Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
On the 20th of September, at 8:30 am, a group of special “guests” had arrived at Xing Hai Technologies’ fourth development plant in the Bao Shan Industrial Park. Many of these “guests” wore grave expressions, their steps were quick, and their hands trembled slightly, betraying the unrest in their minds.
Leading the group at the front was the President of Zhong Xin International, Zhang Wei Jin; behind him was the Executive Chairman, Khoo Ci Feng; CEO Liang Meng Nan; and Chief Development Inspector, Yang Ming. The upper management from Zhong Xin International made a collective appearance.
“President Zhang, you’ve arrived. Apologies for not receiving you at the door.” Chen Jin, who was in the development plant, had thought that the personnel from Zhong Xin International would arrive after 9 am. He did not expect that they would arrive half an hour earlier, and had to apologize for being unprepared for their arrival.
Zhang Wei Jin waved his hands, unconcerned. As they shook hands, he leaned closer and asked with all seriousness, “President Chen, ‘that technology’ that you spoke about… Your company really developed it successfully?” Disbelief was all over his face. Could such a fantastical technology really be made into reality?
“It can be used soon.” Chen Jin smiled and nodded. “The computing speed of the second TC9000 that Xing Hai purchased with $50,000 is still insufficient. But it has no problem handling a more complicated production scenario.”
“No problems?” Zhang Wei Jin eyes widened. “Production of chips is not merely ‘more complicated,’ it’s extremely complicated! Can your ‘virtual factory’ really simulate such a complicated scenario?” He remained skeptical. There were two things that really took the cake in the industrial sector. One was engines for aircrafts. And the other was chips! The manufacturing process of a chip was extremely complicated. A single production line would involve about 50-plus businesses and included 2,000 to 5,000 processes.
Using the OEM factory as an example, the sand would first have to be purified to extract silicon from it. Then the silicon would be cut into wafers and processed. The entire wafer processing could be separated into two halves. The first half of the processes was divided into several modules: photolithographic printing, deposition, etching, cleaning, and pouring. The latter half of the processes consisted mainly of sealing and packaging: interconnection, wiring, and sealing. Photolithography was the crucial link between production and design.
Many processes were carried out in independent factories, where even the equipment had to be manufactured by specialized factories. In addition, the materials used in the processes included hundreds of different types of gases, fluids, and other target materials which had to be produced by specialized plants in the chemical industry. Lastly, the production of the integrated circuits must be carried out in a sterile environment. Hence, exhaust, air purification, and other cleaning systems were also needed.
Using the latest 14-nanometer chip manufacturing process mastered by Zhong Xin International as an example, they had to integrate billions of transistors and control units onto the wafers with only a surface of two to three square centimeters. After processing, there was still sealing, packaging, and testing to be carried out. The total number of processes exceeded 2,000. If the size of the transistors were to be further reduced, the number of manufacturing processes involved would be even higher.
Now, this technician from Xing Hai Technologies was telling him that they only needed to input the data for the equipment required in the production line, the technical parameters, and the manufacturing workflow into the supercomputer, which would create a “virtual factory” based on that data. This virtual factory would be able to do a 100% realistic simulation of the chip-making process.
Within this virtual factory, it was able to go through all 200-plus processes, from cutting the wafers to packaging and testing. By the end of the processing, it would produce a virtual “chip.” Zhang Wei Jin did not know if this was a virtual animation or a “virtual factory” that was really able to close the gap between reality and simulation to an infinitesimal degree. When he heard bout this idea, his eyes widened on the spot and he immediately grasped the huge significance of this technology. It would bring about a great industrial transformation! And such a fantastical technology was mastered and controlled by a young company that was established less than two years ago?
Chen Jin shook his head. “President Zhang, the supercomputer can even simulate a nuclear explosion, why can’t it simulate industrial manufacturing processes? If you are still an unbeliever, you can take a look at our ‘virtual factory’ and test it out for yourself. Try it and see if it’s really possible to simulate the production of the chips.”
Zhang Wei Jin nodded. “Ok! I’ll believe it when I see it with my own eyes!”
The CEO, Liang Meng Nan, and Chief Development Inspector, Yang Ming, sat in front of the computer screen and operated the virtual factory in the computer. Liang Meng Nan and Yang Ming had been players in the field of chips for many years; they were the two top generals in Zhong Xin International. Without them, the company would still have been limited to the 28 nanometer manufacturing range for many years. Without them, it was impossible for the company to enter the era of 14 nanometer chip manufacturing so quickly.
As he was adjusting the angle of the view with the mouse, Liang Meng Nan suddenly gasped. It was so realistic. The virtual factory seemed to be nearly the same as the factory in real life. It was so realistic that one could not help but gasp in awe. After adjusting the viewing angle and entering the factory, they could see all the equipment on the production line at a glance. The photolithographic machine, plasma etching machine, ion implanter, wafer dicing machine… All the various equipment was reconstructed in a one-to-one proportion. If they zoomed into the inside of the photolithographic machine, they could even see the beams of light in the machine printing out the complex circuit structures on the photosensitive materials.
Zhang Wei Jin sighed from his position behind the chair. “This simulation is too realistic.” Excitement grew in his heart. Maybe President Chen did not lie to him, and this type of technology was real.
The Chief Development Inspector, Yang Ming, said, “Old Meng, give a slight adjustment to the parameters of the ion implanter and monitor the product yield.”
“How much should I adjust?”
“Adjust it by a fraction of a millionth.”
“Ok.” Liang Meng Nan entered the parameters’ settings interface and slightly adjusted the numbers. After waiting for more than two hours, the virtual factory displayed the new chip yield, which was reduced to 0.1% from the original 95%.
Yang Ming, who was in charge of operations in the production lines, took a deep breath and said, “It’s exactly the same situation we have faced in reality.”
Everyone in attendance was shocked.
Zhang Wei Jin said, “Do a few more tests!” Actually, he was already screaming and shouting in his heart, but he pressed his weight into the back of the chair and suppressed his excitement. He wanted to doubly confirm this shocking fact first!
Chen Jin, who was standing at the sidelines as he watched them discuss the adjustments of the parameters, folded his arms and smiled. The virtual factory was the first “futuristic” technology by Xing Hai Technologies after the introduction of the Wa-wah Robot and the learning machine. This smarter and more powerful “intelligent simulation program” was built upon the foundations of the “intelligent learning program.” Hence, it definitely had a certain degree of autonomous learning ability.
As the “virtual factory” was the merging of the “intelligent learning program” with a supercomputer with an operational ability of 8 quadrillion Tflops, its simulation had a 99.99% match with reality. The difference between simulation and reality was less than one in 10,000. However, as Zhong Xin International had provided large amounts of real parameters and data, which they could use to correct the differences in the various production phases, the differences in the virtual factory for Zhong Xin International was not more than one in 100 million.
Moreover, the more data from reality that was provided, the less differences that would appear in the virtual factory. The existence of this virtual chip factory would have a great impact on Zhong Xin International’s chip production capabilities.
It could even turn the current structure of the global chip manufacturing industry upsidedown. It signified a foreboding in the chip-making field. An easily overlooked smallfry was about to grow into a great white shark.