Chapter 502 Maybe We Can Succeed!

Riley said, “Ugh, what terrible timing! I just made a new discovery and wanted to get these notes to Professor Kerrigan right away!”

Aiden chimed in, “Me too. Can’t we at least let Professor Kerrigan know and see this first? This is really important.”

The guard shook his head. “Sorry, professors. Professor Kerrigan gave strict orders. No one is allowed to interrupt. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow. He and Ms. Tilda have been inside for more than ten hours.”

But they insisted. “Still, this information is too important! We’ll stay here until Professor Kerrigan comes out!”

“That’s right!”

Riley and Aiden pulled up some chairs and sat down.

Seeing they wouldn’t leave, the guard couldn’t argue further.

Five hours went by.

At last, there was movement from inside.

The guard quickly opened the door, letting Dane and Tilda step out.

“Professor Kerrigan!”

Riley and Aiden jumped up and hurried over, full of excitement.

Riley said, “I’ve found something huge about the chemical compounds! We might have been using the wrong formula the whole time!”

Aiden added, “And I’ve got something too! There’s been progress in the electronic coding. This time, we might actually succeed!”

Dane took his notepad and wrote, “Great timing. We’ve got good news too. But it all needs to be organized. Tilda, I’ll need you to work a little harder.”

“If you’re not complaining, then neither will I. Let’s go!” Tilda remarked.

When they entered the meeting room, the three professors began sorting through their new discoveries.

Tilda stayed to the side, writing everything down quickly and accurately.

“What?! Professor Kerrigan, you mean the error ranges have all been reduced enough to meet the 4nm standard?!”

To make a top-tier lithography machine, every part inside has to fit and be precise enough to meet the standards needed for making advanced chips.

Chip-making isn’t measured in inches or millimeters—it’s all measured in nanometers!

It’s super small—so tiny you can hardly imagine it. And inside that minuscule space, hundreds of billions of transistors are packed onto one chip. It’s like the very peak of human technology!

The team had worked for years, but they were stuck at the 4nm standard—just one final step left!

But that final step was the hardest. So close, but still out of reach.

That single problem had blocked them for more than a year.

Even with all the knowledge and experiences from earlier experts, they couldn’t solve it. Knowledge and experience alone weren’t enough to cross that critical line.

But this time, Dane told them that they finally did it!

This was the best news they’d heard in a long time!

Dane wrote, “It’s all thanks to Tilda. Her calculations, programming, and ideas helped me so much.

“Sometimes one person can’t do it all. But with two people, it can be. When I was lost and stuck, Tilda was like a lighthouse, guiding me to the answer.”

Dane looked super proud.

Making chips with a lithography machine is a bit like how people used to develop photographs.

If you think of making a circuit like taking a picture, then the wafer is the film, and the rest of the machine works like the camera lens.

To reach the 4nm chip standard, you need more than a smart plan.

The other equipment had to improve in accuracy, too.

But at least now, Dane had figured out how to build a 4nm chip lithography machine!

Now they just needed to fix the other missing parts.

“On this matter, Professor Froning and I both have reports to share.

“But before that, we want to apologize to you two! Sorry, Professor Kerrigan, Ms. Tilda!”

Riley and Aiden suddenly bowed to them.

That shocked both Dane and Tilda.

Tilda quickly asked, “What are you doing? Professor Danton, Professor Froning, just say it. No need to bow.”

Riley explained, “This apology is for last time, when we were blind and foolish enough to think about kicking your two juniors out of the team. We’re sorry!”

Aiden chimed in, “That’s right. We had no idea that they had gone through all our research again in the past few days. They not only caught the key points, but also improved a few steps.

“At first, we didn’t believe it. All of this was hard-earned progress from our seniors and from years of experiments. If we changed it, it would mean starting all over. How could that be easy?

“But they promised that if it didn’t work, they would leave the team. We used a supercomputer to test it, and the results crushed our old formula!”

Dane wrote, “Let me see!”

He couldn’t hide how excited he was.

Riley and Aiden quickly placed a thick pile of reports on the table and started explaining everything to him.

Tilda stood close by, writing down all the key points.

Based on the latest data, Dane wrote this down. “This time, maybe we really can succeed!”