Process Engineer, Thin Films at Periodic Labs · LumiJobs

Responsibilities

Periodic Labs is building AI that can both simulate science and verify its own predictions. Verifying those predictions experimentally requires a lab that runs reliably - qualified tools, samples prepared to spec, and data logged the same way every time.
We are standing up a dedicated thin-film lab in Menlo Park with a suite of deposition and characterization tools, and are hiring a Process Technician to own day-to-day tool operation, sample preparation, and first-line maintenance. This is the role that keeps throughput high and variance low: you run the SOPs, you cut and prep the coupons, you keep the tools in spec, and you partner with process engineers when an experiment calls for something outside the standard flow.
This is a contract position, on-site, with the possibility of extension or conversion as the lab scales.
Run deposition tools to SOP. Execute recipes on vacuum-based thin-film deposition systems. Load and unload, verify chamber state and process conditions, confirm the run matched setpoints, and log the result.
Prepare samples. Dice and cleave coupons from full wafers; handle mounting and cross-section prep for imaging. Clean and prep substrates per workflow-specific recipes — wet cleans, oxide strip, dehydration bake, substrate and source conditioning.
Operate characterization tools. Collect and log structural, optical, and electrical film data. Recognize when a scan, fit, or image indicates a tool problem rather than a material result, and escalate rather than re-run blind.
Perform first-line and preventive maintenance. Chamber opens and cleans, source and consumable changes, shield and liner swaps, pump-down and leak checks, calibration checks, and PM scheduling. Work with vendors and facilities on service visits and keep maintenance history complete.
Keep the tools qualified. Run qual and monitor samples on a set cadence, track thickness, uniformity, and rate against baseline, and flag drift early. Maintain SPC-style charts where they exist and help build them where they don't.
Support non-standard work. When engineers need a one-off — an unusual stack, an off-recipe parameter sweep, a new substrate geometry, an unproven prep sequence — you help scope what the tool can safely do, run it, and document what actually happened.
Document everything. Every run is a potential data point for our models. Record what you did rather than what the recipe said, capture failures and fixes alongside successes, and meet the metadata standards our data pipeline depends on.
Own lab safety and housekeeping. Chemical handling and waste, gas and precursor changes, lockout/tagout, cleanroom protocol and gowning discipline, and spares and consumables inventory - including at partner facilities we use during ramp.
3+ years of hands-on experience operating thin-film deposition and/or metrology equipment in a semiconductor fab, R&D line, or equipment supplier environment. You have spent real time at a tool, not adjacent to one.

Process Engineer, Thin Films

Responsibilities

Company

Periodic Labs

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