Recently, Hunan Qitai Sensing Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as Qitai Technology) was invited to participate in the recording of 2 sets of "Dialogue" programs on CCTV, and talked about the wide application of sensor chip components in the field of construction machinery. As the core component and important carrier of the sensor, the chip provides a good opportunity for enterprises to better independent research and development and high-tech innovation. On the same day, according to Wang Guoqiu, the founder and chairman of Hunan Qitai Sensing Technology Co., Ltd., after more than ten years of tackling difficulties, Qitai Sensing independently developed a pressure-sensitive chip and pressure sensor with a capillary-like structure. , To make up for China’s shortcomings and weaknesses in this technology. The "Chinese core" of Qitai Sensing is becoming a weapon to break through the world's monopoly of this cutting-edge technology "fortress".

　　The recording site of the "Dialogue" program.

According to Li Yun, deputy general manager and branch secretary of Qitai Technology, after more than ten years of hard work, Qitai Technology has overcome the key core technologies and processes in MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) sensors, filled the domestic gaps, and made it independent High-end sensors with intellectual property rights have been industrialized on a large scale. Wang Guoqiu has also become an early developer of my country's "China Chip". He has won the first and second prizes of military-level scientific and technological progress, and has presided over 4 national-level integrated circuit projects. The Hunan Provincial Government has given him first-class merit. .

　　Li Yun, deputy general manager and branch secretary of Qitai Technology, was interviewed by reporters.

Li Yun introduced that after Qitai Technology, led by Chairman Wang Guoqiu, developed my country’s first digital image and video compression codec chip with completely independent intellectual property rights in 2003, he has advocated a lifelong “Chinese chip”. Entrepreneurs of all thoughts went down. Time pays off, 16 years of cold and summer wind and rain, more than 5,000 hard work day and night, Wang Guoqiu, with outstanding talents and extraordinary perseverance, finally achieved the "China Chip", a high-tech cutting-edge technology no longer stuck on others' necks. . Along the way, although there have been many hardships that ordinary people can't imagine. However, for the sake of "China Chip" cutting-edge technology is in their own hands, and for the national strategic security, it is painful and honorable. Because only with difficulty can we show more courage; only with our persistence can we show more preciousness.

　　At the show, Wang Guoqiu introduced the pressure-sensitive chip and pressure sensor independently developed by the company.

　　Mathematics professor is keen on "China Core" research and development

In fact, Wang Guoqiu, who was born in 1963, has another identity, that is, a professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Mathematics and Statistics of Hunan Normal University. In 1983, after graduating from the Department of Mathematics of Hunan Normal University, Wang Guoqiu came to the National University of Defense Technology to continue his studies and stayed at the university to work. In 1999, he returned to his alma mater to teach mathematics. Since 2002, he has been a supervisor of doctoral students in computational mathematics. However, his research is on sensor technology that does not seem to be compatible with mathematics. In an interview with "Dialogue" that day, Professor Wang Guoqiu said with a smile: This is just a "hobby."

So, how does such a mathematics professor turn his "hobby" into a profession he is now engaged in? Perhaps, just like his name, there is a feeling of family and country in his bones. Just as Qitai's English name is CHNTEK, Chinese technology, the inter-bank "hobby" is due to the enthusiasm for "China Chip".

　　The scientific research achievement of Wang Guoqiu's team for more than ten years-metal sputtering film pressure-sensitive chip.

"In the area of ​​integrated circuits and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), our country's foundation is very weak. In the 1960s, Europe, America and Japan began to take off, but we were delayed at that time." Wang Guoqiu said, the delay was Twenty or thirty years behind.

In 2000, the State Council promulgated a series of policies such as "Policies for Encouraging the Development of Software and Integrated Circuit Industries" to support the development of the integrated circuit industry, which instantly sparked a wave of integrated circuit investment. Seeing the opportunity, Wang Guoqiu co-founded a digital technology company called "SMIC" and developed my country's first digital image and video compression codec chip with completely independent intellectual property rights in 2003. At that time, DVDs entered thousands of households, but all the decoding chips had to be imported from abroad, and each DVD had to pay a few dollars for the use of patented technology.

Only innovation will not be controlled by others. In 2006, Wang Guoqiu resolutely established Hunan Qitai Sensing Technology Co., Ltd., located in the Liuyang High-tech Development Zone, Changsha, and shifted its research focus to pressure-sensitive chips that are more widely used, and is committed to not relying on the export segment of "China Chip". Research and development, and decided to take the road of industrialization. However, the development of pressure-sensitive chips is far more difficult than Wang Guoqiu expected. In Wang Guoqiu's dictionary, there are countless experiments done, and the one that can best witness the development of pressure-sensitive chips is a basket of "button-like" base materials that are burnt out.

However, solving independent innovation and R&D is only the tip of the iceberg for companies to improve their core competitiveness in the market and achieve stable development. Material, design, equipment, manufacturing, and packaging, each core link innovation breakthrough requires strong support of funds, and the capital chain is broken. Prominent problems are also common problems faced by many start-up companies.

　　The staff conduct chip production and testing in the ultra-clean workshop.

Wang Guoqiu admitted that in the face of various difficulties, he had almost collapsed, but he never thought of giving up, and even at the time he even said that "No matter whether the company is profitable or not, it must develop a China that does not rely on imports." "Core", the slogan of "competing with foreign countries in terms of product price and quality". With the enthusiasm for the "Chinese core" and the quality of the Hunanese who "dominate and endure hardship", Wang Guoqiu finally persevered. In 2013, the "fortress" of the key technology of pressure-sensitive chips was finally overcome.

