Doctoral Researcher

We are now looking for a Doctoral Researcher (PhD student) to join the Tiny Systems and Circuits (TSirc) group at Aalto University's Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering. In this position you will design the next generation of energy-efficient digital integrated circuits, taking them from RTL to a fabricated chip and PCB that you measure in our own labs. The position is part of the HolistIC project, which develops ultra-low-power system-on-chip designs for next-generation intelligent audio IoT sensors. Your Role and Goals As a Doctoral Researcher, you will: - Design energy-efficient digital in-memory computing circuits for on-chip AI inference, spanning both full-custom design and RTL-based flows through synthesis and place-and-route to tape-out - Verify and characterise your designs, from simulation and FPGA to measurement of the fabricated chips in our laboratory - Publish and present your results at leading international venues, and complete your doctoral thesis in the Aalto Doctoral Programme in Electrical Engineering - Contribute to teaching duties as part of your doctoral studies Your Network and Team Currently, our research group consists of 1 professor, 3 PhD students, and several MSc or BSc research collaborators. The group is led by Professor Kwantae Kim. Your Experience and Ambitions We are looking for a thorough and motivated colleague who is expected to: - Hold a Master’s degree and excellent study records in Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Microelectronics, Computer Engineering, or a closely related field, completed by the start of the position - Have a solid background in digital hardware design: Verilog/SystemVerilog RTL, logic synthesis, and place-and-route - Be familiar with Python programming - Have a working proficiency in English. (Finnish language is not required.) The following are considered an advantage - Experience with FPGA prototyping - Experience with the PyTorch framework - Experience with analog or full-custom layout - Prior tape-out experience in any technology What We Offer - We support a wide range of chip design tools required for tape-out (Cadence, Synopsys, etc.), and FPGA/PCB design. - We have dedicated technical staff who manage PDK NDAs and maintain the computing cluster for circuit simulation and PDK installation. - We provide chip measurement infrastructure covering DC to THz bandwidth at the School of Electrical Engineering. - We collaborate with academic partners in Europe and Asia, including research visits abroad. The contract is fixed-term and follows Aalto's standard 2+2 model. It will be made initially for two (2) years, with a six (6) month probationary period, and extended by two (2) further years after a successful mid-term review, giving a total duration of four (4) years. The starting salary for doctoral researcher is approximately 3100€/Month. Our primary workplace is located at the Otaniemi Campus in Espoo, Finland.