What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Equipment Engineering Technician position at GL Staffing Services?
This role is heavily focused on plasma etch equipment used in complex, high precision manufacturing environments including semiconductor, photonics, waveguide, MEMS, optics, and advanced materials manufacturing.
This is a hands-on engineering technician role supporting production tool uptime, troubleshooting, maintenance, and equipment optimization within a cleanroom manufacturing environment. The ideal candidate will have deep experience supporting semiconductor manufacturing equipment, especially plasma etch systems and related vacuum/RF subsystems.
Key Responsibilities
- Perform advanced troubleshooting, repair, maintenance, and optimization of plasma dry etch systems and semiconductor process equipment
- Diagnose failures involving RF power systems, plasma systems, vacuum systems, gas delivery systems, pneumatics, electrical controls, and mechanical assemblies
- Support high volume manufacturing operations by maximizing equipment uptime and minimizing downtime
- Execute preventive maintenance (PM) and corrective maintenance (CM) procedures on semiconductor and advanced manufacturing equipment
- Troubleshoot and repair vacuum pumps, turbo pumps, roughing pumps, valves, sensors, motors, PLC systems, RF matching networks, mass flow controllers (MFCs), and related subsystems
- Partner with Process Engineers, Equipment Engineers, Manufacturing Engineers, and Operations teams on process stability, tool optimization, and continuous improvement initiatives
- Analyze equipment performance data, alarms, and failure trends to identify root causes and recurring issues
- Coordinate with equipment vendors and field service teams for escalations, diagnostics, and repairs
- Develop and improve SOPs, maintenance procedures, and technical documentation
- Train and mentor junior technicians and manufacturing personnel
- Ensure compliance with cleanroom protocols, ESD procedures, and manufacturing safety standards
Required Qualifications
- 5 years of hands-on experience supporting semiconductor manufacturing equipment, plasma etch systems, or advanced manufacturing process equipment
- Strong experience with dry etch systems, plasma systems, semiconductor tools, or related advanced manufacturing equipment
- Experience troubleshooting vacuum systems, RF systems, gas delivery systems, and process equipment integration
- Strong troubleshooting skills across electrical, mechanical, pneumatic, and automation systems
- Experience working with PLC controls, sensors, alarms, and system diagnostics
- Experience supporting semiconductor fabrication, MEMS manufacturing, photonics manufacturing, waveguide manufacturing, optics manufacturing, or cleanroom production environments
- Comfortable working independently in a fast paced manufacturing environment with high uptime expectations
- Experience documenting maintenance activities in CMMS or equivalent maintenance tracking systems
- Familiarity with cleanroom manufacturing protocols and contamination control practices
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting Plasma-Therm, Lam Research, Applied Materials, TEL, or similar semiconductor process equipment
- Experience supporting semiconductor fabs, photonics manufacturing, optical component manufacturing, MEMS fabrication, or waveguide manufacturing
- Experience with RF matching networks, plasma diagnostics, mass flow controllers (MFCs), vacuum pumps, and gas handling systems
- Prior experience in high precision manufacturing environments involving semiconductor technology, optics, electro-optics, photonics, or advanced materials
- Experience partnering closely with Process Engineering and Equipment Engineering teams on manufacturing process optimization
Target Backgrounds / Industries
Ideal candidates may come from:
- Semiconductor manufacturing
- Semiconductor equipment manufacturing
- Photonics manufacturing
- Optical manufacturing
- MEMS manufacturing
- Electro-optics manufacturing
- Waveguide manufacturing
- Advanced materials manufacturing
- Cleanroom manufacturing environments
- Aerospace or defense electronics manufacturing
- Precision medical device manufacturing