Characterization Engineer / Principal Characterization Engineer

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE TYPE: Secret

TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the Time

Description

At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.

This position description does not represent a current opening but may be used to identify candidates with skills and experience for positions within Northrop Grumman that frequently become available. Candidates who express an interest may be considered for future positions at Northrop Grumman.

The Northrop Grumman Microelectronics Center (NGMC) of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems is seeking an exceptionally talented, motivated, and creative Characterization Engineer for our Advanced Technology Lab (ATL) - located outside of Baltimore, Maryland - where we design, manufacture, and test semiconductor products for internal and commercial production customers as well as emerging technology programs.

Northrop Grumman’s ATL semiconductor foundry is a unique capability supporting a range of production microelectronic devices (Silicon, Gallium Arsenide, Gallium Nitride, and Silicon Carbide) and providing leading edge technology development in superconducting electronics. Our devices enable a number of Northrop Grumman’s ground based radars, avionic radars, and space systems.

Join us for the chance to work with an amazing, experienced, and talented team while helping serve your country. Enjoy the opportunity to grow and learn with a variety of challenging projects in R&D, ongoing long term programs, and new programs targeting future military platforms.  Our multidisciplinary foundry team enables activities from development to sustainment process engineering. ATL is responsible for all aspects of semiconductor technology including design, mask making, wafer fabrication, test, and assembly.

The candidate must be a strong team participant, have excellent communication skills, and be resourceful and multitalented. A strong understanding of semiconductor technology, metrology processes, and equipment engineering is essential. Positions within the Characterization Engineering team include focus areas of Defect Metrology, Metrology, and Defect Characterization.

The Characterization Engineer will be responsible for but not limited to:

• Maintaining, existing, and developing new in-line recipes and techniques for defect inspection and review tools or metrology tools.

• Assisting with ongoing efforts to integrate in-line defect metrology or metrology into our process flows.

• Writing and maintaining process documentation.

• Partnering with vendors and equipment engineers to drive existing and future tools to meet foundry and program needs.

• Supporting statistical process control (SPC), continuous improvement efforts

• Management and dissemination of data driven reports

• Performs all other related duties as assigned

#NGATL

This requisition may be filled as a Characterization Engineer or Principal Characterization Engineer.

Basic Qualifications Characterization Engineer:

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Materials Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, or closely related discipline with 2 years technical related experience in semiconductor fabrication, or Masters Degree with 0 year experience

• Have an understanding/knowledge of semiconductor processing

• Able to work independently with hands-on experience in operating tools, gathering, and analyzing data

• Candidate must possess good interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal, problems solving skills with ability to work with a diverse group of people including engineers, technicians, and management

• Ability to work in cleanroom environment

• US citizenship required

• Must be able to obtain and maintain a minimum of a Secret Clearance

Basic Qualifications Principal Characterization Engineer:

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Materials Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, or closely related discipline with 5 years technical related experience in semiconductor fabrication, or Masters Degree with 3 years’ experience; PhD with 0 year experience
• Have an understanding/knowledge of semiconductor processing
• Able to work independently with hands-on experience in operating tools, gathering, and analyzing data
• Candidate must possess good interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal, problems solving skills with ability to work with a diverse group of people including engineers, technicians, and management
• Ability to work in cleanroom environment
• US citizenship required
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a minimum of a Secret Clearance

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience using defect review and inspection tools (brightfield, dark field, scanning electron microscopes)
• Experience using in-line metrology tools (critical dimension scanning electron microscopes, profilometers, ellipsometers, film thickness measurement tools)
• Experience performing defect classification and analysis
• Experience coordinating with vendors such as KLA, AMAT, and other industry leaders
• Experience in superconductor microelectronics will be highly desired
• Experience in lean manufacturing practices and structured problem-solving methodology as well as DOEs and transition of processes to a production environment
• User of various software packages commonly found in Semiconductor Wafer Fabs – EMS Systems (FactoryWorks or alike systems), statistical analysis tools – SPACE, JMP, Minitab, etc.
• Active Secret Clearance or higher #NGMCFab

Salary Range: $83,300.00 - $124,900.00

The above salary range represents a general guideline; however, Northrop Grumman considers a number of factors when determining base salary offers such as the scope and responsibilities of the position and the candidate's experience, education, skills and current market conditions.

Employees may be eligible for a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay. Annual bonuses are designed to reward individual contributions as well as allow employees to share in company results. Employees in Vice President or Director positions may be eligible for Long Term Incentives. In addition, Northrop Grumman provides a variety of benefits including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, savings plan, Company paid holidays and paid time off (PTO) for vacation and/or personal business.

The application period for the job is estimated to be 20 days from the job posting date. However, this timeline may be shortened or extended depending on business needs and the availability of qualified candidates.

Northrop Grumman is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class. For our complete EEO/AA and Pay Transparency statement, please visit http://www.northropgrumman.com/EEO. U.S. Citizenship is required for all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.