Photo shows the two-dimensional semiconductor products displayed by Yuanshiji Technology at the site. (Wen Hui Bao reporter Zhang Yi, photo)

It's hard to imagine that in a traditional and crowded industrial park in Chuansha, Pudong, Shanghai, there is a future of the integrated circuit industry hidden away. Yesterday, China's first two-dimensional semiconductor engineering verification demonstration process line was lit here.

At a time when silicon-based chips are approaching physical limits and global competition is intense, two-dimensional semiconductors are recognized as an important form of future chips. The lighting of this demonstration line in Shanghai means that this revolutionary technology is moving out of the laboratory and moving towards industrialization. This not only helps promote the continued high-speed advancement of the integrated circuit industry following Moore's Law, but also creates a rare opportunity for China to break through the bottlenecks in chip equipment and processes through "changing lanes to overtake".

Building integrated circuits directly from atoms

The demonstration line built by Yuanshiji Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is like a miniature integrated circuit factory. Journalists saw through the glass of the viewing corridor that two cleanrooms with a total area of nearly 1000 square meters were filled with various semiconductor processing equipment, including lithography machines. Nearly 10 technicians wearing full dust-proof suits, even covering their faces tightly, were adjusting the equipment. It was revealed that if everything goes smoothly, the entire demonstration line will complete the joint debugging by mid-year and start production.

"What we are doing is building integrated circuits directly from atoms," said Bao Wenzhong, founder of Yuanshiji Technology and researcher at the National Key Laboratory of Integrated Chip and System, School of Microelectronics, Fudan University. He stated that two-dimensional semiconductors are not just a material upgrade, but also a final challenge to the physical limits of transistors.

Bao Wenzhong, founder of Yuanshiji Technology. (Reference photo, source: Fudan University official website)

Today's integrated circuit manufacturing tests the ultimate ability of humans to "carve" transistors at the nanoscale. As the scale of silicon-based chips continues to approach atomic level, negative effects such as leakage and heat become increasingly difficult to overcome. Two-dimensional semiconductor technology takes a completely different approach, bypassing the most difficult part of integrated circuit manufacturing - atom-level polishing of silicon-based materials. Instead, specific materials' atoms grow naturally, forming films as thin as one or a few atoms (almost "two-dimensional planes"). Chips made with this process can perfectly suppress leakage, providing an "expressway" with minimal resistance for electron flow, and the manufacturing process is greatly simplified.

Bao Wenzhong introduced that compared to the complex processing of more than 1500 steps required for silicon-based semiconductors, two-dimensional semiconductors can theoretically eliminate 80% of the process, including ion implantation and epitaxial growth; especially in the lithography stage, even low-level lithography machines can achieve the most advanced integrated circuit process. For China, which is severely restricted in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, this path once established would have significant strategic importance.

Realizing 1-nanometer with fully domestic technology within 5 years

Yuanshiji is a company born from a research team at Fudan University, established in 2025, and completed a near-hundred-million-yuan angel round of financing at the end of last year. Founder Bao Wenzhong began researching two-dimensional semiconductor materials 20 years ago, starting with graphene transistors.

On a laboratory line at Fudan University, Bao Wenzhong collaborated with Professor Zhou Peng to break through the engineering bottleneck of two-dimensional semiconductors, creating the world's first 32-bit RISC-V architecture microprocessor based on two-dimensional semiconductor materials called "Wují", which integrates 5900 transistors and sets a global record for the largest scale of two-dimensional logic chips verified, with performance reaching the best international level at the same period. The related achievements were published in the internationally authoritative journal "Nature" in April last year, receiving widespread attention at home and abroad.

Bao Wenzhong admitted that the "Wují" chip represents the "ceiling" of the scientific research route exploring two-dimensional semiconductors. To further make progress and achieve the "from 1 to 10 and then to 100" transformation, the demonstration line lit this time is a crucial step.

It was revealed that after the equipment joint debugging "running through" in June this year, the demonstration line will complete small-batch manufacturing by September, and it is expected to produce megabyte (MB)-level memory and million-gate-level logic circuits with equivalent 90-nanometer silicon-based chip process; by the end of this year, it will trial-produce edge-side computing power products with storage and computing integration.

Based on this, Yuanshiji also announced its five-year development roadmap: After achieving the equivalent of 90-nanometer CMOS process in the current year, it will use mature K-line lithography machines in 2027 to achieve the equivalent of 28-nanometer silicon-based process; in 2028, it will achieve the equivalent of 5-nanometer or even 3-nanometer silicon-based process; finally, in 2029 or 2030, it will achieve the equivalent of 1-nanometer process based on fully domestic integrated circuit equipment. If this roadmap is realized as planned, it means that China's integrated circuit industry will reach the topmost process levels with independent technology, thus completing a historic leap.

Photo shows the two-dimensional semiconductor engineering verification demonstration process line factory of Yuanshiji Technology in Chuansha New Town, Pudong. (Wen Hui Bao reporter Zhang Yi, photo)

"Shanghai speed" breaks industry records

Lighting a demonstration line is not only a technological victory, but also a successful exploration of deepening the integration of industry, academia, and research in Shanghai.

From the source, universities are playing an important role as a "source of water." As Chinese Academy of Sciences academician and President of Fudan University Jin Li said at the ceremony, as a core force in the research of two-dimensional materials in the country, Fudan University is at the forefront in the fields of integrated circuit design, process optimization and iteration, and logic verification, laying a solid foundation for technology transfer. The promotion of Yuanshiji's demonstration line is a concentrated embodiment of Fudan University's full-chain innovation capability from basic research to applied research and industrial transformation.

In terms of ecological cultivation, Shanghai also provides support for the development of the integrated circuit industry with its unique advantages. Deputy Director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, Zhai Jinguo, stated that Shanghai has taken two-dimensional semiconductors as an important direction for future industry development, supporting leading enterprises to establish innovation consortia through full-chain services such as industry funds and talent matching. It was revealed that Yuanshiji has already formed cooperation with top domestic integrated circuit companies, and preliminarily validated two-dimensional semiconductor technology before the operation of the demonstration line, dispelling doubts in the industry.

At the same time, Pudong New Area and Chuansha Town have cleared obstacles for the growth of science and technology startups through excellent business environment services. Bao Wenzhong revealed that the demonstration line was completed from construction to equipment installation in just 100 days, a "Shanghai speed" that surprised many people and broke the industry record.

On this cutting-edge track of two-dimensional semiconductors, Yuanshiji, as a startup, is striving to run with the comprehensive support given by Shanghai, aiming to make contributions to the high-level self-reliance and strength of China's semiconductor industry in the post-Moore era.

Bao Wenzhong said that based on the excellent properties of two-dimensional semiconductors, chips made from them can be used in many areas. For example, their outstanding low power consumption and low heat generation characteristics are particularly suitable for edge-side computing. In the future, drones equipped with these chips can fly and perform tasks autonomously like robots. Additionally, two-dimensional semiconductors have outstanding radiation resistance, making them suitable for spacecraft and satellites, allowing them to withstand cosmic rays during long space journeys.

Original Title: "Shanghai's Roadmap for Building Chips from Atoms Exposed: Achieving 1 Nanometer with Fully Domestic Technology Within 5 Years"

Column Editor: Ren Quan

Source: Author: Wen Hui Bao, Zhang Yi

Original: toutiao.com/article/7592373437994205730/

Disclaimer: This article represents the views of the author.