Analog/mixed-signal IC Design Engineer - Acacia
Cisco SystemsJob Title
Analog/mixed-signal IC Design Engineer - Acacia
Role Summary
Member of the Acacia mixed-signal IC design team focused on high-speed optical transceivers. Work in a small, cross-functional group to architect, design, layout, characterize and productize ultra-deep-submicron CMOS analog/mixed-signal blocks for 25Gb/s and higher optical communication products.
This is a hybrid role (three days per week) in San Jose, CA, collaborating with digital/DSP, package, system and module teams.
Experience Level
Senior level — posting lists experience bands equivalent to: Bachelor's + 8 years, Master's + 6 years, or PhD + 3 years.
Responsibilities
Design and deliver high-performance AMS IC blocks from concept through production release.
- Architect, simulate, layout and validate high-speed analog/mixed-signal circuits and blocks.
- Lead design efforts for large blocks on complex chips and track deliverables to tapeout/production.
- Perform silicon bring-up, characterization and productization; iterate on measurements and models.
- Participate in peer reviews and establish solid design methodology and documentation.
- Mentor junior engineers and coordinate cross-functional integration with packaging, hardware and system teams to meet signal and power integrity targets.
- Collaborate with lab and test engineers to develop validation setups and debugging plans.
Requirements
Key technical must-haves and preferred skills. Degrees summarized separately under Education Requirements.
- Must-have: Experience in design, simulation and measurement of high-speed ICs in at least three of the following areas: high-speed serial links (SERDES, ADC/DAC), modeling for system link simulations, high-performance output drivers, phase-locked loops (PLLs), clock distribution, op amps/programmable gain amplifiers, and equalization techniques.
- Must-have: Track record delivering AMS designs through layout, verification and silicon characterization.
- Nice-to-have: Experience with electrical transceiver applications (backplane/cable), FinFET or GAA process nodes, high-frequency layout and floorplanning, and design-for-manufacturability practices (PVT characterization, IR drop, electromigration, self-heating).
- Nice-to-have: Laboratory validation experience including ESD practices and construction of test setups.
- Tools: Experience with Cadence Virtuoso, Spectre/SpectreX/APS, Calibre, EMX, mixed-signal AMS simulation flows and MATLAB is preferred.
Education Requirements
Minimum qualifications specify academic experience bands: Bachelor's degree with 8+ years related experience, Master's degree with 6+ years, or PhD with 3+ years. No specific field-of-study is required in the posting.
About the Company
Company: Cisco Systems
Headquarters: San Jose, CA, United States
Cisco Systems is a global technology company that designs and sells networking hardware, telecommunications equipment, software, and services. It provides enterprise and service-provider networking, security, collaboration, and optical communications solutions (including Acacia Communications technologies for high-speed optical interconnects).
