Equipment Engineer 3 - 127916

The Qualcomm Institute cleanroom facility is a state-of-the-art cleanroom facility for nano and micro fabrication. It operates as a recharge facility for several hundred users from approximately 150 faculty groups from over 10 university departments, as well as over 120 industry clients.

The facility generates approximately 50,000 billed hours annually and supports an extremely diverse range of project ranging from the physical sciences to engineering and medicine.

Activity is anticipated to grow considerably with recent designation by the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure as one of 16 national facilities dedicated to Nano research and development.

The facility contains sophisticated pieces of micro / nano fabrication and materials characterization equipment, including the following :

State-of-the-art Electron-beam lithography (EBL) systems : The facility is equipped with a 100 kV and a 30 kV EBL system.

100kV system is a multi-million dollar system, capable of generating features with dimensions of less than 5 nm.

Emission Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM) : The facility is equipped with three sophisticated field-emission scanning electron microscopes with energy-dispersive x-ray detectors and environmental mode capabilities.

Dry etch systems : inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) etchers, deep reactive ion etcher (D-RIE), reactive ion etcher (RIE).

Plasma-enhanced CVD systems, several sputter deposition systems, electron-beam and thermal evaporators.

At least 4 units of contact mask aligners for photolithographic process.

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) system.

Nanoimprint equipment.

Dual-beam focused ion-beam (FIB) system with cryo stage.

Transmission electron microscope.

Atomic force microscope.

Laser direct writing system.

Reporting to the Nano3 Technical Director, this position performs equipment management and process development of diverse scope in all areas serviced by the facility.

Using skills as a seasoned, experienced equipment engineering professional this position is responsible for inspecting, testing, installing, troubleshooting, repairing, and maintaining highly sophisticated, high-value equipment for micro- and nano-fabrication;

and, provides material analysis for the Nano 3 micro / nano-fabrication cleanroom and material analysis facility. Participates in developing and characterizing instrumentation to its fullest capabilities.

Researches / generates / implements upgrades to equipment / laboratory.

Provides professional engineering service to faculty investigators, researchers, students, and industrial clients on moderately complex projects in multiple disciplines such as Physics, Chemistry, Bioengineering, Electrical Engineering, and Materials Science.

Provides direct user assistance for the development of designs / experiments and for assistance in finding solutions to problems.

Provides direct services to internal and external users of the facility by demonstrating to users the full capabilities and potential of Nano3’s micro / nano-device fabrication and characterization capabilities.

Provides direction and guidance to lower-level engineers, as needed. Trains new users in the safe and proper operation of equipment, focusing on addressing user needs and on minimizing possibilities for user errors and damage to equipment.

Ensures proper protocols, policies, and procedures are being followed and advise others on proper techniques to use the equipment.

Performs other related tasks within the scope of the description, as required.

Must be willing and able to work with hazardous materials such as toxic and pyrophoric gases, liquids, and solids.

Working evenings and weekends may be required during urgent / emergency situations.

QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor's degree from college or an accredited organization and relevant experience in equipment engineering, field service, semiconductor manufacturing, and / or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Experience and demonstrated ability to fabricate, troubleshoot, operate, repair, and maintain a wide variety of complex and highly specialized technical electronic equipment.

In depth knowledge in materials deposition tools, including thermal evaporators, electron-beam evaporators, DC and RF sputtering systems, plasma enhanced chemical deposition (PECVD), and other deposition equipment.

Strong knowledge in thermal process equipment including furnaces, ovens, and rapid thermal annealers (RTA).

Proven ability to read and understand electrical and electronics schematics to effectively repair problem areas within a circuit.

Detailed theoretical knowledge and strong experience with electronics and sensors to monitor and control equipment.

Thorough knowledge and experience with engineering principles and methods to independently perform the full range of engineering professional design work.

Demonstrated working knowledge of analysis techniques, including but not limited to : understanding electromechanical functions of the equipment within the cleanroom and the outer labs.

Demonstrated organizational and decision-making abilities to prioritize competing work assignments in order to meet deadlines and adherence to quality standards.

Strong analytical and judgment skills to independently conduct analyses and develop appropriate recommendations.

Effective written and verbal communication and presentation skills.

Ability to work in a collaborative manner; identify challenges and barriers and recommend resolutions.

Ability to lead and influence others.

Knowledge of chemical safety. Ability to work safely with hazardous materials such as toxic and pyrophoric gases, liquids, and solids.

Demonstrated ability to function as a research collaborator with faculty investigators and other research team members.

Demonstrated strong computer skills (i.e. word, excel, powerpoint, etc.) to communicate with users, staff and faculty. Ability to create professional reports, lab manuals, instruction manuals, graphs, charts, and spreadsheets.

Thorough knowledge necessary to apply principles, practices and procedures in the completion of assignments. Demonstrated working knowledge and hands-on experience in a variety of micro- and nanofabrication techniques, including but not limited to : Photolithography, Resist processing, Wet-etching, Dry-etching (reactive ion etching, inductively couple plasma etching), Chemical vapor deposition, Sputtering, Electron-beam evaporation, Electro-forming, Bonding, Micromachining, Chemical Processing.

Theoretical knowledge with the ability to set up, maintain, and leak detect HV systems operating at a background pressure of 10E-6 to 1E-9 torr.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS