novelden Chapter 730 Little Money, Come On, Do It Yourself...
Chapter 730 Little Money, Come On, Do It Yourself...
"The fourth step?!" Jiang Xia couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement at Dr. Lan Ying's excited tone. "Wow, this speed... it's like riding a rocket!"
Dr. Lan Ying's team's progress in chip prototyping is frighteningly fast. Jiang Xia's PMOS process solution, while employing the massive lithography machine, has streamlined the core process remarkably efficiently, reducing the crucial lithography steps to a mere five key steps:
How do you execute these five axe blows?
First, mark the land! The first photolithography step is like using a blueprint to precisely draw lines on the "land" of the silicon wafer, marking out where to build the "house".
Next, let's repair the "city gate"! The second photolithography step etches the "city gate tower" of the transistor—the gate, which controls the flow of current and is the heart of the transistor.
The next step is to precisely "drill holes" (contact holes) where the "metal road" needs to be connected, exposing the underlying silicon, much like digging underground tunnels to connect pipelines in a city.
There is also a fourth lithography step, which plans and "deposits" a network of metal wires connecting each "house", forming a well-connected "traffic network" inside the chip.
Finally, the fifth photolithography step "opens" the final protective layer, revealing the metal pads, much like building "small docks" on the edge of a city, waiting to be connected to the outside world by gold wire "ships".
Yes, gold thread!
Given the material shortage, using gold thread is currently the best option. This is also one of the reasons why the Academy of Sciences is working hard to improve the skills of its operators.
That's too expensive!
However, Dr. Lan Ying has now swiftly completed the third step and successfully excavated the "tunnel"! This means that the internal "house" structure of the chip is basically complete, and it is about to enter the crucial "paving the way and building the bridge" stage, which is the metal interconnection stage!
Everyone knows who should be credited for this astonishing efficiency.
"Hey, it's like a gift from heaven..." Jiang Xia rubbed his chin, his head nodding with joy.
The toughest part of MOS technology is the second step, "building the city gate" (gate lithography), which requires extremely high overlay precision. He was initially a little worried that the "city gate tower" would be built crookedly, but unexpectedly, Master Weng took the lead and made this step very steady.
Although the final line width has not yet been measured, a design precision of 15mm is definitely the minimum. Optimistically speaking, it is not impossible to achieve 10mm!
Although this level of precision is thousands of times less than the nanometer-level technology of later generations, don't forget what era we live in! This achievement is definitely something to brag about for a while.
Thinking that once the chip is implemented, the processing center will usher in a new round of evolution, Jiang Xia excitedly twisted the tuft of hair on his head into a pretzel.
"Hahaha! You Russians, do you still want to improve your 'underwater tractor' (referring to submarine)? Come and beg your old man Mao! Don't bother looking for a notebook, your old man Mao has everything arranged for you!"
And there's the homework left by Teacher Yuanjiu, oh ho ho ho, even if a few more guys with sliced noodles come along, we can make it perfectly clear for you!
"Everyone says the Bald Eagle is the industrial Cthulhu 1.0, but once our chips are developed, we'll give them a stunning 2.0 version!"
The ideal was beautiful, but the reality was harsh. Before the excitement had even worn off, the word "poverty" was like a bucket of cold water poured down on me.
"However, evolution requires money... Our current resources are really too meager!" Jiang Xia's hand unconsciously scratched across the notebook as he rapidly calculated ways to make money.
At this moment, Lao Wang walked in carrying tea, followed by three newly arrived soldiers, one of whom wanted to report something.
But Old Wang, who knew Jiangxia well, interrupted them. Didn't he see that the silly kid was deep in thought again? This was a sign that a good idea was coming out!
Old Wang grabbed the phone and tossed it into the soldier's arms, indicating that they should do as they pleased, just keep the volume down.
Jiang Xia nodded to the appearing Elder Wang and his group, and continued with his train of thought:
Where does the money come from?
Foolish camel?
Tsk, he rejected the idea as soon as it came to mind.
Even if the previous "palace" could be sold for a high price, it would be a drop in the ocean for the money-guzzling behemoth that is chip research and development and subsequent industrial upgrading.
