University of Technology (TU/e,https://www.tue.nl/en/) is one of Europe's top technological universities, situated at the heart of a most innovative high-tech region, with a wealth of collaborations with industry and academic institutes. Since 2009, the TU/e is Europe's best-performing university in terms of research cooperation with industry (according to CWTS Leiden Ranking). TU/e has around 3,000 employees and 2,300 PhD students (half of which international, representing about 70 nationalities).

Project description

The aim of the NXTGEN Chip Assembly Equipment project is to develop technology and processes for the next generation of high-volume, high-efficiency, and high-precision chip assembly equipment. The Netherlands are an important player in the international growing market of semiconductor production and assembly. Today's mechatronics-based assembly technology lacks the productivity, flexibility and sustainability, required for future production scenarios. They deliver high volumes and accuracy, but are expensive and inefficient. Innovations are needed based on novel paradigms.

A consortium led by ITEC B.V. will develop novel solutions to replace traditional mechatronics solutions with contactless handling using force field technology. Precisely controlled force fields are used to assemble semiconductor products energy-efficiently, cheap and fully digitally, and are more sustainable than traditional technologies. In this consortium, TU/e is responsible for development and integration of architectures for the Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) that control the processes of semiconductor assembly, their modelling, optimization and model-driven development.

PhD position

The PhD in this position will be responsible for development of theory, models and tools to infer and calibrate models from system observations, analyze system with their models, and optimize the system-level behavior of layered CPS including critical timing. The objective is to deliver an architecture and solutions with guaranteed assembly speed, quality and productivity. In collaboration with partners, these solutions will be embedded and validated in industrial hardware and software systems.

We are looking for excellent, teamwork-oriented, and research-driven candidates with a computer science, electrical engineering, or related background, with strong mathematical and software design skills, keen on doing research that creates impact in industry, for joining as PhD candidate in the NXTGEN Chip Assembly Equipment project.

A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months. You will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks.
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. €2,770 max. €3,539).
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates.