I am devoted to scientific research, but you want to trick me into having a love relationship?

Chapter 543 Applying for a Patent
Xu Qingzhou couldn't help but sigh at how fast the review process was.

Think about his past. During his graduate studies, he put so much effort into submitting a paper to a top journal that he almost went crazy.

During the review process, the editor will send you an email asking you to make changes, which often requires you to redesign the manuscript and collect data again.

It's okay to submit a top 5 article and get rejected. The most terrible thing is to revise the manuscript. When it reaches the 2nd or 3rd round of review, the editor will always emphasize that there is no guarantee of publication, but the requirements given will probably take another 3-4 months. When you are not sure whether it can be published, you still have to do your best.

This process is very painful.

It is equivalent to that you are investing in a project now, and there is no guarantee of return, but the other party keeps asking you to invest another 1000 million. Although there is no guarantee of return, if you don’t invest, all the money invested in the early stage will be gone.

Yorken Ross, the first employee of Zero Point Technology, flew to Singapore to coordinate with the group on the establishment of a Singapore branch. This company will be wholly owned by Zero Point Technology and will be mainly responsible for investment business.

Song Yao is responsible for reviewing key nodes, and finally she is not as busy as before.

Xu Qingzhou, on his side, was buried in the laboratory.

In the past two months, Song Yao's mathematical models, superconducting thin film experiments, and lithium dendrite research have fallen behind a lot, or have come to a standstill.

He is not in a hurry about this thing. He originally just wanted to find something to do. Now the top priority is still the iteration of superconducting films.

On April 4, after a few days of sunshine, it began to drizzle again early in the morning. Boston is prone to late spring cold spells, and the air was damp and chilly.

Xu Qingzhou crossed the intersection of Vasa Street and Main Street, stopped at the office in Building 13, and shook his umbrella.

He walked into the office, but was stunned.

Carson, Sun Simin, and Mars all stared at him eagerly, with their eyes wide open and somewhat melancholy expressions.

Something went wrong with the sample?

Xu Qingzhou's heart skipped a beat, but he immediately ruled out this possibility. No matter how he looked at the sample, there shouldn't be any mistakes.

Sun Simin was the first one who couldn't help but burst out laughing. The other two seemed unable to hold back any longer and were delighted, especially Carson, who was so excited that he gave Xu Qingzhou a big hug.

"Professor, we did it!"

"Hi, Mr. Carson, I can see the data myself." Xu Qingzhou was a little dizzy after being shaken by Carson. He pushed him away and picked up the test report on the side.

The best superconducting film has a stable Jc of 3.5×10 A/cm, a critical temperature (T_c) of 18.3 K±0.1 K, mechanical strength without cracks, a bending radius of ≤1 mm, and no problem with magnetic field stability.

"The critical temperature (T_c) of six samples fluctuated within the range of 6 K ± 17.5 K, which was far from our requirements. What was the reason?"

Xu Qingzhou flipped open the electron microscope structure drawing on one side and quickly found the reason: "Quantum dot agglomeration leads to uneven local carrier concentration, and the charges in some areas compete with each other in an orderly manner."

"Unfortunately, our equipment is not capable of this. If we can integrate an atomic layer deposition (ALD) module into a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), we can achieve atomic-level in-situ prediction and optimization of the doping process, so that the quantum dots are orderly distributed in hexagonal close packing and strong pinning is activated, and we can definitely achieve magnetic field stability at 30 T."

Xu Qingzhou felt extremely regretful.

"As expected of the boss, he can still calm down and find the problem at this time."

Carson sighed on the side. The Jc performance of the new batch of samples has been improved to 3.0×10 A/cm, which means they are far ahead in this field.

In just eight months, they achieved such a feat!
"OK, now there is a very important question."

Xu Qingzhou put down the blueprint in his hand and glanced at the three team members: "Whose idea was it to scare me just now?"

Sun Simin lowered his head and Mars coughed dryly.

Carson immediately laughed awkwardly: "Boss, we just want to give you a surprise. Besides, you scared us last time too."

"Instead of giving me a surprise, you should finish writing your paper now. Three of you, I hope to have the first draft of your paper in your mailbox before the end of this month. Do you understand what I mean?" "Oh, boss, I've only written half of my paper."

Mars cried miserably.

Xu Qingzhou shrugged: "This is not a problem I need to worry about."

Mars was hopeless: "But there are less than 20 days left until next month."

"Why don't you hurry up then?"

"."

The three of them suddenly woke up and felt a lot of pressure. Even Carson was not arrogant. He quickly sat in his seat and started to struggle.

Xu Qingzhou shook his head and felt very happy after having a little "revenge".

Of course, it is time to give these guys some pressure. The experiments are almost completed, but not a single paper has been published yet. It's embarrassing.

He looked over the data, adjusted the experimental parameters, and told Carson to redo the samples tomorrow, while he went directly to the library.

The experiment is making steady progress, and now it’s time to move on to the most critical step - patent application.

The key technical framework of the entire experiment has been fixed and will not undergo major changes. The only thing left is the change of experimental data, which will have little impact and can be gradually improved after the priority date is determined.

In the application materials, you first need to write a description to clarify the technical field, technical background, best practice, invention content and implementation plan.

The most important ones are the last two.

It is necessary to explain the technical details in detail, that is, the black technologies added by Xu Qingzhou. For the precursor, the traditional Sn(CH) is replaced by Sn(NEt), H plasma enhanced reaction, quantum level interface engineering, epitaxial growth of topological insulator BiSe on the surface of NbSn film. Finally, YO nano-doping and quantum dot precision doping are carried out.

As for the uses, nuclear fusion reactor magnet systems, high-energy particle accelerators, quantum computing and low-temperature electronic devices, medical imaging equipment. How to put it, his product is directly a pentagonal warrior.

In addition, you also need to attach things like process flow chart, thin film cross-section TEM image, and Jc-magnetic field curve.

Xu Qingzhou spent four days applying for the patent materials, and then went directly to a patent registration office, intending to lock in the priority date first.

Song Yao can actually do it, but it is more complicated. There are corresponding requirements for the claims, USPTO inspection file format, clarity of drawings, etc.

On April 4, Xu Qingzhou met with patent agent Liz Anderson, the candidate recommended by Professor Morton.

A very enthusiastic old lady, who is the exact opposite of Professor Morton's personality.

It is normal for the application of this type of patent to be reviewed in 6 months, 1 year, or even 2 years. However, the situation is slightly better in the field of superconducting thin films. Unlike traditional industries, it has a large number of water-filled patents, which require a lot of review time.

Superconducting materials are complex technologies and still need to undergo strict review. In order to shorten the time, Xu Qingzhou reluctantly paid an expedited fee of $4000.

The firm was very efficient and established the priority date on April 4.

Next, the examiner evaluates the novelty and creativity and issues an office action, which usually requires 1-3 rounds of responses.

Xu Qingzhou also planned to call Zakaria of General Electric to synchronize the progress, just as a surprise for this big gambler.

Of course, there is another meaning.

Brother, it's time to prepare the money.

(End of this chapter)