Chapter 249 Did It Really only Take One Night?

Xu Zhou knew how significant this project was. It was not just a horizontal topic. To exaggerate, it would even affect the future progress of the country's chip industry.

Compared with the previous horizontal issues with Piatti, this issue is much more important.

"The topic we are researching this time is mainly about chip raw material technology. We need to develop better integrated circuit silicon wafer planarization technology to increase the efficiency of the chip processing process and ensure the quality of chip materials."

It is very appropriate to hand over this research to Ning Chen, Xu Zhou and others, because they have done a lot of silicon-related technologies before, and even if you look at the country, they are considered experts in the field of silicon materials.

After hearing Ning Chen's words, Xu Zhou also nodded and said:

"Yes, in order to obtain accurate photolithography patterns, we must improve the surface accuracy of the silicon etching layer and the micro surface quality. We have very strict requirements for the size of the silicon wafer."

In addition to the length, width, and thickness of the silicon wafer, the local flatness of the silicon wafer needs to be controlled within 50nm, and the micro-roughness of the front surface needs to be maintained within the 0.1nm horizontal range. This is not an easy task. meet the technical requirements.

After some discussion, two main research directions were formulated.

The first research direction is to improve on the commonly used silicon wafer planarization technology.

The main silicon wafer planarization technology methods currently on the market include heat flow method, rotating glass method, etch back method, electron surround resonance method, chemical mechanical planarization, etc.

Among them, chemical mechanical planarization is the most common and mature method. Improving on this method will be relatively easier and more likely to achieve research breakthroughs.

Another research direction is to create a new silicon wafer planarization technology.

This research direction is not easy. It is a complete innovation and requires a lot more work, but it is not easy to achieve any valuable results.

Laboratory members, including Ning Chen, also tended to the first research plan, but at the same time retained the possibility of the second research direction.

"After we go back today, we will all consider the options we can try. We will prioritize improving the chemical mechanical planarization method and come to the laboratory tomorrow morning to discuss possible experimental options."

It is difficult to make a very detailed experimental plan in one day. Of course, Ning Chen does not want to use one day to solve the problem. Instead, he can extend the timeline, but everyone needs to discuss it every day.

Even Ning Chen cannot solve various problems by relying solely on his own strength. He still needs to communicate and cooperate with other people.

In the evening, Ning Chen returned to his study and thought about improvement plans for chemical mechanical planarization technology.

Ning Chen first summarized the various shortcomings of traditional chemical mechanical planarization methods and tried to optimize them from these perspectives.

Traditional chemical mechanical planarization technology, because it is based on the wear mechanism between free abrasives, polishing pads and silicon wafers, has many process parameters, the processing process is not very stable, it is not easy to realize automated control, and the productivity is also relatively low.

At the same time, because the polishing pad is an organic fabric with a certain degree of elasticity, it is not highly selective in removing surface materials during polishing, which can lead to various defects including over-polishing, nitride corrosion, dishing, etc.

In addition, traditional chemical mechanical planarization technology has several other shortcomings, which may be improved through improvement.

Ning Chen quickly thought about solutions to these problems in his mind, and at the same time combined Xiaozhi's modeling processing capabilities to conduct basic tests on his ideas.

After some intensive analysis and thinking, Ning Chen suddenly thought of a way to solve the problem.

"With...if a resin binder can be added to the abrasives to form a polishing pad with a new composite structure, replacing the free abrasive grains and polishing pads in traditional chemical mechanical planarization technology, theoretically better results can be achieved !”

In this way, since a fixed abrasive polishing pad is used and there are no free abrasive particles, the wear caused during the planarization process can be greatly reduced.

After verifying Xiaozhi's modeling processing function, Ning Chen determined that the feasibility of this direction is indeed very high, and it is entirely possible to solve various problems existing in traditional chemical mechanical planarization technology.

Ning Chen immediately sorted out the entire plan. After Ning Chen completed the work, he looked at the time and saw that it was only eleven o'clock in the evening.

"I didn't expect that I could come up with a new experimental plan tonight."

Ning Chen was also a little surprised at his speed, and this was achieved without using any special system skills.

