Chapter 74

The breakthrough in liquid crystal technology stemmed from an experimenter's momentary negligence in forgetting to put the cap back on, which caused the experimental solution to become contaminated with impurities.

The discovery of conductive polymers stemmed from the experimenter's misinterpretation of millimoles in the experimental protocol as moles, leading to the addition of a thousand times more Ziegler-Natta catalyst.

The Stern-Gerlach experiment succeeded because, frustrated by previous failures, Gell-Lach smoked in the lab, and the sulfur in the smoke reacted with silver atoms in the experimental materials. The experiment was a success, and the two were awarded the Nobel Prize.

Perhaps, in most people's eyes, scientists' research achievements are rigorous and prudent "getting what they deserve." But in reality, many research discoveries stem from accidents and mistakes. Some results have even been thrown into waste containers or waste bins before being discovered. That was not another failure, but a miracle bestowed by heaven.

For example, Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Tsien, who won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, discovered green fluorescent protein (GFP) from reagents poured into a waste tank while studying crystal jellyfish.

Of course, 99.9999%... of the waste tanks were filled with hopeless waste residue. But Ji Zhixing felt his luck was absolutely phenomenal; he had stumbled upon that 0.000...1% miracle!

Staring at the tiny silicon-based material under the quantum resonance analyzer, Ji Zhixing's mind was filled with all sorts of brilliant ideas and inspirations. He couldn't wait to put them into practice immediately.

But looking around, he realized it wouldn't work! The instruments here couldn't support the various testing schemes and experimental designs in his mind.

The inspiration rushing through his mind left him no time to say a word. He clutched the silicon-based material tightly and ran off—he had to get back to his dorm and into the laboratory in the system space immediately!

Ji Zhixing's abrupt departure startled everyone in the lab, and they all turned to look at Deng Zhi.

Having worked together for so long, everyone knows what kind of person Ji Zhixing is. Even if everyone else skips work, he wouldn't slack off. If he suddenly leaves work without a word during working hours, either he has diarrhea, or his partner Deng Zhixing has done something to upset him.

"What good deed have you done this time?" someone asked Deng Yi.

"I don't know!" Deng Zhi held his head high. Although he didn't understand what was going on, judging from Ji Zhixing's expression and tone, it must be great news! So he was extremely pleased with himself.

"Ha! It's even shaking."

Deng Ji's unexpected attitude aroused everyone's curiosity, but no matter how much they pressed him for answers, they couldn't get any clear explanation.

Ji Zhixing stayed in his dormitory for seven days straight, barely having time to eat or sleep, spending almost all his time in the system lab—he didn't even remember to call Gao Xiao to ask for leave until the third day.

When Gao Xiao received the call asking for leave, he didn't even ask for the reason. He even stopped Deng Yi and the others, who were starting to worry, from bothering Ji Zhixing.

Ji Zhixing was all too familiar with this kind of mindless, head-on state. He and Lao Yan used to be like that for a while, getting a sudden inspiration and wanting to skip meals and sleep.

This is certainly not good for the body, but inspiration is something that cannot be explained. If you don't seize the opportunity when it comes, it may disappear without a trace in the next moment.

Therefore, Gao Xiao could understand Ji Zhixing very well and had high expectations for his sudden, unknown inspiration.

Even though his expectations were raised infinitely because of Ji Zhixing's past achievements, he never expected that Ji Zhixing would deliver something so terrifying.

"Photonic chip?!" Gao Xiao clutched the thick feasibility report, staring intently at Ji Zhixing.

"Yes!" After working day and night for seven days, Ji Zhixing's eyes were dark and bluish-black, but his bloodshot eyes shone like a 5,000-watt light bulb.

Deng Yi stood to the side, his eyes wide open like copper bells.

Chips! This word has always been a nerve-wracking topic for almost all Chinese people, becoming a hot topic of discussion both online and offline, simply because we are dependent on others for our technology.

From the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) to the Wassenaar Arrangement, from the Entity List to the Chip and Science Act, Western countries, led by the United States, have never given up their technological blockade against China.

Chip technology is one of the most important aspects of the technology field today, and it is an absolute necessity for any country in modern technological society.

China is a massive country, accounting for nearly 60% of the global chip market demand. However, the supply of domestically produced chips falls far short of this enormous demand. Consequently, last year alone, China's chip imports reached a staggering $351.1 billion!

It can be said that in the chip market, especially in the high-end chip sector, China still relies heavily on foreign markets.

Therefore, as soon as the United States tightened its grip on China's technological capabilities, China was immediately plunged into a helpless situation of "chip shortage," which directly resulted in many technological products being stuck in the design stage but unable to be put into production.

For example, a major domestic mobile phone manufacturer that suffered severe suppression was even able to sell 4G phones during the 5G era.

