Scholar Profile –
Eleftheria

What appeals to me about Electronics

Electronics is an extremely wide field that affects everyday life in countless ways. I find it fascinating how many applications it has and where it can be found. Studying electronics opens numerous doors in various aspects of the electronics industry in cutting edge fields. It is also a very rapidly growing discipline, that becomes more and more important in our increasingly digital and connected world.

Why I chose onsemi

I was very intrigued after reading about the various applications of onsemi’s products on medical and particularly automotive applications, such as IC chips used in cameras for cars. I wanted to learn more about IC design, and particularly analogue electronics, which is also the field onsemi offered me to work on during the summer, and hence I was excited and honored to accept.

My placement and its value

I have had three experiences working at onsemi during my degree. During my first year, I worked on designing a CMOS op-amp which had to meet a set of specification requirements. I learned how to use CAD tools, specifically Cadence Design Environment, and Virtuoso, a powerful industry-standard software for schematic capture, simulation, and parasitic extraction for analogue verification. The subject required material further than what I had learnt during my first year at university, so further investigation on Analogue IC design was necessary.

During my second year I tackled a project of different nature, investigating the use of SystemVerilog for analogue verification and increase of simulation speed. I learned the technique of Real Number Modelling, to devise a nettype that could simulate the current and voltage in a circuit net as real numbers, contrary to the numerical solutions followed by an analogue simulator.

Finally, onsemi hosted my 6-month industrial placement, which is a compulsory part of my degree. The extended timeframe allowed for much deeper investigations, as well as a larger variety of projects. I started by the design of an LDO (low dropout regulator) for a PLL (phase lock loop), and then continued with designing a bandgap reference circuit for the power monitor of an upcoming chip. This was the first time my work went directly into a scheduled product, which was very exciting!

All these experiences were a really valuable introduction to the electronics industry, and illustrated the real-life applications of the theory I had learned at university, while helping me hone skills such as communication skills and time management ”

My interests

I am a creative person, I enjoy music and dance – I have been playing the cello for over 10 years, had theoretical music classes, joined orchestras, and I have reached a semi-professional Latin dancing level. I also enjoy reading most types of fiction and literature, particularly sci-fi and mysteries, as well as classics.