Staff Photolithography Process Engineer

Position Summary:

SkyWater Technology is seeking a Staff Photolithography Process Engineer with 4 plus years of experience in development and sustaining high‑volume manufacturing environments, leading process characterization and development initiatives, and driving collaboration across cross‑functional fab teams.

Major Areas of Accountability:

• Develop, optimize, characterize, and sustain photolithography processes for high volume manufacturing environment.
• Own and sustain production lithography processes, driving continuous improvements in yield, defectivity, critical dimension (CD), overlay, throughput, and cost.
• Develop process control strategies and recommend appropriate metrology and monitoring plans to maintain process stability and capability.
• Monitor inline and end-of-line statistical process control (SPC) charts to identify trends, excursions, and abnormal process behavior, and implement corrective and preventive actions.
• Analyze process data to identify sources of variation, process marginalities, and opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Investigate lithography-related defects, patterning failures, CD variation, overlay errors, and yield losses using structured problem-solving, statistical analysis, and design of experiments (DOE).
• Collaborate with equipment, integration, and cross-functional engineering teams to troubleshoot process and equipment issues and improve manufacturing capability.
• Develop new lithography processes and execute qualification plans for new chemicals, materials, and process changes.
• Lead engineering projects to close process performance gaps, achieve milestones, and deliver measurable improvements in yield, productivity, and cost.
• Apply data mining, programming, scripting, and statistical analysis techniques to improve process understanding and engineering efficiency.
• Communicate technical findings and present data-driven recommendations effectively while building strong working relationships across engineering, manufacturing, and support organizations.
• Manage multiple projects independently, demonstrate strong technical ownership, and consistently deliver commitments in a high-volume semiconductor manufacturing environment.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in engineering or a related technical field.
• 4 plus years of experience in photolithography process engineering experience in a high volume mass production environment.
• Applied knowledge of photolithography processes, process optimization, overlay and alignment improvement, and critical dimension (CD) variation reduction.
• Tools:  Experience optimizing process on TEL tracks and ASML Steppers & Scanners (I Line, KrF, & dry ArF).
• Chemicals: Experience setting up and optimizing Resist process with & without TARCs or BARCs on existing fab tool.
• Metrology: Experience with Overlay on ARCHER tools and CD job writing on NANOSEM & HITACHI SEMs

Preferred Qualifications:

• Strong understanding of semiconductor photolithography processes, equipment, and manufacturing operations.
• Hands-on experience developing and characterizing lithography processes, including process windows and overlay margins.
• Demonstrated proficiency in statistical process control (SPC), design of experiments (DOE), data mining, and process data analysis.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with a meticulous, data-driven approach to process improvement.
• Experience identifying process variation, reducing defectivity, improving yield, and addressing process marginalities in a production environment.
• Strong communication, project management, and cross-functional collaboration skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities independently.