Base Pay Range: $124,100.00 - $211,000.00 Annually
Primary Location: USA-CA-Milpitas-KLA
KLA’s total rewards package for employees may also include participation in performance incentive programs and eligibility for additional benefits identified below. Interns are eligible for some of the benefits identified below. Our pay ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed above reflects the minimum and maximum pay for this position in the primary location identified in this posting. Actual pay depends on several factors, including location, job-related skills, experience, and relevant education level or training. If applicable, your recruiter can share more about the specific pay range for your preferred location during the hiring process.
Company Overview
KLA is a global leader in diversified electronics for the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. Virtually every electronic device in the world is produced using our technologies. No laptop, smartphone, wearable device, voice-controlled gadget, flexible screen, VR device or smart car would have made it into your hands without us. KLA invents systems and solutions for the manufacturing of wafers and reticles, integrated circuits, packaging, printed circuit boards and flat panel displays. The innovative ideas and devices that are advancing humanity all begin with inspiration, research and development. KLA focuses more than average on innovation and we invest 15% of sales back into R&D. Our expert teams of physicists, engineers, data scientists and problem-solvers work together with the world’s leading technology providers to accelerate the delivery of tomorrow’s electronic devices. Life here is exciting and our teams thrive on tackling really hard problems. There is never a dull moment with us.
Group/Division
With over 40 years of semiconductor process control experience, chipmakers around the globe rely on KLA to ensure that their fabs ramp next-generation devices to volume production quickly and cost-effectively. Enabling the movement towards advanced chip design, KLA's Global Products Group (GPG), which is responsible for creating all of KLA’s metrology and inspection products, is looking for the best and the brightest research scientist, software engineers, application development engineers, and senior product technology process engineers. The Broadband Plasma Division (BBP) provides market-leading patterned wafer optical inspection systems for leading-edge IC manufacturing. Logic, foundry, and memory customers depend on BBP products to detect yield-critical defects for process debug and excursion monitoring at advanced process nodes. BBP flagship products include the 29xx and 39xx series which leverage Broadband Plasma technology to capture a wide range of defects with ultimate sensitivity at the optical inspection speeds needed for inline defect monitoring.
Job Description/Preferred Qualifications
We seek a scientist to develop unsupervised machine learning algorithms for anomaly detection in optical inspection images of patterned wafers in semiconductor device fabrication. With continuing scaling in feature sizes, detection of such defects occurs far below the diffraction limit. This demands signal detection against a highly complex background formed by scattering from rough material boundaries. You will develop state of the art in this area with a heavy emphasis on robustness and efficiency as well as rigorous proof of value.
In this role, you will acquire a deep understanding of the data acquisition pipeline in KLA’s optical inspectors. You will investigate the impact of the present hardware and software limitations on sensitivity and identify the opportunities of advancing the platforms’ capabilities through novel detection algorithms. You will collaborate closely with application engineers to develop a rigorous set of performance requirements for high volume manufacturing semiconductor fabs, and strategies to test algorithms against these requirements. You will work with the application and field engineers to execute the testing at a large scale and prove the value for productization.
Education Requirements:
PhD in a quantitative discipline, preferably in physics, statistics, machine learning.
Required technical skills:

• Design and execution of experiments with large scale data.
• Probability modeling in both classical statistics and machine learning.
• Clustering algorithms and understanding of their complexity.
• Experience with deep generative models.
• Image processing, optimization, segmentation, and Fourier analysis.
• Expert in: MATLAB, TensorFlow, Python, Pandas, NumPy, SciPy, C/C .

Knowledge of optical image formation theory and optical imaging systems is strongly preferred. Candidates with systems engineering experience are highly desired.
Minimum Qualifications
Doctorate (Academic) Degree and 0 years related work experience; Master's Level Degree and related work experience of 3 years; Bachelor's Level Degree and related work experience of 5 years
The company offers a total rewards package that is competitive and comprehensive including but not limited to the following: medical, dental, vision, life, and other voluntary benefits, 401(K) including company matching, employee stock purchase program (ESPP), student debt assistance, tuition reimbursement program, development and career growth opportunities and programs, financial planning benefits, wellness benefits including an employee assistance program (EAP), paid time off and paid company holidays, and family care and bonding leave.
KLA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other status protected by applicable law. We will ensure that qualified individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us at talent.acquisition@kla.com or at 1-408-352-2808 to request accommodation.