The recruitment notice of Huada Jiutian Xingshi did not cause a sensation in the industry because the EDA plate was too small.

In 2021, the global semiconductor industry will have sales of $518.8 billion, but the EDA industry, which is the foundation of chips, is only about $7 billion, which is unbelievable.

And China's EDA sales in the $7 billion, not even 1%.

In this case, foreign giants are simply too lazy to care about the development of EDA in China.

What if you toss it again?

And having said that, you must know that any EDA software is linked to the market, EDA is the product of the cooperation of upstream manufacturers, design manufacturers, manufacturers, and packaging and testing manufacturers.

To take the simplest example, the most advanced EDA software in foreign countries can design, simulate, and verify 5nm or even 3nm chips, but what about domestic EDA? At present, it is still hovering around 28nm, and the gap is as far as the earth to the moon.

Just when foreign EDA companies disagreed, China's EDA software, after a lapse of 30 years, set sail again.

……

At 9 a.m. on April 18, No. 1525, Zhangdong Road, Zhonghai Free Trade Zone.

This is the headquarters of China Overseas Microelectronics Equipment Co., Ltd. (SMEE), and the R&D base of Zhongxing Microelectronics Equipment Co., Ltd. (XHZZ) is also located here.

At this time, in the large-scale laboratory with a single-story area of more than 5,000 square meters, countless researchers wearing white dust-free suits are busy, and many humanoid robots are also shuttling freely, bringing people a visual impact of a sci-fi blockbuster scene!

At this moment, a large group of people, both old, middle-aged and young, poured out on the viewing platform on the second floor of the laboratory.

The three people who were surrounded by everyone at the front were the head of GWY who came down to investigate and investigate, Sun Liqun, chairman of SMEE, and Chen Xu.

Sun Liqun introduced: "These robots are all special industrial robots developed and manufactured by Xinghai Technology......

The light source system, camera optical system, focusing scanning system, video acquisition system and monitoring software, etc., are also exclusively developed by Xinghai Technology, and have all intellectual property rights......"

No wonder it is said on the Internet that Xinghai is the future star of Chinese science and technology. ”

Accompanied by Chen Xu, who was ahead of his time, he said modestly: "The total L has passed the award, and we still have a lot of shortcomings." ”

The chief patted him on the shoulder cordially, and then walked forward along the transparent corridor set up on the viewing platform, looking at him as he walked, and asked at the same time, "What are the main difficulties at present?"

"The main thing is that the mechanical accuracy needs to be improved... It has two synchronous moving workpiece stages, one for the negative and one for the film, the two need to be synchronized at all times, and the error should be below 2nm, and the acceleration of the two workbenches is about the same as that of a missile launch......"

After Sun Liqun hurriedly introduced it, the chief turned his head and asked Chen Xu on the right, "Xiao Chen, how long do you estimate it will take to develop it successfully?"

Chen Xu organized the language and said: "If everything goes well, it will probably be the end of this year!"

After speaking, Chen Xu followed: "Because it is the first time to do it without experience, and some key components are stuck in the neck, we can only do it through independent research and development." However, it should be easy to wait until 7nm. ”

The chief was a little surprised when he heard this: "7nm?"

Sun Liqun rushed to introduce again: "You heard it right, it's 7nm.

We and Xinghai are developing 14nm and 10nm while also laying out 7nm, and our 7nm technology is slightly different from foreign ones......

After hearing this, the chief nodded, and reached out again to pat Chen Xu's arm, "Well, you are good!"

Chen Xu was a little embarrassed to be praised, and he smiled and didn't speak.

An hour later, the leaders and their entourage who came down to investigate and research left in Coaster, and Chen Xu returned to the office and sat down directly on the sofa, saying: "I feel more tired than doing a ten-day experiment." ”

Zhang Haichun, the general manager of Zhongxing Microelectronics, who followed up, said with a smile: "Ordinary academic people don't like this kind of occasion very much, and it should be better to get used to it in the future." ”

Zhang Haichun is a big figure in the field of lithography machines, who has worked in ASML and TSMC, and was even hired as a senior chief engineer by SMEE, but later left for some reasons.

