Touchdown Labs
Etch, Clean & Surface Preparation Engineer
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Etch, Clean & Surface Preparation Engineer
Why this work matters
Touchdown is engineering modular manufacturing for the chips and memory systems future computing needs. This role helps turn a buyer's physical result into a qualified process or a defensible decision to use an existing supplier. Advanced packaging is our intended first fab class; no production fab is operating today.
Overview
This role owns the boundary between removing material and preserving the features and surfaces that matter. Start with a named layer stack and downstream acceptance test, compare partner wet, dry, or mechanical routes, and define selectivity, residue, damage, contamination, and safety limits. You will qualify measurements and hold rules before an owned process is considered.
What you will own
- Set removal and cleaning requirements for each material interface and control residue, particles, damage, and safe chemistry.
- Set material-specific removal, selectivity, residue, and surface-readiness targets.
- Compare wet and dry routes with available vendors, waste handling, and safety controls.
- Measure damage, particles, corrosion, and bond or plating impact after cleaning.
- Design split experiments to isolate material loss, residue, and damage without masking defects through over-cleaning.
- Coordinate chemistry, tool, metrology, EHS, and integration reviews before a recipe is released for a workpiece.
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Technical territory
- Wet and dry etch options
- Chemical cleaning
- Plasma and surface treatment
- Selectivity
- Profile
- Endpoint
- Residue
- Particles
- Corrosion
- Damage
- Waste
- Exhaust
- Chemical compatibility
- Downstream bonding or metallization interfaces
Representative outputs
- A controlled process window and inspection plan for a named layer, with stop criteria for damage or residues.
- A named-layer process window with inspection and hold points.
- A before/after surface and downstream-adhesion or electrical test plan.
- A process-control and safety packet with incoming surface criteria, endpoint method, post-clean inspection, and reject disposition.
What success looks like
- Removal and cleanliness targets are met without damaging the next interface.
- Deviations trigger a defined hold and independent disposition.
- The cleaned or etched surface meets the next step's functional and contamination limits, not only a visual criterion.
- A qualified operator can detect out-of-window conditions and hold material before downstream loss.
What you bring
- Wet or dry etch, cleans, contamination control, selectivity, and process metrology.
- Qualified wet or dry etch and clean steps for semiconductor or package materials.
- Can design selectivity and endpoint experiments with appropriate metrology.
- Understands chemical compatibility, contamination control, and worker safety.
- Experience investigating etch or clean defects with material and surface measurements.
- Ability to translate chemical and equipment risks into controlled experiments and safe operating limits.
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Helpful experience
- Plasma surface preparation
- Wet chemistry and waste-system qualification
- Package substrate or RDL processing
- Surface characterization
- Wet chemistry and exhaust controls
How the role works
Applications are open; the exact work location, arrangement, compensation, and start date will be discussed during hiring. Early work can produce engineering plans and partner comparisons. Hands-on work begins only at qualified, authorized facilities. You will work with process, equipment, quality, test, customer, and supplier owners as the scope requires.
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Show a real process, tool, workpiece, or product decision you owned, the measurements behind it, and what another team could reproduce.
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