Video Game Empire

There are two very important indicators for building a fab, one is the diameter of the monocrystalline silicon ingot, and the other is the line width of the process. When ∈↗ is small, the larger the diameter of the ingot, the larger the area of ​​a single wafer cut out, so that the number of chips that can be cut out per wafer is greater.

In fact, the manufacturing cost of a 3-inch wafer is not much different from that of a 4-inch and a 5-inch wafer, and the area of ​​a 5-inch wafer is 2.78 times that of a 3-inch wafer. In other words, in the manufacturing cost of the same chip, the cost of using a 5-inch ingot in the wafer preparation process is only about one-third of the 3-inch process.

Another very critical technical indicator is the process line width, also known as the etching size, which refers to the minimum size that a manufacturing equipment can etch on a silicon wafer. To be more specific, this line width refers to the width of the wires between the transistors on the wafer surface.

You can imagine: using a hatchet and a scalpel to scratch a piece of wood, the size of the scratches will definitely be different. "Habato" is like the 5-micron process that has gradually become outdated, and "scalpel" is like the most advanced 1.5-micron process.

After each wafer is pre-processed, the usable area is fixed. The thinner the wire, the less area it occupies on the wafer, leaving more area to integrate more transistors. At the same time, the thinner the wire, the smaller the resistance and the faster the current speed. The former can reduce the power of the chip, and the latter can increase the frequency of the chip.

The equipment that determines the process level is mainly the lithography machine, which is also the most core and critical equipment in the entire semiconductor manufacturing process. Another time and space, Intel from the 86 series. To the later Pentium series and Core series, they have been leading the trend of the entire semiconductor manufacturing process.

Before Li Xuan was reborn. The Netherlands as company is one of the world's largest semiconductor equipment manufacturing companies. In the mid-to-high-end lithography machine market, as companies occupy about 60% of the market share. And the most high-end market (such as immersion lithography machine). The company's market share is as high as 80%.

In order to maintain its leadership in technology, Intel acquired some of the equity of as companies early, and also provided huge research and development expenses for as companies to support their exploration of new processes.

Thirty years later, the semiconductor industry has undergone brutal competition, and the industrial concentration has been greatly improved. The upstream semiconductor manufacturing equipment industry is a winner-take-all industry. Because the price of a lithography machine can easily cost tens of millions of dollars or even over 100 million dollars. It may take years to develop a new lithography machine product. Invest billions of dollars. The average company simply cannot afford such a high investment in R&D.

So much so that only a few of the most advanced semiconductor equipment manufacturing companies can finally survive after today's constant market elimination. Also taking the lithography machine market as an example, by 2010, there were only three companies that could provide commercial lithography machines on the market: as, Nikon and Canon. Among them, the former controls most of the mid-to-high-end market, while the latter two divide up the mid-to-low-end market.

However, in the early 1980s, high-end lithography equipment was only a few million dollars, and the semiconductor equipment manufacturing industry was still in the stage of blooming. As early as the end of 1980, Li Xuan began to invest in a semiconductor equipment manufacturing company called arsar.

The company's Chinese name is Fanlin Semiconductor Equipment Technology Company. The reason for this name. Because its founder's surname is Lin ("a" is the transliteration of Lin), his name is Lin Jieping.

In another time and space, Lin Jieping is one of the most famous Chinese tycoons in Silicon Valley. Compared with Yang Jieyuan, who has been kicked out of Yahoo, and Chen Shijun, who has sold his ob, Lin Jieping has led his Fanlin company to continuous success. Maybe ordinary people in China have never heard of the company Arsar. But it actually ranks in the top 20 of all U.S. companies in terms of profitability.

It is precisely because he knows Lin Jieping's ability that Li Xuan provided sufficient funds for Fanlin Company at the beginning of the other party's business. Although another time and space Pan Lin company. It is famous for its front-end wafer manufacturing equipment, but Li Xuan also expects it in this life. It can also gain a place in the field of lithography machines.

The 1980s was the last chance to enter the field of lithography equipment manufacturing. With the continuous advancement of semiconductor process technology, the research and development cost of lithography machines will skyrocket. The bar will be higher in the future.

