northernbook Chapter 190 Technological Paradigm Shift
Chapter 190 Technological Paradigm Shift
December 31, 2020, Suzhou.
This is the last day of 2020. At four o'clock in the afternoon, Su Chen sat at his workstation in the lab, his computer screen still on the Nature Materials submission system, the status bar still showing "Submitted" from six days ago.
Six days after submitting the paper, the editor still hadn't assigned reviewers. It's common practice in the industry for editorial departments to temporarily suspend manuscript processing due to the Christmas and New Year holidays, and Su Chen was well aware of this, but he still developed the habit of checking the manuscript daily.
A message from Lin Wei popped up on my phone: "The company has a New Year's Eve event tonight, are you coming?"
Su Chen replied, "Come on. What time?"
"Seven o'clock. Cafeteria."
"it is good."
He closed the submission page and opened a meticulously crafted notebook—"Experimental Verification Scheme for 400mm Wafers—Preliminary Conception." Part VI of his paper presented a theoretical accuracy prediction for the 400mm wafer process: ±0.015°, but this was only a theoretical extrapolation, lacking experimental data support. This was the core content that reviewers were most likely to request additional work on during revisions, and it had to be prepared in advance.
The biggest challenge at present is that there is currently no mature 400mm wafer-level MEMS process production line globally, and Vilan's cooperative alliance also lacks relevant resources. If required to conduct additional experiments, the team has only two options: either collaborate with alliance members to build a temporary experimental line, or find indirect verification methods.
Su Chen listed three feasible directions in his notes:
One approach is to leverage the existing 300mm production line and simulate 400mm boundary conditions through local thermal field control. This requires no new equipment, but the simulation accuracy is limited and is unlikely to be accepted by reviewers.
Option 2: In collaboration with core alliance members, we completed single-point verification of the 400mm edge area on existing production lines. The data was authentic, but it could not cover the entire process, resulting in insufficient verification completeness.
The third option is to build a brand-new 400mm experimental line, which will verify the results completely and the data will be indisputable. However, the time and financial costs are extremely high. If the review comments are issued in March, there will be less than two months left to conduct supplementary experiments.
Su Chen circled the two most realistic directions, but didn't rush to a conclusion. Without the reviewers' comments, any premature preparation would be futile. He saved the file, shut down his computer, grabbed his coat, and left the lab. It was 4:30 PM in Suzhou, the winter sky already darkening; this was the last twilight of 2020.
The New Year's Eve event for Vilan Microsystems was held in the company cafeteria, with more than 50 people from a team of over 80 attending. The cafeteria was simply decorated with colorful lights and balloons, and long tables were filled with hot pot ingredients. The entire event was organized by Zhao Guoping, who is skilled in coordination.
When Su Chen arrived, Lin Wei was wearing a dark blue sweater and chatting with several engineers. Seeing him enter, she gestured for him to sit beside her. Zhou Zhiyuan, who rarely socialized, was not present, which surprised Su Chen at all.
The hot pot was steaming, filled with the aroma of spiciness. Even though Su Chen couldn't tolerate spice, he casually picked up some ingredients, and the two chatted about their work progress while eating.
"Hongyuan's equipment will arrive on January 8th. I've had Zhao Guoping arrange the entire receiving process, so you don't need to worry about it." Lin Wei's tone was calm, as if she were chatting casually. "MicroPort Sensors' first batch of four million chips will be delivered on schedule in early January, in accordance with the contract standards."
"Okay," Su Chen replied.
"Is there anything I need to do to help with the thesis?"
"Not for now." Su Chen put down his chopsticks. "The reviewers haven't given their comments yet; we can only wait at this stage."
"You've never been good at waiting." Lin Wei looked at him and pointed out the obvious. "Zhou Zhiyuan told me that you've been refining the 400mm verification solution these past few days."
Su Chen paused briefly, then said frankly, "Preparing in advance helps avoid the risk of needing to return for repairs."
"I understand," Lin Wei said confidently. "If the reviewers require 400mm experimental verification, leave all the funding and equipment issues to me. You only need to focus on the technical solution."
Su Chen nodded in agreement. After that, the two stopped talking about work and quietly blended into the lively atmosphere. The cafeteria gradually became bustling with noise; some people sang, some chatted, and Zhao Guoping went from table to table toasting with a glass of baijiu.
At 11:59 PM, everyone raised their glasses to countdown. "Three, two, one! Happy New Year!"
2021 arrived as scheduled. Su Chen, with a glass of cola, clinked glasses with everyone around him. Lin Wei, holding a glass of red wine, didn't join in the New Year's greetings, but simply uttered four words: "See you in April."
Su Chen replied with a smile, "See you in April."
Meanwhile, the news of Wei Lan's paper submission is rapidly spreading beyond its initial public consciousness. Previously circulating only within the domestic MEMS community on Zhihu (a Chinese Q&A website), it was translated into English and disseminated on the MEMS section of Reddit during the New Year period. The paper's corresponding author, Dean Chen, is a renowned scholar in the field of international thermoelastic coupling, quickly attracting attention from the overseas academic community, and related discussions have spread to Twitter.
