Chapter 1168
Noda Risks His Life to Lock Down the Research Vessel
The commands came like a whirlwind! The entire workshop was instantly ablaze! Everyone forgot their fatigue, forgot their doubts, like desert travelers rushing towards holy water! Wiring! Debugging! Power on!
The small, silver-gray "black box" was carefully connected to the massive interface array of the lithography machine's main control system.
hum-
After a low, beeping start-up self-test beep.
Buzz!
For the first time, the dual-station precision servo motors driving the feed stage and mask plate emitted an extremely pleasant and gentle hum, like a dragon vein awakening!
The giant monitoring screen, which connects the two workbenches to the highest precision laser interferometers, suddenly lit up!
Countless complex curves representing position, speed, real-time error, temperature compensation, and micro-vibration cancellation effectiveness unfold with unprecedented clarity, stability, and smoothness, as if drawn by the Creator and smoothed by the invisible hand of God! Fluid! Efficient! Precise enough to send shivers down your spine!
Peak-to-peak value of dynamic position error.
0.8 nanometers!
Mask synchronization delay compensation.
Microsecond level!
Stability redundancy.
120%!
Far exceeding any previous theoretical predictions!
It far exceeds the overall performance indicators of ASML's control system, which are only vaguely disclosed to the public!
A brand-new "lithography machine brain," brimming with Longxia's unique style, tailor-made for Longxia's self-developed hardware platform, and possessing completely independent core algorithms, is born at this moment!
Silence! Absolute silence!
Then--
boom!!!
Not cheers!
Instead, a deafening roar erupted, causing everyone to involuntarily gasp in shock! It was like a typhoon passing through!
Everyone stared at the data curves on the screen, which moved with artistic precision, as if witnessing a miracle! Many people covered their mouths, tears streaming down their faces uncontrollably!
Yuan Tao stared intently at the screen, his body stiff as if petrified. After more than ten seconds, he finally raised his hand and wiped his face hard, the water on his face indistinguishable between sweat and tears.
He didn't shout, but with all his might, he squeezed out two hoarse, distorted words from deep in his throat.
"That's really... good!"
The entire lithography machine—from hardware to software, from materials to processes, from light source to lens—the last, most robust, and most invisible obstacle, once considered the most insurmountable, has completely collapsed! Longxia has achieved complete self-sufficiency in the entire EUV lithography technology chain!
The myth of the industrial chain that the West touted as requiring the integration of the wisdom of thousands of top global suppliers was shattered by Long Xia alone!
A month later.
Deep within the Longxia tribe, nestled amidst the mountains, lies an integrated military factory, specifically the heavily guarded "Class A No. 1" ultra-clean chip manufacturing plant. Pale yellow, dust-free lights cascade down like a waterfall, illuminating the colossal structure in the central area.
That is the most dazzling new star that has just been inlaid on the crown of the entire Longxia industry!
——"Longguangke-1"
The extreme ultraviolet lithography machine independently developed and with independent intellectual property rights by Longxia Tribe!
Its massive skeleton gleamed with silver light, its complex pipes and cables resembled intricate nerve plexuses, its enormous vacuum chamber was like the heart of a steel behemoth, and its light source core, refined through countless trials and tribulations and finally stabilizing to emit pure 13.5nm extreme ultraviolet light, emitted a faint, ethereal blue glow.
The two workbenches trembled slightly on the magnetic levitation track, awaiting the command to inject life.
An invisible, unsettling static electric field filled the air. There were no cheers, no clamor; all the researchers, engineers, and master craftsmen from the military factory, dressed in the highest-level dustproof suits, held their breath, like believers surrounding a sacred object.
Su Dingping stood in front of the main control panel and finally pressed the start button.
A silent torrent began to surge.
Silicon wafer loading, vacuum chamber closure, laser preheating, precise mask alignment...
The extreme ultraviolet light source suddenly lit up!
That invisible beam of light, capable of depicting a new map of planetary civilization, is refracted and focused by dozens of domestically produced, incredibly precise reflectors, and then accurately projected onto a silicon wafer coated with photoresist!
Etching! Development! ...
Time ticked by, passing in a mixture of immense anticipation and utter silence.
When the first silicon wafer that had completed the photolithography process was finally taken out by the robotic arm and sent to a scanning electron microscope for online image inspection, everyone gathered outside the dustproof door of the inspection room, watching the operator inside with bated breath.
