Technological power starts with upgrading lenses

The core technology of EUV lithography machines is mainly composed of three major systems.

The first is the EUV light source system, which is responsible for manufacturing the special light needed in the photolithography process.

From the first-generation UV lithography machine to the fifth-generation EUV lithography machine, the wavelength of light has also been shortened from 436nm to 13.5nm. All current lithography machines distinguish technical levels through differences in light. .

The main principle involved is the relationship between the wavelength and clarity of light in optics.

The simplest reason is that when entering a room with yellow tungsten lights, most people will feel that their vision is dim.

Even if I add a few more bulbs, it still doesn't feel as bright and clear as white LED lights.

This is because the wavelength of yellow light is much higher than that of white light.

The wavelength of light is like a wave. The larger the wave, the greater the fluctuation of the water level on the sea wall.

The height difference of this water level, in the optical field, has become an important factor affecting the clarity of the shadow edge.

Therefore, if you want to achieve a smaller chip process, you need light with a shorter wavelength and closer to an absolute straight line.

As for EUV light source technology, according to the information that Kangchi can currently find, the domestic Changchung Institute of Light should be on the verge of a breakthrough, but Kangchi doesn't know exactly what step it has reached.

He planned to try to understand the situation first,

If conditions permit and the price is right, he may purchase directly from them.

Even if the technology is slightly substandard, purchasing it and then improving and optimizing it yourself can save a lot of time and energy.

After all, there are more than ten or two hundred thousand parts in a photolithography machine. If Datang Heavy Industries were to make it all by itself, it would take a long time.

Purchasing from them will not only waste their scientific research results, but also make use of their productivity.

It’s a win-win situation.

Therefore, this time Kangchi does not exclude himself from the role of assembly, debugging and improvement.

Leaving China's complete industrial chain unused and instead twisting every screw yourself not only wastes such good domestic resources and foundation, but also acts as a solitary enterprise behind closed doors.

And it is possible for only one country in the world to use its own industrial chain to complete the manufacturing of all parts of a photolithography machine.

That is China.

It wouldn't work if I replaced him with old M.

They also have no way to find suppliers of all parts of the photolithography machine in their own country. They have to cooperate with multiple countries around the world.

The huge cost of resource coordination will greatly increase the cost and time of the entire R\u0026D project.

This is also one of the main reasons why the cost of many products from China is much lower than that of foreign manufacturers.

In short, regardless of Chang Chunguang's technology that has not broken through the EUV light source, Kangchi can try to borrow his R\u0026D and manufacturing capabilities to quickly obtain a feasible light source system.

Now that the light for photolithography is available,

The next step is to collect and project the light through an optical system onto a silicon wafer coated with photoresist.

This optical system also accounts for the largest cost of the entire photolithography machine.

In this part, Kangchi plans to upgrade the lens production line of Daqin Optics, and then dismantle it to directly obtain most of the equipment parts needed for the manufacturing of photolithography machine lenses and mirrors.

This will undoubtedly be much more efficient.

Moreover, the upgraded production line probably doesn’t even have an analysis project.

Because most of the technologies inside were already obtained when Kangchi analyzed the lithography machine, he himself has a very large space for explanation.

The only drawback is that he needs to do some confusion in the next project, and mix these separated components into the entire project without anyone noticing.

Um,

Just to bully Yan Hui and the others for not doing much research on photolithography machines.

At that time, they will probably do whatever Kang Chi asks them to do, and there won't be much room for thinking.

As for the last key system of the lithography machine, it is the dual workpiece stage system that carries the silicon wafer.

Its working principle is very simple, that is, continuously moving the exposed part of the silicon wafer during photolithography, but the technical content is actually very high.

Because this working platform must be fast, accurate and ruthless.

Speed ​​determines the efficiency of the lithography machine.

If the movement is too slow, the output of the lithography machine will not be good.

This requires it to stop quickly and accurately after moving at high speed.

The stop position error must be within 1nm.

