Process Engineer – High Purity Rare Earth Oxide Powder Purification & Manufacturing

Applied Materials • Santa Clara, CA

4d • Onsite

About The Position

As a Process Engineer, you'll play a crucial role in designing and optimizing manufacturing processes for display and semiconductor manufacturing technologies. You will collect and analyze data, perform hardware characterization, and troubleshoot engineering issues. You'll also measure film properties, generate technical documentation, and engage with customers to resolve concerns. Process Engineers collaborate with vendors and suppliers, and become familiar with implementing new technologies and products. You will experiment, learn, and collaborate with some of the brightest minds in the semiconductor and display industries, partnering with our globally recognized R&D teams on state-of-the-art research and development projects. The Materials Center of Excellence (MCOE) team is responsible for developing and productization of chamber materials and critical components to enable Applied Material Customers to modify materials at atomic levels on the industrial scale with world class productivity and yield. To achieve this, we employ some of the best, brightest, and most talented people in the world who work together as part of winning team delivering results. This role supports development, scale‑up, and manufacturing control of high‑purity ceramic and rare‑earth oxide powders spanning aqueous precipitation through calcination and final particle classification. The position is highly visible within MCOE and directly impacts contamination control, defectivity, and yield performance for semiconductor hardware.

Requirements

• B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, or related field
• 5–10+ years of experience in powder, ceramics, wet chemical, or specialty materials manufacturing
• Hands‑on experience with high‑purity materials and contamination‑sensitive environments
• Demonstrated success scaling chemical or materials processes from development into manufacturing
• Develop, plan and execute material engineering projects for a range of projects
• Design, collect data, analyze and compile reports on significantly complex materials engineering experiments
• Assess the technical trade-offs compared to cost trade-offs
• Define and validate material measurement/analytical techniques
• Train engineers on the techniques and guide them in the interpretation of the data
• Define and implement new methodologies, define and apply new technologies, and/or troubleshoot and resolve significantly complex materials engineering issues/problems for a range of products
• Interact with key customers to resolve significantly complex engineering issues for a range of products to address our customers High Value Problems (HVPs)
• Generate internal and external documentation for products, presentations, technical reports for integrated products and generate engineering specifications
• Functional Knowledge: Aqueous chemistry and precipitation kinetics (nucleation and growth control)
• Functional Knowledge: Powder separation and purification methods (filtration, centrifugation, washing)
• Functional Knowledge: Calcination and thermal processing of oxide materials (rotary kiln, belt furnace)
• Functional Knowledge: Particle and materials characterization: PSD, BET, SEM, ICP‑MS, XRD
• Functional Knowledge: Statistical process control, process consistency, and manufacturing scale‑up
• Strong root‑cause analysis skills applied to particle‑driven defects and contamination issues
• Data-driven decision making in ambiguous, high‑impact environments

Nice To Haves

• Masters or Ph.D. preferred

Responsibilities

• Lead wet chemical powder manufacturing processes including controlled precipitation, redox chemistry, washing, filtration, drying, and calcination
• Drive purity, particle size distribution (PSD), morphology, and agglomeration control across multiple product streams
• Scale processes from lab to pilot to high‑volume manufacturing, including equipment qualification and production ramp
• Establish process windows, QA/QC checkpoints, SPC, and control plans to ensure long‑term production consistency
• Partner with suppliers to manage feedstock variability and product quality
• Conduct failure analysis and root‑cause investigations tied to particle‑driven defects and downstream hardware performance
• Define and align product specifications, guardrails, and measurement methodologies with application requirements
• Support capacity expansion and new material introductions (e.g., yttrium, terbium, and other rare earth elements)
• Collect and analyze data, perform hardware characterization, and troubleshoot engineering issues
• Measure film properties, generate technical documentation, and engage with customers to resolve concerns
• Collaborate with vendors and suppliers, and become familiar with implementing new technologies and products
• Experiment, learn, and collaborate with some of the brightest minds in the semiconductor and display industries, partnering with our globally recognized R&D teams on state-of-the-art research and development projects
• Lead complex technical problems with a structured, systems‑level approach
• Own outcomes and drives execution from concept through stable production
• Influence cross‑functional teams spanning R&D, manufacturing, quality, and suppliers
• Conduct root‑cause analysis applied to particle‑driven defects and contamination issues
• Make data-driven decisions in ambiguous, high‑impact environments
• Impact product performance, yield, supplier strategy, and capacity planning by ensuring robust, scalable rare earth powder supply to enable Applied Materials next generation semiconductor equipment

Benefits

• Supportive work culture that encourages you to learn, develop, and grow your career
• Programs and support that encourage personal and professional growth
• Comprehensive benefits package
• Participation in a bonus and a stock award program, as applicable

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree