Chapter 1632 I have never seen this technology

Shou Rongchang took a deep breath and tried to make his voice sound deep.

But because of the mask, it was a bit dull:

"Unboxing!"

Two SMEE engineers who were already prepared walked to the container with serious faces.

They each held a peculiarly shaped silver key and inserted it into the two locks at the upper and lower ends of the container.

The two of them started counting down at the same time in tacit understanding:

"Three...two...one...go!"

The two keys turned 90 degrees almost at the same time.

On the front of the container, a striking red light instantly turned into a steady green light!

"Ding!" The prompt sound of the electronic lock being released is short and clear.

Then, there was a slight sound of hydraulic deflation. The heavy double-layer alloy cabinet door slid slowly and steadily to both sides silently along the precise slide rails.

A thick, highly transparent tempered glass shield is revealed.

Through the glass, you can clearly see the core that is firmly wrapped in multiple layers of flexible shock-proof materials and fixed on a special bracket.

That legendary "new objective system" module.

The module is cylindrical in shape and much more compact than people imagine.

Although the entire lens surface is covered with a black sunshade protective cover, the general outline and lens distribution are clearly visible.

"what?"

Fan Hongjie, who was following behind Zhang Runing, couldn't help but let out a low exclamation, which sounded particularly clear in the extremely quiet workshop.

He immediately realized his mistake, adjusted his goggles awkwardly, and explained: "Sorry... I mean, the integration of this module... I haven't seen it in the DUV system for at least ten years!"

DUV light sources were introduced into lithography systems only a dozen years ago.

The module is simple because the performance is relatively low.

But now coming up with such a compact system is obviously another matter.

"Don't worry." Zhang Runing looked back at him and smiled mysteriously, "What will shock you even more is still to come."

After he finished speaking, he and Shou Rongchang stepped forward and carefully worked together to slowly move the huge protective shield away.

Then, several engineers wearing clean suits and special gloves stepped forward and, under the personal guidance of Zhang Runing, carefully released the module's fixing device. They then worked together to smoothly transfer it along the precision slide rail to a special optical assembly platform nearby.

When the module is firmly in place, the most critical moment arrives.

Two more engineers came forward and used special tools to extremely gently and precisely remove the black sunshade protective cover covering each lens group one by one.

The true appearance of the objective lens group was finally revealed to everyone without reservation!

Inside the silver-gray precision metal lens barrel, fourteen lens groups of different sizes and shapes are arranged and combined in a specific order. The edges of the lenses sparkle with a unique luster under the illumination of the shadowless lamp.

"This..." Kong Xuewu's eyes suddenly widened, and he subconsciously took a step forward, muttering in disbelief, "This... this optical path structure... why does it look like... a retro pure refractive objective lens set?"

You should know that starting from the ArF-850 three generations ago, Changguang Group abandoned the pure refractive module and instead introduced a catadioptric system.

Shou Rongchang also frowned, walked around the assembly platform, and gestured in the air with his fingers.

As an expert in whole-machine integration, he is extremely sensitive to optical paths.

"Strange..." Shou Rongchang's tone was full of confusion, "I don't seem to understand the light path of this lens group..."

After saying that, he took a few steps back and gestured twice more.

Still got the same result:

"Whether the light source is incident from the position of mirror No. 1 (the convex lens at the top) or mirror No. 2, according to the curvature of these lenses and the prism angles, the light does not seem to be able to be effectively focused on the bottom mirror... Instead, it feels like it will be refracted or reflected directly from the side, such as the position of prism No. 5 or prism No. 7?"

He looked at Zhang Runing and Li Yabo, trying to find an answer.

But there was no immediate response.

Just as everyone was attracted by this peculiar structure, discussing in low voices and full of doubts, Zhang Runing moved to a large-size touch screen hanging next to the assembly platform.

He stretched out his fingers wearing dust-free gloves, tapped twice to wake up the screen, and then quickly entered a long and complex dynamic key.

The screen lights up and instantly switches to a highly complex and detailed three-dimensional optical path design interface.

Zhang Runing turned around and faced everyone.

