Vacancy Detail

Date Posted:  30-Sep-08

RESEARCH ENGINEER OR POST DOC POSITION ON MATERIALS SCIENCE

RESEARCH ENGINEER OR POST DOC POSITION ON MATERIALS SCIENCE « PHYSICS OF FAILURE OF RFID TAGS FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS»

General Framework:
The Centre for Microelectronics in Provence – Georges Charpak (CMP-GC) is a research centre of the “Ecole des Mines de Saint-Etienne”. It is located in Gardanne (near Marseille, south east of France). A research project, named “MISTRALS” is currently running, with the aim of developing reliable RFID tags for the tracability of biomedical objects : blood bag, medicine, biologic samples . It involves industrial partners for the chip design, RFID tag design and packaging (ST Microelectronics, SPS, TAGSYS, PSION) as well as IBM for the global solution, 2 major customers (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire from Nice and Institut Paoli Calmette from Marseille) and an academic partner (CMP-GC). We will contribute to optimize the design of an RFID package which can face complex loading conditions : mechanical (bending, twisting, stretching) and thermal (liquid nitrogen storage) .

Objectives:
As packages are multimaterial structures, the different thermal expansion coefficient result in mechanical stresses when the package is subjected to temperature changes . The so-called thermo-mechanical failures (chip cracking, delamination, interconnection fatigue) are one of the main failure modes in electronic systems . Into the Flexible Micropackaging Department, the recruited fellow will design and perform accelerated thermo-mechanical life tests on different packaging configurations to test their reliability. The root cause of the failures will be determined using the characterization tools available (MEB & EDX, X-ray Microscope, Acoustic Microscope, Raman Spectroscopy, AFM, , …). Complex thermo-mechanical simulations with a finite element code and characterisation methodologies will be used to understand failure mechanisms . Physics of failure models will be proposed to predict the lifetime and improve the reliability of the package . Finally, these models could be extended to define generic design rules for other flexible packages . Applicant profile: Engineer or Post doc degree in materials science, microelectronics or mechanics. Excellent communication and team working skills. Familiarity with industrial/economic constraints and challenges.

Conditions: 1 year renewable contract

Contact:

Xavier Boddaert
Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de St Etienne
Centre de Microelectronique de Provence - Georges Charpak
13541 Gardanne Cedex
France
Tel. +33 4 42616761
Fax. +33 4 42616593
Email. boddaert@emse.fr

Web. www.emse.fr