Homecoming of Rebirth

Page 926

Qi Lei, "This is not something you worry about."

As long as Byron is willing to do it, I will pay for the amount.

It's just that Qi Lei doesn't understand. Since you have the advantage of being a latecomer, you also think it's a good thing. Why don't you have many choices?

And Byron's explanation is, "There are really not many choices, just take the microelectronic materials and devices I just mentioned!"

Byron listed Qi Lei one by one.

"For example, monocrystalline silicon wafers."

"It is not difficult for me to prepare high-purity single crystal silicon. Even for large-diameter wafers, I have the confidence to complete the industrial manufacturing process design in the laboratory."

Sam was afraid that Qi Lei wouldn't understand, so he explained: "The preparation of high-purity monocrystalline silicon is a difficult point in the semiconductor industry, but that's it, the real difficulty is the large diameter."

"Because the chip is etched on the wafer, each small square is arranged in parallel, and a wafer can etch many chips at the same time."

"However, the wafer is round and the chip is square, which will inevitably lead to waste of raw materials at the edge."

"This means that the larger the diameter of the wafer, the lower the waste rate, and the lower the cost of chip manufacturing!"

"So, wafer suppliers all over the world are trying to make wafers as thick as possible."

After Sam finished explaining, Qi Lei nodded to indicate that he understood.

In fact, in later generations, he also read some reports about wafers and chips, and knew that these things are especially important in chip manufacturing.

"Then we can consider developing this technology first."

It was Byron who poured cold water on him, "It's useless!"

"Why is it useless?"

Byron, "I completed the process in the laboratory, can you put it into production immediately?"

Qi Lei, "..."

Byron, "Industrial-level mass production, you...we don't have such a factory, and we don't have supporting technology."

"Even if I finish the research, within five to ten years, I can only lie in the laboratory and wait for the supporting documents."

"..."

"Besides, wafer manufacturing has been monopolized by several major manufacturers around the world. Are you confident to break this monopoly?"

"Commercial application is something you should consider, do you need me to remind you?"

"You can't make money, so what's the use of research?"

Qi Lei, "..."

His face flushed, he pondered for a long time, and finally... gave up.

Or rather, put it aside.

There is no way, people are poor and short-sighted.

It is indeed unrealistic under the circumstances that this kind of industrial chain is almost impoverished.

The more important reason is that Qi Lei really doesn't have that much money.

If he had a 800 billion meter knife in his hand, would I still talk to you about it?It's over, I'll make up for what you lack.

It's a pity, it's still too poor!

Next, Byron listed some research lines of defense.

For example, logic circuits.That is the world of ARM and Intel, and there is no advantage in killing them.

Photoresists, oxidizing materials, high-purity chemical reagents, etc., the people of the Japanese country have ridden the dust, and they should not be started at the initial stage.

In the end, among dozens of options related to the field of microelectronics, Byron only gave Qi Lei four choices.

In other words, the four options given by Sam.

"Polysilicon, plastic packaging materials, ultra-high-purity gas materials, and wide-bandgap semiconductor materials."

The explanation given by Sam is, "First of all, Byron has academic advantages in these four fields."

"Secondly..."

Sam explained to Qi Lei and Nanlao one by one, "Polysilicon, although the international supply competition is fierce."

"But after all, it is the upstream raw material of monocrystalline silicon, and the level of supporting industries required is relatively low. It is easier to achieve mass production. Maybe we can still kill a bloody road."

"As for plastic packaging materials and ultra-high-purity gas materials, these two items, firstly, the iterations are relatively frequent, and we are easy to surpass; secondly, the level of supporting industries required is low, and most of the proportion comes from the chemical industry. In this regard, China has a foundation Yes. As long as you find a cooperative chemical plant and carry out supporting upgrades and transformations, mass production can be achieved.”

"and……"

At this time, Qi Lei had already guessed, "Moreover, in the chemical industry, China has a manufacturing cost advantage."

Sam: "That's right! Neither the Japanese manufacturers nor the American manufacturers that currently supply the world have China's labor cost advantage."

"As long as we can do it, the cost will be lower than theirs and more competitive."

Qi Lei nodded, and continued: "Then... why?"

Byron looked disgusted, "Wide bandgap semiconductor material!"

Sam said: "The consideration of this option is completely different from the first three."

Qi Lei, "Why is it different?"

Sam, "Because it's cutting-edge technology!"

Qi Lei, "!!"

In this regard, Nan Lao also knows something, and explained to Qi Lei: "You just need to know that the energy of electrons in solids has discontinuous magnitude."

