The rejuvenation of a great nation: from educated youth to national treasure scientist

Chapter 119 99.9999%
Just when Intel was worrying about the launch of Wang Haoran's Pangu 1 CPU, Wang Haoran had already started working on the development of the chip production line.

With the support of the country, he integrated more talent resources.

More than ten scientific research institutions in Beijing have joined his research team.

There are many scientific research masters among them.

There are even several academic committee members.

Of course, all the partners are selected by Wang Haoran himself.

The way he chooses his partners is actually very simple: degree of cooperation!
If it seems that they are not cooperative and hard to work with, just choose PASS.

Although it is said that one can judge a person by his appearance but not by his heart, Wang Haoran is still very accurate in judging people.

Once the team is completely integrated, all he needs to do is allocate tasks for division of labor and cooperation.

This is also very important.

However, after Wang Haoran's experience in the color TV production line project, he has already matured.

He is also adept at various leadership tasks in the team.

He divided the big team into several small teams.

He has clear arrangements on how small teams should cooperate and divide work.

Wang Haoran himself is responsible for tackling some particularly difficult scientific and technological problems.

Moreover, he himself also needs to do a good job of coordination and integration.

This is a real test of his abilities.

In mid-May 1978, research on domestic chip production lines was officially launched.

Before Wang Haoran took charge of this major research project, Longguo's chip industry was very imperfect and there was no systematic industrial chain.

The chip industry is an industry with a very long industrial chain, many processes, complex auxiliary materials, and extremely high technical difficulty.

In this industry, the production of auxiliary materials alone can form more than ten large industries.

Such as: processing of wafers (i.e. chip substrates), production of CMP polishing materials, manufacture of photomasks, development of photoresists, production of wet electronic chemicals required for photolithography and etching, processing of electronic gases, development of sputtering targets, production of wafer packaging materials...

Each of the above materials is necessary in the chip production process.

In the past, in the international order dominated by the Eagle, no country could fully possess the materials needed to manufacture the above chips.

In fact, if we can control more than 80% of the research and production of materials in one link, the output value will be tens of billions of dollars.

The key is: the threshold for the development and mass production of each material is very high...

For example, the technical requirements for wafer preparation are very high.

The so-called wafer is the substrate of the chip, also called a silicon chip.

Its starting material is silica, which is usually extracted from common sand.

However, the purity requirements for silicon chips are too high, and the purity requirements are infinitely close to 100%.

The more advanced the chip manufacturing process, the higher the purity requirement for the silicon wafer.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the silicon wafer market was almost monopolized by a few large companies in China.

The amount of silicon wafers that Longguo can currently produce is very small, and the quality of its own silicon wafers is not high.

If you want to master the entire chip industry chain, you must master the full set of equipment for silicon wafer processing.

It can also be said that this actually requires a large production line to accomplish this.

The preparation process of single crystal silicon mainly involves the following equipment:
The first step is to extract silicon from sand. To obtain extremely pure silicon, the best production and processing method is the arc method.

During the extraction process, high-purity carbon dioxide and electric current are introduced into the arc to cause a chemical reaction to produce CO and SI02. The chemical reaction continues and finally produces carbon monoxide and high-purity silicon.

However, this extraction method is very expensive. However, in order to obtain extremely high-purity silicon, there is no other way.

Secondly, the silicon powder needs to be sintered into single crystal silicon particles through high-temperature sintering in a sintering furnace. This equipment is one of the core equipment for manufacturing single crystal silicon. It needs to operate at high temperatures and maintain constant high temperatures during the working process, which is extremely difficult.

The third step is to prepare high-purity single-crystal silicon rods through a single-crystal silicon growth furnace. This single-crystal silicon growth furnace is also a high-precision device that also requires maintaining a constant high temperature and rotating or stretching the rods to further improve the crystal structure.

The fourth step is to process and grind the prepared single crystal silicon to remove surface defects of the rod and make it have higher mechanical strength. This process requires a high-precision grinder!

The fifth step is the cutting process, which is to cut the single crystal silicon rod into silicon wafers.

The final step is polishing.

Just looking at the processing and preparation of a silicon wafer, there are considerable technical difficulties involved.

The equipment used requires very high operating precision.

This requires CNC automation control programs when designing and manufacturing equipment.

In a word: these devices also require chips, sensors and other components, and the CNC machine tools themselves need their own computer control centers.

In fact, it is not only the machines and equipment for processing and preparing silicon wafers that need CNC computers. Other important chip processing and manufacturing equipment, such as photolithography machines, etc., also need CNC computer control.

Because human power simply cannot achieve that level of precision.

