RFIC Design Engineer — High-Speed Automotive SerDes SoCs (3–10 Yrs)

🏢 About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments (TI) is a global semiconductor company designing, manufacturing, and selling analog and embedded processing chips — powering everything from industrial automation to automotive safety systems worldwide.

👥 About the Team — High Speed Data Interface Product Group

The High Speed Data Interface product group focuses on the development of differentiated high-speed SerDes SoCs targeted for automotive and industrial markets. There are two primary focus areas — Ethernet PHY and FPD-Link.

Ethernet PHY Group: A large number of applications — like in-vehicle driver alertness monitors, steering, or accelerator control in automotive and robotic applications — require an Ethernet interface. The ubiquity of Ethernet-enabled devices allows customers to simplify connecting large numbers of devices in automotive and robotic environments. Customers expect robust performance in the presence of interference and ESD events, along with processing offload capabilities. The low-cost migration from CAN to Ethernet presents unique challenges requiring interdisciplinary skills with aggressive cost and power targets.

FPD-Link Group: The proprietary FPD-Link interface addresses multi-gigabit (up to 20 Gbps) automotive and industrial sensor and display markets. Constant increase in density of electronic sensing and display content is pushing data rate (>20 Gbps) and BER performance requirements higher. Automotive functional safety requirements demand robust performance at these high data rates under challenging environments while maintaining low power consumption.

The Broader Mission: As part of this product group, you will be engaged in designing solutions spanning Analog, Digital, and Signal Processing domains to mitigate impairments such as high channel loss, ESD strikes, and narrowband interference. The team implements high-performance equalization circuits (CTLE, FFE, DFE), high-speed converters (DAC, ADC), high-speed digital front-ends, signal processing algorithms, embedded microcontrollers, and high-speed interfaces for camera and display systems. The team has successfully achieved several differentiated innovations through collaborative cross-domain optimization.

🌟 The entire product lifecycle — from product specification to customer and application support — is owned by the product group in Bangalore, giving each team member tremendous learning opportunity and enhanced scope to influence the global success of the product. We are looking for passionate, creative, and self-driven engineers who challenge traditional techniques and come up with innovative solutions to make a difference.

🎯 Role Overview

As an RFIC Design Engineer, you will bring specialized RF and microwave circuit expertise to one of the most demanding application spaces in semiconductors — high-speed automotive SerDes SoCs. At data rates exceeding 20 Gbps, RF design principles dominate every aspect of the silicon — from transistor-level matching networks to on-chip transmission lines and impedance-controlled interconnects. You will design RF-grade circuits and front-ends that ensure robust, low-noise, low-jitter performance in the electromagnetically hostile automotive environment.

🔧 Key Responsibilities

Design RF and high-frequency analog circuits for high-speed SerDes PHY SoCs — including LNAs, mixers, VCOs, PLL building blocks, and high-speed I/O drivers operating at multi-GHz frequencies
Develop impedance-matched RF front-ends for high-speed SerDes transmitters and receivers, minimizing signal reflections, return loss, and insertion loss across the target frequency range
Design on-chip passive structures — transmission lines, baluns, transformers, and inductors — using electromagnetic (EM) simulation to meet RF performance targets
Address RF signal integrity challenges — crosstalk, substrate coupling, ground bounce, and power supply noise — in complex mixed-signal SoC environments
Develop EMI-resilient circuit topologies for automotive Ethernet PHY front-ends that maintain performance under conducted and radiated EMI per automotive standards (CISPR 25, ISO 11452)
Perform EM/RF simulation using tools such as Cadence EMX, Keysight ADS, ANSYS HFSS, or Momentum for passive structure characterization and signal integrity analysis
Collaborate with analog and digital teams for RF-aware SoC integration — managing RF-to-digital isolation, substrate noise coupling, and mixed-signal co-existence
Conduct RF characterization and measurement on silicon — S-parameter measurements, noise figure, phase noise, and spurious emission characterization in lab environments
Contribute to IP generation, patent filings, and competitive RF innovations for next-generation SerDes products

✅ Required Qualifications

Education: B.Tech / M.Tech / Ph.D. in RF Engineering / Microwave Engineering / Electronics / Electrical Engineering
Experience: 3–10 years of RFIC or high-frequency analog IC design experience
Strong expertise in RF circuit design — LNAs, VCOs, PLLs, mixers, power amplifiers, or high-speed I/O drivers at GHz frequencies
Proficiency in RF/EM simulation tools — Cadence Spectre RF, Keysight ADS, ANSYS HFSS, Cadence EMX, or equivalent
Deep understanding of impedance matching, S-parameters, noise figure, and RF performance metrics
Experience designing on-chip passive components — inductors, transformers, transmission lines — in standard CMOS processes
Knowledge of substrate coupling, crosstalk, and EMI mitigation in mixed-signal SoC environments

🌟 Preferred / Good-to-Have Skills

Experience designing RF circuits for high-speed SerDes PHY or wireline applications (>10 GHz)
Background in automotive EMC/EMI standards — CISPR 25, ISO 11452, IBIS-AMI modeling
Familiarity with mm-wave circuit design (28 GHz, 60 GHz, 77 GHz) for automotive radar adjacency
Experience with RF wafer probing and on-silicon characterization (S-parameter, noise figure, phase noise)
Knowledge of process design kits (PDK) for RF-optimized CMOS/SiGe technologies
Background in ESD-hardened RF front-end design for automotive environments

💡 What Makes This Role Unique


📡 RF at the Speed Frontier Design RF circuits for >20 Gbps SerDes — where every GHz matters
🚗 Automotive RF Challenge Build EMI-hardened RF front-ends for the world's harshest environments
🔄 Full Lifecycle Ownership Circuit design → Silicon characterization → Customer deployment
🤝 Cross-Domain Integration Unique intersection of RF, analog, digital & signal processing
🌍 Global Automotive Impact RF innovations deployed in automotive safety systems worldwide
📈 Career Differentiation Rare RF expertise applied to cutting-edge automotive semiconductor products
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