MEMS Process Integration Scientist

About the role

HRL Laboratories is seeking a visionary leader to join our team as a Principal Engineer. This role will focus on developing and integrating advanced MEMS-enabled sensors and actuators for a variety of industries, including automotive, aerospace, and defense.

Responsibilities

• Innovative Collaboration: Collaborate with a team of scientists and engineers to develop advanced MEMS-enabled sensors and actuators for aerospace, automotive, and industrial applications, driving innovation to redefine industry standards.
• Strategic Process Integration: Integrate new processes into scalable workflows, ensuring seamless transitions from research to production while applying creativity and systems-level thinking.
• Device Design and Fabrication: Lead the design, fabrication, and testing of MEMS devices and subsystems, ensuring they meet project requirements and are scalable for production.
• Experimental Development: Design and execute experiments to validate innovative MEMS technologies, employing creative approaches to solve complex challenges and explore new possibilities.
• Precision Analysis: Perform wafer inspections and metrology to ensure quality and precision, driving iterative improvements for both research-specific and scalable processes.
• Project Leadership: Manage critical project elements, including timelines, deliverables, and resources, ensuring successful execution and impactful outcomes that bridge research innovations with real-world applications.
• Conceive, propose, and secure new research initiatives focused on MEMS, NEMS, and other relevant technologies.
• This role emphasizes technical leadership, scientific originality, and program ownership to shape a portfolio of high-impact efforts that advance next-generation navigation systems.
• Responsible for guiding funded programs, influencing technical strategy, and mentoring junior staff.

Required Qualifications

• Ph.D. or Master’s Degree in a physical science or engineering field with 5+ years of fabrication process experience in an R&D environment
• Proven Expertise in Process Development: Demonstrate strong skills in process development, optimization, design of experiments (DOE), statistical data analysis, and innovative problem-solving to drive cutting-edge advancements
• Collaborative Team Environment: Strong verbal and written communication skills to thrive in a dynamic, multi-disciplinary team and enable effective cross-laboratory collaboration
• End-to-End Fabrication Mastery: Ability to integrate diverse process recipes into seamless fabrication workflows while addressing process interdependencies to achieve high-performance results
• Hands-On Experience with Advanced Techniques: Proficiency in the following state-of-the-art technologies:
  • Contact/stepper photolithography
  • Wet and plasma dry etching
  • High aspect-ratio deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) for silicon, glass, and other MEMS materials
  • Chemical vapor deposition (CVD)
  • Dielectric and metal depositions
  • Wafer bonding and vacuum encapsulation of microscale structures
  • Sacrificial and structural layer creation and wet/dry release processes
• Precision Metrology Skills: Expertise in using advanced tools such as optical/infrared microscopy, interferometric measurements, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with elemental analysis to ensure quality and precision
• Innovative Design Expertise: Experience in designing and characterizing process control monitors (PCM) for in-process verification, along with proficiency in creating and modifying mask layouts using industry-standard CAD software like L-Edit or Cadence
• Technical Proposal Development: Experience in writing technical proposals to present innovative research and development concepts

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-On Micro-Machining Experience: Experience with both surface and bulk micro-machining is highly desired
• Fabrication Documentation: Strong ability to document fabrication experiments accurately and thoroughly
• Back-End Wafer Processing: Experience in wafer grinding, CMP, die singulation, and assembly processes into packages
• Data Analysis Proficiency: Familiarity with data analysis software such as JMP, MATLAB, or Python is a significant advantage
• Automation Skills: Experience in automating fabrication data collection and analysis
• Device Simulation Expertise: Knowledge of mechanical, thermal, or electrical Finite Element Analysis (FEA) modeling using tools like COMSOL or SolidWorks
• Inline Process Characterization: Experience in designing and conducting wafer or die-level electrical or optical process control monitor (PCM) testing