Nanofabrication Process Engineer

Job Category

Job Profile

Job Title

Department

Compensation Range

The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Posting End Date

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary

The Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute at UBC (Blusson QMI) is a world-leading venture advancing research into solid state systems and phenomena that explicitly involve quantum mechanics. Among its core areas of expertise are the development of materials hosting novel quantum electronic states, and measurement of nanoscale electronic structures built from these materials, whose device characteristics display remarkable new paradigms of operation.

Blusson QMI has invested heavily on building a high-class cleanroom facility and acquiring a number of state-of-the-art tools that enable device fabrication at the nanoscale, where quantum properties of materials manifest themselves. These tools, housed within newly constructed cleanrooms, support processes at the cutting edge of currently available technologies, including electron-beam lithography, contact and maskless optical lithography, wet and dry chemical etching, thin film coating via physical and chemical vapour deposition, as well as several supporting inspection and characterization techniques. The Nanofabrication Process Engineer is the engineer proficient in these methods and tools, who will have responsibility for a number of them, according to operational needs and personal specialization, regarding all aspects of their operation, including user training and liaising with users, with the aim of delivering consistent and reliable service.

The Nanofabrication Process Engineer is also responsible for fully exploiting the offered nanofabrication capabilities and in this regard is expected to become exposed to, study and learn on the job, as many of the relevant tools/processes as possible. The post holder, who should already have experience in micro/nano-fabrication, optical and electron-beam lithography as well as process development, plans, designs and delivers complete micro/nano-fabrication engineering solutions, for a number of different stakeholders, and working on various projects.

The individual is expected to work independently, with a proactive and creative spirit and in close collaboration with colleagues, in order to be able to deliver what is required of the role.
The post holder also has a duty to ensure that all tasks conducted within Blusson QMI labs are performed in a safe manner that conforms to current legislation and work place protocols.

Note that this job is purely technical and it is not a research position. However, the post holder will be able to contribute, to some degree, for a number of ongoing research projects.

Organizational Status
The Nanofabrication Process Engineer reports to the Facilities Director, Blusson QMI. The post holder will work independently and pro-actively, and is expected to regularly use the Blusson QMI cleanrooms and to collaborate closely with the Research Associate, Microfabrication, the Electron-Beam Lithography and Process Engineer, the technicians and all other members of the technical team.

Work Performed
The Nanofabrication Process Engineer will be leading a number of projects simultaneously with respect to their micro- and nano-engineering aspects. The Nanofabrication Process Engineer will define requirements for materials and processes used in the fabrication of micro/nano-structured devices; produce specifications and other documents to manage the development of devices and processes; and develop and qualify new processes to meet requirements. The Nanofabrication Process Engineer will also conduct analyses to determine reasons for failures of materials, devices or processes, implementing corrective and preventive actions.

The following items reflect the most important tasks associated with the post. The list is not complete and may change as the role evolves with time. The Nanofabrication Process Engineer:
1. Plans, designs, develops and delivers innovative process specifications for the realization of micro- and nano-structured devices, using techniques that include, but are not limited to, photolithography, electron-beam lithography, wet and dry etching, physical and chemical vapour deposition, electro-forming, soft lithography, and metrology.
2. Working on a number of different projects, develops innovative technologies for micro/nano-structured devices and transfers such technologies to a diverse user community that includes internal and external stakeholders and industrial partners.
3. Advises on the design and feasibility of micro/nano-engineering aspects of various research projects for a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
4. Designs and develops novel capabilities of existing and new nano/micro-fabrication equipment, designs and develops experiments, and finds solutions to complex engineering problems.
5. Monitors the performance of processes that make use of the nanofabrication facility tools and engineers all necessary interventions, ensuring that these processes remain operational and perform to specifications.
6. Is the main person responsible for certain tools/processes available within Blusson QMI's nanofabrication cleanroom, as agreed with the Facilities Director, Blusson QMI, regarding all aspects of operation, including user training and liaising with users, with the aim of delivering consistent and reliable outcomes, including maintenance operations to maintain a high up time.
7. Remains current with all available tools/processes in Blusson QMI's nanofabrication facilities, and to this end spends time in the cleanrooms and liaises with team colleagues as appropriate and contributes to enhancing the Institute's capabilities in nanofabrication.
8. Offers time, skills and expertise to other Blusson QMI labs and projects, as instructed by the Facilities Director, Blusson QMI, and performs other relevant to the job tasks, as required.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
Errors in judgement, mishandling of tools and neglect in following standard procedures could lead to the reduction of services available to the Institute affiliated UBC research groups and external users, cause damage to expensive equipment and endanger the health and safety of the post holder, other lab users and those in the vicinity. Poor performance or errors in judgement may impact timely provision of services required by research, in particular students, who are working to strict timelines, and other internal and external users, including from industry and government. Issues with data quality could impact those stakeholders as well as the reputation of the facility and the University. Errors in performing the responsibilities of this position could also lead to unsafe laboratory conditions, which may jeopardize the safety of facility users and the role holder. Poor decisions could cause financial loss to the Institute via failure to collect money owing for use of facilities and exposure to liability or damage to equipment or facilities.

Supervision Received
Works independently. Reports to the Facilities Director, Blusson QMI, who determines the broad direction and operational requirements of the role, and who may also offer training and guidance.

Supervision Given
Provides advice to faculty, staff, postdocs, graduate students and other facility users on the proper and safe use of the research tools and the associated processes, and oversees their activities within the nanofabrication facility. Supervises, guides and instructs the cleanroom technicians, as required.

Minimum Qualifications
Undergraduate degree in Engineering or Applied Science. Minimum of five years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one's own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one's own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

Undergraduate degree in Engineering or Applied Science. An undergraduate degree in Physics, Chemistry or another relevant discipline would also be suitable. Masters or PhD degree in Engineering, Physics, Chemistry or other relevant discipline is preferred. A minimum of 5 years of experience or the equivalent combination of education and experience. Essential qualifications:
- Experience in a research and/or research & development setting, involving micro and nanofabrication process development
- Proven working knowledge and hands-on experience in a range of micro/nano-fabrication techniques, including but not limited to: photolithography, resist processing, wet and dry etching, physical and chemical vapour deposition, electroforming, bonding
- Proven working experience in operating photolithography and electron-beam lithography systems and knowledge of respective processes
- Proven working knowledge of analysis techniques, including but not limited to: scanning electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, and contact profilometry

- Proven working knowledge and hands-on experience with maintenance of complex nanofabrication research infrastructure
- Proven awareness of safe work practices
- Demonstrated ability to creatively solve engineering problems
- Lab instrumentation/equipment fault finding and fault diagnosis skills
- Computer skills, including mask layout and CAD-related software
- Demonstrated team work qualities

Desirable qualifications:
- Experience in tool installation and commissioning
- Experience in writing Standard Operating Procedures for various tools and processes
- Published research involving micro and nanofabrication
- Knowledge of and experience in vacuum systems
- Experience with high accelerating voltage electron-beam lithography systems
- Knowledge of high-end lithography software