Research Member of Technical Staff, Materials and Manufacturing

Why this work matters

Touchdown starts with people doing real work: teach the team, build one useful AI system, manage what runs, and measure what still breaks. We follow repeated limits through software, inference, kernels, memory, hardware, materials, and manufacturing research only when the evidence earns the next layer. The ambition is broad. The work is always bounded by a user, a test, and a receipt.

Overview

You will lead carefully scoped research where compute systems meet materials and manufacturing. The work may include HBM and advanced-package materials, thin films and interfaces, deposition, patterning, etch, bonding, thermal and mechanical behavior, reliability, metrology, process integration, yield, and manufacturability. You will follow the complete engineering path from a system requirement through experiments, process windows, qualification, failure analysis, and transfer readiness. The goal is not to publish a list of promising materials. It is to connect a system requirement to a material property, a controlled experiment, an integration path, a supply and safety boundary, and evidence that can survive transfer.

What you will own

• Translate thermal, electrical, mechanical, memory, package, reliability, or manufacturing limits into measurable material and process requirements.
• Design experiments, controls, comparators, split lots, sample plans, metrology, statistical analysis, decision logs, and failure criteria.
• Define characterization, contamination control, inline and end-of-line monitoring, reliability, process-window, yield-learning, and failure-analysis requirements.
• Evaluate material, interface, process, package, equipment, supplier, scale-up, high-volume-manufacturing readiness, and technology-transfer tradeoffs.
• Connect research results to device behavior, package integration, operating conditions, cost, supply, safety, and repeatability.
• Coordinate scoped work with qualified laboratories, universities, manufacturers, or industry partners only after written access, safety, rights, supervision, and funding terms exist.

Technical territory

Electronic and advanced-packaging materials; HBM, hybrid-bonding, interposer, substrate, redistribution-layer, bump, underfill, thermal-interface, and interconnect interfaces; thin films, CVD, PVD, plating, deposition, lithography, patterning, wet and dry etch, bonding, assembly, and clean; thermal transport and heat spreading; mechanical stress, adhesion, fatigue, and warpage; CD-SEM, optical, X-ray, spectroscopy, microscopy, electrical, mechanical, and thermal metrology; accelerated reliability; contamination and chemical safety; DOE, SPC, JMP, Python, R, or comparable analysis; process integration, yield learning, root-cause analysis, supplier qualification, scale-up, and manufacturing transfer.

Representative outputs

• A requirement-to-property map connecting electrical, thermal, mechanical, reliability, package, or manufacturing limits to measurable material and process targets.
• A controlled DOE with split plan, comparators, process window, metrology plan, uncertainty, decision criteria, traveler, and complete experiment record.
• A qualification packet covering inline and end-of-line data, defectivity, yield, reliability, failure analysis, contamination, safety, and operating conditions.
• A transfer-readiness decision with equipment and supplier assumptions, preliminary controls, process stability, cost and supply constraints, unresolved risks, and explicit stop or continue gates.

What success looks like

• A system problem is tied to a named material or process property and a controlled experiment.
• Results include comparators, uncertainty, failure analysis, operating conditions, and integration constraints.
• A promising result has a credible path through reliability, yield, supply, safety, process control, equipment qualification, and transfer.
• The team can distinguish a research signal from a qualified material, process, package, or manufacturing capability.

What you bring

• PhD or equivalent research depth in materials science, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, semiconductor processing, packaging, or a related field.
• Experience designing controlled experiments and interpreting characterization, metrology, reliability, yield, or process data.
• Understanding of contamination, chemical and equipment safety, process variation, yield, and manufacturing transfer.
• Ability to connect material properties to device, package, thermal, mechanical, or manufacturing behavior.
• Experience coordinating work across design, process, equipment, metrology, test, and external research teams.
• Ability to communicate what evidence supports a conclusion, what is inferred, and what remains unknown.

Helpful experience

• HBM, hybrid bonding, 2.5D/3D integration, or advanced packaging
• Thin films, interfaces, thermal transport, and mechanical reliability
• Semiconductor process integration, DOE, and SPC
• Inline metrology, defect inspection, yield, and physical or electrical failure analysis
• Pilot-line, equipment, supplier, high-volume manufacturing, or technology-transfer experience

How the role works

• Full-time role.
• San Francisco / Bay Area preferred. Remote within the United States may be considered for the right person.
• Scope, start date, and employment details are discussed during the process.