Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 452 Magpie Bridge
Real-time dynamic compensation?
Liang Mengsong certainly knew about this solution.

Similar solutions have been applied in the semiconductor field.

“We have installed a lot of sensors, but they are only recording temperature and vibration.”

I want you to rewrite the algorithms so that they become a neural system for prediction and correction.

The key parameters of the lithography machine are directly linked to environmental sensor data.

Based on thousands of hours of yield data, a predictive model is built that can predict the amount of focus drift before environmental changes affect the photoresist.

Finally, using the high-speed microactuator built into the CG-1, the position of the lens group is dynamically adjusted within microseconds to counteract optical distortion caused by environmental changes.

It's like a surgeon on a shaky operating table, relying on nerve reflexes to keep their hand steady.

In this way, lithography machines no longer pursue static perfection, but rather dynamic perfection.

The more unstable the environment, the more valuable our compensation system becomes.

Lin Ran paused for a moment and then said:
"Once this dynamic system matures, it will not only activate the potential of 4nm and solve the problems you are currently facing, but also push the yield of our 7nm production line up significantly, achieving the same yield as TSMC's 7nm process."

After listening, Liang Mengsong immediately understood Lin Ran's intention: not to conquer the laws of nature, but to adapt to them and use data and algorithms to control them.

“Dynamic compensation…” Liang Mengsong murmured to himself, his eyes gleaming. “Using software and algorithms to make up for the shortcomings of hardware. Using our expertise in information technology to solve the precision optics problem they are so proud of.”

The excited expression on his face only lasted a very short time.

His expression quickly shifted to that of a craftsman with meticulousness and skepticism.

Having been immersed in the semiconductor industry for decades, Liang Mengsong certainly knew the concept of "real-time dynamic compensation," but he was even more aware that the difficulty of applying this technology to lithography machines like the CG-1 was exponentially greater.

"President Lin, dynamic compensation is certainly feasible in theory, but we all know very well that you have personally participated in the construction of our production line, and you are well aware of the gap between theoretical feasibility and actual engineering implementation."

"Often, the Mariana Trench could be a huge engineering chasm between them." Liang Mengsong's tone became urgent; he had to make Lin Ran understand the immense engineering gap involved.

"In actual industry, dynamic compensation is also used in the semiconductor field, but the time constant and motion amplitude of those scenarios are completely different from the core exposure scenarios of lithography machines."

"One of the most common applications is CMP, which is commonly known as chemical mechanical planarization."

In CMP equipment, we use real-time monitoring to adjust the pressure distribution of the grinding force to compensate for the unevenness of wafer thickness during the grinding process.

This process is slow; the frequency adjustment may be on the order of seconds or even minutes.

The equipment has enough time to collect data, calculate corrections, and then execute.

Another application that comes to mind immediately is plasma etching.

We will use a spectrometer to monitor the state of the plasma in real time within the etching chamber, and then fine-tune the gas flow rate or radio frequency power to compensate for the drift in the etching rate.

This feedback frequency may be on the order of milliseconds, but it corrects for the chemical environment, not directly for the optical focal length.

Liang Mengsong pointed to the CG-1 lithography machine, which seemed to exist in the air of the office: "But what are we facing now? It's the CG-1's meta-lens."

This system is extremely sensitive to temperature and vibration. Even a tiny change in airflow can cause a focus shift of several to tens of nanometers within microseconds.

Our dynamic compensation system must complete the entire process—from data acquisition to predictive model calculation and then to the physical movement of the microactuator—within microseconds.

This requires the actuator itself to have ultra-low latency and ultra-high precision response capabilities.

The actuators in traditional semiconductor equipment simply cannot meet these speed and precision requirements.

This requires not only algorithmic innovation but also innovation at the device level.

Liang Mengsong speaks very quickly, and jumps between topics just as fast; communication between smart people should be more relaxed.

Liang Mengsong's final words carried a strong engineering warning: "The physical characteristics of the meta-lens of CG-1 mean that its compensation path is more complex and nonlinear than that of traditional lithography machines."

This system represents humanity's ultimate attempt at DUV technology; its instability is endogenous, rather than simply caused by external interference.

