Chapter 267 There is no problem that cannot be solved [Subscribe]

Xu Yuan was naturally familiar with the Academy of Sciences. He went there from his home and arrived at his destination smoothly in no time.

As soon as I got off the car, I saw an assistant researcher who walked up to me quickly and started talking to me.

"Hello, Academician Xu."

"Today's meeting is scheduled in the lobby. I'll take you there first."

Xu Yuan raised his eyes and looked at the other person. He was a tall and thin boy wearing a pair of black-framed glasses. He gave the impression that he had just graduated with a doctorate.

However, the Academy of Sciences absorbs new blood every year, so it is normal that he has not seen it before.

The thought stayed here, Xu Yuan quickly came back to his senses, a faint smile appeared on his face.

The next second he nodded in response to the other party.

"Ok."

"Then trouble you."

"It's no trouble. I'm so happy to have such close contact with you, Academician Xu." The boy seemed very excited about Xu Yuan's approachable attitude. If he was not afraid of being impolite, he would probably want to take out his mobile phone to take a photo.

Xu Yuan was not surprised by this, after all, he would meet many fans when he went to a research institute.

Given the personal charm he displayed, it was normal for this to happen.

for the rest of the time.

Xu Yuan followed the other person and walked towards a building in the yard.

Soon he discovered that when he attended the certificate awarding ceremony for the newly elected academicians, it seemed to be held in the hall inside.

The fact that that place was chosen as the venue for today's meeting shows that the number of scientific researchers who were urgently called to attend the meeting is definitely not a small number.

But if you think about it carefully, it’s normal.

After all, what they are facing this time is the challenge of high-end chip manufacturing.

There are many subject areas involved.

You should know that the most important extreme ultraviolet lithography machine alone integrates many of the world's top technologies.

As his thoughts worked quickly, just when the two were about to reach the place, Xu Yuan suddenly asked.

"Who is attending the meeting today? Are there many people?"

The male assistant researcher did not keep Xu Yuan's question in suspense.

Hearing this, he stopped immediately, turned around and replied:
"I don't know the exact number of people, but Academician Luo from the Institute of Optoelectronics Technology has just arrived. This incident happened suddenly and had a huge impact. I have never seen such a scene in the institute."

Xu Yuan listened to what the other party said, then just nodded slightly and did not respond.

Judging from the other party’s age and status, he is probably a newcomer to the Academy of Sciences.

When faced with something like this that concerns the international situation, it is indeed beyond our understanding.

Just one phone call made so many academicians and professors put aside their work projects and return to the Academy of Sciences to attend the meeting. It is enough to imagine how much importance the Academy of Sciences attaches to this meeting. Not to mention that the male assistant researchers have never seen such a scene, Xu Yuan is also unfamiliar with it.

Soon the two of them stopped in front of the hall door, but the male assistant researcher showed no intention of going in.

"Academician Xu."

"It will take some time for Dean Bai to come over. The others who have arrived are already inside."

"Just go in first."

Xu Yuan knew that for an emergency meeting like this, it would be impossible for everyone to arrive in a short period of time.

Especially for scientific researchers in cities outside Yanjing, it will take them a longer time to get here, so the meeting will definitely not start so soon.

So he had no objection to this. He responded to her and pushed the door open and walked in.

Because this hall was where the certificate awarding ceremony and symposium for newly elected academicians were held.

He was quite familiar with the place and had nothing to be nervous about.

Just as the male assistant researcher said just now, there are already quite a few people sitting in the hall. Since the meeting has not started yet, everyone is talking about what happened online this time.

They are all scientific researchers who should be gentle and polite, but at this time they didn't care about their image at all.

Some people with hot tempers couldn't help but swear and expressed their dissatisfaction with the overseas practices.

Fortunately, there were no outsiders around, otherwise after hearing this discussion, no one would believe that a group of academicians and professors were attending a meeting.

"This time, the overseas parties are really shameless and have once again crossed the bottom line. They actually used this method to force us to submit."

"It seems that the rapid development of our technology in recent years has indeed caused fear among others, but they dare not really use force, so they can only use this disgusting method."

"Restricting our chip development is equivalent to giving up such a large semiconductor market, which is also of no benefit to them."

"Perhaps our mastery of gallium nitride radar technology is the last straw that makes the other side determined to cause trouble."

"We should not have stopped researching lithography machines. I have long said that the semiconductor industry is our weak point and we must catch up with the international level as soon as possible. I didn't expect that the enemy would not give us any time."

"I don't think there's anything to worry about. If others don't let us use it, then we can build our own extreme ultraviolet lithography machine."

