NSF IRES China 2018
7/30/2018 - Ice Skating
Today we went with Li to go ice skating! For some it was their first time, for others they were more experienced, but regardless of expertise we all enjoyed the refreshingly cold air and the countless slips and falls on the ice. Aside from the "cool" experience, the team ate at a renown soup dumpling restaurant for dinner and enjoyed the exquisite flavors packed inside the bite-size dumpling.
7/31/18 - National Art Museum
Today Yilong took us to the National Art Museum, which featured many political and militaristic works, with a particular focus on the strength and importance of the proletariat. Factory floors and construction sites were the most popular environments; men in hardhats or camo the most favorited subjects, the mundane made moving by the painter's hand. After the museum, we were taken to a dinner with exotic dishes such as duck tongue, congealed pig blood, and frog's legs.
8/1/18 - Back to Dorms
With Tsinghua finally re-opened for summer sessions, the team said goodbye to the hotel and moved back into the Tsinghua apartments, where we'd reside for the remainder of the program.
8/2/18 - Testing RRAM Wafer
Today's time in the lab was focused on chip testing. Using a microscope, probes are aligned to each of the chips' electrodes, with a probe for each corresponding electrode. Once arranged, one can use the Rambus program to test the whole 128 X 8 array at once, returning a pass or fail grading for each probe-electrode combination. If it passes, it means current has reached the target. Unfortunately, the testing process for a single chip can be quite long as only one resistance can be tested per enabled bitline. One can also the program to alter the rate of filament formation and other pulse width modulations. The team set to work on creating a design using the switching mediums of the finished RRAM array. At night we went to the Peking Opera, which was featured traditional chinese dress and music with the narrative separated into three individual vignettes.
8/3/18 - Sun Park
Escaping the dreaded heat, the team and Li went to a nearby water park in Beijing where we all rode in paddle boats, racing along the river. After testing our sea legs, we stopped for dinner and headed back to the university.
8/4/18 - Traveling to Shanghai, Yu Garden, Chenghuang Miao Temple, The Bund
Today we woke up at 5 am to in order to catch our train to Shanghai. The ride was 5 hours, but thanks to the passing countryside scenery it went by quickly. We were in awe when we arrived; if Beijing is Washington DC, all historical monuments and government buildings, then Shanghai is New York, where monoliths of glass and chrome scrape the clouds. Native to the area, Yilong led us to through the unbelievably crowdly streets see the Chenghuang Miao Temple, Nanjing Street, and the Bund.
8/5/18 - Tianzifang and Xintiandi
After a full night's rest, the team set out to explore Shanghai. We visited multiple parks, tourist attractions, and tea shops to sample the different teas that Shanghai had to offer. Discovering a hidden gaming center, the team and our host students played a round of bowling and enjoyed our time together. To conclude the night, we watched multiple movies and prepared to travel to Shanghai Peking University division the next morning.