Principal Process Engineer - Thin Film

Thin Film Process Engineer

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.

Job Description

We are seeking a highly motivated candidate to join our thin film process group. In this role, the candidate will work as a Thin Film Process Engineer at WD's wafer fab in Fremont, CA. The candidate will support the thin film deposition processes in manufacture lines in order to meet manufacturing objectives with high quality, high productive and low-cost products, as well as support the development of future generation products.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Support thin film processes of fab production line to deliver wafers with good quality and meet the demand.
• Develop and optimize process control methods and procedures to guarantee the quality and prevent damage excursion.
• Improve processes to achieve lower variation, less cycle time, higher throughput, minimal defects, lower cost of ownership and overall higher yield.
• Perform wafer failure analysis, troubleshooting, and implement corrective and preventive actions.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to transfer new products to production.
• Lead project execution to deliver the results on schedule.
• Set up and improve automation systems, and working instruction documents. Provide the training instruction to the operators.
• Support fab production 24/7, including taking immediate action with fab issues.

Qualifications

Required:

• Academic background in Material Science, Physics, Chemistry, or related engineering fields
• Experience of wafer fab operations/processes in Data Storage and/or Semiconductor technology industries
• Familiar with thin film deposition processes (PVD, CVD, IBD, etc), and equipment. Solid background on correlation of process and equipment hardware
• Deep understanding of material characterization techniques.
• Knowledge of DOE and data analysis using JMP
• Understanding of SPC

Preferred:

• Knowledge of Magnetic material process and characterization is a plus.

Skills

• Trouble shooting and problem solving skills
• Leadership and communication skills
• Team player
• Being self-motivated with good project management skills

Compensation & Benefits Details

An employee's pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills, ability, knowledge of the job; (3) performance, contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs. The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California, Colorado and New York. This range may be modified in the future. If your position is non-exempt, you are eligible for overtime pay pursuant to company policy and applicable laws. You may also be eligible for shift differential pay, depending on the shift to which you are assigned. You will be eligible to be considered for bonuses under either Western Digital's Short Term Incentive Plan ("STI Plan") or the Sales Incentive Plan ("SIP") which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance, depending on your role and your performance, you may be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program, and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan. RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to Western Digital's Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards. We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including 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; and the Western Digital Savings 401(k) Plan.

Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company's sole discretion, consistent with the law.

Notice To Candidates: Please be aware that Western Digital and its subsidiaries will never request payment as a condition for applying for a position or receiving an offer of employment. Should you encounter any such requests, please report it immediately to Western Digital Ethics Helpline or email compliance@wdc.com.