Development of an interactive platform for analysing the environmental impacts of semiconductor systems

/ Development of an interactive platform for analysing the environmental impacts of semiconductor systems

Development of an interactive platform for analysing the environmental impacts of semiconductor systems

Design and develop user-centric software that enables engineers to explore designs for more sustainable semiconductor devices.

The semiconductor industry is growing rapidly, as societybecomes increasingly digitalized, connected, and electrified. At the same time,continued improvements in chip performance require increasingly complexmanufacturing processes, involving more process steps, materials and chemicals,and purity requirements. Those trends are compounding the industry’s energy,water, and material consumption, as well as its waste and emissions.

To integrate environmental sustainability “by design” intochip technology development, imec collaborates with key players from across thevalue chain to assess and improve the sustainability of the semiconductorindustry. This endeavour requires a tool able to estimate the impacts from makingchips, their packaging options, and their assembly into complex systems. Thisis why imec develops imec.netzero ,a software platform that simulates high-volume manufacturing semiconductor fabsand assembly lines, quantifying all related flows (materials, energy, water,emissions) and their environmental impacts. This tool quantifies the impact ofexisting and emerging technologies, determines key environmental hotspots, and evaluatesmitigation options. It is consequently actively used by the industry to developand execute sustainability strategies.

Objective

The objective of this internship is to design and implementan intuitive modelling environment for complex semiconductor device systems (suchas systems-on-chip, chiplets, GPU boards, and 3D-stacked systems) inimec.netzero. The engineers using the tool should be able to seamlessly createand save their own systems in the application, visualize environmental impacthotspots, and explore alternative designs. The core challenge to solve is to representthe wide decision space of system definitions with an intuitive UI, while achievinghigh code quality and maintainable software architecture.

Responsibilities

You will actively engage in the design, coding, and testingof the custom system modelling platform. This will involve working closely withour research team to understand the nuances of semiconductor manufacturing,packaging, and assembly. You will integrate into the software development team,engaging in software project organization, architecture discussions, and code maintainability.You will perform user research and gather feedback to further improve the UI/UXdesign.

Who you are:

Applicants are expected to have some experience (and aremotivated to enhance their skills) in the following areas:

• Professional software engineering (architecture,documentation, clean code)
• User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) design
• [Optional] Environmental impact assessment

Type of internship: Master internship

Duration: 4-6 months

Required educational background: Computer Science, Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, Electrotechnics/Electrical Engineering

The reference code for this position is 2026-INT-282. Mention this reference code in your application.

Context

The semiconductor industry is growing rapidly, as societybecomes increasingly digitalized, connected, and electrified. At the same time,continued improvements in chip performance require increasingly complexmanufacturing processes, involving more process steps, materials and chemicals,and purity requirements. Those trends are compounding the industry’s energy,water, and material consumption, as well as its waste and emissions.

To integrate environmental sustainability “by design” intochip technology development, imec collaborates with key players from across thevalue chain to assess and improve the sustainability of the semiconductorindustry. This endeavour requires a tool able to estimate the impacts from makingchips, their packaging options, and their assembly into complex systems. Thisis why imec develops imec.netzero ,a software platform that simulates high-volume manufacturing semiconductor fabsand assembly lines, quantifying all related flows (materials, energy, water,emissions) and their environmental impacts. This tool quantifies the impact ofexisting and emerging technologies, determines key environmental hotspots, and evaluatesmitigation options. It is consequently actively used by the industry to developand execute sustainability strategies.

Objective

The objective of this internship is to design and implementan intuitive modelling environment for complex semiconductor device systems (suchas systems-on-chip, chiplets, GPU boards, and 3D-stack