Rebirth of the Tech Madman

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The war has begun!

Just the day before the opening of the Zheru Spring Developers Conference, the Wall Street Journal reported on the fierce competition in the computer industry at this stage.

Of course, the authoritative media will not just gossip. The Wall Street Journal cites reliable information from anonymous sources and points directly at the P Alliance, or more precisely, the Fangyuan PC Alliance. Given the opportunity to get together, a meeting was held in Cupertino aimed at encircling n.

What's more, the Wall Street Journal further broke the news with full confidence that the prices of the two mainstream PU models of Fangyuan PC, Zheru holder-p_166mhz and Intel pentium-mm_133mhz, will usher in a dive, which will drive the price of Fangyuan PC to significantly increase. reduce.

Specifically, in the second half of this year, a Fangyuan personal computer with a configuration such as a pu running at a frequency of more than 100mhz, a memory of 16mb, and a hard disk of 500mb or 1gb can be bought for $1,000.

To this end, the Wall Street Journal visited the computer sales outlets of various brands at the fastest speed, and confirmed the fact that users who purchase products now have received a price difference compensation coupon valid until the end of this year to ensure No worries, if the purchased product, or a product with similar specifications, has a price reduction within the year, you can get corresponding compensation based on this, or convert it into a discount for purchasing other products.

There is no doubt that p has declared war on n.

You know, before the two sides were just fighting, spitting, and arguing about which is better; now it's about to see the bayonet.

The Wall Street Journal also conducted a preliminary survey of users who intend to buy computers. The result is that if you can buy a Fangyuan personal computer with good performance for $1,000, you will not consider the $800 n. After all, the latter, which has no hard disk and is only equivalent to a network terminal, cannot perform extravagantly in terms of entertainment such as playing games and watching movies. It is better to spend a few hundred dollars more and buy the former with full functions.

In the conclusion, the Wall Street Journal analyzed that the price increase factor of Fangyuan personal computer caused by the previous Strait crisis has basically disappeared, coupled with the industry's conscious and proactive price reduction, the two aspects will be combined, and the second half of this year will definitely be stimulated. A wave of sales is about to usher in; the situation facing the fledgling n is very severe.

As the saying goes, the city gate caught fire, and the fish in the pond were affected, but the unlucky Apple Computer first fell into the quagmire of collapse without tears.

Larry Ellison, the creator of n pointed at by the spear, vehemently accused that this is unfair competition under an absolute monopoly!

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Under the attack of both sides of the N Alliance Conference and the Java Alliance Conference,

The Zheru Spring Developers Conference has a grand opening.

In Tang Huan's speech, he responded to the current market trend, Our competitive environment is as free as ever; otherwise, how did n jump out?

With the popularization of 0.35-micron semiconductor technology, technological progress has driven down the price of chips, and it is natural for personal computers to follow. This is free competition!

Looking at the enthusiastic response of users, you can know how happy this is and the trend of the times!

I want to emphasize one more point, all of this is the natural result of technological progress and fair promotion.

And this year's Zheru Spring Developer Conference will continue to uphold the spirit of diligent pursuit of technology, and present cutting-edge and latest research results of extraordinary significance to everyone.

I think that's why you choose to participate in the Zheru Spring Developer Conference.

Again, I'm proud to tell you all that you will definitely be well worth the trip!

For example, in terms of my personal schedule, I will host presentations on two very important topics, copper interconnects, a manufacturing technology that can further increase the operating frequency of microprocessors, and a new standard for wireless local area networks ii.

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To fight against competitors, tactics are necessary, but not all of them, otherwise, it will be difficult to convince the public. In the IT field, technological leadership is an undisputed magic weapon for victory.

Naturally, the technical gold content of this year's Zheru Spring Developers Conference is not comparable to that of the n Alliance Conference or the Java Alliance Conference.

Take copper interconnection as an example. This idea has been around for a long time, but due to the high difficulty of realization, the industry is generally not optimistic about its prospect. As a result, Tang it now understands it.

The so-called copper interconnection, in a simple description, is that in a VLSI such as a microprocessor, the wires connecting countless transistors were originally made of aluminum, but are now replaced by copper.

Moore's Law The number of circuits integrated on an integrated circuit chip doubles every 18 months can be called the yardstick of the semiconductor industry roadmap. And in the past 30 years, it has been invaluable.

In this process of continuous advancement, the semiconductor industry has kept up with the simple and crude method, which is to blindly seek to reduce the volume of components on integrated circuits in order to increase the number of transistors that can be accommodated, thereby increasing the speed of chips.

To put it bluntly, this method means that the knife used to carve flowers on the radish has become more and more exquisite, and the knife skills have become more and more sophisticated, and the carvings have become more and more detailed.

Today, the knife used to carve carrots in the semiconductor process is becoming popular at 0.35 microns; Zheru is about to invest in 0.25 microns and lay out 0.18 microns.

Microprocessors including Zheru's holder, Intel's Pentium, IBM's Poer, Sun Microsystems' Spar, DE's Alpha, Mips Technology's Mips, etc., are actively adopting a 0.35-micron process to run smoothly The very symbolic threshold of frequency 100mhz.

However, this most direct method also has limits. At the very least, it is foreseeable that when the process reaches a stage more precise than 0.18 microns, the difficulty will be extremely magnified.

In this case, the upgrade of the semiconductor industry, in addition to focusing on the carving knife of the external element of the process, has also begun to work hard on the internal element of radish.

