The thought of working and living alone in Germany had never come to my mind before.  Unlike others, I did not even apply for an overseas attachment, and it was the generosity of Thomson Multimedia which gave me such an opportunity.

The journey to the west was adventurous.  It was basically a trial-and-error game.  The flight took me 16 hours.  During the flight, I got to know a German couple who were sitting beside me, and I was truly fortunate to have them guide me along the Frankfurt airport, which was a maze.  I had to switch from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 by the Skyliner, followed by the S-Bahn (sub-urban train) to get to the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station).  Thereafter, we parted and I was on my own to continue the exploration game.  To add to the game, I had to walk around with my heavy suitcases and ask people for directions using English and gestures.  Finally, after 5 hours of train ride and DM13 of taxi fare, I reached my company, Deutsche Thomson Brandt in Villingen.

DTB is a German branch of Thomson Multimedia, responsible for research and development on consumer products.  The majority of the employees are engineers and technicians.  Beside the Germans, there are many other different nationalities working in the company.  Most of them are French while the rest are Japanese, Chinese, Indians and Russians.  Although so many nationalities work together, communication is not a problem as everybody knows the German language.  The next important language is English, which is used for external communication or co-ordination with other Thomson companies located elsewhere.  Speaking and writing good English is a requirement for certain jobs, as shown in advertisements of the company.  Knowing more languages (the more the better) is a strong advantage for working in big companies of MNCs (multi-national corporations).  I feel that students in NTU should be strongly encouraged to take up foreign language as their free elective.

I was attached to the analog IC group, VCI laboratory, which was responsible for concept development and design of analog integrated circuits.  Basically, my job in VCI laboratory was to carry out some research and measurements on the characterization of RF transistor noise parameters.  Characterization of bipolor junction transistors was often done.  However, the flicker noise parameters were most often not determined.  Hence, it was of great interest to understand noise mechanisms in transistors and to characterize the SPICE flicker noise parameters of RF transistors.  With the results obtained, noise simulation could be performed and it allowed a good prediction of noise performance of integrated circuits.

Having exposure to such a R&D environment, I gained much technical knowledge, especially on noise mechanism of integrated circuits and the use of SPICE for circuit simulation.  I was guided by my colleague, Mr Blaud, and our lab consultant.  But it was my supervisor, Mr Schemmann, who planned and co-ordinated my work progress.

Living alone in a foreign country was not easy.  It took me a few weeks to get used to the new environment such as the shop opening hours, the way of living and the cold winter.  The Germans are very active in environmental protection.  The use of plastic bags is strongly discouraged, and throwing of rubbish is handled with care.

In one of the email messages sent to me during my attachment by Mrs Loh Ai Hwa, she said, "When you are at home, you need your parents and when you are out of home, you need friends".  I was very fortunate to have my warm colleagues and friends who were willing to assist and guide me.  Among them, Martin was the most helpful.  It was he who helped me to get Chinese food stuff such as rice and mee hoon.  Through him, I was able to acquire deep insight into the German culture, values and way of living.  On some weekends, I joined him to travel to other places of Germany as well as visit his Asian friends (in Darmstadt).  They were students from Indonesia, Vietnam and India.  I also enjoyed the hospitality of the Germans when I stayed in his parents’ home in Maintal and his relatives’ home in Munich.

The cost of living and the common transport system were relatively high.  However, I managed to visit a number of places and had many memorable experiences.  One of them was staying overnight in a noisy and relatively unsafe youth hostel in Heidelberg.  It was there that I made an acquaintance with a China national guy and we spent one day in Heidelberg.  My other experiences included climbing steep and slippery mountains and shopping for cuckoo clocks in Triberg.  I even encountered meeting with the police three times during my attachment.

"Reading ten thousand books is no better that travelling ten thousand miles of road".  Through this overseas attachment, I have broaden my views and enriched my personal experiences.  I strongly believe that this Industrial Attachment will benefit me in one way or another throughout the rest of my life.