Chapter 1147
Dragon Spine Rebooted! Lithography Machines in a Deadly Battle
The core command center of the Longxin Base. It was nearly midnight, but the lights were still as bright as day. In the central conference area, the core R&D team leaders and senior engineers who had been urgently summoned still looked bewildered and confused; some had even rushed over wearing only a jacket over their pajamas.
No one made a sound; the huge circular screen projected a panoramic view of the base, and all was silent.
The heavy alloy door slid open, and Su Dingping strode in, bringing with him the chill of the winter night.
His face was tense, his steps were so fast they seemed to carry the wind, and his eyes, like real searchlights, instantly swept across every face in the circular hall!
"Everyone! Log in to the internal top-secret database immediately!"
Su Dingping's voice, without any opening remarks, was like a bomb dropped into still water, instantly shattering the silence and striking everyone's eardrums with undeniable penetrating power.
"Permission code".
Breaker 001! Target folder.
Dragon's Backbone Project! Urgent data retrieval and preliminary assessment required!
Ten minutes! Get started immediately!
A burst of rapid keyboard typing and the glowing of terminal screens erupted instantly! Although the researchers were full of doubts, their absolute obedience to Su Dingping's orders was ingrained in their very bones!
At the same time, Su Dingping strode towards the main control panel behind the podium, and Guo Xueyun operated it tacitly beside him, instantly switching the content on the main screen!
A huge but extremely simple technical parameter comparison chart with strong red and blue contrast and a cold, glaring effect was displayed in front of everyone!
Left side – [Longxia process status; representative technology: 780nm-350nm; process stability: low; equipment status: outdated/stored; core lithography layer precision limit: 350nm].
Right side—[Currently the highest international level; representative technology. 180nm->130nm; extremely high process stability; market share. Over 85% global monopoly]!
A massive 20-year technological gap! It's like a bloody label etched between the two!
A collective gasp erupted from the audience! The deathly silence was shattered! All the researchers' eyes were glued to the main screen by this stark contrast!
"What is this? The chief engineer?"
Sun, the team leader in charge of the precision machining group with slightly graying hair, couldn't contain himself. His voice trembled with shock as he pointed to the glaring "350nm" limit on the screen.
"We...we're actually still stuck at 780 nanometer linewidth?! Lithography...lithography machine?!"
As a veteran engineer, he seemed to have thought of something, and the color drained from his face instantly.
Su Dingping stood like a cold stone statue under the bright light in front of the main screen, his eyes sweeping over the faces that instantly turned shocked, solemn, and incredulous.
He had no time for pleasantries or comforting words; his fingers pounded heavily on the cold control panel!
"Quiet!"
His voice was like the north wind sweeping across an icy plain.
"Now is not the time for questioning!"
With his tapping, the stark contrast image next to the screen appeared.
A lengthy report marked with the highest level of "Top Secret/Historical Archive" in the "Dragon's Spine" project folder was opened and enlarged!
The title page of the report immediately catches the eye: "[Final Review Report on the Development and Technical Verification of a 90-Nano Scale High-Precision Scanning Projection-Type Repeatable Stepping Lithography Machine - Key Project of the National Microelectronics Technology Revitalization Project]"
Date—21 years and 3 months ago!
At the very bottom, there's a line of large, bright red text stating the conclusion.
[Following review and deliberation by the expert panel and the strategic planning joint committee, it has been decided that the "Dragon Spine" project's overall technological approach is outdated; the self-developed cycle is estimated at 8-10 years; the overall cost and risk are too high; and the benefits of import cooperation are significant; therefore, the project is hereby terminated! The R&D team and resources will be reassigned locally! Project files will be sealed!]
Below the signature is a series of important signatures and seals that are now unverifiable but held decisive influence at the time!
"Whoosh—!"
The entire circular conference area erupted like a volcano suddenly ignited! Complete chaos ensued!
"It's been sealed off?!"
"It was stopped more than 20 years ago?!"
"Dragon Spine...is a lithography machine?!"
"How could I possibly give up?!"
Are those people who signed this crazy?!
A young deputy leader of the research group, surnamed Lin, suddenly stood up and slammed his fist on the table. His face turned red and his eyes were blazing with anger. He had only recently joined Longxin and was full of enthusiasm, so he couldn't understand it at all.
"Buying other people's things? Breaking your own spine?!"
How is this any different from ceding territory and paying reparations back then?!
"Old Lin!"
A senior researcher named Chen Zhongming, with completely white hair, dark circles under his eyes, and an unusually weathered look, suddenly pulled the young man aside, but then he himself started coughing violently.
