%.
In other words, the number of Shenguang 1 X-ray lithography machines is 1.5 billion units, and after subsidies, the number is 900 million units.
However, this subsidy policy is only for two years for the time being, and it can only be obtained by Chinese companies. In addition, every lithography machine will be registered and cannot be transferred at will.
In addition, the subsidy is not a direct payment, but after the enterprise purchases the full amount from Shenguang Instruments, the state will offset this part of the subsidy in the form of tax exemptions.
Zhao Jun and Li Weiguang discussed quietly for a while, and finally reached an agreement with Shenguang Instruments. SMIC ordered 10 Shenguang 1X-ray lithography machines from Shenguang Instruments, and the contract was divided into two years.
This contract is as high as 15 billion, and the five units this year are an order of 7.5 billion. Shenguang Instruments requires a 50% deposit.
Moreover, once the order is placed, Shenguang Instruments will not refund regardless of whether the purchasing company wants a photolithography machine or not. If the order is canceled without reason, not only will the deposit not be refunded, but it will also be included in the blacklist of Sisi Society.
As a listed company, SMIC immediately announced that it had ordered 10 Shenguang 1 X-ray lithography machines from Shenguang Instruments.
This huge order not only stunned the whole world, but also stimulated SMIC's stock price to skyrocket, with the stock price soaring 16% that day.