Applications Development Engineer

KLA • Hillsboro, OR

6d

About The Position

KLA’s Semiconductor Products and Customers business unit designs, builds, and sells products that help chip manufacturers meet high-quality standards across logic, memory, specialty semiconductors, wafers, reticles, advanced packaging, process equipment, and materials. The Film and Scatterometry Technology division provides metrology solutions for measuring film thickness, critical dimensions, composition, and resistivity, partnering with customers from early R&D through high-volume production.

The Applications Development Engineer advances business priorities by providing customer-facing technical support and developing optical metrology applications. The position supports TP (Thermal Probe) applications, including tool installation, qualification, and production ramp at customer sites. It develops and optimizes recipes and models, validates measurement accuracy and repeatability, and supports inline process control and offline characterization. The engineer also executes customer demonstrations, evaluations, and acceptance tests, analyzes application performance data, and collaborates with product engineering, R&D, field service, and global application teams. The role requires 30% domestic and international travel.

Requirements

• Master’s or PhD in Materials Science, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• 3–8+ years of experience in semiconductor applications, metrology, or process engineering.
• Knowledge of Thermal Probe technology.
• Knowledge of optical metrology.
• Knowledge of Thermal Probe characterization and modeling.
• Knowledge of semiconductor process integration in logic, memory, or packaging.
• Strong data analysis and problem-solving skills.
• Strong customer-facing communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and in cross-functional teams.
• Detail-oriented with strong execution capability.
• Ability to learn quickly and adapt in a dynamic environment.

Nice To Haves

• Hands-on experience with Thermal Probe or similar metrology platforms.
• Experience supporting tool demonstrations or qualifications at customer sites.
• Familiarity with advanced packaging or emerging device structures.

Responsibilities

• Act as a primary technical contact for customers on Thermal Probe applications.
• Support tool installation, qualification, and production ramp at customer sites.
• Understand customer process challenges and provide optimized metrology solutions.
• Troubleshoot and resolve application-related issues in a timely manner.
• Develop and optimize recipes for optical metrology.
• Set up and refine models.
• Ensure measurement accuracy, repeatability, and correlation to customer reference methods.
• Support inline process control and offline characterization use cases.
• Execute customer demonstrations, evaluations, and acceptance tests, including Tier-2 tests.
• Prepare and analyze data to demonstrate tool capability and application performance.
• Drive spec closure and meet customer requirements within defined timelines.
• Improve demo efficiency, throughput, and cycle time.
• Work with product engineering and R&D teams to report issues and drive improvements.
• Provide feedback on application gaps, customer needs, and competitive insights.
• Collaborate with field service engineers to ensure tool performance and uptime.
• Align with global application teams to leverage best practices.
• Travel domestically and internationally, approximately 30% of the time.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, life, and other voluntary benefits
• 401(k) with company matching
• Employee stock purchase program (ESPP)
• Student debt assistance
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Development and career growth opportunities and programs
• Financial planning benefits
• Wellness benefits, including an employee assistance program (EAP)
• Paid time off and paid company holidays
• Family care and bonding leave
• Performance incentive programs

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level