The operator's fingers moved across the precision control panel. The scanning beam began to crisscross across the silicon wafer.
On the huge screen, a high-precision line image began to appear line by line.
Article 1... Article 3... Article 10... The entire region!
Zoom in! Zoom in even more!
The screen finally froze on that dazzling and intricate circuit pattern!
7nm FinFET transistor! Clear 3D structure! Clear gate! Clear channel! Edge sharpness exceeds expectations! No short circuits or open circuits! Perfect!
The automated analysis software processed the data at lightning speed, eventually displaying a glaring green box at the bottom of the screen.
Overall yield rate: 92.1%!
"Success!!!"
"Our own EUV! Our own 7nm chips!"
"92%! 92%!!!"
The entire workshop! No! The entire military factory! At this moment, they erupted in utter chaos! All restraint vanished!
Applause! Heart-wrenching screams! The frantic pounding against the metal walls! The sounds assaulted everyone's eardrums like a volcanic eruption!
Yuan Tao gripped the arm of a young researcher next to him tightly, pinching it so hard that he left red marks without realizing it. Tears streamed down his face as he wailed like a child!
He turned around abruptly, grabbed Guo Xueyun who was trembling with excitement and had tears in her eyes, pointed at Su Dingping who was standing in the center of the crowd and seemed somewhat dazed by the overwhelming joy, and roared with all his might.
"The lithography machine... the father of the lithography machine! He truly deserves the title!"
The title spread like wildfire!
"The Father of Lithography Machines!"
"The Father of the Lithography Machine!!"
Countless voices converged, filled with boundless admiration and fervor!
The cheers lasted for a long time.
Su Dingping's heart finally settled down, and exhaustion surged back like a tide, but he couldn't help but smile.
He picked up the internal communicator.
"Send an invitation to Mr. Qin and Ms. Mingzhu of Zhongchuang Technology. Please make sure they can make time to come and see our Longxin Laboratory... what contracts we are preparing to fulfill."
A few days later, three black bulletproof cars drove through a green light all the way into the heavily guarded entrance to the underground military factory.
Qin Baichuan looked out the window at the heavily guarded defenses and high-tech testing equipment that were completely different from those in an ordinary factory area, and his aged hands trembled slightly.
"Mingzhu... I feel like I'm dreaming..."
Qin Mingzhu held her father's hand, her palms sweating.
"Dad... I know what you mean... but... but this is too fast!"
"More than a year! Only a little over a year!" Even with her strong mental fortitude, she felt a strong sense of unreality at this moment.
The car was parked outside workshop "Class A No. 1".
Tang Ping, who had already been notified, also rushed over, his face filled with curiosity and a desire to find out what was going on.
When he received Su Dingping's "invitation to share his achievements," he felt both anticipation and immense skepticism. A lithography machine? Developed independently by Longxia? Completely self-reliant? This was a cutting-edge technology that had been tightly monopolized by the West for nearly 40 years!
Its difficulty is no less than that earth-shattering stellarator! Can Dragon Heart Laboratory simultaneously race along two hellish technological paths? That's the question that echoed deep within his mind.
This is impossible!
After passing through a special high-pressure air shower, the three put on the highest level of cleanroom suits and, guided by the receptionist, entered the huge super cleanroom.
The enormous "Dragon Photolithography-1" lies quietly in the center of the workshop, like a lurking silver-gray metal dragon.
The streamlined robotic arms, the focusing system emitting a faint blue light, and the worktable area that is as exquisite as a work of art are full of a precise beauty that far surpasses that of industrial products.
The moment Qin Baichuan saw the machine itself, his cloudy old eyes lit up instantly! It was as if two flames had ignited within them!
"That's it! The Pearl! It's really made! Look at the light!"
Those lines! So beautiful!
His voice trembled with excitement.
Qin Mingzhu covered her mouth tightly to keep from screaming! The existence of the steel behemoth before her was a powerful visual shock in itself!
This is an achievement that generations of scientists in Longxia have dreamed of but never dared to imagine. It's actually happening right before our eyes!
"Dad...it's true...it's all true!"
An overwhelming sense of happiness and bittersweet pride welled up in her eyes.
Su Dingping walked over with a smile, his gaze sweeping over the Qin family father and daughter, who were overwhelmed with emotion.
