Sr. Process Integration Engineer - Santa Clara, CA

Xanadu; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Xanadu seeks a senior fabrication process engineer to advance photonic quantum computing hardware. You will lead development and optimization of fabrication processes for integrated photonic devices using electro-optic materials, particularly thin film lithium niobate, while coordinating with Xanadu’s design teams and external foundries.

You will own wafer lots, run process improvement experiments, and define metrology and failure analysis plans to mitigate issues.

Qualifications

• PhD in physics, materials science, electrical engineering or related field.
• ≥ 10 years of experience working in a foundry environment for semiconductor and/or integrated photonics products.
• Experience with full product development cycle, from R&D through volume ramping.
• Experience coordinating with and managing external partners, including major semiconductor and photonics foundries.
• Demonstrated track record of achieving low loss in integrated photonic components through fabrication process development.
• Familiarity with metrology and failure analysis techniques (SEM, TEM, AFM, ellipsometry, XRR/XRD, SIMS, Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence).
• Strong communication skills and teamwork; willing to travel ≤ 20%.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to development and optimization of process modules for integrated photonic devices, e.g., thin film lithium niobate.
• Collaborate with Design to improve yield and build complex stacks of components.
• Independently own wafer lots processed at Xanadu’s foundry partners.
• Design and execute fabrication process improvement experiments and analyses.
• Define metrology and failure analysis plans to identify and mitigate failure modes.
• Collaborate with internal and external photonics engineers and foundry partners.
• Challenge state-of-the-art metrics in integrated photonics fabrication.
• Stay abreast of new developments and rapidly implement learnings.

Skills

Communication

Teamwork

Travel readiness

Problem-solving

Education

PhD in physics, materials science, electrical engineering or related field

Tools

Python

MATLAB

GitHub

JMP

Job description

Xanadu’s mission is to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere.

At Xanadu, we are learners, innovators, researchers, collaborators and problem solvers. We are creating something that has never been built before. What we are doing is extremely hard, the classic moon shot. Few people in their life will be able to be a part of something like this, where if we are successful, the technologies we develop will solve some of the world’s most challenging problems, and literally change the world. And that is something to be excited about!

Your role and responsibilities:

As an industry leader in photonic quantum computing, Xanadu takes hardware very seriously! In this role, you will work within the Fabrication Process Engineering team to deliver Xanadu’s photonic quantum computing hardware. With your deep technical expertise and experience developing fabrication processes for integrated photonic devices based on electro-optic materials, you will be responsible for developing and optimizing fabrication processes used to build critical components of Xanadu’s quantum computing hardware.

You will:

• Contribute to the development and optimization of process modules used to build integrated photonic devices from crystalline electro-optic materials, such as thin film lithium niobate
• Work closely with our Design team to improve the yield of optical components and build complex stacks combining key components like low-loss edge couplers, electro-optic modulators, and room-temperature photodiodes
• Independently own and direct wafer lots processed at Xanadu’s foundry partners
• Design and execute fabrication process improvement experiments, including defining fabrication splits, gathering and analyzing inline data, etc.
• Define and execute metrology and failure analysis plans to identify and mitigate failure modes and assess results of process optimization experiments
• Collaborate with internal and external photonics process engineers, process integration engineers and photonics design engineers, including at Xanadu’s foundry partners
• Challenge the state-of-the-art in key performance metrics associated with integrated photonics fabrication
• Stay abreast of new developments in the field of photonics fabrication process development and rapidly implement new learnings and discoveries

Basic qualifications and experience:

• PhD in physics, materials science, electrical engineering or related field
• ≥ 10 years of experience working in a foundry environment for semiconductor and/or integrated photonics products
• Experience with full product development cycle, from R&D through volume ramping
• Experience coordinating with and managing external partners, including major semiconductor and photonics foundries
• Experience with semiconductor fabrication process development, including experience with common process modules and optimization pathways
• Demonstrated track record of achieving low loss in integrated photonic components through fabrication process development
• Familiarity with standard semiconductor and photonics metrology and failure analysis techniques, including at least two of: SEM, TEM, AFM, ellipsometry, XRR/XRD, SIMS, Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence
• Basic familiarity with passive and active photonic components, such as waveguides, modulators, switches, beamsplitters, resonators, MZIs, etc.
• Strong critical thinking skills
• Demonstrated ability to tackle challenging problems and develop innovative solutions
• Excellent communication skills and strong sense of teamwork
• Availability for travel required, expected ≤ 20% travel time

Preferred qualifications and experience:

• ≥ 5 years of experience with integrated photonics fabrication and fabrication process development using electro-optic materials, such as thin film lithium niobate
• Experience with integrated photonics
• Experience etching waveguides from lithium niobate or similar crystalline electro-optic materials
• Experience procuring processing and/or measurement tools, including performing best-of-breed evaluations, assisting with acceptance testing and tool install, process qualification, etc.
• Experience with data analysis and related software, such as Python, GitHub, JMP, MATLAB, etc.
• Experience working in fabless companies
• Proficiency in Mandarin

This is for a new position. Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and internal benchmarks. The base salary range is 150,000 - 200,000 USD. You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Our values are important. They are fundamental and lay the foundation for culture at Xanadu. Learn more about our values here.

We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply. We are committed to building an inclusive, safe, and equitable culture and fostering an environment where our employees feel included, valued, and heard. We are committed to meeting the needs of all individuals and support a barrier-free workplace. Should you require accommodations at any point during the recruitment process please contact Recruiting at [e-mail].

Please be advised that we may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist in the screening and assessment of applicants for this position. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.