After arriving at Qingtian Chip, Zhang Rujing, Ni Guangnan and other senior executives of Qingtian Chip came out to welcome them.

And every face was filled with uncontrollable smiles.

However, they do have the qualifications to laugh.

Previously, when Fang Chen was still in Russia, Zhang Rujing called him and told him that the first batch of eight-inch wafers had successfully rolled off the production line.

Although this only means that China has the production capacity of eight-inch wafers, and there is still a long way to go before producing specific chips, but for China, which was only used for five-inch wafers before,

This is simply a leapfrog development, and it spans two generations at once.

The successful rollout of eight-inch wafers means that China has now reached the world's first-class level in wafer production.

"However, although it has been offline, the yield rate is frighteningly low, only 20%." Zhang Rujinghui reported.

Fang Chen raised his eyebrows. The yield rate of 20% is indeed outrageously low. This means that Qingtian Chip currently produces five wafers, four of which are scrapped and cannot be used.

There is only one piece.

This kind of yield rate, to put it bluntly, costs much more than a six-inch wafer. It does not have the cost reduction that an eight-inch wafer should bring about with technology upgrades.

But after all, this is China's first eight-inch production line. China didn't even have a six-inch production line before. Being able to produce eight-inch wafers is already the biggest victory. There is no room for choice.

.

"It's pretty good. Although such a yield rate cannot be applied to production at all, it is still a big step worthy of special mention for China's semiconductor industry."

Hearing what Fang Chen said, Zhang Rujing and others immediately felt relieved.

To put it bluntly, Fang Chen has invested more than 20 billion in Qingtian chip, and the result is just one. It is difficult to call it a successful product. They really have no glory in their faces, let alone

Know how to face Fang Chen.

After all, you must know that the more advanced 12-inch production lines are about to come out soon. Although this 8-inch production line cannot be regarded as an old and obsolete product, it is definitely something that cannot be more mature.

But that's what they did.

If Fang Chen had just scolded him head-on and face-to-face, they might all be ready to jump into the river together now.

"Although the current yield rate is indeed somewhat unsatisfactory, I can assure you that within one year, I will increase the yield rate to over 75% to meet the minimum requirements for mass production."

Zhang Rujing patted his chest, as if giving a military order to Fang Chen.

But that's what he was thinking in his heart. If Fang Chen couldn't increase the yield rate of eight-inch wafers to 75% within a year even if he gave him whatever he asked, then he was really

I have no hope of staying at Qingtian Chip any longer.

"There's no rush, just take it slowly and steadily. China has been lagging behind for such a long time and doesn't care if it lags behind for a while longer." Fang Chen waved his hand and said nonchalantly.

For wafers and even many semiconductor products, 75% is an important life and death line.

If the yield rate exceeds 75%, it will live; if it falls below 75%, it will die.

There is no way. If the yield rate is lower than this number, the price-performance ratio of the product will most likely not be as good as the previous generation product.

Can a new product that is not even as good as the previous generation product still have room to survive?

Presumably there is none.

After all, not all semiconductor companies are TSMC.

Some of TSMC's advanced processes, such as 7 nanometer and 5 nanometer, as well as the so-called 3 nanometer, started mass production when the yield rate was 65%.

This is not to say that TSMC is great, but that TSMC’s customers are great.

As we all know, the main force driving advanced processes is mobile phone chips. Mobile phone chips are about to enter the 5nm era, while Intel is still lingering on 10nm. On the contrary, AMD's Ryzen series uses 7nm, which is also the Ryzen series.

One of the important reasons that prevents AMD from turning around 360°.

Therefore, most of TSMC's customers are wealthy companies such as Apple, Qualcomm, and Huawei.

It is precisely because these companies are willing to spend more money that TSMC can use the latest manufacturing processes even though the yield rate is not high and the price/performance ratio is low.

Moreover, he also comes from a technical background, so he naturally knows that technological progress is often not driven by human will. It does not mean that he is pointing a gun at the head of Zhang Rujing, or other scientific research and technical personnel, and immediately these eight

The yield rate of the inch production line will immediately increase.

Impossible, the meal is always eaten in one bite.

Furthermore, even if the yield rate of wafers is improved, when it comes to making chips, we still have to find ways to increase the yield rate of chips. Only then will we be considered successful, but this is definitely a bigger battle.

.

So, there is no need to rush.

"But I have good news to tell you. We have made some breakthroughs in DDR memory technology. If nothing else happens, by this time next year, when the yield rate of eight-inch wafers is up, we will have already produced DDR memory.

Yes." Zhang Rujing said.

Hearing this, Fang Chen couldn't help but have a look of joy on his face.

