RF Front-End Design Engineer

Project

Work done for a product or program.

• Design RF switches in SOI or GaAs pHEMT meeting insertion loss, isolation, harmonic and linearity (IIP3, IMD) targets under high antenna power.
• Design and co-optimise impedance matching networks, baluns and couplers using electromagnetic simulation and measured S-parameters.
• Partition the front-end module across dies and integrate SAW/BAW/FBAR filter die, PA die, switch die and control in a laminate or LGA module.
• Budget cascaded noise figure, gain and linearity across the front-end and reconcile it with the transceiver-level sensitivity requirement.
• Verify harmonic and intermodulation compliance against 3GPP spurious emission and receive-band noise limits for the target band combinations.
• Design the MIPI RFFE control interface, register map and state sequencing for antenna tuning and band switching.
• Run electromagnetic co-simulation of die, interposer, bond wires and laminate in HFSS or Momentum and close module-level performance.
• Characterise modules on load-pull and vector network analyser benches over temperature and antenna VSWR mismatch.
• Support handset and CPE customers on antenna tuning, band-combination coexistence and over-the-air performance debug.
• Drive reliability qualification for RF power handling, including hot-switching, ruggedness and ESD at the antenna port.

Function

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

• Maintain design guidelines, coding standards and reusable blocks.General
• Improve design flows and checks with the CAD and methodology teams.General
• Mentor newer engineers and share lessons learned across projects.General

Project

1. Produce and hand over the role's key deliverables
   • Front-end module architecture and die partitioning specification
   • Switch, matching network and coupler designs with EM-verified layouts
   • Cascaded noise figure, gain and linearity budget
   • MIPI RFFE register map and control specification
   • Module characterisation report over temperature, power and VSWR
   • Customer application note for band combinations and antenna tuning
2. Design the blockGeneral
   • Write or capture the design to the specification
   • Run lint, simulation or circuit checks
   • Close design reviews and their actions
3. Support integration and sign-offGeneral
   • Fix bugs found by verification
   • Support timing and physical closure
   • Deliver handoff files and documentation

Function

1. Keep design methods currentGeneral
   • Maintain coding and design standards
   • Build and maintain reusable blocks
2. Develop peopleGeneral
   • Mentor newer engineers
   • Run design reviews and knowledge sharing sessions