A genius? I just love studying.

Chapter 153 Microfluidics and Thermoelectric Materials
As I walked out of the teacher's office, I checked the time. It was not yet 9:20. Li Zehan had also sent me the location of the dinner party on WeChat. It was only five or six kilometers away from the school, and I could get there in half an hour by bike.

After thinking it over, Chen Hui decided to go to the appointment. Of course, it was just a meal, and he could make it at 11 o'clock. Without thinking, Chen Hui went back to the library and started studying the materials his teacher had sent him.

The place Yin Hao chose was a party venue with a meeting room, board games, KTV, game room, movie room, and several private rest rooms. It had everything you could want. What's even more outrageous is that it only costs 150 yuan per person, and it even includes a buffet BBQ lunch. It's quite a bargain.

Of course, the location was a bit remote and deserted, and it took Chen Hui quite a while to find it on his electric scooter.

When Chen Hui arrived, the place was already bustling with noise and everyone was having a blast.

Why are you so late?

Chen Hui walked into the party venue and was immediately spotted by Yin Hao, who abandoned the girls who were talking and came to greet him.

"My teacher needed to talk to me about something, so I'm sorry for the delay."

"What's there to be sorry about? It's almost time to eat, let's go!" Yin Hao didn't mind at all. Chen Hui's willingness to come was already a huge favor to him, and he understood that principle.

As he spoke, he led Chen Hui toward the group of young women.

"Let me introduce you. This is the genius of our class. He earned all of this class's funds by himself."

"Come, come, let's first toast this meritorious person."

Upon hearing Yin Hao's words, everyone looked at Chen Hui. The students in the first theory class had already started cheering excitedly. Of course, they knew that Chen Hui had earned this opportunity for them, and they still couldn't forget the scene of Chen Hui doing problems in the dormitory.

The girls from the Foreign Languages ​​Department around them also looked over curiously. They could feel the genuine respect that the students in Class One had for Chen Hui, which made them very interested in this newcomer.

They didn't spend a single penny on this social event. Otherwise, no matter how prestigious Yin Hao was, it would have been difficult to organize such an event. Naturally, they had already heard about Chen Hui's glorious achievements from their classmates. Now that they saw him in person, especially since he was so handsome, it was hard not to be curious.

"I'm sorry, I don't drink much alcohol, so I'll just have a glass of soy milk instead."

Chen Hui apologized, then poured himself a glass of soy milk and drank it all in one gulp. Drinking alcohol is bad for the brain, and mathematicians need a clear mind.

Okay, Chen Hui simply doesn't like drinking.

whispering sound.

A soft hiss came from among the female students of the School of Foreign Languages.

In their view, it was one thing for Chen Hui to arrive late, but to not even offer him a drink was indeed a sign of low emotional intelligence.

The students in Class 1 didn't boo; instead, they looked in the direction of the foreign language girls with some anger in their eyes.

The class is full of people born in the 00s, who have long abandoned the bad habit of drinking at banquets and even dislike it. They drink simply because they are happy.

"Barbecue, barbecue! Everyone, please don't skimp on the barbecue for me, it's all-you-can-eat at lunchtime!"

Yin Hao stepped in time to break the deadlock, and the atmosphere finally relaxed amidst the aroma of barbecue. The students from the two classes split into eight small groups and began to barbecue and chat amongst themselves.

After greeting everyone at each table, Yin Hao returned to Chen Hui's table.

Besides Chen Hui and his three roommates, there were four other girls from the School of Foreign Languages ​​at the table; they were obviously from the same dormitory.

"Chen Shen, let me introduce you. This is my girlfriend, Liang Xuefei."

"These are their roommates: Xiang Yu, Deng Si, and Chen Yu."

No wonder Yin Hao dared to confidently guarantee that he could find foreign language girls for a social event; it turns out he had an inside man.

"Congratulations."

Chen Hui poured another glass of soy milk.

"Haha, we were high school classmates," Yin Hao explained guiltily.

Instead, Liang Xuefei generously raised her glass and replied, "Thank you."

"I've heard Yin Hao talk about you before, and I'm so glad to finally meet you today!"

With Yin Hao present, the people at both tables chatted quite happily. However, before Li Zehan could even put his wine glass to his lips, Chen Ling'er grabbed his ear and pulled him aside, which drew a knowing laugh from the crowd.

After several dishes and rounds of drinks, Yin Hao subtly winked at Liang Xuefei.

Liang Xuefei understood and suddenly said to her roommate, "Hey, Chen Yu, aren't you still single? What kind of boyfriend do you want to find in the future?"

Chen Yu was the prettiest girl in their dormitory. She was slim, had fair skin, and delicate features. In addition, she knew how to do simple makeup, making her stand out among the group of fresh-faced college students.

