Chapter 58: 5-nanometer Lithography Machine
In the director’s office.
After Yan Wentai, who had returned again, exchanged some words with Fan Ren about matters related to carbon nanotube, he walked to the desk and took out a confidentiality agreement.
“General Manager Fan, I’m really sorry, but for what we’re about to discuss, I still have to trouble you to sign a confidentiality agreement.”
Although Fan Ren found it a bit strange, he still took the pen and signed his name.
In his view, they hadn’t even started specifically discussing cooperation, so why inexplicably sign a confidentiality agreement first.
14nm lithography machine, although it does have related confidentiality regulations to some extent, just talking about cooperation shouldn’t be this sensitive.
Yan Wentai put away the confidentiality agreement and sealed it, then sat back down across from Fan Ren with a serious expression: “General Manager Fan, what do you think about our domestic 5nm lithography machine?”
Upon hearing this, Fan Ren thought for a moment about domestic news related to chips, and then a hint of regret appeared on his face.
“Far behind.”
He only said four words, but he believed Director Yan understood his meaning.
“Yes, the first 5nm lithography machine was precisely developed by our institute. I’m not afraid of you laughing, General Manager Fan, but in terms of precision and cost, compared to As Company’s products of the same level, there’s a huge gap.”
Fan Ren knew that it was precisely because of this reason that the Baiyue Alliance had never lifted the export restriction on lithography machines below 14nm to China.
Although being able to break through heavy blockades and single-handedly complete the research and development of a 5nm lithography machine was enough to shock the jaws off all countries in the world.
After all, on this planet, besides China, no other country could independently complete the research and development of lithography machines below 14nm.
But it had to be admitted that at the current stage, China’s 5nm lithography machine still had great shortcomings in precision and cost.
And because of this, the success rate of tape-out in chip production was pitifully low.
The office fell into a brief silence. Fan Ren also knew that this was already a very remarkable achievement, but the problems faced were still extremely severe.
The Baiyue side had even begun trial production of 3nm process chips.
“Let’s not talk about that. At least we’ve never stopped our pursuit.”
Yan Wentai sighed and then continued in a normal tone: “Not long ago, Ke Fengyun proposed using high-voltage radio to replace a large number of wire harnesses in the lithography machine, which could not only greatly reduce power consumption, but also cost. And according to his reasoning, replacing the wire harnesses connected to positioning components with radio links could improve positioning precision to some extent.
General Manager Fan, what do you think of this theory?”
Looking at the expectant gaze in Yan Wentai’s eyes, Fan Ren couldn’t help but become serious.
“Doctor Ke’s proposal is really very good. It was only after his reminder that I thought of applying high-voltage radio in this area.
But Director Yan, to be honest with you, before carbon nanotube was successfully developed, I actually wasn’t too optimistic about this reasoning.
High-voltage radio technology currently has issues like high-voltage magnetic field interference, which is not very suitable for equipment like lithography machines that have extremely high magnetic field compatibility requirements.
It only has application conditions temporarily in areas like vehicle charging and fields where magnetic field impact is not highly valued.”
“That’s exactly it, so although Ke Fengyun proposed this idea, to tell the truth, I was just trying it out and wasn’t too optimistic either. Otherwise, it wouldn’t just be him going to Linhai alone; I would have gone to find you before him.”
Yan Wentai joked with a smile, easing the atmosphere a bit, then took out a pack of cigarettes, opened it, handed one to Fan Ren, and lit one for himself.
Having spent time together until now, he only just noticed that Fan Ren’s middle and index fingers were slightly yellowed, clearly indicating he was also a heavy smoker.
Fan Ren took it with both hands, hurriedly lit it up. To be honest, having been here for a while, he was really holding it in.
“And it was just a few days ago that we successfully developed a method for mass-producing carbon nanotube. Doctor Ke’s arrival happened to give me inspiration. Director Yan, have you already guessed it?”
As Fan Ren spoke, Yan Wentai’s eyes in front of him had already lit up.
“Magnetic field stability! Yes! Using carbon nanotube at the high-voltage radio receiver to stabilize the magnetic field, reduce, or even isolate the magnetic field, so compatibility wouldn’t be an issue at all.”
“Exactly. This is also the confidence behind my earlier proposal to cooperate with your institute. Actually, I know that given your institute’s contributions to the 14nm lithography machine, your institute doesn’t have a big funding gap. Only solid technology is the fundamental prerequisite for Xinghai and your institute to achieve cooperation. Director Yan, don’t you agree?”
Fan Ren smiled, Yan Wentai’s excited appearance indicating that the basic conditions for cooperation should be no problem.
“General Manager Fan, we’re not doing 14nm anymore! 5nm! We’re doing 5nm!”
As Yan Wentai spoke, he hurriedly got up, ran behind the desk, took out a key to open the safe hidden in the corner, and solemnly took out a thick document with both hands.
“General Manager Fan, let me be straightforward. Although the 5nm lithography machine has now been put into chip production, its precision is still far from sufficient. The purpose of Ke Fengyun’s visit to you is to use radio technology to conduct some improvement experiments on the 14nm lithography machine. If the experiment is effective, it will be applied to our 5nm lithography machine. Here, this is the relevant information.”
Fan Ren quickly extinguished his cigarette, took the document with both hands, and began flipping through it.
Yan Wentai took two deep puffs of his cigarette, slightly calming his excited mood.
At this moment, his gaze fell on Fan Ren in front of him, and for a moment, he couldn’t help but feel a bit dazed.
This young man, whose emotions were hard to read, had truly brought him a tremendous shock.
If high-voltage radio technology and solid-state battery technology were unexpected gains, then the current graphene-made carbon nanotube technology was a problem that had plagued materials science without resolution until now.
And now, it had been completed seemingly ‘effortlessly’ in his hands.
He had graduated less than a year ago!
Fan Ren flipped through very quickly; lithography machine technology wasn’t difficult for him to understand now.
The current 5nm lithography machine, due to poor precision, directly resulted in an extremely high tape-out failure rate, leading to even higher chip production costs.
Although small quantities could be shipped, the problem was that producing more led to even greater losses.
This was also one of the reasons why most domestic mobile phone manufacturers on the market today still used relatively backward 14nm process chips.
One was lack of supply, and the other was excessively high chip costs.
This also directly caused domestic mobile phones to always lag far behind the United States’ Apple and South Island Country’s San Xin in high-end phone performance.
Because in the high-end market, domestic mobile phone manufacturers’ only choice was the United States’ high-end chip manufacturers.
This way, they lost the advantage in price and cost, so how could they compare with others’ self-designed and manufactured high-performance chips.
Fan Ren knew why Yan Wentai was so excited: if the above problems could be solved, then some high-tech enterprises in China could truly sound the horn of attack against these companies that had always been pressing down on them in the high-end market segment.
After all, the profit in the mid-to-low-end market compared to the high-end market was really too big a gap.
After a long time, Fan Ren closed the folder and gently placed it on the table, rubbing his somewhat sore eyes.
Yan Wentai’s expectant gaze was fixed intently on him.
Fan Ren spoke solemnly: “Director Yan, I believe there is no problem with feasibility.”
