笔者曾经在24小时之内分别与Facebook CEO扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)，以及一位我称之为“EUV先生(Mr. EUV)”的半导体业界人士短暂相遇；他们在科技产业界所从事的工作领域可说是南辕北辙，但与他们的对谈都让我有一些收获。
近日我受邀参加Facebook为了感谢媒体报导其开放运算计划(Open Compute Project)──也就是该公司推动大型资料中心架构标准化的行动──而举办的一场聚会，在那里很高兴地遇到了开放运算计划的推手Frank Frankovsky。
Frankovsky 在最近英特尔(Intel)的Centerton处理器发表会上客串现身；Facebook打算测试该款Atom核心芯片，但缺乏Facebook所需的、能以8~16核心在2.5GHz运作的性能，因此他表示，该款芯片的下一代──预计2013年问世的Avoton──可能会是较佳选择。
这位Facebook高层是ARM核心处理器供货商时常探询的对象，积极想知道他对他们下一代芯片的看法；因此Frankovsky表示，他认为一点也不需要自己开发处理器。而针对Facebook将于明年1月份召开的开放运算高峰会(Open Compute Summit)，Frankovsky透露将会有一些“大消息”；据我猜测，那要不是eBay等其它大型运算中心经营者将加入其开放运算计划，就是该计划将在交换器之类的新技术领域展开新行动。
于是我开始分心；正当我准备吃点寿司的时候，我注意到扎克伯格一身他的标志黑色帽T打扮，出现在会场。我发现有一小群记者跟我一样围了过去开始问他问题，主要是关于Facebook与对手Twitter在线上个人相簿市场的竞争。
做 为一个明显感受到市场竞争热度的年轻人，扎克伯格很优秀地保持了冷静；他响应，两家公司的实力相当(此时他的额头上冒出了一点汗珠)。这让我想起比尔盖兹 (Bill Gates)年轻时试图走在Windows与IBM的OS/2平台两大支持阵营的中间线上，应该就是这个样子。
大多数问题都是围绕着手机；扎克伯格表示，他正在试用Facebook的Android应用程序，而他几乎已经都不用计算机，所有的时间就是分给一支iPhone 5以及一支三星(Samsung)的Galaxy S III智能手机。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：混乱中，用iPhone拍到扎克伯格的照片
相关阅读：
• ARM核心服务器与新型闪存，Facebook都想要
• Oops!! 2012年电子产业中的十大败笔
• 嘿！别和你的手机说话了，回归社交吧3vuesmc
{pagination}
这时他的公关人员Elliot跑过来提醒我们，这是场假日派对而不是媒体发问时间，所以我丢出了一个软性的闲聊话题，问他的中文程度如何；他说，学语言对他 来说很不容易，但他还是很努力尝试，而最辉煌的时刻就是他对岳母用中文说要娶她的女儿(也就是Priscilla Chan)那时，他看到她的脸上有一滴泪。
接着他又透露了更多八卦秘辛，他说他告诉朋友想为Priscilla开一个惊喜派对庆祝她从医学院毕业，但其实他是想办一场婚礼，用那样的借口以确保只有真正的亲密友人受邀参加(但一位亿万富翁真的只有少数几个亲密友人吗？)。
那场惊喜派对暨婚礼只花了六个月的时间准备，他到最后一刻才发现那个时间跟Facebook首次公开发行(IPO)在同一周；而人们对于这对新婚夫妇的祝福当然会大过于对股价的注意。
在 一阵爽朗大笑之后，扎克伯格被Elliot催促赶往下一个行程；我们留下来自己闲聊，继续享受美酒与美食。在混乱中，我是用手里的iPhone拍到扎克伯格的 照片(如下)，完全忘记后口袋里有一台比较好的NiKon数字相机；而尽管画质不佳，被我同时拍到的那两个年轻记者还是要我把照片用电子邮件寄给她们。
扎克伯格
3vuesmc
对媒体圈的行家来说，像这样的Facebook活动只是众家网络业巨擘举办的聚会之一；据说Yahoo新任执行长Marissa Mayer曾现身稍早之前的一场该公司主办聚会，Google在旧金山也举办类似的派对，而我想该公司创办人Sergey与Larry也许会现身。
不同于上述有如影视明星的科技产业核心人物，我也曾遇过几乎没有名气，但有着强壮肩膀的科技人，就像是我称之为“EUV先生”的Kurt Ronse。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：与Facebook派对气氛完全相反的严肃会议
相关阅读：
• ARM核心服务器与新型闪存，Facebook都想要
• Oops!! 2012年电子产业中的十大败笔
• 嘿！别和你的手机说话了，回归社交吧3vuesmc
{pagination}
最近于旧金山举行的国际电子组件大会(IEDM) 场合，气氛可说与Facebook的派对完全相反；与会工程师们穿著深色西装，聆听冗长而详尽的、通常牵涉到高深数学的一场场报告。这是一种我喜爱的庄严，过去也曾在其它顶尖工程性会议上感受到；这样一个多样化、全球性的社群维持着民间对话与相互尊重，是这些日子以来在今日的美国很少见的。
他们在会议上分享对物理、化学、材料科学的深刻了解，以及这些知识对未来的半导体技术之影响，那些能让iPhone以及社群网络应用的资料中心运转，供全球 数十亿人所用。这些专家们总是能容忍来自原本主修英文、后来变成记者的人之和善提问；其中我特别想介绍的就是来自欧洲研究机构IMEC，率领微影技术研究 团队的Ronse。
