Coherent Systems Architect - Mixed Signal AFE development

Key Responsibilities

Silicon Bring-up & Debug

Own first-silicon bring-up for DAC/ADC/PLL blocks: power-up sequencing, register access, clock tree bring-up, and initial functional validation.

Debug mixed-signal issues across domains (clocking, analog biasing, digital control, interfaces, and test modes).

Create debug playbooks and “known-good” procedures to accelerate lab triage and cross-team communication.

Full AFE Characterization (Bench + Automation)

DAC: SFDR, IMD, THD, SNR, ENOB, spurs vs. output amplitude, output frequency, sampling frequency, temperature, supply, and code format; static linearity where applicable.

ADC: SNR, ENOB, SFDR, interleaving mismatch (offset/gain/timing), harmonic/spurious behavior, clock sensitivity.

PLL/Clocking: phase noise, integrated jitter, spur analysis, jitter transfer/tolerance where relevant to the system.

AFE-level metrics: frequency response, passband ripple, impedance/termination impact, crosstalk, noise coupling, and sensitivity to board/connector effects.

Design experiments for PVT sweeps and margin analysis; develop guard-banding strategies aligned to production realities.

RF characterization of TROSA

Characterize RF electrical behavior of the Transmitter and Receiver Optical Sub‑Assembly, including bandwidth, frequency response, impedance matching, insertion and return loss, Gain, noise figure (where applicable), and linearity.

Work closely with photonics, SiGe IC, and module teams to correlate electrical AFE performance to optical metrics.

Support electro‑optical (E/O) and opto‑electrical (O/E) RF validation for coherent transmit and receive chains.

Measurement Infrastructure & Data Analytics

Build and maintain automated measurement systems using Python and standard instrument control (SCPI/ PyVISA ).

Use robust data practices: versioned test scripts, metadata capture, calibration traceability, and reproducible analysis notebooks.

Create dashboards/reports summarizing performance trends, correlations, and anomalies.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Requirements

Work with design teams to define: test hooks, observability, calibration registers, and design-for-test requirements for analog blocks.

Define measurable acceptance criteria aligned to coherent system requirements.

Collaborate closely with Analog/RF design, SiGe IC teams, DSP, Signal Integrity (SI), photonics, module , and manufacturing teams.