Thin Film Coating Engineer
Ithaca
Summary:
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. This position is based at EMF Corp in Ithaca, NY area and involves 20% travel to our Rochester, NY location and/or other divisions of Omega Optical Holdings, LLC to support special projects at management discretion.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following:
- Coordinate with the Director of Engineering and General Manager to lead EMF 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 wavefront 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
Qualifications
To perform successfully in this role, an individual must be able to satisfactorily perform each of the essential duties (above) satisfactorily. The qualifications listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required for sustained success. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions:
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 (10) 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 PVD tools and spectroscopic instrumentation
- Familiarity with materials characterization methods such as AFM, FIB, SEM, XRD, EDX, and RBS
- Technical writing skills and project management
- Experience with process simulations and standard operating procedures
- Troubleshooting, problem solving, and root cause analysis
Computer Skills
Coating Design Software (e.g. Optilayer, TFCalc, Essential Macleod, FilmStar)
Engineering Software (e.g. Python, LabVIEW, MATLAB, JMP, Minitab)
Microsoft Office Suite
PHYSICAL DEMANDS:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, walk, stand, talk and hear. The employee may occasionally lift and/or move up to 75 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and the ability to adjust focus.
WORK ENVIRONMENT:
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The work is usually done in a manufacturing setting. The noise level is usually quiet to moderate. Some exposure to manufacturing environment with moderately high noise levels.
NOTE:
The above duties or working procedures describe the chief functions of the job. They are not considered a detailed description of every duty of the job. The job description is intended to be dynamic in nature, subject to addition or deletion as required by organizational changes and customer needs.
