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Process Engineer – Semiconductor Etch

Department: Engineering / Technical Customer Support

Industry: Semiconductor Equipment Components

Reports To: Vice President of Sales

Employment Type: Full-Time

Classification: Exempt

Schedule: Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM–6:00 PM

Position Summary

The Process Engineer – Semiconductor Etch & Quartz Applications serves as the primary technical interface between our company and semiconductor fabrication customers, with particular emphasis on plasma etch applications and high-purity quartz chamber components.

This position will work directly with the customer’s Etch Process Engineers, Equipment Engineers, Manufacturing Engineers, and maintenance personnel to understand process requirements, chamber conditions, quartz component performance, and manufacturing challenges.

A key responsibility of this role is to work directly with the end user at the semiconductor fab to troubleshoot quartz components installed and operating inside process chambers. The engineer will help identify whether component condition, fit, erosion, contamination, dimensional variation, surface condition, or other quartz-related factors may be contributing to process instability, particles, chamber mismatch, yield loss, or premature component failure.

The engineer will translate these findings into actionable design, manufacturing, quality, cleaning, and qualification improvements within our organization.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Technical Interface

· Serve as the primary engineering counterpart to the customer’s Etch Process Engineering and Equipment Engineering teams.

· Develop strong technical working relationships with engineers responsible for semiconductor plasma etch processes and equipment.

· Provide on-site technical support at customer fabs when required.

· Participate in chamber troubleshooting, engineering reviews, component evaluations, and qualification activities.

· Understand the customer’s process requirements, chamber configurations, preventive-maintenance practices, and quartz component usage.

· Translate customer process and equipment requirements into technical requirements for internal Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, and Operations teams.

· Communicate technical findings, recommendations, qualification results, and corrective actions to customer engineering teams.

In-Chamber Quartz Troubleshooting

A major responsibility of this position is to work directly with the end user to troubleshoot quartz components while they are being used in semiconductor processing chambers.

· Work alongside customer Process Engineers, Equipment Engineers, and Maintenance personnel to investigate quartz-related chamber issues.

· Review quartz component condition during preventive maintenance, chamber opening, component replacement, and troubleshooting events.

· Inspect installed and removed quartz parts for plasma erosion, etch attack, cracking, chipping, surface roughening, discoloration, deposits, contamination, particle generation, dimensional wear, improper seating or fit, uneven wear patterns, and premature failure.

· Evaluate whether quartz component condition may be contributing to particle excursions, chamber-to-chamber mismatch, process drift, CD variation, profile changes, uniformity issues, wafer defects, contamination, reduced chamber stability, increased preventive-maintenance frequency, or extended chamber recovery time.

· Compare quartz component condition between normal-performing and abnormal-performing chambers.

· Review component history, chamber position, hours or wafer counts, maintenance history, and replacement frequency.

· Assist the customer in separating potential component-related issues from equipment, process, recipe, or maintenance-related causes.

· Recommend component replacement, inspection, measurement, or further failure analysis when required.

· Document findings from chamber-side investigations and communicate them to both the customer and internal engineering teams.

· Follow identified problems through corrective action, component modification, requalification, and verification.

Quartz Applications Engineering

· Understand semiconductor-grade high-purity fused quartz and its use within plasma etch equipment.

· Evaluate quartz components including rings, liners, windows, tubes, injectors, insulators, showerhead-related components, and custom chamber assemblies.

· Understand how quartz purity, geometry, surface finish, dimensional tolerances, cleaning, and manufacturing methods can influence semiconductor process performance.

· Analyze quartz erosion and plasma interaction mechanisms.

· Investigate returned quartz components to identify potential failure mechanisms.

· Work with customer engineers to establish component lifetime and replacement criteria.

· Recommend improvements to component design, tolerances, surface finish, cleaning requirements, or manufacturing methods.

· Support qualification of replacement, alternate-source, redesigned, or cost-reduction quartz components.

Chamber and Process Interaction

The engineer must maintain sufficient understanding of plasma etch equipment and processes to correlate quartz condition with chamber and wafer performance.

· Understand plasma etch fundamentals including RF power, bias, pressure, gas chemistry, temperature, and chamber condition.

· Understand chamber seasoning, preventive maintenance, chamber recovery, and qualification.

· Evaluate how quartz components can affect plasma distribution and chamber performance.

· Investigate quartz-related chamber matching concerns.

· Review process and equipment data supplied by the customer when investigating component-related problems.

· Correlate component wear or condition with process trends when appropriate.

· Support investigation of abnormal chamber behavior following quartz replacement or preventive maintenance.

· Help determine whether a quartz component is a root cause, contributing factor, or unrelated to a process excursion.

Customer Component Qualification

· Work with customer Process and Equipment Engineers to define qualification requirements and success criteria.

· Develop qualification plans for new or modified quartz components.

· Coordinate installation and evaluation of test components at the customer fab.

· Track component performance through customer qualification cycles.

