Intern - Wafer Thin Film Development (Vacuum Deposition) Summer 2026

Seagate Technology • Bloomington, MN

82d • $35 - $43

About The Position

The HAMR Product Materials Group is responsible for delivering new material and deposition process solutions to Seagate's advanced recording head development effort. As part of the wafer process team, we develop best-in-class films using vacuum- and electrochemistry-based deposition methods, and partner with integration teams to introduce these films into new recording head designs. As an enabler of head performance and reliability advances through materials innovation, we help Seagate lead in technology and time-to-market.

Requirements

• Graduate course work with hands-on experience in thin film deposition and characterization, with particular consideration given to backgrounds in metal materials, plasma physics, electrodeposition, nucleation and growth, microstructural evolution, and optical/transport/thermal property testing
• Pursuing a PhD degree in Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Applied Physics, or similar degree

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience in an industrial R D environment is a plus
• Knowledge of basic analysis and presentation software (Excel, Powerpoint, JMP…)

Responsibilities

• Help develop novel metal thin films for next-generation heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) heads
• Develop new vacuum-deposition and/or electrodeposition processes to achieve controlled nucleation and growth in platinum group/noble metal films
• Investigate structure-process-property relationships for polycrystalline and epitaxial films including detailed microstructural and physical property assessment
• Work with engineering staff to pattern and validate new films using wafer-level optical and transport test structures
• Perform work with team of PhD engineers in lab and clean room environments using different experimental techniques including sputtering, ion-beam deposition, plating, atomic layer deposition, XRD, ellipsometry, wafer curvature, adhesion testing, SEM/TEM, 4pt probe, etc.

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision
• Participation in the employee stock purchase plan
• 12 paid holidays
• Minimum of 48 hours of paid sick leave

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Part-time
• Career Level: Intern
• Industry: Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree