FabVantage Defect Technologist - Santa Clara, CA, United States
$124,000 - $171,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 13 October 2026 by the employer.
About the role
As a Process Engineer, you will design and optimize manufacturing processes for display and semiconductor manufacturing technologies. This role involves working on DefectRx data collection and analysis, and defect troubleshooting for semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
What you'll do
- Design DefectRx data collection plans and failure analysis strategies with subject matter experts.
- Review and validate data analysis by field engineers, verifying DES auto-classification for errors.
- Source defect causes through DefectExpert System (DES) and other knowledge sources, feeding learning into Zero Defect knowledge bases.
- Develop and assist in creating troubleshooting trees for defect troubleshooting by equipment type.
- Interact with field and business units to collect data from defect incidents for legacy and NPI tools.
- Contribute to training and communication documents for the field deployment of DES, and write case studies and Technical Bulletins.
What you'll need
- Semiconductor industry experience with knowledge of at least one equipment type in Dielectric Deposition, Etch, or Metal Deposition.
- Experience in defect troubleshooting methodologies for semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
- Experience in a memory or logic fab, or in semiconductor equipment hardware or process engineering development.
- MS in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or Chemistry.
Nice to have
- Experience with surface, gas species, and material analysis technologies and instruments including SEM/FIB/TEM/AFM, EDX/XPS/Auger, XRD/XRF/Raman/FTIR, RGA/OES.
- Experience with particulate mechanics and transport (electrophoresis, thermophoresis, photophoresis), aerosols, and basic understanding of plasma and vacuum technology.
Skills: defect troubleshooting, defect data collection, failure analysis, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, process engineer
This role has been open 1 day — well below the 50-day median for Semiconductor Equipment Engineering roles.
Semiconductor Equipment Engineering · Metrology Inspection
|
Open roles in category
191
|
Median days open
50 d
|
Median salary
$159k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Applied Materials | All employers we track in this specialty (191 roles · 23 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 25 | 191 |
| Open roles in the wider Process, Fab & Equipment family | 1109 | 9855 · 109 employers |
| Median days open | 65 d | 50 d (+15 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $159k |
Skills observed across this category: defect troubleshooting, defect data collection, failure analysis, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, process engineer
Who's hiring in this category
- KLA Corporation · 75 open roles · median 40 d
- Applied Materials (this employer) · 23 open roles · median 69 d
- Onto Innovation · 17 open roles · median 79 d
- Lam Research · 15 open roles · median 43 d
- Entegris · 10 open roles · median 55 d
- Micron Technology · 10 open roles · median 39 d
How we counted: 191 open Semiconductor Equipment Engineering (Metrology Inspection) roles from 23 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 14 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Process, Fab & Equipment family row. Figures refresh nightly.