The development of a chip requires a process.

The first step in making a usable chip from sand is to prepare semiconductor-grade silicon ingots.

In this era, 8-inch (200mm) diameter wafers are commonly used, and major mainstream manufacturers are tackling related technologies for larger 12-inch diameters.

At the Institute of Semiconductor Materials of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, researchers are nervously staring at the data displayed in the instrument.

Wang Anran also felt the solemnity of the atmosphere, semiconductor wafer research is one of the first major projects of Huaxin Technology and the Academy of Sciences.

The 6-inch (150mm) diameter wafer stretching currently being carried out is also the most mature CZ straight-pull method in the world.

"Heat!"

"The current crucible furnace temperature is 1350 degrees. ”

"Place the seed crystal ready, 3, 2, 1, begin. ”

"Contact!"

With Qian Junjie's order, the seed crystal fixed on the rotating chuck slowly rotated at the designed speed.

In the crucible furnace, as the seed crystal is lifted, the monocrystalline silicon at the bottom begins to grow.

The data can be known from a stress sensor mounted on the chuck.

For a homogeneously grown silicon ingot, the stress should be constantly increasing, and the display on the monitor should be a linear straight line.

This line is within the permissible range, and it is possible to preliminarily conclude that the growth of the single crystal is uniform, but to confirm the quality of the silicon ingot, a series of complex tests are required, but now the first step is stuck.

Just when the participants didn't dare to make a sound, the alarm suddenly flashed red.

"Quick, stop lifting!"

The operator quickly pressed the control button, and the lifting of the chuck stopped immediately.

But it was obviously too late, Qian Junjie looked at the monitor, and the head of the stress line suddenly probed down, which indicated that the growth of monocrystalline silicon had broken and the experiment failed.

Qian Junjie shook his head and said to a thirty or forty-year-old staff member beside him: "Clean up the crucible and prepare for test data analysis." ”

After the arrangement was perfected, Qian Junjie walked to Wang Anran's side and said: "Mr. Wang, it's a pity that I failed again, if you are interested, please come to the conference room, and I will report to you in person." ”

In fact, Qian Junjie doesn't like to deal with businessmen, but he can't help Wang Anran, he has invested eight million to the Semiconductor Materials Research Institute, no matter what, he has to give someone an explanation.

Qian Junjie still understands this bit of sophistication.

And Wang Anran saw a gray-haired old scientist Professor Qian, calling himself Mr. Wang seriously, and he had to report to himself, and he was embarrassed and didn't know what to do.

"Professor Qian, it's okay to call me Anran, I am a student of Professor Lu Wei, and I am here to study. ”

Qian Junjie is no stranger to Lu Wei, in fact, the circle of scientists is very narrow, Qian Junjie is usually not in the laboratory, then in the library, if both places are not there, then he must be sleeping.

is familiar with Lu Wei, naturally because he is in the same industry and has some contacts.

"Is Lu Wei the dean now?"

Wang Anran was stunned and shook his head.

"I heard that Lu Wei is wide now, and someone donated 20 million to him for research at once, damn, it's really shit luck. ”

Wang Anran was a little surprised, and the respected old-timers would also burst into foul language.

"You won't be the one who donated it!"

“……”

In the conference room, Professor Qian held a stack of test materials.

"Anran, you also saw that the experiment just now failed. ”

"Professor Qian, I am also a science and engineering student, I know that there is no failure in experiments, at least we are not without gains, try more, and we will always find the right method. ”

Qian Junjie shook his head and said: "Mr. Wang, it's not that I'm crying poor, this kind of experiment can't be carried out a few times, this time even the allowances of our staff have been put up, and there is no money." ”

Wang Anran was amused when he heard it, and in front of the ticket, Professor Qian had to bow his head, didn't he just want to invest money himself? No problem.

"Professor Qian, how much does such an experiment cost?"

Qian Junjie handed over a list and said to Wang Anran: "The main thing is the material cost, you also saw just now, the seed crystal used for pulling up is made by a special chemical vapor phase method, our country has no way to produce it, it is all imported from Japan, this piece of seed crystal will cost 600,000, plus some chemical consumables, the cost of the entire test process will be more than 800,000." ”

For China in this era, 800,000 is not a small number.

This is still to overcome the production of 6-inch silicon ingots that others have eliminated.

Professor Qian said: "Mr. Wang, you have also seen that this is only a tensile test, and has not yet carried out the orientation and appropriate amount of N-type or P-type doping, although our researchers have done a lot of preliminary work, but it is estimated that such tests will be carried out at least more than 100 times." ”

Wang Anran frowned slightly, more than a hundred times, it is more than 80 million, there is no problem with paying this money by himself, but there must be an explanation for this money.

"What do you want?"

"Huaxin Technology requires 60% of the rights and interests of intellectual property rights, and the remaining 40% is distributed by the Academy of Sciences and the research team. ”

"I can't decide this, but I think the Academy of Sciences should agree......"

For Wang Anran, the six-inch wafer technology is also a chicken rib-like existence, most of the foreign countries have been eliminated, and now it is the eight-inch world, and in a few years, Intel will fully turn to the production of 12-inch wafers.

It is a trend to know that the larger the diameter of the wafer, the more chips can be integrated on the same wafer, and the lower the production cost.

Now the domestic situation is that scientific research units are generally underfunded, and the research in the corresponding basic subjects naturally cannot keep up, what Huaxin Technology has to do is to build a bridge between enterprises and research institutions, and the combination of production and research is also the future direction.

"Anran, these 80 million are not to invest so much at one time, maybe fifty times will be successful!"

Wang Anran said: "Professor Qian, not only 6 inches, 8 inches and 12 inches, you also have to tackle key problems, you report the budget to me, and I will personally give you approval." ”

After returning to the company, Wang Anran made a detailed list of more than 80 research topics in 14 categories, including wafer production, doping, semiconductor materials, high-purity acid-base solvents, thin film technology, wafer processing, pollution control, baking etching, metal precipitation, ion implantation, etching.

Among them, it is either to fund research, or to cooperate in development, or to be led by Huaxin Technology, and seek technical cooperation from universities or research institutions.

Looking at the dense annotations on the paper, Wang Anran muttered to himself.

"More than 80 projects, even if one-tenth are successful, can also contribute to the development of the country's semiconductor industry. ”

One of the reasons why the semiconductor industry in the United States is so prosperous is that there is a very mature semiconductor R&D environment in the United States.

In China, it is extremely difficult to buy a chip for research.

That's the difference.

Huaxin Technology alone cannot change the status quo of the country, Wang Anran thinks that while strengthening basic research, it is also time to establish a semiconductor business incubation base.

()