As a PhD candidate, you will work on the design of next-generation computational platforms for advanced industrial motion control systems, with a particular focus on semiconductor lithography.

These systems impose extreme requirements on timing predictability, computational performance, and scalability. Control performance in such systems depends not only on the control algorithms themselves, but also on how they are executed on complex multi-core computing platforms.

Your research will address key questions such as:

• How do timing effects (e.g. latency, jitter, and resource contention) in computing platforms impact motion control performance and stability?
• How can computational platforms be designed and configured to explicitly optimize control performance?
• How can we co-design control algorithms, scheduling strategies, and computing architectures to improve overall system performance?

Concretely, you will:

• Model and analyze the interaction between control algorithms and computational platforms, including task execution behavior, timing characteristics, and data dependencies;
• Quantify the effect of timing variations (such as delays and jitter) on motion control performance using realistic system models and industrial use cases; 
• Develop novel scheduling strategies for real-time control workloads, taking into account both computational constraints and control requirements;
• Design and evaluate computational architectures (e.g. multi-core and heterogeneous platforms) tailored to high-performance motion control systems;
• Develop design-space exploration methods and tools to analyze trade-offs between performance, scalability, and cost; 
• Validate your methods in an industrial context, in close collaboration with ASML and TU/e, using realistic motion control scenarios.

Your work will directly contribute to the development of next-generation motion control platforms for lithography systems, ensuring both strong scientific contributions and real industrial impact.

You are motivated to work at the interface of multiple disciplines and enjoy tackling complex system-level challenges.

Your experience and profile:

• a Master’s degree in Control Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, or a related field;
• experience with control systems and at least one of the following areas: 1) real-time systems and scheduling, or 2) computer architecture or embedded systems
• familiarity with optimization, distributed/parallel systems, or system modeling is an advantage;
• strong analytical and programming skills;
• ability to work independently as well as in an interdisciplinary team;
• excellent command of written and spoken English.

A temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (the initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years). The preferred starting date is as soon as possible. This should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students.

The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week and dependent on relevant experience, ranges between € 3,204 to € 4,051 (scale P). This does not include 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% year-end allowance. The UFO profile promovendus / PhD student is applicable. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable.

Curious about our extensive secondary benefits package? You can read more about it here.