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Whether China's integrated circuit industry can "change lanes to overtake"

Abstract: if China wants to get rid of the state that integrated circuits have always followed, it must formulate a "carbon based electronic national strategy". China's information industry has always hoped to overtake at the corner, and carbon based may be one of the best corners. At present, Chinese scientists have made something leading the world in theory and original technology, and we should seize this opportunity

on January 20, science magazine published the world-class breakthrough made by Peng Lianmao, head of the Department of electronics at Peking University, and Zhang Zhiyong, deputy director of the Institute of Physical Electronics in the field of carbon nanotube Electronics: the first preparation of high-performance carbon nanotube transistors with a gate length of 5 nm, and proved that their performance exceeded that of silicon-based CMOS field-effect transistors of the same size, pushing the transistor performance to the theoretical extreme

the global integrated circuit industry has been following the silicon-based route under the "light" of Moore's law. However, when the mainstream CMOS technology has developed to the 10 nanometer technology node, the subsequent development is increasingly restricted by physical laws and manufacturing costs, and Moore's law may face the end. For more than 20 years, the scientific and industrial circles have been exploring various transistor technologies with new materials and new principles, hoping to replace silicon-based CMOS technology. However, so far, no mechanism has been able to realize new devices of 10 nm, and no new devices can really surpass the best silicon-based CMOS devices in performance

China has always been a follower in the development of integrated circuits. The results of Peng Lianmao and Zhang Zhiyong's research group have achieved world-class breakthroughs in the laboratory. If we can speed up industrialization and engineering, it is possible to lead China's integrated circuit industry from following to leading camp. The problem is that for such a disruptive technology, its industrialization requires a long time investment and more industrial ecology. At present, China does not have a carbon based electronic national strategy. What should we do about the industrialization of cutting-edge technologies

carbon base surpasses silicon base

at present, about 90% of the devices of integrated circuit chips in the world come from silicon-based CMOS technology. With the reduction of transistor size, its subsequent development is increasingly restricted by physical laws and manufacturing costs. In 2005, the international semiconductor technology roadmap (ITRS) committee clearly pointed out for the first time that silicon-based CMOS technology will reach its performance limit around 2020. The research of integrated circuit technology in the post Moore era has become increasingly urgent. Many people believe that the microelectronic industry may have to give up using silicon as the conductive channel of transistors after reaching the 7-nanometer technology node. Among the few possible alternative materials, carbon based nano materials, especially carbon nanotubes, are recognized as the most promising alternative to silicon materials with an estimated capacity of about 1.2 billion watt hours

after reviewing all possible silicon-based CMOS alternative technologies, the itrs Working Group on emerging research materials and emerging research devices in 2008 clearly recommended carbon based electronics as the next generation of electronic technology with commercial value in the next 5-10 years to the semiconductor industry. The National Science Foundation of the United States (NSF) has continued to give key support to carbon nano materials and related devices in the National Nanotechnology program of the United States for more than a decade. In 2008, it also launched a "science and engineering project beyond Moore's law", in which carbon based electronics research is listed as the top priority. Since then, the United States has continuously increased its investment in carbon based electronics research. The national nano plan of the United States has set "Nano Electronics after 2020" as one of the three top priority signature initiatives since 2010. In addition to the United States, the European Union and other governments also attach great importance to the research, development and application of carbon nano materials and related electronics, and continue to occupy the commanding heights in the core field of information technology

the importance of carbon based electronics research is self-evident, which is related to the future "orbit change" of integrated circuits. In fact, the United States is not only research institutions to increase investment, IBM and other large IT companies are also actively deploying the "Dynasty change" plan of the integrated circuit industry. In 2014, IBM announced that it would invest $3billion to develop new semiconductor processes and new alternative materials and technologies. Professor Peng Lianmao revealed in an interview that at present, IBM adopts the doping preparation method in the research direction of carbon nanotubes, while the research group of Peng Lianmao and Zhang Zhiyong adopts the undoped preparation method, which is the first in the world. After more than 10 years of research, their research group has developed the undoped preparation method. The top gate CMOS field effect transistor of 10 nm carbon nanotubes, whose p-type and n-type devices are at a lower working voltage (0.4V), The performance is better than the best silicon-based CMOS transistor at higher working voltage (0.7V). Now, they have overcome the technological limitation of size reduction and successfully developed a 5-nanometer gate length carbon nano transistor, whose performance is close to the theoretical limit determined by the principles of quantum mechanics

research shows that compared with silicon-based CMOS devices with the same gate length, carbon nanotube CMOS devices have about 10 times the comprehensive advantages of speed and dynamic power consumption, as well as better scalability. They also studied the reduction of the overall size of the device and its impact on the performance of the device, reduced the length of the contact electrode of the carbon tube device to 25 nm, realized the carbon nanotube transistor with an overall size of 60 nm on the premise of ensuring the performance, and successfully demonstrated the carbon tube CMOS inverter with an overall length of 240 nm, which is the smallest nano inverter circuit currently realized

