Wafer Fab Technician – Metallization, Dry Etch & Wet Etch

Semtech•City of Industry, CA

2d•$25 - $36•Onsite

About The Position

The Wafer Fab Process Technician serves as a production and technical leader supporting daily wafer fabrication schedules and maintaining process stability, recipe control, and yield performance for InP photonic device lines, specifically InP Buried Heterostructure (BH) DFB lasers and BH Gain Chips (GC). Most hands-on work is in the metallization module, including e-beam evaporation and/or sputter deposition, lift-off processing, and contact alloy. The role also owns dry etch and wet etch steps, including contact opening and surface preparation for low-resistance p- and n-type ohmic contacts on finished buried heterostructure devices. The Technician works with minimal supervision in a III-V cleanroom environment to meet fab throughput targets, lead investigations of process excursions, maintain Process-of-Record (POR) discipline, and mentor junior technicians and operators. The position includes production operations, process troubleshooting and control, support for qualifications and new product introduction, and training. The role may require flexibility to support engineering runs or excursions outside standard shift hours.

Requirements

5–10 years of experience in semiconductor/photonics wafer processing, with direct III-V/InP process experience.
Strong working knowledge of metallization, including e-beam evaporation, sputtering, lift-off, and contact alloy; plasma dry etch; wet etch; and in-line fab process steps.
Hands-on proficiency operating deposition, etch, and metrology tools, including profilometers, four-point probes, TLM test structures, microscopes, and defect inspection tools, in a volume production setting.
Working knowledge of ohmic contact formation on InP and related III-V materials, including the effects of surface preparation on contact resistance and adhesion.
Ability to independently lead complex process troubleshooting and root-cause investigations.
Demonstrated ability to sustain lot throughput and cycle-time targets in a high-volume metallization production area.
Strong ownership mentality and independent judgment.
Effective communication with operators, technicians, and process and equipment engineers.
Ability to mentor and train junior staff.
Ability to work in a cleanroom environment for extended periods across multiple process bays, including sustained time in the metallization bay.
Ability to work around chemicals, including acids and solvents, process gases, and precious metals while following safety and material control procedures.
May require flexibility to support engineering runs or excursions outside standard shift hours.

Nice To Haves

Associate degree in electronics, chemistry, materials science, or a related technical field; equivalent experience is considered.
Direct hands-on experience operating e-beam evaporation and/or sputter deposition systems in a high-volume production environment.
Hands-on dry etch and wet etch/wet bench experience on III-V materials and dielectrics.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary production technician for the metallization module, keeping InP BH DFB laser and BH GC wafer lots moving through volume production on schedule.
Operate e-beam evaporation and/or sputter deposition systems to deposit p- and n-contact metal stacks, maintaining film thickness, deposition rate, and uniformity within specification.
Execute lift-off, metal etch, and solvent resist strip processes, and operate rapid thermal anneal (RTA) or furnace systems for ohmic contact alloy.
Operate ICP/RIE and plasma descum/ash systems for contact window opening in dielectric layers and resist residue removal ahead of metal deposition.
Execute wet etch and wet bench steps, including BOE oxide removal and pre-metal surface cleans, and maintain bench chemistry through scheduled bath changes and concentration checks.
Perform source loading, crucible and target management, chamber pump-down, and scheduled preventive maintenance on deposition tools; qualify tools with monitor wafers before returning them to production.
Prioritize and sequence hot lots, engineering wafers, and standard production lots across metallization and etch bays to sustain tool utilization and meet throughput targets.
Perform in-line metal thickness, sheet resistance, contact resistance (TLM), adhesion, and defect inspections, along with first-wafer/first-lot qualification checks before releasing lots downstream.
Troubleshoot routine metallization, dry etch, and wet bench tool and process issues in real time to minimize downtime and protect production schedules.
Lead root-cause investigations for process excursions and drift across assigned modules, such as metal thickness non-uniformity, contact resistance shifts, lift-off defects, adhesion failures, and dry etch rate drift.
Design and run targeted process checks, including short-loop wafers and engineering splits, to isolate root causes.
Partner with Process Engineering and Equipment Engineering on corrective action design and verification.
Own SPC control charts and control-limit reviews for assigned process areas, including metal thickness, sheet resistance, contact resistance, and dry/wet etch rate and depth metrics.
Own and maintain process recipes and POR documentation for assigned process areas, especially metal deposition, lift-off, and contact alloy recipes.
Evaluate and implement engineering-approved recipe changes and verify process stability after changes.
Support qualification of new or modified process steps, including new metal stacks and source or target changes.
Support execution of DOEs, process qualifications, and NPI process runs.
Train and mentor Operators on metallization, dry etch, and wet etch production operations, precious metal handling, process control methods, and troubleshooting techniques.