74: Chapter 74 Green That Makes You Feel at Ease

Single-wafer trial etching.

The moment these words left Lin Yuan's mouth, the nerves of everyone in the final assembly workshop tightened to the extreme.

The final assembly of the entire machine was complete, and the no-load joint test had run for over two hours with zero errors; these were certainly heartening results.

But everyone present knew that between a no-load test and actual etching lay a chasm called reality.

No matter how perfect the no-load data was, it only proved that the machine's skeleton was sound, that it could move, and that its components could coordinate.

But the ultimate mission of a Photolithography Machine is to "etch."

It is to etch the most precise patterns condensed from human wisdom onto that fragile silicon wafer without the slightest error.

If it cannot etch, everything returns to zero.

Lin Yuan did not give anyone time to continue dwelling on their emotions.

He turned, opened a silver-gray sealed transport box next to the console, and used a vacuum suction pen to precisely pick up an 8-inch blank lithography wafer.

The surface of the silicon wafer was coated with a uniform layer of Photoresist, reflecting a faint iridescence under the workshop's cool white lights.

Holding the wafer with an extremely steady hand, he placed it precisely onto the vacuum suction chuck of the Workpiece Stage.

"Click."

With a soft sound, the suction activated, and the wafer was firmly locked in place.

Immediately after, Lin Yuan's fingers tapped rapidly on the control terminal. Without the slightest hesitation, he began importing the test layout.

On the large screen, a dense circuit pattern began to load.

The width and spacing of every single line were controlled within an incredibly minute scale. The naked eye could not distinguish the specific details; one could only see a regular geometric matrix.

Wei Jiancheng was the first to lean in.

He stared at the layout on the screen, his pupils contracting sharply.

"Chief Engineer Lin."

His voice was kept extremely low, and his heavy breathing sounded exceptionally clear in the silent workshop.

"The line width of this layout... is how much?"

As he asked this, He Yicheng and Yang Lin also subconsciously took a step forward, their expressions solemn.

Lin Yuan did not even turn his head. His fingers completed the final parameter lock on the console as he calmly uttered two words.

"Ten nanometers."

These words left everyone present stunned.

Ten nanometers!?

This was not just a simple number.

It represented the top tier of the pyramid in today's global semiconductor manufacturing technology.

Looking at the world today, the number of countries that could produce a 10-nanometer precision test layout could be counted on one hand with fingers to spare.

And within that hand... there was no Great Xia.

Lin Yuan gave no one any room to remain shocked.

He confirmed all parameters one last time, his fingertip hovering over the start button for a brief moment before pressing down.

"Start."

A low electronic prompt sounded.

The indicator light array of the entire Photolithography Machine switched simultaneously from standby cool blue to operational warm white.

The Light Source module started first. The cryogenic circulation system within the Superconducting Acceleration Cavity emitted an extremely faint hum, and the EUV beam completed its first pulse output within the sealed optical path.

On the large screen, various real-time parameters jumped in synchronization.

Light Source power, exposure dose, Workpiece Stage displacement precision, alignment deviation values...

All the data was as steady as Mount Tai, a reassuring shade of green.

The entire process ran fully automatically.

There was no debugging lag, and no parameters required temporary correction.

From the beam extraction to the Photomask alignment, from the exposure window movement to the Workpiece Stage stepping, every link connected seamlessly.

Everyone in the workshop subconsciously held their breath.

Dozens of eyes stared fixedly at the steadily jumping green numbers on the large screen.

Thirty seconds.

One minute.

Two minutes.

The entire trial etching process proceeded without any interruption.

When the final exposure sequence was completed and the console popped up a green "Work Complete" prompt, the workshop remained pin-drop silent.

No one moved.

Because everyone understood that completing the trial etching did not equate to success.

The true judgment lay under the Scanning Electron Microscope.

Lin Yuan activated the vacuum release, used the vacuum suction pen to steadily remove the wafer, and turned to walk toward the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) inspection area on the east side of the workshop.

His pace was neither fast nor slow, his back steady.

Behind him, dozens of burning gazes followed him closely.

He placed the wafer into the sample chamber, closed the sealed door, and started the high-resolution scan.

The independent display screen in the inspection area lit up.

After a few seconds of loading, the first SEM image was pushed to the center of the screen.

In the grayish-white imaging, nanometer-scale circuit lines unfolded clearly.

The lines were uniform, the edges sharp, and the spacing precise, without a single burr or collapse.

Those microstructures, magnified tens of thousands of times, were arranged neatly, clean to the point of being almost surreal, filled with a subversive industrial beauty.

"Hiss—"

In the workshop, suppressed gasps of breath rose one after another.

Immediately following, the second and third photos popped up in succession. The LWR data, CDU data, and Overlay Precision data automatically labeled by the system appeared line by line.

All were green, representing that they met the standards.

Seeing this, the workshop finally began to stir.

The researchers couldn't help but let out long sighs of relief, their tense bodies relaxing as uncontrollable wild joy flooded their faces.

But no one dared to celebrate out loud yet.

Any slackening before the final goal was a major taboo for this group of researchers who had spent their lives battling precision engineering.

Amidst this suppressed joy, only one person's face remained completely calm.

Lin Yuan stood before the inspection station, his gaze lingering on the last set of data on the screen for a moment before he raised his hand and closed the scanning program.

"Very good."

He said those two words and turned around to face the crowd waiting with bated breath.

"Single-wafer precision verification, passed."

The moment he spoke, the joy on the researchers' faces could no longer be contained. Some began to clench their fists tightly, their arms trembling slightly.

Then, Lin Yuan raised a hand and held up an index finger, wagging it gently in the air.

"Now, there is only one last step left."

The last step.

Wei Jiancheng and the other two nodded in unison, the joy that had just surfaced on their faces receding slightly, replaced once again by tense focus.

Passing the single-wafer trial etching only proved that this Photolithography Machine had enough precision, could etch, and could etch accurately.

But its commercial value never lay in "whether it could etch one wafer well."

It lay in whether it could stably and continuously etch wafer after wafer, ensuring the quality of every single one was identical to the first.

This was called Batch Consistency Testing.

It was the final hurdle of the entire machine's acceptance, and also the most brutal one.

Only when this stage was cleared could the domestic Photolithography Machine be considered a research and development success in the true sense!

Everyone understood this logic; no further words were needed.

Just as everyone prepared for the final sprint, Lin Yuan had already walked back to the console.

He bent down and pulled out a large, military-green sealed transport box from under the table that no one had noticed before. It was three or four times larger than the one from earlier.

"Click."

The latches popped open, and the lid was lifted.

Inside the box were rows of neatly arranged wafer cassettes.

In each cassette, twenty-five 8-inch blank lithography wafers were quietly stacked.

This quantity...

In the workshop, the sounds of people drawing in sharp breaths merged into one.

"Chief Engineer Lin..."

Wei Jiancheng stared at the large box, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"Are you planning to... batch test how many wafers?"

Lin Yuan first took a cassette from the box and placed it into the loading port with composed movements, then extended a finger and gave a light chuckle.

"One hundred."