Thin Film Coating Technician

Corning•Village of Fairport, NY

23h•$60,821 - $83,629•Onsite

About The Position

As a member of the Advanced Optics Division Engineering Optical Thin Film Coating group, you will work closely with the engineering team to demonstrate new thin film coating and manufacturing processes that build on Corning’s existing knowledge base to move products into coating production. This is a hands-on technical role requiring use of thin film deposition equipment and tooling, measurement instrumentation, and skills in optics cleaning and inspection.

Requirements

2-year technical degree in engineering, optics, or physics related field of study.
Minimum 2 - 3 years of optical thin film coating experience (manufacturing and testing), preferably in the UV and visible wavelength ranges.

Nice To Haves

Strong written and oral communication skills.
Critical thinking to solve problems quickly and efficiently.
Knowledge of FilmStar thin film design and measurement software.
Thin film characterization - spectrophotometer, ellipsometer, MIL spec testing.
Electron beam, thermal evaporation, and ion-assisted deposition. High-vacuum practice; vacuum chamber operation, system control, and support equipment.
Understanding of optical substrate materials; optics handling, cleaning, and inspecting.
Contamination control and cleanroom operations.
Excellent mechanical ability. Familiar with mechanical design and fabrication techniques. Ability to read and interpret mechanical drawings and specifications.
A genuine manufacturing thought approach, and the associated level of urgency needed to support manufacturing, when required.
Able to effectively collaborate at a higher level with a multi-disciplinary team engineers and technicians across Engineering, Development, and Manufacturing functions to execute on new coating ideas and concepts.

Responsibilities

Daily support of coating test activities, process set-up, hardware evaluation, coating measurements and characterization, analysis of results.
Manage coating recipe and layer programming, create individual coating run documentation files, maintain organized coating file history, oversee coating test sample handling and storage.
Understand and use existing / new metrology methods to characterize thin film designs and manufacturing performance.
Perform optics Coating Inspection (CI) function as required for new projects including as-received quality inspection, pre-coat cleaning, post-coat inspection and packaging.
Assist in transfer knowledge of new coating processes into manufacturing. Provide training as needed. Author work instructions, process sheets, and demonstrate measurement methods for new products.
Engage with Mechanical Design team to design and fabricate prototype and production optical element tooling, customized coating chamber hardware, and metrology tools.
Work to improve cleaning, material handling, and storage procedures within the coating process flow.
Utilize Design for Manufacturing principles to determine optimal manufacturing strategies and Manufacturing Engineering Excellence (MEE) practices into thin film product and process work.
Contribute to and document activities furthering coating technology via internal reports, invention disclosures, and patent applications.