Senior Engineer - Surface Chemist

About our group:

At Seagate our mission is to build the world’s best data storage devices. The Advanced Transducer Development group is a global R&D organization that develops new recording head technologies to advance areal density and enable Seagate’s HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 4 year+ product roadmap. Our process team uses state-of-the-art wafer fabrication tools and cleanroom facilities to innovate and deliver leading-edge writers and read sensors.  With an emphasis on proving feasibility of new devices, processes and materials, we help build Seagate’s future time-to-market leadership. If you are excited by innovative technology development, are naturally creative, and passionate about seeing ideas come to life then this could be a perfect fit to your research and development career.

About the role - you will:

• Develop novel, robust, and manufacturable chemical processing methods to integrate novel metal and dielectric thin film structures into nanometer-scale head devices
• Investigate wet etch, surface preparation, and interface chemical processing techniques to engineer robust metal-dielectric interfaces and ensure stable and predictable operation of new materials under device operating conditions
• Perform chemical, materials, and surface characterization to understand reaction mechanisms, adhesion behavior, device compatibility, and performance
• Collaborate with unit process owners (lithography, deposition, etch, wet process, metrology) to achieve prototype device wafer build flows capable of meeting design intent
• Help assess the impact of new chemical processes on downstream head performance
• Partner with wafer capital equipment suppliers to define hardware paths needed for novel chemical processing and surface characterization capability and manufacturability
• Participate in technology transfers to the product development engineering team

• Contribute to Seagate’s IP portfolio in the form of invention disclosures, patents, trade secrets, peer-reviewed journal articles, and/or white papers

About you:

• You are self-motivated, intellectually curious, able to work independently and have a strong attention to detail
• You are an honest and respectful team player, capable of working in strong partnership with a diverse global group of engineers and technicians
• You are a well-organized multitasker, able to balance day-to-day wafer processing needs with longer-term development work
• You maintain thorough documentation of results and can clearly present and discuss them with other staff members in engineering and management forums
• You have a track record of innovation and regularly use outside sources (journals, patents, university projects and conferences) to inspire new ideas and directions
• You are able and eager to work in a mix of clean room and laboratory environments

Your experience includes:

• Strong hands-on experience and in-depth understanding of surface and interface science, including wet-etching, corrosion, and surface modification, such as controlled hydrophobicity, activation, oxidation, materials compatibility, etc.
• Expertise in thin film, surface, interface, and chemical characterization techniques (e.g. AFM, XPS, contact angle, IR-spectroscopy, SEM, (S)TEM, TDTR, ICPMS etc)
• Familiarity with nanoscale device fabrication, associated wafer process and measurement systems, as well as platforms to model, simulate, or visualize formed devices (preferred but not essential)
• Experience with analytical or physics-based modeling of surface, interface, chemical, or mechanical phenomena to support process development and root-cause investigation (preferred but not essential)
• Knowledge of standard statistical experimentation methods including hypothesis testing, DOE design and analysis and ANOVA.  Familiarity with JMP or R preferred but not essential.
• PhD degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or related science and engineering fields with 0-2 years of direct industry experience or MS degree in same with 5+ years of industry experience

Location:

Seagate’s Normandale campus, spanning Bloomington and Edina, MN, serves as the global hub for recording head development and manufacturing. The campus offers an on-site café, fitness center, wellness programs, indoor walking paths, meditation rooms, and frequent cultural and community events. Numerous dining, shopping, and recreational options are located just minutes away.

The estimated base salary range for this position is $92,310.40 - $131,996.80. The individual salary is based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

Seagate offers comprehensive benefits to its eligible employees, including, but not limited to, eligibility to participate in discretionary bonus program, medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, short-and long-term disability, 401(k), employee stock purchase plan, health savings account, dependent care, and healthcare spending accounts. Seagate also offers paid time off, including 12 holidays, flexible time off provided pursuant to Seagate policy, a minimum of 48 hours of paid sick leave, and 16 weeks of paid parental leave. The benefits for this position are based on a full-time schedule for a full calendar year and may differ depending on work location.

Location: Normandale, United States
Travel: None