"I agree with Professor Li on this matter. Our predecessors were able to successfully develop atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs through their own efforts. Now we can definitely develop extreme ultraviolet lithography machines."

"By the way, Lao Luo, haven't you been researching lithography machines? How do they compare to Ames?"

……

When Xu Yuan walked into the hall, the last words he heard were questions from several academicians and professors to Luo Yajie from the Institute of Optoelectronic Technology.

The Institute of Optoelectronic Technology mainly studies optoelectronic beam control, optical manufacturing, microelectronics, optics, etc., and it manufactured differential-specification lithography machines as early as before the millennium.

It is the only lithography machine developed entirely independently in China that has produced devices.

And as the importance of semiconductor field increases, they have also taken on the responsibility of major national scientific research equipment projects again.

Started research on super-resolution lithography equipment.

However, the lithography machine studied by the Institute of Optoelectronic Technology can theoretically only produce chips of up to 22 nanometers.

There is still a big gap in technology and specifications compared with the extreme ultraviolet lithography machines produced by Ames.

After all, their specifications have reached 7 nanometers.

Luo Yajie was not embarrassed about this, and answered everyone's questions truthfully:

"At present, our super-resolution lithography equipment project is still in the research and development stage and has unresolved problems."

"But even if the research is successful, we can't compare with AMS. In the field of extreme ultraviolet lithography, we still need to face up to our competitors."

Everyone knew this truth, but after hearing Luo Yajie's words, they still couldn't help but fall into silence.

At this moment, someone in the hall noticed Xu Yuan and subconsciously called out.

"Academician Xu."

The hall was originally quiet as everyone was silent, but suddenly this voice came out, which naturally attracted everyone's attention instantly.

Among the dozen or so academicians and senior professors present, many of them met Xu Yuan for the first time.

I had only often heard of Xu Yuan's name before.

As a result, a group of people gathered around in the next second, including Luo Yajie, an academician of the Institute of Optoelectronic Technology.

"Hello, Academician Xu."

"I didn't expect the dean to call you here as well."

"With Academician Xu in charge, I believe the current difficulties can be easily resolved."

Xu Yuan saw himself surrounded by a crowd. Since he had had similar experiences before, he greeted everyone with a smile.

Among them, Luo Yajie was the first one who couldn't wait any longer. He first took the initiative to introduce himself, and then asked about what everyone was discussing online. It was obvious that he recognized Xu Yuan's talent and strength.

"I am Luo Yajie from the Institute of Optoelectronic Technology. I am very happy to finally meet the legendary youngest academician of the two academies today."

"Before, because of things at the institute, I knew that Academician Xu was in Jincheng, but I didn't have the opportunity to meet him."

"Academician Xu should know about what's going on online. What kind of measures do you think would be more beneficial at this stage?"

Xu Yuan knew that the Institute of Optoelectronic Technology was also in Jincheng. Theoretically, the two of them were not far apart, but he also expressed his understanding of Luo Yajie's words.

After all, the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering belong to two different systems, and each has its own national key projects, so they really cannot spare the time to meet and communicate.

As for the question raised by Luo Yajie, to be honest, Xu Yuan really didn't know how to answer it.

The main thing is that we don’t know the specific situation at the moment, and what approach to take to deal with it, at least we have to wait until the dean comes over and finishes today’s meeting.

But just as he was thinking about this, before he could open his mouth to answer, he heard Luo Yajie being interrupted by others.

"Lao Luo, you are asking too much. Although Xu Yuan has made achievements in many fields, he has never been involved in the research and development of lithography machines. The responsibility of our domestically produced extreme ultraviolet lithography machines will fall on you."

Luo Yajie listened to all these words and thought about it carefully, and there was indeed nothing wrong with it.

As the youngest academician of the two academies in history, Xu Yuan has achieved significant academic results in many fields and demonstrated his amazing talent.

But he has never participated in any projects related to lithography machines, and the questions he asked were indeed inappropriate.

After realizing this, he hurriedly added:
"I didn't think this through. If we run into trouble in the field that Academician Xu is good at in the future, I would be very grateful if Academician Xu could help us deal with it."

"You're too polite, Mr. Luo."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan also smiled and agreed.

After that, Xu Yuan quickly became familiar with the others. While continuing to discuss the overseas incident, he also got a lot of information from Luo Yajie.

It turned out that Luo Yajie happened to be in Yanjing on a business trip, so he responded to the meeting and came here so quickly.

Otherwise, I would be stuck on the road like everyone else.

As time passed, after everyone had waited for nearly half an hour, the door at the entrance of the hall was finally pushed open again.

The person who walked in from outside was Bai Xinzhou, the president of the Academy of Sciences.

"Feel sorry."

"I'm late because I have something to deal with. Please take a seat."

