It seems that everybody around me, especially graduating students, has been talking about the economic downturn. And little wonder, for we have invested much energy, time and money in a quality education with hopes of embarking upon a good career. Even in times of prosperity, it is always a good idea to take on things that could potentially beef up our resumes. That has seemed to have become a necessity in times such as these. We were thankful that the AMM&NS Dual Masters programme required students to participate in a six-month industrial attachment to gain workplace experience.

Although most companies, including semiconductor manufacturing companies, are already feeling the effects of the slowdown, there were still several attractive projects in the areas of silicon wafer processing that were being offered. While studying in SMA, I had developed an interest in optoelectronics. It was my desire to eventually move into developing compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide or indium phosphide. As I scanned the list of industrial attachment opportunities, I thought that the project offered by Avago Technologies sounded perfect for my interests. Avago Technologies is a spin-off from Agilent Technologies, previously Hewlett Packard’s semiconductor products division. It is known to have a very strong portfolio in optoelectronics. If you are using an optical mouse while reading this or were stopped at an LED traffic light coming to work today, the light source or sensors in that device were probably made by Avago.

After meeting my supervisor at Avago and chalking out a plan for the upcoming months during my attachment, I was pleased to find out that I was going to be working on a project that specifically required me to apply concepts learnt at SMA under Prof Chua Soo Jin. The first half of my project involved simulating a quantum well vertical cavity laser that operates at 850nm (that is in the near infrared). Used mainly for short range optical communication, I hear that newer optical mice are also built with this type of infrared laser and hence do not glow red. The quantum wells concept can be sufficiently complicated to make the project a nightmare. Thankfully, we sorted out what could realistically be achieved.

The second half of my project was to put the first half to the test. We fabricated laser samples and characterised them at the Institute for Materials Research (IMRE) at NUS. The end result of our project? A design tool that could improve the temperature stability of the laser.

Semiconductor laser test and characterization setup at IMRE

During my time at Avago, I was glad to be in the company of my batchmate Luo Jia and other engineers. Lunchtimes were always fun. Avago did not have a canteen on-site and we had a chartered bus that took us to a different food-court everyday. In fact you could tell which day of the week it was simply based on where we were ferried to for lunch.

Upon graduation, I chose to continue working in the fiber optic telecom industry and my SMA internship with Avago has no doubt played a role in this decision. The optical telecom industry is currently badly hit by falling demand for products but I believe there is hope. A tough environment can spur us in innovating better products. I believe that SMA students are trained not only in research, but also in resilience.