In the field of chips, Intel is also constantly catching up. In 1998, they released the 1.4GHZ Pentium 4 processor, announcing the arrival of a new era. Of course, this was just a new era for Intel.

The life of Pentium 4 is very long. There are many processors with different cores called Pentium 4. At present, the latest one is that in January 2002, Intel released the 2.0 and 2.2GHz Pentium 4 using Northwood core. This kind of Northwood will be the second one.

The size of the level cache increased from 256KB to 512KB, the number of transistors increased from 42 million to 55 million, and the 130nm manufacturing process was used.

Overall, it is still very advanced, but it is incomparable with Loongson 4. After all, Loongson 4 uses a 90nm manufacturing process. Although the frequency is 1.7G Hz, if you are lucky, if you find a good chip, you can overclock it.

2.5GHZ is no problem. The most important thing is that it is dual-core!

Since the performance of Loongson 4 is still not outdated, it is still the flagship product of Loongson Company even though it has been on the market for several years. However, Loongson Company cannot always rest on its past achievements and sleep on it. They are also continuing to develop it.

The new generation Loongson-5 chip has been designed a long time ago and has begun to be taped out. However, this processor is too advanced and is not yet necessary to be put on the market, so it is only used for testing.

The Pentium 5 chip has a starting frequency of 3.0GHZ and is easily overclocked to above 5.0GHZ!

The frequency of this processor is terrifyingly high! But because it is manufactured using a 65-nanometer process, the heat generated is also very well controlled. Even a dual-core processor can be suppressed by an air-cooled radiator.

Many violent tests have been conducted, and many myths have been spread among the public.

For many daily uses, high frequency is no longer useful, but for scientific researchers, they naturally hope that their computer computing speed will be as fast as possible!

For anti-missile missiles, a fast enough reaction speed is needed. After all, a slightest mistake can mean a thousand miles, and a millisecond of lag may cause the target to be missed.

"Okay, I'll go coordinate for you." Qin Tao said.

I haven’t visited Loongson Company for a long time, so I just happened to go over and take a look this time. Moreover, is the development of Loongson Company taking the wrong path?

Qin Tao remembers clearly that in the development of history, after Intel achieved great success with the Pentium 4 processor, it also continued to climb the frequency mountain. They began to develop Tejas in 2003.

At that time, Intel had already developed Tejas samples, which used the LGA 775 socket. The frequency of early engineering samples was 2.8GHz and the TDP was 150W. The power consumption of this processor was too strong and air cooling could not suppress it, so at first

It is planned to use water cooling, and the plan is to eventually increase it to 7GHZ. By 2011, the processor frequency will reach 10GHz.

However, the planned Pentium 5 processor was not released in the end because it consumed too much power and because users did not need it.

For ordinary users, there is no need for such fast speed. In contrast, multi-core is needed. What do the technical staff of Loongson think about it? Do they think dual-core is enough? If you feel that you can't innovate, you can

Quad-core, eight-core, or even twelve-core.

After the inspection in the aerospace department was over, Wu Shengli made up his mind in the car when he came back: "Taozi, your plan is good. Our anti-missile system has been reserved for installation later. For now, we should follow your plan first."

Bar."

"Dad, when will we start work?"

"We need to go through a process. We will try to finish it within a week, release the loan, and transfer it to your Mingzhou Group's account. Next week, we can attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the 0.55 million-ton drive."

"Okay." Qin Tao nodded: "Then we will meet at Mingzhou Group."

"Also, that nuclear-powered icebreaker is about to be launched, right? We just happened to go over and participate in the launching ceremony of this ship simultaneously. Although the ship belongs to your Mingzhou Group, our navy will definitely requisition it in the future, so we can also go and get one.

lively."

"Requisition or lease?" Qin Tao became sensitive.

"Rent, rent." Wu Shengli said.

In order to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, relevant technologies have been tested for a long time. A floating nuclear power plant was built at sea first, but it was still not safe, so we continued to build a nuclear-powered icebreaker. Before the construction of the 003 aircraft carrier starts, the nuclear-powered icebreaker will be launched and put into use.

Use it to verify these technologies on nuclear-powered icebreakers. If there are any flaws, they can also be improved on the nuclear reactors used by aircraft carriers.

The Mingzhou Group paid for this ship out of its own pocket and spent a lot of money, so if the Navy wants to use it, it has to rent it and pay rent.

As for free requisition? Then don’t dream about it.

Wu Shengli was embarrassed to continue to take advantage of the Mingzhou Group.

The construction work of the 055 large drive has finally fallen to the Mingzhou Group. Although there have been leaks, they have now gone to the aerospace department to confirm that the development of anti-missile weapons will take some time, and the Navy is not in a hurry.

The plan to build the Bincheng Shipyard specifically for anti-missile purposes should still be based on the Mingzhou Group's plan.

Although the anti-missile task is urgent, we cannot rush and wait for technological breakthroughs.

Qin Tao wanted to go all the way south and visit Loongson Company on the way.

For chip engineers, the past few years have been their most glorious moment. They have surpassed the world's advanced level, and they have been singing all the way, leading the trend in the entire processor field. Now, when it comes to the most advanced chips, the world's most advanced chips

Everyone knows that it comes from Loongson Company.

When Qin Tao came to Loongson Company, the place was still busy. Even Mr. Ni hurriedly came out from his computer and ran to greet Qin Tao.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Mr. Qin, welcome to our Loongson Company, why don't you say hello in advance?"

"No, I'm just going south back to Mingzhou. I stopped by to take a look when I passed by." Qin Tao said: "When we held the annual meeting, your Loongson Company spoke for a very short time. It only talked about your profits, but didn't say anything about it.

