Physical Design Engineer I (Co-op) - United States

Cisco Systems, Inc.; Maynard (MA); On-site; USD 44,000 - 185,000; Part time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking an undergraduate intern to join the Acacia PD team and gain hands-on experience in ASIC physical design from RTL to GDSII.

You will work on front-end architecture reviews, physical implementation, and signoff activities under the guidance of senior engineers. This internship emphasizes learning in a fast-paced environment, with exposure to floorplanning, placement, routing, timing closure, and verification.

Qualifications

• Must be an undergraduate student in a CS/EE-related program
• Experience with RTL to GDSII is preferred
• Familiarity with SSTA, timing closure, and design constraints is a plus

Responsibilities

• Work with Front-End teams to understand design architecture and ensure optimal physical implementation
• Gate level netlist synthesis (physical synthesis)
• Physical implementation (floorplanning, placement, CTS, routing)
• Power, performance and area optimization of design
• Static Timing analysis and signoff closure
• Physical verification and signoff closure
• EMIR analysis and signoff closure

Skills

RTL to GDSII knowledge

Static Timing Analysis

P&R flow experience

Problem solving

Team collaboration

Education

Undergraduate degree in Computer Science / Electrical Engineering

Currently enrolled in Associate or Bachelor's program

Tools

Perl

Tcl

Python

Shell

Job description

Meet the Team

Cisco is well known for developing ground-breaking products in short time intervals. To support new product development at an exciting pace the Acacia PD team is challenged to design, develop, and build ASIC designs. The work is essential for supporting the increasing demands of hybrid work environments and ensuring reliable, high-capacity network connections. The engineers work with technologies that involve the latest submicron technologies. An ASIC PD engineer would be involved in developing and optimizing physical floorplan and their implementation.

Your Impact

You’ll perform one or more of the following tasks while working on Cisco’s elite optical communication products. You’ll be assigned relevant work assignments to challenge you according to your current level of experience and capability. You may find yourself working in the following areas:

• Work with Front-End teams to understand the design architecture to ensure optimal physical implementation
• Gate level netlist synthesis (physical synthesis)
• Physical implementation (floorplanning, placement, CTS, routing)
• Power, performance and area optimization of design
• Static Timing analysis and signoff closure
• Physical verification and signoff closure
• EMIR analysis and signoff closure

Minimum Qualifications

• Currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree program (Associate's or Bachelor's)

-Qualifying education should be in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related program

-Expected to continue enrollment in degree program following completion of the internship.

• Knowledge of the design cycle from RTL to GDSII
• Understanding of Static Timing Analysis, timing closure and design constraints
• Knowledge in block level synthesis, place and route, timing closure, PnR and signoff tools and their capabilities

Preferred Qualifications

• Interest in VLSI design, and more specifically in ASIC physical design and verification
• Interest and preferably academic experience in deep submicron CMOS technologies
• Scripting experience with perl, tcl, python and/or shell, a plus
• Analytical and creative, with well-developed and tenacious problem-solving skills
• Previous internship experience

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era - and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

Individual pay is determined by the candidate’s hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:

• 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees
• 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco
• Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees
• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)
• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto the next
• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

• .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;
• 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;
• 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and
• Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$44,000.00 - $185,000.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$44,000.00 - $185,000.00

* For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.