Digital ASIC Designer – Radiation-Tolerant Microcontroller

About the role

CERN's EP-ESE-ME section is looking for a Digital ASIC Designer to develop a radiation-tolerant microcontroller ASIC for future particle physics detectors and accelerator systems. The project uses an open-source RISC-V processing core and the CERN SOCRATES framework for fault-tolerant SoC design, and covers the full development cycle from requirements and architecture to implementation, verification and post-silicon validation. The ideal start date is 1 January 2027, on a 24-month fully onsite contract.

Key responsibilities

• Analyse application requirements across CERN's accelerator complex and detector systems to define technical specifications for the microcontroller ASIC.
• Contribute to the architecture, design and validation of a radiation-tolerant microcontroller ASIC in 65 nm or 28 nm CMOS.
• Support the SoC architecture, including the selection and configuration of the RISC-V core.
• Design, integrate and validate peripheral IP blocks within the SOCRATES framework.
• Apply fault-tolerant methods such as triple modular redundancy (TMR) and single-event upset (SEU) mitigation.
• Take part in RTL development, verification, tapeout and post-silicon testing and characterisation.

Required profile

• Master's degree with 2 to 6 years of professional experience after graduation, or a PhD with a maximum of 3 years; a bachelor's degree alone is not eligible.
• National of a CERN Member State or Associate Member State (Pakistani, Lithuanian, Latvian, Cypriot, Croatian and Turkish applicants are excluded).
• No previous CERN fellow or graduate contract.
• Electronics engineer studies; willingness to learn French.

Required skills

• Digital logic design and RTL development (Verilog / SystemVerilog).
• Familiarity with ASIC flows (synthesis, place and route, timing closure, sign-off).
• RISC-V architecture knowledge.
• Embedded microcontroller development in C, including firmware and peripheral interfacing.
• Python or equivalent scripting and Linux/Unix environment.

What we offer

• Monthly net stipend of 6,372 or 7,004 CHF depending on degree and experience.
• 30 days paid leave plus 2 weeks annual closure, and relocation support.
• Health insurance covering yourself, spouse and children, and pension fund membership.
• Extension of the contract up to 36 months, and on-the-job and formal training including language classes.