Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 297 Gallium nitride not only needs to be produced, but the best way to produce it also needs to be found!

They asked for an exorbitant price, but we bargained down to a mere hundred million. We asked for a billion, and they offered a hundred million, which is actually quite a lot!

After all, Warner Bros. isn't the only Hollywood company; other companies are also paying patent fees. If this continues, they might be able to make three to five hundred million in patent fees!
You have to understand, the West is a bunch of scoundrels. They can use patents to demand money, but getting them to pay patent fees? That's too difficult. Now, this is a rare opportunity. With this money, the mathematics department of Northwestern Polytechnical University can grow and thrive!

Mathematics may seem like a useless major, but in fact... mathematical geniuses are the main driving force behind technological progress. In the future, algorithms for artificial intelligence will all require mathematical geniuses. This compression technology was calculated by a mathematics department.

"One hundred million? Are you trying to fob us off like beggars? We're not homeless people on the streets of America!" Yang Duo'er shook her head: "No way, it has to be one billion, not a penny less!"

This is a sign that the negotiations are about to fall apart.

Qin Liang needs to smooth things over.

"Have you guys ever heard of hackers?"

This sudden turn of events left everyone present bewildered.

Weren't we talking about VCD patent fees? How did it suddenly shift to hacking?
"Of course I know. Years ago, some people cracked the telephone network to make free calls. Later, after ARPANET appeared, some people started attacking ARPANET in various ways. There was a guy named Kevin Mitnick who supposedly broke into the North American Aerospace Defense Command and almost triggered a nuclear war."

Despite his age, Steven Ross is still very sharp-minded and has a strong ability to accept new things in society. Now that Qin Liang has brought up hacking, he naturally wants to show off his knowledge.

"Hmm, with so many screenwriters in Hollywood, hasn't anyone thought of using hackers as a theme to make a brand new sci-fi movie?"

"Oh? Tell me?"

"Well... let's talk about the patent fees first. One hundred million is too little. We don't want one billion anymore, we want five hundred million. And I have some ideas for new types of movies. Each movie will gross over one hundred million, and some movies can even gross four or five hundred million. In short, you definitely won't lose money."

"How could that be! Do you think we don't get paid to make movies?"

"Of course, making movies costs money. However, with the help of computers, the shooting costs can be reduced significantly, especially for science fiction films. Many shots can be rendered by computers, which not only gives them a science fiction feel but also reduces the shooting costs."

"Mr. Qin, could we hear a brief introduction to your film before we make a decision?" Steven Roth said. "Please trust us, even if the collaboration doesn't go through, we'll still pay you for using your idea."

"Alright." Qin Liang nodded. "Then let me introduce the movie first. It's called The Matrix."

In March 1999, The Matrix was released and quickly became a global sensation. The first film alone, with an investment of $63 million, grossed over $460 million worldwide. This brand-new science fiction plot sparked a global craze and became one of the classic science fiction works.

This one film alone will show Warner Bros. the appeal of a good movie. Why bother with game consoles? They're neglecting their main business, and their side business isn't making any money either.

"This film is set roughly fifty years in the future, in a virtual world where human and machine civilizations coexist, and humans can enter the digital world through brain-computer interfaces..."

This one sentence alone stunned everyone. The coexistence of human civilization and machine civilization, brain-computer interfaces... these are all too mysterious, aren't they?
Seeing the surprised expressions on everyone's faces, Qin Liang smiled and said, "You'd think that people who make movies would have big imaginations. In your eyes, computer games are always about holding a controller and facing a screen, right? Why can't we connect the computer to the human brain and use an interface to travel directly between the physical and the virtual world?"

"President Qin, you're right, please continue."

"The struggle between humans and machines has been ongoing. We can assume that the world has been dominated by machines, and humans have fallen to a disadvantage. The machines have created a virtual world for humans, let's call it... the Matrix."

The Matrix was originally a Warner Bros. film. Now, by giving them their film, Qin Liang suffers no loss. However, the patent fee has increased to 500 million, which can transform the mathematics department of Northwestern Polytechnical University, making it the number one mathematics department in the East, recruiting the most outstanding students, and producing a few geniuses like Wei Shen.

Qin Liang explained the general concept of the film. As for the detailed script... he could actually write it himself, after all, he had watched the film no less than ten times; it was too wonderful. However, he certainly couldn't go into details now. He always had to keep something from the Americans.

Yang Duo'er's bright eyes widened, filled with admiration. Her man was amazing, a true all-rounder! He could even come up with a movie script! And the scene he described was spectacular, the kind that would definitely become a hit.

The Warner executives across from them, who were also discerning, all opened their eyes wide.

Finally, Steven Roth nodded: "Mr. Qin, we are very satisfied with the concept of this film. Next, could we sign a contract similar to a performance-based agreement? We will pay a patent fee of one hundred million US dollars first, and the rest will depend on the box office revenue. If it breaks one hundred million, we will give you fifty million; if it breaks four hundred million, we will give you two hundred million. If the box office is not enough to cover the remaining four hundred million patent fee, then please provide another concept..."

