HLnovel Chapter 184 Focus
Chapter 184 Focus
Wednesday, December 13th.
Zhihu.
A lengthy article titled "Several Unreasonable Aspects of Vilan Microsystems' '300mm Breakthrough'" was featured prominently in the MEMS topic.
The author's ID is "Semiconductor Veteran 2003", and the bio reads "17 years of experience, former process manager of a Top 3 MEMS company".
The article has four main arguments:
First, 300mm DRIE etching is a globally recognized technical challenge. Bosch has invested over twenty years in research and development but has only achieved stable mass production at 250mm. For a startup less than two years old to claim a breakthrough at 300mm is highly illogical from a timeline perspective.
Second, although Su Chen's published paper has theoretical innovations in the third-order correction model, all the experimental verifications in the paper are based on 250mm wafers. The leap from 250mm to 300mm is not a simple parameter adjustment, but involves systemic engineering challenges in multiple dimensions such as thermal field distribution, plasma uniformity, and edge effect control.
Third, the Vilan Technology Alliance expanded too rapidly. It grew from 12 to 29 members in just three months. Such a pace of expansion is abnormal in a normal business environment, unless driven by some kind of "information asymmetry"—that is, the alliance members have access to data unavailable to outsiders. However, this data has not been made public to this day.
Fourth, Su Chen himself is just a doctoral student. Even if he has theoretical talent, the gap between theory and engineering implementation is not something one person can bridge alone. He must have a strong engineering team supporting him, but Wei Lan has never disclosed information about this team.
The article concludes by saying:
"I'm not saying the 300mm figure is definitely fake. I'm saying that without publicly available data and peer-reviewed papers, all 'rumors' and 'speculation' cannot be used as a basis for judgment. I suggest that everyone following the MEMS industry remain calm and wait for the papers to be published before making any decisions."
The article quickly garnered 1200 likes after it was published, and the comments were divided into two camps.
One side believes that the "semiconductor veteran's" analysis is reasonable and well-founded, and that his 17 years of industry experience is not just empty talk; they should remain calm.
The other side countered: You're right about everything, but you can't explain why the three packaging companies were willing to join the alliance, nor can you explain why the "calm analyst's" speculative post was tacitly approved and not deleted by Vilan. If the 300mm diameter is fake, why doesn't Vilan come out to refute the rumor?
The most upvoted comment in the comment section came from the "calm analyst" himself:
"The veteran is right, let's wait for the paper. But I'd like to add one point: if the 300mm is fake, then the confidentiality agreement signed by Vilan is just a piece of paper. More than twenty companies signed confidentiality agreements, which is equivalent to more than twenty companies endorsing a lie. What do you think the probability of that is?"
This reply received over 800 likes.
Thursday, December 14th.
Suzhou.
Li Xuefang, Marketing Director of MicroPort Sensors, posted the following message in an industry WeChat group:
"There have been many rumors recently about Vilan's 300mm lens, but from what I understand, the data they presented at their technical sharing session on December 5th had many limiting conditions and cannot be simply interpreted as 'successful mass production of 300mm lenses.' I cannot disclose specific details due to confidentiality agreements, but I suggest everyone view this rationally."
The wording of this passage is very deliberate—it doesn't directly say "fake," but it implies "it's exaggerated."
This message was quickly screenshotted and shared on Zhihu.
One commenter pointed out, "Isn't MicroPort Sensing a member of the Vilan Alliance? How could they say something like that?"
Someone replied: "MicroPort Sensors just reduced its supply to Vilan last month, but has now resumed supply. Think about the ins and outs of this."
December 14th, afternoon.
Shenzhen, headquarters of Vilan Microsystems.
Lin Wei saw the screenshot.
She looked at it for about three seconds, then put her phone down.
"It won't affect the overall situation," she said to Chen Yuqing beside her.
Chen Yuqing frowned: "Should we respond? This is clearly MicroPort sabotaging us. They just resumed supply and are already stabbing us in the back."
"No comment." Lin Wei said calmly, "First, we have a confidentiality agreement, and any form of public response could trigger its terms. Second, the 'minimally invasive' claim is just an implication, without any data or evidence. Third—"
She paused for a moment.
"Third, the paper is almost out. Once it's published, all the hints, rumors, and doubts will be rendered meaningless. We don't need to waste our energy arguing about a fish that's no longer important."
Chen Yuqing thought for a moment and nodded: "Understood. What about the media?"
"The official stance remains unchanged: 'No interviews will be accepted during the confidentiality agreement period.' Not a single word more."