Even in the Foreign Languages ​​Institute, where beauties abound, she was considered a beauty. Less than a month into the semester, before military training was even over, several boys had already confessed their feelings to her.

These young boys, fresh out of college, knew nothing about romance. Confessing their feelings was a victory horn, not a charge to launch an attack. Naturally, they were all rejected without exception, leaving them heartbroken.

Faced with this question, Chen Yu didn't try to hide anything, but instead said with stars in her eyes, "I like top students!"

"Oh?"

"Well, what a coincidence, there's a top student right next to you."

Yin Hao's eyes lit up as he looked at Chen Hui sitting next to him. "I don't need to introduce him, right? We're all here today thanks to Master Chen. He finished the entire question bank in one go!"

Chen Yu glanced at Chen Hui, a hint of hesitation flashing in her eyes, but quickly shook her head. "I already have a boyfriend!"

She still finds Chen Hui attractive, but her boyfriend is just as good-looking. More importantly, his research ability is far superior to Chen Hui's. They're all in college now, not children anymore; who's going to compete on problem-solving skills?

"A sophomore majoring in computer science won the first prize in the National Undergraduate Mathematical Modeling Contest and a silver medal in ACM last year. He just published a Q2 SCI paper a few days ago."

Chen Yu added that she knew how much her beauty could affect these naive freshmen, so she simply listed her boyfriend's honors to discourage them and save them a lot of trouble.

Yin Hao hesitated, but ultimately said nothing.

It has to be said that Chen Yu's boyfriend is very capable, but he thinks that when Chen Hui is a sophomore, he may not be any worse than that person.

But since she already has a boyfriend, there's no need to say anything more.

Chen Hui didn't care at all and started to show off his cooking skills by grilling meat for everyone.

"Wow?!"

"It's delicious!"

Taking a bite of a chicken wing, Xiang Yu's eyes lit up, and she couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. She had eaten grilled meat herself before, but after that one time, she no longer considered going to restaurants that didn't grill meat for her.

She didn't have high expectations for this barbecue, but the chicken wings were surprisingly good, even better than those grilled by the waiters at the barbecue restaurant.

"Wow, boss's cooking skills are good enough to be a Michelin chef!"

Li Zehan exclaimed in surprise. It was also the first time he had tasted Chen Hui's cooking. "It's really unfair! It's one thing to be good at studying, but to cook so well too? How come you get all the good things in the world?"

Chen Hui smiled and stuffed a thick-cut steak into Li Zehan's hand, saying, "I've never eaten at a Michelin-starred restaurant before."

Barbecue was naturally no challenge for him, having cooked since childhood. If he could cook delicious meals, barbecue would certainly be a piece of cake; his control over the heat was the result of over a decade of experience. If there were a cooking skill attribute on the stat panel, Chen Hui felt it would be at least level 2, and level 3 would be perfectly normal.

With just a simple sentence, everyone else at the table understood.

Yes, Chen Hui didn't have all the advantages; at least, his background was inferior to Li Zehan's.

Everyone understood the same meaning, but their inner reactions were different.

Chen Yu was even more grateful for her choice just now.

Although Chen Hui may have good potential in the future, it's probably best to forget about accompanying a boy through his growth and struggles. Little Red Book users have already given many examples.

Does Master Chen have a girlfriend?

As Chen Yu was thinking, she suddenly heard this abrupt sound. She subconsciously looked in the direction of the sound and found that it was her roommate Xiang Yu.

Xiang Yu was a bit shorter than her, with a round face and petite figure, making her quite cute. Although she couldn't compare to her, she was still a beauty, and she would have plenty of options no matter where she was.

She was puzzled by this choice.

Yin Hao's face immediately lit up with a smile. It's like planting flowers with care but they don't bloom, while planting willows without intention and they thrive. Who would have thought that good grades were useless, but his cooking skills would win the heart of the beauty?

"Have it!"

Chen Hui answered without hesitation.

"Ok?"

"Does the boss have a girlfriend?"

"Who is it? I don't know them."

"Is it that French lady?"

Li Zehan rarely looked up from the pile of barbecue, his eyes burning with gossip.

A hint of sadness flashed in Xiang Yu's eyes. For a girl, it was already quite remarkable to have the courage to ask such a question, and to receive such an answer would indeed make her feel somewhat embarrassed, and of course, more disappointed than anything else.

"It's math!"

Chen Hui smiled. He wasn't thinking about romance right now; at his age, he was focused on improving his skills!
"..."

This answer drew eye rolls from everyone at the table, except for Li Zehan, who was somewhat convinced, having witnessed just how intensely Chen Hui studied.

