Chapter 1161
Laser Blueprints! A Miracle Descends
This is a miracle! How...how did you come up with this?!
His voice was trembling so badly that he was almost kneeling down with excitement!
Su Dingping simply shook his head slightly, turning his gaze to the distant horizon outside the window. His voice was deep and resonant, carrying an indescribable sense of vicissitude and respect.
"Don't kneel before me."
This blueprint... is stained with the blood and sweat of countless nameless predecessors who fell on the front lines of technological blockade decades ago.
Many of the core ideas of this plan are written in the dusty ruins of the test platform codenamed Dragon Heart-0, which are kept in top-secret files.
They may not have been able to light the fire themselves, but they had paved the way.
He turned around, his gaze sharp and resolute once more, like a sword drawn from its sheath.
"We are merely... people who continue walking the path that our predecessors risked their lives to build, a path that has yet to reach its end."
The conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
The blueprint was silent, yet it seemed to burn with a searing heat in the hearts of every researcher who gazed upon it. Despair? In an instant, it was replaced by an almost tragically intense fervor that erupted from the cold ashes of history!
"Dry!"
Yuan Tao was the first to roar out, his eyes bloodshot!
"Fuck him!"
A rough yet passionate growl echoed through the conference room!
Before the heavy breathing in the conference room had subsided, the tin microdroplet injection system suddenly dealt a blow to the enthusiastic research team.
"It broke again!"
Outside the experimental chamber, in front of the monitoring screen, a researcher slammed his hand on the table, his voice filled with exhaustion and anxiety. On the screen, the green curve representing the stable flow of molten tin suddenly plummeted, then turned into a lifeless straight line.
Inside the vacuum experimental chamber, the fine tin flow that should have been precisely bombarded by high-energy lasers and excited to emit 13.5nm extreme ultraviolet light only lasted for about ten minutes before it scattered messily onto the recovery plate like silver beads with a broken string.
Yuan Tao leaned closer to the observation window, his brows furrowed. Through the specially designed window, he could see the mess inside the experimental chamber.
Every failure meant the waste of expensive tin and the squandering of hours or even days of preparation.
"Insufficient accuracy and poor stability."
He pointed to the complex jet heads and control circuits inside the cabin.
"The requirements for speed, position, and shape are absolutely devilish! The slightest error can lead to disastrous consequences. If the laser is fired at it, it will either miss or turn into flying debris, making it impossible to generate EUV stably."
"Is it only possible to rely on manual trial and error?"
Someone muttered dejectedly.
This idea is too cruel; we can't afford to waste time on it.
Guo Xueyun's eyes remained calm, and even in this setback, another kind of flame ignited.
"Despair is the excuse of the weak! Old Yuan, do you still remember those blueprints? Who thought we could build such a high-performance laser in the first place? We forge our own path!"
Su Dingping's gaze was fixed on the data after the failure, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the table.
"Relying on human effort to grind things out is too slow and too uncertain."
He raised his head, a sharp glint in his eyes.
"Perhaps it's time to upgrade Pangu ahead of schedule."
"Upgrade? Its core technology is still the 28nm process..."
"It is precisely because it can only be used with 28nm chips that its computing power is insufficient to meet the ultra-high-speed, ultra-precise real-time computing requirements of tin microdroplet control."
Su Dingping interrupted, his tone resolute, "Equip Pangu with the best chip we can provide, optimize the underlying algorithm, and I want it to be able to predict and adjust the trajectory of the tin flow at the microsecond level to guide the laser's precise bombardment!"
Once the command is issued, the integrated hardware and software upgrade will begin immediately.
This undoubtedly adds another heavy weight to the already strained research and development chain, which was just stretched thin by the success of the laser.
While Longxin Laboratory was engrossed in developing a tin microdroplet control system, senior decision-makers made another important decision.
Limited information release.
A concise and technically rigorous announcement quietly appeared on the official news agency website of the Longxia tribe. It contained only one core message.
The Longxin Laboratory has made a key breakthrough in the research and development of the core subsystem of the extreme ultraviolet light source—the high-power CO2 laser—and has successfully manufactured this core component that meets and exceeds the preset specifications.
This announcement was like a huge stone thrown into a calm lake.
After a brief silence, the Western media, which had previously mocked Su Dingping as "a fool's dream" and "overestimating his abilities," immediately plunged into a frenzy of interpretation and verification.