"To put it bluntly, there is a gap between valence electrons and free electrons, and this gap is called a forbidden band."

"If valence electrons want to become free electrons, they have to pay extra energy."

"The narrower the forbidden band, the lower the energy effort."

"For example, the forbidden band of a material like silicon is 1.12 electron volts, and something greater than 2.3 electron volts is called a wide band gap."

At this time, Mr. Nan said with a smile: "Don't think that the narrower the band gap, the better. With the trend of chips and manufacturing tools getting closer and closer to the physical limit, a narrow band gap is not a good thing. Sooner or later, it will restrict the development of chips."

"Therefore, wide bandgap semiconductor materials have become a hot research direction in the field of microelectronics in the world today."

Looking up at Byron, "Mr. Byron, what kind of wide bandgap materials are you good at?"

"Silicon carbide? Black silicon carbide? Or green silicon carbide?"

Silicon carbide is currently a popular wide bandgap material. Because of its different purity, it can be divided into black and green.

Pharynx silicon carbide is 95% pure, while green silicon carbide can reach more than 97% purity.

In this regard, there are also domestic research teams, but they are still far from the international level.

It is said that some foreign companies have been able to realize the mass production of green silicon carbide, and are in the demonstration stage.

Mr. Nan couldn't help being a little excited here. You know, black silicon carbide is better. If Byron can realize the mass production of green silicon carbide, it will be a treasure!

For this alone, Qi Lei won't lose money if he abducts this person back.

However, what Mr. Nan didn't expect was that when Byron heard something black and green, he sneered, "I've also studied silicon carbide for a while, and it's nothing unusual."

Old Nan, "????"

I only heard Byron said: "The wide bandgap material I am involved in is gallium nitride."

"!!!"

Nan Laoteng stood up, Qi Lei was also surprised.

"Gallium nitride? Does the name sound so familiar?"

I can't remember where I learned about it, but Qi Lei can be sure that this thing should be awesome.

……

Really awesome!

Even in that time and space 20 years later, gallium nitride is still the frontier and hot spot of global semiconductor research, known as the third-generation semiconductor material.

It has a wide band gap, high thermal conductivity and strong atomic bonds, high chemical stability, a melting point of 1700 degrees, and is hardly corroded by any acid.

Moreover, it also has extremely strong high-irradiation capabilities.

Because of these characteristics, it has a very broad prospect in the application of optoelectronics, high-temperature high-power rail devices and high-frequency microwave devices.

Let's put it this way, Qi Lei may not know that in 1989, three Japanese scholars won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics just by using gallium nitride to manufacture a high-efficiency diode that emits blue light.

In the current year of 2002, the main products of gallium nitride should be LED light-emitting devices.

As for later generations, the most well-known one is fast charging.

After Qi Lei listened to Nanlao and Byron's popular science, he remembered a sentence, "Gallium nitride is also an important raw material for the manufacture of purple laser diodes."

Purple light?

Asmer?

"Just study this thing!!"

"For the remaining three, which one of your majors should you choose first, I want this thing!!"

Byron was taken aback. To be honest, the gallium nitride was the most unreliable.

For the other three options, Byron is confident that they can be put into production in a short period of time and open up the situation.

But gallium nitride?

Maybe after 20 years of research and spending countless money, it will be in vain.

What is cutting-edge technology refers to what characteristics this thing has, how to mass-produce it, and how to realize commercial value.

Its potential has not been fully tapped yet, and no one knows what the final result of this research will be.

This is like studying graphene in later generations. The material performance is simply invincible. 20 years later, the high-quality material properties of graphene are still being discovered, constantly surprising humans.

Once low-cost mass production is achieved, human application of technology will be a revolution.

However, no one knows when this thing will be mass-produced at low cost.

It could be ten years, it could be 100 years.

Ordinarily, gallium nitride is the same. It can be prepared in the laboratory, and mass production is not impossible, but it does not consider the cost.

As for mass production of low-cost devices, at least in 2002 it seems far away.

No one can even give a specific timetable for when other applications will be studied.

To be honest, this research direction is quite risky.

Why is Qi Lei, a profiteer, so determined to want this thing?

As a result, Qi Lei said, "Byron, I don't want mass-produced gallium nitride substrates, nor LEDs."

"These can be put away first, let the Wa people play by themselves first, I only want one thing!"

Byron is a little confused, you don't understand anything, why are you so sure all of a sudden?

"What do you want?"

"Extreme violet laser!"

Byron: "..."

this thing?I'm not very good at it!

Byron is not God, he is just a chemist, he is good at studying materials, but gallium nitride is only a component of laser diodes.