sbdcsierra Chapter 218 Access
Chapter 218 Access
Chapter 252 Access
June 24th.
morning.
Wuxi.
China Resources Microelectronics Wuxi Plant.
Workshop No. 5. Production Line No. 3.
This is the "first batch of production lines selected by CR Microelectronics." Production line No. 3 is the medium-capacity and most complex of CR Microelectronics' six 8-meter MEMS production lines. This line wasn't chosen because it was the "easiest to follow," but because it "demonstrates the key points."
Two engineers from Weilan were stationed on-site.
One of them is Su Zhao. She is 43 years old. She previously worked at AVIC MEMS for over 20 years on production line processes. She was recruited by Vilan in March and is now a senior engineer in Vilan's simulation deployment department.
The other one is Zou Xin. She's 25 years old. She joined Weilan after completing her second year of master's studies at Fudan University. She just became a full-time employee this May.
One old and one young.
They're here today to deploy the "full-featured modular package." This is the highest-level access solution that Vilan provides to its alliance companies. It includes five modules: production line simulation, adaptive deviation correction, material expansion, error diagnosis, and real-time feedback.
Zhang Li was stationed at China Resources Microelectronics to provide support. Zhou Zhiyuan accompanied him.
Zhou Zhiyuan mainly observed today, rather than personally participating. This was his first time seeing a simulation system deployed on the production line of an alliance company.
Deployment began at 8 a.m.
Su Zhao was responsible for synchronizing the simulation sample library with the production line parameters. He used a desktop terminal connected to the production line control computer of production line three. He gradually imported the existing equipment parameters, existing QC parameters, and existing environmental parameters from the production line—three types of input.
Zou Xin was responsible for importing the error diagnosis and real-time feedback module. He used a laptop connected to the Vilan simulation cloud. He gradually adjusted the thresholds, alarm levels, and recalculation frequency.
Three hours later, at 5:02 PM, the deployment was complete.
Su Zhao glanced at her watch. "Let's try it out."
Zhang Li, Zhou Zhiyuan, and the three mid-level engineers present gathered around.
The simulation results panel pops up on the production line control computer. There are currently eighteen processes on production line number three. The panel displays the predicted deviations for each process.
The predicted deviation for the third process is -0.42.
The predicted deviation for the fifth process is -0.18.
Prediction deviation for the seventh process: -0.51.
Predicted deviation for the twelfth process: +0.33.
The prediction deviations for other processes are all within ±0.1.
Su Zhao glanced at Zhang Li. "What's the current yield rate for your production line?"
Zhang Li checked his phone. "Last month's average was 86.4%."
"This forecast says that the third, fifth, seventh, and twelfth processes on your production line are the main points that lower the yield," Su Zhao said. "The other five processes haven't changed much, so they're not the main problem."
Zhang Li nodded. This was consistent with their assessment on the production line. However, their on-site assessment was based on facts. The simulation system was developed from scratch manually, without checking equipment or deploying equipment, solely based on input parameters.
"What adjustments does the simulation system recommend?" Zhang Li asked.
Click "Next Page" for the unedited photo. The page displays recommended parameter adjustments. See each parameter individually.
Third step: It is recommended to increase the control temperature by 7˚. It is recommended to adjust the standby transformer alarm threshold from 4ml to 3ml. It is recommended to reduce the expected fabrication deviation to 0.15.
Fifth step: It is recommended to extend the pre-drying time of upstream materials by 5 minutes. This is expected to reduce the fabrication deviation to 0.07.
Seventh step: It is recommended to adjust the photolithography bias threshold. It is recommended to reduce the expected fabrication deviation to 0.20.
Twelfth step: It is recommended to lower the packaging temperature. It is recommended to reduce the expected manufacturing deviation to 0.12.
Zhang Li finished reading. He adjusted his glasses.
"These suggestions can be adjusted on the field equipment. But what will happen to the yield after adjusting them?"
Plain image click simulation.
Five minutes later, the simulation results came out.
Predicted yield: 93.6%.
Excellent rate: 86.4%.
Predicted rise: 7.2 points.
Zhang Li finished reading. He glanced at Zhou Zhiyuan. He glanced at his watch. It was 5:00 PM. He spoke.
"Adjust now."
He told the three mid-level engineers on site that they would spend the next thirty minutes adjusting the parameters for these four processes.
It's not "take a look." It's "adjust now."
After adjustment, it will be verified in the processing of the next batch of wafers.
Zhou Zhiyuan glanced at the production line. Line number three was the starting point. The next batch of wafers would go through the third process. The adjusted parameters were being verified on this batch of wafers.
The adjustments were made without stopping the production line.
This is where production line simulation systems differ from traditional simulation software. Traditional simulation software requires "production stoppage, adjustment, and restart verification." The Vilan simulation system, however, allows for on-site adjustment and verification without stopping the production line.
……
6 pm.
The next batch of wafers is coming out. Inspection.
The yield rate for this batch is 93.1%.
