Chapter 880 Unexpected efficient integration method of carbon nanotubes
After hanging up the phone, Xu Chuan re-opened the rolled-up experimental data report in his hand.
The R&D evaluation of carbon-based chips as an S-level project is fully in line with the standards.
In other words, the highest evaluation of the project at Xinghai Research Institute is S level. If there is SS level or SSS level above, it is also worthy of it.
Just like a classmate who scores 100 points in the exam because the full score of the test paper is only 100 points, for Xinghai Research Institute, the carbon-based chip is rated S-level because the highest score is only S-level.
This should be the first S-level project at the Institute of Materials. Before this, the Institute of Materials did not have an S-level project, and the highest level was A-level.
Looking through the experimental data report in his hand, Xu Chuan fell into deep thought.
Although his research in the field of materials is quite outstanding, he is a complete layman in the field of chips.
Because it involves too many areas.
Materials, design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, equipment...CPU, GPU, FPGA, memory chip, fingerprint recognition chip, camera CIS chip, radio frequency chip... Every link and type can be said to be different.
The country can handle it.
The R&D, design and manufacturing of silicon-based chips was not promoted by the United States alone. It was accomplished by gathering the strength of almost the entire Western camp.
For example, the distributed Bragg reflector from the Germanic country, the high-purity monocrystalline silicon from the Sakura country, or the extreme ultraviolet light system from the United States...
It is no exaggeration to say that the production process of a small chip involves an almost complete industrial system.
And most of the parts are of the highest quality.
Therefore, no matter how strong the R&D capabilities of Xinghai Research Institute are, there is no complete industrial chain that can produce a chip on its own.
Therefore, it is necessary to find partners in the research and development and subsequent development of carbon-based chips.
In terms of chip research, there are actually only a handful of qualified and capable companies in China. If you have to choose for subsequent collaborative research and development, who should you turn to?
Domestic chip manufacturers crossed his mind one after another, and it didn't take long before Xu Chuan had already made a decision.
After all, there are actually not many choices for suitable manufacturers.
Of course, before looking for a cooperative manufacturer, he needs to solve the preparation problems of carbon-based chips, at least some of the core manufacturing problems, such as the complete batch sequencing of carbon nanotube crystals, the stable transformation of carbon semiconductors, etc.
Only by solving these problems can we have enough hope to make real carbon-based chips.
...
The cause of the formation of the Yaochi crater on the far side of the moon is currently being investigated.
But until then, it's not like there's nothing they can do.
On the one hand, at the Information Research Institute, the Supercomputing Center has freed up enough computing resources and is analyzing the 'Yaochi Crystal' through various experimental data.
For the current materials science community, the current mainstream research and development methods for new materials are still based on the researchers' "scientific intuition", the "experimental experience" accumulated in the past, and a large number of repeated "trial-and-error" experiments, using limited conditions to discover
A feasible approach.
However, on his side, this traditional solution can be simulated and calculated through a targeted chemical material calculation model, and a large amount of experimental workload can be saved through the supercomputing center.
Of course, although mathematical methods can reduce the workload of experiments, experiments are still essential.
After all, no matter how powerful the theory is, it must be verified through experiments.
As for the Supercomputing Center of the Information Research Institute, calculations and analysis of special materials like Yaochi Crystal have been carried out for two days.
If there are no accidents, the last batch of analysis work will almost be completed today.
On the other hand, in the research on Yaochi crystal, Xu Chuan has already started the first batch of material replica experiments.
...
In the core laboratory of the Institute of Materials, Xu Chuan, who is fully armed in a white coat, gloves and goggles, is sending the experimental vessels in his hands into the CVD tube furnace.
Yaochi crystal is a lunar rock collected from the impact wall of the "Yaochi crater" on the back side of the moon.
This is the name given by Xu Chuan. Through the analysis of transmission electron microscopes, scanning electron microscopes, Raman spectrometers and other scientific research equipment, the composition and structure of it have been clearly understood.
What this will do is tentative replication.
It goes without saying what it means that carbon nanotubes can grow stably on Yaochi crystal substrates.
That is, the substrate material can be used, at least one of its substances, can be used as the substrate of the carbon-based chip.
