In the post-Moore era, China's integrated circuits will usher in development opportunities
◎Dai Xiaopei, our reporter
"Moore's Law is no longer important." Xu Juyan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at the 2021 China (Shaoxing) Integrated Circuit Industry Innovation and Development Academic Summit on May 21.
For more than half a century, the semiconductor industry has been developing rapidly following the trajectory of Moore's Law.
Participants said that nowadays, the method of improving chip performance simply by improving the process can no longer fully meet the needs of the times, and the semiconductor industry has gradually entered the post-Moore era.
Moore's Law fails, but integrated circuits are still irreplaceable.
"In the foreseeable future, there will be no other technologies that can replace integrated circuits. Even if they do, it will take decades and tens of trillions of dollars to replace today's integrated circuits." Tsinghua University Information Science and Technology College professor Wei Shaojun said.
"Integrated circuits are very important, but the development is still relatively slow." Wu Hanming, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said bluntly, "Currently, China's integrated circuit industry faces two major barriers: one is policy barriers. China's integrated circuit development is restricted by the United States and other countries, and faces political constraints. Difficulties; the second is the new barriers to the industry. The difficulties in the industry are mainly reflected in technology. China's semiconductor industry must strengthen its core patents as soon as possible."
Wu Hanming believes that in the post-Moor era, China will encounter three major challenges.
"Among them, the basic challenge is the lithography machine, and the core challenge is new materials and new processes. The shortcomings of the lithography machine are the most obvious and serious. Now our lithography machine is several generations behind some countries. Testing equipment and materials are in It is also very weak internationally."
However, several experts at the conference said that the development of industrial technology in the post-Moore era has slowed down, but there is a lot of room for innovation and opportunities for catching up.
How to accelerate the development of my country's integrated circuits in the post-Moore era?
"Improving the level of the entire industrial chain is very important." Wu Hanming said that the field of integrated circuits is the competition of the chain, not the confrontation of the points. It depends on whether the entire industrial chain is strong.
Chen Zuoning, vice-president and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, holds the same view: "Integrated circuits have no personal heroes and need to drive all links of the industrial chain to form a joint force to a higher level."
To this end, experts suggest creating a scientific and technological culture oriented by industrial technology.
"Industrial success is the only criterion for testing technological innovation. Industrial technology is not the application and development of scientific research institutions after transformation, but the original driving force that guides scientific research. Target-oriented research depends on the needs of industrial technology. Also note that industrial technology cannot have Obviously short board." Wu Hanming said.
At the same time, accelerating the construction of public technology research and development platforms under the national system is also seen as an important measure.
At the meeting, Professor Yan Xiaolang of the School of Electrical Engineering of Zhejiang University gave a set of data: in 2020, China's top ten integrated circuit design cities, the first six are all industrialized bases laid out 20 years ago.
He believes that the industrialization base plays a key role in the development of the industry, and it is necessary to continue to strengthen the construction of the technological innovation service platform and build an industrial chain construction platform.
It was emphasized that the cultivation of relevant talents is very important.
Guo Hongyan, vice president of technology of Changdian Integrated Circuits (Shaoxing) Co., Ltd., said that the difficulty in recruiting talents is a major bottleneck restricting the development of the company. He hopes that young people can sink their hearts and take root to polish their skills and not exclude them from entering the factory.
Participants also pointed out that integrated circuits are an industry with obvious globalization. Even if globalization is hindered, it is still necessary to adhere to the global technology development route and advocate the construction of a community of corporate innovation with a shared future.
"After more than 60 years of development, integrated circuit technology is once again standing at a fork in the road. The choice of device structure will determine the commanding heights of future competition, architecture innovation will lead the revolution in computing, and micro-nano system integration technology will open up new paths. The next ten In 2010, we are faced with major opportunities for device structure replacement, computing architecture innovation, and system integration technology path transformation. Seizing these opportunities, we can definitely accomplish a lot.” Wei Shaojun said.
Xu Juyan said: "Politics can disrupt the supply chain and the industrial chain, but it is difficult to change the inherent development law of the industry. We must do our own affairs, give full play to our own advantages, and seize the next round of innovation."