Systems and Controls engineer

Help us develop high through high precision metrology systems for the semiconductor industry.
Nearfield Instruments brings together the most creative minds in science and technology to develop a revolutionary high throughput scanning probe microscopy (SPM) system, enabling atom-scale resolution 3D metrology at industry-level throughput. We design, develop, integrate, market and service these advanced metrology machines.
What will you be doing?  As a Systems and Controls engineer you will be responsible for the modelling and development of controls of new and challenging measurement modes and techniques that allow NFI to comply with current and future customer demands. Your practical experience and skills in going from development to integration, testing and deployment allow you to improve the throughput, precision and reliability of our metrology solutions.
You will be part of a diverse research and development (R&D) team that brings together skills and expertise from different fields to allow for the development of SPM technology for some of the most demanding applications in the semiconductor industry. Together with application specialists, physics design engineers, mechanical engineers, electronic engineers and software engineers you will analyse and predict customer needs, translate these to system requirements, create conceptual designs, build or work on existing experimental setups to demonstrate feasibility of new aspects, and realize and experimentally characterize prototypes.

As a Systems and Controls engineer, you will also be responsible for the execution of experiments and the implementation of ideas from other specialists within an SPM environment. Your skill and experience will allow you to assess the feasibility and difficulty of new design requests, come up with requirements for changes to the control architecture, execute alterations on test setups and perform measurements in a timely manner.
Moreover, you perform research on the latest developments in the field of advanced control methodologies to keep up to date with the current state of technology and recognize new opportunities to meet (future) demands of our customers. By performing literature reviews, internal reporting, and the filing of patents you contribute to the expansion and the strengthening of the knowledge leadership position of NFI in the field of controls and modelling as applicable to NFI systems.
Regarding our current products, you will be trusted to recommend design changes or substitution of materials when appropriate. You will also advise users of appropriate actions to correct malfunctions and may recommend changes in user procedures. In this role you will travel for about 5 percent of your time and you occasionally perform experiments and support customer demos outside office hours.

You will report to the R&D Manager.
What do we require from you?  The Systems and Controls engineer we seek ideally has at least 2 years of experience in the development of modelling and controls for high precision motion systems, where by in terms of complexity, is in line with that of NFI. Experience in the field of semiconductor equipment is a plus. Furthermore, you need to recognize yourself in the profile as described below.
Proven years of experience in development and deployment of controls for high precision motion systems in an embedded environment.
A Masters or PhD in Mechanical, Mechatronics, Electrical, Controls engineering or related fields with additional industrial experience of at least 2 years with an emphasis on real-time embedded control deployment on high throughput motion systems.

Experience with deployment of real-time control on FPGA based systems is a plus.
Serve as a technical expert for one or more control subsystems, capable of independent decision making for critical technical issues.
Applies broad knowledge in sensors, actuators, control algorithms, automation, software, and data analysis tools to drive control system improvements to enable continuous improvements in precision and throughput of developed metrology products.
Leads and performs integration activities including troubleshooting the control system, designing and executing test plans, to ensure the system functions as per specifications.
Performs the design, development, and implementation of complex algorithms involving controller design, system identification, signal processing and stochastic signal analysis.
Generates software and/or firmware requirements for control algorithm implementations.
Investigates the feasibility of applying scientific and mathematical control design principles and concepts to potential inventions and products. Plans and executes laboratory research pertaining to algorithm design and validation.
Documents work results with system requirements, design specifications, procedures, and training materials. An understanding of the semiconductor industry and the challenges this industry faces in the area of nano-metrology and…