Wang Haoran was well prepared for this.

When he was at Factory 742, he designed microcontrollers and sensors.

A single-chip microcomputer is a microcomputer system that integrates functions such as CPU, RAM (random access memory), ROM (read-only memory), etc.

This thing began to appear in the United States in the early 70s. For example, Intel's 8048 and 8051 are single-chip microcomputers.

Wang Haoran easily designed a 16-bit microcontroller using the Pangu architecture.

Moreover, the performance is quite good for this era.

With the microcontroller, we can better develop CNC machinery, make missiles and space rockets easier to control accurately, and make washing machines, refrigerators, color TVs and other products smarter.

The microcontroller is really very important.

In the past, it was not until the 80s that Longguo began to gradually promote the use of single-chip microcomputers, and they were all imported. It was not until the beginning of the 21st century that domestically developed single-chip microcomputers began to appear.

Therefore, the first single-chip microcomputer developed by Wang Haoran is of historic significance.

Of course, with a microcontroller, he also needs to design a microcontroller program for it.

However, these are not too difficult for Wang Haoran now.

In fact, Longguo does not lack truly smart people.

In this day and age, what Longguo lacks is a guide in scientific research.

For example, Wang Haoran is in charge of the research on domestic chip production lines. Because he already has a plan for the design and development of production lines and production equipment for the entire chip industry chain in his mind, he can point out the correct research direction and ideas to his team members.

The reason why most scientists spend years or even decades groping is that they are actually looking for the right direction for research...

If they have the right direction and the right research ideas, they can produce results quite quickly.

After all, they were just verifying Wang Haoran's ideas.

Once they found that Wang Haoran's idea was correct, they could achieve success in a short time.

……

Strictly speaking, Wang Haoran's project is nominally about studying production lines, but in fact, this project studies all the auxiliary materials.

In this process, the tasks of materials researchers are heavier.

Of course, the heaviest task is still the mechanical research members of the scientific research team. After all, Wang Haoran wants to build a production line, which means he needs to develop a large number of mechanical equipment.

Once the scientific research task begins, we must devote all our efforts to it and everyone must spend all their spare time on this subject.

But everyone is very motivated.

Because everyone knows that they are making history.

Research on domestic chip production lines is in full swing under the leadership of Wang Haoran.

It can be said that good news comes one after another.

Wang Haoran’s main job is actually integration.

He has to integrate the work of all team members, organize them into individual devices, and then combine the individual devices into production lines.

He is the soul of the entire team.

……

Fan Kaiyong is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Peking University. He also joined Wang Haoran's chip production line project team with his team.

Working with Fan Kaiyong is Lin Wanjun, a famous professor from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Peking University.

There is a division of labor and cooperation between the two.

Fan Kaiyong is responsible for the research and development of three equipment required for single crystal silicon production: electric arc furnace, sintering furnace and single crystal silicon growth furnace.

Lin Wanjun is responsible for the research of high-purity single-crystal silicon columns.

Fan Kaiyong developed the equipment, while Lin Wanjun developed the materials.

Both of them joined Wang Haoran's team under the urging of Yang Dezhong.

Generally speaking, both of them were still a little bit dissatisfied with Wang Haoran.

Yes! I am very dissatisfied.

Because they are also well-known experts and they have all won national scientific research awards.

Deep down in their hearts, they didn't want Wang Haoran to take the lead in the projects they were responsible for researching.

In fact, when assigning tasks, Wang Haoran had already pointed out to them the direction and ideas of the scientific research tasks they were responsible for.

Wang Haoran even gave them the blueprints.

What Wang Haoran meant was to let them implement it according to their own ideas.

But Fan Kaiyong and Lin Wanjun thought about it and thought: If we work according to your idea, wouldn't we just be scientific research cows cooperating with you?

That won’t work! We have to work according to our own ideas.

Fan Kaiyong threw aside the ideas and drawings given by Wang Haoran and started to start from scratch.

As a result, he found that no matter how hard he tried, the electric arc furnace he developed in the laboratory could not meet the standards set by Wang Haoran.

Lin Wanjun also discovered that no matter how he refined silicon according to his own ideas, he could not purify it to the purity that Wang Haoran required.

During this process, Wang Haoran came to Peking University to check the progress.

He knew at a glance that Fan Kaiyong and Lin Wanjun did not do things according to his ideas.

He smiled and said to Fan Kaiyong: "Teacher Fan, you have your own ideas, I have no objection to that."

"But we are a team, so we still need to work together well."

"In addition, I also want to tell you that the three devices you are researching need to be coordinated with the computer control system I developed in order to achieve the final design standards..."

