Chapter 180 People can be unlucky but not this unlucky
Tominaga knew what his old friend meant. They had both worked on condensed matter physics before, and both hoped to apply some new materials in condensed matter physics to the semiconductor field. The only difference was that he chose the application of topological semimetals in phase change memory, while the other party chose metallic hydrogen.

Previously, Tominaga was working at the National Institute of Industrial Science and Technology, while the other party was studying condensed matter physics at the Basic Research Laboratory under NTT. Later, he went to a French research institute as a visiting researcher.

However, everything soon changed. From the electronics industry to the pharmaceutical industry to the automotive industry, companies of all sizes in almost all industries were cutting their own research institutes, either directly laying them off or reducing their scale.

The talented scientists and engineers working there face forced relocation.

This is the famous "end of the era of large corporate academia" in Japanese history.

In the 1980s, the Academia Sinica was an important part of Japan's enterprises, and its main business was basic research.

In the 1980s, a large number of technological innovations emerged from the Central Research Institute of Japanese enterprises.

At that time, 80% of Japan's research funds were provided by private enterprises, and university research contributed little to innovation, so enterprises were the engine of innovation.

"Yamaguchi-kun, I know it's easy to decide to leave, but I don't want to leave Neon with the reputation of a loser," Tominaga thought.

He was naturally well aware of the changes in Japanese academia. By the end of the 20s, Japanese companies almost decided to withdraw from all basic research at once.

Because in recent years, Japanese have won the Nobel Prize almost every year. They have the largest number of Nobel Prize winners in Asia and also have great advantages in industry. They once occupied the throne of semiconductors, but were driven off the throne not because of poor research and development, but because of purely political factors.

No matter from which angle you look at it, there should be no problems with Japan's academic community. If Japan is corrupt, then the entire Asian region whose academic achievements are not as good as Japan's will have no chance of survival.

However, after peeling off the bright and beautiful coat, we will find that almost all of Japan's Nobel Prize-winning achievements are from research results more than 20 years ago. The international competitiveness of Japan's various consumer-oriented industries is declining sharply, and the total output value has dropped by more than half.

The most typical cases are smartphones and the Internet. This market has been almost completely taken over by America, China, and Samsung. Some people may say that this is because Japan is not good at these things. What Japan is good at is research and development.

These two industries test the adaptability of the demand side. China, with its large population, and America, with its global market, have natural advantages in this regard, which is why Japan failed.

However, Japan has failed even more in the pharmaceutical industry. This is high-end enough and it all depends on your research and development capabilities. If it works, it works; if it doesn't, it doesn't. Unlike semiconductors, America has no restrictions on Japan in the pharmaceutical industry. Japan has many winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The result was that Japanese companies completely withdrew from international pharmaceutical competition at the beginning of the millennium, relying solely on marketing of cosmetics to make a living. They were even overtaken by China in the field of truly innovative drugs.

"Hello, Mr. Morita." Tominaga was very polite. There were too many people coming to see him recently, and he had to meet them for the sake of face.

Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Electric, a large number of once-prosperous semiconductor giants in Japan are determined to make a comeback by using topological semiconductors.

Every one of them has approached him and offered him very good treatment. Although it is not as exaggerated as the two million US dollars offered by America, it is definitely a considerable sum.

Therefore, Tominaga did not think that this meeting with Morita was any different from previous ones.

It was hard for Morita to imagine that the man in front of him was the same person as the high-spirited Tominaga he had seen in the profile.

In the materials he asked his secretary to prepare, the photo of Tominaga was taken when he was interviewed by Neon Technology Space magazine in 2015. At that time, Tominaga had just become famous for creating topological insulators.

"Hello, Tominaga-kun, it's an honor to meet Japan's most knowledgeable scientist about topological semimetals." Morita was very polite.

Judging from his resume, it is no exaggeration to say that Tominaga is the person who knows the most about topological semimetals in Japan.

"These are all false reputations. Since that incident, I think my reputation is not as good as you described." Tominaga said.

Morita also recalled that incident, which was also the biggest turning point in Tominaga's research career.

"It's not your fault," Morita comforted.

"No, it's my fault. The Chinese have already created topological semimetals that can be used in the chip field, which shows that this path is feasible, but I didn't succeed. This is my responsibility." Tominaga was terribly calm, and his tone was so flat, as if this matter had nothing to do with him.

"I'm sorry, but Yuan Guangjun, who achieved this result, cannot be judged by common sense. He is an extraordinary person with great luck. If compared with Yuan Guangjun, I'm afraid there is no one in the world who will not feel inferior." Morita's words may sound like an insult to the Chinese people, but to Tominaga it was really comforting.

