Chapter 297 There's No Shortcut (Bug Fix): Taking Shortcuts

Wang Xiao acted immediately, launching a recruitment drive and contacting Mr. Zheng, who was in Wuhan, to poach talent.

As for why she didn't say anything when she was still in Wuhan in the morning, and why she had to act all coy and look for someone after flying to Shanghai in the afternoon?

Well, she really wasn't intentionally trying to create any persona or image. She's not an internet celebrity trying to gain attention anymore, so there's really no need for her to do that.

She did this because she couldn't be sure about the development of immersion lithography machines until she personally witnessed her subordinates staying up all night to find the papers and materials that had only been faxed over that afternoon.

Why? Didn't she already know about Dr. Lin's achievements in popular science articles? She even knew about 193nm.

Well, she had also read in popular science articles about the glorious history of Wuhan Radio Factory No. 3 in manufacturing lithography machines for twenty years, and that China is the only country that has preserved hydrogen bombs for a long time.

Haha, she won't budge an inch until she sees Dr. Lin's paper.

So, Mr. Zheng had just finished his afternoon nap and was about to go to the library to browse the latest international electronic journals—given his current income level, subscribing to them himself was simply too expensive.

Suddenly, people from the city government arrived.

Suddenly, he boarded a plane, and it was a military aircraft. (Note ①)

He even brought along the graduate students who saw his advisor in the library and came up to help him get his magazines.

The graduate students, still bewildered, managed to piece together the gist of the matter from the conversation between their advisor and the other person after boarding the plane.

A big boss took a liking to his mentor and invited him to Shanghai.

The poor graduate student was in a panic, fearing that his supervisor was really interested and would poach him. If he changed supervisors halfway through his studies, who knows when he would graduate.

The summer sun is long, and the anxious graduate student didn't board the plane with his supervisor until after 3 p.m. When the plane landed in Shanghai, he even got to enjoy the sunset over the Huangpu River.

The western sky was ablaze with orange-red sunset clouds, which melted the iron frame of the old sluice bridge at the mouth of the Suzhou River into a silhouette.

Wang Xiao waited for someone by the river, then smiled and extended his hand to Mr. Zheng: "I'm really sorry, Mr. Zheng, for troubling you to make this trip. I have a problem here and can only ask you for advice."

The river breeze ruffled Professor Zheng's white hair. He shook hands with the person in a very good mood and only joked, "Then one midnight snack probably won't be enough tonight, we'll have to have dinner too."

Wang Xiao smiled and nodded: "Okay! Please order whatever you'd like to eat."

Professor Zheng looked out into the distance, watching the rolling waters of the Huangpu River, the rusty tugboats shattering the scales of the setting sun, and the sputtering of diesel engines startling a flock of seagulls. Suddenly, he spoke up: "Yellow croaker noodles. When you come to Shanghai, you must have a bowl of yellow croaker noodles."

Wang Xiao clapped his hands: "Great! Yellow croaker noodles. Our manager Zhang in Shanghai said that this place has the most authentic yellow croaker noodles."

From the moment Zhang Junfei saw the stack of faxed information about the lithography machine, he felt a growing sense of crisis, strongly suspecting that Yang Tao had found the information.

He didn't recognize many of the words in those foreign languages.

A strong sense of crisis made him tense. As soon as the owner called his name, he quickly stepped forward and assured him: "This yellow croaker noodle dish is famous for its authenticity. Many people drive a long way to eat here."

As a result, everyone boarded a traditional-style cruise ship, just like the one in the TV series "The Emperor Qianlong's Adventures" when the emperor went on a trip to the south. After entering a private room, when the waiter came over with the menu to take our order, the graduate student stammered and cautiously asked, "Do you have plain noodles?"

He read in martial arts novels that heroes always wanted a bowl of plain noodles, and Shanghai's plain noodles were very famous.

Since I've come all this way, I'd like to try it.

The waiter readily agreed: "Okay."

When the plain noodles were finally served, the poor graduate student could hardly believe his eyes: "This...this is plain noodles?"

The waiter smiled broadly and even made a witty remark: "Yes, refined and elegant."

