booktalesy Chapter 214 September 1st
Chapter 214 September 1st
Chapter 248 June 1st
June 1st.
8:00 AM. Beijing time.
Nature Materials has updated its June issue online.
The first paper published online: "Third-order Nonlinear Extension: Theoretical Framework, Experimental Validation, and Scale Extrapolation for MEMS Thermal-Elastic Coupling".
The author list lists Su Chen as the first author and Zhou Zhiyuan as the corresponding author.
At the same time, two preprints were released on arXiv.
One is Kosuke Yamamoto's complete paper. This paper is a complete version of his preprint from last December, "The Bias Becomes 3.2 After Adopting a Third-Order Model." It restates the verification process of the third-order model on his experimental platform, explicitly stating that the third-order model is the standard.
There is a sentence in the conclusion of this paper:
"The deviation reported in our December 2020 preprint (12.7%) reflected calibration issues in our measurement system. After recalibration, the deviation is 3.2%, which falls within the third-order model's predicted range. We hereby retract the original interpretation suggesting limitations of the third-order framework."
"We withdraw our original interpretation."
This is a statement that is rarely seen in the field of MEMS in the past decade. A researcher at a top-tier conference (Category A) voluntarily retracted an explanation from an article he wrote six months ago.
Another arXiv preprint is Su Chen's second paper: "Multi-platform Validation and Material Extension Protocol for the Third-Order Nonlinear MEMS Model".
Three documents were launched simultaneously.
Within eight minutes of its release, MEMS communities in Asia, Europe, and North America simultaneously reposted it.
……
June 1st. 9:00 AM.
Shanghai.
He Wentao's Semiconductor Industry Observer published a substantial report.
Title: [Suzhou-Zhoushan Model Officially Appears in Nature Materials: A Chinese Moment in MEMS Dynamics].
One passage in the report was widely circulated online:
"From the time Su Chen submitted that handwritten manuscript last November to its official publication in Nature Materials today, 24 weeks have passed. In those 24 weeks, a handwritten manuscript transformed from 'theoretical speculation' into 'industrial infrastructure.' This speed of transformation is unprecedented in the history of MEMS."
The report also included a timeline of the Bertoli events he wrote at different points in time over the past six months. From the slowdown in December last year to today's update on the STMicroelectronics Group's website that "Bertoli has been reassigned as a senior advisor to the group and will no longer be involved in the day-to-day decision-making of the MEMS business."
STMicroelectronics proactively updated this personnel information. The unveiling took place at 8:30 AM on June 1st, eight minutes after the Nature Materials website updated.
Italy and France chose a precise moment to send this signal: not before the NM announcement (that would have been interpreted as "admitting a mistake ahead of time"), nor too long after the NM announcement (that would have been interpreted as "Bertoli's power being restricted"). They chose eight minutes.
This is a timing that a top-tier corporate public relations department would choose.
Within an hour of He Wentao's report being published, it had been forwarded over 200,000 times.
CCTV's "Morning News" added a 1 minute and 30 second report to its 11 o'clock segment. The anchor's original words were: "my country has made a significant breakthrough in MEMS theoretical research. A scholar from a certain institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences published a paper as the first author in Nature Materials, a top journal in the field of materials science, and the project has been recognized as having practical industrialization value."
Su Chen was not named in the report.
Wei Lan was not mentioned by name.
But that's not important. The electric field itself is the signal. The way CCTV chose to describe it means that this event has been designated as a "national-level scientific and technological event."
Dean Chen sent Su Chen a text message at 10:63 a.m.
The message consisted of only one sentence: "The Outstanding Young Scientists Review Committee inquired about this this morning."
After reading it, Su Chen understood.
The selection process for Outstanding Young Scientists Fund (ESF) was initially still in the consideration stage. Now that NM has officially accepted the application and brought it into the public eye, the review committee needs to further clarify its stance. The statement "I asked about it this morning" implies that the review committee is preparing to submit an additional recommendation document.
Su Chen replied to Dean Chen with a "I understand. Thank you, Dean Chen."
Not many. But enough.
……
June 1st. 4 PM.
Shanghai Railway Station.
Su Chen met Chongchong at the exit.
Chongchong patted him on the shoulder. "Let's go."
"It's on."
Chongchong glanced at him. "You haven't been sleeping well these past few days."