To put it simply, it is a base silicon wafer similar to a silicon-based chip, on which transistors can be grown and photoetched to form an integrated circuit.
Carbon-based chips are naturally inseparable from this substrate.
But at present, relevant research only exists in some laboratories.
This is extremely difficult research and development work, and it is not easy to solve.
Including the current re-engraving experiments conducted by Xu Chuan, they only manually dismantled the substrate material on the Yaochi crystal, and then used a CVD tube furnace to grow carbon nanotubes by vapor deposition.
As for whether the grown things have preliminary semiconductor properties, it is not very important to the current research.
Naturally occurring minerals are in most cases inferior to artificial smelting.
Therefore, this time's experiment was just to replicate the original material of the Yaochi Crystal to see if it could be artificially arranged in a complete and orderly stack of carbon nanotubes on the substrate.
This is what matters most.
Just as Xu Chuan was dealing with the research at hand, the door to the laboratory was pushed open.
Zhao Guanggui, director of the Institute of Materials Science, walked in quickly with a thick stack of documents.
"Academician Xu, the complete molecular dynamics simulation calculation data is out."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Wait a moment, I have finished processing these carbon nanotubes on my hands."
After hearing Zhao Guanggui's report, Xu Chuan did not look back. He methodically processed the materials in his hands and finally sent them to the CVD tube furnace. After adjusting the parameters and starting the experiment, he put on his gloves and goggles.
Picked it off.
On the side, Zhao Guanggui quickly handed over the molecular dynamics simulation calculation data and said simply.
"Judging from the results of molecular dynamics simulations, the carbon nanotubes in Yaochi crystals are formed in a high temperature, oxygen-free, and high-pressure environment exceeding at least three hundred degrees."
"During the formation process, another material in the Yaochi crystal, the sulfur compound inside the material, may have played a catalytic role."
"Sulfide?"
Hearing this, a trace of surprise flashed across Xu Chuan's face. He had speculated on various possibilities, and also speculated that Yaochi crystal contained key materials that played a catalytic role, but he had not really thought about sulfide.
Because in materials science, sulfide and carbon are relatively easy to react under certain conditions.
Especially under high temperature conditions, the reaction between carbon and sulfur will directly generate carbon disulfide, which will not only destroy the purity of the original carbon nanotube material, but also cause serious interference, because carbon disulfide is a liquid and has strong fluidity at high temperatures.
sex.
Zhao Guanggui nodded and said: "Well, the supercomputer conducted molecular dynamics simulation calculations on the Yaochi crystal and found that the original initial form of the Yaochi crystal may have been liquid due to the volcanic eruption of the moon."
"While flowing, carbon nanotubes may be guided and sorted under the guidance of carbon disulfide and certain internal sulfides in an oxygen-free and high-pressure environment, and then deposited on the Ab-An feldspar family mineral substrate.
, and then construct a neatly ordered array of carbon nanotubes..."
While listening to Zhao Guanggui's report, Xu Chuan flipped through the simulation calculation data in his hand.
Judging from the inverse data of molecular dynamics simulation calculations of Yaochi crystals using the chemical materials calculation model of the Supercomputing Center, it is very likely that sulfide promotes the stability and ordering of carbon nanotubes, neatly arranged in Ab-An feldspar
Key catalysts on family mineral substrates.
It's just that this catalyst is somewhat counter-intuitive to scientific research.
Frowning, Xu Chuan stared closely at the reverse speculation of the molecular dynamics simulation calculations, with thoughtful eyes.
This material calculation data is indeed a direction he has never thought of.
If it is correct, it means that the various reproduction experiments he has conducted in the laboratory these days are wrong from the very foundation.
Of course, Xu Chuan is not afraid of making mistakes, as long as he can find the reasons and correct them.
While flipping through the data in his hand, his eyes fell on a simulated 'Material Phase Characterization Diagram' of Yaochi Crystal. Staring at the familiar data with this kind of curve, he always felt inexplicably familiar.
"This kind of picture feels a bit familiar..."
On the side, Zhao Guanggui came over, glanced at the position Xu Chuan was browsing, and then found the corresponding picture on the simulation calculation data file in his hand.
"Is this calculated through activity evaluation and density functional theory calculations and simulations?" Looking at the chart in front of him, Zhao Guanggui frowned and said.
