Electronics Engineer
CERN designs, develops and operates particle accelerators and experiments for scientific research to understand the fundamental laws of the universe. These activities may generate stray radiation due to the interaction between beams and matter. The radiation detectors installed close to the various beam lines and targets allow CERN to accurately monitor radiation levels. Within the Radiation Protection (RP) Group at CERN, the Instrumentation & Logistics (IL) Section is responsible for the design and the development of such specialised equipment as well as their operation and maintenance.
Radiation monitoring is essential to enable CERN to operate its accelerator complex and related experiments while fulfilling its legal obligations to protect the public, the people working on CERN site and the environment. In that stringent context, the RP-IL Section had developed a new generation of radiation monitors with very challenging requirements in terms of performances and reliability. In house developed Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) using advanced technology node which serves as the heart of the radiation monitoring is currently being characterized.
In the light of the developments outlined above, we are looking for a motivated engineer willing to work in a very challenging topic within a dynamic team among an exceptional environment. As an Electronics Engineer, you will work closely with a team of mixed analog/digital electronics, software, reliability, verification, and silicon developers and will work on FPGA design, MATLAB programming, microcontroller programming, PCB design and ASIC characterization.
Proposed work
For characterising the ASIC for radiation monitoring, a measurement environment needs to be setup. The envisaged setup is shown in the figure.
In the setup the output of the ASIC is captured by the FPGA. This data is processed and then transferred via SPI interface onto the Microcontroller. The microcontroller transfers the data to the MATLAB program through UART. This environment needs to be setup and characterised.
This would be the first task and upon successful completion would be assigned tasks similar in nature.
In this role, you will need:
- Experience with VHDL programming
- Experience in simulation, synthesis, placement & route using tools such as Xilinx Vivado
- Familiarity with MATLAB environment
- Experience in programming microcontroller in C or embedded C or any similar languages. The proposed microcontroller is ATmega 128 from Microchip
- Experience with Microchip/Atmel environment would be a plus
- Experience with simulation tools like QuestaSim or ModelSim would be an advantage
- Proficiency in English
The Internship would start as soon as possible for a duration of 4-6 months. For application, please contact: Sarath Kundumattathil Mohanan sarath.mohanan@cern.ch