In June last year, at the Hubei Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Conference, 10 scientist representatives walked the red carpet with flowers in hand. After the 100-meter red carpet, scientist Liu Sheng put pen to paper: "Take the difficult road." He also wanted to add another sentence "look at a different scenery", but think about it, the national large-scale instrument project is in a critical period, and better scenery is behind.
Liu Sheng, 60, is a professor at the School of Power and Mechanics at Wuhan University and executive dean of the Industrial Science Research Institute, and has won the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.
In September this year, the national major scientific research instrument development project "In-situ Real-time Monitoring and Regulation Experimental Device for Thin Film Growth Defects at Transtemporal and Spatial Scales" (hereinafter referred to as the "Experimental Device for Thin Film Growth") passed the acceptance. Liu Sheng said: "On this day, I finally saw some scenery. ”
Two months later, another news came that Liu Sheng was on the list of co-opted academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2023. "This is the recognition of the state and society," he said. ”
New engineering is all about using scientific methods to solve real problems.
Academician Liu Sheng and students discussed the real-time data of the experimental device for in-situ real-time monitoring and regulation of thin film growth defects at cross-temporal and temporal scales. Photo by Yangtze River reporter Hu Dongdong.
The past five years have been the most stressful stage in Liu Sheng's life.
In April 2018, the thin film growth experimental device of the national major scientific research instrument development project led by him was officially launched, with a direct funding of 65 million yuan.
took 65 million from the country, the pressure is very high, and the motivation is also very strong. Liu Sheng said that scientific research has entered a "no man's land", and it is extremely difficult to open up a new road, but it must not live up to the trust of the country.
The thin film growth experimental device is a problem that Liu Sheng wanted to overcome 10 years ago, and it is very important to improve the quality of semiconductor chips.
The manufacturing process of semiconductor chips is complex, requiring processing processes such as **, etching, and doping, and thin film growth is one of the processes.
If chips are described as "the country's industrial food", then the growth of thin films is a key step in determining the growth of "food" and is the basis of chip manufacturing.
Previously, thin films were grown by chemical deposition, which was prone to contamination and defects during the manufacturing process, affecting semiconductor quality and performance.
The film growth experimental device researched by Liu Sheng can make the film grow smoother and smoother, greatly reduce the defect concentration, and improve the chip yield and long-term reliability.
This is a breakthrough from "0" to "1", and the difficulty is huge. In the past two years, Liu Sheng's blood pressure has been high, with high pressure to 150mmHg and low pressure to 100mmHg.
On September 1 this year, the project was completed and accepted. The expert group led by three academicians gave a very high evaluation: the results are outstanding and original.
The Laboratory of Thin Film Growth Experimental Device is located in the northeast corner of Wuhan University, which was an abandoned student bathhouse six years ago. The laboratory has high requirements for earthquake-resistant environment, so it is the most suitable place to choose from.
On December 10, Sun Haiding, a specially appointed professor at the School of Microelectronics of the University of Science and Technology of China, came to Wuhan from Hefei to meet his mentor. In front of the thin film growth experimental device, he took a group photo with Liu Sheng.
Sun Haiding showed a reporter from the Yangtze River**, taken in 2012. At that time, he was studying for a doctorate at Boston University in the United States, and Liu Sheng went to the school on a business trip, and the two took a group photo in front of the American thin film growth experimental device.
Eleven years later, the thin film growth experimental device developed by Liu Sheng's team integrates innovative technologies such as ultrafast laser, ultrafast optical imaging, ultrafast electronic imaging, and vacuum interconnection, and is in a leading position in the world.
Two **, 11 years of catching up, China has come to the forefront of the world in the field of thin film single crystal growth.
The chip industry chain can be roughly divided into three major links: design, manufacturing and packaging. In the process of chip design and manufacturing, there is still a gap between China and advanced countries, but in the field of chip packaging led by Liu Sheng, China occupies the commanding heights of industry technology and is in a parallel or even leading position.
In November 2021, at the National Science and Technology Award Conference, the project "Key Technologies and Complete Processes for High-Density and High-Reliability Electronic Packaging" led by Liu Sheng's team won the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.
At present, this scientific and technological achievement has been applied in Harris, ASE Group, Changdian Technology, Jingfang Technology and other enterprises, covering 12 industries such as communications and automobiles.
A lot of people like to do research in the literature, that's not my style, I like to find direction in the needs of the country. For the topics and projects undertaken, Liu Sheng has two criteria: first, there must be disruptive technological innovation;Second, it can provide solutions for industry.