Xu Chuan nodded: "Well, there should be nothing wrong with the simulation picture, but I feel inexplicably familiar with this image, as if I have seen it somewhere."
Staring at this 'material phase representation diagram', he searched hard in his mind.
"Sulfur...carbon nanotubes..."
His pupils were slightly dilated, and experiments and research related to sulfur and carbon were like a movie in a cinema, with pictures after pictures flashing through his mind.
But maybe because of the research and experiments he had done, and the various data charts he had seen, he couldn't recall where he had seen this familiar feeling for a while.
Shaking his head and retracting his thoughts, Xu Chuan breathed a long sigh of relief and said: "If sulfide and carbon disulfide play a key catalytic and guiding role in the entire process, then our previous research directions may be wrong."
Zhao Guanggui frowned and said: "Carbon and sulfur have high similarity in chemical properties, coupled with the irreversible reaction between the two at high temperatures, we have indeed not considered this aspect before."
Generally speaking, catalysts accelerate the rate of chemical reactions by reducing the activation energy of the reaction, while maintaining the equilibrium state of the reaction to guide the chemical reaction.
Its mass and chemical properties remain unchanged before and after the reaction, which is a key characteristic of catalysts.
For example, the catalytic oxidation of ethanol.
Generally, copper wire is used as a catalyst, and ethanol reacts with oxygen to produce acetaldehyde and water.
In this process, the copper wire first reacts with oxygen to generate copper oxide, and then reacts with ethanol to generate acetaldehyde and copper, thus achieving the catalytic oxidation of ethanol.
Throughout the process, although the copper wire participated in the reaction, the final quality and itself did not change.
The sulfide in Yaochi crystal is different.
In high temperature and high pressure environments, sulfur and carbon will produce relatively stable carbon disulfide, and the physical and chemical properties of carbon disulfide are relatively stable.
Although it is volatile, it does not break down easily under normal conditions.
In other words, in Yaochi Crystal, this reaction is considered irreversible.
Because whether it is Xu Chuan or he, basically when thinking about the formation process, the first instinct will be to exclude sulfide from the catalyst.
However, the Supercomputing Center, which combines chemical material calculation models, gave a different answer, counter-intuitively suggesting that sulfide and carbon disulfide may be the catalytic reason that guides the orderly arrangement of carbon nanotubes.
This really makes people feel quite incredible.
"Could it be a supersaturation effect?"
Staring at the simulation data report in his hand, Zhao Guanggui thought for a while and then raised a possibility.
"Um?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Xu Chuan looked over and immediately reacted: "Did you say saturated catalysis?"
Supersaturated catalysis may refer to the process of promoting or accelerating the supersaturated crystallization reaction by adding a catalyst in a supersaturated solution.
This reaction occurs in a solution containing an excess of solute. When the solute concentration exceeds its saturation concentration at that temperature, supersaturation occurs.
The simplest and most understandable thing in daily life is actually a chemistry experiment I did in high school, the preparation of supersaturated sodium chloride solution.
Of course, there is a big difference between supersaturated catalysis and this concept.
Zhao Guanggui nodded and said: "Well, if sulfide, carbon disulfide and carbon nanotubes are oversaturated during the catalytic process, it is not impossible to stably guide the excess carbon nanotubes for vapor deposition."
"Although supersaturated catalysis is rare in materials science, it is not uncommon. For example, supersaturated Fe-N5 multifunctional catalytic sites are used for durable lithium-sulfur batteries."
Xu Chuan didn't pay attention to what Zhao Guanggui said later. He naturally knew these concepts very well. There was only one thing flashing through his mind at this moment.
Lithium-sulfur battery!
He finally remembered that he had seen the familiar picture of the 'material phase representation diagram' there!
That's right, it was the discovery made during the research on the preparation and electrochemical performance of sulfur-multi-walled carbon nanotube composite materials during the development of lithium-sulfur batteries!
Perhaps, he knows how to use supersaturated polysulfide and carbon disulfide as catalysts and guide materials to prepare carbon nanotube integrated transistors on a large scale.
But before the official start, he still needs to make a call to the moon and ask the scientific researchers there to help him determine a situation in the Yaochi crater!