Component Reliability Engineer

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.; Sugar Land (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible health plans

401(k) matching

Generous PTO

Job summary

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (AOI) is seeking a Component Reliability Engineer to support qualification and reliability improvement of optoelectronic semiconductor components at its Sugar Land facility.

You will plan, execute, monitor, and analyze component-level reliability testing to evaluate device performance and assess lifetime and risk. The role requires collaboration with R&D, Product Engineering, Yield, Quality, and Data teams to connect reliability behavior with fab history and failure

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related technical field and 3+ years of semiconductor/reliability experience.
• Strong knowledge of electrical characterization and reliability testing.
• Experience interpreting failure signatures and planning analyses.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute component-level reliability qualification plans and monitoring plans.
• Plan and analyze reliability tests (burn-in, HTOL, accelerated life testing, temperature cycling, humidity, etc.).
• Define stress conditions, read points, measurements, and pass/fail criteria.
• Analyze device characteristics (voltage, current, threshold, optical metrics) and degradation rates.
• Monitor parameter shifts during reliability stress and identify outliers.
• Perform statistical reliability analyses (Weibull, lognormal, Arrhenius, lifetime projection).
• Prepare qualification reports, risk assessments, and technical presentations.
• Lead investigations by defining failure signatures and coordinating root-cause analyses.

Skills

Electrical characterization

Reliability testing

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, physics, materials science, reliability engineering, or related technical field

Tools

Python

SQL

Job description

AOI is committed to providing equal opportunity in all of our employment practices, including hiring, placement, promotion, training, transfer and compensation, to all qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, color, national origin, citizenship, religion, sex, veteran status, age, disability, marital status, or any other category protected by State or U.S. Federal law. Moreover, we endeavor to treat our employees fairly.

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (AOI) is seeking a Component Reliability Engineer to support the qualification and reliability improvement of optoelectronic semiconductor components at its Sugar Land facility.

This position will plan, execute, monitor, and analyze component-level reliability testing for semiconductor lasers and related optoelectronic devices. The engineer will evaluate electrical and optical performance before, during, and after reliability stress, identify degradation trends and failure signatures, and assess product lifetime and reliability risk.

The engineer will work closely with R&D, Product Engineering, Yield Engineering, Quality, Test Engineering, Equipment Engineering, and Data Engineers, to connect reliability behavior with fab process history and physical failure mechanisms.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute component-level reliability qualification and monitoring plans based on product requirements, industry standards, and customer-specific requirements.
• Plan and analyze reliability tests such as burn-in, HTOL, accelerated life testing, temperature cycling, thermal storage, humidity testing, mechanical testing, and electrostatic-discharge testing, as applicable.
• Define stress conditions, sample sizes, read points, electrical and optical measurements, and pass/fail criteria.
• Analyze device characteristics such as operating voltage, current, series resistance, threshold current, optical power, slope efficiency, wavelength, spectral performance, and other product-specific parameters.
• Monitor parameter shifts and degradation rates before, during, and after reliability stress.
• Identify early failures, wear-out behavior, abnormal populations, and reliability outliers.
• Perform statistical reliability analysis using Weibull, lognormal, Arrhenius, acceleration-factor, lifetime-projection, confidence-interval, and distribution-analysis methods.
• Prepare qualification reports, customer reliability summaries, risk assessments, and technical presentations.
• Lead component-level reliability investigations by defining failure signatures, selecting representative samples, and establishing the technical questions for physical failure analysis.
• Partner with the failure analysis team to develop targeted root-cause analysis plans based on electrical, optical, and reliability results.
• Maintain reliability test records, failure classifications, investigation conclusions, and traceability to physical failure-analysis results.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, Physics, Materials Science, Reliability Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Three or more years of experience in semiconductor, optoelectronic, photonic, or electronic-component reliability.
• Strong knowledge of electrical characterization and component-level reliability testing.
• Experience interpreting reliability failure signatures and developing technically sound failure-analysis plans.
• Understanding of semiconductor device physics, degradation mechanisms, and the relationship between electrical behavior and physical defects.

Preferred

• Master’s degree in electrical engineering, Physics, Materials Science, Reliability Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience with InP, GaAs, semiconductor lasers, photodetectors, or other optoelectronic components.
• Working knowledge of Python, SQL, or other tools for reliability-data reduction, automation, and visualization.

Location

This position will be on-site based in Sugar Land, Texas.

Why AOI?

In addition to competitive salary, AOI offers

• Flexible and competitive health (medical, dental, vision) plans offer the employee with the right options to meet individual and family needs
• Employer matching on 401(k) deferrals
• Generous PTO policy, with unused PTO payout at end of the year
• Relocation package available within US
• Immigration sponsorships (Must be currently authorized to work in the US)