An executive at ASM, who had previously publicly stated that it was "impossible even in thirty years," suddenly found his personal social media accounts flooded with questions like "What do you think?"
The comments were deafening. ASM headquarters was on edge and held an emergency closed-door meeting.
"Investigate! Find out immediately what extent their breakthrough point reached!"
The president of ASM was ashen-faced and slammed his fist on the table.
"Those laser blueprints...did they really completely understand them? Or even surpass them?"
The technical director hurriedly pulled up the blurry technical parameters in the press release, his face extremely grim.
"Based on the description... they likely bypassed our core technology patent barriers, or even took a more efficient route..."
Are patent barriers made of paper?
"The president roared."
"Immediately! Initiate the research and development of the next generation of products! We cannot afford to relax even for a moment!"
His cold gaze swept across the corner of the conference room, where the executive who had made public statements looked ashen-faced.
"Go to the personnel department to complete the formalities."
The meeting room was deathly silent.
For the first time, the Western tribes, who were part of the technological blockade camp, truly felt the pressure from the East. It was no longer empty boasts, but rather the sound of footsteps accompanied by the roar of metal.
The initial upgrade of "Pangu's" computing power is complete. On the experimental platform, the upgraded artificial intelligence system is rapidly analyzing massive amounts of data from countless failed experiments. On the virtual screen, the simulated process of molten tin spraying, forming, and being impacted is constantly iterating at a speed far exceeding human imagination.
It began to try to build a more sophisticated control model, adjusting subtle parameters such as the micro-vibration frequency of the piezoelectric ceramic inside the nozzle and the gas flow rate.
Although it is still far from achieving truly stable and long-lasting output, the interval between failures has been significantly extended.
The green curve, representing the stability of the tin flow, resembles a heart struggling to stand, trembling with a positive life force.
"It's done!"
After one experiment, the monitor suddenly jumped up.
Twenty-five minutes!
This time, the output remained stable for twenty-five minutes!
A hushed cheer rose from the small team's area.
Although time is still limited and many problems remain, this proves the correctness of the path of AI-assisted optimization and ignites new hope.
Yuan Tao slammed his fist down and turned to Guo Xueyun.
"Old Guo! The light is here! Although it only lasted for twenty-five minutes!" Guo Xueyun clenched her fists tightly, her knuckles turning white.
"We're on the right track! Hold on, keep optimizing Pangu! Data! Feed it data from all dimensions!"
The problem of tin droplets seems to have a glimmer of hope, but it is only the tip of the iceberg that the light source system is revealing.
New storms followed, and they were just as difficult to deal with.
"The coating test results for the reflector are in..."
Engineer Chen, who was in charge of lens testing, walked into Su Dingping's temporary office with the report in his hand, his voice hoarse.
"...the accuracy...is far from meeting the requirements."
Su Dingping's heart sank.
As a key component for reflecting and focusing fragile and easily dispersed extreme ultraviolet light multiple times, the entire lithography system requires dozens of such ultra-high precision mirrors.
Each side requires up to fourteen layers of special optical thin films to be deposited on the base substrate! The number of layers is only one aspect; the key is that the thickness error of each thin film must be less than 0.1 nanometers!
This is a level of precision that renders ordinary microscopes meaningless and is beyond the reach of most machining processes.
"In the several batches we tested ourselves, the error was at the level of tens or even hundreds of nanometers, and the best one exceeded the design requirements by more than ten times."
Chen's voice was filled with helplessness.
"This level of precision... is approaching the physical limits of materials and the limits of control."
Chief Engineer Su, with our current equipment and technological accumulation, it's almost impossible to achieve our goals in the short term!
Su Dingping stared at the glaring test data on the report and remained silent for more than ten seconds.
He was well aware of the difficulties involved. This is one of the toughest challenges in EUV lithography, and it is considered one of the three core barriers, along with the light source and the worktable.
His magical "blueprints," particularly the true technical chapters on mirror coating, remained completely untouched, as if bound by layers of shackles.
The only glimmer of hope seemed to point to the internationally leading magnetron sputtering coating technology, which was almost monopolized by the German company Zeiss, and its matching ultra-precision testing process.
"Engineer Chen, continue to organize our people and, using the existing conditions, try out various possible process improvement solutions."