His status in the international academic circle is even better than that of Zhou Donglin.

"Hehe, maybe. Chen Xu said and sat up and lit a cigarette, "How is the experiment of the ultra-precision workpiece table?"

"It's not ideal, the current experiment can only reach 5nm at most, and there is still a certain gap from the required 2nm, and Germany is ...... with Japanese benzene."

Chen Xu listened for a while, then extinguished the cigarette, got up and said, "Let's go, take me over to have a look." ”

Unlike other equipment, most of the parts in the lithography machine need to be customized.

What does that mean, it is impossible to buy accessories on the market to assemble.

The higher the proportion of high-end customization, to the 10nm level, more than 90% of it is customized.

And it's not that you can customize it if you want to, it depends on whether the upstream manufacturer is willing to take your order.

He used to spend a high price to buy accessories from the Netherlands, because if all those accessories were produced by himself, not to mention whether they could be produced in a short time, even if they could be made, the price would be more than ten times more expensive!

But not in the future, Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea have carried out a comprehensive technical blockade of Xinghai, and the Netherlands has passed the XHZZ order application.

Not only the Netherlands, but also Germany and Japan have also broken the contract for parts, resulting in the most critical ultra-precision workpiece table has not been able to meet the satisfactory requirements.

Coming to the laboratory, Chen Xu controlled the robot to adjust the ultra-precision workpiece table, while Xiaobai rewrote the control program based on the feedback results on the computer.

Once, twice, ten times......

This was done for twelve hours, and when I was really hungry, I went out to eat a little, and then continued to devote myself to the experiment.

The tuning of ultra-precision machinery is very time-consuming, and engineers such as Cymer and Zeiss in Germany may adjust each component for more than ten years.

Of course, Chen Xu can't spend ten years tuning a component like those engineers, and he doesn't need to.

Xiaobai will help him save 99% of the steps.

Half a month later, after Chen Xu's work of forgetting to sleep and eat, the accuracy of the ultra-precision workpiece table was adjusted to 3nm.

This is a milestone moment!

Because the 3nm ultra-precision workpiece stage has met the requirements of the preparation process of the 14nm lithography machine.

From this moment on, China has fully mastered the manufacturing technology of 14nm lithography machine.

Hundreds of engineers gathered around, watching the ultra-precision workpiece table on the simulator running at high speed, and many of them had tears in their eyes.

There was a round of applause in the huge laboratory.

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

For many years, China has been clamoring to manufacture "Chinese chips", but because it cannot build a cutting-edge lithography machine, this dream can only stay in fantasy.

In core fields such as machinery, communication equipment, corporate finance, and aerospace, a large number of foreign chips have to be used.

And as we all know, chips can open the back door, and it is a very easy thing to do.

The most dangerous thing is that as long as you don't pull out the battery, all your actions and all the information can be easily obtained by others through the chip back door, and you don't know it yet.

To take the simplest example, smartphones are generally equipped with GPS chips, which can be located even when the phone is turned off.

Dr. Zhang Haichun looked at the data running on the computer and said excitedly, "Okay... It's great!"

Chen Xu said with a smile: "It's still a little bit worse!" But it's almost to the limit, if you want to achieve the preparation process of 10nm, you can only find a way from the hardware." ”

"It's already amazing......"

The on-site engineers all looked at Chen Xu with adoring eyes.

Soon, Sun Liqun, the chairman of SMEE, and Dr. Lu Jiarong rushed to hear the news, and they were all excited to see the operating data.

"It's really great!" Sun Liqun said and ran towards the gate of the laboratory, apparently to call the higher authorities to report the good news.

Dr. Lu Jiarong was so excited that tears fell, hugged Chen Xu's shoulders tightly, looked at the high-speed workpiece table on the simulator, and said incoherently: "Chen Gong...... You... Okay......"

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