　　The first MEMS sensor production base

So, how can we completely change China's long-term import of high-end sensors? Hunan Qitai Information Technology Co., Ltd. has made an active attempt. As Hunan Qitai Information Technology Co., Ltd. Sensing Internet of Things Industrial Park starts construction in Liuyang Manufacturing Industry Base, the project with a total investment of 1 billion yuan will build the first factory-based non-semiconductor substrate material MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) sensor production line in China . This marks the official start of the high-end sensor project representing "Chinese technology" and will completely change China's long-term dependence on high-end sensor imports.

It is reported that the ordinary sensor is a signal acquisition device, which is at the forefront of the industry, and is the primary link to realize automatic detection and automatic control. The MEMS sensor is a new type of sensor manufactured by using micro-machining methods to prepare the substrate and using microelectronic technology to process related functional circuits. It is an extension of microelectronics technology, and the peripheral nerves of the Internet of Things affect the development of the Internet society, and will have a profound impact on science and technology, production methods and the quality of human life in the 21st century.

Qitai is engaged in the core hardware industry in sensors and is at the highest end of the industrial chain. The Qitai Sensor Internet of Things Industrial Park project is a project that adapts to market demand, promotes industrial upgrading, and drives strong momentum. In order to adapt to the development of the Internet of Things, the company will also launch digital, network, and smart sensors, and strive to build Qitai Information into a professional company with complete categories of Internet of Things sensors, become the industry leader and enter the world's first phalanx.

At present, the park is also actively introducing some IoT-related enterprises, and will work with Liuyang Manufacturing Industry Base to build it into my country's first MEMS sensor industrial base, forming a national or even world-class IoT industrial cluster.

　　The first batch of domestic pressure-sensitive chips goes offline to break the monopoly of Europe, America and Japan

On February 26, 2019, Qitai Sensing in Liuyang High-tech Zone rolled off the first batch of domestically-made pressure-sensitive chips, breaking the core technology monopoly of European, American and Japanese companies, and can be widely used in smart cities, transportation rail cars and other fields. The output value is expected to exceed 15 billion yuan, achieving at least the same first phalanx as similar products in western developed countries.

A "small button" with a diameter of no more than five or six millimeters can convert the pressure data into an electronic signal very accurately, and send it to the receiving and processing terminal you want. It is hard to imagine that for a long time, the market for such core technologies and high-end sensors has been basically monopolized by European, American and Japanese companies. In 2019, the ice of monopoly began to melt. On January 16, the first domestic pressure-sensitive chip production line with completely independent intellectual property rights was officially opened in Liuyang High-tech Zone.

　　Pressure sensitive sensor chip.

Then, Wang Guoqiu led the team to go all out to step up process research and development and production line design. In the integrated circuit industry, the six parts of equipment, materials, design, production, testing, and packaging constitute the upstream and downstream industrial chain, and an enterprise generally only targets one of them. And Wang Guoqiu's pressure-sensitive chip line, because of the high pressure and high temperature involved, the base material is not ordinary silicon-based, but special metal, which cannot be directly purchased and used with existing equipment, and no one can provide a complete supporting system. This means that from materials and equipment to technology and craftsmanship, Qitai must rely on independent research and development to achieve self-sufficiency.

Time is an important node to witness the glory and miracle of an enterprise. After 7 years of conquering key technologies, 3 years of researching and developing core production processes and joint research and development of key equipment, Qitai Sensing has realized many processes and technologies that rely entirely on independent research. As of February 2019, Qitai Sensing has declared 11 invention patents, 6 utility and appearance patents, and has mastered a large number of core processes in the process.

"Production line is ready" and "excellent performance" means that the first batch of products will be officially rolled off the line on January 16, 2019, and will be put into use in the fire-fighting hydraulic IoT system on January 29. There are also "small buttons". In a big market, the annual output value can exceed 15 billion yuan.

A metal strip the size of a little finger is placed in a high-precision CNC machine tool, and after 1 minute, it becomes a smooth and shiny "small button"-this is the base of the chip. After pretreatments such as grinding and polishing, these substrates will be sent to the "ultra-clean workshop" upstairs, where they will go through many processes such as automatic sorting, cleaning, deposition, photolithography, and testing, and then packaged into sensors.

　　Qitai Sensing Technology's plant in Liuyang High-tech Zone.

According to the relevant person in charge of Qitai Sensing Technology Co., Ltd., pressure-sensitive chips can be used in construction machinery and rail transit, civilian automobiles, fire protection, smart cities, petrochemicals and other fields. Different fields have different requirements for sensors. At present, Qitai Sensing focuses on the field of smart cities and transportation rails. The next step is to enter the huge market of automotive smart sensing.

Through 13 years of unremitting efforts and persistence, Qitai Sensing took the lead in applying the key process and technology of heterogeneous membranes to the production of metal substrate pressure-sensitive thin film chips, making it industrialized in large-scale factories and filling the scale of production lines in my country's factories. The gap in the field of high-end applications has laid a solid foundation for the localization of pressure sensing. Key technologies and processes have completely independent intellectual property rights. The automated production line established by it is also completely self-designed.

Next, Qitai Sensing Technology will focus on the two themes of "Industrial Project Construction Year" and "Business Environment Optimization Year", and strive to build a multi-chain integrated industrial ecology such as industry, innovation, talents, and policies, and form cluster development. Create a first-class "Central Chip Valley" in the country, realize new breakthroughs in product technology and quality, and make "China Chip" a powerful tool for monopolizing foreign companies.

Source丨Dagong.com Hunan

Reporter丨Zeng Panming