在我认为，Ronse是核心人物中的核心，因为他所率领的团队是深紫外光微影(extreme ultraviolet lithography，EUV)技术的先驱，而该技术被视为最后几代CMOS芯片制程的关键。
众所周知，EUV技术已经延迟了许多年，甚至有人说该技术无法成真。Ronse的老板，也就是IMEC CEO Luc van den Hove在IEDM的专题演说中表示，EUV并没有理论基础上的问题，仅面临工程上的挑战；但Ronse表示，他听到那样的形容时忍不住打了个冷颤，因为 那感觉是让他的工作听起来比实际上简单许多。
EUV系统需要达到每小时100片晶圆的产出量，才能真正有用；但目前的产能还 不到每小时20片晶圆。包括Intel、Samsung与台积电等公司，分别拿出数十亿美元投资EUV设备业者ASML；ASML收购了Cymer以开发 出更新、性能更佳的微影光源。现在热度是够了，但是否能成功产出所需的光源，还有待观察。
而Ronse表示，就算ASML成功了，产业界可能还得投资EUV所需的光罩，但在光罩领域没有像ASML那么大的厂商；他指出，在该领域有几家规模较小的业者还在挣扎求生以及抱怨，那些业者一年仅能产出少数的EUV光罩，也找不到资金解决所面临的EUV光罩缺陷问题。
也许Ronse在前往机场飞回欧洲的路上，该在Facebook总部Menlo Park暂停一下；在那儿有个亿万富翁八成不知道，他是下了多大的赌注认为EUV一定会成功。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
编译：Judith Cheng
参考英文原文：Meeting Zuckerberg and Mr. EUV，by Rick Merritt
相关阅读：
• ARM核心服务器与新型闪存，Facebook都想要
• Oops!! 2012年电子产业中的十大败笔
• 嘿！别和你的手机说话了，回归社交吧3vuesmc
{pagination}
Meeting Zuckerberg and Mr. EUV
Rick Merritt
I learned a little something in brief encounters this week with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and the man I think of as Mr. EUV—two very unique men in black.
Within 24 hours of each other, I had the chance to meet Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and the guy I think of as Mr. EUV. These two men in black, polar opposites on the electronics spectrum, each taught me something in our brief encounters.
I was invited to Facebook’s holiday reception for the media thanks to my interest in the Open Compute Project, Facebook’s effort to drive industry standards for the gear that goes into their mega data centers. So I was delighted to see Frank Frankovsky there, the guy who drives the Open Compute effort.
Frankovsky made a guest appearance at the recent Intel press conference launching its Centerton SoC. The Atom-based chip is cool and Facebook plans to test it, but it lacks the umph for use in Facebook’s high volume Web tier which demands 8 to 16 cores running at 2.5 GHz or better, he said. Intel’s follow-on, the Avoton chip coming in 2013, has a better shot, he said.
The Facebook director has plenty of ARM SoC makers knocking on his door to find out exactly what he would like them to put in their next-generation chips. So Frankovsky says he feels no need to start his own SoC design project.
