Senior Optical/Laser Engineer

The slicing of semiconductor material into wafers is a critical step in the semiconductor production process, yet standard slicing methods waste billions of dollars annually. Halo Industries has invented a laser-based semiconductor slicing process that eliminates this waste, delivering improvements in both material cost and performance and enabling manufacturing advancements in a diverse set of high-growth applications markets, including the automotive, grid infrastructure, telecommunications and power electronics sectors.  

Having proven the market’s appetite for its technology, Halo is now ramping production at its first pilot manufacturing facility in Santa Clara, CA to meet sales demand.  The company is expanding its engineering team to meet its current goals of automation, equipment reliability and cost optimization, as well as to drive the next set of breakthrough improvements.

The Opportunity

Halo Industries is seeking a Senior Optical & Laser Engineer Engineer. The role spans fundamental experiments through to design, construction, testing and maintenance of prototype laser slicing tools. The hired candidate will contribute by optimizing performance of our existing tools as well as extending our technology to new materials and processes.

The primary deliverables/responsibilities of the position include:

• Conduct fundamental experiments in laser-material interactions. Analyze & present the results of these experiments.
• Build, align and maintain prototype optical assemblies for laser processing, laser & optical component characterization, wafer/ingot inspection, surface profilometry.
• Design optical systems using paraxial calculations, ray tracing, and exact models where applicable.
• Work with opto-mechanical engineers to design advanced prototypes and products.
• Work with process and production engineers to debug, optimize and upgrade existing tools.
• Formalize & document assembly, alignment & maintenance procedures, and teach these procedures to field & maintenance engineers.

Requirements

Minimum Education & Experience

• Recent PhD or an MS with 3-5 years of work experience in Physics, EE, or Optics.

What We’re Looking For

• Experience in setup, alignment & maintenance of free-space laser & optical systems.
• Understanding of optical engineering & physics fundamentals: diffraction, aberrations, Gaussian beams, imaging, polarization.
• Experience with optical analysis and simulation methods, such as paraxial & wave optical models and commercial ray-tracing software.
• Experience with the collection, analysis, plotting and presentation of data from optical & laser experiments.
• Strong organizational and written communication skills.

Bonus

• Industry experience in lasers, optics, or semiconductors.
• Experience programming instrument control, data acquisition, and/or motion control.
• Experience with Python programming language.
• Experience with industry-standard software for ray-tracing, linear & nonlinear laser beam propagation, and/or multiphysics / finite element analysis.
• Experience with surface profilometry.
• Experience with semiconductor materials.

Benefits

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Retirement Plan (401k, IRA)
• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
• Family Leave (Maternity, Paternity)
• Free Food & Snacks
• Stock Option Plan
• Short Term & Long Term Disability
• Base salary $135000 to $155000