He raised his age-spotted hand to wipe the tears welling in his eyes, his voice trembling with the painful memories etched into his being.
"Young people... don't understand the difficulties of that time... Back then... we lacked money, manpower, and experience... What the experts and decision-makers said... wasn't entirely without merit..."
His cloudy eyes were fixed on the glaring word "sealed" on the screen, as if he were looking at an old scar stained with the blood and sweat of his compatriots.
"But...but this stop...is twenty years!"
Twenty years! Our children and grandchildren... are still working as shoe shiners... using handouts and discarded metal lumps!
His teeth were grinding together.
"The dragon's spine is gone... and our spine... has been broken along with it!"
His words were like ice water poured into a boiling oil pan! They instantly evoked a wave of grief and indignation!
"A person with a broken spine can only be manipulated! Wasn't the lesson from the Eagle embargo painful enough?! Our advanced equipment factories that had their chips shut down... how long were they shut down! How much did they lose!"
"General Qin also approved a note this afternoon...urgently coordinating the import of a batch of emergency communication control chips...at an exorbitant price!"
A team leader in charge of coordinating information technology at the base added, his face ashen.
"At crucial moments... our lives are in their hands! Whether we give in or not depends on them! And how much they ask for is also up to them!"
What the hell does this feel like?! Huh?!
The atmosphere in the hall instantly became extremely grief-stricken and oppressive! A sense of humiliation permeated the air. The high spirits of Long Xing's ignition and the surging pride of Long Jin's success were all shattered by this bloody, cold conclusion that had been sealed away for twenty years, leaving only excruciating pain!
"Have you said enough?!"
A low, icy shout, as cold as steel slamming into the ground, suddenly rang out!
The commotion abruptly ceased as if gripped by an invisible giant hand! All eyes instantly focused on the young figure standing under the bright lights of the main control panel!
Su Dingping!
His face appeared slightly pale under the bright light of the screen, but his eyes burned with a flame a thousand times more intense and intense than magma!
Wherever that gaze fell, grief and indignation were instantly ignited by an invisible pressure into an even fiercer fighting spirit!
"Sadness! Outrage! Will that solve the problem?! Will it allow that 130-nanometer technology to grow naturally in our factory?! Will it make the eagle loosen its grip on the chip industry?!"
His voice was not loud, but carried a strange calm after suppressing his rage, yet it was more powerful than any roar, striking everyone's heart heavily!
"What we are seeing now is a sealed-off failure! A wound inflicted by our own people! But don't forget!"
His gaze, sharp as lightning, swept over his comrades, whose chests heaved violently.
"We are the Dragon Heart! We are the Dragon Heart that can imprison the fire of the stars in the sky within a small container and make it at people's disposal! We are the Dragon Heart that can tame and subdue thunder and lightning with a single tendon!"
He slammed his hand on the control panel behind him, the alloy plate emitting a dull but solid vibration! The huge screen's display changed accordingly! In the center of the screen, the phantom of a horizontally placed, sharp bronze ruler cleaved through the red and blue contrasting data dust! The end of the ruler was precisely marked with two glaring scale symbols—on the left, [350nm], and on the right.
【130nm】! On the bronze ruler, a battle axe mark, burning with a crimson-gold dragon pattern and sharp strokes, was pressed down like a badge reborn from the flames! The four large characters 【Dragon Heart Forged!】 below the mark burst forth with a sharpness that could pierce through all obstacles!
"The gap is the result of twenty years of storage! It's the insurmountable chasm between 130 nanometers and 350 nanometers! But now—"
Su Dingping paused slightly, his gaze sweeping over the faces that had been completely ignited by his words, their eyes transforming from humiliation and indignation into a fanatical gleam!
His voice suddenly rose, like a thunderclap in the stagnant night sky.
"Dragon Heart Research Institute!"
"Next target, codename—"
"Lithography machine!"
"Target.
Break through this 130-nanometer barrier!
"It must be cast!"
"Loongson!"
"boom!"
A loud bang!
The young deputy team leader, surnamed Lin, could no longer contain his excitement and slammed his fist hard on the metal table in front of him! His eyes burned with a fanatical flame of conviction.
"Get it!!!"
Deputy Team Leader Lin's fist, which slammed onto the metal table, was still trembling slightly. His roar was like boiling oil being poured into cold water, instantly shattering the entire circular conference area! Long-suppressed passion was ignited, and pairs of eyes shone with astonishing brightness, focusing on the young leader, Su Dingping.
The air is burning, and beliefs are clashing.
