Pretty country.

Golden State.

Neuss is a chip design engineer at Picktone Research Institute, mainly responsible for optimizing the circuit structure and using EDA software to verify the correctness and functionality of the design.

Commonly known as a design verification engineer, it is one level higher than the average researcher.

Working 8 hours a day, with an annual salary of 64,000 US dollars!

It may seem like a good thing, but as a genius in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford, his dream is to become a senior ASIC designer, or go one step further, as the chief semiconductor engineer of a chip giant.

Therefore, after work, he will still participate in various professional courses and seminars, maintain the habit of learning and further education, and constantly recharge himself.

Recently, in order to exercise his ability in logical design, physical design, placement and routing, timing analysis, etc., he specially purchased an EDA design software called "Horae".

It integrates three modules: circuit design, physical design and simulation verification, and the price of the personal version is 9999 US dollars a year is the main reason for his heart.

Like Synopsys and Cadence are usually sold separately, if he wants to buy a complete set of software tools, he has to invest at least 1.5-24,000 US dollars, which is really a bit difficult to make ends meet compared to the total annual income of 64,000 US dollars.

But what he didn't expect was that the software manufacturer of "Horae" turned out to be a technology company from Huaguo!

“Shit！ I'm definitely fooled! ”

Noyce lay helplessly on the bed, letting out a heart-wrenching wail, blaming himself for not observing carefully when he bought it.

9999 yuan US knife, just like that!

"Damn, I can't just leave it at that!"

Noyce yelled, then suddenly got up, walked in front of the computer, opened the official website of "Future Technology", and found online customer service.

"You deceived me, I want to return it, or I'll complain to you."

He tapped the keyboard to vent his frustration.

"Good evening, sir, how can I help you?

Have you purchased Horae Personal Edition, but what features are you not satisfied with, or do not meet the corresponding design requirements? ”

The customer service asked.

Neuiston was dumbfounded, he didn't actually experience the core functions of the software, but subconsciously thought that this product was a pile of code garbage.

"Humph!"

He closed the webpage in embarrassment, ready to test it carefully, and use the most realistic evaluation data to make the other party willing to refund.

So he started Horae, and the main interface is the integrated circuit design platform, which is not much different from the Virtuoso he usually uses, which greatly lowers the learning threshold for chip design engineers.

The UI structure of the menu bar and ribbon seems to be more reasonable?

"This must be a delusion!"

After thinking about it, Noyce directly applied the design framework of the Snapdragon 810, imported the logical design documents written in the hardware description language, and set the layout and wiring constraints, including chip area, module partitioning, IO layout, etc.

Since Horae "boasted" that he supported the process of 5nm chips, he directly adjusted the original 28nm to 10nm.

Then, according to the chip division and constraints, different modules are placed on the chip, and the relative positions between them are determined to minimize the connection length, reduce power consumption, and maintain a good clock route.

"Oh my God! That's impossible! ”

Noyce was shocked that Horae's built-in layout algorithm and optimization tools could be automatically generated under his settings.

In this regard, Cadence's Virtuoso is only semi-automatic, and Intel's Quartus Prime is not capable of this.

Pleasantly surprised, he completely forgot the passage of time!

As for the idea of returning the goods, it has long since dissipated!

After getting the layout, he worked non-stop on the connection planning of the chip, and Horae's advanced algorithms perfectly took into account many factors such as timing constraints, signal integrity, power consumption, and electrical characteristics, and finally presented a path of very high quality.

“Amazing！”

Noyce became more and more excited, glancing at the time, it was already half past two in the morning, it was time to rest, but he did not have a trace of sleepiness, the inspiration in his mind continued to burst out, and the powerful power of Horae supported his idea.

After dealing with the chip layout and circuit planning, he immediately clicked on the physical design tool and quickly translated the logical design into an actual physical structure that could be used to determine the location, size, and interconnection of the individual components.

"The last step, whether it can succeed or not, is just around the corner."

Noyce took the opportunity to rest for a while, opened a can of coffee, drank it in a big gulp, and under the stimulation of caffeine, he continued to liver up.

Use simulation tools to simulate circuit behavior, including signal transmission, timing relationships, and stability, and use verification tools to detect potential design errors, logic conflicts, and timing issues.

"I made it?!"

Noyce is a little hard to believe that the Snapdragon 810 has been modified to a 10nm process, and as long as it integrates the combination of CPU, GPU, AI engine, connectivity performance, and camera function chip, it can increase the performance by two times.

Create an epoch-making mobile phone processor!

He couldn't help but be stunned.

The sun outside the window, slowly rising and shining brightly, fell on his cheeks.

