Senior Etch Process Engineer — Simulation & Optimization

KLA; Newport; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave 25 days

Share scheme

Pension scheme

Cash health plan

Cycle to work scheme

Global bonus plan

Life assurance

Job summary

KLA Corporation seeks a Principal Process Engineer in the Newport area to lead the development, optimization and control of advanced etch processes. You will drive simulation-based improvements, work with multidisciplinary teams, and guide data-driven decisions to improve production performance.

The role demands a MSc/PhD or équivalent experience, strong DOE/statistical analysis, and hands-on plasma etch/metrology expertise. Occasional travel to support customers is expected.

Qualifications

• Experience with semiconductor equipment hardware and process interactions.
• Strong background in simulation/modelling using DOE and statistical analysis.
• Knowledge of plasma modelling, CFD, and digital twins is advantageous.
• Proven ability to analyze data and drive design decisions.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and qualification of advanced plasma process technologies.
• Drive process optimization to meet customer specifications.
• Develop and validate simulation models for complex systems.
• Perform CFD, plasma, thermal, electromagnetic modelling.
• Analyse simulation results against experiments and provide insights.
• Lead RCA for reliability issues and mentor engineers.
• Interface with customers for demos, qualifications, and issue resolution.
• Collaborate with hardware, software, NPI and manufacturing teams.
• Establish SPC and process-control strategies.
• Contribute to patents and technical papers.

Skills

Semiconductor equipment know-how

DOE & statistics

Data-driven analytics

Problem solving

Strong communication

Project leadership

CFD & multi-physics

DOE, 8D, process optimization

Plasma etch experience

Metrology knowledge

Education

MSc/PhD in Engineering/Physics/Materials

Tools

COMSOL

ANSYS

MATLAB/Simulink

OpenFOAM

Python

Job description

KLA Corporation seeks a Principal Process Engineer in the Newport area to lead the development, optimization and control of advanced etch processes. You will drive simulation-based improvements, work with multidisciplinary teams, and guide data-driven decisions to improve production performance.

The role demands a MSc/PhD or équivalent experience, strong DOE/statistical analysis, and hands-on plasma etch/metrology expertise. Occasional travel to support customers is expected.