Su Dingping solemnly assigned the task.
"Even if there is only a one in ten thousand chance, we must explore and find a way; we cannot sit and wait."
"Yes!"
Engineer Chen nodded, though he felt it was an impossible task.
"in addition……"
Su Dingping took a deep breath.
"Contact Mingzhu."
Regarding technology acquisition... let's see if we can follow the Germanic path.
Upon receiving the request, Qin Mingzhu immediately took action.
This time, instead of a low-key probe, they directly dispatched a highly capable technical and business team, under the name of a large optical group in Longxia, carrying a very tempting letter of intent for an order, to the headquarters of the German Zeiss company.
The meeting proceeded to the main topic after polite greetings.
"We are very optimistic about your company's world-leading position in the field of ultra-high precision optical coating."
The representative from Longxiafang spoke sincerely.
"We are willing to become your most important strategic partner in Longxia and even the entire Eastern region..."
Mr. Bruno, Senior Vice President of Zeiss, wore a polite smile.
"Thank you for your trust! However, regarding the relevant technical fields you have expressed interest in, and the cooperation on the supporting production lines..."
He changed the subject, revealing a regretful expression.
"I'm afraid the timing isn't right yet. As you know, when it comes to the transfer and control of core technologies, we need to assess the situation with extreme care and obtain approval from our tribe and even the entire Western technology alliance."
This is a long process.
Bruno's words were impeccable, yet his demeanor was arrogant and aloof.
Qin Mingzhu then made a phone call to a higher-ups on the other side, adopting a very humble stance and even hinting that she could make huge concessions on the price.
However, the other party's response was even colder and more thorough.
"Ms. Qin, I appreciate your sincerity."
However, the export control list for Longxia technology has extremely strict regulations. Any technology and equipment involved in the manufacturing of EUV core components are, unfortunately, subject to an absolute embargo.
There's nothing we can do about that.
Even purchasing equipment is currently completely impossible.
The voice on the other end of the phone carried a formulaic regret, but more than that, it conveyed a condescending rejection.
"We're not using it for EUV; we just want to improve the lens precision of traditional projection lithography machines..."
Qin Mingzhu wanted to make one last effort to obscure the application direction.
"Ms. Qin."
The other person interrupted her, their voice carrying a barely perceptible hint of sarcasm.
"We are all professionals, so there's no need to play games anymore. Your tribe's recently announced breakthrough in high-power CO2 laser technology is very clear. Good luck to you."
The door to negotiations was completely welded shut, leaving not even a crack.
When the news reached Longxin Laboratory, it was like a bucket of ice water poured on a charcoal fire that had just been slightly warmed by the turnaround in the control of tin microdroplets.
"It's still an embargo! It's still a stranglehold!"
Yuan Tao slammed his fist on the instrument stand next to him, making a dull thud. The piercing pain on the back of his hand was nothing compared to the frustration in his heart.
"Damn it, they're obviously betting we can't do it!"
Someone angrily cursed.
Su Dingping stood by the window, looking at the thick darkness outside. The path of importing technology was completely blocked, and independent research and development was even more difficult, like groping for the edge of a cliff in the dark.
Every failed coating experiment means a huge amount of R&D funding going down the drain—special rare metal targets, high-purity inert gases, maintenance of ultra-clean environments, wear and tear on precision equipment… On the lab’s books, funds are burning at an unprecedented rate.
The more failures there are, the faster the money burns through. The immense pressure is like an invisible boulder, weighing on everyone's shoulders and on the heart of this young core.
The news that the lab's funding was stretched to the limit inevitably sent a whiff of trouble. One person closely monitoring Su Dingping's every move couldn't sit still any longer—Qin Baichuan, founder of Zhongchuang Technology.
This self-made entrepreneur, who had experienced the ups and downs of the business world, keenly perceived the predicament facing Longxin Laboratory.
He did not approach Su Dingping directly, nor did he consult with his daughter Mingzhu. Instead, he made the decision in an extremely private and resolute manner.
A week later, Zhongchuang Technology released a far-reaching announcement.
Mr. Qin Baichuan, founder and actual controller of Zhongchuang Technology, has personally donated 3 billion Xia Yuan to the Longxia Tribe Longxin High-Tech Laboratory to support its scientific research projects addressing major national needs. (End of Chapter)