Peng Lianmao said that this year, the Peking University team will make thousands of gate level general-purpose CPUs based on carbon based technology, which is equivalent to Intel's first commercial CPU in the 1970s. The next year and the following year will make 1MB Memory, close to tens of millions of transistors, reaching the level of Intel in the 1990s. If more talents who are familiar with silicon technology and industrialization experience join in, the financial resources required for industrialization will be in place in time, and the pace of carbon nanotube integrated circuit engineering and industrialization will be greatly accelerated. It is expected that carbon nanotube chips will enter the market within five years

the achievements of the silicon-based integrated circuit industry today are the result of more than 60 years of development. Intel alone invested more than $12 billion in research and development funds in 2016. The development of silicon-based technology from materials to preparation to software and the whole ecosystem has been very mature, while carbon based technology has only been confirmed in theory and laboratory. There is still a long way to go to achieve industrialization and stand on the market

to paraphrase a common saying, it can be said that compared with the silicon-based industry, the carbon based industry has foreseeable a bright future, but the road of industrialization and marketization is still tortuous and long

will China invest or wait

some people may ask that the silicon-based industry is still booming, and 90% of the resources of the integrated circuit industry are concentrated on the silicon-based road. Is it necessary to find another way to look at other paths that are still in their infancy? The answer is yes, every industry has its life cycle, and silicon base also has "one way to go, one day it may go black". Everyone is looking for another way. What attitude should China take

if China wants to get rid of the state that integrated circuits have always followed, it must formulate a "carbon based electronic national strategy". China's information industry has always hoped to overtake at the corner, and carbon based may be one of the best corners. At present, Chinese scientists have made something leading the world in theory and original technology, and we should seize this opportunity

according to the article published in science magazine, the achievements developed by the research group of Peng Lianmao and Zhang Zhiyong have surpassed the achievements of IBM's current carbon based road line. As for the achievements made by the research group of Peng Lianmao and Zhang Zhiyong, we interviewed some research institutions of foreign IT giants. From their judgment, the contribution of this article is to develop 5-nanometer carbon nanotube devices, which are better than the best silicon-based CMOS transistors published for the first time in terms of performance indicators, but there is still a long way to go for the industrialization of carbon nanotubes

such an original technological breakthrough is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for China's IC industry to break through, but to achieve industrialization and engineering solutions: powertest3.0 software needs to back up the E, B, l, l, B files under the software installation path and the data file under the data folder. There is still a long way to go. It needs greater ecological alliance and strategic layout at the national level

in addition to formulating the "carbon based electronic national strategy", another dimension is how to promote the industrialization of basic technologies in a market-oriented manner? Peng Lianmao's team has proposed to obtain the support of national key basic research and development plan (973) and key special projects of national key R & D plan in China's "energy saving and new energy vehicle industry development plan (year)" for four consecutive times. The next engineering, industrialization and marketization need different systems and mechanisms, and need to be implemented through enterprise behavior. In 2015, with the support of Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and Beijing capital science and technology group, Peng Lianmao's team established Beijing huatanyuanxin electronic technology company, hoping to accelerate the engineering of this subject. At present, the company has recruited more than 10 full-time engineering and technical personnel on the basis of the original R & D team

but at present, its resource allocation and support are far from enough: on the one hand, they need talents with silicon-based industrialization experience to join in to provide reference experience for the industrialization of carbon based technology; On the other hand, they believe that they need the support of large IT enterprises or Internet giant enterprises to accelerate their engineering and industrialization. The key reason why the research achievements of chip giants such as IBM and Intel can quickly become industries is that they have money and industrial resources. In fact, Internet companies including Google and Facebook are now joining in the R & D and investment of more cutting-edge technologies. China's bat may also have a strategic vision and see its great value and far-reaching significance

carbon chip technology has not seen the embryonic form of commodities until at least five years later, and it may take longer to form industrialization. From the perspective of current market-oriented funds, venture capital only invests in high-growth projects and enterprises that are likely to be realized within five years. So who will take over the industrialization of this subversive technology, and who will make this Chinese original and world-leading technology a reality, and help China's integrated circuit industry "change tracks and overtake". We look forward to better suggestions and answers from you who are far sighted