Everyone at the table laughed, but his mentor saved him: "Another plate of poached chicken and a platter of fermented meat sauce."

Wang Xiao smiled and continued ordering: "I'll also have some stir-fried shrimp, scrambled eggs with chili peppers, and shredded eel in hot oil."

She spoke enthusiastically to the guests, “I think Wuhan and Shanghai are both quite interesting. When you talk about Wuhan, you think of hot dry noodles, and when you talk about Shanghai, you think of yellow croaker noodles and plain noodles. But the staple food of the locals is basically rice. Even now, I have to eat noodles with side dishes, otherwise I always feel like I’m just eating rice on its own.”

Old Zheng laughed and gestured to the yellow croaker noodles that had been served, "This isn't rice; it should at least be fried rice with eggs."

Laughter erupted again at the table.

Look at this snow-white soup, with yellow croaker and pickled mustard greens in the noodles—it's incredibly lavish.

Wang Xiao smiled and helped adjust the positions of the side dishes that were served: a plate of roasted gluten, a plate of cucumber salad, and a plate of salted broad beans, all of which were complimentary.

She chimed in, "That won't do either. I have to eat vegetables with my fried rice."

The noodles were served one by one, and the windows of the private room were open. The rich aroma of the noodles wafted into everyone's nostrils on the river breeze, making their stomachs rumble and causing them to bury their heads in their noodles and slurp them down.

Despite Wang Xiao's insistence that noodles should be eaten with side dishes, she actually focused solely on eating the noodles once she had the fish soup noodles in hand.

Wow, this soup is really perfectly cooked. No oil, no scallions or garlic, yet it's not fishy at all—just pure freshness. The poached yellow croaker is so tender it doesn't fall apart on chopsticks. All the fish bones have been removed, making it a truly delightful experience.

Mr. Zheng ate his noodles very carefully, and even finished drinking all the soup afterward.

Finally, he put down the bowl and slowly wiped his mouth: "What do you want to ask? Take it out and let me see."

The assistant quickly brought out the documents, which Wang Xiao personally handed to him: "I remember you said before that there was a problem with our lithography machine development direction. I would like to ask you to take a look and see if this direction is feasible?"

Mr. Zheng's spoken English was so-so, but in other areas, especially in professional English, he could easily outshine everyone present, including the experts Wang Xiao had invited from the Institute of Microelectronics.

As he flipped through the documents, he asked, "Aren't you planning to shorten the wavelength?"

Photolithography is a key step in chip manufacturing, transferring circuit patterns onto a silicon wafer.

The significance of wavelength is that the shorter the wavelength, the higher the resolution, and the smaller the transistors can be manufactured.

In recent years, lithography technology has made rapid progress, moving from g-line (436nm) and i-line (365nm) to KrF (248nm), with resolution also increasing steadily.

The current bottleneck is the 130nm process, which requires higher resolution. Traditional mercury lamps (i-line, 365nm) and KrF excimer lasers (248nm) simply cannot meet this standard.

Internationally renowned lithography machine manufacturers, such as Nikon and Canon from Japan and ASML from the Netherlands, have all turned their attention to the shorter 193nm wavelength (ArF excimer laser).

Wang Xiao shook his head: "No, we want to make a wavelength of 193nm, but not a dry one, we'll make an immersion one directly."

She explained, "There's no point in us chasing after them anymore. Following behind them will only push them further and further away. It's better to overtake them on a curve."

Mr. Zheng said meaningfully, "Then this shot might not even hit a bird."

Following in someone else's footsteps to conduct research and development may seem a bit low-class, but in reality, it is the most efficient and has the highest success rate among research methods.

Because the pioneers have already cleared all the pitfalls for you, you don't need to waste your energy on paths that have already failed.

Wang Xiao also understands that the first person to try something new is often not an industry giant. Excessive R&D spending also increases the risks for the company's operations.

If you gamble wrong, you'll face utter ruin.

She nodded: "Let's try firing one shot first."

Mr. Zheng did not urge her to think twice before acting. Instead, he put down the documents in his hand and analyzed the problems she would face: "Then you're taking two steps."

