Courtyard House: Initial Donation of 50 Million

Deep within the Red Star United Industrial Corporation, in the newly allocated "Microelectronics Technology Research Institute" laboratory, the atmosphere was so heavy it seemed almost palpable. The air was thick with the mixed odors of solder rosin, pickling solution, and the high-temperature baking of special materials. Wang Huanbo, sleeves rolled up, and several young technicians, led by Chen Siyuan, sat around a simple fume hood, all intently watching a tube furnace inside, connected by a dense network of wires, undergoing high-temperature diffusion operations in a vacuum environment. Inside the furnace were dozens of paper-thin germanium single-chip wafers, each having undergone countless cleaning, oxidation, and photolithography (currently still the most primitive contact exposure method).

This was the seventh attempt by the transistor research and development team to prepare PN junctions using the alloy method. The previous six attempts failed due to various reasons: insufficient material purity leading to huge leakage currents, inaccurate temperature control burning out the chips, or inadequate packaging technology introducing impurities that caused a sharp deterioration in performance. The failed products piled up in the corner of the scrap box, like a small mountain, silently testifying to the arduous process.

Behind his glasses, Chen Siyuan's bloodshot eyes were fixed on the temperature controller and vacuum gauge. His voice was hoarse as he reported the numbers: "Furnace temperature 385 degrees, stable... Vacuum degree 3 x 10^-2 Torr, barely meeting the standard... Germanium spheres are beginning to melt..." His palms were sweaty. This step was one of the most critical parts of the entire process, requiring the fusion of metal spheres doped with specific impurities (such as indium) with the surface of the germanium sheet at a precisely controlled temperature to form a rectifying junction. One degree too high, and the junction depth would be too large, resulting in poor performance; one degree too low, and the bond would be too weak, rendering the entire sheet unusable.

Wang Huanbo's expression was calm, but his heart was equally tense. The information he brought pointed the way, but the specific process parameters, material ratios, and operating methods all needed to be figured out bit by bit under extremely rudimentary conditions. In China at that time, even high-purity deionized water had to be produced domestically, and photoresist was unheard of; the only alternative was a crudely made mixture of pitch and rosin. Each germanium wafer was extremely precious, saved from the limited import quota, or a rudimentary product that had just been produced domestically and was still full of defects.

"Hold on! The indium sphere is fully expanded... Begin cooling!" Wang Huanbo commanded in a deep voice, his tone carrying a calming power. Although his powerful Ultra psychic abilities could not directly intervene in microscopic processes, they granted him a far more acute perception of environmental factors such as temperature and airflow than ordinary people, allowing him to correct minor deviations at crucial moments several times.

Time ticked by, the only sounds in the lab being the hum of the tube furnace fan and the heavy breathing of everyone. An hour later, the cooling process ended. Wang Huanbo personally put on white cotton gloves and carefully used a specially made quartz boat to remove the chip that carried everyone's hopes.

Under a magnifying glass, a relatively regular alloy junction with clear edges can be seen formed on the surface of the wafer. But this is only the first step. Next comes the more delicate wire bonding—using gold wires finer than a human hair, the electrodes are connected to both sides of the junction under a microscope. This work is performed by Xiao Liu, the female technician with the steadyest hands and sharpest eyes in the group. Holding her breath, she holds the thermoforming pen as if performing the most delicate surgery, pressing one end of the gold wire onto the wafer electrode and the other end onto the pin of the ceramic socket under a 200x microscope. The instantaneous high temperature and pressure fuse them together.

After successful bonding, initial packaging was performed, followed by connection to the test bench. Everyone gathered around, their hearts pounding.

Wang Huanbo took a deep breath and slowly turned the knob on the signal generator while keeping a close eye on the oscilloscope screen. When the voltage reached a certain critical value, the current waveform on the screen underwent the expected nonlinear jump!

"There's a response!" someone whispered.

Wang Huanbo continued to fine-tune the voltage and measure key parameters: amplification factor β, cutoff frequency fT, reverse saturation current, etc.

The data was read out one by one. Although it was still different from the standard value in the data, the amplification was only 15 times (the target was a minimum of 20 times) and the noise was also too high, but it was indeed a germanium alloy transistor that could work properly!

"We did it! We did it!" Chen Siyuan abruptly took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes hard, and his voice choked with emotion. Several young technicians jumped up excitedly, patting each other's shoulders, some even secretly wiping away tears. Only they knew how many sleepless nights they had spent working on this little thing, how many times they had failed.

A relieved smile appeared on Wang Huanbo's face. This tiny transistor was no less significant than a 10,000-ton hydraulic press! It was the seed of the information age, the cornerstone of the transformation of electronic computers from colossal machines to miniaturized and reliable systems! With it, the development of second-generation transistor computers became possible, and the performance of missiles, radar, and communication equipment could achieve leaps forward!

"Comrades, you've worked hard! This is our first step, and also the most crucial one!" Wang Huanbo announced loudly. "But don't be complacent! Our goal is to create high-frequency transistors with a gain exceeding 50 and a better frequency response! To achieve small-scale integration as soon as possible! The road ahead is long, so let's keep up the good work! Tonight, the cafeteria will have an extra meal, it's on me!"

A burst of enthusiastic cheers erupted in the laboratory. This small success greatly boosted morale. Wang Huanbo knew that this was just the beginning; next, they would have to overcome a series of more difficult hurdles, such as silicon material purification, planar processing, and photolithography. But a glimmer of hope had appeared, and this young team was running at full speed toward the dawn of microelectronics.