On December 30, an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science at the University of Illinois posted an article seeking verification: A Chinese team submitted a paper to Nature Materials on a third-order nonlinear thermoelastic coupling model, claiming that it can achieve wafer size expansion and precision optimization, and has completed 300mm process verification. He inquired about the details known in the industry.
This tweet garnered over a hundred likes and forty retweets, with key information gradually emerging in the comments section: the first author of the paper is a 22-year-old PhD student who completed the research at a Suzhou laboratory. However, it also attracted skepticism, with netizens pointing out that *Nature Materials* has a rejection rate of over 90%, and that submission does not guarantee acceptance; everything depends on the final review results.
However, it is undeniable that the previously unknown Vilan Microsystems has officially entered the field of vision of the international MEMS academic community.
January 3, 2021, Milan, Italy, STMicroelectronics MEMS Business Unit.
Technical Director Marco Bertoli stared at screenshots of overseas forums on his computer, repeatedly muttering the unfamiliar name: "Weilan?"
"This startup in Suzhou, established less than two years ago, has fewer than 100 employees," the assistant reported. "In the past six months, it has rapidly risen in the domestic MEMS industry, leading the formation of an industry alliance of more than 20 companies. Its core achievement is this third-order nonlinear thermoelastic coupling model."
"Precision increases with wafer size?" Bertolli's expression suddenly turned serious. Industry consensus and decades of engineering experience have proven that the larger the wafer size, the more difficult it is to control thermal deformation, and the lower the process precision will inevitably be. The core conclusion of this paper completely overturns the traditional view.
"The publicly available data shows that the precision of the 300mm wafer process reaches ±0.018°."
Bertoli fell silent instantly. STMicroelectronics, the world's third-largest MEMS manufacturer, boasts a benchmark 200mm production line with an optimal precision of only ±0.028°, already considered top-tier in the industry. If Vilan's data is accurate, it means that industry technical standards will be completely rewritten.
"Collect all publicly available information, including forum discussions and publicly available industry data, and compile a complete technical assessment report within three days," Bertoli immediately ordered. He browsed the Nature Materials website and searched for relevant keywords, but found nothing—the paper was still under review and had not been published.
He leaned back in his chair, his mind heavy. Once the paper was successfully published and the theory was proven, STMicroelectronics' core production line technology, which it was so proud of, would be a whole generation behind.
January 4, Munich, Germany, Infineon headquarters.
Thomas Weber, head of the sensor division, received a private email from Stein, head of Bosch's Suzhou office, who specifically reminded him to pay close attention to the NM submissions from Vilan Microsystems.
Bosch's attention, as a global leader in the MEMS industry, underscores the importance of the matter. Weber immediately forwarded the email to the Vice President of Technology, arranging for a team to conduct a dedicated investigation into Vilan's technology and developments.
January 5, Kyoto, Japan, TDK headquarters.
Gyroscope project engineer Akira Ishikawa and his colleague Hirokazu Tanaka had lunch together and talked about the recently popular Vilan New Theory.
"This third-order model is rumored to be revolutionary and overturns industry perceptions. Do you think it's reliable?" Tanaka asked curiously.
Akira Ishikawa remained calm, deliberately downplaying the attention: "It's hard to say. The acceptance rate for submissions to top journals is extremely low, so nothing is certain yet."
Unbeknownst to anyone, he had already predicted the authenticity of the third-order model through sporadic email communications with Su Chen, combined with his own three years of accumulated gyroscope measurement data. He remained inactive, quietly waiting for the paper to be officially published, at which point he could immediately complete independent verification, confirming his research conjectures of many years.
January 8, Suzhou, Vilan Microsystems factory area.
At 9:00 AM, a heavy-duty transport vehicle arrived at the factory on time, bringing with it two MEMS-specific etching machines from Hongyuan Precision, worth over 20 million yuan. Lin Wei personally oversaw the delivery, while Zhao Guoping led three engineers to handle the unloading, placement, and acceptance work, ensuring meticulous attention to detail throughout to prevent any damage to the equipment.
After signing to confirm receipt, Lin Wei finalized the schedule: "Hongyuan engineers will be on site today to guide the installation. The overall cycle is ten to two weeks. Once the debugging is completed, production will begin immediately. We must ensure that the first batch of 300mm commercial sensors is shipped by the end of February without any delays."
This equipment upgrade will increase Vilan's etching capacity by 40%. Combined with the alliance's ample packaging capacity and MicroPort Sensing's raw material supply, the production capacity bottleneck that had plagued the team for so long has been completely resolved.
That same afternoon, four million MP-3200 sensor chips from MicroPort Sensors arrived at the warehouse as scheduled. Zhao Guoping checked the quantity, model, and batch number item by item, and signed for receipt after confirming that everything was correct.
He politely informed the MicroPort staff that subsequent cooperation would be carried out according to the alliance's standard member procedures, and core permissions would not be granted. Although MicroPort resumed supply, its previous decision to align with any alliance and wait and see had cost it its core cooperation qualification. The timing for reassessment is pending until the paper's peer review results are finalized.