He placed two broad bean shells on the table, then pointed to the broad bean grid on the left and said, "First of all, it's a simple 193nm machine. It needs a stable 193nm ArF excimer laser to solve the problems of low laser power and short lifespan."

He then placed an even smaller broad bean shell on the left.

"You also need high-purity fused silica lenses to ensure the stability of the refractive index in the 193nm band to ensure imaging accuracy. The photoresist also needs to be upgraded and its sensitivity improved to meet the 193nm exposure requirements."

He pointed to the three broad bean shells on the left, "Once this generation of machines is made—"

He moved his hand to the right, saying, "The next step is the 193nm immersion machine."

Vice Mayor Huang was genuinely anxious, because even though he was a layman, he knew that a 193nm dry-type printer was, for the current level in China, a level that was definitely unattainable.

So he blurted out, "Can't we do it directly on top of 248nm?"

Mr. Zheng smiled slightly, neither confirming nor denying, and only asked Wang Xiao, "Have you decided what liquid to use as this medium?"

"Deionized water." Wang Xiao wanted to cover her face.

As expected, Mr. Zheng once again adopted a leisurely and methodical approach: "Theoretically speaking, using deionized water as this medium should result in a wavelength shorter than 193nm after refraction."

Before Vice Mayor Huang could even get excited, he peeled another broad bean and continued to put the bean shells on the table. "In this way, we need to solve the first problem first."

“The 248nm light source requires a calcium fluoride (CaF) lens. When CaF comes into contact with water, it may undergo a hydrolysis reaction, which can damage the lens surface. Therefore, we need to design an additional anti-corrosion coating.”

Everyone was stunned, exchanging bewildered glances. This seemed like a simple problem had become complicated.

However, Mr. Zheng was not finished with his barrage of questions. He put down another broad bean shell, saying, "The 248nm photoresist, poly(p-hydroxystyrene), PHS, may cause pattern deformation due to water penetration in the immersion environment. We also need to find a way to solve this problem."

Everyone felt their vision blurring, one black after another, even though they had initially thought the complex problem could be simplified.

As a result of Mr. Zheng's analysis, the simple problem became complicated.

Mr. Zheng slowly chewed the broad bean, then swallowed it before saying meaningfully, "That's how technological updates are. Technology also needs its own time, just like a flower will only bloom when the temperature is right. It also needs execution. Both are indispensable. Otherwise, no matter how great the technology is, it will never be implemented."

Silence fell over the dining table, with only the sound of the river lapping against the boat drifting in through the window into the private room.

Along with it came the dampness of the river and the strong, salty smell. They were like the tongue of the Huangpu River, like a mother beast, licking at everyone's anxiety.

The twinkling lights on the shore and the joyful shouts of children running around made the silence in the private room even more oppressive.

Finally, it was Mr. Zheng who broke the silence, letting out a sigh: "And we can't even build a 248nm lithography machine."

"KrF excimer lasers require high-purity krypton fluoride gas and precision discharge technology, which our domestic industrial system simply does not have the foundation for."

"Nanometer-level alignment accuracy and stability both require ultra-precision manufacturing capabilities, which we also lack."

He wiped his hands with a handkerchief and sighed again, "If Zeiss in Germany could export high numerical aperture (NA) projection lenses to us, we wouldn't have to start from scratch."

The river breeze at the end of May seemed to have swept out the coolness from the depths of the Huangpu River, blowing over people with excessive enthusiasm, leaving them feeling chilled to the bone.

Mr. Zheng put the handkerchief back into his pocket, his voice trembling slightly in the river breeze: "That's how industrial accumulation works. It's almost impossible to take shortcuts or skip any step."

Whether this dinner on the river was enjoyable or not is really hard to say.

If you're saying you're not happy, then look at all the noodles and dishes on the table—they've all been cleaned up, which shows everyone ate quite quickly.

But to be honest, everyone was all smiles and full of confidence when they boarded the ship.

When it was time to disembark, everyone fell silent. The only sounds in the air were the lapping of the river and the song playing from the ship's tape recorder: "Waves surge, waves flow, the mighty river never ceases its flow..."

Human troubles are like a river, seemingly never ceasing.

A child was flying a light-up kite on the riverbank—toys these days are so new every day! The kite got tangled in a tree branch, and he cried in distress.

