Place-and-Route Engineer

Project

Work done for a product or program.

• Run global and detailed placement with congestion-driven, timing-driven, and power-driven optimisation settings.
• Tune placement blockages, density screens, cell padding, and NDR rules to relieve routing hotspots.
• Execute global route, track assignment, and detailed route to zero DRC violations at signoff rule decks.
• Apply non-default routing and shielding to critical nets such as clocks, resets, and high-fanout buses.
• Perform post-route optimisation for setup, hold, max transition, max capacitance, and max fanout violations.
• Manage antenna, via-pillar, and double-patterning colouring constraints for advanced-node metal stacks.
• Correlate in-tool timing against signoff STA and close the gap through extraction and library setup alignment.
• Maintain runtime and turnaround time by profiling flow stages and distributing runs across the compute farm.
• Deliver routed databases and incremental checkpoints on the release cadence agreed with the block owner.
• Debug and escalate router and optimiser anomalies with reproducible testcases for EDA vendors.

Function

Work that keeps the discipline running: methods, tools, suppliers and people.

• Maintain implementation flows, scripts and sign-off checklists.General
• Work with EDA vendors and the CAD team to fix tool issues and improve results.General
• Feed lessons from each tapeout back into flows and guidelines.General

Project

1. Produce and hand over the role's key deliverables
   • Fully routed, DRC-clean block database
   • Post-route timing and DRV violation reports
   • Routing resource and congestion analysis report
   • NDR and shielding rule configuration for critical nets
   • Flow runtime and turnaround optimisation summary
2. Implement the layoutGeneral
   • Floorplan and plan the power grid
   • Place, build the clock tree and route
   • Run extraction and analysis
3. Close sign-offGeneral
   • Close timing at every corner
   • Clear DRC and LVS
   • Complete the sign-off checklist

Function

1. Maintain the flowGeneral
   • Update scripts and flow settings
   • Qualify new tool versions
2. Share knowledgeGeneral
   • Document fixes for recurring issues
   • Train newer engineers on the flow