But immediately, an idea flashed in his mind and he asked: "Is it a memory particle, or is it just a simple memory stick?"

If it's memory particles, it's worth celebrating, but if it's just memory sticks, it's not interesting.

These days, there are many companies in the world that can produce memory sticks.

"Memory particles."

Zhang Rujing glanced at Fang Chen in surprise.

Although Qingtian Chip has just been established and has no technical reserves and no advantages, and it does not even have a viable product, it is still a serious semiconductor company with its own wafer production line that can produce wafers.

Filmy.

How could it be that they are just memory stick companies with no technology at all?

The importance of memory sticks to electronic products is self-evident. It can be said that any electronic product is inseparable from memory sticks or storage devices.

Memory is one of the important components of the computer, also known as internal memory and main memory. It is used to temporarily store calculation data in the CPU and exchange data with external memories such as hard disks.

It is the bridge between external memories such as hard disks and floppy disks and the CPU. All programs in the computer run in memory. The performance of the memory affects the overall performance of the computer.

As long as the computer starts running, the operating system will transfer the data that needs to be calculated from the memory to the CPU for calculation. When the calculation is completed, the CPU will transmit the results.

The operation of memory also determines how fast or slow the overall computer runs.

However, in comparison, the technological breakthrough of memory is simpler than that of chips, and its manufacturing process is also much simpler.

But even if it is much simpler, in the future, there will be many companies that can produce memory modules, but there are really only three companies that can produce memory particles, namely Samsung, Hynix, and Micron.

There used to be an Elpida in Eastern Japan, but Samsung and Hynix took advantage of the 2008 economic crisis to kill it.

The former president of Elpida, Yukio Nagasakamoto, was so angry that he directly joined China's Ziguang Group as senior vice president.

Regarding the reasons for taking up the role of senior vice president of Ziguang Group, Yukio Sakamoto said in an interview with Kyodo News: "I don't want to end my life as a loser. I want to make a settlement myself."

Kingston, ADATA, etc. that everyone is familiar with are just memory stick companies. They just buy memory chips from the three mentioned above, then assemble and test them themselves, and put their own trademarks on them.

Technically speaking, there is really no technical content, not much higher than those making Zhaitiao.

At most, they use white chips from the original factory, while those who make strips use black chips ripped from other memory sticks.

It is even more gratifying that Qingtian Chip can make a major breakthrough in DDR. This news is even more important than the first eight-inch wafer coming off the production line.

Naturally, everyone is familiar with DDR memory, but now DDR memory is still an internationally advanced technology. Detailed technical standards have only been proposed, but no real DDR memory, such as the lowest-level DDR200, has been officially launched.

When he thought that in his previous life, it was already DDR4, 4000, Fang Chen suddenly felt a sigh of relief.

Although Fang Chen looks down on DDR200, now in the world, although the memory particles are not directly welded to the motherboard like the era before 286, they have no replaceability at all, but have been made into memory sticks.

, but the technology used is still the older SDRAM.

The highest memory clock supported by SDRAM is only 133, so some DIY players can overclock it to 150 or even 166.

But even if it is overclocked, the transmission efficiency is one-third to one-fourth lower than the memory clock of DDR with a minimum of 200.

This means that if Qingtian Chip can really release DDR memory next year, although it may not be the best in the world, it will definitely be world-leading and one of the first-tier memory companies.

"Since we have made quite a technological breakthrough in DDR, we will continue on this road and continue to do so. Compared with chips, the production of memory particles is more suitable for the current Qingtian chip." Fang Chen

Said slowly.

Compared with chips, memory particles are smaller, otherwise why would they be called particles.

In this case, there will be no waste of wafers, and the usable area of ​​the wafers will be greatly increased.

In addition, the purity requirements of memory particles for wafers are not that high. Chips usually require the silicon purity of wafers to be above 99.999999999%, which is commonly known as 11 nines, while memory particles only require nine nines.

That’s it.

This means that Qingtian Chip's wafer yield rate can be greatly improved out of thin air.

Moreover, the functions of memory particles are not as complex as chip processors, so their production process and number of stacking layers are naturally much smaller.

For Qingtian Chip, it means higher yield and faster mass production.

"In short, you also know my attitude towards semiconductors. I don't understand technology, so I won't get involved too much. But in terms of logistics and money, just ask for whatever you need, and I will definitely find a way to come up with it.

.”

"No matter what, even if I, Fang Chen, try to sell everything, Huaxia Semiconductor will continue to develop."

Seeing Fang Chen's determined and resolute expression, Zhang Rujing and Ni Guangnan didn't know what to say for a moment, and their eyes instantly turned red.
To be continued...