Chapter 44: Huge Devlopment
Technological research and development is an extremely resource-intensive endeavor.
It was only because Tom’s current productivity was sufficiently massive and his resource supply sufficiently abundant that he had the capability to construct the specialized research institutions of today, investing tens of thousands of Clones, and ignoring everything else to single-mindedly focus on technological research.
Thus, at this stage, this scientific research and development base became the "pinnacle" of all production chains.
All production was ultimately aimed at supplying the consumption of the research and development base. The output of the research and development base, in turn, would enhance the productivity of the entire base, allowing it to expand its own scale while simultaneously gaining the ability to supply more materials to the research and development base. This would enable the research and development base to embark on the next step of research, which would consume even more resources. Through such a repeated cycle, continuous technological progress and productivity improvements could be achieved.
During this process, the base’s scale would grow larger and larger, and its population would increase, leading to a greater number of fully dedicated Clones who could be devoted to research, andTom would have more brainpower at his disposal.
The entire base cluster, due to this single research and development base, was integrated into a holistic organism.
Loshen Star was vibrant with life, and everything was developing rapidly.
Another six months passed in a flash, and a new batch of 50,000 Clones was born. As a result,Tom was finally able to barely achieve the situation where "110,000 Clones are online at any given moment," no longer needing to let his consciousness connection share go to waste when Clones needed to rest.
Under these circumstances, the first major scientific breakthrough occurred after the completion of the research and development base.
Modern chip manufacturing technology was finally successfully researched!
In a laboratory within the Computing Building, a cylindrical silicon rod, manufactured with highly purified technology, carefully arrived at the cutting workshop under machine control.
Here, it was cut into a thin silicon wafer.
The silicon wafer was then sent to the oxidation workshop, where a thin layer of silicon dioxide was formed on its surface.
The silicon dioxide layer could serve as an insulator or as a mask for subsequent processes.
Then came the next production step: a layer of photosensitive material was applied to it, then exposed to ultraviolet light, followed by chemical immersion and subsequent etching, and tiny circuit patterns appeared on the silicon wafer.
Afterward, through a series of processes such as doping, deposition, multi-layer interconnection, dicing, testing, and packaging, a larger silicon wafer was divided into multiple smaller, individual chips.
Evidently, circuits manufactured on silicon wafers using this method could be made much smaller than the circuits and transistors previously filled by manual soldering.
Thus, a greater number of transistors could be integrated per unit area. And with more transistors, the chip’s performance would be stronger, its computing speed faster, and it could process more and more complex data.
The first generation of modern chips produced byTom at this moment, each small chip with an area of only 10 square centimeters, could integrate 10,000 transistors!
In contrast, chips manufactured by manual soldering previously, each with an area of 200 square centimeters, could only integrate 1,000 transistors.
Its area was reduced to one-twentieth of the original, yet its performance increased tenfold!
Not only that, but power consumption, heat generation, reliability, and other aspects also saw tremendous improvements.
Looking at this chip, which he had personally produced and whose process could be considered to have reached the micrometer level,Tom still smiled with relief, even though it was still extremely backward compared to humanity’s peak era.
The foundation has been laid; subsequent steps only require continuous iteration and optimization.
After a series of subsequent fine-tuning of the process, the original chip factory that produced iron-cased chips underwent a comprehensive upgrade and renovation.
All sorts of brand-new equipment were installed inside it, and production began accordingly.
After adopting industrialized and scaled production, this chip factory could produce 10 million micrometre-level process chips per year!
At the same time, the production process is also a continuous process of researching chip technology.
This will lead to the birth of many details in chip technology, and at the same time, new ideas, new methods, and processes will be continuously tried out in the chip factory from the research institution. The combination of these two will enable the continuous development of chip technology.
After the chip factory went into production, a large number of the latest chips thoroughly changed the original production landscape.
Numerous iron-cased chips were recycled and destroyed, and a new generation of more powerful chips was put into use, further optimizing the production process, increasing the level of automation, and thus improving production efficiency.
This is just one technological advancement in chip technology.
In addition to chip technology, many more technologies have seen breakthroughs in the scientific research and development base, thanks to the diligent work of dedicated research Clones.
High-precision machine tools, high-strength steel, new casting processes, new internal combustion engine manufacturing technology, high-voltage power supply technology, more efficient generator technology...
And so on and so forth, new technological breakthroughs appear almost every day. These new breakthroughs are applied at the fastest possible speed, tested in actual production, and then the relevant data is fed back to the research and development base for further optimization...
The originally crude and bulky style of the Loshen Star base cluster gradually evolved into a precise, exquisite, and efficient construction style with the continuous emergence of new technologies.
Under these circumstances, the biotechnology thatTom had always valued also continued to achieve breakthroughs.
At this stage, he can finally actively adjust the nutrient solution formula, and at the same time, purify Monster Birds’ body fluids with higher precision, removing harmful impurities and retaining beneficial components, while also manufacturing higher precision cultivation devices that allow Clones to develop better.
As a result,Tom’s consciousness connection count once again achieved a breakthrough.
He can now connect to 500,000 Clones simultaneously!
After years of continuous production, the total number of Clones underTom’s command also broke the million mark for the first time, reaching 1.2 million!
Furthermore, the newly upgraded and renovated Clone cultivation factory is still cultivating Clones at an average rate of 200,000 per year.
At this moment, the number of bases under Tom’s command has surged to 535. If they are considered a cluster, the area covered by this cluster has increased to over 5 million square kilometers.
The entire surface area of Loshen Star is only about 15 million square kilometers.
The total length of railways used to connect these bases has reached millions of kilometers, with a large number of trains speeding along them at every moment, transporting massive amounts of materials.
At this moment,Tom’s gaze finally turned towards the vast expanse of space.
"Now, I finally have the qualifications to develop aerospace technology..."