"good."
Lin Wei picked up her phone and sent a message to Zhao Guoping:
"The marketing director of MicroPort Sensing hinted in the industry group. Ignore it, but write it down. You'll need it later when evaluating their level of cooperation."
Zhao Guoping replied: "Received. Screenshot and archived."
Friday, December 15th.
Shenzhen, Su Chen's laboratory.
Two document windows were open simultaneously on the computer screen in front of Su Chen.
On the left is the final draft of the second part of the paper sent by Zhou Zhiyuan, and on the right is the draft of the third part written by himself.
He is comparing the symbol systems of the two parts.
The second part uses Zhou Zhiyuan's rewritten notation system—more universal and geared towards readers across the entire materials science field. The mathematical derivations in the third part were written by him, using the MEMS notation he is accustomed to.
The two sets of symbols need to be unified.
This is not a simple find-and-replace task. The meanings of some symbols differ slightly between the two systems. For example, Zhou Zhiyuan uses σ_th to represent the thermal stress tensor in the second part, while Su Chen uses τ_T to represent the same quantity in the third part. These differences need to be checked one by one to ensure that the physical meanings are completely consistent.
He spent the entire morning standardizing the symbols in the third part. Around noon, he sent Zhou Zhiyuan a message:
"The notation in Part Three is now consistent with your Part Two. Also, I've seen your final rewritten version of Part Two. There's one point I'd like to make."
Zhou Zhiyuan: "Where?"
Su Chen: "In the second paragraph of the third section of the second part, you wrote the applicability condition for the third-order correction as 'any thermoelastic coupling system that satisfies the linear elastic substrate assumption.' This scope is broader than my original setting. I originally only wrote 'thermoelastic coupling in silicon-based MEMS-DRIE processes.'"
Zhou Zhiyuan: "You think it's too wide?"
Su Chen was silent for about a minute before replying, "No. I think you're right. The mathematical form of the third-order correction term does indeed not depend on the specific parameters of the silicon-based material. Theoretically, as long as the linear elastic substrate assumption is satisfied, the model applies. My previous limitation to silicon-based MEMS was conservative."
Zhou Zhiyuan: "So?"
Su Chen: "So we'll keep your wording. This is the core competitiveness of the paper—not a process improvement, but a theoretical tool. Reviewers will understand why we submitted to Nature Materials instead of JMEMS when they see this positioning."
Zhou Zhiyuan: "Okay. When will you give me the fourth part?"
Su Chen: "Monday. Part four is the experimental verification of 250mm. The data is readily available; we just need to reformat it according to the NM format."
Zhou Zhiyuan: "Okay. I'll write the experimental data for the 300mm section in Part Five."
Su Chen: "Pay attention to your wording. The 300mm data is being published for the first time before the paper is published. Reviewers will pay special attention to the experimental details. Every parameter should have a complete error analysis."
Zhou Zhiyuan: "Understood."
Monday, December 18th.
Shenzhen.
Su Chen completed the final draft of the fourth part of the paper, "Experimental Verification of 250mm", at 6 pm today.
Meanwhile, Zhou Zhiyuan completed the first draft of Part Five, "Experimental Verification and Analysis of 300mm," in Beijing.
At this point, the first five parts of the paper are all either complete or nearly complete:
Part One: Introduction (Zhou Zhiyuan, Completed)
Part Two: Third-Order Nonlinear Extension of Thermoelastic Coupling Effects—A General Theoretical Framework (Zhou Zhiyuan, Completed)
Part Three: Mathematical Derivation of the Third-Order Extension (Su Chen, Completed)
Part Four: Experimental Verification at 250mm (Completed by Su Chen)
Part 5: Experimental Verification and Analysis at 300mm (Zhou Zhiyuan, first draft completed, Su Chen under review)
Only the sixth part remains – “Discussion and Outlook”, which is in charge of Su Chen and includes the content of 400mm theoretical extrapolation.
Su Chen sent Zhou Zhiyuan a progress summary that evening:
"The status of the first five parts is confirmed. I will review the fifth part tomorrow and give you feedback. I have written most of the sixth part and expect to finish it the day after tomorrow. There should be no problem with the final draft on the 22nd."
Zhou Zhiyuan replied: "Received. I will compile a unified list of references for the entire manuscript when we finalize it. Currently, 47 references have been cited, of which no more than 3 are related to Bosch; these are all unavoidable classic citations."
Su Chen: "Okay. I'll check the reference list one last time."