"What if it exceeds the limit?" Yang Duo'er asked.

"If it exceeds the limit, then... then..."

"If it exceeds the limit, you can keep it. We'll take 2 million in patent fees, and the rest of the profits are yours. If this one isn't enough, I'll come up with a Matrix Reloaded for you."

"it is good!"

For Qin Liang, these things are just ideas in his head; they can't be monetized. Let them be made domestically? Ha! Domestic directors can't produce this kind of blockbuster effect. It wasn't until later, with the emergence of *The Wandering Earth*, that Eastern science fiction films reached world-class standards.

Handing it over to Hollywood film companies to produce guarantees both quality and box office success, while also making the East famous.

"The computers needed must be Loongson processors. The entire matrix will be set up as a server cluster, all equipped with Loongson 13 processors. As for the sci-fi scene rendering, we at Dongfang will handle that. We will build a more powerful supercomputer."

The money earned from rendering just once is enough to cover the cost of building such a computer. Moreover, Huaxin will play an even greater role than Longxing in this rendering, making everyone realize that the era of graphics cards has arrived!

"it is good."

Steven Roth readily agreed, because he knew that Warner Bros.' future lay in movies! Although the game console project had failed, as long as they made a blockbuster movie, Warner Bros. would still be Warner Bros., still the industry leader!

"Once we sign the patent licensing agreement and you pay the $100 million patent fee, I will write the script for this movie for you. Of course, I am an amateur, so you can revise it if you feel it is inappropriate."

"Thank you, Mr. Qin!" Warner executives went from shock to delight. They had a feeling that the movie would be a huge hit. With a tech expert writing the script, the futuristic feel of the film would definitely be very well done.

After seeing the Americans off, an afternoon had passed just like that.

Yang Duo'er accompanied Qin Liang as they walked along the campus path: "Brother Liang, you're such a jack-of-all-trades, you can do everything."

"I can't do everything, for example, I can't give birth."

"Brother Liangzi, do you want a baby?"

"No, no, no rush. Our country's slogan is: fewer births, better births, a lifetime of happiness."

"Not urgent?"

"Yes, the result isn't urgent, but the process is essential."

As they spoke, they arrived at the family compound. Qin Liang pulled his wife along and headed straight for their love nest.

Northwestern Polytechnical University is once again in the final exam season. After the exams, the campus remains lively, with many students working on projects with their advisors or interning at the university-run factory to gain experience.

Materials Science Department. "Teacher, teacher!" a student ran over excitedly. "We've successfully grown a gallium nitride thin film to a thickness of 400 nanometers!"

Zhang Tong looked up from under the microscope: "Really? That's great news! Let's go take a look!"

"Teacher, what exactly is gallium nitride used for?"

"Of course it will be very useful. By the way, give your senior brother Qin Liang a call and ask him to come over!"

Zhang Tong wasn't entirely sure what its specific uses were, but Qin Liang valued it highly, saying it could give them a head start. According to his understanding, the main purpose of gallium nitride right now is to make light-emitting diodes, and then... use them in fiber optic communication, right?

No need to think too much about it. If Qin Liang said it would work, then it must work!
Inside the gallium nitride production laboratory, various pieces of equipment were lined up in a row. Looking at these devices, Zhang Tong was quite moved. "We can carry out multiple methods and approaches simultaneously because we have money on hand. Northwestern Polytechnical University has long since stopped needing funding from higher authorities for scientific research! We have plenty of research and development funds of our own!"

beep, beep...

"Gallium nitride has been discovered? Great! Our Materials Science Department at Northwestern Polytechnical University has made another great contribution!"

Judging from the voice, I knew it was Qin Liang. His clothes were disheveled, and there was a red... lipstick mark on his face? Cough cough, it's really inappropriate to wake Qin Liang out of bed in the middle of the night.

"Actually, gallium nitride has already been invented. What we are doing now is to solve the problem of industrial production," Zhang Tong explained.

Many things can be prepared in a laboratory, but cannot be mass-produced in a factory because the environment in a factory is different from that in a laboratory. If they were to be directly replicated, it would lead to a surge in costs.

In 1871, Dmitry Mendeleev predicted the existence of gallium based on his periodic table of elements. In 1875, it was discovered by Paul de Boisbaudran. Then, in 1932, George Herbert Jones and his laboratory team reacted gallium with ammonia at high temperatures, supporting gallium nitride and discovering the amazing properties of this material.

The first advantage is thermal stability. Even in high-temperature environments, it can still maintain stable performance, which means it is more durable. Just like the gallium nitride chargers of later generations, the instruction manual will tell you that it will get hot when it is working. Don't worry, it's normal.

Secondly, it has excellent electron mobility and electron saturation velocity, which are more than ten times that of traditional materials such as silicon. This makes it very useful in the manufacture of high-frequency power devices.

