Facing Wang Xing, who was blowing his beard and staring, Lu Yiming was still cheerful and said with a look of regret: "Okay, okay, that's it, I won't dig anymore, that's okay, right?"

Although he scolded him fiercely, Wang Xing was still very happy that Lu Yiming was willing to invest money in scientific research, and he was also willing to open a back door for him.

So after scolding him, he changed the subject and said: "Are you sure about the development of the fourth-generation lithography machine?"

The first three generations of lithography machines can be said to be inherited. They have not changed in essence, just like the three major parts of the engine, gearbox and chassis have not changed since the birth of the car more than a hundred years ago.

However, the fourth-generation lithography machine that Lu Yiming wants to build has almost completely overturned the previous three-generation technology route, which is as disruptive a change as new energy vehicles replacing fuel vehicles.

Therefore, Wang Xing is still very concerned about whether it can succeed.

Seeing that the conversation was getting down to business, Lu Yiming no longer smiled playfully, and his expression became serious: "I have some confidence, although it's not much, but I won't give up until I fight for it."

In the original history, the Netherlands was a country full of tulips. The reason why ASML was able to defeat Nikon, the old king of lithography machines, actually relied on Benjian Lin and immersive lithography technology.

This time, Lin Benjian has been intercepted by Lu Yiming. The development speed of ASML will definitely be slowed down, but it is hard to say what will happen next.

All in all, this is an opportunity. If Xia Guo's lithography machine technology wants to turn around, it must seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Lu Yiming chatted with Wang Xing about the development history of lithography machines.

After all, he is an expert in the field of optics. Although he has retired, Wang Xing still often takes time to learn about the latest technological frontiers. And as a personal experiencer of the past era, Wang Xing also has a deeper understanding of the evolution of lithography machines.

.

Wang Xing told Lu Yiming: "The exposure method of the first and second generation lithography machines is basically contact proximity, using light sources of 436 nm g-line and 365 nm i-line respectively. The contact lithography machine has

The mask is in direct contact with the photoresist, so it is susceptible to contamination, and the proximity lithography machine has low imaging accuracy due to the influence of the air cushion."

"I remember it was the early 1960s. The Xia Kingdom was so poor at that time. There was even famine in many places. Everyone didn't have enough to eat. Otherwise, if you wanted to catch up, you would be able to catch up easily."

Lu Yiming nodded and felt a little pity: "Yes, in the field of scientific research, it is really difficult to make progress without money. One step is slow and the other is slow. As a result, today we can only spend ten times or even a hundred times the price to make up for the gap. We even encounter some difficulties that are difficult to circumvent.

The patent barriers that have been opened are all in vain, as it is too difficult to do scientific research."

"But no matter how difficult it is, we have to do it, because if we don't do it today, if we do it later, the cost will only be higher."

Wang Xing fully agreed with Lu Yiming's words, and greatly appreciated his determination and ambition.

"The third generation is a scanning projection lithography machine. It uses optical lenses to gather diffracted light to improve imaging quality. The exposure method is innovative to optical projection lithography, which achieves exposure in a scanning manner. The light source is also improved to a 248-nanometer KrF laser.

We have achieved leapfrog development and pushed the minimum process to 180-130 nanometers. At this stage, it will be more difficult to catch up."

Lu Yiming replied: "In fact, what is more difficult is the fourth generation, step-scanning projection lithography machine, the most representative lithography machine product. It was first launched by ASML in 1986 and uses a 193-nanometer ArF laser light source.

It eliminates the synchronous movement of the mask and the silicon wafer during the photolithography process, and uses a reduction projection lens with a reduction ratio of 5:1, which effectively improves the mask usage efficiency and exposure accuracy, and improves the chip process and production efficiency.

A step."

"Today, the industry generally believes that 193 nanometer lithography cannot be extended to the 65 nanometer technology node, and 157 nanometer will become the mainstream technology. However, 157 nanometer lithography technology has encountered huge challenges from the lithography machine lens. At present, many European and American powers have

Researchers are hesitant to move forward in the face of 157nm immersion lithography, but we at Dawn Optics have already seen hope."

Hearing that Dawn Optics saw hope of breaking through 157 nanometers, Wang Xing immediately became excited. He quickly asked: "What hope? Tell me quickly."

Just now, he was still worried about whether Lu Yiming would be successful in the end with such a big fanfare.

You know, there are many companies researching lithography machines around the world, and they are all high-tech companies in developed countries in Europe and the United States. Apart from having more money, Lu Yiming has no advantage at all.

But technology is not a problem that can be solved by just throwing money at it. If all problems could be solved by throwing money at it, then there would be no problems in this world.

But Lu Yiming brought him a surprise, saying that there was hope in the research, which made Wang Xing extremely excited.

However, Wang Xing immediately reacted and said sarcastically: "I'm sorry, I'm too excited. If it involves your company's trade secrets, then I won't ask."

Although he is very curious in his heart, Wang Xing still knows how to behave and will never rely on his old man to act recklessly.

However, Lu Yiming was very frank and said: "What did Mr. Wang say? What is a trade secret? Even if it is a trade secret, I will not hide it from you. If even an older generation of scientists like you, I

I can’t believe it, is there anyone in this world who is trustworthy?”

Anyway, Lin Benjian wants to engage in immersive lithography technology. Even if Lu Yiming doesn't tell Wang Xing now, he will know about it through Professor Bao Zijun, his disciple, sooner or later.

Therefore, Lu Yiming has no need to keep secrets from Wang Xing. On the contrary, if he can confess this matter to Wang Xing, he might be able to get more support from Wang Xing.

Thinking of this, Lu Yiming said truthfully: "The Lin Benjian who came with me was originally the senior director of TSM Tai Jue. He had previously proposed the concept of 193 nanometer immersion lithography. According to his theory, 193 nanometer light waves in water

The equivalent wavelength is shortened to 134 nanometers

meter, once the research and development is successful, we can make the accuracy of the photolithography machine directly exceed the limit of 157 nanometers, and even continue to research on this basis to advance the processing accuracy of the chip to below 100 nanometers! It is precisely because of his

That’s why I decided to invest in his plan.”

Wang Xing only heard that Lu Yiming was going to use a completely different method to research lithography machines, but the specific situation was not clear. Now that Lu Yiming said it directly, he was shocked and even more happy.

"In other words, if this plan can go through, Xia Guo will be able to achieve overtaking in the field of lithography machines and enter the first echelon in the world?"

Lu Yiming said: "Yes, I have applied for a patent for this solution. As long as we can make it, we will be number one in the world!"
Chapter completed!