Staff Engineer, Wafer Manufacturing Metrology

Company Description

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

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

As a metrology engineer, you will be responsible for developing and implementing precise, robust, and high‐throughput solutions to control high volume manufacturing of complex, three dimensional thin film magnetic read/write head structures.  Examples of projects include developing spectroscopic ellipsometer models to measure thin film thickness and index of refraction, creating recipes for atomic force microscopes, and analyzing x-ray fluorescence spectra.  To accomplish this objective, you will need to collaborate closely with process engineering teams that support wafer manufacturing operations.

• Work independently with minimal supervision in the Manufacturing Metrology group to
  • Develop, document, optimize, and sustain automated inspection recipes and process control solutions
  • Develop and refine technical methods/processes to identify root causes of operational issues, process inefficiencies, and measurement deviations.
  • Establish accurate baseline measurements and qualification of metrology solutions by collaborating with cross-functional teams across the fab
  • Deploy robust metrology system calibration and correlation strategies
  • Identify and resolve equipment issues, collaborating with equipment engineering teams and tool vendors to ensure optimal tool performance.
• Cross-train within Metrology Engineering to ensure seamless support coverage across teams.
• Partner with engineering and quality teams to analyze real-time metrology data, identify process deviations, and implement automated corrective strategies to improve yield and reduce cycle time.
• Summarize, document, and present results to technical and executive audiences to drive data-driven improvements.
• Communicate effectively with both management and shop floor.
• Display comfort and skill in presenting issues/findings.

Qualifications

Required:

• B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in physics, chemistry, engineering (chemical, mechanical, electrical), material science
• Minimum of 3-6 years of work experience depending on education
• Programming/scripting experience in any of SQL, Python, Matlab, JSL, C#, etc.
• Strong detail-oriented work habits.
• Ability to complete projects on schedule

Preferred:

• Engineers are required to be hands on (equipment, wafers) so clean room and wafer fabrication/processing experience is needed, preferably in a manufacturing environment.
• Experience with spectra analysis and film stack modeling strongly preferred: visible light reflectometry, spectroscopic ellipsometry, x-ray fluorescence
• Experience with application of atomic force microscopy in a production environment preferred
• Knowledge of tunnelling electron microscopy including practical experience with sample preparation, extraction/handling, and imaging

Skills:

• Excellent skills in problem solving, data analysis, statistics, and both written and oral communications.
• Practical understanding of electronics and mechatronics as applied to modern industrial measurement tools.

Additional Information

Western Digital is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person’s gender identity, gender expression, and gen