Zhu Xiaoyan from the 214 Research Institute of Ordnance Industry: Contributing to the Development of Bengbu's Intelligent Sensor Industry
Located on the banks of Longzi Lake in Bengbu, China Sensing Valley is striving to build a billion dollar intelligent sensor industry cluster. A group of dreamy and pragmatic scientific and technological workers are fighting on the research battlefield, actively promoting the high-quality development of our city's intelligent sensor industry. Zhu Xiaoyan is one of them.
Recently, at the 214 Research Institute of China's Ordnance Industry, Zhu Xiaoyan, dressed in work clothes, came out of the workshop and hastily took a bite of rice, still thinking about the test data just now.
Sensors are the "neurons" in artificial intelligence hardware facilities and also one of the most important "components" in the Internet of Things. They are important foundational devices for cultivating and developing new quality productivity. Through it, people can have a dialogue with things, and things can communicate with each other, achieving the interconnection of all things.
For many years, Zhu Xiaoyan has been working on the front line of domestic intelligent sensor and integrated circuit development, constantly exploring and striving for excellence with her team. The independently developed products have repeatedly broken foreign technological barriers, and a certain low-noise amplification circuit that she participated in the development has filled the domestic gap and has been widely applied.
As one of the three major sensor research and manufacturing bases in China, Bengbu is the only city in the province and one of the few in the country that has both integrated circuit and MEMS wafer production lines. "The industrial foundation in Bengbu is good, with an early start and rapid development. I have also caught up with the good times," ZhuXiaoyan told reporters. In 2012, after graduating from graduate school, she entered the 214 Research Institute of China Ordnance Industry to engage in research on semiconductor technology and PCM testing technology.
In response to the complex and severe international situation, starting from 2014, with the strong support of China Ordnance Industry Group and the Bengbu Municipal Government, China Ordnance Industry 214 Research Institute began to build a 6-inch semiconductor integrated circuit process line in Bengbu.
As a core technical backbone, Zhu Xiaoyan has been appointed as the leader of the testing process team, responsible for the demonstration, selection, installation, commissioning, acceptance, and maintenance of PCM and online testing equipment. At the same time, she is responsible for various tasks such as developing testing programs, establishing testing methods and specifications, and setting testing standards.
"Crossing the river by touching stones and repeatedly trying to explore," said Zhu Xiaoyan. As it was the first time building a 6-inch production line, they encountered many problems and had no experience to learn from. In order to accelerate the construction of 6-inch semiconductor process lines, reduce operating costs, and seize the historical opportunities of semiconductor industry development, she and her team work overtime every day, consult literature and materials, consult equipment manufacturers, seek peer experience, learn advanced technology, and explore testing principles.
Through unremitting efforts, she led the team to complete the installation, debugging, and acceptance of nearly 20 testing equipment on time, and wrote and formed 10 sets of testing equipment specifications for various models, 22 sets of PCM testing specifications for various circuits, and 3 sets of online process testing specifications
Hard work pays off. With the joint efforts of Zhu Xiaoyan and the team, PCM and online testing process modules were established in 2016, equipped with PCM and online testing capabilities, ensuring the smooth operation of the 6-inch semiconductor integrated circuit process line.
In recent years, Bengbu has seized the opportunity, accelerated the cultivation and development of new quality productivity, and made the intelligent sensor industry cluster one of the five key industrial clusters in the city. With the support of large institutes and leading enterprises such as the China Ordnance Industry 214 Research Institute, Bengbu has built a national level micro electromechanical system (MEMS) national and local joint engineering laboratory and the "Anhui Province Intelligent Sensor Innovation Center", focusing on building China's sensing valley, promoting factor aggregation, accelerating platform construction, and focusing on building industrial chains, forming industrial clusters, and creating industrial ecology, leading the development of the intelligent sensor industry in the whole country.
In the field of high-end amplifier circuits, China used to rely on imports for a long time, and there were few fully independent research and development in China. Zhu Xiaoyan and her team members, fearless of difficulties and courageously shouldering heavy responsibilities, undertook the development of two high-performance amplifier circuits.
In recent years, based on the 6-inch semiconductor process line in Bengbu, Zhu Xiaoyan and her team have independently developed device structures, process technologies, and testing methods. They boldly assume, carefully verify, and continuously iterate experiments. After three years of technical research, they have overcome a series of "bottleneck" problems in the development of high-performance amplifiers, such as poor parameter consistency and large temperature drift. The circuit accuracy of the amplifier has been greatly improved, and the circuit performance indicators have reached the level of foreign benchmark products.
In a certain image sensor development project, Zhu Xiaoyan not only evaluated the performance of the device through millions of tests and debugging, but also was able to locate the location and types of defects in the device, providing an important source of data for device optimization design and process improvement. At present, the image sensor and process technology are at the international leading level, breaking the foreign technology blockade. At the same time, she participated in the development of a certain low-noise amplification circuit, filling a gap in China.
She also led the team to sign a "teacher apprentice" agreement, sharing the advanced technologies she learned without reservation with colleagues, and working together to improve and progress.
In recent years, Zhu Xiaoyan has participated in more than 20 national and provincial-level key scientific research projects, obtained 4 patent authorizations, won the National Defense Science and Technology Progress Award, and became the "March 8th Red Flag bearer" of Bengbu City... She has overcome obstacles and become a technological leader, shining brightly.
"Scientific research is like running a marathon. Only by strengthening our confidence and running together can we achieve ultimate victory." Zhu Xiaoyan said that the vast sea of intelligent sensors is a lifelong career worth investing all her energy in exploring and striving for.
Source: Sensor Expert Network