Neon also has this thing called Feng Shui and fortune.

Tominaga replied, "I'm sorry, Mr. Morita, but I have no intention of leaving the National Research Institute for the time being. I'm afraid the industrial world is not suitable for me."

Morita said: "Mr. Tominaga, don't you want to see with your own eyes how topological semimetals are turned into chips?

Don’t you want to contribute to the transition of chips from silicon-based materials to topological semimetals? "

That’s right. Tominaga previously cooperated with Mitsubishi, Hitachi, and Toshiba. After Tominaga produced topological semimetals, these former Japanese semiconductor giants came to him, hoping that Tominaga could apply topological semimetals to memory chips. They believed that this was an opportunity to completely defeat Samsung.

To this end, these giants gave Tominaga a large amount of research funding, more than one million US dollars per year for five consecutive years starting from 15. However, there was no progress until the virus epidemic in 20.

By using topological semimetals, spins can be freely controlled without using ordinary magnetic materials. The phase change memory part that uses topological semimetals to control spins during phase change and the memory part that uses spins can be separated and embedded in a single device.

This was their ultimate goal, but they had never achieved it. Even the experimental observations were not made. It was a complete failure, and all the money was spent. Finally, the project was terminated. The executives of these three companies put obstacles in Tominaga's way and demoted him from chief researcher to special researcher.

If Tominaga had fought for himself, he would not have been demoted. In Neon, even if Hitachi or Toshiba wanted to do this in a national research institute, it would be impossible. But Tominaga himself felt that he was a loser and was willing to bear the consequences.

The reason why the giants believed that Tominaga could achieve results was because Tominaga had made great achievements.

Not only in the field of topological semimetals, he has made Nobel Prize-level achievements in the field of semiconductor technology.

As soon as Morita finished speaking, Tominaga quickly thought of what the other party was talking about, "You got the opportunity to cooperate with Light Armor Technology?"

Abroad, Guangjia Technology is just a nickname for Chen Yuanguang's companies, rather than the actual specific company name.

"I can only say that we will cooperate with China. Considering the need for confidentiality, you will not know the specific work content until you join the company.

The position we can offer you is the position of president of the joint venture company established with China, and you will be responsible for technology research and development."

Tominaga asked, "Nikon, aren't you afraid that my bad luck will affect you?"

Tominaga is very unlucky, the most unlucky kind.

There are many people in the scientific research community who cannot produce results. This is actually nothing to worry about. It is normal that they cannot produce results. This only means that they lack the ability, not that they are unlucky.

Junji Tominaga did achieve some results, but they were still a little short of what they deserved.

In 15, he made topological semimetal. Researchers at Princeton made it at almost the same time as him. Princeton published a paper on it, but he published his paper in a Japanese popular science magazine two or three months later. As a result, the title of the first inventor of topological semimetal was lost to others.

The time when we made a Nobel Prize-level result was even more unlucky. The 14 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to super-resolution fluorescence microscopy technology. This achievement mainly brought the resolution of optical microscopy technology to the nanometer level.

The Nobel Prize winners made it in 2008, and Tominaga also made it in almost the same year. The resolution of the Nobel Prize winners was 90nm, while Tominaga and his team achieved a resolution of 60nm.

The only difference is that Tominaga did not apply it in the medical field, but used it on quadruple-density Blu-ray DVD discs, while the three scientists who shared the Nobel Prize used super-resolution fluorescence microscopy technology in the medical field.

Later, Tominaga was trying hard to make some big news.

"We are not afraid of cooperating with China and having Yuan Guangjun involved, unless your bad luck can overwhelm Yuan Guangjun's luck.

If you can really do it, it will be a great achievement for Japan, and I'm afraid the Federation will award you the Presidential Medal." Morita joked.

Tominaga asked, "If I accept Nikon's commission, can I consult with Yuan Guangjun in person?"

"I'm afraid it won't work in person, but remotely it will definitely be okay."

In the eyes of researchers working on topological semimetals, Chen Yuanguang's status is no different from that of a god. The longer they work on it, the more they admire him, because now they cannot even figure out the principles behind it.

"I hope we can work together happily."

After saying that, Tominaga stood up and shook hands with Morita. After shaking hands, he looked around this familiar office. He had been here for more than 20 years and still had a lot of feelings for it.

However, seeing with his own eyes how topological semimetals are made and participating in the historical process of topological semimetal chips with his own hands are obviously more attractive to him than this office.

“I think we’ll definitely have a good collaboration.

President Decheng has been waiting for a long time. Nikon urgently needs your arrival."

Only then did Tominaga realize what was going on and thought that Decheng had become the president.

(End of this chapter)