Not long ago, Fanlin finally developed the first mature lithography machine product a-a1, which is a contact exposure machine with a maximum resolution of 5 microns. The technical level of a-a1 is only equivalent to the level of the mid-1970s. Now the mainstream lithography machines on the market have gradually replaced the contact type by the proximity type. When Intel produced the 80286 processor last year, it has adopted a new projection lithography machine, which can reduce the etching size to 1.5 microns.

Therefore, this a-a1 lithography machine from Fanlin can only be regarded as an outdated low-end product, and there are not many mature products of the same kind from other companies on the market. However, Fanlin has just entered the lithography machine industry and has not yet had any popularity. Naturally, it is difficult to convince customers to purchase their own products. After all, even such a slightly outdated lithography machine from Fanlin Company costs more than $1 million.

According to Li Xuan's plan, the biggest use of these early products is to achieve technology accumulation. He and Lin Jieping had lofty ambitions before. When the two communicated about the future development plan of Fanlin Company, they never expected the company to achieve profitability within a few years.

But if Fanlin's products can be sold to the mainland, the situation is completely different. Even though a-a1 has only reached the technical level in the mid-1970s, there is no domestic capability to realize commercialized large-scale integrated circuit production. In fact, in another time and space, it was not until the twenty-first century, thirty years later, that the technical level of domestic lithography machines could reach the level of the current a-a1.

There is no domestic technology of the same level, and when foreign procurement is blocked, semiconductor equipment can be said to be a buyer's market in the mainland. Before the 742 Factory imported equipment and technology from Japan's Toshiba Corporation. A complete TV integrated circuit production line was built, with a total investment of US$66 million.

It was a 3-inch fab. And Dongfang Semiconductor has just completed and put into operation a larger 3-inch fab in Taiwan not long ago, with a total investment of less than 40 million US dollars. Although the equipment that produces digital chips and the production of analog chips are not the same. But TV chips are not sophisticated products.

It can be said that the 742 factory was definitely slaughtered by Toshiba as a fat sheep, but they were slaughtered willingly. Because in addition to Toshiba, other companies are not willing to provide relevant technology to China.

Li Xuan understood Yu Youcheng's idea. If Dongfang Electronics Co., Ltd. came forward to assist the mainland to build a brand-new fab, it would not only make a lot of money from it, but also be able to sell Fanlin's new equipment by the way. In addition to the newly developed lithography machine, another R&D focus of Fanlin is wafer fabrication equipment.

These two parts can be said to be the core equipment in a fab. If the main equipment is provided by Fanlin Company, the production technical support will be provided by Dongfang Semiconductor Company. If it works properly, the entire Eastern Group is in this project. It is not a problem to harvest a profit of ten or twenty million dollars. More importantly, Eastern companies can also use this to gain favor from the mainland.

Thinking of this, Li Xuan couldn't help but feel tempted, but the biggest problem in front of him was the US government's export restrictions. This is the key to decide whether this project can be realized or not.

"Don't rush to answer the mainland side, we need to take a long-term view on this matter! First of all, we must first clarify the red line of US technology exports to China. If the technology level of 3 inches and 5 microns is not on the list of strictly prohibited technologies Only then can we start the next step!" Li Xuan said to Yu Youcheng.

Yu Youcheng nodded his head. He said in agreement: "Not long ago, the Reagan administration just proposed to Congress that it hopes to give China "friendly African ally" treatment. I think Sino-US relations are likely to enter a honeymoon period next, so I think we can try to promote it!"

Li Xuan glanced at Yu Youcheng in surprise. Showing a somewhat approving smile. Yu Youcheng's growth rate is much faster than he expected, and the other party has completely entered the state, and no longer looks at the problem from the perspective of a self-improving technician. And from the perspective of a superior manager. Consider a problem from a broader and higher level.

For example, with regard to assisting the construction of a fab in the Mainland, Yu Youcheng can quickly think of helping Fanlin Company achieve technological output. It can also keenly capture potential opportunities from sensitive changes in international politics.