I slept for six hours last night.
"Six hours is considered a good night's sleep?"
Su Chen smiled. "That's enough for me."
Chongchong didn't say anything more. He picked up his luggage and walked to the parking lot with Su Chen.
On the way, he blurted out, "Did NM release it yesterday?"
"8 a.m. this morning. How did you know?"
"Mengfan posted a group announcement this morning saying that Lao Zhou is not here today because he's 'picking someone up.' Have you been to Mengfan's place?"
"I went last week."
"Mengfan didn't say which project you were publishing in the announcement. He only said 'visible only within the project team.' But in the hour that followed, there were more than 20 or 30 comments. They were all posted by other students in the project team. They guessed it after watching the TV report this morning."
Su Chen paused for a moment.
He didn't expect the project team to spread it so widely. He also didn't expect Teacher Meng to keep this a secret in the announcement.
"What does 'Mengfan' mean?" Chongchong continued to ask.
"Let's send a signal. Let the project team know that he brought along someone who's 'reached NM'. This signal will be useful for the project team's future recruitment."
"Oh." Chongchong nodded.
They walked to the car.
He hurriedly put his luggage in the trunk. Then he turned around and hugged Su Chen.
Two men embracing. Not the kind of shy embrace. A real embrace.
"Congratulations," Chongchong said.
"Thank you," Su Chen said.
They got into the car and quickly started it.
There was little conversation in the car. They hurriedly drove off. Su Chen looked out the window.
It was an afternoon in Shanghai in early June. The sun was warm, but not pleasantly so.
As the car passed through Huangpu District, Su Chen's phone vibrated.
It was sent by Lin Wei.
"Ms. Su, this afternoon at 6 PM at the Vilan headquarters. If it's convenient."
Su Chen looked at Chongchong. "Chongchong."
"What's wrong?"
"President Lin wants me to go to the Vilan headquarters at 6 PM today. Are you going?"
"Can I go too?"
"Let me ask."
Su Chen replied to Lin Wei: "Go. Can I bring my wife?"
Lin Wei replied with a voice message a minute later. There was a hint of laughter in her voice: "I can bring him. Tell him to come too. Tell him it's Wei Lan treating us to dinner."
Su Chen forwarded the voice message to Chongchong.
Chongchong listened without saying a word.
After a while, Chongchong said, "Let's go."
After a while, he added, "You're someone who's risen now. You should go to dinners hosted by companies like Wei Lan. Not going won't change anything. Only by going can you understand where you stand."
Su Chen glanced at Chong Chong.
He understood what Chongchong was saying.
They've known each other since that winter of their sophomore year. Ever since he was still an undergraduate who would be looked down upon even if he tried to start a business, Chongchong has always been there for him. He's seen him in his most vulnerable moments.
Now he's "someone who's been to NM." Chongchong wants him to understand this change.
"Okay," Su Chen said.
They drove off in a hurry. They went back to Su Chen's apartment first. They quickly put down their luggage and changed into some old clothes. Su Chen also changed.
They left home at 5 p.m. and arrived at the headquarters of Vilan at 5:30 p.m.
……
Six o'clock in the afternoon.
The 22nd floor of the Vilan headquarters. Rooftop restaurant.
Lin Wei, Jiang Mingyuan, and Zhou Zhiyuan are all present. Dean Chen is attending today in a non-presentation capacity. Dean Chen flew in from Beijing.
There were only a few of them in the restaurant.
Dean Chen stood up when he saw Su Chen and Chong rush in.
"Congratulations," said Dean Chen.
"Thank you, Dean. This is Chongchong. She's my classmate from undergraduate studies," Su Chen introduced.
Dean Chen reached out and shook hands with Chongchong. "Welcome."
Lin Wei smiled and said, "Sit down. Let's not talk about work today. Let's just eat."
That meal lasted three hours.
They don't talk about third-order models. They don't talk about Bosch. They don't talk about NM.
They talked about Dean Chen's visit to the Soviet Union when he was young. They talked about why Jiang Mingyuan couldn't get used to Chinese food delivery in the years after returning from Harvard. They talked about why Zhou Zhiyuan almost studied philosophy in his student days. They talked about why Lin Wei started her business at thirty-five instead of twenty-five.
Chongchong listened very attentively.
He had never met these people before, but he could tell what the relationships between them were like.