Of course, China has been striving for breakthroughs in chip research and development and production, and 19 of the top 20 global chip companies in terms of growth rate are Chinese. However, in the short term, especially in the high-end chip sector, it is still impossible to fundamentally change the competitive landscape of the chip industry.

However, the tiny silicon-based material that Ji Zhixing picked up from the scrap bin that day gave him a glimpse of the possibility of overtaking on a curve!

"That day in the lab, Deng discovered that the plasma on the silicon surface could be 'neutralized' by light particles in the silicon evanescent field. This means that if a continuous laser beam can be generated when light enters a silicon waveguide, it is entirely possible to drive other silicon photonic devices..."

Hearing this, Deng Zhi, who had been immersed in shock, touched his nose sheepishly. Ji Zhixing made it sound as if he had a share of the credit, but in reality, he had only thought that the disappearance of plasma on the silicon-based surface meant the experiment had failed again, and hadn't considered anything else. So, although it's said that "miracles can happen in waste liquid tanks," being able to discover miracles from "waste liquid tanks" is definitely an ability that ordinary people don't possess!

"Because of the high frequency of light waves, the transmission capacity of an optical link is theoretically much greater than that of an electronic link. Therefore, using light to transmit information on a silicon substrate can achieve very high data rates..."

Gao Xiao would occasionally flip through the feasibility report in his hand, and at other times look at Ji Zhixing, who was talking non-stop, his mind filled with countless thoughts.

In today's chip industry, the hottest research direction is quantum chips, but they are still in the theoretical research stage. Even though quantum chips are highly anticipated worldwide, their design logic is still very traditional, which is to integrate quantum circuits on a substrate to carry out quantum information processing functions.

Because of this traditional design logic, quantum chips are limited by the quantum tunneling effect and can only be developed up to 1nm. Going further beyond that is no longer a problem for engineers, but rather the domain of physicists.

Therefore, unless there is a major breakthrough in quantum physics, the limitations of quantum chips are obvious.

Ji Zhixing's photonic chip design completely overturns the traditional chip's logical surface structure, replacing electrons with faster and lower-energy photons. Therefore, once successfully developed, the photonic chip will offer unparalleled performance advantages over traditional chips!

"Moreover!" Ji Zhixing became more and more excited as he spoke, "If photonic chips are indeed feasible, then in terms of manufacturing processes, nanoparticles can be captured and transported using optical tweezers systems, which means that it is entirely possible to bypass EUV lithography machines for manufacturing and production!"

"Wow!" Deng Yi's eyes widened instantly. Ji Zhixing had killed two birds with one stone!

EUV lithography machines are a very important factor restricting the development of China's chip industry, because according to the current chip design and manufacturing process, EUV lithography machines are required to mass-produce high-precision chips below 7nm.

However, the global EUV lithography machine market is almost entirely monopolized by the Dutch company ASML. Due to various embargoes, China has spent hundreds of millions of yuan but still cannot purchase a single EUV lithography machine.

Therefore, while leading chip companies such as Samsung and Peptide are putting the mass production of 3nm chips on the agenda, Huaxia is still unable to achieve a breakthrough in chips below 7nm in a short period of time.

If there were a chip whose manufacturing could bypass EUV lithography machines, then Huaxia Technology could be said to have broken the bottleneck imposed by the West in two fields!

Gao Xiao stared at the feasibility report in his hand for a long time without saying a word. Once the photonic chip technology is successfully developed, China will completely gain an absolute advantage in the chip field!

"Truly, new talents emerge in every generation!" Gao Xiao sighed inwardly.

He had initially thought that Ji Zhixing, being confined to his dormitory and working in isolation, would only be focusing on theoretical work. For example, he might be using his expertise in the Navier-Stokes equations to further analyze their application in the "telekinesis" experiment. He never expected the theoretical results to be so groundbreaking!

As a senior scientist who grew up alongside the People's Republic of China, Gao Xiao understands better than younger scientists like Ji Zhixing and Deng Yi how difficult it has been for China to take every step under the heavy technological blockade over the past few decades.

At this moment, as he stroked the words "photonic chip," Gao Xiao's thoughts were racing, and he remained silent for a long time.

Seeing that Professor Gao Xiao remained silent, Ji Zhixing's boiling emotions gradually calmed down, and a hidden unease slowly welled up.

He had been observing the behavior of light waves on silicon-based materials in the system space laboratory for the past few days, including capture, transport, sorting, storage, and sensing, and all aspects performed well. Therefore, he deduced that photonic chips had great potential, and in his excitement, he wrote a feasibility report and rushed to report to Professor Gao Xiao without much review.

However, Professor Gao Xiao didn't say a word. Does he think there is some logical fallacy in his feasibility report?

Ji Zhixing couldn't help but speak up: "Professor Gao."

Gao Xiao waved his hands repeatedly: "I don't deserve it, you can just call me Xiao Gao from now on."

Ji Zhixing: ...

A note from the author: