Company Overview

KLA is a global leader in diversified electronics for the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. Virtually every electronic device in the world is produced using our technologies. No laptop, smartphone, wearable device, voice-controlled gadget, flexible screen, VR device or smart car would have made it into your hands without us. KLA invents systems and solutions for the manufacturing of wafers and reticles, integrated circuits, packaging, printed circuit boards and flat panel displays. The innovative ideas and devices that are advancing humanity all begin with inspiration, research and development. KLA focuses more than average on innovation and in 2019 we invested 15% of sales back into R&D. Our expert teams of physicists, engineers, data scientists and problem-solvers work together with the world’s leading technology providers to accelerate the delivery of tomorrow’s electronic devices. Life here is exciting and our teams thrive on tackling really hard problems. There is never a dull moment with us.

Group/Division

With over 40 years of semiconductor process control experience, chipmakers around the globe rely on KLA to ensure that their fabs ramp next-generation devices to volume production quickly and cost-effectively. Enabling the movement towards advanced chip design, KLA's Global Products Group (GPG), which is responsible for creating all of KLA’s metrology and inspection products, is looking for the best and the brightest research scientist, software engineers, application development engineers, and senior product technology process engineers. The Film and Scatterometry Technology (FaST) Division provides industry leading metrology solutions for worldwide semiconductor IC manufacturers. The FaST Division portfolio of metrology products includes hardware and software solutions for optical film thickness, optical critical dimension (CD), composition, and resistivity measurement systems. These products are essential for the IC manufacturers as they provide critical metrology capabilities for the development and implementation of their advanced IC processes. The FaST division is committed to support our customers to achieve performance entitlement of our solution and we effectively partner with our customers from their early research and development phase to the high volume in-line manufacturing implementation specific for their process needs. The division consists of a global team located in US, Israel, China, and India.

Responsibilities

The Product Development Engineer plays a central role throughout the different phases of the product life cycle. This position is part of a team responsible for developing and supporting next generation Scatterometry Critical Dimension (SCD) metrology products as well as supporting and improving current products. The candidate will be responsible for improvement projects, new product roll-out, and field support specific to a few key customers. The ideal candidate will demonstrate leadership attributes and lead multi-functional teams to achieve program objectives and meet customer timelines. Effective communication with the customer to clearly identify customer requirements, explain system performance, and update on product development activities and issue resolution progress will be vital for the candidate to be successful.

The engineer will own new product engagements with customer including leading a team of engineers to monitor system performance, respond to customer requests, drive team in corrective action plan development and execution, and work with development team to improve design. The engineer must be able to complete the initial diagnosis of any system issue, uncover root cause and devise solutions for complex problems. The engineer needs to provide detailed analysis and tradeoffs for the various solutions, develop plan of action, and optimally communicate plan to colleagues and customer to execute. Must have the knowledge and experience to effectively work with specialists in optics, electronics, mechanics, software, and algorithms. Some travel may be required to support product development, transition to manufacturing, and resolve sophisticated customer issues that require onsite support.

Additional details regarding responsibilities:

• Research, evaluate, and propose new product features in support of customer requirements.
• Analyze data on critical components to determine impact on system performance.
• Develop and evaluate concepts and designs for the next generation systems or product improvement projects.
• Resolve inconsistencies between subsystems, conduct trade-off studies, identify high-risk areas, and develop risk mitigation strategies.
• Drive product or feature introduction. This includes preparation of first draft of system alignment, calibration and troubleshooting diagnostics for existing and new products, training of operations and field personnel, and solving technical issues that may impact production introduction.
• Drive team to resolve system issues at customer site or in manufacturing. Work with colleagues to solve issues raised to engineering: establish root cause, develop plan of action (POA), guide engineers in execution of POA, and document issues and solutions to improve design and/or procedures so that they can be implemented across all tools in a standard manner.

Qualifications

• Master or PhD degree in Optics, Physics, Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Material Science or related technical field.
• Strong background in engineering or physical sciences with demonstrated analysis and problem solving skills.
• Hands-on experience constructing and aligning opto-mechanical system is highly desirable.
• Experience in diagnosing and driving solutions to complex problems across whole systems by applying appropriate problem solving techniques.
• Ability to communicate effectively to all levels of the division, customers and across cultures.
• Experience in the semiconductor capital equipment or manufacturing industry.
• Proficient communication skills in Chinese and English.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree plus 5 years of relevant experience and accomplishments. OR
• Master's degree plus 4 years of relevant experience and accomplishments. OR
• Ph.D. degree plus 2 years of relevant experience and accomplishments.