Mechanical Equipment Design Engineer 4

Silfex, a Lam Research Company; Town of Springfield (WI); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Silfex is seeking a Mechanical Equipment Designer to own the mechanical architecture and lifecycle of precision semiconductor manufacturing equipment. You will design using 3D CAD, qualify components, and drive reliability improvements across engineering, maintenance, and process teams.

The role requires deep knowledge in precision machining equipment, failure analysis, and design-for-reliability, with exposure to factory QA and equipment qualification activities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or closely related discipline.
• Minimum 7 years in mechanical equipment design or related field.
• 3D CAD and drawing capability in Creo, NX, SolidWorks, Inventor, or equivalent.
• Leadership or major contribution in multiple complex equipment failure investigations.

Responsibilities

• Translate requirements into equipment concepts, layouts, drawings, BOMs, and specifications.
• Perform analyses (free-body, kinematic, thermal, structural, fatigue, etc.) to support design risk.
• Lead design reviews addressing function, reliability, and safety, including supplier design quality.
• Support maintenance and life-cycle improvements through validated design changes.

Skills

Leadership

Root-cause analysis

Failure analysis

Design-for-reliability

Maintenance planning

Education

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or related field

Tools

Creo

NX

SolidWorks

Inventor

Job description

From smartphones to solar panels, innovative technology is needed to create the devices we use every day. Silfex’s silicon components help make that technology a reality. Silfex Inc., A Lam Research Company is the leading provider of precision silicon components used to make and operate semiconductor tools, which enable the trillion-dollar global electronics industry. Our company’s products are integral to the semiconductor equipment and optical markets. The outstanding team at Silfex makes that possible – through our people, we are advancing the world. The impact we have on the world is made possible by focusing on our people. We strive to create an inclusive and diverse culture where everyone’s contribution and voice has value. We evaluate and evolve our offerings, so our people receive the support and empowerment to do meaningful things for their lives, careers, and communities. Our Perks and Benefits At Silfex, our people make amazing things possible. That’s why we invest in you throughout the phases of your life with a comprehensive set of outstanding benefits that start on your first day of employment. Discover more at Lam Benefits

Position Summary

Job Description: The Mechanical Equipment Designer is responsible for the mechanical architecture, detailed design, component selection, troubleshooting, qualification, and lifecycle improvement of equipment used to manufacture precision semiconductor components. The equipment portfolio may include CNC machining and grinding systems, small-hole drilling platforms, lapping and polishing equipment, wet cleaning and chemical process tools, laser processing systems, material handling, automation interfaces, precision fixtures, fluid delivery, vacuum-compatible assemblies, and process-monitoring hardware. This role combines hands‑on machine design with component‑level reliability analysis. The designer converts manufacturing requirements into robust equipment, diagnoses recurring performance and downtime problems, verifies failure mechanisms using evidence, and translates findings into controlled design changes and risk‑based maintenance strategies. The person will work across manufacturing, process engineering, maintenance, quality, controls, EHS, facilities, metrology, and equipment suppliers. Success requires design decisions substantiated by engineering calculations, tolerance analysis, physical inspection, test data, and disciplined failure analysis rather than trial‑and‑error replacement of parts.

Equipment and Process Scope

Precision machining of silicon, quartz, ceramics, silicon carbide, and other brittle or high‑purity materials. CNC grinding, milling, turning, drilling, ultrasonic or laser‑assisted feature generation, and precision fixturing. Lapping, polishing, edge finishing, dimensional inspection, and surface‑quality control. Wet cleaning, chemical handling, rinsing, drying, filtration, exhaust, leak containment, and contamination‑controlled material handling. Automation, robotics interfaces, load/unload devices, guarding, interlocks, sensors, motion systems, and machine vision interfaces. Utilities and subsystems including vacuum, pneumatics, hydraulics, process water, cooling, lubrication, electrical cabinets, and facilities connections.

Essential Responsibilities

1. Mechanical Design and Design Assurance Translate user, process, quality, safety, cleanliness, throughput, and maintenance needs into measurable equipment requirements and acceptance criteria. Develop concepts, trade studies, layouts, 3D CAD models, detailed drawings, bills of material, component specifications, tolerance schemes, and assembly documentation. Perform or direct free-body, kinematic, tolerance-stack, thermal, structural, fatigue, vibration, fluid-flow, and pressure-drop analyses appropriate to the design risk. Select bearings, seals, fasteners, motors, gearboxes, couplings, guides, actuators, pumps, valves, filters, sensors, materials, coatings, and lubricants based on duty cycle, environment, contamination sensitivity, and service life. Lead design reviews addressing function, weakest-link components, precision, serviceability, cleanability, chemical compatibility, particle generation, ergonomics, EHS, utility interfaces, fault recovery, and supplier design quality. Apply design-for-reliability, design-for-maintainability, mistake-proofing, modularity, and safe-access principles before release.
2. Troubleshooting and Component-Level Failure Analysis Respond to equipment defects including dimensional drift, vibration, chatter, alignment loss, leakage, contamination, breakage, premature wear, overheating, process instability, intermittent faults, and excessive maintenance burden. Decompose the machine into functions, subsystems, and components; identify what changed; isolate the failing element; and distinguish symptom, failure mode, failure mechanism, and root cause. Inspect failed components and review operating history, alarm records, maintenance records, dimensional data, photographs, material certificates, duty cycles, and environmental conditions. Use 5 Why, cause-and-effect analysis, fault trees, Design FMEA/Machinery FMEA, hypothesis testing, designed experiments, teardown inspection, metrology, materials characterization, and supplier analysis as appropriate. Confirm root cause with objective evidence and evaluate whether the condition can affect similar equipment, duplicate configurations, product quality, or safety. Convert conclusions into controlled corrective actions such as geometry changes, tolerance revisions, material or coating changes, load reduction, improved sealing, enhanced sensing, updated assembly methods, maintenance changes, or supplier corrective action.
3. Reliability and Maintenance Strategy Identify functional failures and component-level failure modes for critical equipment; assess consequences for safety, quality, delivery, cost, and asset availability. Determine the appropriate response for each significant failure mode: condition-based monitoring, predictive maintenance, scheduled restoration, scheduled replacement, failure-finding task, redesign, spare strategy, or justified run-to-failure. Define measurable inspection criteria, wear limits, trigger points, task intervals, required tools, expected restoration standard, and post-maintenance verification. Use equipment history and engineering judgment to optimize preventive maintenance without creating unnecessary intervention risk or contamination exposure. Track and improve reliability, availability, maintainability, utilization, MTBF, MTTR, repeat-failure rate, planned-versus-unplanned work, and maintenance-related quality events. Support critical-spare identification, replacement equivalency, obsolescence management, repair-versus-replace decisions, and lifecycle cost analysis.
4. Build, Qualification, and Production Support Support supplier fabrication, incoming inspection, assembly, debug, installation, commissioning, site acceptance, and production qualification. Create verification and validation plans that trace tests to requirements and include worst-case operating conditions, fault conditions, repeatability, capability, reliability, and maintainability. Ensure design outputs are released through configuration control and that field modifications are reflected in drawings, bills of material, spare lists, procedures, FMEA, and training. Partner with process engineering and quality to confirm equipment changes do not adversely affect dimensional capability, surface morphology, cleanliness, defectivity, material integrity, or traceability. Capture lessons learned in reusable design standards, checklists, preferred-component lists, and supplier specifications.

Preferred Technical Knowledge

Precision spindle systems, bearings, linear motion, servo-driven mechanisms, machine structures, vibration isolation, tooling, and fixturing. Grinding, drilling, lapping, polishing, wet cleaning, chemical process equipment, filtration, vacuum, robotics, and automated material handling. Brittle materials and contamination-sensitive components such as silicon, quartz, alumina, aluminum nitride, silicon carbide, sapphire, or glass. GD&T, tolerance analysis, surface finish, geometric capability, metrology, calibration, and measurement-system considerations. Tribology, lubrication, corrosion, chemical compatibility, elastomer selection, fatigue, fracture, particulate generation, and thermal expansion. CMMS data, equipment hierarchy, criticality assessment, preventive-maintenance optimization, condition monitoring, and spare-parts strategy. Lean/Six Sigma methods, statistical analysis, DOE, capability analysis, and disciplined corrective-action systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, mechanical engineering technology, or a closely related discipline. At least 7 years in mechanical equipment design, machine design, equipment engineering, or manufacturing equipment development.
• At least 3 years supporting equipment after release into a production environment.
• 3D CAD and drawing capability in Creo, NX, SolidWorks, Inventor, or equivalent.
• Leadership or major contribution in multiple complex equipment failure investigations including categories such as bearings, seals, spindles, couplings, guides, actuators, pumps, valves, fasteners, structures, or fluid systems.
• Practical use of DFMEA or equipment FMEA plus at least two structured methods such as fault tree, 5 Why, fishbone, DOE, FRACAS, or Weibull analysis.
• At least 3 years in semiconductor components, wafer‑fab equipment, precision optics, ceramics, aerospace, medical devices, or comparable high‑precision manufacturing.
• Executed equipment verification, validation, FAT, SAT, process qualification, or reliability test plans.
• Ability to produce clear specifications, design‑review packages, failure‑analysis reports, and maintenance recommendations.
• Experience applying machinery risk assessment, guarding/interlock concepts, LOTO design considerations, and engineering change control.

Our Commitment

We believe it is important for every person to feel valued, included, and empowered to achieve their full potential. By bringing unique individuals and viewpoints together, we achieve extraordinary results. Silfex Inc., A Lam Research Company ("Silfex" or the "Company"), is an equal opportunity employer. Silfex is committed to and reaffirms support of equal opportunity in employment and non-discrimination in employment policies, practices and procedures on the basis of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions), gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status or any other category protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. It is the Company’s intention to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Company policy prohibits unlawful discrimination against applicants or employees. We're looking for talented people to join our growing team and support the technology of the future. At Silfex, we’re the leading provider of precision silicon components used to make and operate semiconductor tools – which enable the trillion-dollar global electronics industry.

Our company’s products are integral to the semiconductor equipment and optical markets. The outstanding team at Silfex makes that possible – through our people, we help connect the world.