Senior / Distinguished Member of Technical Staff — Silicon Photonics Engineer
Micron TechnologyJob Title
Senior / Distinguished Member of Technical Staff — Silicon Photonics Engineer
Role Summary
This role establishes and leads the silicon photonics discipline for Micron’s Interface Pathfinding team, responsible for evaluating photonic technologies, defining test-chip requirements, and building link-level models and specifications.
The position reports to the Interface Pathfinding program and partners with electrical I/O, analog/digital design leads, and external foundry or PIC partners to enable optical interconnect proofs-of-concept on a 3–5 year horizon.
Experience Level
Senior level — requires substantial industry experience. The posting specifies 10+ years of experience in silicon photonics, PIC design, or optical interconnect development.
Responsibilities
Primary responsibilities include technical leadership across device-to-link scope and hands-on evaluation and modeling work.
- Serve as Micron’s silicon photonics subject-matter expert and provide data-driven technology recommendations.
- Independently evaluate partner PIC designs: run simulations, validate claims, and identify design risks.
- Co-specify test-chip features, measurement interfaces, and test structures with electrical I/O and chip teams.
- Develop optical link budgets, define modulation/wavelength strategies, and set loss, power, and BER targets for demonstrations.
- Build photonic behavioral models (Verilog-A, real-number models, or equivalent) for mixed electrical/optical co-simulation.
- Define optical test and measurement requirements for post-silicon bring-up and correlate measured vs simulated performance.
- Author technical assessments, link analyses, partner design reviews, and test-chip specifications used as program references.
Requirements
Must-have technical skills and experience for immediate contribution.
- 10+ years experience in silicon photonics, photonic integrated circuit design, or optical interconnect development.
- At least one silicon photonics fabrication cycle (PIC tape-out or MPW shuttle run) in a primary design or integration role.
- Proficiency with photonic simulation tools (for example: Lumerical, Synopsys OptoDesigner, Photon Design, or equivalent).
- Solid understanding of silicon photonics process fundamentals: waveguide design rules, modulator and photodetector physics, and PDK-based flows.
- Experience developing optical link budgets and evaluating link metrics (insertion loss, coupling efficiency, modulation depth, BER).
- Strong technical writing skills to produce technology assessments and specifications.
- Proficiency in leveraging AI tools for productivity is expected.
Nice-to-have:
- Familiarity with foundry PDKs for silicon photonics (AIM Photonics, GlobalFoundries, Tower, TSMC COUPE, or equivalent).
- Experience with co-packaged optics or optical I/O for compute or memory applications.
- Post-silicon optical characterization experience and ability to correlate measured data to models.
- Familiarity with high-speed electrical PHY architectures (SerDes, DDR, die-to-die interfaces) and electro-optical interface constraints.
Education Requirements
MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Photonics, or a related technical field (explicitly listed). Equivalent practical experience is not stated as an alternative in the posting.
About the Company
Company: Micron Technology
Headquarters: Boise, Idaho, USA
Micron Technology is a global leader in memory and storage solutions, dedicated to transforming how the world uses information. The company offers a diverse portfolio of high-performance DRAM, NAND, and NOR memory products under the Micron and Crucial brands. With a commitment to customer focus and technological innovation, Micron drives advancements in artificial intelligence, 5G, and other data-centric applications, empowering users to learn, communicate, and progress.
