Lead the development and maintenance of production-worthy physical vapor deposition (PVD) processes to ensure the efficient and reliable production of high performance multilayer thin-film optical coatings. This is a hands-on position requiring proven skills in substrate preparation, high vacuum PVD (ion-assisted evaporation and/or sputtering) processes, post-coating metrology, equipment specification and preventative maintenance, technician training, and process documentation.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Coordinate with the Director of Engineering and Site Lead to lead the execution of product and process development for optical products and thin film coatings.
- Collaborate with a cross functional team responsible for the design, optimization, and implementation of manufacturing processes in support of our customers.
- Cooperate with other Company departments to ensure proper prioritization and successful implementation of all production processes while promoting the culture of Safety, Quality, Deliver, Cost and Growth
- Drive continuous improvement in the quality and timely delivery of best-in-class thin-film coatings and associated measurement data.
- Assist in trouble shooting issues with coating deposition equipment and metrology instruments associated with spectral and durability measurements.
- Understand thin-film material properties, substrate surface quality standards, and the importance of each in producing high performance optical coatings
- Design, execute, and analyze standard measurement procedures for verifying film performance to customer specifications.
- Establish appropriate metrics for tracking process capability (i.e.,Cpk) and efficiency (FOE or OEE) of manufacturing processes
- Mentor lab technicians and other engineers
- Rigorously document processes
Education and/or Experience:
BS Optics,Electrical Engineering, Physics,Chemistry, Material Science or other related fields with at least three (3) years of industrial experience in optical thin-film coating engineering or photonic device fabrication.
or
At least ten (3) years of industrial experience in optical thin-film coating engineering and production.
Competencies
- A strong commitment to safety, the 5S methodology, and teamwork
- Significant experience in the execution of project/program initiatives in a timely manner
- Ability to work with minimal supervision while independently conceiving, conducting and analyzing individual and team-level work
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Enjoyment of a fast moving and challenging technical work environment
Skills/Abilities:
- Possess proficiency in the operation and maintenance of thermal and electron beam evaporation vacuum coating equipment tools and spectroscopic instrumentation
- Coating Design Software (e.g. Optilayer, TFCalc, Essential Macleod)
- Familiarity with materials characterization methods such as AFM, SEM, XRD and EDX
- Technical writing skills and project management
- Experience with process simulations and standard operating procedures
- Troubleshooting, problem solving, and root cause analysis
- Engineering Software (e.g. Python, JMP, Minitab)
- Microsoft Office Suite