Everything was planned by Lin Wei. Academic paper review was progressing smoothly, production capacity was being fully released, and supply chain resources were being stabilized. There were less than three months left until the "April reunion point" she had set.
On January 9th, Su Chen opened the submission system and saw the long-awaited update: the status bar changed from "Submitted" to "Editor Assigned," indicating that the paper had been assigned an editor and officially entered the pre-review process. The next step was to invite reviewers and proceed to the external review stage, which typically takes one to two weeks.
He sent a screenshot to Zhou Zhiyuan, who replied with only two brief sentences, telling him not to keep an eye on things too much and cause unnecessary anxiety. Su Chen knew the reasoning behind it, but he still couldn't suppress the anticipation and nervousness in his heart.
January 10, Bosch Suzhou Base, Suzhou Industrial Park.
Bosch MEMS Global President Albrecht arrived in Suzhou three days early and was personally received by Stein. The two went straight to the 250mm production line cleanroom to inspect the implementation effect of Bosch's self-developed second-order thermoelastic coupling model.
This production line, which took a year to build, is expected to be officially put into production at the end of the first quarter. The current optimal process accuracy is ±0.030°, and it is expected to be stable between ±0.032° and ±0.035° after mass production. It is Bosch's current main core technology.
After observing the entire process for two hours, Albrecht bluntly concluded: "Your production line technology is first-class, and it was top-notch in the world two years ago, but the rules of the game have been rewritten."
"Bosch's second-order model and Vilan's third-order model represent a generational gap that cannot be bridged through engineering optimization," Albrecht clearly judged. "Our short-term strategy is to continue to promote material differentiation and build our own barriers; in the long term, we need to reposition our relationship with Vilan."
Stein then revealed the dynamics of competitors: STMicroelectronics has prepared a patent barrier plan in an attempt to limit the commercial development of Vilan.
On January 11, STMicroelectronics held a special strategic meeting at its headquarters in Milan, Italy.
Bertoli presented comparative technical data: Bosch's 250mm production line has an accuracy of ±0.030°, and STMicroelectronics' 200mm production line has an accuracy of ±0.028°, both relying on traditional models and empirical formulas; while Vilan's 300mm production line, with its third-order model, achieves an accuracy of ±0.018°, leading the industry by 35% and having greater potential for size upgrades.
The meeting proposed three solutions: catching up with independent technologies, building patent barriers, and waiting for the results.
Option 1 was rejected outright. The Bosch team attempted to reverse engineer the third-order model but ultimately determined it was impossible to replicate, and STMicroelectronics also lacked the capability to catch up. Regarding Option 2, the legal department issued a professional rejection opinion: the third-order model belongs to the basic mathematical theoretical framework and is not protected by patent law.
Once a paper is published in a top journal, the entire theoretical formula, derivation logic, and prediction system become public academic achievements, freely cited and applied by any company, without any barriers to entry. Patents can only protect specific processes, not fundamental theories; this is an insurmountable industry rule.
"All existing industry experience models will become special cases of the third-order framework," the legal representative summarized. "Once the paper is accepted, Vilan will become the technical standard setter in the MEMS field. There is no point in confronting it. The only feasible solution is to wait and see, and prepare for the possibility of cooperation in advance."
The business unit's vice president finalized the strategy: suspend all public confrontations, continue internal technical evaluations, and await the review results. Bertoli, with 21 years of experience, knew that engineers should trust data rather than preconceived notions; even if it was difficult to accept, they could only wait for the final answer.
That evening, at Bosch's Suzhou office, Albrecht learned of the failure of ST-France's patent barrier scheme and smiled knowingly.
"The Italian and French approaches are fundamentally flawed," Albrecht frankly stated. "They only see the threats and focus on confrontation, ignoring the opportunities arising from paradigm shifts. The third-order model will become a universal, fundamental tool across the entire industry, impossible to monopolize or block."
"Wei Lan controls the upper limit of theoretical precision, while Bosch's 30 years of experience in materials technology determines the lower limit of process cost and reliability." He clearly outlined the core advantages, "We don't need to fight against the new paradigm, we just need to maintain our irreplaceable position in the new system."
He then proposed an arrangement: before the end of January, Stein would act as a go-between to try to establish an informal communication channel with Vilan, without making any promises or discussing cooperation, but only conducting technical exchanges and discussions.
"In an era of paradigm shift, those who act first will seize the best position." This was Albrecht's final judgment. His emphasis made Stein fully realize that this technological revolution had already overturned the traditional competitive landscape.
On January 12th, Su Chen opened the submission system again, and the page status was updated to "Under Review" as scheduled.
The paper officially entered the external review stage, where anonymous reviewers around the world began to scrutinize his derivations, formulas, and experimental data word by word.
Su Chen took a deep breath and focused intently on refining the 400mm verification scheme. He couldn't predict the reviewers' questions and comments, but he was absolutely certain of one fact: the logic of the third-order model was impeccable, the experimental data was authentic and reliable, and the mathematical derivation was rigorous and closed-loop.
All waiting will eventually be answered. All that remains is for time to tell.