If the deviation is larger, the entire wafer will be directly scrapped!

What is this concept?

It's probably like a car traveling at high speed. It suddenly stops in an emergency, and the error in the stopping position cannot exceed 1 millimeter.

However, this difficulty was solved by Hafnium Institute of Technology in May this year.

The vacuum high-speed ultra-precision laser interferometer they developed has a displacement resolution of an astonishing 5pm, and the displacement error is controlled at 30pm!

You know, 1000pm is equal to 1nm!

The displacement error of 0.03nm is simply awesome!

Kang Chi simply doubted whether they were cheating like him...

To be honest, there are quite a lot of capable people in China.

If Kangchi does not rely on the system, although Kangchi himself has a certain degree of confidence that he can conquer this technology, he doesn't know how long it will take...

Therefore, Kangchi has been constantly reminding himself that although the system is indeed easy to use, he cannot stop learning and understanding.

This is not only to alleviate your own pain when analyzing technology and avoid sudden death, but also to prevent you from being unable to do anything if you are not proficient enough in the future and need to study by yourself.

In short, China has actually overcome or is about to overcome most of the technical difficulties of EUV lithography machines, but it is still unknown which ones can be reproduced and put into mass production.

In order to get the answer, Kang Chi made a special call to Chief Lu.

When he heard Kang Chi ask about the lithography machine, Chief Lu immediately cheered up and asked quickly: "Are you planning to develop the lithography machine?"

"Yeah, I have this idea."

"Building a photolithography machine is great! Well... but aren't you busy mass-producing oil-mining insects? Where do you find so much time and energy to develop a photolithography machine?"

"Let's take some time to play..."

"..."

Later, in the silence of Director Lu, Kang Chi inquired about the research status of the EUV light source system of the Changchun Institute of Light and the dual workpiece stage system of the Hafnium Institute of Technology.

"Well... they have indeed made certain breakthroughs, but I can't say exactly what technical node they have reached and how long it will take for them to be implemented... You can ask Academician Zhang, he knows better in this regard."

So after Kang Chi hung up the phone, he called Zhang Dayuan again.

As a result, when Zhang Dayuan heard Kang Chi's question, he directly said that he couldn't explain it clearly on the phone and asked him to go to Yanjing for an interview.

Kang Chi strongly suspected that the old man just wanted to trick him into using that steady-state micro-focus light source.

But in order to gain the opportunity to shorten the development cycle of lithography machines, Kang Chi had to obey him...

Anyway, no matter what he said after he got there, Kang Chi just wouldn’t do it with him.

Can he still detain Kang Chi?

…

After more than two hours of flight, Kang Chi arrived at Yanjing International Airport before dark.

The person who came to pick him up was Chen Hai's colleague. After the three of them met, they went straight to the HEPS project department.

After layers of security checks and reports, Kang Chi finally saw Zhang Dayuan in the project department wearing a safety helmet and dressed like a construction site worker.

Kang Chi couldn't help but admire him when he saw that this old man, who was nearly seventy years old, could still stay on the front line in high spirits and personally participate in the construction of experimental projects.

"Academician Zhang, long time no see."

As soon as they met, Kang Chi took the initiative to shake hands with him and praised: "You are really a sword that never grows old."

"That's necessary." Zhang Dayuan pulled Kang Chi proudly, "Let's take a walk and show you around first."

Faced with Zhang Dayuan's enthusiasm, Kang Chi naturally couldn't refuse.

What's more, he himself was actually quite curious about this place, so he followed Zhang Dayuan and took a brief walk around the high-energy synchrotron radiation light source under construction.

The last chapter almost got a 4, but fortunately it was released after revision.

It is estimated that if you write too detailed and too close to the facts, it will be very easy to be 4...

To be on the safe side, we may briefly cover the technology and nodes next.

Then exaggerate it a little, and it will be over if you are awesome anyway.

I hope you don’t have to look for faults and just treat me as a random boaster.

Um,

In fact, I was just bragging, really!