Principal Engineer, Photonics Reliability
About The Position
Ayar Labs is seeking a Principal Engineer, Photonics Reliability to lead their reliability strategy as they scale into high-volume manufacturing. This role focuses on Design for Reliability (DfR), foundry partnerships, and advanced physics-of-failure modeling to ensure the reliability of their silicon photonics integrated circuits (PICs). The goal is to meet the stringent requirements of AI, High-Performance Computing (HPC), and cloud infrastructure customers by replacing traditional electrical I/O with optical chiplet technology. The Principal Engineer will bridge the gap between R&D and high-volume manufacturing, directly influencing the design of chiplets and the qualification of foundry processes. This is a high-impact role that will lead the reliability roadmap for Ayar Labs' silicon photonics platform.
Requirements
- Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, or a related field.
- 7+ years of semiconductor reliability experience.
- At least 4 years focused specifically on Silicon Photonics or Optoelectronics.
- Deep understanding of foundry process flows and the reliability challenges unique to photonics (e.g., optical power handling, aging, and thermal management in CPO).
- Proven track record in developing aging models (Arrhenius, Coffin-Manson, etc.) for semiconductor or photonic devices.
- Familiarity with JEDEC, Telcordia (GR-468), and MIL-STD qualification standards.
Nice To Haves
- Ph.D.
- Hands-on experience with Python for automated reliability data pipelines.
- A "startup mindset"—the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment where you must often build processes from the ground up.
Responsibilities
- Integrate DfR principles into the earliest stages of the product development lifecycle (NPI).
- Conduct Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) on silicon photonics components, focusing on all Optical elements.
- Collaborate with the Design and Layout teams to implement design-based mitigations for known failure mechanisms like electromigration, dielectric breakdown, and optical degradation.
- Serve as the technical lead for reliability with Foundries, ensuring their photonics processes meet Ayar Labs' quality benchmarks.
- Define and drive wafer-level reliability (WLR) structures and test vehicles to characterize new process nodes.
- Manage reliability requirements for advanced packaging and Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) with OSAT partners.
- Develop and refine Physics-of-Failure (PoF) models for silicon photonics devices to predict FIT (Failures in Time) rates and DPPM.
- Utilize statistical software (JMP, Minitab, or Python) to perform Weibull and Lognormal analysis on accelerated life testing (ALT) and degradation data.
- Model the impact of environmental stressors (thermal cycling, humidity, high-power optical loads) on the long-term performance of the Phontics chiplet.
- Lead complex Root Cause Analysis (RCA) investigations using advanced techniques such as FIB, SEM/TEM, EDX, and EFA.
- Develop corrective action plans (CAPA) to resolve reliability issues discovered during qualification or in-field deployment.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
