Doctoral Thesis - Reliability of Devices Under High Frequency Applications (f/m/div)

Curiosity drives progress. Will you drive it with us? As a PhD at Infineon, you'll collaborate with passionate minds, shape innovations that power tomorrow's world, and build a career where your expertise truly makes a difference. Your role As an industrial doctorate at Infineon, you will pursue a doctoral degree at a University and gain professional experience simultaneously - an ideal start for your career. Advance your research with us and profit from our vast network of doctoral candidates and the expertise of a university. Mentorship is handled by both professors and dedicated Infineon employees. The research is carried out in cooperation with the TU Vienna and under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Tibor Grasser and Prof. Dr. Michael Waltl. We are offering a doctoral thesis dealing with device degradation mechanisms such as bias temperature instability (BTI) and time dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB), focusing on radio frequency (RF) applications. This is a highly relevant and future-oriented research topic, as RF technologies are becoming increasingly important for 5G and future 6G communication, connected vehicles, automotive radar, satellite communication, industrial IoT, and smart sensing. As these applications move toward higher frequencies, higher data rates, tighter integration, and more demanding operating conditions, device reliability becomes a key enabler for long-term product performance. Key responsibilities in your new role - Literature Review and Research Foundation: Review relevant literature on BTI, mobility degradation, and reliability modeling in modern high-k transistor technologies - Measurement Setup Development: Make our new setup ready for RF BTI and TDDB measurements - Electrical Reliability Measurements: Plan, perform, and analyze electrical reliability measurements for BTI and TDDB - RF-BTI and RF-TDDB Characterization: Characterize RF-BTI and RF-TDDB across frequency, duty cycle, voltage, and temperature at single-device level - Benchmarking Across Technologies: Compare measurement results across device variants, channel lengths, and technology nodes - Model-Based Interpretation and Collaboration: Discuss the results with supervisors at TU Vienna and Infineon and translate measurements into model-backed limits by linking transistor drift to HTOL and RF performance The learnings out of the thesis will lead to: - RF-ready reliability methodology: Establishing a robust measurement and analysis approach for high-frequency applications - Smarter design trade-offs: Enabling product and design optimization by balancing reliability risk with operating voltage Your profile Qualifications and skills to help you succeed - Education: You have a master's degree in electrical engineering, microelectronics, semiconductor physics, physics, or similar - Experience and Technical Interest: You have an interest in or experience with semiconductor devices, device reliability, CMOS technologies, and electrical characterization - Way of Working: You enjoy hands-on laboratory work and careful data analysis - Data Analysis and Programming Skills: Experience with programming or data analysis tools, for example Python, MATLAB, or similar, is an advantage - Availability: You are willing to travel between Vienna and Munich during the thesis period - Language skills: Fluent level in English, both written and spoken. German is a plus