The flowers in the factory of rebirth are too fierce

So, Lin Zhiyuan, Secretary Huang, Director Han and his wife, and the driver, the five of them found a restaurant nearby and ordered some dishes.

During the dinner, Director Han continued to talk about his lithography technology. He said that the current technology route adopted by the world's step-and-scan lithography machines is the dry method, and the technology is advanced to the next generation by using more advanced exposure light sources. In order to pursue higher resolution, the wavelength of the light source has increased from the initial 365nm to 248nm, and then to 193nm, but when going further down, this technology path has encountered difficulties. Most companies chose to improve on the original technology path. At this time, the two major lithography giants Nikon and Canon chose to further develop 157nm wavelength light sources.

When Director Han said this, Lin Zhiyuan suddenly took a deep breath and made a puzzled expression, "Director Han, I am a layman, but I have a question. Of course, this question may be very naive, please don't laugh at me."

Director Han waved his hand and said, "Assistant Lin, science requires bold assumptions and careful verification. Without imagination, science cannot move forward. If you have any questions, just tell me. How could I laugh at you?"

Lin Zhiyuan spoke cautiously, "Director Han, we all learned in junior high school physics class that water affects the refractive index of light. If a layer of water is added between the lens and the silicon wafer of the stepper scanner lithography machine you just mentioned, the wavelength of light will be reduced. Director Han, do you think this method is feasible?"

"Add a layer of water?" Director Han seemed to be completely stupefied, and he kept repeating these four words.

Director Han was completely in a state of extreme excitement. He paced around the hotel as if no one was around, walking faster and faster, and kept muttering, "Assistant Lin, do you know Moore's Law?"

Without waiting for Lin Zhiyuan to answer, he continued, "Moore's Law states that the number of components that can be accommodated on an integrated circuit will double every 18 to 24 months (the corresponding chip process will continue to shrink). And every advancement in the process will also bring a leap in chip performance."

"But semiconductor R&D teams around the world are stuck at 157 nanometer wavelength technology, and Moore's Law is beginning to be doubted. What you just said is likely to continue Moore's Law. This is a great conjecture. No, I can't wait any longer. I have to go back and do the experiment right away." Director Han turned around and walked out, but one foot had already stepped out of the hotel. He turned back and smiled awkwardly, "I forgot everything when I was so happy. We don't have a laboratory and the corresponding equipment, so we can't do this experiment."

He lowered his head and continued to talk to himself, "There must be a way. I must turn this genius conjecture into reality."

In 2002, a Chinese scientist named Lin invented the "immersion lithography technology", which completely changed the production of integrated circuits. This technology uses water instead of air in the gap between the lens and the surface of the silicon wafer to improve the resolution. When semiconductor research and development teams around the world were focusing on 157-nanometer wavelength technology, scientist Lin creatively used 193-nanometer wavelength light through water as a medium to shorten it to 134 nanometers, thereby continuing Moore's Law.

But theory is theory. Whether it can be applied from the laboratory to the factory requires the cooperation of experienced equipment manufacturers. Scientist Lin went to the United States, East Sang, Germany, and Windmill to sell the idea of ​​immersion lithography to lithography machine manufacturers. However, most of the big manufacturers did not buy it.

The reason for not buying into it was that the technology was too "genius" and there were many ideas that needed to be verified. Another reason was that the sunk cost of the change was too high. At that time, the mainstream research and development ideas were all on the 157nm dry lithography technology path. Many companies had already spent a lot of financial, human and material resources. If this "add water" idea was used, each research team would have to start all over again and overturn most of the original designs.

Therefore, the attitude of the giants towards the scientist surnamed Lin is not just to ignore him, but to ban him. Nikon even put pressure on TSMC to hide the scientist surnamed Lin. In the face of real interests, many such things have happened. For example, Kodak was actually the first company to develop digital cameras, but it lacked the courage to subvert itself because it was afraid that it would threaten its film business, so it hid the digital camera instead.

Finally, when the scientist surnamed Lin ran to the windmill country, ASML was willing to be the first warrior to try it out. Although ASML also started with dry lithography machines, it wanted to take a gamble through the horse racing system. Since Nikon and Canon were both struggling with dry 157nm light sources and the progress was not smooth, the significance of this "surprise weapon" was huge.

Finally, the immersion lithography was successful. In 2003, ASML and TSMC jointly developed the first immersion lithography equipment, TwinScan XT: 1150i, and an improved version was released the following year. In the same year, Nikon, whose R&D progress was slow, finally announced the release of a 157nm dry lithography product prototype.

But at this point the outcome had already been decided. On one side was a new technology that used the original 193nm light source but evolved it to a 132nm wavelength through water, and on the other side was a prototype with a 157nm wavelength. The advantages of immersion technology were self-evident. This technology became the mainstream of the subsequent 65, 45 and 32nm processes, pushing Moore's Law forward three generations.

Nikon and Canon’s misjudgment of the technology path not only meant that tens of billions of R&D funds were wasted, but also that they were completely defeated in the competition with ASML. In the 2000 years before 16, although ASML ranked among the first echelon of lithography machine manufacturing, it was the smallest player in the first echelon, occupying less than 10% of the market share.

But since the emergence of immersion technology, ASML has been unstoppable, completely crushing former giants Nikon and Canon, and its market share exceeded 2008% in 60. As a result, semiconductor manufacturers in the entire East Sang country, as well as giants such as IBM, have also rapidly declined.

Director Han seemed to be in a state of madness, circling around in the hotel's private room, mumbling to himself. His wife was frightened and walked up to him, holding his arm. "Old Han, what's wrong with you?"

"Don't interrupt my thoughts." Director Han swung his arms and almost threw his wife out. Fortunately, Lin Zhiyuan was quick and held Mrs. Han, so she didn't fall to the ground.

Director Han was completely unaware of this and continued to walk around excitedly. "Adding a layer of water will change the refractive index of light. This is a genius idea. This idea can even change the model of current lithography machines. No, not change, but subvert."

"I want to go home, I want to make a phone call, now, right now!" Director Han walked out with his head down.

Lin Zhiyuan shouted to the dumbfounded Secretary Huang and the driver, "Don't just stand there. I'm going to settle the bill. Take good care of Director Han and Auntie."

The two men woke up as if from a dream. The driver strode out, while Secretary Huang accompanied Director Han's wife out of the hotel. Lin Zhiyuan took out two hundred-dollar bills, slapped them on the cashier, and without asking for change, he ran out.

He knew that what he had just said had worked, and he had deliberately said it as an amateur.