Semiconductor Equipment Engineer

Position Summary

The Semiconductor Equipment Engineer is responsible for installation, sustaining, troubleshooting, maintaining, and improving 300 mm semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The engineer will work closely with Process Engineering, Production, Facilities, Quality, equipment vendors, and maintenance technicians to maximize equipment availability, process capability, safety, and manufacturing productivity.

Candidates must have strong hands-on expertise in at least two of the equipment platforms listed below:

• AMAT Centura
• ASM A412 Furnace or equivalent Kokusai furnace platform
• TEL 303i / Indy Furnace
• SEZ / LAM wet-processing equipment
• AMAT Reflexion LK
• Ebara FREX300
• DNS SU / SS / FC platform

Key Responsibilities

• Perform corrective, preventive, predictive, and condition-based maintenance on assigned 300 mm semiconductor equipment.
• Diagnose and resolve complex electrical, mechanical, vacuum, pneumatic, robotic, chemical-delivery, temperature-control, and software-related equipment failures.
• Monitor equipment performance, alarms, interlocks, fault logs, maintenance history, and process data to identify recurring failures and degradation trends.
• Lead root-cause analysis and implement sustainable corrective and preventive actions to improve equipment uptime, mean time between failures, and mean time to repair.
• Support equipment installation, start-up, calibration, acceptance testing, qualification, relocation, upgrades, retrofits, and decommissioning.
• Work with Process Engineering to investigate equipment-related excursions, SPC violations, wafer defects, contamination events, and yield-impacting issues.
• Develop, review, and maintain preventive maintenance procedures, troubleshooting guides, checklists, work instructions, equipment specifications, and maintenance records.
• Coordinate maintenance activities with Production to minimize disruption and return equipment safely to manufacturing.
• Inspect and maintain vacuum pumps, valves, RF systems, motors, drives, heaters, sensors, robotics, wafer-handling assemblies, chemical systems, and related subcomponents.
• Identify critical spare parts, recommend inventory levels, and support repair-versus-replacement and obsolescence-management decisions.
• Interface with original equipment manufacturers and specialist vendors for escalated troubleshooting, technical support, and equipment modifications.
• Provide technical guidance and hands-on training to equipment technicians and junior engineers.
• Ensure compliance with cleanroom protocols, lockout/tagout requirements, hazardous-energy controls, chemical-handling procedures, and site EHS standards.
• Participate in shift handovers, equipment-performance reviews, continuous-improvement initiatives, and emergency production support.

Minimum Qualifications

• Associate degree, technical diploma, bachelor’s degree, or equivalent military training in Electrical, Electronics, Mechanical, Mechatronics, Chemical, Manufacturing, or Engineering Technology.
• Typically 5 or more years of hands-on semiconductor equipment maintenance or equipment engineering experience in a wafer-fabrication environment.
• Demonstrated 300 mm equipment experience on at least two of the specified equipment platforms.
• Strong understanding of electrical, mechanical, electro-mechanical, vacuum, pneumatic, robotic, thermal, and computer-controlled equipment systems.
• Ability to interpret electrical schematics, mechanical drawings, piping diagrams, equipment manuals, alarm histories, and software logs.
• Proficiency with diagnostic tools such as digital multimeters, oscilloscopes, pressure and vacuum measurement devices, calibration tools, and standard hand tools.
• Experience performing structured fault isolation, root-cause analysis, and corrective-action implementation.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills, including accurate maintenance documentation and technical reporting.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a high-volume manufacturing environment.
• Willingness to work compressed, rotating, weekend, or night shifts according to fab requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced troubleshooting experience on furnace, wet-clean, CMP, deposition, or related 300 mm process equipment.
• Experience with equipment automation, wafer-handling robotics, factory-host communication, recipe management, and equipment-control software.
• Familiarity with SPC, FDC, equipment-performance metrics, reliability engineering, and computerized maintenance-management systems.
• Experience leading equipment upgrades, productivity improvements, cost-reduction initiatives, or chronic-failure elimination projects.
• Previous responsibility for technician training, technical escalation, or vendor coordination.