Wang Haoran explained a lot to Fan Kaiyong.

Wang Haoran is very patient.

Sufficient respect was also given to Fan Kaiyong and Lin Wanjun.

He also knew that these old scientists must be a little arrogant.

It is normal to be proud, and there is nothing wrong with exploring different scientific research directions and ideas.

But they must listen.

If they insist on having their own way, they lack team spirit.

Then there is no need for cooperation.

After listening to Wang Haoran's explanation, Fan Kaiyong felt a little ashamed.

"Comrade Haoran, I'm sorry, I have to do some self-examination. After I received the task you assigned me, I always felt that I had other better ways to develop the equipment."

“So I tried my own ideas, but they didn’t work.”

"I will do research according to your ideas from now on." "I promise I will never act recklessly again."

Fan Kaiyong's attitude is very good.

Wang Haoran also breathed a sigh of relief.

He really didn't want to change players halfway.

Wang Haoran smiled and said, "Teacher Fan, we are partners, let's help and encourage each other."

"After these three devices are developed, the main inventor will arrange for you. Every bit of your effort will be rewarded..."

In fact, Wang Haoran had emphasized this point before: whoever among his research team members is responsible for a scientific research project and produces results in the future, the main person in charge can get the first credit.

Wang Haoran gave Fan Kaiyong and Lin Wanjun some more advice.

At the same time, he also provided the two people with microcontrollers and sensors.

These things were all processed by him using the laboratory equipment of the Institute of Electronics of Longguo Academy of Sciences.

In order to produce single-chip microcomputers and sensors, he also helped improve some equipment of the Institute of Electronics.

After Wang Haoran left, Fan Kaiyong said to Lin Wanjun: "Teacher Lin, it seems that we are all the former waves that have been washed up on the beach!"

"I originally wanted to prove that I'm no worse than the young people, but who would have thought that I would be slapped in the face!"

Lin Wanjun said: "It's too early to say that we've been slapped in the face!"

"We have to verify it first to see if Wang Haoran's idea is feasible."

Obviously, Lin Wanjun still had doubts about Wang Haoran.

So, the two of them began to lead their respective teams into action.

What Fan Kaiyong is going to make in the laboratory are the electric arc furnace, sintering furnace and single crystal silicon growth furnace for experiments.

There is currently no experimental equipment like this in China. All we have are simple and crude experimental equipment.

At present, even a university like Peking University does not have the money to import experimental equipment from abroad.

After more than ten days of hard work, Fan Kaiyong finally built an electric arc furnace for experimental use.

This time, he completely listened to the advice and made it according to Wang Haoran's ideas and design plan.

In addition, microcontrollers and sensors are also installed in the arc furnace.

This allows for precise control so that every operation is just right.

After the electric arc furnace was completed, Lin Wanjun began to use this equipment to experiment with refining high-purity silicon.

In the past, Lin Wanjun basically relied on experience to do the work of refining high-purity silicon.

The method used was hydrothermal.

The so-called hydrothermal method is a process in which silicon dioxide is converted into hydrated silicate, which is then hydrolyzed under high temperature and high pressure to finally separate the silicon.

This is the method used by many laboratories to extract silicon.

It is simple and easy to operate.

But it is not suitable for large-scale industrial production.

"Teacher Fan, do you really think this equipment is reliable?" Lin Wanjun asked Fan Kaiyong.

Fan Kaiyong smiled and said, "You can give it a try."

"Teacher Lin usually uses the hydrothermal method to extract high-purity silicon. What is the average purity?"

Lin Wanjun said: "It's about 99% or more. It's enough anyway."

Fan Kaiyong said: "The hydrothermal method is indeed a good method, but it can only be used for small-scale extraction in the laboratory."

"If this device really works, it would be amazing!"

"Let's give it a try and see if it works."

So, the two began to experiment.

Load raw materials and enter instructions.

Then the machine was started.

The electric arc furnace starts working.

During this period, they hardly need to do anything else.

This is the fool-proof model of mass machine production.

The first batch of experimental production was completed.

The refined high-purity silica sand was taken out.

"Wow! This silica sand looks like it has a very high purity!" Lin Wanjun said in surprise.

Fan Kaiyong asked: "What is the purity of the silicon you purified in the laboratory before?"

Lin Wanjun said: "It can reach about 99.91. It should be enough for the substrate used to make chips."

"Of course, I also know that the higher the purity, the better the performance."

"But if we want to continue to purify it, it is also very difficult."

Fan Kaiyong asked with a smile: "Then how pure do you think the silica sand produced by this electric arc furnace can be?"

