Chapter 220 - 214 Bill_1

Modu City’s microelectronics are currently able to mass-produce 90nm photolithography machines, which are clearly a long way from the 40nm mark, and it’s already very difficult to produce 28nm.

Not only is the yield low, but the production volume is also low, the process is complex, and the cost is ridiculously high compared to similar-level products.

For the automotive sector, the prices of X32115 and 32116 at a few thousand don’t matter much; for aerospace, even if the silicon carbide chip production line is automated, the cost of X32035 at tens of thousands per chip is negligible in the overall system.

But for the consumer electronics market, with shipments ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions, or even over a billion, reducing the price by 10 yuan per unit can bring tremendous competitiveness and exaggerated profits.

Everyone has good ideas, and China’s chip design capabilities are no slouch, but if the chips produced are too expensive, it’s a big problem if they can’t be sold at all.

Even if government and confidential units will have a sizable number of orders, can it compare with the vast civil market?

No, SinoCore International’s 28nm chips are several times more expensive than TSMC’s 14nm chips, which is completely against the laws of semiconductor development, and they really shouldn’t be produced at all.

When He Yuming tactfully expressed that they could only control the cost and yield of 55nm chips to be the same as the international mainstream level but no higher, the atmosphere at the summit froze.

55nm mature processes, can they really be used?

Even with ternary system buffs, you can’t defy the odds. Shall we gamble with millions of analog FETs and billions of transistors?

If you can’t control the costs, how will you compete with the blue, green, red factories and Samsung Qualcomm?

Wang Minjiang was also annoyed with himself for forgetting this issue. He had rushed to spin off too quickly. Previously, he had been making chips for automotive and aerospace applications, where cost wasn’t much of a concern.

So the summit was temporarily put on hold that day, and Wang Minjiang urgently sought help from Lin Ju overnight.

"What? Can’t get it done before 2020? Impossible."

Although he said it was impossible, Lin still believed it. The photolithography machine is an extremely complex system. The lower-end ones are still manageable, but high-end ones can only be produced by ASML.

ASML in the Netherlands isn’t great just because it has the might. It relies on a vast supply chain consisting of thousands of companies from around the world, including China. If you want to produce chips, there’s another long supply chain on the production line, which isn’t just a matter of technological breakthrough.

Lin Ju thought for a moment, then tried to create a new task at the System Research Institute:

[New Task: Develop a photolithography machine and corresponding chemical materials that can produce 14nm chips with a yield of over 96%

Current Progress: 0%]

Then, he tried investing fifty million into it.

The progress went from 0% to 0.01%.

He calculated in his mind, so to reach 100%, it would cost 500 billion?

It seems using the system to accelerate isn’t quite feasible.

So the remaining option was to try to get help from the base, that is, the fully automated production line that can produce 14nm silicon carbide chips.

This powerful automated production line only requires purchasing highly purified raw materials. Once fed into the input port, the production line, which occupies a considerable underground and above-ground area, will automatically carry out a series of processes such as cutting, etching, and packaging. It is the black tech within black tech.

Input the design drawings and a few raw materials, wait a month, and the chips come out. Although the output is low, the underlying technical strength is unimaginable.

But no one dares to take it apart. Such precise equipment must have an internal cleanliness greater than a cleanroom, and it would definitely be ruined if disassembled.

If one really wants to study the technology inside, the only way is to build a new B-level Base and then dismantle the production line inside for reverse engineering.

The difficulty of this... is probably not much lower than directly researching silicon chips to reach 7nm processes, and it could even be higher.

By July 27th, after contacting Lin Ju all night, Wang Minjiang announced that the summit would be adjourned for three days.

At the same time, Wang Minjiang easily met the superiors who were extremely concerned about the summit and presented the problems they were facing.

Hearing that the ternary system might also be difficult to push forward due to cost factors, the initial reaction of the superiors was disappointment and a bit of resignation.

There’s no such thing as overtaking on a bend; every step has to be solid and steady—it was their own excessive eagerness.

But just as the superior was feeling disappointed, Wang Minjiang made a determined declaration with unexpected news:

The overseas Chinese who provide support for ternary system enthusiasts are also top figures in major chip design and manufacturing enterprises, including some involved with photolithography machine technology.

They can’t provide technical materials directly, but they can offer guidance on certain key technologies through secret channels by phone, and might even involve people from other countries.

If Modu City’s microelectronics or SinoCore International need it, they could bring people to Xinyuan Company to use the Meridian satellite network for secure communications and asking about some key technologies might be helpful. However, these consultations aren’t without a price—they need money, a lot of money, which Xinyuan Company can cover.

According to Wang Minjiang, a single question might cost hundreds of millions, but it will surely provide a solution.

The superiors told Wang Minjiang to go back first, and then on the last day of the adjournment, when the summit delegates were about to despair, the Science and Technology Committee ordered seven state-owned enterprises related to chip manufacturing to send out technical experts with the current technical problems they faced for a secret assembly.

Also, the semiconductor summit was further adjourned for four days.

The order came from a very high level, and within an afternoon’s time, it gathered the core research team leaders from major enterprises and quietly flew them to Xinyuan Company, seated on eight flights.

Aboard the planes, a total of 43 experts from various fields related to chip manufacturing signed confidentiality agreements and also signed on as external consultants for the Microelectronics department of New Yuan Aerospace Power Research Institute, entitled to an annual allowance and benefits.

Wang Minjiang said this was Factory Manager Lin’s request, and no one thought there was too much of a problem with it—a contract couldn’t constrain much.

On the 28th, 29th, and 30th, the 43 external researchers were secretly convened in a small building owned by New Yuan, staying almost in isolation for 96 hours and raised over seventy extremely critical technical issues, as well as the synthetic processing techniques for more than twenty chemical materials and special substances.

Meanwhile, in secret, Lin Ju was stunned as he watched 3 Level A scientists, 9 Level B+ engineers, and 31 Level B engineers, unable to close his mouth in shock.

The higher-ups really believed in him, so they actually sent the country’s top scientific researchers.

The officials only needed to make a slight move to bring out an unimaginable trove of talent resources.

It only goes to show there are indeed many remarkable people, but he had no intention of embezzling anything. He formed the chip technology public relations team out of these luxurious arrays of researchers and listed the hundreds of most critical technical difficulties they faced into system tasks, beginning the research.

Four days later, when the 43 researchers emerged, the people greeting them found that, though they looked a bit disheveled and grimy, their spirits were unexpectedly high.

At the same time, Wang Minjiang handed a bill totaling 10.2 billion yuan to the superiors.