Chapter 74

It is worth repeating that before Hu Wenhai was reborn, he worked as the chief process engineer at BYD's semiconductor factory in Ningbo.

Cough, as a former employee, Hu Wenhai actually had a lot of respect for Wang Chuanfu. If one were to compare, Wang Chuanfu should be somewhat similar to Ren Zhengfei of Huawei. Both are outstanding figures in private enterprises and have some unspoken respect in the country. However, in their respective fields, they have always pursued technological advancement.

Take BYD's Ningbo semiconductor factory, for example. It was originally a mess that no one wanted to take over, the Ningbo Zhongwei project. Initially, it used 80s-era TSMC technology, and later a batch of second-hand 15-micron process production lines that were phased out. By 2008, when BYD acquired this factory, this production line had been operating in Ningbo for at least ten years, but the yield rate was only a meager 40%.

The benefits it created could be said to have squandered the preferential policies and high hopes Ningbo had placed on it.

Under such pressure, Wang Chuanfu spent a huge amount of money to take over this mess. His first move was to improve the processing accuracy from 15 microns to sub-micron levels in 2008.

In the following years, Wang Chuanfu's investment increased year by year. His investment in upgrading the wafer factory's technology was even ten times higher than the original acquisition price!

Finally, it can be said with great pride that the key IGBT power drive chip in BYD's latest electric vehicle, the Qin, was produced by BYD's Ningbo factory! This technology is only mastered by Infineon internationally, and BYD is the first Chinese company to master it! This has established BYD's leading position in the domestic electric vehicle industry!

Cough, it is somewhat embarrassing to say, but Hu Wenhai made some contributions to achieving this success. Especially in the process of upgrading from 15 microns to 0.8 microns, he was involved in the improvement of the wafer production line throughout.

From the photolithography machine to the etching machine to the chemical vapor deposition (CVD), from the front-end process to the photomask, from circuit design to production scheduling, he improved the yield rate from less than 40% to over 95%.

All these technical routes, Hu Wenhai experienced from the beginning, and all the designs and parameters are stored in his mind. To secure his position, he even pursued a master's degree in optical engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

If asked what the most important equipment on a chip production line is, the answer is undoubtedly the photolithography machine. What is a photolithography machine? Simply put, it is a device that uses a laser to etch circuits on a chip through a photomask.

Therefore, it is easy to imagine that Hu Wenhai has some—modestly speaking, a bit of—research on lasers. As for military lasers, as a pseudo-military geek, even if he hasn't eaten pork, he has seen pigs run. For example—

Yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) crystals, when illuminated by high-energy flash lamps and condensers, can emit a laser with a wavelength of 1.06 microns. Don't underestimate this short line of data; in the 1970s, this information could fetch millions of dollars.

Because this is the most suitable laser for atmospheric transmission that humans have found so far. It is slightly inferior to carbon dioxide lasers in atmospheric transmission performance, but because it is a solid-state laser, it can be made very small, which is a more important factor in the volume of war applications.

The solid-state giant pulse laser excited by YAG crystals was experimentally developed from countless possible laser excitation schemes. Even in the early 1980s, only the United States, the United Kingdom, and France had this data.

The newly established optoelectronic laboratory of Xinke Company still had some foundation, such as the power circuit device used to drive the LD chip. Hu Wenhai took the time to draw a diagram in the afternoon and had Bai Shi prepare the components and assemble them on the spot.

If we can even manufacture IGBTs, it's even easier to make the power drive circuit for driving the LD chip. LD, differing from LED by one letter, is not much different in meaning. LD stands for semiconductor laser (Laser Diode), and like LED, it can achieve photoelectric conversion. In simple terms, the light generated by LED is divergent, while the directionality of the light emitted by LD is much better.

With high-power LD chips, using a condenser to excite YAG crystals, this is the core technology of modern laser guidance systems, such as laser target designators.

The next step is to encode the laser through an electro-optic Q-switch, a device similar to blinking, which allows the laser to flash at different frequencies per second—laser-guided weapons can't just kiss any light they see; they need to recognize their own frequency.

