Thin Film Processing Engineer - San Jose, United States
Originally posted 13 August 2026 by the employer.
This role involves sustaining vacuum thin film deposition using PVD/IBD processes and characterizing thin film properties with techniques like XRF, XRR, TEM, and BH-Looper.
About the role
This role is responsible for sustaining vacuum thin film deposition using PVD/IBD processes and characterizing thin film properties. The position focuses on reader thin film deposition processes for released products.
What you'll do
- Sustain vacuum thin film deposition using PVD/IBD processes.
- Characterize thin film properties using XRF, XRR, TEM, BH-Looper, and other magnetic property analysis.
- Analyze wafer processing and probing results to correlate with individual processing steps and materials.
- Create action items and recommendations to resolve production yield and quality issues.
- Perform and/or coordinate wafer level failure analysis activities related to reader thin film deposition processes, including TEM analysis and wafer level SPC audit.
- Work with advanced reader development group to transfer new deposition processes into production and qualify new tools.
What you'll need
- BS or MS Degree in Engineering, Physics, Materials Science or a related field.
- Good communication skills.
Nice to have
- 2 years of thin film deposition related work experience.
- Magnetic background.
- Strong statistical data analysis skills.
This role has been open 66 days — slightly above the 57-day median for Process Engineering roles.
Process Engineering · Deposition Process
|
Open roles in category
66
|
Median days open
57 d
|
Median salary
$145k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Western Digital | All employers we track in this specialty (66 roles · 22 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 2 | 66 |
| Open roles in the wider Process, Fab & Equipment family | 165 | 9897 · 109 employers |
| Median days open | 108 d | 57 d (+51 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $145k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Micron Technology · 18 open roles · median 29 d
- ASM International · 10 open roles · median 60 d
- Lam Research · 10 open roles · median 55 d
- STMicroelectronics · 5 open roles · median 20 d
- Applied Materials · 3 open roles · median 20 d
- Vishay Intertechnology · 2 open roles · median 95 d
How we counted: 66 open Process Engineering (Deposition Process) roles from 22 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 18 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.