415: Chapter 865 The lithography plant completes initial verification!

"Materials are indeed the biggest problem. Many times, it's not that we can't design them, but that we can't manufacture them," Zhao Yang said with a smile.

Chief Engineer Li sighed: "Our domestic peers in materials have been working hard these years, but when it comes to materials, the accumulation effect is too obvious. The foundation they've built over so many years is right there. Single-crystal blades, thermal barrier coatings, high-temperature alloys—each one represents decades of groundwork. If we want to catch up now, we can only do it bit by bit. But some technical barriers can't be broken in three or five years; just figuring out their formulas alone takes years of exploration."

"Take it slow," Zhao Yang said, looking at Chief Engineer Li.

Chief Engineer Li nodded somewhat helplessly.

Those of them working in military applications had many inspirations and ideas in their heads, but they were all severely constrained by materials. Without good materials, even the best structural designs had to be changed!

After dinner, Zhao Yang returned to the villa.

This false alarm regarding the WS-15 made him realize once again the importance of material issues in the entire engineering system, so upon returning, he continued to focus on the research of the Superalloy.

The atomic structure of the Superalloy was even more complex than he had anticipated. He had previously thought this thing was just some kind of special high-entropy alloy, but the deeper he looked, the more he felt that wasn't the case.

The arrangement of metal atoms inside this thing was fundamentally different from all the metal elements he knew, yet it shared subtle commonalities with common metals in certain characteristics.

He once suspected that it was some kind of special metastable structure locked in place at room temperature; otherwise, this unique interatomic force could not be explained.

He went through many professional materials science documents and, by comparing it with ordinary metals, managed to sort out a clue.

Carbon atoms can become soft graphite or extremely hard diamonds under different arrangements; essentially, it is a phase transition of the same atom under different bonding structures.

He had never observed a similar phenomenon in metal systems before, but the performance of the Superalloy forced him to think one step further in this direction.

Perhaps he had inadvertently touched upon a brand-new form of existence for metallic materials, a form that the existing theoretical framework of materials science had not yet covered.

Shin-chan continued to run simulation data on interatomic forces in the background, and every converged configuration was automatically saved to be compared with the real atomic arrangement under the electron microscope.

Zhao Yang discovered that this special arrangement had a very unique intrinsic property: when external compression or tension was applied, local atomic layers would first slip, and upon reaching a certain critical point, they would be forced to lock due to symmetry constraints, thereby preventing the deformation from expanding further.

If this property could be partially reproduced, even just one-tenth of it, it would be enough for the Dragon Country to take a big step forward in the field of high-end materials.

In the following half-year, Zhao Yang's schedule remained tight, and there was finally new news from the lithography factory.

Liang Mengsong said on the phone that during this period, after spending a huge amount of money to recruit a large number of engineers, the verification project of the lithography factory had finally completed its preliminary debugging!

According to the current chip design plan, 22nm chips were easily produced under the framework of the lithography factory, and the yield data was quite good.

Furthermore, smaller line widths were also theoretically possible, because within this huge factory-level space, the precision of the light source was compressed into a very small range that was currently far superior to conventional production lines.

"Boss, we may have really blazed a new trail," Liang Mengsong said, unable to suppress the excitement in his voice.

"Previously, everyone thought that lithography had to be done at the nanometer scale, but by scaling it up, we found another solution. If this path can be taken, the landscape of the entire semiconductor industry will be rewritten!"

"Continue to increase investment. Photoresist, etching, ion implantation, inspection—every supporting link must be advanced synchronously. Even if lithography itself has a breakthrough, if the upstream raw materials and auxiliary materials cannot keep up, we will eventually be stuck. What we need is a breakthrough in the entire industrial chain!" Zhao Yang said to Liang Mengsong.

"Understood. I will also keep a close eye on the entire industrial chain. Several domestic formulas for the photoresist we invested in are already being tested, and the verification of etching and implantation is also proceeding simultaneously. Although there is still a gap compared to imported products, the direction is correct."

Liang Mengsong was full of confidence. After hanging up the phone, he continued to work, and Zhao Yang also had his own things to attend to.

Time flew by, and it was already June. Someone posted a message online saying that the International Congress of Mathematicians in August would be held in Seoul, and Zhao Yang's name appeared on the conference schedule, marked as a sixty-minute report.

This news was quickly forwarded. On Weibo, some people were asking whether Zhao Yang would go this time, after all, he didn't attend the award ceremonies for the Cole Prize and the Wolf Prize last time.

"Having his name on the schedule doesn't mean he will definitely go. Previously, the IMU listed Zhao Yang on their list several times, but he never showed up in the end."

"This time is different. A sixty-minute report is the highest-spec plenary report. If he doesn't go again, it would really be inexcusable."

"It was also sixty minutes in India last time! Does God Zhao care about these things?"

"Exactly, exactly!"

"Do you guys guess if God Zhao will ask Terence Tao to accept something on his behalf again this time?"

Many people on foreign websites were also discussing this. Someone dug up a screenshot of the schedule from the IMU official website, circled Zhao Yang's name, and posted it on Twitter, saying that the biggest suspense of this conference was not who would win the awards, but whether Zhao Yang would attend in person.

Some people also expressed that going didn't mean anything; Zhao Yang couldn't even be bothered to collect the million-dollar prize from the Clay Mathematics Institute, so would he really make a special trip to Seoul? Someone replied below: "Seoul is different from the United States. The security environment in South Korea shouldn't be as complicated for Zhao Yang. Besides, this time it's the fields medal. If he doesn't show up in person, it will be very difficult for the IMU."

While the internet was buzzing with discussion, Zhao Yang was in his office at Peking University making arrangements for a few students before his departure. Opportunities to take students to broaden their horizons at a conference of the level of the International Congress of Mathematicians were rare. He thought about the quota issue and finally decided to pick two from the five students in the mathematics track.

He wrote a few problems on the blackboard and asked the five of them to do them on the spot. After they finished, he collected them and took a look. Wang Hong's paper had a few skipped steps, but she used a very clever construction when dealing with a convergence boundary, which even made Zhao Yang take a few extra looks. Fiers' paper was solid from beginning to end; every step of the derivation accurately stood on the shoulders of the previous step. It was very precise, and his foundation was very solid.

Moreover, it was upright and honest. To be honest, both talent and effort were first-class.

"Wang Hong, Fiers, you two go back and prepare your passports and luggage. Come with me to Seoul in August," Zhao Yang said, looking at the two of them with a smile.

Wang Hong was stunned for a moment, then nodded quickly. The expression on her face was clearly suppressing excitement, and without stopping, she quickly tidied up the desk in front of her.

Fiers laughed out loud directly and high-fived He Changyan next to him. He Changyan looked at him with envy, but didn't say anything, just patted his shoulder and said, "Remember to tell us all about it when you get back." The other two students who were not selected, although a bit disappointed, still congratulated Wang Hong and Fiers.

"During the time we are away, do not stop the progress of the Warings Problem deduction. You must continue to work hard. He Changyan, you are responsible for coordinating the division of labor in the group. If there are any problems, send me an email at any time," Zhao Yang said, looking at the only Doctoral Student under his supervision.

He Changyan nodded: "Okay, Teacher Zhao. Don't worry, go ahead. I'll take care of the junior students!"