Facet Inspection Process Engineer

Coherent • Sherman, TX

15h • Onsite

About The Position

The Facet Inspection Process Engineer will monitor AOI process performance, maintain process control, and respond to excursions. This role involves investigating defect excursions, nuisance defects, false rejects, and defect escapes, and developing/implementing corrective actions. The engineer will also develop, characterize, optimize, and release AOI recipes for semiconductor laser facet inspection, including lighting, focus, image acquisition, inspection regions, thresholds, algorithms, and defect classification criteria. Additionally, they will develop and maintain control plans, OCAPs, inspection specifications, defect libraries, golden samples, acceptance criteria, and recipe change-control documentation. Planning and executing engineering experiments, gauge studies, correlation studies, and capability analyses to improve defect detection sensitivity, repeatability, reproducibility, and discrimination is key. The role also includes correlating AOI results with manual inspection and downstream testing, driving continuous improvement, partnering with equipment engineering and suppliers, supporting new product introduction, and training technicians and operators. Collaboration with various departments is essential to achieve business objectives.

Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, Optics/Photonics, Computer Engineering, or a closely related science or engineering major and at least 2 years of relevant experience in semiconductor, optoelectronics, precision inspection, machine vision, or automated manufacturing; or a Master or PhD degree in a related field without industry experience.
• Working knowledge of semiconductor wafer/device processing, engineering practices, and manufacturing process control.
• Knowledge of automated optical inspection (AOI), machine vision, optical microscopy, image acquisition, lighting, focus, and defect detection concepts.
• Ability to develop and optimize inspection recipes, thresholds, regions of interest, defect classifiers, and acceptance criteria for high-volume manufacturing.
• Knowledge of engineering statistics including SPC, DOE, process capability, measurement system analysis, gauge R&R, correlation, and hypothesis testing.
• Ability to analyze inspection images and large defect datasets, build paretos and trend analyses, and distinguish true process defects from inspection artifacts or nuisance calls.
• Strong structured problem-solving skills and ability to lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions across process, equipment, material, and inspection contributors.
• Good written and oral communication skills, including clear technical documentation and cross-functional communication.
• Fluency in MS Office suite and JMP or other statistical analysis software.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with semiconductor laser devices, GaAs/InP processing, optical microscopy, machine vision, or automated optical inspection is preferred.
• Experience with semiconductor laser facets, cleaved/coated optical surfaces, GaAs/InP devices, or optoelectronic manufacturing is preferred.
• experience with AOI software, image analysis tools, SQL/Python, or manufacturing data systems is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Monitors AOI process performance using SPC, inspection yield, defect pareto, false-call/escape metrics, and equipment health indicators; maintains process control and responds to excursions.
• Maintains facet inspection stepwise yield and investigates defect excursions, nuisance defects, false rejects, and defect escapes; develops and implements corrective and preventive actions.
• Develops, characterizes, optimizes, and releases AOI recipes for semiconductor laser facet inspection, including lighting, focus, image acquisition, inspection regions, thresholds, algorithms, and defect classification criteria.
• Develops and maintains control plans, OCAPs, inspection specifications, defect libraries, golden samples, acceptance criteria, and recipe change-control documentation.
• Plans and executes engineering experiments, gauge studies, correlation studies, and capability analyses to improve defect detection sensitivity, repeatability, reproducibility, and discrimination between true defects and cosmetic variation.
• Correlates AOI results with manual microscope inspection, downstream electrical/optical test, reliability results, and failure analysis to validate inspection effectiveness and reduce risk of defect escapes.
• Drives continuous improvement activities to reduce scrap and reinspection, improve process capability and throughput, reduce cycle time and cost, and increase automated disposition where technically justified.
• Partners with Equipment Engineering and AOI suppliers to troubleshoot image quality, motion, optics, illumination, software, recipe, and hardware issues and to support qualification of equipment upgrades or new inspection capability.
• Supports new product introduction and process changes by defining inspection requirements, establishing baseline defect signatures, qualifying recipes, and completing process readiness documentation.
• Trains Process Technicians, Operators, and Engineers on facet inspection methods, AOI recipes, defect classification, reaction plans, and proper handling of inspected material.
• Collaborates with Operations, Equipment Engineering, Process Integration, Design, Quality, Reliability, Failure Analysis, and Supply Chain to achieve business unit and organizational objectives.

Benefits

• Coherent Corp. is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

What This Job Offers

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