Su Dingping stood in front of the electronic sand table, his figure as steady as a rock, but a storm was gathering in the depths of his deep eyes.
His gaze swept over the faces that were flushed red from the words "Loongson," and finally settled on a few elderly experts with white hair who were clearly not from the Loongson Laboratory.
"Thank you for your hard work, seniors."
Su Dingping's voice was not loud, but it seemed to have a magnetic force, instantly suppressing the boiling heat wave.
"The pain of Longxia's chip is like a knife cutting into our hearts! Longxing has just broken through the thorns, but Longxin is already cut off from its path to survival! The lithography machine, the noose tightened by the West, today, we will start by untying it!"
He strode towards the elderly men, solemnly extended his hand, and firmly grasped the hand of the leading old man, who wore thick glasses, had gray hair, and whose hands were covered with old marks from experiments.
"Mr. Yuan, seniors, we, Loongson, will continue the legacy of the Dragon Spine Project, which was left unfinished!"
This responsibility must be shouldered by our predecessors!
The expert known as "Old Yuan" is none other than Professor Yuan Tao, the technical soul of the original "Dragon Spine" lithography machine task force.
He was slightly hunched over, but his eyes behind his thick glasses were incredibly sharp. He gripped Su Dingping's hand tightly with astonishing force.
"Chief Engineer Su, this is the day I've been waiting for! The Dragon Spine may be sealed, but the flame hasn't been extinguished!"
The senior experts behind him nodded excitedly, their eyes filled with a gleam that had been suppressed for too long.
"it is good!"
Su Dingping turned to the core members of the Dragon Heart Laboratory and spoke with unwavering resolve.
"From this day forward, Loongson Labs will shift its strategic focus to the Loongson project! Goal."
Break through the Western blockade on 130nm chips! The first step: master 180nm!
In this class, Mr. Yuan and all the senior scholars were our mentors!
The words fell like a boulder dropped into a lake. The young researchers, who had been bursting with excitement, quickly transformed into a solemn, eager expression.
They know.
The battlefield for "Loongson" is completely different from that for "Dragon Star"; they need to fill a completely new knowledge gap. Everyone stood up in unison, paying their respects to Mr. Yuan and the lithography machine pioneers.
The entire circular conference area was filled with a tragic yet fervent atmosphere of yearning for battle.
After the meeting, Su Dingping personally led Yuan Tao and others into a well-prepared technical discussion room.
"Old Yuan".
Su Dingping opened his palm, his honesty bordering on cruel.
"The Loongson project is about to be launched, but to be honest, apart from our determination and understanding of the basic principles of photolithography, we are starting from almost nothing."
The entire lab needs a complete overhaul of its knowledge base. Could experienced lab members please advise us on where to begin and what key foundational elements need to be established?
Yuan Tao sat in a chair with his hands on his knees, his knuckles turning slightly white from the effort.
He didn't answer immediately; the silence lasted for more than ten seconds.
The silence felt like an invisible pressure, making the air seem heavier.
Finally, he took off his thick glasses, rubbed his furrowed brow, and let out a very heavy and complex sigh.
"Chief Engineer Su."
His voice was slightly hoarse, and his gaze seemed to pierce through the wall in front of him, seeing the hardships of the past.
"A skyscraper rises from the ground, but we haven't even chosen a good location for the foundation..."
He put his glasses back on and looked at Su Dingping with eyes as sharp as knives.
"The most important thing is the foundation—ultra-high purity electronic-grade silicon!"
Yuan Tao uttered the word with utmost seriousness.
"Without it, even if you have extraordinary abilities, you can't carve a qualified transistor!"
The dust on those silicon wafers has to be counted down to the number of atoms! The purity has to reach at least thirteen nines after the decimal point!
He paused, then spoke faster, his voice filled with barely suppressed resentment.
"But now this lifeline is in the hands of the Germans and the Eastern Wilderness! Especially the 12-inch large-size high-purity silicon wafers, which are the foundation for manufacturing advanced chips. Our path has been completely blocked!"
“A few months ago, the infamous Wassenaar Arrangement in the West tightened its grip, imposing a severe embargo on 12-inch silicon wafers for Longxia! Trade routes of all the major tribes have been warned! As a result, the only silicon wafers we can buy now are 8-inch wafers with significantly reduced performance!”
A materials expert who had returned with Yuan Tao spoke with a tone full of frustration.
"Using an 8-inch wafer to make 130nm? Ha, you can't cook without rice! Forcing it will result in an abysmal yield rate, and power consumption and performance will lag far behind!" (End of Chapter)