Process Engineer, Wafer Preparation & Assembly (Starlink/Akoustis)

The role

You will develop, optimize, qualify, and implement the full wafer-to-die preparation flow. This includes wafer thinning, dicing, die cleaning, laser marking, and final package singulation.

What you will do

• Develop and qualify wafer back-grinding, thinning, stress-relief, and backside finishing processes
• Develop and optimize mechanical wafer dicing
• Establish post-dice die cleaning, drying, handling, tape mount/release, pick, sort, and presentation methods
• Develop and qualify laser marking processes for wafers and bare die
• Develop final package singulation for organic, mold, ceramic, and metal structures
• Run DOEs, define process windows and controls, and troubleshoot defects
• Qualify equipment and consumables
• Incorporate supplier and production feedback
• Transfer robust processes into manufacturing

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering, materials science, mechanical engineering, or other engineering discipline
• 2+ years of hands-on experience in semiconductor wafer processing, thinning, dicing, die preparation, or manufacturing
• Onsite in Bastrop, TX
• Up to 20% domestic and international travel for supplier and manufacturing support
• Ability to work in a semiconductor manufacturing environment, follow safety and cleanroom requirements, and perform light physical tasks (including lifting up to 25 lbs and handling wafers, substrates
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with engineering, manufacturing, suppliers, and management
• U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful, permanent resident, Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department

Nice to have

• 3+ years of hands-on semiconductor manufacturing experience, including wafer back-grinding/thinning (including ≤150 µm wafers) and mechanical dicing/blade selection
• Experienced in operating and developing processes on semiconductor equipment, plus solid understanding of wafer and die handling, process troubleshooting, and statistical process control
• Experience with SiC or other hard materials, dicing tapes, blade dressing, two-step or partial-depth cutting, thin-film wafers, and die pick/handling equipment
• Laser marking of wafers or die (green, UV, or similar) and machine-vision/OCR mark verification
• Package singulation and understanding of warpage, stress, cracking, chipping, and delamination mechanisms
• DOE, SPC, Cp/Cpk, FMEA, or Six Sigma; data analysis with JMP, Minitab, MATLAB, or Python
• Equipment qualification, process transfer, OSAT/external partner support, and familiarity with JEDEC, SEMI, or IPC standards
• CAD familiarity (AutoCAD or SolidWorks)

About the company

SpaceX is actively developing technologies to enable human life on Mars. Akoustis is a wholly owned subsidiary of SpaceX providing RF filters using patented XBAW technology.