Staff Engineer, Wafer Metrology

Western Digital•San Jose, CA

About The Position

At Western Digital, our vision is to power global innovation and push the boundaries of technology to make what you thought was once impossible, possible. At our core, Western Digital is a company of problem solvers. People achieve extraordinary things given the right technology. For decades, we’ve been doing just that—our technology helped people put a man on the moon and capture the first-ever picture of a black hole. We offer an expansive portfolio of technologies, HDDs, and platforms for business, creative professionals, and consumers alike under our Western Digital®, WD®, WD_BLACK™, and SanDisk® Professional brands. We are a key partner to some of the largest and highest-growth organizations in the world. From enabling systems to make cities safer and more connected, to powering the data centers behind many of the world’s biggest companies and hyperscale cloud providers, to meeting the massive and ever-growing data storage needs of the AI era, Western Digital is fueling a brighter, smarter future. Today’s exceptional challenges require your unique skills. Together, we can build the future of data storage. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: As a metrology engineer, you will be responsible for developing and implementing precise, robust, and high‐throughput solutions to control high volume manufacturing of complex, three dimensional thin film magnetic read/write head structures. Examples of projects include developing spectroscopic ellipsometer models to measure thin film thickness and index of refraction, creating recipes for atomic force microscopes, and analyzing x-ray fluorescence spectra. To accomplish this objective, you will need to collaborate closely with process engineering teams that support wafer manufacturing operations.

Requirements

B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in physics, chemistry, engineering (chemical, mechanical, electrical), material science
Minimum of 3-6 years of work experience depending on education
Programming/scripting experience in any of SQL, Python, Matlab, JSL, C#, etc.
Strong detail-oriented work habits.
Ability to complete projects on schedule

Nice To Haves

Engineers are required to be hands on (equipment, wafers) so clean room and wafer fabrication/processing experience is needed, preferably in a manufacturing environment.
Experience with spectra analysis and film stack modeling strongly preferred: visible light reflectometry, spectroscopic ellipsometry, x-ray fluorescence
Experience with application of atomic force microscopy in a production environment preferred
Knowledge of tunnelling electron microscopy including practical experience with sample preparation, extraction/handling, and imaging
Excellent skills in problem solving, data analysis, statistics, and both written and oral communications.
Practical understanding of electronics and mechatronics as applied to modern industrial measurement tools.

Responsibilities

Work independently with minimal supervision in the Manufacturing Metrology group to Develop, document, optimize, and sustain automated inspection recipes and process control solutions
Develop and refine technical methods/processes to identify root causes of operational issues, process inefficiencies, and measurement deviations.
Establish accurate baseline measurements and qualification of metrology solutions by collaborating with cross-functional teams across the fab
Deploy robust metrology system calibration and correlation strategies
Identify and resolve equipment issues, collaborating with equipment engineering teams and tool vendors to ensure optimal tool performance.
Cross-train within Metrology Engineering to ensure seamless support coverage across teams.
Partner with engineering and quality teams to analyze real-time metrology data, identify process deviations, and implement automated corrective strategies to improve yield and reduce cycle time.
Summarize, document, and present results to technical and executive audiences to drive data-driven improvements.
Communicate effectively with both management and shop floor.
Display comfort and skill in presenting issues/findings.

Benefits

paid vacation time
paid sick leave
medical/dental/vision insurance
life, accident and disability insurance
tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts
employee assistance program
other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity
tuition reimbursement
transit
the Applause Program
employee stock purchase plan
the Western Digital Savings 401(k) Plan