Bai Xinzhou did not put on airs at all. He first expressed his apologies for being late to everyone, and then quickly waved his hand to signal everyone to sit down again.

After witnessing this scene, he continued speaking without pausing.

"Let's start the meeting. Those who cannot come for the time being will participate online via video link."

No further delay.

When the people below heard this, they immediately sat up straight and even their expressions became much more serious.

Bai Xinzhou first glanced at him levelly, and then started talking about business.

"I'm sure everyone present here knows the current situation. The purpose of holding this meeting today is simple, which is to come up with a set of feasible solutions and express our attitude in response." "The higher-ups are taking this matter very seriously."

The whole world is now watching them, wondering what decision they will make in the face of this dilemma.

Therefore, we need to be more cautious at this time and make adequate preparations and plans.

Everyone had been discussing this matter, and many people were already angry. Now that they were asked to express their opinions, they naturally would not choose to remain silent.

Soon, responses could be heard one after another in the hall.

"We must never compromise with them and must let the world see our determination and attitude."

"Our breakthrough in gallium nitride radar has put us in a position of leadership. How can we share technology with Northrop's military industry?"

"It's clear what the other party is up to. They are just afraid of our rapid development in recent years. If we don't completely solve the technical weaknesses in the semiconductor field, even if we agree to cooperate, it will not have any fundamental effect."

"Since they don't allow us to use extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, we will develop them ourselves."

Bai Xinzhou sat on a chair on the stage, listening to other people's attitudes, and fell into deep thought.

In fact, not only the scientific researchers present, but even an ordinary netizen on the Internet knows what choice to make in this matter.

But in the end, Bai Xinzhou did not respond immediately. Instead, he deliberately kept his gaze on Xu Yuan.

And proactively asked:

"Academician Xu, can you also tell me what you think?"

Seeing that everyone's opinions were surprisingly consistent, Xu Yuan chose not to interrupt at this time.

I didn't expect that I would enter Bai Xinzhou's sight.

Now that he had been called by the dean, he could not remain silent. He coughed twice subconsciously, raised his eyes and looked at Bai Xinzhou on the stage to answer.

"I share the same view as everyone else. Overseas countries choose to do this because they know that we cannot develop high-end lithography machines."

"But the more this is the case, the more we need to find a way to completely overcome this problem."

"In our scientific research over the years, I believe we have encountered more complicated difficulties than the current one. It is precisely because of the persistence of our predecessors that we have overcome the difficulties and have achieved what we have today."

“Effective ultraviolet lithography is very difficult, but I believe there will definitely be a way to solve the problem of high-end chip manufacturing.”

As Xu Yuan finished speaking, there was a burst of warm applause in the hall.

Obviously, as researchers, we all have similar views.

That is to independently develop our own domestic extreme ultraviolet lithography machine and turn overseas pressure into motivation.

Once again, let the world witness a great miracle in the semiconductor field.

Bai Xinzhou also agreed with Xu Yuan's point of view. Although there was no big change in his expression, he couldn't help but nodded during the process.

After the applause in the hall gradually died down, Bai Xinzhou began to speak.

"In fact, this is what they said above. We will never make any compromise under the threat of the enemy."

"But the next problem we have to face is how to conquer the research and development of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines as soon as possible."

When Bai Xinzhou put the problem directly on the table, everyone present fell into deep thought again.

Those who can attend this conference are academicians and professors in related fields.

It can be said that only Xu Yuan's professionalism is slightly off.

Fortunately, this collective silence did not last too long, and then Luo Yajie stood up on his own initiative.

"Please rest assured, our Institute of Optoelectronics Technology will definitely overcome all difficulties and move towards more sophisticated lithography machines."

“But I also hope that the hospital can give its full support.”

How could Luo Yajie not know how much pressure his words would bring to the Institute of Optoelectronic Technology.

But there is no way around it.

After all, this is their area of ​​expertise and they should take up the lead.

The super-resolution lithography equipment they are currently researching can only etch chips with a maximum size of 22 nanometers, which is still a long way from the international leading level of 7 nanometers.

Most of the major extreme ultraviolet lithography machine patents are basically monopolized by AMS.

Under such circumstances, developing a domestic 7-nanometer lithography machine will undoubtedly add to the difficulty.

However, facing the current predicament, there is no other way except to develop domestic extreme ultraviolet lithography machines. Otherwise, we can only watch others enter 5G while China can only stand still.

"Do not worry."

"For projects related to high-end chips, both the institute and the country will provide strong support."

Bai Xinzhou took over Luo Yajie's words and responded in a firm voice, as if he wanted to give everyone more confidence.

