A delegation from ZJU's School of Materials Science and Engineering visited Silicon Valley in the United States on August 2018. The delegation's first stop was Intel Corporation on August 9th. Inside the Intel Museum, the guide explained to the delegation some amazing historical moments about this legendary company including its innovative culture and products. Processes to deal with cylindrical single crystal silicon such as slicing, cleaning, and coating have been automated with high efficiency here. The technological transformation's amazing impact has inspired these young fellows to change the world with their intense passion and powerful minds.
In the afternoon, they paid a visit to another high-tech company called Applied Materials. Founded in 1967, Applied Materials is a renowned manufacturer of both semiconductor and display equipment. Applied Materials established its China Customer Service Center in Beijing all the way back in 1984, making itself the first international chip manufacturing company to enter China.
On August 10th, the delegation visited MTI Company, the world's leading manufacturer of laboratory equipment related to materials research and supplier of oxide single crystals. Dr. Jiang Xiaoping, founder of MTI, shared the inspiring history behind MTI as well the interesting experiences he has himself seen in Silicon Valley since 1994. During the visit to their factory, the students saw a multitude of experimental equipment being assembled step by step from their most basic parts into their complex final selves, including high-temperature ovens, tube furnaces, cutting machines, battery assemblers, and other equipment that are mainstays in labs.
With the unique combination of his knowledge of materials science and market needs, Dr. Jiang classified the material processing into seven parts, i.e. "mixing, pressing, burning, cutting, grinding, polishing, and plating". Focusing on solving these problems in mass production and providing better material processing equipment has enabled the company to survive and gradually developed into a world-renowned supplier of equipment. Dr. Jiang pointed out, "People should dedicate their lives to doing something useful". He also emphasized that university education should not only focus on scientific research, but also on cultivating students' ability to practice.
