Physical Design (PD) Lead

Location: Bangalore, India | Company: LTSCT — L&T Semiconductor Technologies Limited

Reporting To: Chandra — Senior Architect, DC HW Systems | Experience: 10+ years (mandatory)

Role Summary

The Physical Design Lead owns the loop from architecture to silicon realization for the full xPU SiP. You will drive floorplanning, place-and-route, physical verification, timing closure, and signoff across ~800mm² chiplets on TSMC 2nm, acting as the primary bridge between the front-end architecture team and the backend PD organization. This is a hands-on leadership role accountable for delivering manufacturable, timing-clean, power-efficient physical databases for tapeout.

Key Responsibilities

Own full-chip and block-level floorplanning strategy for ~800mm² 2nm compute chiplets, including power grid planning, macro placement, and partitioning of dual BFOS arrays, SRAM banks, and NoC planes.
Drive place-and-route, clock tree synthesis, and congestion/utilization optimization to meet 2 GHz operating frequency targets.
Lead static timing analysis and timing closure across all corners, modes, and PVT conditions, resolving setup/hold, cross-talk, and signal-integrity violations.
Own physical verification signoff — DRC, LVS, antenna, ERC, and DFM — and drive clean handoff to the foundry for tapeout.
Manage power integrity (IR-drop, EM) and thermal-aware placement for high-density PE arrays operating at datacentre power envelopes.
Coordinate chiplet-level physical partitioning with UCIe PHY placement and interposer/advanced-packaging constraints.
Define and enforce PD methodology, flows, and QoR metrics; mentor the backend PD team and interface daily with architecture, DFT, and packaging teams.
Track schedule, resources, and tapeout readiness, escalating risks and driving cross-functional closure.

Required Skills & Experience

10+ years of hands-on physical design experience with at least one large SoC/chiplet taped out at an advanced node (7nm/5nm/3nm; 2nm exposure strongly preferred).
Deep expertise in floorplanning, P&R, and timing closure for multi-million-instance, GHz-class designs.
Mastery of industry PD flows and tools (Synopsys Fusion Compiler/ICC2, Cadence Innovus, PrimeTime, StarRC, Calibre/PVS).
Strong command of STA concepts — multi-corner multi-mode, OCV/AOCV/POCV, CPPR, and constraint (SDC) development.
Hands-on experience with physical verification signoff (DRC/LVS/antenna) and foundry tapeout handoff.
Solid understanding of power integrity (IR/EM), low-power design (UPF/CPF, multi-voltage, power gating), and clock architecture.
Experience with advanced-packaging and chiplet flows (2.5D/3D, interposers, UCIe PHY integration) is a strong plus.
Proficiency in Tcl/Python scripting for flow automation and QoR analysis.
Proven ability to lead and mentor backend teams and to bridge architecture-to-implementation.
Excellent problem-solving, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience taping out AI accelerator, HPC, or datacentre-class silicon.
Exposure to TSMC 2nm (N2) design rules and PDK.
Familiarity with HBM controller/PHY physical integration.
M.Tech/MS in EE/ECE or equivalent.
Show more Show less