When he saw Tang Ping's face, which was still filled with shock but clearly furrowed, with brows furrowed and eyes filled with deeper worries, he paused slightly, then made a gesture of invitation with his smile unchanged.
"Commander Tang must be amazed too, right? Welcome everyone! Come and see our Longxia tribe's own chip engraving masters up close. Our initial chip inspection area is just behind us..."
Qin Baichuan and Qin Mingzhu were immediately drawn to the enormous object and the "aura of success" permeating the air, and involuntarily walked towards the precision control panels behind the glass partition of the operating area.
Tang Ping involuntarily stopped and moved a little further away from the giant beast that exuded a high-tech aura.
He put his hands behind his back, his gaze not fixed on the machine itself, but sweeping over the tense faces of the engineers in the workshop who were still debugging some secondary equipment or operating high-precision testing platforms.
Looking at the control screens flashing with complex data and listening to the deep hum of the equipment running, a more complex emotion than the pure technological shock he felt when he first came in overwhelmed him.
It was truly shocking.
but……
"This machine...it's really a great thing..."
Tang Ping finally turned his head to face Su Dingping, his brows furrowing even deeper, his voice low and solemn.
“Dingping, I don’t doubt your Longxin’s contributions and abilities… but do you know…”
He pointed to the towering machine.
"This thing... from its design principles to material breakthroughs to precision machining to software control... each of these aspects alone is incredibly complex and technologically advanced..."
He took a breath, as if to expel the immense pressure in his chest.
"They're not much different from your star-simulating device... It would take decades of effort from the nation's top scientific and technological talents to build even one, and you'd still need a bit of luck..."
He stared intently into Su Dingping's calm eyes and asked the ultimate worry that lingered in the minds of all the informed senior executives of Longxia, a worry they could not avoid.
"Within a year, you... managed to break through two barriers that are like Mount Everest in the field of science and technology..."
The excitement of admiring new technological products was gone from his eyes; instead, there was a heavy sense of ultimate pressure, the kind only a high-ranking official in charge of equipment technology development could feel, and a hint of barely perceptible... fear.
"Is everything behind this... really okay? Dingping."
This explosive rate of production and... the way the tech tree is unlocked..."
After the visit, Su Dingping had just seen off the Qin family father and daughter, who were still very excited and kept looking back at the "Longguangke-1" when Tang Ping quietly led him to a quiet corner next to the workshop.
Only the low hum of precision instruments remained, isolating the soon-to-be-boiling noise of human voices.
With his back to the massive lithography machine, Tang Ping's face was so solemn it seemed to overflow from his wrinkles. The suffocating worry he had felt in the workshop just moments before was now starkly displayed on his brow.
He rubbed his hands together, as if to ward off the chill, or perhaps to build up some confidence for the upcoming tests.
"Expert Su, the achievement of Dragon Photolithography-1 this time is truly earth-shattering! Even the top laboratories on the Eagle side can't compare!"
He paused, leaned forward slightly, and lowered his voice considerably.
"With your talent and insight, you must have unique perspectives on the foundations of other top technological powers in the world. What do you think of the Eagle Tribe, this behemoth? What will its future trajectory be? Can it truly continue to lead the way?"
Upon hearing this, Su Dingping's lips curved slightly upward, a smile that contained no arrogance, but rather a calm composure that seemed to see through the ways of the world.
He picked up the teacup on the table, gently blew away the floating leaves, took a sip, and then looked up at Tang Ping with a clear and firm gaze.
"Representative Tang, the development of tribes and nations relies on self-reliance and the pooling of collective will. We have an old saying: Where there is a will, there is a way; no distance is too far, no mountain too high, no sea too wide."
The gap from the past exists, we acknowledge that, but we have even greater faith in the power to catch up.
He put down his teacup, his tone calm yet carrying immense weight.
"As for the Eagle Tribe? It certainly has its deep roots."
However, in my view, as long as Longxia follows the right path and unites its people, surpassing them is a historical inevitability, merely a matter of time.
These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Tang Ping's last remaining illusion.
That clear rejection, and that unwavering confidence in Longxia's future, shattered Tang Ping's last remaining hope.
His smile froze completely, and a barely perceptible hint of annoyance and panic flashed in his eyes.
"Haha, Expert Su truly has lofty aspirations, admirable indeed! I admire him, I admire him!"
Tang Ping chuckled dryly, hurriedly stood up, and seemed eager to escape the oppressive atmosphere. (End of Chapter)