What are the responsibilities and job description for the Electro-Mechanical Engineer position at Ztek Consulting?
Title: Electro-mechanical Engineer
Location: Springfield, VA
Contract long-term
Skills required:
- Electro mechanical engineer
- Working experience with Motion & Actuation
- Good to have experience in handling Wafer
Wafer
Job Description & Skill Requirement:
Key Responsibilities
- Design 300mm wafer chucks including vacuum chucks, edge grip mechanisms, compliant fingers, and kinematic supports.
- Perform stress, deformation, and warp accommodation modeling to ensure ultra low wafer stress during handling.
- Develop motion mechanisms for raise/lower (Z axis) and edge grip actuation that prevent wafer damage and meet precision requirements.
- Ensure all designs meet ISO Class 1 cleanroom particle generation specifications and support high volume, 24/7 fab operation.
- Select appropriate low outgassing, non particulating materials (e.g., PEEK, Vespel, Alumina, DLC, etc.) and coatings suitable for semiconductor tools.
- Work with controls engineers on soft landing, jerk limited motion profiles, and closed loop sensing for wafer presence, alignment, and force control.
- Conduct FEA simulations for thin wafer stress, contact mechanics, modal behavior, and static/dynamic loads.
- Perform particle testing, vacuum leak testing, wafer stress validation, and endurance testing.
- Generate engineering documentation: DFMEA, test plans, tolerance stackups, and SEMI/ISO compliance documents.
- Collaborate with cross functional teams (systems, electronics, materials, manufacturing) for prototype builds and tool integration.
Technical Skills
- 300mm wafer handling design (edge grip, vacuum, kinematic support)
- Precision chuck design & compliant mechanisms
- FEA (ANSYS, Abaqus, COMSOL) — stress, modal, and contact analysis
- Modeling warped/bowed wafers, thin plate mechanics
- Cleanroom design principles – ISO Class 1, low particle mechanisms
- Vacuum system design, leak tight sealing, He leak testing
Material selection for semiconductor tools:
- PEEK, Vespel, PTFE, PPS
- Alumina, Aluminum Nitride, Ti 6Al 4V
- Hard anodize, DLC, TiN, Parylene coatings
Motion system design:
- Linear motors, voice coil actuators, pneumatic micro actuators
- Flexures, guides, cross roller bearings
- Jerk limited (S curve) motion and soft landing control
- Edge grip mechanism design with low clamping forces
- Tolerance analysis, GD&T, DFMEA, DOE
- Semiconductor standards familiarity: SEMI M1, M49, E57, E84, ISO 14644
Metrology & Testing Skills
- Warp, bow, TTV measurement techniques
- Particle measurement and contamination control
- Vacuum integrity tests (helium mass spectrometer, pressure decay)
- Wafer alignment and edge detection sensors (optical/capacitive)
- Reliability testing for 24/7 fab duty
Software Skills
- CAD: SolidWorks, Creo, NX
- Simulation tools: ANSYS/AbaqCOMSOL
- Data tools: MATLAB, Python
- Motion/controls: Beckhoff TwinCAT, Siemens/Omron PLCs
Soft Skills
- Strong cross functional collaboration
- Root cause analysis (8D, 5 Whys, Ishikawa)
- Clear documentation & communication
- Ownership and design for reliability mindset