Then, using various prisms to refract the laser, and finally through a filter and a front-end emission telescope, a modulated laser target designator is created.

Yes, the seemingly high-tech laser target designator is actually this simple. In fact, in the future, laser guidance has entered the homes of ordinary people. Think about it, the infrared remote control in your home can sometimes change the TV channel even when the direction is opposite, because the TV receives the scattered signal of the infrared light reflected by the object's surface.

The U.S. military's famous "Paveway" laser guidance system is essentially no different from these things.

To add another point, the fire alarm and automatic fire extinguishing detectors in many offices are a degraded version of infrared guidance heads.

Technological progress driven by the threat of war has long been quietly benefiting the entire society!

However, as the most widely used guidance weapon system by the U.S. military, it is not cheap or simple, and the Pentagon might not be able to afford it.

This time, Hu Wenhai purchased commercial semi-finished products in the United States, which saved the trouble of starting from scratch. With mature design ideas and specific weapon data, the difference is like building a computer from capacitors versus buying a CPU, memory, motherboard, and hard drive to assemble a computer.

The latter is naturally much easier, but assembling a computer with the best cost-performance ratio still requires the wisdom of many people.

Hu Wenhai even skipped this step and could directly provide the best assembly list from PC Home.

"Yes, here we place the condenser in front of the LD chip, focusing all the light onto the YAG laser rod." Hu Wenhai lined up the equipment he had on the table and explained their specific functions and uses to Bai Shi one by one. Then, on the whiteboard hanging on the wall of the laboratory, he drew the entire working diagram of the laser target designator with a marker pen.

"Then, through the prism, the laser is directed into the Pockels electro-optic Q-switch box, and finally through the polarizer into the laser output prism. Do you understand?"

Bai Shi adjusted his thick-framed glasses on his nose, carefully comparing the functions of the physical objects on the table with the schematic diagram, and asked questions about the parts he didn't understand.

Through this question-and-answer session, it took the whole afternoon, and Bai Shi almost filled an entire notebook before hesitantly indicating that he understood all the key points of the design.

"However, Mr. Hu, if this is to be used on the battlefield, shouldn't we also consider measures such as shock resistance, water resistance, and dust resistance in the design?" Bai Shi had also worked on military projects and had his own ideas.

Hu Wenhai waved his hand and said generously, "No need to rush. Your task is to develop this system first. As for the final weapon structure design, that's not our concern."

This is where the two had different perspectives. Hu Wenhai didn't plan to rush this non-mass-produced semi-finished guidance system into the battlefield.

Heng Jianyun's company is still on the front lines in Annam. It's impossible for them to return and re-equip, or to accept Hu Wenhai's equipment without reason. This is where the advantage of being a military unit under the 501 Factory comes in. Once the weapon is produced, it can be equipped to the 501 Factory's militia company in no time.

The 501 Factory, which originally had a militia battalion of over 3,000 people, now has only one company left after two-thirds of the people left.

But that's fine. Once the equipment is developed and the militia company forms combat capability, Heng Jianyun's connections can be used to contact the senior leaders of the Shenyang Military Region, giving Hu Wenhai a chance to show his capabilities.

Cough, even without Heng Jianyun's connections, Hu Wenhai can now meet the senior leaders of the Shenyang Military Region at any time. Who wouldn't be tempted by twenty F-14s!

In other words, the first batch of laser-guided weapons will likely end up in the test field. Since that's the case, there's no need to rush into shock resistance, water resistance, and dust resistance measures.

Once the PLA's interest is piqued, the weapon system design will naturally be handled by professionals, and Hu Wenhai has no intention of competing with the military-industrial system.

Xinke Company can supply the components, and other military factories can provide assembly and debugging. Making money together is much safer in the military-industrial system than going it alone.

We'll take care of the inside work, and the system's units will take the credit. Both sides will be happy, and Hu Wenhai will be content to make a fortune quietly.

After explaining his entire plan to Bai Shi, Hu Wenhai looked at his watch and saw it was almost five o'clock.

Thinking about the poor Yu Shiwu, who had been left in the factory all afternoon, Hu Wenhai quickly packed up and left the technical department building.

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