What about your project? I heard about Loongson-5, which is your latest processor, right?"

"Of course not." Mr. Ni was very proud.

no?

Qin Tao became interested: "What is that?"

"Loongson-5 is a smoke bomb we release to the outside world." Mr. Ni said: "Actually, we still use the core of Loongson-4, but we have improved the production process, so the frequency has been increased. We have discovered it a long time ago, continue

There is no point in increasing the frequency, multi-core can better promote the improvement of chip performance."

Smoke bomb? Qin Tao opened his eyes wide.

Mr. Ni smiled: "Since being surpassed by us, Intel has not been convinced, and relevant government departments have also attached great importance to supporting them. Even if the vulnerabilities of Intel processors were exposed, the government departments did not give up support. Even if AMD processors

The performance is better, and they continue to support Intel because AMD processors are manufactured by SMIC, which they do not trust."

"In order to completely bring down Intel, we decided to let Intel take the wrong path. Intel is eager to get back to the first place, so they have to defeat us in frequency." Mr. Ni continued to talk about his strategy: "

We launched Loongson 5. This processor has become a big mountain for Intel to look up to. If they want to catch up, they will have to make huge efforts. They will spend every penny provided by the government until they announce

, when the frequency of our Pentium 5 processor is higher than ours, we will release a new Loongson 6 processor to change the track."

Kill Intel! Only by completely killing Intel can Loongson have a global monopoly. This is a highly confidential plan within them, and many R&D personnel are unaware of it.

Intel spent billions to develop the Pentium 5. When they finally breathed a sigh of relief and thought they had regained their throne, they discovered that the track had changed and they had to start from scratch again!

At that time, I don’t know if Intel’s executives will jump off the building.

"Well done." Qin Tao nodded. He knew why Loongson Company did not speak at the meeting. This kind of secret must not be revealed, otherwise it may spread and reach the ears of Intel Company.

affect strategy.

"The frequency of our Loongson-5 has increased a lot just because of the improvement in production technology?" Qin Tao continued to ask curiously. He really didn't know this.

"Yes, we have mastered the 65nm production process. Although the number is not much smaller than 90nm, in terms of area, it means that the same number of transistors will double the area and generate more heat.

Small, energy consumption will be reduced, so that we can naturally reach higher frequencies. Moreover, we not only use a new 65-nanometer process, we also use strained silicon, high-speed copper interconnects and low-K dielectric materials

, we reduced the current leakage by four times, and improved the performance of the transistor by 15%. The frequency thus exceeded 5GHZ.”

"I also promised the aerospace department to provide them with a batch of Loongson-5 computers." Qin Tao said: "I didn't expect that our Loongson-5 was actually a deceptive product. It seems that we can no longer provide it to the aerospace department."

Qin Tao felt a little regretful when he thought about the promise he made. Without an investigation, he had no right to speak. Why didn't he know to call and ask first?

"Aerospace department?"

"Yes, they need faster computers."

"Then they can use our servers." Mr. Ni said: "The server we built based on the latest Loongson 4 uses only 16 processors. Its computing power is quite fast, much better than the Loongson 5.

.”

"Okay." Qin Tao nodded. Whether it is Loongson 4 or Loongson 5, as long as the computing speed is fast enough to meet the needs of the aerospace department.

This can also prevent Loongson-5 from leaking secrets.

"By the way, let's change the track to multi-core?"

"Yes, our Loongson-6 uses a quad-core processor, which has stronger multi-tasking capabilities. For personal computers, the frequency of the processor does not need to be particularly high, but it must be able to execute many tasks simultaneously. Dual-core is still

If it’s not enough, quad-core is suitable.”

"Only four cores?"

"With the current process, we can only achieve four cores. Currently, SMIC is developing a more advanced process. When the process is further improved to 45 nanometers, we can achieve eight cores," Ni said:

"This is very difficult, but we will definitely solve it."

The chip manufacturing process is named after the gate length of the transistor. The most advanced 65nm process now has a gate length of 65nm. However, as it goes down, the process becomes more and more difficult. Many foundries are in

Let’s start with the naming. It’s impossible to make such a short gate using 5nm or 3nm processes. It just sounds good.

Needless to say, this kind of several-nanometer process cannot be achieved even with more than ten nanometers. For example, the three-row 14-nanometer process has a gate length of 30 nanometers, Intel's 14-nanometer is equivalent to 24 nanometers, etc.

Nowadays, process research and development has encountered many problems. It is no longer easy to reduce from 65 nanometers to 45 nanometers.

After all, the diameter of silicon nuclei is only 0.25 nanometers. If it is reduced to 45 nanometers, it means that the gate of a transistor only has 18 silicon nuclei. If it continues to decrease, there will only be a few silicon nuclei left. What is this thing?

If it moves irregularly, it may escape. At the same time, because the distance is closer, it means that the electrons moving inside can easily escape. This is leakage, which will lead to calculation errors.

It can be said that these things are slowly reaching their limits.

"In fact, at 65 nanometers, it will be difficult for us to continue to reduce and thin the dielectric of the gate. If we continue to develop, the size of the transistor will be further reduced, and the source and drain will be closer together. If we cannot solve the problem of gate dielectric

If there are extremely downward leakage problems and leakage problems between the source and drain, then our 45-nanometer process will become a castle in the air, and we will also lose our advantages," said Mr. Ni.

With the continuous improvement of transistor technology, the materials that make up semiconductors have reached the limits of their physical and electrical properties. The first thing that cannot withstand it is the gate oxide that makes up the transistor: the gate dielectric.
To be continued...