The adults in the family scolded him while climbing the tree to retrieve the kite for him.

Sigh, they also want to be scolded a bit, as long as it solves their problem.

The silent people disembarked from the silent boat, walked onto the silent riverbank, and then got into the silent car.

The sound of the car was like a heavy, unbearable sigh.

Because its core technology is still beyond domestic production capabilities.

So when everyone returned to the hotel, everyone had a serious expression.

If someone who didn't know better saw this, they would probably think they were attending a banquet for dinner.

When Mr. Hu from the development company saw them, he subconsciously asked, "What's going on?"

Wang Xiao readily agreed: "It's nothing, we went out to eat. It was a bit windy tonight, it made our faces feel numb."

Mr. Hu said "Oh, oh" twice, which seemed to indicate that he accepted the statement, and added, "It might rain. It's almost June, and June weather is like a child's face, changing in an instant."

When such a person goes upstairs and enters the suite, the outer room becomes a reception room, which is just right for conversation.

Wang Xiao laughed and said, "Mr. Hu, is there something extremely urgent that you have to come all this way so late at night? You should have said so earlier. We could have had yellow croaker noodles together tonight; they are indeed delicious."

Mr. Hu waved his hand: "I won't lie to you, I just came here after a social engagement."

Wang Xiao believed him, because the man reeked of alcohol as soon as he spoke, indicating that he had drunk quite a bit at the dinner table.

President Hu leaned back in his chair, letting out a sigh, looking quite troubled. "President Wang, I'm not trying to be mean, but aren't you being a bit too selfish? If you want to do everything yourself, what about the country? Does that mean the country is useless?"

Oh dear, this is a matter of stance.

Wang Xiao immediately denied it: "How could that be? No one can develop semiconductors without the strong support of the country. This is true for the United States, Japan, and South Korea."

President Hu smiled enigmatically: "Then why do you insist on pushing out the Third Factory and the First Institute? If there are problems, we can work things out together."

Wang Xiao shook his head: "What I mean is, the government's involvement in the semiconductor industry should be about providing policies, support, and a clear stance, rather than directly participating in the process. Everyone talks about separating the functions of the government and enterprises, and that should be reflected in the semiconductor industry."

President Hu also shook his head: "This is not enough. Our semiconductor industry has very urgent development needs, and simple policy support is probably not enough to solve the problem in a short period of time."

The air conditioner in the suite was on, but only for a short time; it hadn't had a chance to work yet.

Wang Xiao turned on the electric fan again, and amidst the whooshing sound, she laughed: "It's really not enough, so the country needs to add a catalyst to speed up the reaction."

She reached out her hand, and her quick-witted assistant had already brought her paper and pen.

Wang Xiao immediately began sketching out the blueprint on paper: "Mr. Hu, as you know, developing the semiconductor industry requires a strong team of engineers, which is something we currently lack in China. Only a thriving industry can cultivate a sufficient number of industry engineers."

"How do we solve this problem?" She circled the word "engineer" with her pen. "We should adopt a 'take what we don't have' approach; if we don't have it ourselves, we should take it from outside."

She pointed at Ivanov and said with a smile in Russian, "That's how Soviet industry developed. A large number of Soviet engineers were trained in the United States."

Almost all of the older generation of scientists were fluent in Russian, and Vice Mayor Huang's Russian was also barely adequate.

Only when President Hu asked Wang Xiao to repeat himself in Chinese did he shake his head: "Times have changed. Back then, America's ideology was weaker, and it was also experiencing the Great Depression. Capitalists were profit-driven, so they were willing to earn Soviet gold to lay the foundation for their industry and train their engineers. Now—"

He shook his head vigorously, "Who would train engineers for us?"

That's a pipe dream! They formed an alliance and refused to sell even their production equipment to China.

Wang Xiao smiled and said, "Isn't Zhang Zhongmou Chinese? He's the vice president and senior vice president of Texas Instruments, he's in the top management. There are quite a few Chinese like him in the United States."

Before she transmigrated, there was a lame joke online that said the semiconductor industry was just an internal struggle within the Chinese nation.

