Senior Scientist - EUV Research

About the role

We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Scientist – EUV Research to join a dynamic and innovative Technology Development team, focused on conceiving and demonstrating the technologies required for next generations of high-power extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light sources. Based on a laser produced plasma (LPP), our light source relies on a wide range of unique and challenging technologies, ranging from laser light amplification and high-power optical systems to laser produced plasma for EUV generation, electro-optical signal detection and algorithm-based actuation for process control.

You are invited to bring your passion, knowledge and expertise in areas of applied physics, plasmas, metrology, optics, controls, lasers, and experiment design to push the boundaries of these technologies forward. A key ingredient in the EUV generation process is a stable source of molten tin droplets. These droplets provide the fuel for the laser-produced plasma and serve as the heart-beat for synchronizing the EUV source. The challenge is to reliably produce nearly perfect droplets of molten tin at a rate of tens of thousands of times per second with speeds of 10’s of m/s and position stability within a fraction of a droplet diameter.

The successful candidate will be comfortable operating in this diverse mix of physics, engineering and materials science, in order to define the droplet generator architecture for next generations of the EUV source. The successful candidate will also have a passion for innovation, be driven by curiosity, and have deep technical understanding, in order to excel in a Research environment operating at the fuzzy front end of product development. A key ingredient for success in this space is the ability to transform a complicated multi-physics environment into a sequence of more easily digestible phenomena. The successful candidate will be given the opportunity to carry forward the innovations all the way from feasibility studies to hardware development and implementation by bridging the gap between modelling and experiments.

Responsibilities

• Guide development of high-level architecture used for the generation of droplets in the EUV source.
• Lead the design of droplet generation hardware and build the needed metrology + testing capabilities to demonstrate the droplet performance up to 1000’s of Kbar.
• Provide input to technology roadmaps and identify key scientific learning objectives and define corresponding experimental design to arrive at design guidelines, performance requirements and procedures to product teams.
• Identification of key scientific learning objectives and corresponding experimental design which will further the technological progress of the EUV generation process.
• Demonstration of system-wide performance targets to meet the future technology roadmap.
• Develop and execute system and subsystem performance tests, analyze test results and extract actionable knowledge from sub-module to full-system levels.
• Troubleshoot issues with droplet generation, tin delivery, and optical systems in order to improve droplet performance at the bench and source level.
• Build, improve and maintain droplet generator models anchored via experimental validation; build and maintain model improvement roadmaps; prioritize model improvement activities.
• Document learning and communicate knowledge to engineering and product development teams to guide product improvement and release of new product nodes.
• Work independently and in teams to deliver on a stated objective, whether it be the pursuit of new knowledge, the demonstration of a new capability, or the characterization of existing performance.
• Perform other duties as assigned or required.

Requirements

• PhD or MS degree with a minimum of 3+ years of relevant experience in Materials engineering, Mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, material science, physics, optics, or equivalent field.
• Experience with glass, ceramics, refractory materials, high pressure sealing technology in corrosive environments is highly desired.
• Hands-on experience with complex, preferably high pressure, system design and build, including rapid prototyping, characterization and troubleshooting via breadth of metrology techniques, and system-level demonstrations.
• Deep understanding of scientific research methods and strong scientific curiosity, with demonstrated knowledge in metrology development and data analysis.
• Experience with microfluidics, liquid jet breakup and droplet coalescence in particular; piezoelectricity; and acoustics is highly desired; familiarity with modeling one or more of these processes is also desired.
• Experience with high pressure applications such as water jet cutting, jet breakup, and nozzle design is a plus.
• Experience architecting high-level model structure into digestible components with crisp interfaces is desired; experience coordinating multiple components of a model is a plus; experience implementing physics concepts into models is also a plus.
• Experience with droplet formation, sprays, common-rail diesel, and/or injectors is a plus.
• Experience with acoustics designs is also a plus: resonant cavities in the kHz/MHz regime; transfer function design for enhancing/suppressing energy transfer into liquids; piezo-driven system design.
• Extensive experience with experimental data analysis and development of data analysis tools with, for instance, Matlab or Python and data acquisition systems such as NI Labview.
• Ability to clearly and logically communicate ideas and knowledge to various audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to manage and lead a research project involving multiple stakeholders and constraints.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively as a part of a team and lead investigation and research efforts.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee routinely is required to sit; walk; talk; hear; use hands to keyboard, finger, handle, and feel; stoop, kneel, crouch, twist, reach, and stretch.
• The employee is occasionally required to move around the campus including working while fully gowned in a clean room environment.
• The employee may occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
• The employee may be required to travel based on business needs.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.
• The environment generally is moderate in temperature and noise level. Extended periods of time in a clean room environment should be expected. Requires gowning in Class 10K gowning protocol.
• May need to work in labs with equipment that emit high-pitched noise.
• May spend extended periods of time at a computer workstation.

Pay

The current base annual salary range for this role is $117,750 - $176,625. Pay scales are determined by role, level, location and alignment with market data. Individual pay is determined through interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and pay relative to other team members.

Benefits

• The Company offers employees and their families medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance.
• Employees are able to participate in the Company’s 401k plan.
• Employees will also receive eight (8) hours of vacation leave every month and (13) paid holidays throughout the calendar year.