Microelectronics Engineer

Description

Microelectronics Engineer in the Microelectronics Section, Data Systems, Microelectronics and Components Technology Division, Electrical Department, Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

The Microelectronics Section provides functional support to ESA projects and carries out technology research (R&D) in the field of VLSI integrated circuits (e.g. ASICs, ASSPs, FPGAs, microprocessors, microcontrollers).

Duties

You will report to the Head of Section and your main tasks and responsibilities will include:

• providing expert technical support and consultancy to ESA projects, programmes and general studies in the area of FPGAs, microprocessors and IP cores throughout all project phases;
• participating in feasibility studies, project reviews and the evaluation of procurement proposals;
• identifying critical development problems and assisting in their resolution;
• contributing to the definition of technology development requirements and work plans for the Agency’s technology programmes;
• defining, initiating and managing R&D activities covering both long- and short-term needs;
• fostering new application areas for multidisciplinary activities, with the emphasis on innovative concepts, cutting-edge technologies and system architectures;
• laboratory activities as required;
• monitoring applicable scientific and technological trends and maintaining state-of-the-art expertise;
• contributing to dissemination of the results of the activities performed and the transfer of knowledge across the Agency.

Your duties may also include providing support for other activities within your area of competence.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

• Result Orientation　
• Operational Efficiency　
• Fostering Cooperation　
• Relationship Management　
• Continuous Improvement　
• Forward Thinking

Education

A Master’s degree in electronic engineering or physics, with specialisation in microelectronics, for this post is required.

Additional requirements

You should have at least five years’ experience in end-to-end design, system integration and testing of FPGAs and microprocessors for space applications. In particular, experience with the following devices, IC design and programming tools is required:

• MICROCHIP, XILINX and NanoXplore FPGAs and design tools
• RISC-V, SPARC and ARM devices, architectures, operating systems and tools
• VHDL, Verilog, System-C hardware description languages.

Some experience in the following areas is also required:

• development, licensing and re-use of Intellectual Property (IP) cores
• HW-SW co-design and Electronic System Level design of System-on-ChipFPGA and microprocessor functional, electrical and environmental  testing
• quality standards applicable to VLSI ICs for space
• he space environment and its effects on microelectronics devices, and radiation effect mitigation techniques.

Some experience in the following areas would be desirable:

• Processing devices and/or IP Cores, and their tool ecosystems for artificial intelligence / machine learning / neural networks.
• Digital and/or mixed-signal ASIC design.