Suddenly, there was a strong tiredness, after all, I hadn't closed my eyes all night, and my brain was working at high intensity.

"No, I have to synchronize the research results with the company."

Noyce made up his mind and went into the bathroom to rinse up.

As for the chip design scheme for himself, he never thought about it, and without the technical framework of the Snapdragon 810, he would not have succeeded at all.

Moreover, no one dares to ask for this thing, the design patents are all in the hands of the company, if he dares to sell it, he can only live in an iron fence for the rest of his life.

It is better to hand it over to the company, in exchange for a high salary and a senior position, he is not greedy, as long as a senior ASIC design engineer position, it is enough to be satisfied.

After a while, he packed up and drove towards the headquarters of Pickaxe.

"Boss, I've designed a 10nm chip, and here's the full technical documentation."

After arriving at the company, he immediately walked into the office of the chief technical officer, slapped the USB flash drive on his boss's desk, and his face was full of confidence.

“10nm？ Are you crazy? I'll give you one more chance to reorganize the language. ”

Foster said with a smile on his face.

"I'm very aware now that this chip is based on the Snapdragon 810, optimized and upgraded, and has passed the simulation and verification tool tests, which can provide higher computing performance and lower energy consumption at the same power consumption."

Noyce explained in all seriousness, showing that he wasn't joking.

"You know what? The company is still breaking through the 14nm process, can you rely on your own strength to surpass more than 300 researchers in the laboratory and surpass the Intel Group? ”

Foster was not in a good tone, and early in the morning, he did not like arguing with a delusional person.

"It seems that to let this group of people relax for a while, the pressure on them is too much, and their brains are starting to be abnormal."

He secretly thought that he was going to ask the Ministry of Human Resources to arrange a psychiatrist for Noyce to do a comprehensive examination.

"I used the Horae software, and this Huaguo EDA product is amazing, it can support high-precision circuit design."

Noyce sighed.

"Huaguo's EDA software? I'm pretty sure now that you need a psychiatrist urgently. ”

Foster shrugged his shoulders and said with a look of disdain.

"Stupid! How could I have a boss like you! ”

Noyce understood that the other party didn't believe what he said at all, so he didn't have the idea of connecting the USB flash drive, and he was angry for a while and slammed the door.

Ignoring Foster's swearing behind him, he headed upstairs and headed straight for the big boss's office.

"Hello sir, do you have an appointment?"

When he came to the door, he was stopped by the bewitching female secretary.

"No, but I'm going to meet President Ammon now, and I've broken through the nano process and scaled down the Snapdragon series to 10nm."

Noyce raised his voice and said loudly, he knew that today's move would either be a promotion and a raise, or get out of the way.

Thinking of the data that has been verified repeatedly, he is full of confidence and repeats what he just said.

"Sir, if this continues, I'll have to call the security guard."

The female secretary said helplessly.

If it weren't for the fact that Noyce was an employee of Pickaxe, she would have pressed the alarm button and sent him into the small black room.

"Click!"

The door opened, and out came a tall, middle-aged white man with pitiful forehead hair and a pair of black-rimmed glasses.

Light gray suit, beard, strong figure.

"Help me call a technical line director of the research institute."

Amon had apparently heard him shouting outside the door, and wanted to discern the truth of Noyce's words, which he was willing to give.

"What should I call you this excellent chip design engineer?"

Amon asked with a smile.

"Noyce.

I'm very sorry, but my boss didn't believe in this technical document, so I had to find you. ”

After calming down, Noyce calmed down a lot and replied politely.

"It's okay, I like to talk to young people, it makes me feel so energetic and creative, let's talk first."

Amon smiled slightly and motioned for the secretary to go down and find someone.

The farce was very moving, and it didn't take long for Foster to get the news, and he hated it so much that he vowed to kick the other party out of the pickaxe.

On the other side, the CEO's office, at the moment, is surrounded by more than a dozen senior ASIC design engineers, reviewing the technical documents provided by Neuss.

"No problem!"

"This design is truly genius!"

"Boss, as long as we have three months, we can make a mobile phone chip processor that is more powerful than Intel!"

“……”

A group of senior engineers have given positive comments.

"What do you want, lad?"

Amon said with a smile.

In the semiconductor field in 2014, the only companies that achieved the 14nm mass production process were Intel, Wanji and Koryo's Sanxing.

Pickaxe is one step behind, and due to the lack of advanced EDA design software and talented designers, it has been unable to break through.

The emergence of Noyce solves these problems together.

"I want to get a promotion and a raise, get the credit I deserve, and I'd better transfer that stupid superior of mine."