· Evaluate component lifetime, particle performance, process stability, chamber matching, and customer-defined metrics.

· Compare new quartz components with existing OEM or incumbent parts.

· Analyze qualification data and prepare technical reports and presentations.

· Drive qualification projects from initial engineering review through production approval.

Technical Problem Solving & Failure Analysis

· Respond rapidly to customer concerns involving quartz components.

· Gather process, equipment, chamber, maintenance, and component history from the end user.

· Coordinate inspection and failure analysis of returned components.

· Review dimensional, material, surface, cleanliness, contamination, packaging, and manufacturing factors.

· Perform or coordinate measurements of suspect quartz components.

· Compare used components against original drawings and specifications.

· Use structured problem-solving tools including 5-Why, Fishbone, Pareto analysis, FMEA, and root-cause analysis.

· Develop corrective and preventive actions.

· Present findings and recommendations directly to customer engineering teams.

· Verify effectiveness of corrective actions after implementation.

Internal Engineering Interface

The Process Engineer will serve as the voice of the customer inside our organization and translate field findings into manufacturing improvements.

The engineer will work closely with Quartz Manufacturing, CNC Machining, Grinding and Polishing, Flame Working / Welding, Cleaning, Inspection / Metrology, Quality Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Product Engineering, Production Planning, and Sales and Account Management.

· Translate customer chamber issues into actionable internal engineering investigations.

· Communicate how specific quartz features function inside the customer’s process chamber.

· Identify critical dimensions and characteristics based on actual chamber performance.

· Review customer drawings, specifications, tolerances, and technical requirements.

· Support manufacturability and design-for-manufacturing reviews.

· Recommend process-control improvements based on field failures or customer feedback.

· Coordinate engineering changes resulting from customer troubleshooting.

· Ensure lessons learned from in-chamber component performance are incorporated into production and quality systems.

Continuous Improvement & Cost of Ownership

Work jointly with the customer to improve quartz component and chamber performance. Projects may include:

· Extending quartz component lifetime

· Reducing particle generation and contamination

· Reducing cracking and chipping

· Improving dimensional repeatability and component fit

· Improving chamber-to-chamber matching

· Optimizing surface finish and cleaning methods

· Reducing premature component failures and preventive-maintenance frequency

· Shortening chamber recovery time

· Developing alternate-source components

· Reducing total cost of ownership

Qualifications

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, or a related technical discipline. Equivalent semiconductor industry experience may be considered.

Experience

· 3–7+ years of semiconductor process, equipment, applications, or component engineering experience preferred.

· Experience supporting semiconductor plasma etch processes or equipment.

· Experience working directly with semiconductor fab Process Engineers and Equipment Engineers.

· Hands-on experience troubleshooting quartz components installed in semiconductor process chambers.

· Experience inspecting used quartz components during chamber maintenance or post-use analysis.

· Ability to correlate quartz component condition with equipment or process performance.

· Knowledge of high-purity fused quartz and semiconductor cleanliness requirements.

· Experience with component qualification and change-control processes.

· Experience reading engineering drawings and dimensional specifications.

· Experience working directly with semiconductor end users in a technical support capacity.

Experience with etch equipment from Applied Materials, Lam Research, Tokyo Electron, or similar semiconductor equipment platforms is highly desirable.

Technical Competencies

· Plasma etch processes, including RIE, ICP, and CCP

· Plasma-surface interactions, vacuum systems, RF systems, and etch chemistry

· Chamber consumables and quartz erosion mechanisms

· Quartz failure modes and semiconductor contamination control

· Particle generation and reduction

· Chamber matching, preventive maintenance, and chamber qualification

· Statistical Process Control and process capability

· DOE, FMEA, and root-cause analysis

· Engineering drawings and GD&T

· Semiconductor component qualification

Key Performance Indicators

· Speed and effectiveness of customer chamber troubleshooting

· Successful resolution of quartz-related field issues

· Quartz component lifetime improvement

· Reduction in component-related defects, particles, and premature failures

· Successful customer qualifications

· Chamber performance improvement related to quartz components

· Corrective-action effectiveness

· Customer engineering satisfaction

· Qualification of alternate-source quartz components

· Cost-of-ownership reduction

· Successful transfer of customer field findings into internal manufacturing improvements

Position Objective

The Process Engineer – Semiconductor Etch & Quartz Applications will serve as the technical bridge between our quartz manufacturing organization and the customer’s semiconductor fab engineering team.

A critical part of the role is being able to enter the customer’s fab, work directly with the engineers and technicians responsible for the process chambers, examine quartz components in their actual operating environment, and help determine whether those components are affecting process or equipment performance.

The engineer must be able to take what is learned at the chamber, translate it into a technical problem statement, and then work with our internal Engineering, Quality, and Manufacturing teams to develop and implement a solution.

Success means the customer’s engineers view this individual as a trusted technical counterpart who can troubleshoot quartz components from the chamber back through the manufacturing process, rather than simply as a supplier representative.