Senior CMP Process engineer

Samsung•Taylor, TX

3d•Onsite

About The Position

A CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) Process Engineer is responsible for the critical semiconductor manufacturing step of planarizing the wafer surface. This is achieved through a synergistic combination of chemical reactions and mechanical force, ensuring that subsequent layers of the chip can be built with high precision. The primary goal of a CMP engineer is to achieve a flat wafer surface by controlling the chemical reaction and mechanical force.

Requirements

Basic CMP Knowledge: Understanding of dielectric and metal CMP fundamentals, including slurry-pad-conditioning interactions and post-clean steps.
Proficiency in Statistical Process Control (SPC), Fault Detection and Classification (FDC), and analysis software like JMP or Spotfire.
Ability to drive root-cause analysis using methodologies like FMEA, 8D, and first-principles physics approaches.
As per business needs, sometimes it is required to work during off-hour times and/or with CWW shift schedule.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience with major industry CMP tools: AMAT/EBara and their end point systems
Experience with Ellipsometry, SEM, and AFM for thickness and roughness check.
Experience identifying killer defects and improving wafer yield.
Understanding of how CMP affects following steps (Etch/Photo) and overall yield.
Ability to run structured Design of Experiments for process optimization.

Responsibilities

Conducting performance evaluations of various influence factors to ensure the thickness skew before and after CMP is consistent across the entire wafer.
Determining the optimal process conditions to improve uniformity and resolve chronic issues, such as "center low RR profiles.
Developing and optimizing Recipe (RCP) parameters and improve flatness.
Managing and improving wafer uniformity and resolving defects such as scratches and particles.
Monitoring the usage cycles of consumables (pads, slurry) to ensure they do not exceed specifications, which could impact quality.
Evaluating the performance of different slurries and polishing pads to optimize the CMP process.