Facebook has some “big news” for the Open Compute Summit coming in January, Frankovsky said. I am guessing it is either a new mega data center such as eBay joining the project or an initiative in a new area like switching—after all switch guru and Arista founder Andy Bechtolsheim is on the Open Compute board.
So I figured I had my fill of networking and was just tucking into a little sushi when I notice Mark Zuckerberg had arrived in his signature black hoodie.
The Zuckerberg files
I hung out in a small group of reporters like me who started peppering Zuckerberg with questions, mainly about competition with Twitter over dominance of the market for online personal photos.
For a young man clearly feeling the heat of competition, Zuckerberg did a good job keeping his cool. His response about how the two companies are well aligned (as a little sweat gathered on his brow) reminded me of what it must have been like for a young Bill Gates trying to walk the line between support for Windows and IBM’s OS/2.
Most questions revolved around mobile. Zuckerberg said he has been testing Facebook’s Android app. He said he never uses a computer (meaning PC) anymore and splits his time between an iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III.
His PR handler Elliot reminded us this was a holiday party, not a press Q&A, so I tossed him a softball, asking about his Mandarin. He said languages came hard for him but he gave it a try. His peak moment was when he described in Mandarin how told his mother-in-law he wanted to marry her daughter, Priscilla Chan, and saw a single tear run down her cheek.
More People magazine fodder followed. Zuckerberg told friends he was planning a surprise party to celebrate Priscilla’s graduation from medical school as a way to keep under wraps their plans for a wedding--and as a way to ensure only really close friends would choose to come. (Can a billionaire have just a few close friends?)
The party/wedding was in the works for six months. At the last moment he found out it would be the same week as the IPO. One can only hope the couple fares better than the stock offering.
After a hearty laugh, Elliot ferried Zuckerberg away and we were left to talk among ourselves and enjoy the sushi, chardonnay and company of celebrity media folk such as Walt Mossberg and the Scobleizer.
Amid all the commotion, I snapped one picture with my iPhone (below), completely forgetting I had my Nikon DSC in my back pocket. The poor quality of the pix didn’t stop two young Bloomberg TV reporters I captured on camera from asking me to e-mail and text them copies.
For such media mavens the Facebook outing was just another stop on the road of holiday Web 2.0 outings. Apparently Marissa Mayer made an appearance at the Yahoo event earlier in the week, and Google is having its bash in San Francisco. I wonder if Sergey and Larry will be there.
All this tech glamour stands on nearly anonymous but very strong shoulders of folks like Kurt Ronse who I call Mr. EUV.
Mr. EUV
The atmosphere at the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco was quite a contrast to the Facebook bash at its Menlo Park headquarters. Engineers in black suits listened intently to long, detailed presentations that typically involved advanced math.
There was a gravitas about the event that I liked and have felt before at top notch engineering gatherings. This diverse, global community maintains a civil dialog and respectfulness rarely seen in America these days.
They share a deep understanding of physics, chemistry, materials science and what it all means for the future of the semiconductors that give us iPhones and data centers that can run social networks for a billion people. They tolerate with kindness questions from former English majors turned reporters.
So I was glad to single out Kurt Ronse who leads the lithography group at the IMEC research center in Belgium. To my thinking, he is at the core of the core because he leads a team pioneering extreme ultraviolet lithography, the technology for making what could be the last few generations of CMOS chips.
EUV is famous for being delayed for years. Some say it may never work.
Ronse’s boss, ILuc van den Hove, said in an IEDM keynote that there are no fundamental problems with EUV, it is just an engineering challenge. Ronse said he winced to hear that characterization because he thought it made the work ahead sound easier than it is.
EUV systems need to turn out more than 100 wafers an hour to be useful. Today they turn out less than 20. Intel, Samsung and TSMC threw billions of dollars at the sole EUV systems maker, ASML, to acquire Cymer and create a new and better light source. Now the heat is on, but whether it produces the needed light is still an open question.
Even if it does, Ronse suggested, the industry may need to invest in EUV masks, too. There is no one big ASML in the mask world. A handful of smaller companies are struggling and complaining, Ronse said. Each one makes only a few EUV masks a year and sees no way to invest what’s needed to solve the EUV mask defect problems they face.
Maybe on his way to the airport, Ronse should have made a stop in Menlo Park. There’s a billionaire down there who probably doesn’t know how much he is betting this whole EUV thing will succeed.
责编：Quentin
扫码分享到好友