He used to think that Su Chen was "someone who got to where he is today from having nothing." Now he understands that Su Chen, Zhou Zhiyuan, Dean Chen, Lin Wei, Jiang Mingyuan, and the five parts suppliers, five laboratories, twelve technical committee members, and twenty-seven alliance companies behind Wei Lan have all come together to where they are today.
This is different.
After dinner, Dean Chen got up to say goodbye. He was flying back to Beijing that evening.
Before leaving, he patted Su Chen on the shoulder.
"You decide what the next step is. Things will be rearranged over there."
"The judges for the Outstanding Young Scientists Award?" Su Chen asked.
Dean Chen nodded. "This morning, the review committee issued an adjustment notice. Your recommendation materials will be added to a 'special review list' that is not part of this year's original plan."
What does "special review list" mean?
"This means you are not ranked or compared with other reviewers using the same set of metrics. You are reviewed individually."
Su Chen paused for a moment.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Dean Chen smiled.
"It's a difficult task. The review committee is working on it. They're considering whether you've exceeded the mainstream evaluation framework for outstanding young scientists. They haven't reached a conclusion yet, but they don't want you to be dragged down by the standard process."
Su Chen understood.
"Thank you, Dean."
Dean Chen nodded. He left.
He couldn't say much. He was the recommender. But he said what he could.
……
22 o'clock.
Shanghai.
Su Chen and Chong Chong returned to the apartment.
The apartment was rented for Su Chen by Wei Lan in Shanghai. It's 36 square meters. One bedroom. It's a 20-minute walk from Wei Lan's headquarters.
Su Chen turned on his computer. He hadn't intended to read today's news, but he wanted to anyway.
A Google search for "third-order model MEMS Nature Materials" returns 330,000 results.
Su Chen glanced at the titles of the first few pages.
"Young Chinese scholars pave a new path for MEMS dynamics" - People's Daily.
"Bosch Confirms Strategic Cooperation with Chinese Startup Following NM Publication" - "Financial Times".
"MEMS Industry Stunned: From Preprint to Production in Six Months" - "Semiconductor Engineering".
"Infineon, Bosch, and STMicroelectronics All Engage with Vialan: A New Era for MEMS Design" - "Reuters".
He glanced at Zhihu again.
How would you evaluate Su Chen's paper published in Nature Materials?
There are already over three hundred answers to the question. The most upvoted answer reads: "I'm a junior instructor in the MEMS field. This morning I attended a small academic conference. Of the five speakers, three mentioned the Su-Zhou model. This is a term that didn't exist a few months ago."
Su Chen shut down his computer.
He went out onto the balcony.
The lights of Shanghai at night. The lights along the Huangpu River are flashing. A boat is moving in the distance.
Chongchong came over from the living room and handed him a glass of water.
"What are you looking at?"
"Look at the streetlights."
Chongchong also went to the balcony. The two of them leaned against the railing.
"Old Su," Chongchong said.
"Um."
"When did you start to realize you'd ended up like this?"
Su Chen thought for a moment.
He had originally planned to say "from the beginning" or "from the day he was given a second chance at life." But he changed his mind.
"March 15th is one of them."
What day is March 15th?
"The day Bosch published their MEMS patent. That's when I realized how far a third-order model could go."
"What about before?"
"Before, it was just a gamble on whether I could survive the worst-case scenario."
I glanced at the streetlights for a short while.
"So what's your position today?"
Su Chen thought for a few seconds.
"Today we've reached a point where we only need to keep moving forward, not exert ourselves to the utmost."
Chongchong nodded.
Neither of them spoke again.
The night wind in Shanghai drifts in from the Huangpu River. The night wind in late May and early June isn't cold yet. Just right.
A light on the roof of a tall building in the distance flickered. It was the light coming from the direction of the Vilan headquarters.
Su Chen looked at the lamp.
He knew he would have to go to that building again tomorrow. The day after tomorrow. Next month. Next quarter.
There's still much to be done. Negotiations with Bosch. Negotiations with Infineon. Consortium pilot access. The third paper. The fourth and fifth material families for the extended materials protocol. Highways at submicron nodes.
But these are not things to think about today.
Today, all you need to do is look at the streetlights.
He picked up his water glass and took a sip.
Chongchong also picked up her water glass.
The two cups touched lightly.
There was no sound. But both of them heard it.