Lin Wanjun shook his head: "It's not easy to guess, right?"

"But based on my experience, there are products with 99.99% purity!"

Fan Kaiyong rubbed his hands and said, "I can't wait to see its purity."

Therefore, the silica sand was taken out and tested immediately.

Lin Wanjun also did the testing himself.

An inspection instrument imported from the foot basin is used.

After all, Jiaoben now provides a large amount of loans to Longguo every year.

This has led to Longguo importing more and more foot basin products.

Lin Wanjun's testing was very detailed.

Because, if you are a little careless, the test results may be greatly affected.

Soon, the test results came out.

Looking at the test results, Lin Wanjun rubbed his eyes in disbelief, shook his head and said, "This, this is too high, right?"

Fan Kaiyong quickly came over: "How much?"

Lin Wanjun said: “99.9999%!”

"This purity has reached its limit!"

"It will be very difficult to continue purifying it!"

Fan Kaiyong was also shocked: "Is it so high?"

Generally speaking, material purification can only reach about 99.9%.

Very small amounts of impurities can often not be removed at all.

Lin Wanjun scratched his messy hair and said, "Maybe I'm wrong?"

"Let's try again."

So Lin Wanjun conducted another test.

The test results this time still show 99.9999%!

Lin Wanjun conducted six or seven tests in succession.

In the end he confirmed one thing: this electric arc furnace is really powerful!
Not only does it work stably and in a standardized manner without requiring much human intervention, but the purity of the silicon powder obtained using it is also quite high.

This made Fan Kaiyong and Lin Wanjun very emotional.

"This young man Wang Haoran is much more capable than us."

"Isn't this scientific research idea too accurate?"

"I thought his ideas weren't that brilliant."

"Who would have thought that I would be slapped in the face by the result."

Fan Kaiyong said to Lin Wanjun with some emotion.

Lin Wanjun was also convinced at this time.

He shook his head and said, "Before, I didn't really believe that there were such people as geniuses in this world."

"But now, I believe it."

Fan Kaiyong and Lin Wanjun have made great achievements. They have not only developed a new high-efficiency electric arc furnace, but also purified silicon powder with a purity of up to 99.9999%. Naturally, they wanted to tell Wang Haoran the good news immediately.

Wang Haoran was also very happy after hearing this.

He knew that after this incident, the two old professors would be convinced by him.

Since we are a team, there should be absolutely no noise.

We must unite and work together towards the same goal.

Wang Haoran has integrated a lot of big names this time.

If you want to make the big shots obey you, you have to show some real skills to subdue them.

In fact, in addition to Fan Kaiyong and Lin Wanjun, there are other big names who often have their own ideas.

They wanted to use their own methods to conduct scientific research to prove that they were better than Wang Haoran.

If too many people do this, it will affect the team's progress.

Therefore, after Wang Haoran learned the good news about Fan Kaiyong and Lin Wanjun, he felt it necessary to promote the two of them vigorously.

So Wang Haoran said to Fan Kaiyong and Lin Wanjun: "Teachers, congratulations on your excellent results."

"This is also a breakthrough achievement in our country!"

“So, I think it should be promoted vigorously.”

Fan Kaiyong quickly said, "Comrade Haoran, please don't promote us."

"In fact, we achieved results by following your method."

"It's not appropriate to pin this achievement on us."

Wang Haoran smiled and said, "You guys are the ones who made this achievement!"

“We are a team!”

"Team members work together to achieve results, and the main task executors should take the credit!"

If you want people to help you, you must give them enough benefits.

Wang Haoran himself is the host of the entire chip production line project. When this major achievement comes out in the future, the entire achievement will belong to him.

Small achievements can only last long if they are distributed among team members, right?

So, at the invitation of Wang Haoran, Wang Jianguo, a reporter from the national television station, interviewed Fan Kaiyong and Lin Wanjun.

When being interviewed, Fan Kaiyong and Wang Haoran both talked about their experience that they were not very convinced when they first started working with Wang Haoran. They wanted to use their own scientific research ideas to do research, but after several setbacks, they finally had to adopt Wang Haoran's ideas and plans, and finally achieved great results.

Fan Kaiyong said emotionally: "Let's put it this way. If I were the only one making this electric arc furnace, it would be impossible to achieve any breakthrough results..."

Lin Wanjun also said: "Without Comrade Wang Haoran's guidance, we would not be able to purify 99.9999% silicon powder..."

PS: I have been busy these past two days and feel exhausted. Today I have only this chapter with more than 6 words. I will try my best to write more. Finally, I ask for your support...

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