Development Engineer- High Purity Specialist

BE GREAT TOGETHER WITH US.

Innovation, Efficiency and Ambition:
this is what VAT has stood for over 50 years.

With this passion, VAT has grown to become the leading international developer, manufacturer and supplier of high-performance high-end vacuum valves and vacuum sealing technology, employing over 2000 people worldwide. The headquarters are located in Haag (Switzerland), the production centers in Switzerland, Malaysia, Romania and Taiwan.

As a High Purity Specialist, you will take the lead in developing, qualifying, and continuously improving high-purity cleaning and surface treatment processes for precision components and high-purity product assemblies, in close collaboration with the Global Lead Expert. This role is pivotal in ensuring our products meet the rigorous cleanliness and contamination control standards required for advanced-node semiconductor applications. You will serve as the central knowledge authority in discussions with production and assembly units, as well as with customers, suppliers, and internal stakeholders.

Your Responsibilities Include, But Not Limited To:

• Serve as the central knowledge hub and key interface between customers, field application engineers, product engineering and production teams on all high-purity topics.
• Analyze and consolidate customer high-purity specifications, then establish internal guidelines and work instructions to ensure compliance with customer-specific cleanliness level requirements, including cleaning, handling and packaging of components.
• Collaborate with the Global Lead Expert on the creation and maintenance of VAT cleanliness standards and the specification of cleaning systems (layout, construction, chemistry and process parameters) and cleanroom aids (ex. wipers, UV lamp) to ensure quality assurance internally and at suppliers
• Communicate and discuss customer specifications with local operations and process engineering teams to verify, validate and / or develop cleaning recipes and processes for fulfilment of the related customer specifications
• Work closely with Global Lead Expert and Technical Specialist on new cleaning systems, equipment and process innovations
• Support Strategic Sourcing with the development and qualification of new cleaning suppliers
• Support customer escalations and supplier quality issues by driving root cause analysis using problem solving tools (8D, RCCA, DoE) and defining improvement plans for high purity cleanliness and particle-related topics in Asia
• Support internal Gemba walks in ISO6 and ISO8 cleanroom environments to identify and address process gaps for continuous improvement
• Reappraisal / study of customer specifications, VAT standards and quality lessons learnt to define and maintain training content (cleanliness, contamination control, cleanroom requirements, solutions) and provide training to internal teams and suppliers
• Assist in the setup, validation and maintenance of the internal RGA testing facility

Minimum Qualification

• At least 3 years of professional experience in SEMI industry or high purity cleaning processes (aqueous, precision cleaning, micro-contamination) with intermediate or advanced knowledge in cleaning, process engineering and contamination control
• Bachelors, Masters, or PhD degree in Chemistry, Materials Science, or Physics
• Candidate should at least understand the concepts and how to interpret results from RGA, GCMS, ICPMS, FTIR, LPC and Outgassing analysis methods
• Strong problem-solving skills and understanding of quality tools (8D, 7QC, LSS, PDCA, 5M+E) and experienced with using DoE methodology for PoC
• Experienced in process control, statistics and risk assessments (SPC, DFMEA, PFMEA)
• Good in analyzing, communicating, presenting and documenting items and topics related to engineering change requests and investigations
• Strong organization, time management, planning skills and ability to manage multiple tasks with tight deadlines.
• Pro-active, independent, good team player and customer-focused.
• Good in Microsoft Office and Power Apps Skills.

Preferred Qualification

• Ultrasonic/mega sonic aqueous cleaning systems, hardware and processing parameters
• Surface science and analysis (ex. optical microscopy, SEM)
• Chemistry of surfactant & etchants
• Deionized Water/Ultra-Pure Water generation and applications
• Surface preparation and lab analytical techniques
• Semiconductor processing and particle analysis