Chapter 204 - 198 Consciousness_1

On January 14, 1966, at the Moscow State Medical University Affiliated First Hospital.

Sergey Pavlovich Koryolov underwent surgery here after intestinal polyps were discovered.

Although the removal of intestinal polyps was only a trivial minor operation, as the undisputed soul of the Union’s space venture, Korolyov’s surgery took place in the best hospital, performed by the best leading surgeon.

In 1926, a 20-year-old Korolyov entered the Moscow Bauman Higher Technical School to study and became a student of Tupolev.

In 1929, he became a disciple of Tsiolkovsky and participated in the establishment of the Rocket Jet Propulsion Research Group.

Three years later, he published his first book "Rocket Engine", and the following year he released another work, "Rocket Flight".

Just from these credentials alone, Korolyov’s growth could be considered legendary, destined to become an extremely important figure in the Union’s space ventures.

However, in 1937, the Great Purge initiated by the "benevolent father" exiled him and his teacher Tupolev to Siberia for hard labor. Though he was soon recalled to work at an aircraft factory, this exile had a severe impact on Korolyov’s health.

In 1957, with the launch of the Union’s first R7 intercontinental missile, the space race was fiercely launched. After the "benevolent father" passed away in 1953, Korolyov was continuously entrusted with heavy responsibilities, working overtime to accelerate the development of the Union’s space ventures.

Korolyov sent the first intercontinental missile, the first artificial satellite, and the first astronaut, Gagarin, into space. Recently, he also created the "Voskhod 2" spacecraft in the race against America, allowing Aleksey Leonov to become the first person to conduct a spacewalk.

For such a legendary figure, even a minor surgery meant that several high-ranking officials from the OKB Design Bureau and military generals were waiting outside the operating room.

The surgery lasted about 40 minutes. Vasily Mishin, Korolyov’s assistant who later took over the N1 project, saw the door of the operating room being pushed open and the leading surgeon rushed out.

Less than a minute later, two cardiac surgery specialists charged into the operating room.

Vasily was puzzled, it was just a surgery for intestinal polyps, why did they need a cardiac surgeon?

The unforeseen complications in the operating room brought an ominous premonition to everyone, and after the surgery went on for a full four hours, the leading surgeon announced the outcome:

The growth on Korolyov’s intestine was not a polyp, but a tumor.

Even if it was just a tumor, it would be a simple matter for the doctors here, but what no one expected was that due to his youthful exile and the long-term heavy workload, Korolyov had developed arteriosclerosis in his heart and unexpected complications arose during the operation.

Sergey Pavlovich Koryolov died on the same day from heart complications unable to withstand the stress of the surgery, at the age of 59, having just celebrated his birthday on the 12th.

As sorrow filled the space outside the operating room, a cluster of consciousness was being swept through the hospital, flying towards an unseen height.

...

Modu City, Modu City Microelectronics Company.

SinoCore International, Modu Huahong, Unigroup Semiconductor, and several other companies were here, exerting pressure on Modu City Microelectronics.

The world’s four major photolithography machine manufacturers: ASML in the Netherlands, Island Country’s Canon and Nikon, Modu City Microelectronics.

Currently, Modu City Microelectronics can mass-produce 90nm photolithography machines, but after multiple exposures, 28nm chips can be manufactured, and even theoretically, the ultimate process capability could reach 22.5nm.

However, the yield rate of multiple exposures is somewhat low, so Modu City Microelectronics is developing the next generation of 65nm photolithography machine, which will vastly improve the yield rate for producing 28nm or 22nm process chips.

The higher the yield rate, the lower the cost, the better the performance; this is the basic idea behind the famous Moore’s Law. The more advanced the process, the better the performance improvement for the same cost.

The reason why several domestic semiconductor companies are urging Modu City Microelectronics to produce the 65nm photolithography machine is mainly driven by Xinyuan’s X321 and X322 series, as well as their associated dynamic memory businesses.

Currently, using 90nm photolithography machines for multiple exposures to produce 28nm chips is too costly. If a 65nm photolithography machine is used for multiple exposures to produce 28nm process chips, the cost would be only one-third of that of the 90nm machine.

A single chip could yield nearly an additional profit of 2000 yuan!

To be honest, even now the price of 28nm ternary chips far exceeds the same process cost of TSMC or Samsung. If Xin’an Automobile hadn’t accepted the high cost for use in cars and were willing to support domestic manufacturers, semiconductors companies wouldn’t even want to deal with the low yield rate of the 90nm multiple exposures to 28nm.

In fact, even the 28nm process is somewhat inflated; each X321/322 series chip is a hybrid of 45nm and 28nm process technologies, reducing the 28nm process area to bring the yield rate to a barely acceptable level.

The mastermind behind Xin’an is Lin Ju. Why would Lin Ju be willing to be the scapegoat, spending high costs to buy chips, if not to stimulate the domestic semiconductor manufacturers to upgrade?

Crossing the 65nm barrier is a significant challenge. Once you move a little beyond the 65nm photolithography machine, you enter the realm of the 28nm photolithography machine.

What can a 28nm photolithography machine do? It can produce 7nm, 5nm chips through multiple exposures, which were still mainstream in Lin Ju’s time before he crossed over.

Even 14nm and 10nm chips could fully satisfy a substantial consumer market’s needs.

Now, driven by the indirect profits from Xin’an Automobile, semiconductor manufacturers have started to invest in Modu City Microelectronics, accelerating the research and development of the 65nm photolithography machine and subsequent mid-range DUV photolithography machines.

However, there are also factors of promotion by the Ministry of Science and Technology at play here.

SinoCore International, Unigroup, and Huahong are all state-owned enterprises. They are willing to collaborate with Modu City Microelectronics because they are privy to insider information:

The nation is preparing to construct a Ternary System for computing!

Only a select few are aware of this information, and its veracity is unknown. However, soon after, the state-backed power behind these three semiconductor enterprises began pushing Modu City Microelectronics to develop higher process systems to increase production and reduce costs.

The news that Xinyuan Company quietly developed ternary chips that could compete with, or even slightly surpass, the mainstream x86 architecture’s 14nm process with the outdated 28nm process had been repeatedly verified by semiconductor experts on higher orders within a few months.

Although the experts were deeply shocked by this sudden emergence of the Ternary System, urging clarification of the circumstances and resolution of this seemingly unscientific mystery, the higher-ups could no longer manage so much oversight.

Check? Check what?

With the beginning of the space race, although economic exchanges with America are still rising year by year, the blockade has become more severe, which is palpable to both countries’ top levels.

Now, with China’s semiconductor industry lagging more than twenty years behind, there is a genuine opportunity to catch up on the turn. This must be seized.

According to the report by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the 14nm technology will soon be outdated, and in the next few years, the era of sub-10nm will commence. With domestic technology unable to keep up at such a pace, only the 28nm process is likely to gradually mature and improve its yield rate in the short term.

Therefore, the chance for winning through a strategic shortcut must not be wasted. It is essential to push for the implementation of the Ternary System as soon as possible!