MEMS Process Integration Engineer

HRL•Malibu, CA

62d

About The Position

HRL's compact, high-performance MEMS IMUs are redefining navigation systems by providing reliable guidance in GPS-degraded environments. Designed with navigation-grade precision, these IMUs offer a cost-effective, scalable solution for automotive, aerospace and other demanding applications where traditional GPS reliance is no longer sufficient. These innovations aim to deliver a first-of-its-kind navigation-grade component, providing industries with a reliable, economical alternative to traditional IMUs and advancing capabilities for autonomous systems and precise navigation. You will be joining a diverse team of applied scientists and engineers in the development of next generation MEMS-enabled sensors and actuators for high-performance aerospace, automotive and industrial applications. As an important member of our MEMS cleanroom fabrication team, you will have the opportunity to innovate and create novel microfabrication processes and integrate them into fully optimized process flows that will be applied to our cutting-edge wafer-scale sensors and actuators' R&D efforts. You will participate in the design, layout, fabrication, and characterization of MEMS-enabled devices and subsystems. You will also conduct layout design and designs of experiments. Through in-process wafer inspections and metrology data, you will provide timely feedback to project teammates. You will be expected to be a task lead who will eventually provide project leadership.

Requirements

Strong track record of process development, process optimization, design of experiments methodology, statistical data analysis and problem solving.
Solid verbal and written communication skills in a multi-person team environment, and enable cross-laboratory collaboration and coordination
Ability to combine disparate process recipes into a full fabrication flow and understand the impact of process interdependence.
Possesses experience and process development expertise in contact/stepper photolithography, wet and plasma dry etches, high aspect-ratio deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) of silicon, glass and other MEMS relevant materials, chemical vapor deposition, dielectric and metal depositions, wafer bonding and vacuum encapsulation of microscale structures, sacrificial and structural layer creation and wet/dry release.
Ability to conduct metrology such as optical/infrared microscope inspections, interferometric measurements and scanning electron microscopy with elemental analysis is required. Design and characterize process control monitors (PCM) for in-process verification.
Ability to design, modify and/or review mask layouts in CAD layout software such as L-Edit or Cadence.
Ph.D. or Master's Degree in a physical science or engineering field with 5+ years of fabrication process experience in an R&D environment.
US Citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a US Government Security Clearance
Must be able to perform safely in a MEMS microfabrication cleanroom and follow standard operating practices

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience with both surface and bulk micro-machining is highly desired.
Proper documentation of fabrication experiments is desired.
Back-end wafer process experience in wafer grinding, CMP, die singulation and assembly processes into packages is a plus.
Ability to utilize data analysis software such as JMP, MATLAB, or python is a major plus.
Automation of fabrication data collection and analysis is a plus.
Device simulation such as mechanical, thermal, or electrical Finite element analysis (FEA) modeling in COMSOL or SolidWorks is desired.

Responsibilities

Innovate and create novel microfabrication processes
Integrate processes into fully optimized process flows
Participate in the design, layout, fabrication, and characterization of MEMS-enabled devices and subsystems
Conduct layout design and designs of experiments
Provide timely feedback to project teammates through in-process wafer inspections and metrology data
Be a task lead who will eventually provide project leadership