Liu Sheng often emphasizes to students that the source and application of scientific research must come from the needs of the industry.
In 2017, Liu Sheng advocated the establishment of the Industrial Science Research Institute at Wuhan University to promote the construction of new engineering.
Many people ask Liu Sheng, what is "new engineering"?
Liu Sheng replied that new engineering is to use scientific methods to solve practical problems in the industry.
In 2017, Ph.D. student Li Yang graduated from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and went to the California Institute of Technology in the United States to work as a postdoctoral fellow for three years, but he hit a wall many times in his job search in 2019. "When I was looking for a job, I only had 4 articles in my hand" Li Yang told reporters that many colleges and universities saw that he only had 4 articles ** and shook their heads. Liu Sheng invited Li Yang to join his team, "* is not about quantity but quality, but about whether it can solve real problems".
In 2016, Li Miao graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne with a Ph.D., and returned to Wuhan to found Cooper Technology, specializing in the development of intelligent robot operating systems. Hearing that Liu Sheng was setting up an Industrial Science Research Institute at Wuhan University, Li Miao sent a job search email, and only 1 hour later, Li Miao received a call from Liu Sheng. At noon that day, in a small restaurant, Liu Sheng told Li Miao that you are such a smart person, don't think about making a little money, you have to do big things, aiming at the country's key core technical problems to do research and manufacturing.
In August this year, Zhang Shi left Huawei, where he had worked for 8 years, and also joined Liu Sheng's team. He is a Ph.D. from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and his job after joining Huawei is to use foreign software to calculate and test the whole process of chip design and manufacturing. Liu Sheng invited Zhang Shi to join the team to develop China's original software and establish a platform for chip manufacturing collaborative design.
Team members have industrial experience in order to better serve the industry, which is one of the criteria for the selection and employment of the Institute of Industrial Science. Liu Sheng emphasized.
From not being understood to being understood years later.
Academician Liu Sheng and visiting graduate student Sun Haiding observed the experimental samples. Haiding Sun is currently a distinguished professor at the School of Microelectronics, University of Science and Technology of China. Photo by Yangtze River reporter Hu Dongdong.
Many of Professor Liu's ideas are ahead of the industry. Zheng Li, CEO of Changdian Technology and vice chairman of China Semiconductor Industry Association, told reporters a story: as early as the 90s of the 20th century, Liu Sheng put forward the concept of collaborative design, that is, in the early stage of semiconductor product design, the design, manufacturing and packaging of the three major links of the architecture will be coordinated in advance, and the integrated circuit product manufacturing will be regarded as a system engineering. However, at that time, there was a default boundary in all aspects of chip production, and almost all of the domestic industry was skeptical about Liu Sheng's suggestion.
Nowadays, when Moore's Law is approaching its limit, the industry is increasingly realizing that collaborative design is the only way to improve the level of chip design and manufacturing.
In 2020, based on the collaborative design concept proposed by Liu Sheng, JCET established the first design service division in China. At present, there are more than 100 engineers in the division, who are full-time to provide collaborative design services for customers at home and abroad. JCET has calculated an account: the production cycle of a product development originally took seven or eight months, but after collaborative design, nearly half of the time can be saved.
Zheng Li sighed that this is the greatness of scientists, they are more forward-looking. But this is also where Liu Shengbei finds it difficult, because the theories and ideas he puts forward will not be understood by society until many years later.
From not being understood to being understood, it is a long and lonely process. Liu Sheng encouraged the team: We must be "unbeatable Xiaoqiang", and time will always give the answer.
Liu Sheng's life choices always seem to be out of line.
Liu Sheng first held the ideal of "serving the country by aviation", and both bachelor's and master's degrees chose Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics to major in aircraft design to study the composite structure of the new J-Aviation Composite Materials. After two years at the Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, he decided to go abroad to study for a PhD.
At Stanford University in the United States, he could have continued to do research on aerocomposite structures, but his eyes turned to the field of chips.
At the age of 29, Liu Sheng received his Ph.D. from Stanford University, honors laude. At the age of 32, Liu Sheng won the American ** Professor Award for his achievements in the field of composite materials and electronic packaging (there were only 30 people in the United States that year). At the age of 35, he received tenure at Wayne State University. Later, he resolutely chose to return to China to teach at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Later, he entered Wuhan University, proposed new engineering reform, and initiated the establishment of the Industrial Science Research Institute.
At the crossroads of life, Liu Sheng's every choice is a major turning point.
Continue to do research on aerocomic composite structures, or enter the field of chip packaging?He once visited 12 laboratories in the United States and found that there was not much he could do in the field of aerospace composite structures: "There are 200 good schools in the United States, and each school has at least two teachers doing composite research, which means that I have 400 competitors, what else can I do?"Then I'm going to break new ground. ”
Scientific and technological innovation must be hard work.
Academician Liu Sheng and the students discussed the experimental results. Photo by Yangtze River reporter Hu Dongdong.
Liu Sheng's office is located on the second floor of the Jacob Building of Wuhan University, and Master Chen, who is the security guard of this building, "complained" to reporters: "Professor Liu left the latest in this building. Every day I lay down and went to sleep, he knocked on the window, looked at the time, and it was 12 o'clock. The latest time, he left at 3 a.m. ”
On November 22, after the announcement of the co-opted list of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a banner reading "Congratulations to Professor Liu Sheng on his election as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences" was hung at the entrance of the Jacob Building. Master Chen looked at the banner and sighed: "It's not easy to be an academician!."”
"Diligence" is the most reaping evaluation of Liu Sheng.
When Dr. Li Yang joined the company, Liu Sheng asked him, "How long do you work in a week?"”
Li Yang calculated and replied: "40 hours." ”
Liu Sheng said: "I work 120 hours a week at your age. ”
Once the two were on a business trip together, Li Yang didn't go with him after seeing Liu Sheng's itinerary. "He has to take a plane at night, and then take the plane to the destination by car, and then start working directly after arriving, I can't bear this kind of intensity. Li Yang explained.
Li Yang is 34 years old and Liu Sheng is 60 years old, but Li Yang feels that Liu Sheng is "younger" than himself.
Rushing at night and working during the day is Liu Sheng's norm.
On July 10 this year, at 9 p.m., Liu Sheng finished his day's work in Wuhan. Because he missed the latest flight, he and his colleagues chose to take a car to Beijing, and the starry night journey of more than 800 kilometers arrived in Xingtai, Hebei Province at 4:23 a.m. the next day, and then took a 4:56 train in Xingtai to Beijing to participate in a scientific research project seminar.
In order to facilitate work, Liu Sheng and his family moved into the teacher's apartment on campus of Wuhan University. Except for sleeping, he basically stays in the laboratory and the office every day.
Sun Ping, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Power and Mechanics of Wuhan University, told a trivial matter: last year, Liu Sheng promised to take graduation photos with graduates in advance.
He arrived in Wuhan at 7 o'clock in the morning, and at 8 o'clock he took graduation photos, and he had already appeared in the 912 playground wearing a degree gown. Liu Sheng in Sun Ping's eyes is "like a perpetual motion machine".
60 years old, the year of the sixtieth year, do you still have to fight so hard?
Scientific research is both attractive and hard work, there are so many people in the world who are tackling problems, and there are many people who are smarter than us. We don't necessarily get results, and if we don't, we will get nothing. Liu Sheng said that scientific and technological innovation must be hard work.
In his early years as a student at Stanford University in the United States, Liu Sheng was contractually required to work at least 20 hours a week in the laboratory, but Liu Sheng could work up to 100 hours a week.
I've been spinning like a spinning top all my life. Now that I'm 60 years old, when will I have to wait until I don't fight?Liu Sheng said.
Professor Liu has a youthful spirit, moving forward with indomitable relentlessness, and maintaining a detached purity for scientific research. Fei Peng, a professor at the School of Optics and Electronic Information of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said.
In 2015, when Fei Peng, who was in his early 30s, returned to China to teach, Liu Sheng encouraged and guided him to apply for the "863" program of the Ministry of Science and Technology. Whenever he mentions this, Fei Peng is grateful: "He is willing to spend energy and time to mentor young people and give them opportunities." ”
Li Yang, a distinguished researcher and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of Industrial Sciences of Wuhan University, also feels the same way. In Li Yang's first year of employment, Liu Sheng handed over an all-English course to him as the main lecturer, and took him to apply for topics and do projects together.
For young people, Liu Sheng is not stingy, but the requirements have always been strict. He advocated that students should enter scientific research in their freshman year, and reminded students that the purpose of doing scientific research is not to publish articles and ensure research, but to improve their ability to create knowledge, improve their critical ability, and improve their ability to find problems.
Liu Sheng always reminds the young people in the team: "You are younger, smarter than our generation, and your physical fitness is better than ours, and you need to continue to promote the development of science and technology." ”
Yangtze River ** reporter Zhang Weina poster Chen Zhi Hu Xin).
Editor: Zhang Jing].
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