Shou Rongchang, Fan Hongjie, Kong Xuewu and others who were discussing in low voices just now fell silent in an instant.

In the entire clean room, the only sounds left were the low hum of the air circulation system and more than two dozen eyes filled with shock, curiosity and thirst for knowledge, all focused on the big screen.

Except for a few core members of Changguang and Torch who followed Zhang Runing throughout the R&D and testing,

They had knowing smiles on their faces and waited with interest for their colleagues' next exciting reactions.

"Everyone," Zhang Runing's voice was clear and steady through the mask, "This is the core design of our 'new ArF-1800 objective system'."

He pointed to the complex optical path diagram in the center of the screen and said, "First, the optical path problem that everyone is most concerned about."

The optical path diagram is highlighted, and a virtual purple line representing the 193nm DUV laser beam begins to dynamically extend along the preset path.

"Light source, from here, incident at a specific angle above convex lens No. 1." The light spot fell precisely on mirror No. 1.

"Then, the light will pass through here and here in turn..." The purple auxiliary line representing the light path quickly jumped between several lenses. "Pay attention here, prism No. 5! And here, prism No. 7! The light on their surfaces is not refracted or reflected in a single way..."

As he explained, the locations of prisms No. 5 and No. 7 on the screen were magnified and highlighted.

However, when the two light beams touched the surface of the prism, they strangely went in two directions!

One stream clearly passes through the prism and continues along the refracted path, while the other stream changes direction 90 degrees along the reflected path!

"This...how is this possible?!" Fan Hongjie's heart was shocked and he almost shouted out loud.

He stared at the screen intently, feeling his brain go a little dull:

How can an optical element perform both refraction and reflection functions at the same time?

In the objective system, the reflection effect on the surface of the refractive element is one of the main interferences and should be eliminated as much as possible.

But Zhang Runing did not stop and continued to guide the light path forward: "... after 16 refractions and 4 key reflections, the light will eventually be perfectly focused here - at the bottom mirror!"

The light spot is ultimately focused precisely on a target point that represents the plane of the silicon wafer.

Soon, Fan Hongjie realized that the problem was not limited to those two areas.

The direction of the refracted light through lenses 3 and 12 is also very strange, it looks like the outline of the mirror is drawn wrong...

He suppressed the urge to ask questions immediately and just kept the key doubts in his mind, ready to ask in detail later.

However, Zhang Runing's explanation was even quicker.

"Okay, the optical path is clear." His tone became extremely serious, "Now let's emphasize the core key points of installation and debugging!"

"The core of the entire objective lens group is these four lenses!" His fingertips tapped lens No. 3, prism No. 5, prism No. 7, and lens No. 12 in turn, and they flashed eye-catching highlighted outlines on the screen.

"They are made of a revolutionary negative refractive material." Zhang Runing calmly uttered a groundbreaking term, "The main function of the No. 3 and No. 12 lenses is to eliminate system chromatic aberration and ensure image clarity."

"And prisms No. 5 and No. 7," Zhang Runing continued, "use the special optical properties of negative refractive materials to simultaneously exert refraction and reflection functions, preventing vertically incident light from being blocked by other components..."

"..."

He looked around the room:

"For this reason, the reference point setting of this objective lens set during installation, positioning and calibration is completely different from our previous ArF-1500 system. It is no longer the traditional three-point calibration of the No. 1 mirror, the middle mirror, and the bottom mirror!"

On the screen, four red triangles are precisely calibrated at the positions of lens No. 3, prism No. 7, lens No. 12 and bottom mirror.

"Instead, we need to calibrate four reference points: No. 3, No. 7, No. 12, and the bottom mirror! The positioning accuracy requirements and the complexity of the correlations far exceed any previous models. This is why our most elite team must personally handle this, and SMEE and Huaxin's comrades must work closely together..."

"..."

In fact, Zhang Runing will most likely repeat the following part.

Because when the five words "negative refractive material" came out of his mouth, most people were already in a state of stupefaction.

Fan Hongjie, in particular, instantly understood what "even more shocking things are yet to come" meant.

Ok!

I have never seen this technology before...