Noystan said that his friend at Stanford University is now in the Inter Group, with an annual salary of up to 85,000 US dollars, which is 1.3 times that of him.

Although the engineer is well paid, his expenses are equally large, excluding housing and daily living expenses, he also likes to buy all kinds of scientific and technological equipment and software tools to carry out work and research, and it is difficult to support his hobbies and dreams without a high income.

"Thank you for your contribution to Pickaxe, you have completed the job of Chief Semiconductor Engineer, I think only this position can match your talent.

As for Foster, I think soon, he'll have a new arrangement. ”

Ammon promised.

Are you kidding?

More than a dozen senior ASIC design engineers in the room have not been able to develop a 10nm chip, and this technology alone can make Noyce a top talent in Kamegoku.

This kind of person naturally has to be firmly tied to the company.

When Noyce heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief, the ending was more perfect than he imagined, with an annual salary of 120,000 US dollars, plus the position of chief semiconductor engineer, which made him instantly reach the peak of his life.

"Purchase Horae as soon as possible and upgrade the EDA software of the research institute."

Ammon immediately convened a high-level meeting and ordered it to go down.

Neuss uses a personal version of Horae, and its license type can only be used for non-commercial use and personal study research, not for commercial production.

Only the Enterprise Edition is a license for commercial enterprise users that can be used for commercial production and product design, and has a more comprehensive and powerful suite of features to support complex design needs.

"Boss, the other party's price is a bit high!"

The head of the IT support department, reminded in a whisper.

"Can't you afford it?"

Amon said unpleasantly.

In fiscal year 2014, Pickaxe's operating income was $26.5 billion and net profit was $7.97 billion.

"FutureTech offers two types of fees for the Enterprise Edition:

First, according to the calculation of the set, one set can only be used on one computer, and the price is 399,000 US dollars;

Second, according to the functional module charge, with the company as the main body of purchase, more than 100 sets, you can give a package price of 30 million US dollars. ”

The head of the IT support department explained.

"399,000 US dollars? Why didn't he grab it! ”

The cheapest version of Cadence costs only $100,000 and the top software package costs $200,000, and the group can reduce the price by tens of thousands of dollars to $150,000.

Good guys, the future technology has directly doubled!

After scolding a few words, he could only reluctantly accept the reality that if Horan wanted to design a 10nm mobile phone chip, it would not be possible to achieve it without Horae.

"How many pieces of equipment do we need in our lab?"

Ammon asked.

"300 units are enough."

The head of the IT support department replied.

That's 90 million US dollars, this money has to be given every year, and even Ammon was a little heartbroken for a while.

"Go ahead and do it, speed up the time, and get ahead of the Inter."

Amon waved his hand and said in a deep voice.

……

The news of the replacement of EDA software across the board spread in Turtle Valley at first, and then crossed the mountains and rivers and returned to China.

"The mother of chips, domestic EDA has achieved a breakthrough: it supports chips above 5nm for the first time!"

"After artificial intelligence, domestic EDA will make a breakthrough again, and the beautiful country: our blockade has failed!"

"Future Technology VS Cadence, Pickaxe completely fell to Huaguo, sending a big order of 90 million US dollars!"

While the domestic Internet tycoons are still competing for taxi, shopping, map navigation and other industries, Future Technology has quietly reached the top and stood firmly in the upstream of the chip manufacturing chain.

Even the information of Hong Jun and others was picked up, Yan University talent, the top laboratory in China, and the original depressed low-level researcher......

These talents from all over the world are attracted by the high salary of Future Technology and have completed the feat of development of the semiconductor industry.

Starting from an annual salary of one million, multi-faceted three-dimensional benefits (stocks, dividends, five insurances and one housing fund, supplementary provident fund, housing and car subsidies, medical insurance covering immediate family members, travel and learning funds...... Seeing the graduating college students, they are dazzled!

What a way to treat them as human beings!

With such a good salary, who would want to leave their hometown to work for foreigners?

In just half a month, the Personnel Department of Future Science and Technology has received tens of thousands of resumes from college graduates.

"Boss, the person in charge of Pinghua, Weisoft, Inter, and Sanxing Dahua District all want to visit you."

Zhang Nan said with a smile.

The sales situation of Horae has been opened, and after Horoe announced the purchase of Horae, other chip design and manufacturing companies have also begun to study the design functions of Horae.

"Then hold a large-scale press conference, invite all relevant enterprises at home and abroad, and let Gao Jingwen preside over it."

Chen Heyu nodded and ordered to go down.

This is an excellent opportunity, 90 million US dollars is a big order, hundreds of chips in Jashuania, Europe, and North America, as long as half of them are eaten, Horae can be called a success!

(End of chapter)