PVD Equipment Engineer, Solar Cells (Starlink)

Job description

Job responsibilities

• Work with facilities and process engineering teams to install, qualify, maintain, and continuously improve high-throughput PVD equipment for heterojunction silicon solar cell manufacturing
• Drive equipment reliability and uptime to support very large volume production with minimal downtime. Run experiments and analyze data to improve capacity (UPH), reduce tool-to-tool variation, and improve defect…
• Develop and execute robust preventive and predictive maintenance strategies, spare parts programs, and tool matching protocols for high-volume manufacturing
• Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions on all equipment-related issues, including vacuum systems, sputtering cathodes/targets, RF/DC power supplies, gas delivery, temperature control, and automation
• Partner closely with Process Engineers to implement new process requirements on existing and future equipment platforms
• Evaluate and select next-generation high-throughput PVD tools capable of supporting 1GW+ per tool scale production
• Work with vendors on equipment design improvements, upgrades, and custom solutions tailored to heterojunction solar cell requirements
• Establish equipment performance metrics (OEE, MTBF, MTTR) and implement statistical process control for hardware stability

Job requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, materials science, or other engineering discipline
• 2+ years of hands-on experience owning and maintaining PVD or sputtering equipment in a high-volume semiconductor, solar manufacturing, or related environment
• Experience handling flammable, toxic, corrosive, and/or hazardous chemicals and gases safely
• 5+ years of hands-on experience owning and maintaining PVD or sputtering equipment in a high-volume semiconductor or solar manufacturing environment
• Strong technical expertise in vacuum systems, sputtering cathodes, RF/DC power supplies and matching networks, gas delivery, mass flow controllers, and temperature control hardware
• Demonstrated success improving equipment uptime and reliability in a 24/7 high-volume production setting
• Experience with heterojunction (HJT) silicon solar cell manufacturing equipment
• Previous work at high-volume solar, semiconductor, or display manufacturing facilities (multi-GW or 300mm fab experience is a plus)