Physical Design Engineer

Physical Design Engineer Sunnyvale CA or Austin TX

• Onsite Fulltime /

FTE Salary:

Market•

Negotiable Job Overview:

We are looking for a highly skilled Physical Design Engineer to work at block level and/or top level for high-performance ASICs, SoCs, and custom silicon chips with strong scripting skills. The ideal candidate will be responsible for various aspects of the backend VLSI design flow, including floorplanning, placement, clock tree synthesis (CTS), routing, timing closure, and sign-off verification. The role requires expertise in EDA tools, physical verification methodologies, power optimization, and performance tuning.

Key Responsibilities:

Block-Level Physical Design:

Floorplanning & Partitioning

• Define optimal floorplan with power grid, macro placements, and congestion analysis. Strong scripting experience. Placement & Optimization
• Perform standard cell placement, legalization, and optimization to improve area, power, and timing. Clock Tree Synthesis (CTS)
• Design and optimize low-skew, high-performance clock networks. Routing & DRC Closure
• Ensure successful global and detailed routing, meeting design rule constraints. Timing Closure
• Work on setup/hold timing violations, signal integrity, and cross-talk reduction using static timing analysis (STA). Power & IR Drop Analysis
• Optimize power planning, power integrity (IR drop, EM), and leakage reduction techniques.

Top-Level Physical Design:

Chip-Level Floorplanning & Hierarchical Design

• Manage top-level layout planning, pin assignments, and cross-block optimizations. Strong scripting experience. Clock & Power Distribution
• Design robust clock trees and power delivery networks (PDN). Integration of IP & Sub-blocks
• Ensure seamless integration of IP blocks and handle complex routing challenges. Chip Assembly & Sign-Off
• Perform final netlist-to-GDSII implementation, addressing physical and electrical verification. DFT Integration
• Work with Design for Test (DFT) teams to ensure scan chain connectivity and testability.