The prediction is 93.6%. The deviation is 0.5 points. This is within the acceptable deviation range for the simulation system.
Production line cycle time record: Original cycle time was 113 seconds per wafer. After adjustment, it is 99.6 seconds per wafer, a decrease of 11.8%.
The main change was the adjustment of the third and seventh processes, which reduced the workload of repeated inspections.
Zhang Li was looking at these two sets of data.
He glanced at Zhou Zhiyuan.
Zhou Zhiyuan had originally planned to look at it, but now he felt a bit overwhelmed. He chose another production line—another production line in Workshop 5 with a high degree of process complexity. He ran another simulation using last month's data from that production line.
Predicted yield increase: 6.8 percentage points.
Predicted tempo decrease: 11.4%.
The results were almost on the same order of magnitude as the verification results from production line number three today. Zhou Zhiyuan finished reading them and put his phone away.
Zhang Li walked over. He understood what Zhou Zhiyuan had just been verifying.
"Mr. Zhou, this system..." he said. "The predictions generated purely from the input parameters deviate from the actual verification after on-site adjustments by less than half a percentage point."
He spoke softly, but his eyes shone.
Zhou Zhiyuan glanced at him. "This is a simulation system. Not an elephant. It is."
He paused for a moment.
"What you see now is the production line. Soon you will see that production line number three can be connected to that line, and then another one."
"The simulation system is not a tool for 'optimizing a particular production line.' It's about 'human feedback.'"
Zhang Li nodded. He understood.
The Vilan production line simulation system is not just software. It's a closed loop of "data-simulation-optimization-feedback" that can be integrated into the entire MEMS industry chain.
……
7 PM. Zou Xin packs up the equipment.
Old Zhang and Old Sun were both escorted out of the workshop by Zou Xin. The simulation system deployment was complete. The next step was to authorize representatives.
After leaving the workshop, Zhang Li asked Zou Xin a question. He had heard that Zou Xin had just been promoted to a permanent position this year. He wanted to inquire about Wei Lan's situation.
"Xiao Zou, how many people are there in your simulation deployment department at Weilan?"
"The on-site deployment team consists of 23 people. There are also two other departments: back-end support, model operation, and sample library. In total, there are 150 people."
"They were all recruited this year."
"Mostly."
Zhang Li nodded. This was what he had expected. The Vilan simulation deployment department didn't exist until March. They had recruited over a hundred people in the first half of this year.
"You're hiring quickly."
"It's not Weilan hiring..." Zou Xin said. "President Zhou issued those recruitment notices. He's one of the three on the technical committee. He's hiring faster than Weilan."
Zhang Li discerned a signal. Weilan was a company. And behind Weilan weren't just people from Weilan itself. It was Weilan + the Chinese Academy of Sciences + the alliance + everyone who could be influenced by Weilan.
He then asked a question—a question that someone he thought could answer, but he wasn't sure if he could ask.
"Xiao Zou, I heard that Noah and Chen Yu mentioned something called 'Industrial Cloud' here. It allows data exchange between production lines in multiple factories. Is Vilan currently working on this?"
Zou Xin glanced at him. He wasn't on that project, but he'd heard of it.
"Industrial cloud. Yes. Two months ago, someone proposed a future vision: that while Vilan provides simulation services, various factories can exchange anonymized data horizontally. This would allow the simulation system to converge faster and enable alliance companies to see the differences between similar production lines."
"Are you working on it?" Zhang Li asked.
"She's not here," Zou Xin said. "Weilan...it was discussed in the meeting. But in the end, President Zhou pushed it to the 'next stage'."
"What is the next stage?"
"After the first batch of alliance companies have stabilized their connections, Lu Nong estimates that a reassessment will be conducted about three months after their connection is established."
Zhang Li nodded. He glanced at Zhou Zhiyuan, who was about to walk out the door. He had seen this Mr. Zhou pushing the whole thing forward. Preparing for simulation, preparing for prototypes, preparing for personnel, preparing for the next-generation architecture. Now they were even preparing for an "industrial cloud".
"Can he push it over?" Zhang Li asked, nibbling.
Zou Xin smiled. "He can. He doesn't seem too proud of it."
The two walked out of the factory gate together.
Zou Xin got into the company car. Zhang Li stood by the roadside and watched for a while.
He took out his phone and sent a message to Sun Jian.
"Mr. Sun, today's deployment is complete. Predicted yield increase: 7.2 percentage points. Next batch verification: 93.1%. Production line cycle time decrease: 11.8%."
"Hmm." Sun Jian replied sixty seconds later. "No telegrams will be sent tomorrow."
Zhang Li closed his phone.
He looked up at the increasingly deep shade of the trees. The June sun had not yet set. Sunlight shone on the main building of the China Resources Micro-factory area.
Simulation deployment was completed today. Four more of the five core alliance members need to complete the deployment. Over 300 more members will need to access the alliance through secondary authorization.
"Industrial cloud" or "the next stage"?
But Zhou Zhiyuan was able to push it aside.
He's someone who can push things around.