PhD - Wideband Balun Technologies and Advanced IC Packaging
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.
About the Role
Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork, in collaboration with AMD, is offering a fully funded PhD opportunity as part of a joint research programme between the two organisations. The programme is designed to foster close collaboration and knowledge exchange between Tyndall National Institute and AMD, while developing advanced RF technologies for next-generation integrated circuits and packaging.
The PhD study will focus on the investigation, design, characterisation, fabrication, and optimisation of wideband balun technologies and their integration into advanced IC packages. Baluns are critical components in many RF and high-frequency systems, providing balanced-to-unbalanced signal conversion and enabling efficient interfacing between various circuit architectures. As operating frequencies and bandwidth requirements continue to increase, the integration of high-performance baluns within compact IC packages presents significant challenges in terms of bandwidth, insertion loss, impedance matching, parasitic effects, electromagnetic coupling, and manufacturability.
The project will investigate innovative approaches to addressing these challenges, with research spanning: Investigation of different balun architectures and their performance limits
Electromagnetic modelling and RF/mm-wave characterisation of balun structures
Fabrication and experimental validation of prototype structures
Investigation of electromagnetic interactions and parasitic effects associated with IC packaging
Optimisation of balun performance for package-level integration
Development and validation of simulation and measurement methodologies
Evaluation of the resulting technologies for relevant high-frequency integrated-circuit applications
The project will combine electromagnetic simulation, RF/mm-wave…