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Chapter 473 Semiconductor Nano Research Institute
Although this technology has not been commercialized on a large scale, it already has a solid foundation. In the past 20 years, scientists around the world have carried out systematic and in-depth research on semiconductor nanowires, which has brought vigorous development to the field of semiconductor nanowire functional devices. .

According to the search results of Web of Science, from 1999 to 2015, the total number of SCI papers on semiconductor nanowire research in the world exceeded 17.

After years of development, our understanding of the controllable preparation, performance regulation, device construction and application of semiconductor nanowires has continued to deepen.

Semiconductor nanowire technology has gradually shown great application potential in different fields, and is gradually moving from basic research to practical application.

At present, field-effect transistors, nanogenerators, nanochips, field emission devices, solar cells, light-emitting diodes, lasers, photodetectors, optical waveguide devices, storage devices, photocatalysis, and highly sensitive chemical and biological sensors based on semiconductor nanowires And other functional devices have been developed one after another.

Although, these are only laboratory products, the cost is extremely high, and they cannot be commercialized on a large scale.

Its future potential and value are immeasurable.

Especially in the field of semiconductors, semiconductor nanowires carry the expectations of scientists around the world, and are expected to achieve transformative development in the field of semiconductor functional devices.

According to the vision of some big cows in related fields, semiconductor nanowire functional devices may become an important breakthrough point for the application of nanotechnology.

For chips and various semiconductor devices, miniaturization, low energy consumption and intelligence have always been important development trends.

When the line width of the semiconductor device is less than 100nm, higher requirements will be placed on the equipment and manufacturing process, the cost will increase greatly, and the limitations of the traditional process will be more serious.

The lithography machine based on traditional technology has gradually improved from the initial level of UV lithography machine to the level of DUV lithography machine, and then developed to the current level of EUV lithography machine, going further and further on this road.

The equipment is getting bigger and bigger, and the cost is getting higher and higher.

It also has a fatal shortcoming, that is, it has its own physical limit, and when it develops to a certain point, it cannot go any further.

As we all know, lithography machines are also called ultraviolet lithography machines, which use ultraviolet rays to process chips. DUV lithography machines are deep ultraviolet lithography machines, and EUV lithography machines are extremely deep ultraviolet lithography machines.

The closer the color of light is to red, the lower its frequency; the closer to violet, the higher its frequency.The speed of light is a constant, the higher the frequency, the smaller the wavelength.

The optical frequency used by the EUV lithography machine is the extremely deep ultraviolet frequency, and the corresponding wavelength is about 10~15 nanometers; the optical frequency used by the DUV lithography machine is the deep ultraviolet frequency, and the corresponding wavelength is about 200 nanometers; the UV lithography machine uses The frequency of light is the ultraviolet frequency, which corresponds to a wavelength of about 360 nanometers.

In other words, the more advanced the lithography machine, the higher the optical frequency required.

The frequency of light is a numerical value that exists objectively in physics, and it is difficult to change and improve it through artificial means.

……

Now that the ultra-deep ultraviolet frequency is used, it is difficult to find a higher frequency of light, so the level of the lithography machine is difficult to be improved.

The lack of improvement in lithography machine technology directly leads to the inability to effectively improve the chip manufacturing process, and it also makes it impossible for the chip manufacturing process to keep shrinking from 14 nanometers, 7 nanometers, 5 nanometers, 3 nanometers, and 2 nanometers. It has physical limits.

In addition, the silicon crystal, the raw material for making chips with a lithography machine, also has its own material limit.

The smallest unit "silicon atom" of a silicon crystal is about 0.22 nanometers in diameter.

Today's traditional chip manufacturing process is impossible to be smaller than a silicon atom, exceeding 0.22 nanometers.This is also a physical limit of it.

……

That is to say, the traditional chip manufacturing process has two major limitations.

One is the lithography machine equipment needed to manufacture chips. The lithography machine uses the frequency of light, which has a physical limit.

The other is the silicon material needed to make chips.No matter how small the transistor inside the chip is, it is impossible to be smaller than a silicon atom, which is also its physical limit.

If any of these two conditions reaches the limit, it is impossible for the traditional chip manufacturing process to improve.

It also means that the chip manufacturing technology using lithography machines and silicon crystals as raw materials has come to an end.

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Compared with traditional semiconductor technology, the new technology represented by semiconductor nanowires does not have these limitations.

Its limit, its potential, is far beyond what can be compared with today's traditional semiconductor technology.

……

However, despite knowing that semiconductor nanotechnology represents the future, semiconductor companies headed by Intel have only a little bit in this regard, and their main focus is still on traditional semiconductor manufacturing technology.

There are two main reasons. One is that as a new technology, if you want to take a road in the field of semiconductor nanowires and build a complete system, you need a huge amount of funds and a very long time to break through those technical barriers.

Moreover, it is difficult to commercialize it in a short period of time. Using funds from the market to promote technological development can only use traditional semiconductor technology to generate profits for blood transfusion.

According to the current semiconductor nanowire technology, the manufactured chips and semiconductor components are only at the level of the late 90s.

There is no comparison with the current traditional semiconductor manufacturing technology.

On the other hand, semiconductor companies led by Intel have invested a lot of resources in traditional semiconductor manufacturing technology for decades, and have an unrivaled solid foundation and advantages.

The current semiconductor manufacturing technology has not yet reached its limit, and there are still many potentials to be tapped. This time will be in units of ten years.

It is impossible for them to give up the huge technological advantages and patents in this system, decades of solid accumulation, turn around again, vigorously promote semiconductor nanowire technology, and stand on the same starting line as other emerging companies.

This is a tough choice.

……

For Lin Rui, there is no such trouble.

Starry Sky Research Institute and SMIC itself don’t have much deep technical accumulation in the traditional semiconductor field, so there’s nothing to be sorry about when Chuan Xiaohao nods.

Instead, it can stand on the same starting line as other semiconductor giants and compete fairly.

Subsequently, the ninth branch of the Xingkong Research Institute, the "Semiconductor Nano Research Institute" was established.

All technologies and personnel related to nanotechnology in the Institute of New Materials will also be transferred to the newly established "Institute of Semiconductor Nanotechnology."

Lin Rui plans to spend ten years and a huge amount of funds to promote and improve this technical system, and to conduct commercialization attempts.

Wait until the traditional semiconductor manufacturing system reaches its limit, and then use new technologies to subvert them in one fell swoop. Even today's semiconductor giants will join this system halfway.

Starry Sky Research Institute also has unrivaled technology accumulation and patent advantages, and is directly invincible.

(End of this chapter)