Moreover, Jiang Xia learned from the internal report that Sha was currently in a terrible predicament!
Their lifeline—the oil fields—is still firmly in the hands of Western oil giants like Aramco and Chevron! Shah is currently locked in a fierce and protracted struggle with them to wrest control of the oil fields back from them!
Jiang Xia vaguely recalled this incident: it seemed that it was not until the 1970s, with the help of the oil crisis, that Sha, with the collective support of OPEC, gradually realized the nationalization of the oil fields.
Right now? Sha himself is still tightening his belt and battling the bald eagle; he probably doesn't have much spare money or time to invest in such advanced "enjoyment." Fortunately, the vehicle chassis he painstakingly created was taken over by the missile battalion.
Otherwise, it'll definitely be stuck with us!
Hmm? Is it possible... to exchange "maids" for a few oil fields?
No way! Jiang Xia immediately shook his head.
The implications are too great! The US and Russia are currently looking for an opportunity to retaliate. If this powerful weapon, the "maid," were to appear, wouldn't that be handing them the handle of a knife, giving them an excuse to overturn the table? The risk is too high; it's not worth it!
After searching for a long time, Jiang Xia finally focused his attention on "Big Yellow's clone".
Hey! The chip is out. How about gradually bringing back the first-generation 'Big Yellow clones,' refurbishing and upgrading them, and then repackaging and selling them? That's a good way to recoup losses!
Could we take advantage of the popularity of the 'C language' and bundle software and hardware together? How about a 'Big Yellow Doppelganger' + 'China Language' premium package?
The price-performance ratio will definitely crush those clumsy, bulky products that still rely on paper tape and punching holes!
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became!
"Oh, right, a flower blooming inside the wall needs to smell sweet outside as well. It's not enough to just mess around in your own backyard, you have to go out and promote it! Isn't there a 'Mother of All Exhibitions' here in Dong Hansmiao, setting up standard meetings while putting Big Yellow's clone on the exhibition stand?"
Thinking of this, Jiang Xia slapped his thigh and got up to rummage through the large bookshelf in the carriage. He hadn't paid much attention to the bookshelf before, but now he discovered that it contained a collection of internal reference materials.
I flipped to the versions from two years ago and carefully examined the East Hans Cat exhibition held to revitalize postwar industry.
"Oh! So it's called the Leipzig Fair! It's especially famous for its book fairs..."
"Huh? Why is the name different from what I remember?" Jiang Xia shook his head in confusion. Although he couldn't remember the full name, it sounded like something like "Han".
"Never mind, maybe they changed the name later?"
If we could showcase both the C programming language and the "Big Yellow Doppelganger" during the exhibition, while holding an IEC standards meeting, we could also put our "Big Yellow Doppelganger" on display...
Setting standards can both enhance one's influence and open up overseas markets—that's the true meaning of "blooming inside the wall and fragrant outside"!
"Ok, deal!"
Jiang Xia slammed his fist on the table and stood up, startling Old Wang and the three new soldiers beside him, who trembled.
The leader instinctively put his hand to his side, then realized it was Jiang Xia and quickly lowered his voice to explain into the microphone:
"Sir, it's alright! It's Engineer Jiang... He seems to have come up with a great idea; he's a bit excited..."
The person on the other end of the phone seemed to have been listening to what was happening, and a cheerful voice came through asking.
Jiang Xia then noticed that the communication was still working, but he was in the middle of a lively conversation and didn't care about that. He simply raised his voice and poured out his thoughts, facing the right direction:
"Boss! I think we can send Little Fatty and Jinzhen to the IEC to 'set the rules' with C language, and at the same time send another team with our 'Big Yellow clone' to Dong Hansmiao, the 'mother of expositions', to 'set up a stall'! We can do both at the same time!"
Suddenly, Xiao Daimao remembered something, and a sly smile appeared on his lips. "That's right! We need to make a request to our booth setup team: think of a way to make our booth next to Siemens and IBM's booths!"
Didn't the newspaper say they're always the focus at these international industrial exhibitions? Let's just hang out there and get some exposure, and while we're at it... hehe, maybe even show ourselves off!