160: Chapter 160 Experiment Failure! Composite Ceramic Bearing?

Haicheng Microelectronics, experimental workshop.

Zhou Fan was leading a team of over a thousand people in the final sprint.

"General Manager Zhou, the stability test for the laser has passed!" He Xingwei reported excitedly.

Zhou Fan nodded and turned his gaze to the monitoring screen: "Very good! Now start the overall joint debugging; I want to see the 45-nanometer lithography effect."

Following Zhou Fan's command, the entire laboratory became busy.

At this moment, Zhou Fan's phone suddenly vibrated.

He took it out and glanced at it; the caller ID showed: Lei Jun.

"Hello, Old Lei, what is it?"

Zhou Fan asked, his tone carrying a hint of seriousness.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, followed by Lei Jun's weary voice: "Zhou Fan, our chips are about to run out; TSMC... has cut off supply!"

The smile on Zhou Fan's face vanished instantly, and his brows furrowed tightly: "I know, don't worry, there should be good news from this side very soon."

"Really?" Lei Jun's voice brightened significantly.

"Wait for my good news!" Zhou Fan hung up the phone.

Subsequently, his gaze turned to the test site, where each improved laser generator emitted a humming sound, and precise beams of light shuttled between the optical lenses.

Everyone held their breath, staring intently at the target display screen.

The pattern of the first chip appeared on the screen.

"Is this a success?" someone couldn't help but whisper.

The chip pattern on the screen was clear and sharp, blooming like a flower amidst a brilliant, crystalline expanse, looking absolutely beautiful.

"No, although the pattern was produced, the data hasn't reached the standard; there's an error!" another voice rang out.

In an instant, the joy that had just emerged vanished instantly.

"Immediately investigate the cause!!" Zhou Fan said quickly, his brows slightly furrowed.

"Yes, General Manager Zhou!!"

"..."

Everyone immediately sprang into action again.

The atmosphere in the entire experimental workshop was so heavy it felt like it could be wrung out like water.

Zhou Fan stared intently at the fluctuating waveform on the monitoring screen, his brows knitted together in a knot.

The seventh stability test of the improved laser had indeed passed, but the lithography accuracy fluctuations caused by high-frequency vibrations were like a dull knife repeatedly cutting into everyone's patience.

"It's still not working."

He Xingwei slammed a report onto the table, the edges of the paper crinkling under his grip. "High-frequency vibration caused a lens displacement of 0.3 nanometers, which is more than double the tolerance threshold for the 45-nanometer process; we didn't even notice it before!"

Li Hui leaned over to look at the data and furrowed his brows: "The problem is with the core bearing?"

"That's right..." Zhou Fan tapped his fingertips lightly on the table.

"The existing bearing material lacks sufficient fatigue strength; it develops microscopic deformation after continuous operation for over four hours!" He paused, his gaze sweeping over the boxes of imported materials piled in the corner of the laboratory.

"But if we want to replace it... the special alloy we need is exactly on the West's latest export control list..." Li Hui's tone became even heavier.

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over everyone's heads.

He Xingwei suddenly remembered a piece of customs news he had seen three days ago: a batch of special materials for aerospace engineering had been detained at the port, with the reason being "involving sensitive technology."

Such tricks were too common. Getting this kind of special alloy from the West would likely be very difficult, and even if they could get it, they wouldn't know when it would actually arrive in their hands.

"Can we use a ceramic composite material instead?"

Lan Bowen suddenly spoke, his eyes brightening. "The Transparent Ceramic Crystal Material that Engineer Zhou developed last time, its compressive strength seems to be able to reach over 700 megapascals."

Hearing this, everyone's gaze subconsciously turned to Zhou Fan.

"It shouldn't be much of a problem... it's just that pure ceramic is too brittle and needs carbon fiber added for toughening..." He thought for a moment, then turned and quickly sketched a structural diagram on the whiteboard. "We have to reshape the internal stress distribution, just like..."

"Just like putting a carbon fiber suit of armor on the ceramic!"

He Xingwei took over the conversation, his eyes instantly lighting up.

"That's about what I mean!" Zhou Fan smiled.

He was familiar with ceramic materials; it wouldn't take too long to develop an improved one.

After thinking about it, he made a decision in his heart.

At this moment, the laboratory door was pushed open, and Yang Tian walked in, travel-worn, clutching an encrypted communicator in his hand: "General Manager Zhou, news has come from Loongson International; they received notice from the West demanding a forced termination of technical cooperation with us."

"What is their own stance?" Zhou Fan asked, frowning.

Loongson International did not essentially belong to a Chinese state-owned enterprise and was still constrained by the advanced equipment of Western countries; he had already anticipated this situation.

"They said they can delay it for at most half a month, otherwise the West will directly cut off their access rights to the lithography machine..." Yang Tian said in a deep voice again.

"Half a month?" Zhou Fan's gaze shifted slightly.

"That's enough!"

He looked up out the window.

The sky in the distance was overcast with dark clouds, very much like his current mood.

"Once this battle begins, it will not end easily!"

He said in a low voice, with no emotion detectable in his tone, "Director He, please coordinate with the aerospace materials laboratory; we need a batch of high-purity carbon fiber."

He Xingwei immediately took out his phone: "I'll go contact them right away."

The discussion room was silent.

Li Hui looked at the ceramic bearing structure diagram that Zhou Fan had drawn on the whiteboard and couldn't help but ask: "If we change it this way, can it really withstand the high-frequency vibration of the laser?"

Zhou Fan turned his head and wrote another line of data on the whiteboard.

"If everything goes as expected, the final result should be this..."

Looking at the few pieces of data on the whiteboard, Li Hui and the others looked at each other in dismay.

They haven't even made it yet, and he already knows the data???

This move, whether true or false, left several of them momentarily stunned.

But after spending this time together, Li Hui and others knew Zhou Fan's character; he usually didn't boast, and certainly wouldn't mess around in such a situation...

Immediately, a light flashed in their eyes.

"If it can reach this data, there really won't be a problem!"

"It all depends on the effect of the finished product after the modification..."

"I originally thought this problem would be very troublesome; I never expected it to be solved so quickly. It really is..."

"..."

The gazes of several people involuntarily turned to Zhou Fan.

They naturally also knew the key to solving the problem!

Their hearts couldn't help but burn with fervor.

This project, from the moment they arrived here.

Everyone felt a heavy sense of responsibility.

They knew that what they were doing was not just a technological breakthrough, but also carving out a bloody path for China's technology industry.

As long as the lithography machine could succeed, they would be heroes who fought their way out from among a myriad of armies!

Looking at Zhou Fan now, although he was young, their hearts were very steady.

Night deepened,

the experimental workshop of Haicheng Microelectronics was still brightly lit.

And this had already become the norm.