After this little incident, even with Yin Hao trying to smooth things over, the atmosphere at the table was hard to warm up again.

Chen Hui's cooking skills were indeed excellent. Regardless of what opinions everyone had of him, they all enjoyed the meal. Even Chen Yu ate several chicken wings without any hesitation.

After lunch, Yin Hao and his group had activities planned for the afternoon. Since it was a social gathering, the morning activities weren't even really icebreakers; the main event was in the afternoon.

However, none of this mattered to Chen Hui anymore. After finishing his meal, he rode his electric scooter back to school.

Li Zehan was also pulled back to school by Chen Ling'er.

"Okay, don't be sad. What's there to be sad about with someone like that?"

Watching Chen Hui ride away on his electric scooter wearing a helmet, Chen Yu patted Xiang Yu on the shoulder, "He can't even afford to take a taxi."

Xiang Yu didn't speak, but just looked into the distance, lost in thought.

……

The next morning, Chen Hui left the library at eight o'clock and slowly rode his electric scooter toward Luojia Square. The School of Physics was right next to Luojia Square, and Professor Xiao Meng's laboratory was also located there.

The teacher told us to report to the lab today. It's obviously not appropriate to go too early, but 8:30 should be a suitable time.

Upon entering the laboratory building, we went to the third floor according to the address given by the teacher.

The lab door was closed, but there were sounds coming from inside, so the physics students seemed quite diligent.

Before Chen Hui could knock, the laboratory door opened, and a middle-aged man who looked to be in his thirties or forties opened the door and looked at Chen Hui, "Hello, you must be Chen Hui, the math whiz that Teacher Yuan introduced?"

Chen Hui nodded.

He knew it wasn't a coincidence, because the laboratory was surrounded by cameras, making it look like a military stronghold. He was probably already under full surveillance as soon as he went up to the third floor.

"I am Yang Chi, a master's student under Professor Xiao."

They had already seen Chen Hui's photo, and Yuan Xinyi also presented Chen Hui's first-author paper on Diophantus. He was still very polite to Chen Hui. The world is still very tolerant of capable people. Their experiment had indeed encountered a bottleneck and needed the help of mathematicians.

Chen Hui was somewhat surprised; judging from the man's appearance, he had assumed he was a postdoctoral researcher.

A 28-year-old programmer?

"Welcome to our lab. Have you looked at the materials we gave to Professor Yuan?"

After Yang Chi invited Chen Hui into the lab, they quickly got down to business. You could tell from the blisters on the corners of his mouth that he had been a bit anxious and stressed lately.

"seen it already."

After a night and more than an hour of intensive work in the morning, Chen Hui roughly understood what the project they were working on was.

Simply put, it is the research on thermoelectric materials with high ZT values.

Thermoelectric materials are heat dissipation materials based on the Peltier effect—when an electric current passes through a junction of two conductors, one side absorbs heat (cools down) and the other side releases heat.

This material can be used for heat dissipation of chips. With the development of chip technology, the difficulty of heat dissipation of 3D stacked chips has increased exponentially, and heat dissipation has become a major problem. The two mainstream approaches today are to introduce microfluidics and use thermoelectric materials.

Microfluidic cooling integrates micron-level fluid channels inside or between layers of the chip, using flowing coolant to directly absorb and remove heat. Currently, it can improve thermal conductivity by 20-40%, but it has high manufacturing complexity, may affect chip reliability, has high power consumption, and also carries the risk of coolant leakage.

Thermoelectric materials have no moving parts, are quiet and highly reliable, and have a fast response speed, making them popular among researchers. Unfortunately, high ZT materials are expensive and difficult to use on a large scale. Therefore, if a material with a high ZT value can be found that is also economical to prepare, it would mean a huge influx of wealth.

Especially given the current technological bottlenecks faced by county officials, any breakthrough in this area would be of great significance to China.

With the heat dissipation bottleneck eliminated, the chip can break through the limitations of existing processes and achieve higher density 3D stacking, increasing transistor density by 10-100 times. The chip's main frequency is expected to return to the high-frequency era. Combined with quantum tunneling suppression technology, performance may be improved by 5-8 times.

This means that even if we can't manufacture 5nm or 3nm, we can still achieve the same performance through higher density stacking, thus achieving the goal of overtaking others.

Of course, it's more likely that the other side will be begging to use our thermoelectric materials. On the contrary, the smaller the nm number, the more serious the heat dissipation problem becomes, and they also urgently need to solve this problem. At that time, it's hard to say who will hold whom back.

Things that benefit both parties when they cooperate.

When there are greater interests at stake, the words of certain hegemonic powers become ineffective, and blockades naturally crumble on their own.

(End of this chapter)