I’m studying optoelectronic engineering as an undergraduate in China.

My current plan is to pursue a master’s degree in Europe and, if possible, stay there to work afterward.

I hope to work in semiconductor lithography or advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

I’m particularly interested in the equipment and systems side.

From what I understand, Europe has a relatively strong ecosystem in optics, photonics, precision engineering, semiconductor equipment, and related supply chains.

The Netherlands and Germany seem especially attractive, although I’m also looking at countries such as Belgium and France. And if I’m qualified or lucky enough, Switzerland will also be an option.

The US is probably not a realistic option for me because of the high cost.

I’m hesitant about staying in China long term because the graduate job market is extremely competitive, while compensation and working conditions for many entry-level engineering roles are not particularly attractive.

I’m also wondering whether my current plan might be a bit overly optimistic.

I’d really appreciate any advice or personal experiences from people who are already working in the industry. Thanks a lot!

Built this as a side project: a Fusion 360 add-in that designs THz-band (0.1–4 THz) lenses end-to-end — geometric ray-trace, material dispersion/absorption, Fresnel and axicon modes, even a real-time wave-optics (angular spectrum) simulation to cross-check the focal point — then generates the 3D body and exports straight to STEP/STL/OBJ.

Everything in the video (focal length, transmission, diffraction efficiency) updates live as you drag the sliders — no re-running a separate solver. The auto-optimize buttons solve for curvature/conic/asphere terms from a target focal length, or back out axicon angle from a target non-diffracting range.

Still refining it, but it's at a point where it's actually useful for real THz optics work, so figured I'd share.

個人プロジェクトとして作ったアドインで、THz帯（0.1〜4 THz）のレンズを一気通貫で設計できます。幾何光学レイトレース、材料の分散・吸収、フレネル／アキシコンモード対応、さらには角スペクトル法による波動光学シミュレーションで焦点位置を相互検証可能。そのまま3D形状を生成してSTEP/STL/OBJへ出力できます。

動画内の焦点距離・透過率・回折効率などはスライダーを動かすたびにリアルタイムで更新されます（別途ソルバーを走らせる必要なし）。自動最適化ボタンで、目標焦点距離から曲率・コーニック係数・非球面係数を逆算したり、目標の非回折ゾーン長からアキシコン角度を算出したりもできます。

まだ調整中ですが、実際のTHz光学設計に使えるレベルになってきたので共有してみます。