In the past, the means in this regard were also very direct and crude, that is, mainly to increase the wafer size. Since the early 1990s, under the leadership of Zhe Ru, the semiconductor industry has introduced 200 mm, that is, 8-inch wafer manufacturing technology.

Obviously, after the wafer diameter increases, the number of transistors that can be accommodated is also greatly increased, but the bottleneck encountered in the process of making radish thicker is more difficult to break through.

Therefore, the semiconductor industry must change the extensive development model and instead focus on delicacy.

The introduction of copper interconnection technology is equivalent to starting locally, which improves the taste of radish and improves the tolerance for carving with carving knives.

To explain in professional words, because the resistivity of copper is about 1.7 nano-ohm m, the resistivity of aluminum is about 2.8 nano-ohm m, the conductivity of copper is much higher than that of aluminum, so copper interconnection is used in VLSI , can reduce the thickness of the interconnection layer and reduce the distributed capacitance between the interconnection layers, so that it is possible for the microprocessor to further increase the operating frequency.

At the same time, as the density of integrated circuits further increases, the electromigration phenomenon becomes impossible to ignore, and in this regard, copper also has a strong advantage over aluminum. Gein, the melting point of copper is about 1084 degrees Celsius, and the melting point of aluminum is about 660 degrees Celsius, and copper is relatively less prone to electromigration.

Citing more specific data is that the conductivity of copper is about 40% higher than that of aluminum, which makes the operating frequency of microprocessors increase by about 15%; at the same time, copper is more durable than aluminum, which also allows integrated circuits to be made Being smaller also increases reliability by about 100 times.

Of course, everything cannot be perfect. Compared with traditional aluminum interconnects, although copper interconnects have advantages such as low resistivity and better anti-electromigration ability, they are also accompanied by new problems.

For example, groove defects, bubble defects, missing metal and so on.

Due to various technical difficulties such as these, most people in the industry believe that although the traditional aluminum interconnects in chips have obvious limitations, it is impossible for copper interconnects to replace them.

Others worried that they would not be able to get a return due to the high investment, but Tang Huan would not doubt that this from 0 to 1 qualitative change process copper interconnection is the only way and the way to success, so he went to the front again.

Relying on innovation in the field of new materials, copper interconnection technology is coming as promised!

Through the improvement of the new process, the copper interconnection layer in the integrated circuit can accommodate six levels.

The existing production conditions of the semiconductor factory, including the manufacturing process, remain unchanged. The introduction of copper interconnection technology is enough to allow the operating frequency of the current highest-end microprocessor to step up from the 200mhz range to 300mhz.

And this is still killing chickens with a sledgehammer. The copper interconnection technology must at least cooperate with a more advanced process than the 0.18 micron process, so that it will not be suspected of being overkill.

Tang it said impassionedly: Through the successful research and development of magnetoresistance and giant magnetoresistance applications, Zheru has brought 1gb capacity to the 3.5-inch ordinary personal computer hard disk, allowing ordinary users to have more relaxed and more freedom. The local storage space; copper interconnection technology will surely allow the operating frequency of the microprocessor to reach 1ghz at the dawn of the new millennium.

Everyone, the road ahead of p is still very broad. What we have to do is to continuously enhance it, and its cost will naturally continue to decrease as technology advances.

I'm here to make another positive judgment. At least in the next ten years, p will not die, but will grow stronger, and those products that go against the trend will only be reduced to useless electronic waste!

Those spies of the n camp who had to pinch their noses to inquire about information, after hearing Mr. Richest Man's last words, all of them changed their faces, and their uneasiness was hard to suppress.

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The traditional mainstream media has long been staring at Zheru's every move at the Spring Developers Conference. That night, CNN specifically reported Zheru's copper interconnection technology.

Industry experts among the guests commented: Copper interconnection technology can make Zheru's new products including holder microprocessors three years ahead of competitors; It will take ten years for other companies in the semiconductor industry to keep pace with this technology platform.”

The host then asked: You just mentioned the impact of copper interconnection technology on the industry, but what about us ordinary users?

Industry experts talked eloquently: The use of copper interconnection technology in the manufacture of semiconductor chips means that the demand for battery power in notebook computers is reduced, and Internet servers can provide faster page download speeds. Video cameras, phones, and other electronic devices can be made smaller, faster, and cheaper.

The host turned the topic to the n and p dispute, which is very gossipy in the outside world, someone once joked that when Tang spared no effort to promote the development of the Internet, he certainly did not expect that Larry Ellison took advantage of the wave of the Internet to launch n , I was ambushed because of this.”

At this time, Zheru solemnly introduced the research and development results of copper interconnection, does it imply that Tang has been irritated, so through this move, he demonstrated to the n camp and at the same time gave p a shot in the arm to prove his The outlook remains bright.”

The industry expert laughed, I think, if the face is not considered, Tang's heart should be very calm.

According to market data, the number of personal computers in the United States at this stage is conservatively estimated to exceed 100 million. This is also a major basis for the explosive growth of the Internet today.

Compared to this, although Larry Ellison has repeatedly claimed that in his plan, the first step is to sell 1 million units of n, and the industrial park on the island of Asia already has such a capacity.

However, including the other two major n manufacturers, IBM and Sun Microsystems, the pace of n advancement is not as brisk as expected.

Obviously, n is not so easy to replicate the miracle of the early 1980s, when a new computer platform was first introduced.

After all, the personal computer platform, which has been developed for more than ten years, has gathered a lot of work results, and it cannot be simply let go.

The introduction of copper interconnection technology should help Tang to consolidate his position from a high level. Didn't he mention that he will also host a wireless LAN topic called 'ii'? This should be a shout for breadth.