King of Technology: A Fresh Start in 1983

"The initial production run will consist of 500 sample units! Subsequent order volumes will depend on feedback from the product launch!"

Chen Jianghe presented a cautious figure, while emphasizing, "We are not simply engaged in OEM manufacturing and procurement; we hope to establish a long-term strategic partnership!"

"Huaxin's quality is exactly what our core products need!"

"Strategic cooperation?" Manager Huang smiled with interest. "How much volume can a factory in mainland China handle? Our Huaxin's current orders are all from Europe, America, and Japan..."

Negotiations have stalled.

Huaxin's quote far exceeded Tiangong's budget, almost five times that of Hongxing Factory, and the order volume was simply not enough to sway them.

Seeing that all hope was fading, Chen Jianghe steeled himself and pulled out his trump card—

Zhou Yuguang personally welded and debugged a prototype expansion card, processed by Huaxin Technology, for use in teaching experiments at Tsinghua University!

When Manager Huang saw the experimental board with its exquisite craftsmanship, full solder joints resembling a work of art, and stable and excellent functionality, his eyes lit up noticeably!

Especially after seeing the Tsinghua University logo and the national project logo, their attitude finally softened.

"Okay, since it's educational research and a key national project... we can take on the order for 500 sample pieces!"

"The price... will be at cost! This is Huaxin's support for national technological development! However, subsequent orders must meet our minimum order quantity!"

A turning point! They opened up a gap by leveraging quality and project endorsement!

Suppressing his overwhelming joy, Chen Jianghe immediately signed the OEM agreement!

The first batch of 500 core PCB bare boards for the Pangu III series will be delivered to the port city in one month!

Although the price is painful, it has solved the biggest bottleneck to mass production!

On the train back to Beijing, Chen Jianghe looked out the window at the rice paddies of southern China rushing past, his heart surging with emotion.

The spark of the national project has been ignited in Huilongguan, but the tough battle of ramping up mass production has only just begun!

The first batch of bare boards from Huaxin was like a long-awaited rain after a drought, finally giving Tian Factory the ammunition to launch the mass production campaign of the [Pangu III] model.

However, the real test has only just begun.

The design complexity of the Pangu III far exceeds that of the Pangu II!

The core difficulty lies in:

I. Prototype of a six-layer board.

The core graphics acceleration section introduces more complex routing.

The experiment adopted a simple six-layer plate structure, which has extremely high requirements for welding process.

II. High-density mounting.

The density of the core GAL chip and its surrounding surface mount components 0805 resistors and capacitors has increased significantly.

The precision required for that secondhand S&P placement machine was the ultimate challenge.

III. Power consumption management of graphics acceleration unit.

The newly added graphics processing logic generates more heat, requiring the design of a separate heat dissipation module and power management.

The Tsinghua technical team and the Tiangong team worked together in a simple but fiercely competitive factory.

The Tsinghua group, led by Professor Li Mingyuan, is primarily responsible for:

1. Timing optimization: Use a logic analyzer to capture bus signal delays and glitches in real time.

The instruction set and firmware logic of the graphics acceleration unit are continuously iterated and optimized.

FPGA research is also underway to reduce critical path delays.

II. EDA Assistance: Run basic EDA software on Tsinghua University's VAX minicomputer.

Optimize the PCB inner layer routing design to reduce interference sources.

III. Thermal Simulation: A constant temperature chamber is used to simulate a high-temperature environment to test the effectiveness of the heat dissipation module.

The Tiangong team includes Chen Jianghe, Zhou Yuguang, Wang Liping, Xiao Li, and others, and is mainly responsible for:

I. Equipment taming.

Zhou Yuguang worked day and night around that old chip mounter.

Adjust the nozzle parameters, calibrate the vision alignment, and optimize the feeder action to forcefully reduce the material rejection rate from 15% to 8%!

Although it is still far from the ideal value of 5%, it has already broken through the limit!

Second, the process is made devilish.

Chen Jianghe personally oversaw the welding process.

A more stringent "Pangu III Welding Process Card" was developed.

The soldering temperature profile and cooling requirements are detailed for each major IC.

He personally trains and assesses workers in every key position.

Implement "real-name welding point traceability"—whoever welds the defective point will be fined and publicly listed!

III. Extreme Testing.

All finished cards undergo 100% functional testing, plus 24-hour continuous high-temperature aging (65°C), plus low-temperature freezing cycles (-10°C).

This is the most expensive part, but it's the lifeline of quality.

Sweat soaked through their work clothes, machine oil stained their hands, and the burnt smell of soldering irons became the background fragrance of the workshop.

Countless sleepless nights, the brightly lit workers' shed, like an isolated island on the land of Beijing in this era.

The yield rate climbed slowly under the brutal test.

The first batch of 20 tablets was produced, but only 8 were of good quality, a mere 40%!

The second batch consists of fifty pieces, with 21 pieces being of good quality, representing 42%!

...

It wasn't until the fourth batch of 100 pieces that the yield rate finally broke through the 60% mark!

Although the cost is high, the dawn has broken!

Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out at the factory gate.

Chen Jianghe and the others rushed out and saw a black Santana sedan parked in front of the door.

Several middle-aged men dressed in sharp Zhongshan suits, carrying briefcases, and with serious expressions came down.

The leader showed his identification.

"We are from the joint supervision team for key national 'Seventh Five-Year Plan' projects. We've come to learn about the project progress and production status of our collaborating units."

Project supervision!

A rehearsal for the on-site inspection!

Chen Jianghe and Zhou Yuguang felt a chill run down their spines!

The supervisory team was immediately invited into the workshop.

The supervisory team's gaze swept over the noisy production line, the piled-up materials, the process cards pasted on the wall, and the densely packed test records.

They observed everything in great detail, from raw material warehousing records and welding environment monitoring to worker operating techniques and even the operating data of the aging test bench.

Professor Li Mingyuan, along with his Tsinghua team, gave a detailed report on the technological progress and test data.

The head of the supervisory team flipped through the thick reliability test report.

The above clearly records the failure points and solutions under various extreme conditions.

And those charts showing the arduous climb in yield rate, his brow furrowed!

"The yield rate is only 60%?"

The team leader said sternly, "The core PCB cost is so high, yet the scrap rate is 40%!"

"How are mass production costs controlled? The national project funds aren't for you to squander!"

Another expert, observing several busy but somewhat inexperienced workers on the production line, asked, "If the workers' skills can't keep up with the complex processes, how can product quality be guaranteed?"

The doubts struck the hearts of every Tiangong worker like a heavy hammer!

Chen Jianghe took a deep breath and walked to the testing table, where the fifth batch of cards was undergoing aging.

He picked up the process record book.

"Distinguished leaders! A 60% yield rate is indeed not high!"

"But this was achieved step by step, climbing from 40% after overcoming increased design complexity, significantly higher process requirements, and independent exploration of high-density multilayer board mass production!"

He opened the notebook, pointing to the densely packed analytical records, "For every scrapped board, we searched for the cause like a doctor dissecting an autopsy!"

"All problems were traced back to the process control cards for optimization! Even though some workers were unfamiliar with the procedures, every action was meticulously monitored!"

"This is not a waste, it's an inevitable step! It's also our first realistic report card before the mass production of the 'Seventh Five-Year Plan' project!"