PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative: Engineer or Research Scientist in Nanofabrication for Integrate

PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative:
Engineer or Research Scientist in Nanofabrication for Integrated Photonics

As part of the PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative
, ICFO coordinates PIXEurope, a flagship Pilot Line funded under the European Chips JU program
. With €400 million in investments and a consortium of 20 partners across 11 countries, the project aims to reinforce Europe's strategic autonomy in photonic technologies and accelerate industrial uptake of cutting-edge integrated photonics. Over the next decade, PIXEurope will enable the transfer of advanced technologies to manufacturing environments, while fostering innovation and scalability across the European photonics ecosystem.

To strengthen this initiative, ICFO is seeking a highly motivated Engineer or Research Scientist with strong expertise in nanofabrication of photonic devices.

Position Overview:

We offer a staff research engineer position to a scientist or engineer with hands-on experience in nanofabrication processes for photonic devices. The ideal candidate will have experience working with platforms such as Silicon, Silicon Nitride, and/or Lithium Niobate. The successful candidate will contribute to the development, optimization, and scaling of fabrication processes for integrated photonics.

Key Responsibilities:

The selected candidate will be expected to:

• Develop and optimize nanofabrication processes for photonic devices based on techniques like EBL and fs-laser writing
• Prepare and manage masks for etching processes and ensure process reproducibility
• Perform and optimize dry and/or wet etching processes for nanophotonic structures
• Develop and optimize laser-based etching processes for glass micro-structuring
• Carry out metal deposition using e-beam evaporation and sputtering techniques for lift-off fabrication processes.
• Work within a cleanroom environment, ensuring best practices and compliance with fabrication protocols
• Characterize fabricated devices using techniques such as SEM, AFM and other metrology tools
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams on device development, fabrication workflows, and process integration
• Contribute to research and development projects in integrated photonics, including interaction with academic and industrial partners

This position will report to Prof. Dr. Valerio Pruneri, Director of the European Chips JU Pilot Line PIXEurope and Dr. Joel Moser, the Head of Nanofabrication Lab where the related activities will be hosted.

This contract has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe under the Grant Agreement # , Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) and the Spanish Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service, and is supported by funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR).