"Wuji" chip breaks through its cocoon! Chinese scientists create the world's first two-dimensional semiconductor processor

[Introduction] Recently, the School of Microelectronics at Fudan University, in collaboration with the Shaoxin Laboratory, achieved a major breakthrough, successfully developing the world's first 32-bit RISC-V architecture microprocessor, "Wuji," based on two-dimensional semiconductor materials, and completing tape-out verification. This research result has been published in the top international academic journal *Nature*, marking a crucial leap for my country in the field of new semiconductor technology from "follower" to "leader," and providing a new path for the global semiconductor industry to overcome technological bottlenecks.

In the field of chip manufacturing, "Moore's Law" has long been considered the "ceiling" of technological development. Proposed by Intel founder Gordon Moore in 1965, this law states that the number of transistors that can be placed on a chip roughly doubles every two years, with performance improving accordingly. However, as process technology approaches the physical limit of 1 nanometer, global chip development has stagnated. Currently, the most advanced mass-produced chip process is 3 nanometers, and breaking through the 1-nanometer process has become a common challenge faced by laboratories worldwide.

Against this backdrop, a team from Fudan University developed a "duplex" chip based on the two-dimensional material molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), achieving an integration scale of 5,900 transistors and breaking the bottleneck of the large-scale application of two-dimensional semiconductor materials. Compared to the record of 115 transistors set by a team from the Technical University of Vienna in Austria in 2017, the integration density of the "duplex" chip is increased by 50 times, and it has been hailed by the international academic community as a "significant milestone in breaking Moore's Law."

Molybdenum disulfide is only 0.65 nanometers thick, equivalent to one hundred-thousandth the diameter of a human hair. Fabricating circuits on such an extremely thin material is described by researchers as "carving on tofu"—any minute energy deviation can lead to material damage.

To solve this problem, the team innovatively developed "flexible plasma etching technology," precisely controlling the process energy below 5 electron volts (eV), close to the energy level of an everyday fluorescent light, thus achieving non-destructive processing of atomic-level materials. Furthermore, facing the challenge of optimizing hundreds of process parameters, the team introduced artificial intelligence technology. Through machine learning algorithms, they analyzed 100,000 sets of historical data, identifying the optimal process formula within 72 hours and achieving the highest yield rate globally for the core component, the inverter.

According to the research team, the "Wuji" chip not only achieved a breakthrough in process technology, but its performance is also comparable to Intel's latest generation products. More importantly, the chip possesses multiple advantages:

Ultra-thin characteristics: Less than 1 nanometer thick, paving the way for further miniaturization of future chips;

Environmental adaptability: Stable operation in extreme environments, suitable for specialized fields such as aerospace probes and deep-sea sensors;

Ultra-low power consumption: Significantly improves the energy efficiency of edge computing devices, achieving increased computing power without sacrificing battery life.

These characteristics give the "Wuji" chip broad application prospects in cutting-edge technology fields such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, drones, and autonomous driving.

Currently, the "Wuji" chip has entered the certification stage, and its industrialization path is becoming increasingly clear. The team adopted a hybrid strategy of "70% of processes utilizing mature silicon-based production lines + 30% core process modifications," building a patent system of over 20 core processes. Meanwhile, the 8-inch pilot line built in cooperation with SMIC is scheduled to go into production in the coming years, laying the foundation for large-scale mass production.

This breakthrough not only signifies technological leadership but also represents a comprehensive improvement in China's independent innovation capabilities in the high-end chip field. As one netizen commented, "Previously, many core technologies relied on imports; now, we finally have more and more choices in high-end fields in our own hands."