Simply put, it includes radio frequency components in mobile phones, radio frequency power amplifiers in 5G, and... T/R components in active phased array radar, etc.

Secondly, it has a wide bandgap. Traditional first-generation semiconductor silicon has only 1.1 eV, and second-generation material cadmium selenide has only 1.8 eV, while gallium nitride reaches 3.4 eV. This can reduce the probability of recombination of electrons and holes in the material, thereby obtaining excellent optoelectronic properties. For example, it can be used to manufacture laser diodes, which are small light bulb-like devices that can generate 405-nanometer violet laser light.

In short, gallium nitride has a variety of excellent properties, and whoever masters it will master the future of electronic technology!
"Currently, the most important way to produce gallium nitride internationally is through metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, also known as MOCVD. This technology was proposed in the 1960s and has now become quite mature and perfect. Using TMGa as the gallium source, NH3 as the reaction gas, and high-purity nitrogen as the protective gas, thin layers of gallium nitride can be successfully prepared on sapphire substrates under high temperature conditions."

Zhang Tong pointed to one of the devices and said, "We initially used this method to prepare gallium nitride, but after the experiment, we gave up on it."

"why?"

"Too expensive."

Gallium nitride is a thin film that needs to be attached to sapphire! Moreover, the other raw materials are not cheap, so although this method is nearly mature, and offers fast production speed, high product quality, and high output, it still has limitations…

We can't afford it!
"Later, we tried HVPE, which is hydride vapor phase epitaxy. It has a fast production rate and can produce large-size films, but it is also expensive and cannot be mass-produced. So, we finally created a completely new method, which we call the ammonothermal method."

As Zhang Tong spoke, he led Qin Liang to the innermost piece of equipment.

"This is our original technology. Inspired by the hydrothermal method for producing quartz, we invented a similar technology, only replacing the solvent with ammonia instead of water."

"The high-pressure reaction vessel here is divided into two zones: a dissolution zone and a growth zone. The dissolution zone can dissolve polycrystalline gallium nitride and then grow high-purity single-crystal gallium nitride. Due to convection, gallium that did not participate in the dissolution process can return to the dissolution zone and be recycled repeatedly. Such products have high purity, high crystal quality, and, most importantly, are cheap..."

The reason why our Eastern phased array radar can be made at such a low price is largely due to the low cost of raw materials. Now, we have found the right way!

In this way, our semiconductor materials have jumped directly from the first generation to the third generation!

It may take another three to five years to go from gallium nitride materials to phased array radar, but once we get it right, we can become number one in the world in this field!

"Does this thing... have any drawbacks?"

"Yes, the downside is the low growth rate and low yield. However, we can install more of these reactors and make up for it with a quantity advantage. Anyway... it's cheap."

Qin Liang nodded: "Yes, the school-run factory of the Materials Science Department can start producing this gallium nitride material. However, this factory needs to be highly confidential. We not only need to select reliable workers, but also need to have the military stationed here."

The military is willing to come and serve as security guards because they know how groundbreaking many of Northwestern Polytechnical University's research and development products are.

"Okay! However... the development of gallium nitride products will probably still take some time."

"Yes, the first product we developed is the T/R module, which is a high-frequency radio frequency component. Once this is developed, it will make us number one in the world in this field!"

“Okay, then we’ll work on this together with the Department of Electronic Engineering!” Zhang Tong nodded. “From now on, this project will be a key project for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering!”

"Yes, our R&D personnel will also be recorded in history for these achievements!"

The students present were all in high spirits, their eyes shining.

Qin Liang no longer needed to interfere with the specifics of the research and development, since he didn't know either. He just needed to point the way. After giving those instructions, Qin Liang yawned. It was time to go back to sleep...

"Qin Liang, could we use our gallium nitride in satellites?"

Since it is a high-frequency radio frequency device, its use in satellites must be taken into account.

Back then, the Dongfanghong satellite resounded through space thanks to the superior performance of vacuum tubes. Satellites from the US and the Soviet Union used transistors, which had too low power and couldn't compare to our vacuum tubes. Now, with the more advanced gallium nitride, can our satellite performance also take a step forward?
"That's right. Our Beidou-1 has been under development for a year and a half. We've mastered the technical principles, and now we're starting to design the satellites. If we use our gallium nitride, the satellite's performance should be on the next level!"

Beidou!

In the summer of 80, the project was launched, and the aerospace department also had a key project. After that... Qin Liang didn't interfere anymore and let them conduct their own research.

We've now reached the satellite design phase!
This project is of great importance. GPS is not yet officially networked. If our BeiDou dual-satellite system is put into use first, it will be the world's first satellite navigation system! At that time, even if we first occupy the Asian market, we can still obtain huge economic benefits, and BeiDou-2 can then be launched.

The Aerospace Engineering Department did a great job. I'll go check it out tomorrow!

As for now, let's go back to sleep.

　PS: Schematic diagram of the ammonothermal process and comparison of semiconductor materials.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)