Research Fellow Technology Computer Aided Design - Materials Modelling for Devices Group

Research Fellow Technology Computer Aided Design - Materials Modelling for Devices Group About Tyndall

Tyndall National Institute is an international leader in semiconductors, photonics and deep-tech research and innovation. As a leading collaborative European research institute, Tyndall is a key actor and hosting partner in the delivery of the 'Chips for Europe Initiative' (EU Chips Act).

Tyndall is Ireland's leading research and innovation organisation and it is the national focal point for excellence in deep-tech research, development and graduate training at the convergence of nanotechnology, microelectronics, photonics, electronics and AI. Tyndall is recognised as an international research leader in semiconductor, chip and digital technologies, particularly as applied to the fields of Information & Communications, Health & Life Sciences, Agritech & Food Security, Energy and Climate Mitigation, emerging fields such as quantum, and novel computing paradigms.

The Institute's key objective is to see frontier research activities having a significant impact on economic development and societal challenges in Ireland, Europe and beyond. Central to Tyndall's mission is delivering economic impact through research excellence in partnership with industry and academia. With an annual turnover of more than €50m, the Institute has a community of over 600 researchers, engineers, support staff, postgraduate students, interns and industry researchers-in-residence.

With significant committed Irish government support, Tyndall will grow to be 1,000 people by 2030, with approximately 750 researchers, including 250 PhD students. A new 17,000 m2 research building is under development adjacent to the Cork headquarters and there are developing plans to expand Tyndall's existing Dublin research labs and to establish other research sites within Ireland.

Tyndall's expansion is also supported by recent national and EU funding wins for significant (M€10's) additional research equipment across a range of areas such as semiconductor processing, microscopy, quantum technologies, heterogeneous integration, ultra-high speed optical communications and RF through THz characterisation.

Background to the Role Within Tyndall's Micro Nano Systems Centre, we have created a strategic research programme focusing on materials, emerging devices and architecturefor future information processing, interfacing with CMOS and beyond ("CMOS Materials & Devices"), which brings together a team of PIs in modelling & simulation, materials processing, device fabrication and electrical characterisation focused on emerging materials and devices for integration into sustainable computing systems.

CMOS is leading Tyndall's involvement in the Chips JU NanoIC pilot line () co funded by the European Commission and national agencies as part of the targeted initiatives of the EU Chips Act. The implementation of the Chips JU pilot lines is expected to bridge the gap from lab to fab and will be available to a wide range of users, including academia, industry and research institutions.

The NanoIC pilot line is the result of a remarkable European cross border collaboration. Hosted by imec (Belgium), its partners include CEA Leti (France), Fraunhofer (Germany), VTT (Finland), CSSNT (Romania) and Tyndall National Institute (Ireland).

NanoIC targets semiconductor technologies that will shape tomorrow's high tech solutions. One of the main goals is to develop the process steps and modules that enable these technologies. This will result in stable 'platform' baseline flows with a high technology readiness level (TRL 4 6).

These technologies are situated in three research pillars:

• Advanced logic technologies
• Advanced memory technologies
• Advanced interconnect technologies

In NanoIC, Tyndall's flexibility into materials integration will allow for rapid, short-cycle screening to reduce the cycle time in identifying and integrating highly performing materials to carry forward into IC development. Our role is to provide agile materials discovery and processing linked to wafer scale nanofabrication and processing beyond silicon for the integration of selected new materials - Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) and oxide semiconductor (OSC) - into FET device architectures. The goal is to develop a material platform for embedded DRAM and above IC functionality, thereby providing a key technology block to enable leading edge ICs.

Purpose of the Role The purpose of this role is to design & implement a specific research programme in the Materials Modelling for Devices Group (Head of Group, Dr. Michael Nolan) to lead our work on Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) driven design, simulation, and optimisation of next generation semiconductor devices based on novel TMDs and p type OSCs. Working at the forefront of device design with TCAD tools, the successful candidate will drive the development and application of advanced simulation frameworks to accelerate the discovery and realisation of novel device architectures within NanoIC.

The successful candidate will provide high-level scientific expertise and intellectual leadership in TCAD based modelling, bridging the gap between semiconductor materials development, theoretical device physics and experimental fabrication. The successful candidate will be expected to generate original, high impact research, attract competitive funding, and contribute substantively to the wider advanced semiconductor technologies work in the CMOS research cluster. You will report to, be directed by and be under the supervision of the Principal Investigator (PI) assigned to this activity, Dr. Nolan, and collaborate constructively with the NanoIC PIs (Thin Film Processing, TMD materials and devices and electrical characterisation) the NanoIC programme and research translation managers. Your work will be performed in accordance with the Institute's integrity policy and all other relevant policies.

This role is a prestigious role which represents a step change from a Post Doctoral researcher role. You will have dual goals in terms of the research project and your own career development. The training and development relevant to this position will be completed within the period of your contract in which time you will continue to develop skills and competencies with respect to the role and your future career options. Tyndall National Institute will provide the successful candidate with the individual training and development required to build a successful Senior Researcher career.

To this end, the successful candidate will be supported in their development towards a senior researcher role within the group to lead an activity centred around TCAD focused research into novel semiconductor devices. The successful candidate will be supported in applying to relevant funding programmes to support and sustain their research activities, e.g. Research Ireland Pathway program, Research Ireland Partnerships, Royal Society URF, ERC StG/CoG, while relevant training and development opportunities at Tyndall and UCC will be used to enhance their training and development and skills needed to transition to a senior role within the group.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Work with the supervisor and other team members in idea and strategy generation to deliver the outputs of the project and to contribute to raising the profile of this activity
• Develop, calibrate, and validate physics based simulation models using industry standard and custom TCAD platforms (e.g. Synopsys Sentaurus, Silvaco ATLAS, or equivalent)
• Lead Manage and independently drive a programme of TCAD based research into novel semiconductor device materials and device concepts. Specifically, for NanoIC these include:
• Leading research on p type semiconducting metal oxide device performance prediction
• Leading research on TMD based device performance prediction
• Develop machine learning models/AI techniques as required to accelerate simulations
• Collaborating with the Tyndall experimentalists on materials discovery, atomic layer processing, TMD materials and electrical characterisation within the wider technical team in NanoIC
• Translate simulation outcomes into actionable design guidelines for experimental fabrication partners, supporting a coherent simulation to fabrication pipeline
• Utilise an independent approach to carry the project work forward including to proactively identify opportunities for external funding sources, prepare grant proposals and the assessment of research findings for potential commercial exploitation in collaboration with the PI
• Collaborate with project partners, internal and external researchers and carry out any administrative and management work associated with the NanoIC technical deliverables
• Support access to Tyndall's offer within NanoIC as required by the Pilot Line access model for external users
• Engage in the dissemination of the results to the relevant research stakeholders in the appropriate form such as reports result to team leaders, partners, and funding agencies and publications in the top tier journals and at leading key conferences in the field
• Supervise and provide day to day advice, support, mentoring, and assistance to research graduates, students and other junior members, and contribute to the supervision of postdoctoral staff in the subject of semiconducting metal oxides and their processing
• Communicate the benefits of the research to wider society through active participation in several Education and Public Engagement activities, as required
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