Senior Ethernet PHY/MAC Post-Silicon Validation Consultant

(Part-Time | Remote | 8+ Years)

Company: Supplesoft Private Limited

Location: Remote (Work From Home, India)

Employment Type: Part-Time / Contract / Freelance

Time Commitment: 2–4 hours per day (flexible)

Experience: 8+ years in post-silicon validation (Ethernet PHY/MAC)

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ABOUT SUPPLESOFT

Supplesoft Private Limited provides engineering services and technical expertise to semiconductor and technology companies. We are supporting a post-silicon validation program for high-speed Ethernet connectivity chips and need an experienced validation expert who can give remote technical guidance a few hours each day.

ROLE OVERVIEW

You will be the senior technical advisor to our lab-based validation engineer, who works hands-on with first silicon from the fab. You will guide board bring-up, test planning, debug, signal integrity analysis and results review for Ethernet PHY and MAC blocks. Your input will help decide whether silicon meets spec, whether an issue is acceptable, or whether a respin is needed.

PROGRAM SCOPE

▪ Ethernet speeds: 10/100M, 1G, 2.5G, 5G, 10G, 25G

▪ Blocks: Ethernet PHY (AFE, PCS/PMA, SerDes) and Ethernet MAC

▪ Phase: Post-silicon, from bring-up to full characterization

▪ Future scope: USB 3.2 hubs and PCIe devices

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

- Silicon Bring-Up

▪ Guide bring-up on test boards: power sequencing, clocks, PLL lock, resets

▪ Validate device communication: JTAG, MDIO/MDC, I2C/SPI, register access

▪ Debug early failures: no link, no clock,



register or firmware issues

- Ethernet PHY Validation

▪ Auto-negotiation, parallel detection, link up/down behavior

▪ Link training and SerDes equalization (CTLE, DFE, FFE) for 10G/25G

▪ PCS/PMA: 8b/10b, 64b/66b encoding, block lock, alignment

▪ Copper PHY AFE: echo/NEXT cancellation, cable length, cable diagnostics

▪ BER testing, EEE (802.3az), low-power modes, loopback modes

▪ Compliance: TX waveform, return loss, jitter tolerance, RX sensitivity

- Ethernet MAC Validation

▪ Frame TX/RX, jumbo frames, runts/giants, CRC/FCS and error injection

▪ Flow control (802.3x PAUSE, PFC), VLAN (802.1Q), address filtering

▪ Statistics/MIB counters, throughput, latency, line-rate stress

▪ MAC-PHY interfaces: MII, RMII, RGMII, SGMII, XGMII, XFI, SFI, USXGMII

▪ Interoperability debug with link partners and switches

- Signal Integrity and Characterization

▪ Eye diagrams, jitter (TJ/RJ/DJ), rise/fall time, amplitude

▪ PVT (process, voltage, temperature) characterization review

- Debug and Root Cause

▪ Remote debug of hardware, firmware and software integration issues

▪ Analyze logs, scope captures, analyzer traces and register dumps

▪ Isolate silicon vs. board vs. firmware vs. test setup issues

- Automation, Reporting and Mentoring





▪ Review Python/TCL automation and lab equipment control (SCPI/PyVISA)

▪ Review test reports, classify bugs, assess respin risk

▪ Mentor the lab engineer through regular calls (Teams/Zoom/Meet)

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REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

✔ B.E./B.Tech or M.E./M.Tech in Electronics, ECE, EEE or related field

✔ 7+ years of hands-on post-silicon validation in Ethernet PHY and/or MAC

✔ At least one Ethernet chip taken from first silicon to production

✔ Strong knowledge of IEEE 802.3 (10BASE-T to 25GBASE-R/KR/CR)

✔ Hands-on with RGMII, SGMII, XFI, USXGMII and MDIO/MDC

✔ Solid understanding of SerDes, equalization and signal integrity

✔ Robust Python scripting; TCL/Perl is a plus

TOOLS EXPERIENCE

▪ Oscilloscopes: Keysight, Tektronix, LeCroy

▪ BERTs: Keysight M8040 / Anritsu MP1900 or similar

▪ Traffic generators: Ixia, Spirent, Xena

▪ Protocol analyzers, Wireshark, VNA/TDR

▪ JTAG, MDIO, I2C, SPI, UART, thermal chambers

NICE TO HAVE

▪ USB 3.x or PCIe Gen3/4/5 post-silicon validation

▪ FPGA-based pre-silicon validation

▪ UNH-IOL compliance, TSN, PTP (1588), MACsec, Automotive Ethernet (T1)

▪ Linux networking drivers and embedded firmware

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ENGAGEMENT DETAILS

▪ 100% remote (work from home)

▪ 2–4 hours per day, overlapping with IST lab hours

▪ Part-time / contract / freelance

▪ Competitive hourly or monthly pay, based on experience

▪ Long-term engagement with possible extension to USB/PCIe programs

📌 Part-Time Remote Consultant – Ethernet PHY/MAC Post-Silicon Validation (India)
🏢 Supple Soft Pvt.Ltd.
📍 India