2026 Summer Internship - Optical Transceiver Engineer - PhD (Santa Clara, CA)

Who We Are

Applied Materials is a global leader in materials engineering solutions used to produce virtually every new chip and advanced display in the world. We design, build and service cutting-edge equipment that helps our customers manufacture display and semiconductor chips – the brains of devices we use every day. As the foundation of the global electronics industry, Applied enables the exciting technologies that literally connect our world – like AI and IoT. If you want to push the boundaries of materials science and engineering to create next generation technology, join us to deliver material innovation that changes the world. 

What We Offer

Location:

Santa Clara,CA

You’ll benefit from a supportive work culture that encourages you to learn, develop, and grow your career as you take on challenges and drive innovative solutions for our customers. We empower our team to push the boundaries of what is possible—while learning every day in a supportive leading global company. Visit our Careers website to learn more. 

At Applied Materials, we care about the health and wellbeing of our employees. We’re committed to providing programs and support that encourage personal and professional growth and care for you at work, at home, or wherever you may go. Learn more about our benefits. 

At Applied Materials’ CTO office, we are developing optical interconnect solutions for the next generation hyperscale computing and AI/ML. You will be working with a highly capable international team to develop platform level solution for optical interconnect, including CPO (Co-Packaged Optics).

Responsibility

• Define optical interconnect solution modules (200G/lane and beyond) aligned with product-level requirements.

• Conduct hardware design optical interconnect solution and customer related demo to validate platform solution, including PCB design, schematic capture, and component selection. Guide layout engineers to complete PCB layout that meets mechanical, signal integrity, thermal, and manufacturing constraints.
• Define and optimize signal integrity (SI) for 200G/lane and beyond, covering high-speed SerDes, channel modeling, and link margin analysis.
• Develop robust power delivery network (PDN) solutions for high-density, high-speed optical/electrical systems.
• Collaborate with optical, packaging, thermal, and system engineers to co-design solutions that balance performance, power, and cost.
• Lead technical validation, bring-up, and performance optimization of CPO modules
• Support design validation, qualification, and root-cause analysis during development and production ramp.
• Stay current with and implement relevant industry standards (IEEE, MSA, CMIS, etc.).
• Contribute to automation of transceiver performance testing using Python, C++, or LabVIEW.

 

Qualifications

You should have System-level understanding of current and emerging optical transceiver architectures and standards,  And strong problem-solving skills and collaborative, proactive attitude.  Some travel might be required.

• Ph.D. or working towards in Electrical Engineering

Hands-on experience with:

• PCB schematic design and layout review for optical modules.
• High-speed opto-electrical system design, including DSPs, power rails, and microcontroller interfaces.
• MSA and IEEE standards for optical transceivers and other interconnect standard (e.g., QSFP, OSFP, CMIS, NVlink, UCIe).
• Skilled in using lab equipment including DCA-X, BERT, real-time oscilloscopes, OSAs, and optical power meters
• Strong Python scripting skills for test automation and data analysis
• Solid understanding of SerDes tuning, including eye diagram analysis, jitter characterization, and electrical compliance
• Experience working on both the optical module side and the host/system side of high-speed links

Additional Information

Time Type:

Full time

Employee Type:

Intern / Student

Travel:

Not Specified

Relocation Eligible:

Yes

The salary offered to a selected candidate will be based on multiple factors including location, hire grade, job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and with consideration of internal equity of our current team members. In addition to a comprehensive benefits package, candidates may be eligible for other forms of compensation such as participation in a bonus and a stock award program, as applicable.

For all sales roles, the posted salary range is the Target Total Cash (TTC) range for the role, which is the sum of base salary and target bonus amount at 100% goal achievement.

Applied Materials is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law.

In addition, Applied endeavors to make our careers site accessible to all users. If you would like to contact us regarding accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process, please contact us via e-mail at Accommodations_Program@amat.com, or by calling our HR Direct Help Line at 877-612-7547, option 1, and following the prompts to speak to an HR Advisor. This contact is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.