We are essentially creating a super-complex system that can predict its own 'imbalance' and achieve 'balance' before the imbalance even occurs!

He looked at Lin Ran and concluded, "President Lin, in terms of difficulty, this matter is even more difficult than starting EDA software from scratch in the past."

This gap is far beyond what dynamic corrections at the level of CMP or etch can achieve.

Lin Ran nodded: "Of course, of course I know. What you know, I know too."

To try to create a complete semiconductor manufacturing system independently of the entire Western world is to do something impossible.

This is certainly difficult, but the problem is that it is the most likely path for us to quickly reach 5nm.

We've come this far, from the 1950s to now.

Lin Ran's words were filled with immense confidence: So what if it's difficult? Just do it!

He concluded by saying, "Leave the algorithmic problems to me. No matter how difficult the model is, I will definitely find the right solution for you. As for the engineering problems, you just need to integrate the existing domestic resources and the resources that can be purchased abroad, and implement them from an engineering perspective."

Liang Mengsong stood up, extended his hand, and said only one word during the handshake: "Okay."

This so-called traitor to TSMC will deliver a truly fatal blow to TSMC.

On the first day of 2026, Apollo Technology's live broadcast room was different from usual; today, Lin Ran was personally hosting the live broadcast.

Lin Ran sat in his office, with a white wall behind him, and no books were placed there.

The desk was a bit messy, with various documents scattered around.

Lin Ran sat in front of the camera, wearing a gray cashmere sweater that looked to be of very good quality.

"Today is the first day of the new year, which is New Year's Day. As usual, I will only chat and answer questions. The actual launch will be carried out by our astronauts and the ground control center."

I fly to Wenchang less and less these days.

Everyone should know about our lunar electromagnetic orbit from our official announcements or news media reports.

Or rather, the name that everyone prefers, the Moon Steel Dragon, has made significant progress in its construction.

It can now provide the spacecraft with a higher initial velocity, and we've also replaced the electromagnetic material in the intermediate connection nodes with a new one, which has better conductivity. So today, we're going to do something big: launch a spacecraft during this year's lunar window.

The last launch only launched a spacecraft, an unmanned spacecraft, which was very light, about the same weight as a lunar rover, only a few tens of kilograms.

We simply conducted a technical feasibility verification to ensure that the path was feasible, the thrust provided was sufficient, and the heat dissipation effect on the lunar surface was adequate.

This time it's different. This time it's a newly designed spaceship with a very radical design, as you can see from the design drawings released on our official Weibo account.

Its shape is somewhat like a cone, with a wide and solid base, like an inverted shallow dish, perfectly fitting the structure of the electromagnetic track.

Its design is purely functionalist.

As everyone knows, there is no air on the moon, which means there is no air resistance, so there is no need to consider streamlines.

I know everyone likes streamlined designs and thinks they're cool, but in reality, such designs only have aesthetic significance when navigating space—an aesthetic that humans can perceive, but extraterrestrials might not be able to.

It has a wide chassis and a rounded front end. I saw the comments I received, and people joked that if this shape were laid flat, it would look a lot like a UFO.

This is actually to achieve optimal magnetic coupling and acceleration stress dispersion in orbit, while the rounded tip provides the best blunt-nosed aerodynamic shape for future reentry into Earth.

Tens of millions of viewers quickly flooded into Lin Ran's live stream room. They came from different platforms, and the barrage of comments was so dense that Lin Ran didn't answer the viewers' questions and just kept talking to himself.

Meanwhile, many streamers broadcast the event, adding cooler animations, such as a 3D animation of the Shackleton Crater on the south pole of the moon, with an AI-processed electromagnetic track that looks even more sci-fi.

There are many similar live streaming rooms, and some even have a retro sci-fi effect, which is then broadcast.

But all of these secondary channels combined don't have as many viewers as Lin Ran's live stream.

Even if netizens don't understand what magnetic coupling, stress dispersion, or aerodynamic shape are, professional anchors will at least explain it to you. Lin Ran just kept talking to himself.

There's no way around it; he is the most dazzling tech star in China in this era, far surpassing other tech entrepreneurs in the same field in every aspect.

Lin Ran continued, "What makes this launch different is that it is the first manned spacecraft in human history to rely entirely on electromagnetic orbit to provide initial velocity."

Of course, this time it was a model of the same scale, not a real person.

If this launch goes smoothly, the next one will be a real person returning.

We named the spacecraft Queqiao, which is the same name as the Queqiao satellite of China's space program.

However, it's not a big problem. I explained it to them, and they meant that their "Magpie Bridge" refers to a satellite, so it's not a case of the same name.

Because it can perform a rapid return trip, it can launch whenever needed, as long as it is within the time window.

It mainly generates electricity, and its heat shield is also made of lunar soil material 3D printed.

The cost of a single round trip is almost entirely limited to electricity and depreciation, which is incredibly low. Our internal estimate is that if a Magpie Bridge completes 100 round trips, its cost per round trip is only 2 million RMB.

The outbound journey is launched by a reusable rocket, while the return journey is via an electromagnetic orbit.

Fully automated navigation.

In other words, the cost of a plane ticket to the moon is 2 million. Would you be interested in creating a tourism product worth 5 million?
However, I reckon Mr. Lei is cursing me to death in his heart. He spends 10 billion on a trip, while you only spend 500 million. The price difference is too big. Normally, it would be hard for him to convince himself with the idea of ​​"buy early and enjoy early".

It can accommodate two astronauts, and tonight we'll use it to conduct a test of a rapid return journey from the moon to Earth.

After giving a brief explanation, Lin Ran glanced at the comments and picked out the most frequently asked question.

Lin Ran said, "Okay, the first question, 'How does the electromagnetic orbit accelerate the manned spacecraft to the lunar escape velocity? Won't the people be crushed?' is an excellent question! This is the most critical technical challenge."

As is well known, the Moon's escape velocity is 2.4 km/s.

Reaching this speed on a 20-kilometer track would subject the load to a very high acceleration.

To protect the astronauts, we adopted a multi-stage linear acceleration system, which, as I mentioned earlier, involved replacing the electromagnetic materials at different stages.

It also incorporates a liquid-cushioned seat.

Simply put, the acceleration is distributed throughout the orbit, and the peak acceleration experienced by the astronauts is strictly controlled to within 4G.

What is the concept of 4G? It's like the most thrilling moment when you're riding a roller coaster.

Ordinary people can easily handle it; of course, astronauts undergo rigorous training, so it's even more manageable.

Lin Ran looked at the second question: "Many friends have asked, how do you change tracks without traditional fuel?"

It's not that there's no traditional fuel, but rather that there's very little traditional fuel available; in addition, it's equipped with a new type of Hall thruster.

We rely on traditional fossil fuel engines for trajectory changes and new Hall thrusters for fine angle corrections.

By combining these two methods with the navigation system on the Queqiao Bridge, two orbital changes can be accurately completed: one from the near-lunar orbit to the Earth transfer orbit, and the other from the Earth transfer orbit to the Earth's highly elliptical orbit, in preparation for re-entry into the atmosphere.

The comments section began to show questions about the spacecraft's thermal protection during its return to Earth.

Lin Ran replied, "Yes, as everyone knows, when a spaceship returns to Earth, it will experience intense friction with the atmosphere and requires a heat shield."

The coolest thing about this spacecraft is that its heat shield was made on the moon.

We synthesized composite thermal insulation materials in a lunar 3D printing factory by utilizing the silica and mica powder abundant in lunar soil.

On the moon, astronauts used an automated spraying system to re-coat the spacecraft with heat-resistant armor.

This insulation layer is designed for dissipation. As it returns to Earth at high speed, the sublimated material on its surface evaporates, leaving behind a microporous carbonized layer that provides effective insulation.

This is why the Magpie Bridge appears blackened after returning to Earth. Its insulation layer was made from readily available, disposable materials.

This system has undergone extensive improvement and optimization over the past year.

It can adapt to spacecraft of different shapes.

"Is it irresponsible to view electromagnetic rails as a potential space cannon, which could be seen as a kinetic weapon launch platform that could cause geopolitical instability?"

This question from a Chinese friend in Japan is a bit too technical, isn't it?

　It's my last day at work, and I'm especially reluctant to go. I promise I'll write two chapters tomorrow! I guarantee it!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)