Senior Research Engineer, Bonding Eng Ops; FAB), IME

Job Summary

Advanced Packaging Bonding Engineer supports translational semiconductor research by bridging advanced packaging innovations with industry‑relevant manufacturing practices. The role focuses on operational engineering control of bonding processes—including wafer‑to‑wafer, die‑to‑wafer, and hybrid bonding—within a research fab or pilot line environment.

The engineer ensures process robustness, alignment accuracy, yield performance, and scalability for transfer to industrial partners, while maintaining operational discipline comparable to leading semiconductor packaging and assembly fabs.

This position plays a critical role in enabling heterogeneous integration, 3D integration, chiplet architectures, and advanced packaging schemes through joint development programs (JDPs) and technology transfer initiatives.

• Own day‑to‑day operational engineering control of advanced bonding processes (e.g., thermo‑compression, hybrid bonding, direct bonding).
• Establish and maintain process control frameworks (SPC, control plans, excursions, process windows) balancing R&D flexibility with manufacturing rigor.
• Monitor and control key KPIs including alignment accuracy, bond strength, interface quality, voiding, defectivity, and yield.
• Perform rapid troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and corrective actions to ensure tool uptime and experimental integrity.
• Enable research‑to‑manufacturing translation by ensuring bonding processes are scalable, repeatable, and high‑yielding.
• Support co‑development with industry partners on advanced integration schemes (e.g., chiplet stacking, hybrid bonding interconnects, 3D ICs).
• Provide engineering input to researchers on bonding process trade‑offs such as thermal budget, alignment tolerance, throughput, and integration complexity.
• Support bonding tool qualification, baseline setup, and matching across multiple platforms.
• Collaborate with Equipment Engineering and vendors on alignment systems, bonding heads, chuck design, and process hardware optimization.
• Support introduction of new bonding technologies, materials, or tool upgrades with appropriate risk assessment and operational readiness.
• Sustain qualified bonding processes while enabling controlled experimentation via process window characterization and drift monitoring.
• Analyze inline and offline data (e.g., metrology, microscopy, electrical test) to identify yield limiters such as voids, misalignment, and interfacial defects.
• Drive continuous improvement to enhance bonding quality, overlay accuracy, reliability, and throughput.
• Work closely with industry partners to align bonding process conditions, integration strategies, and reliability requirements.
• Support technology transfer activities including process documentation, baseline definition, and readiness assessment for partner manufacturing lines.
• Participate in technical reviews, cross‑functional meetings, and joint debugging of integration challenges.
• Maintain comprehensive process documentation, SOPs, and experimental plans.
• Generate clear engineering reports summarizing bonding performance, risks, and recommendations.
• Contribute to best practices for advanced packaging and bonding operations within research fab and industry collaboration programs.

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related disciplines.
• 3–5 years of experience in advanced packaging or bonding technologies (e.g., wafer bonding, die bonding, flip‑chip, hybrid bonding).
• Strong understanding of bonding fundamentals: surface preparation, adhesion mechanisms, alignment/overlay, thermal/mechanical effects, and defectivity.
• Experience in process control (SPC, DOE, excursion handling)…