"It seems that after improving my brain power, my thinking speed has improved a bit." Ning Chenxin said.

Although Ning Chen's brain power index only increased by a few points after the task was refreshed, when the brain power index is very high, every point of increase in the brain power index can bring about a very obvious improvement effect.

In the past, it might have taken Ning Chen more than a day to solve the same problem.

The next day, everyone came to the laboratory, and Xu Zhou organized a meeting for everyone according to yesterday's plan.

"Sui Feng, let's talk about your plan first."

Sui Feng was obviously at a loss when he was first called by Xu Zhou.

"Well...Teacher Xu, I still want to hear other people's plans first."

In fact, Sui Feng didn't do anything last night. At least the document interface was opened, but he only typed the words "experimental plan".

After all, the level of this research project is very high. It is indeed a bit difficult for Sui Feng, a doctoral student, to do the experimental plan.

As Sui Feng's teacher, Xu Zhou naturally knew what Sui Feng was thinking and continued to ask:

"It doesn't matter. Today's meeting is not for anyone to directly come up with a complete plan. I just have some immature ideas. Sui Feng, just tell me what you thought of last night."

"Well... I think it would be better to make improvements based on the original chemical mechanical planarization technology, so don't consider other methods..."

When asked by Xu Zhou, Sui Feng had no choice but to talk some worthless nonsense. Xu Zhou knew that he couldn't get anything valuable out of Sui Feng's mouth, so he had no choice but to give up.

"Okay. Commander Yuan, let's talk about it."

The former commander was obviously much more prepared than Sui Feng. He took out the notebook he had prepared and carefully recounted his thoughts from last night.

"Teacher Xu, Teacher Ning, and Senior Brother Sui Feng, after I went back yesterday, I thought of some immature plans. I would like your guidance and correction. I feel that although the traditional chemical mechanical planarization technology is relatively mature, there are still some problems. Some angles that can be optimized. For example, the efficiency of planarization processing, cost, uniformity, reliability, process control capabilities, etc. To address these issues, the solution I prepared is..."

Listening to the commander's explanation, Ning Chen and Xu Zhou couldn't help but nodded slightly, expressing their agreement with the commander.

Although the original commander did not propose any complete solution, every suggestion has a certain reference value.

Ning Chen believed that as long as the former commander was given enough time, it was really possible for the former commander to come up with a good experimental plan.

After listening to the former commander's story, Xu Zhou said happily:

"Yes, I have thought of so much in just one night, and they are all good ideas. It seems that we will probably complete the plan within a week."

This speed is still very fast, because project research of this level usually lasts several months or even longer. It only takes a week to complete the plan, which is already very fast.

Being praised by Xu Zhou in person, the former coach also acted very modestly and still had a serious expression on his face.

Sui Feng was a little helpless about this. Although the former commander had not been in the laboratory for a long time, he had quietly surpassed him in terms of ability and status.

But there is nothing that can be done about it. After all, the former coach is usually too diligent. In addition, the former coach is also very talented. It is only a matter of timing to surpass him.

Next, Xu Zhou talked about his thoughts. Many of these ideas were similar to those of the former commander. Of course, there were also some that the former commander had not thought of.

The former commander had to admit in his heart that Xu Zhou was still much better than him, and he still had a lot to learn from Xu Zhou.

After finishing his thoughts, Xu Zhou continued:

"Finally, let me ask Teacher Ning to talk about the experimental plan."

The reason why Ning Chen was placed last was because Xu Zhou knew that Ning Chen must think more and more comprehensively than himself.

Although Ning Chen couldn't list all the detailed plans in one night, he could at least summarize several valuable opinions.

Ning Chen did not express his thoughts directly, but connected his laptop to the big screen in the laboratory.

"Teacher Xu, I have prepared a lot of things, so let's take a look at my document first."

Ning Chen knew that what he had prepared could not be explained clearly in a few minutes, so he did not rush to explain.

"Well... of course that's no problem."

When he said this, Xu Zhou was a little surprised at how many things Ning Chen had prepared and how much he needed to use even the big screen.

Xu Zhou thought, Ning Chen couldn't really design such a complicated experimental plan in just one night, right?