This made Li Xuan very happy. As one of the core assets of the entire Orient Group, the helm of the Oriental Research Institute should not only have sufficient technical level and be able to understand the future direction of technology development, but also have the same outstanding skills in business management and market analysis. comprehensive ability.

"I'll leave it to you to take charge of this matter, and I'll let Han Peng and Zhang Zhongmou fully cooperate with you! Our company has spent a lot of money in American politics over the past few years, and it's time for those politicians to find something to do. Don't let them just collect checks and not work hard!" Li Xuan said with a smile.

He has made a group of influential key figures in both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Dongfang Electronics Co., Ltd. will help the mainland to operate the fab. The possibility of passing the approval of the US government is really very high.

Yu Youcheng nodded his head. He knew that Li Xuan still attached great importance to the mainland, and hoped that through this project, he would deepen his influence in the entire Oriental Group. For example, if this project can really be approved by the U.S. government, Zhang Zhongmou’s Dongfang Semiconductor Company will definitely be responsible for the specific preparations.

In the research on the relevant departments of the United States, it seems that the big boss Li Xuan will not come forward in person, so many things need to be solved by Han Peng, the second person in the group.

Don't look at Han Peng now only serves as the president of two companies, Dongfang Technology Holdings and Dongfang Commercial. It is also an important link for the entire Eastern system to be integrated, and is responsible for providing intelligence collection, raw material procurement, product distribution and many other affairs for the entire group companies.

Since last year, Li Xuan has been intervening less and less in the specific affairs of the entire group, and more of setting the development direction at the highest level. Therefore, Han Peng has to be responsible for the communication and coordination between various internal companies.

Yu Youcheng can just use this action to quickly get acquainted with the most core bigwigs in the Eastern Group and integrate into the group faster.

In fact, in another time and space, the mainland did not really have its first large-scale fab until the mid-1990s. But in Li Xuan's view, even if he now helps China build the first complete commercial integrated circuit production line more than ten years ahead of schedule, it is unlikely to reverse China's weakness in the semiconductor field.

Even if a 3-inch or even 5-inch first-class fab can be built in China, in the context of rapid technological upgrading, the equipment introduced at high prices will fall behind within a few years. In fact, compared to the introduction of factories, Li Xuan believes that if China wants to catch up in the semiconductor field, it needs to work hard in the field of upstream equipment manufacturing.

But research and development is a bottomless pit, often a lot of money is thrown into it, and not even a sound can be heard. What's more, when foreign countries are still blocking China so strictly, it is not realistic to want to work behind closed doors in such a sophisticated industry as the semiconductor field. Therefore, leaders naturally want to introduce physical factories with faster results.

As for Li Xuan, he also has no lofty ambition to change the face of an industry in China by himself~www.wuxiaspot.com~ because this is simply unrealistic. If the Chinese government is willing to spend 1 billion US dollars and spend 10 years, under the condition that Uncle Sam is willing to fully relax the technical restrictions, it is possible to replace Taiwan in later generations and become a part of the division of labor in the global semiconductor industry.

Only in this case, Li Xuan will follow the trend and contribute to the prosperity of the national industry. But these conditions are impossible, so this is just a business for Li Xuan. He can reap tens of millions of dollars in profits, strengthen his influence on China's semiconductor industry, and gain the favor of the upper echelons of the country.

With so many benefits in front of him, Li Xuan is naturally willing to give it a try!

Yu Youcheng was sent back to Hong Kong by Li Xuan to investigate the feasibility of building the first digital chip fab for the mainland. And soon another character came to the door, seeking Li Xuan's help.

Two years ago, when Li Xuan was participating in a visit to the north organized by Mr. Huo Yingdong, he had a relationship with him on the plane. At that time, Professor Chen Bai, who had returned from the United States, went to Beijing-Beijing on the same plane to make suggestions to China's top leadership, hoping to establish a "China Experimental University" (naprnanrs) in China to catch up with the electronics industry. It will be developed into China's Silicon Valley. (To be continued..)