Of course, looking across the country, there are definitely more than just the Institute of Optoelectronic Technology that are researching domestic lithography machines.

They will receive more support in the future, which will relieve a lot of pressure on the Institute of Optoelectronic Technology.

In short, no matter which party masters the relevant technology, it is good news for the domestic semiconductor field.

While the meeting was going on, Xu Yuan suddenly remembered that, with the help of Mr. Yang, he had participated in Professor Zhao Xiang's steady-state microbunching project.

The electron beam in the storage ring is controlled by laser, so that it forms a precise microstructure after circling the ring.

That is micro bunching.

Through this micro-bunching, high-intensity narrow-band coherent light can be radiated at the laser wavelength and its higher-order wavelengths.

The steady-state microbeam source combines synchrotron radiation and free electron laser.

A light source with high power, high brightness, high repetition rate and narrow bandwidth can be obtained.

And the wavelength is tunable.

With this feature, it can completely replace the deep extreme ultraviolet light source of high-end lithography machines.

Even the next generation of light sources with a wavelength of 6 nanometers can achieve this.

And no filters for synchrotron radiation are required.

With these advantages and characteristics, it is obviously very suitable for EUV lithography.

It can also be described as simple and crude.

However, steady-state accelerator light sources are relatively expensive and incredibly large in size.

If this can really be realized, I am afraid it can no longer be called a lithography machine, but it will directly become a lithography factory.

But on the other hand, this approach is different from Ames's extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, and many patent issues can be avoided, so its feasibility is still relatively high.

It should be noted that Zhao Xiang's team had previously completed relevant experiments on the verification of steady-state microbunching.

Since there is currently no hope for the research and development of domestic extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, and we don’t know how long it will take to catch up with the international level, we must actively experiment with new ideas.

After all, if it really succeeds, it will be an incredibly efficient and huge lithography factory.

Not only can it completely solve the current difficulties in the semiconductor field, it can even take over the global chip manufacturing market.

In time, perhaps lithography machines will gradually be eliminated.

……

Although he didn't know the purpose of Bai Xinzhou asking him to attend this meeting, since he had the idea in his mind, he definitely couldn't keep it to himself at this time.

Besides, he is only providing a new idea, and whether it will be specifically studied still needs to be discussed.

So the thought stayed here, and he raised his hand decisively.

To be honest, Bai Xinzhou on the stage felt a little regretful and disappointed when faced with the results of the meeting.

As long as we continue to carry out research and development step by step, there is indeed no hope for the birth of a domestically-produced extreme ultraviolet lithography machine.

If it was in the past, it would be easier, at least there would be more time to devote to research.

But now we are facing such a situation. The longer the delay, the greater the gap between us and overseas in the 5G field will become.

It is possible that the advantages that were accumulated with great difficulty in the past will be diminished due to this defeat.

Just as he was worrying about this, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Xu Yuan's actions below the stage from the corner of his eye.

Suddenly I felt happy.

Based on his understanding of Xu Yuan, he raised his hand at this time, which must mean there is some new news.

So he didn't dare to hesitate and said to Xu Yuan:

"Does Academician Xu have any new ideas?"

"please say."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's attention was once again focused on Xu Yuan.

Facing everyone's different looks, Xu Yuan didn't think too much and immediately spoke out the words he had organized.

"That's right, Dean. I have participated in Professor Zhao Xiang's steady-state microbunching project before and successfully verified this theory."

"I think the light source produced by steady-state micro-beams is very suitable for EUV lithography."

“It’s highly feasible.”

"Maybe it can serve as another new way of thinking for lithography."

The light source problem is an important part of the photolithography machine. Everyone present obviously knew about steady-state micro-bunching. After being reminded by Xu Yuan, their minds couldn't help but work quickly.

It seems that he is analyzing the feasibility of this matter.

Bai Xinzhou was delighted and asked subconsciously, "Is it the high-energy synchrotron radiation source that the institute is building?"

"Yes."

“But if it is used for lithography research, it may require some modifications.”

When asked, Xu Yuan did not keep the question in suspense and nodded immediately in answer.

In this way, the institute finally preliminarily approved this direction and handed the project to Xu Yuan to come up with a detailed plan as soon as possible. If it is confirmed to be feasible after discussion, it will be carried out simultaneously with the research on extreme ultraviolet lithography machine.

Although Xu Yuan didn't expect that he would be responsible for one more project just by attending a meeting.

But things have their priorities, so he naturally agreed readily.

And just after the meeting ended, the official response was officially made on the same day.

It was clearly stated that the company will make every effort to solve the problem of high-end chip manufacturing, which excited domestic netizens and completely surprised overseas parties.

……

(End of this chapter)