As the industry develops further, the big names you can name are basically all of Chinese descent.

Whether it's Lin Benjian, the father of immersion lithography, Zhang Zhongmou, the chip king, Yin Zhirao, who led China's etching machine to a breakthrough, or Zhang Rujing, who injected a strong boost into China's chip industry, they are all Chinese. Moreover, they all received higher education and professional training in the United States, achieved the first peak of their careers, and after achieving success, they changed careers and created new glories.

By the time she traveled through time, the list had grown longer and longer.

Just like the International Mathematical Olympiad, no matter what nationality they wear, you can tell they are Chinese just by looking at their faces when they stand on the podium.

“Recruiting talent,” Wang Xiao said seriously. “Recruiting talent by making three visits to a thatched cottage is something that can only be done at the national level. Someone like me, no matter how much money I offer, won’t even give them a second glance.”

"It was only after Sun Yun-hsuan repeatedly and persistently recruited Morris Chang that he agreed to go to Taiwan to serve. It can be said that without his insistence, Morris Chang would not have considered going to Taiwan; it was not even on his shortlist. At the time, his assessment of Taiwan was that it was small, poor, and dilapidated."

Vice Mayor Huang became interested and subconsciously urged, "Anything else?"

Since Morris Chang was willing to go to a small, poor, and dilapidated place, it means that others were also willing to struggle on a foundation of poverty and backwardness.

Mr. Hu gave him a strange look, feeling that this microelectronics expert in his eyes was a bit odd.

However, Mr. Hu's attention was quickly drawn back to Wang Xiao's words.

"Another point is that the country needs to wait for the right time, and act promptly when the target you want to recruit encounters setbacks, in order to increase the probability of successful recruitment."

Morris Chang said he was moved by President Sun's enthusiasm during his trip to Taiwan.

But his choice was actually related to his setbacks in his career at the time.

After being forced to leave Texas Instruments, Morris Chang went to GE as president, but was overthrown and abandoned by the company, becoming the last person to know he was out of the game.

The immense humiliation at that time was unimaginable for Mr. Zhang, who had a strong personality.

That's when he switched allegiances and went directly to Taiwan, where he began the true second spring of his career.

"Since the reform and opening up, a large number of our country's students have gone to the United States. They are all very outstanding talents, and they happened to be there when American high-tech companies were recruiting a lot of talents, so they entered related industries to work."

Wang Xiao never stands on moral high ground to criticize others, but only emphasizes the objective situation: "They have accumulated a lot of experience in the industry in the United States and need a new platform to showcase their greater potential. Now that the country is contacting them, it can plant a seed in their hearts. When the time is right, this seed will sprout, grow, and become a towering tree."

Vice Mayor Huang pressed further, "So, at what point is it considered a sure thing?"

"Wait for the next financial crisis, the semiconductor industry crisis." Wang Xiao's mouth was 37 degrees Celsius, but his words were below zero. "At that time, there will be a lot of companies laying off employees. These engineers who lose their jobs will be willing to make more choices, either returning to China to start their own businesses or returning to China to continue working as engineers."

“Experience!” Her eyes sparkled. “Their valuable experience working abroad is crucial for our domestic semiconductor industry.”

Wang Xiao laughed, "The US government may not be willing to cultivate talent for China, but its economic development needs mean it can't skip this step. It has still cultivated a large number of talents for us. And people will make their own choices."

Mr. Hu frowned, looking puzzled: "So, according to you, now is not the best time to develop semiconductors. You can wait for the next financial crisis and enter the market then."

Wang Xiao shook his head, smiling broadly: "No, if I succeed, I will be a benchmark, a benchmark that can show hesitant Chinese people—look, in mainland China, a private boss can also get into semiconductors, and a foreigner can do it too. So, don't have any concerns, it's okay, you can definitely come."

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[Let me see] Good morning! Time to go to work. Also, note ① mentions a private jet to pick people up. In the early 1990s, when the Little Tigers came to the mainland for a performance, because they were in a hurry, a military plane was temporarily arranged to take them from Shanghai to Wuhan (something like that; I don't have Chen Zhipeng's memoir with me now). So, it indirectly proves that such things were not groundbreaking at the time.