Principal Materials and Failure Analysis Engineer (SIMS)

About the role

Lead the establishment of Coherent Sherman’s SIMS laboratory, including capability definition, facility requirements, equipment selection, installation, qualification, and operational readiness. Develop the strategic roadmap for SIMS characterization capabilities to support current and future semiconductor, photonics, and optoelectronic technologies across Coherent. Serve as the site Subject Matter Expert (SME) for SIMS analysis, providing technical leadership and guidance to manufacturing, epitaxy, R&D, quality, reliability, and product engineering organizations.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement laboratory workflows, analytical procedures, quality systems, calibration methodologies, maintenance plans, and operational best practices to ensure world-class analytical performance and data integrity.
• Direct and perform a SIMS Materials Analysis workflow including sample preparation, tool setup, data acquisition, interpretation, reporting, and method development, with emphasis on quality, efficiency, throughput, and on-time delivery.
• Define and implement laboratory workflows, analytical procedures, quality systems, calibration methodologies, maintenance plans, and operational best practices to ensure world-class analytical performance and data integrity.
• Partner with Equipment Engineering and Facilities teams to maximize tool reliability, uptime, and analytical performance through effective maintenance, troubleshooting, repair, and upgrade activities.
• Perform and coordinate advanced materials characterization and failure analysis using SIMS, SEM, FIB, TEM, EDX, optical microscopy, and other analytical techniques as required to solve complex technical problems.
• Lead complex analytical investigations and root cause analyses to identify material, process, and device-related failure mechanisms and drive corrective actions.
• Prepare and publish technical reports tailored to specific audiences and effectively communicate analytical findings, conclusions, and recommendations to engineers, management, and customers as needed.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to support new product introduction, technology development, yield improvement, quality enhancement, reliability investigations, and cost reduction initiatives.
• Develop, qualify, and implement new SIMS analytical methods, sample preparation techniques, and measurement capabilities for emerging material systems, epitaxial structures, advanced devices, and next-generation technologies.
• Drive continuous improvement of analytical processes, laboratory operations, measurement capability, throughput, automation, and overall operational efficiency.
• Collaborate with global Coherent materials characterization teams to transfer best practices, standardize methodologies, and establish Sherman as a key SIMS and materials characterization resource within the organization.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with internal customers, global Coherent facilities, equipment suppliers, third-party laboratories, academic institutions, and industry experts to accelerate capability development and technology adoption.
• Establish and maintain analytical standards, procedures, calibration methodologies, and best practices to ensure high-quality, repeatable, and reproducible measurements.
• Track material and device failure modes, maintain analytical databases and failure mode libraries, and provide periodic trend analysis and recommendations to management and engineering teams.
• Create training materials and mentor engineers, technicians, and interns to build organizational capability.
• Lead multiple complex projects simultaneously while balancing customer priorities, business needs, and laboratory objectives.
• Support customer-facing technical discussions, audits, and presentations related to materials characterization, SIMS analysis, failure analysis, and technology development efforts.

Requirements

• Requires a minimum of: Bachelor's degree with 9 years of related experience, OR Master's degree with 7 years of related experience, OR PhD with 4 years of related experience.
• Experience should include materials characterization, semiconductor processing, failure analysis, thin-film technologies, epitaxial growth, or related fields.
• Experience supporting optoelectronic, photonic, or semiconductor manufacturing environments is preferred.

Skills

• Advanced expertise with SIMS and/or TOF-SIMS characterization techniques.
• Demonstrated experience performing dopant profiling, contamination analysis, depth profiling, and materials characterization of semiconductor and optoelectronic materials.
• Experience with epitaxial growth technologies including MOCVD, MBE, sputtering, thin-film deposition, or related processes.
• Strong understanding of semiconductor device physics, solid-state physics, materials science, and failure mechanisms.
• Experience with advanced analytical techniques such as SEM, FIB, TEM, EDX, XPS, AFM, or related methods.
• Proficiency with data analysis software including JMP, Excel, and statistical analysis tools.
• Experience applying Design of Experiments (DOE), regression analysis, statistical process control, and data-driven decision-making techniques.
• Ability to develop analytical models, interpret complex data sets, and provide actionable recommendations.
• Strong communication, presentation, technical writing, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to lead technical projects and influence decisions across multiple organizations.
• Time management skills to efficiently organize work assignments, set estimated completion dates and meet or exceed those commitments.

Qualifications

• Education: Requires a minimum of: Bachelor's degree with 9 years of related experience, OR Master's degree with 7 years of related experience, OR PhD with 4 years of related experience.
• Experience: Experience should include materials characterization, semiconductor processing, failure analysis, thin-film technologies, epitaxial growth, or related fields. Experience supporting optoelectronic, photonic, or semiconductor manufacturing environments is preferred.