Job Purpose

The Dry Etch Process Development Engineer is responsible to help support the development of

manufacturable, repeatable, and high yielding processes for state-of-the-art highly specialized devices in the 

fields of Aerospace, Defense, Bioelectronics, and High-Speed Communications.

Essential Responsibilities

• Partner with Integration Engineers, Customers, and Other Development Engineers to execute 

experiments and adjust or optimize processes for Fab Operation. 

• Partner with Product Engineering and Integration to help ensure effective new products and 

process introductions as well as consistent device performance and quality. 

• Guide and assist Process Technicians through challenging process steps. 

• Analyze metrology results and disposition lots based on data and pass/fail criteria. 

• Report and summarize results from the metrology analysis and provide guidance to Integration 

Engineering Team and Process Development Engineering Team. 

• Provide effective pass-downs to support uninterrupted operation for Dry Etch activities.

• Sustain and improve processes for wafer fabrication. 

• Partner with equipment engineering, operation, and management to improve cycle time, tool 

availability, quality, and product yields. 

• Using Document Control, Process Work Instructions, and Manufacturing Execution Systems, 

preserve working knowledge of all codes and standards applicable to assigned production 

equipment. 

• Assure that the manufactured products conform to specifications and application requirements. 

• Partner with Senior Development Engineering team and Integration teams to resolve deviations or 

technical issues by establishing a list of hypotheses, defining the experiment to validate or 

invalidate hypothesis, identify root-causes, implement corrective actions, document improved 

process, and train operations

• Sustain existing processes in the areas of, Reactive Ion Etching (RIE), Deep RIE (DRIE), Magnetron 

RIE (MRIE), Inductively Coupled Plasma etching (ICP), Microwave Ashing, Transformer Coupled 

Plasma etching (TCP), Dipole Ring Magnetron etching (DRM) and Barrel etching, etch process 

recipe creations, inspections, defects control, and standard Dry Etch related metrology such as 

ellipsometry or profilometry.

• Create and maintain operating specifications for production processes and equipment. 

• Monitor process health with Statistical Process Control (SPC) and respond to out-of-control event 

following out-of-control action plan

Education 

BS in Electrical Engineering, Material Science, Physics, Chemistry, or related + 9 years, MS + 7 years, or 

Ph.D. + 4 years.

Must be able to work offset shifts: Front-End Days (starts on Sundays, ends on Thursdays) or Back-End Days (starts on Tuesdays, ends Saturdays).

Experience

Processing experience in a fab in the area of Dry Etch processing using Reactive Ion Etching (RIE), Deep 

RIE (DRIE), Magnetron RIE (MRIE), Inductively Coupled Plasma etching (ICP), and Microwave Ashing.

Ability to operate processing tools, write and run Dry Etch recipes, inspect wafers under the 

microscope, and perform basic characterization related to Dry Etch processing with particles / defects 

metrology, and thickness / uniformity metrology.

 Statistical Process Control (SPC)