Sr. Process Engineer, Wet Etch, Terafab

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Sr. Process Engineer, Wet Etch, Terafab

| Job Category | Terafab | | Location | Austin, Texas | | Req. ID | 267827 | | Job Type | Full-time |

What to Expect

We are building Terafab, a vertically integrated semiconductor factory at an unprecedented scale. The facility houses logic, memory, packaging, test, and lithography mask production under one roof, optimized for rapid iteration and maximum compute density per square foot.

Process engineering is where Terafab technology gets built, atom by atom, and wet etch is where precision meets chemistry. You will develop and own wet clean and etch processes across three distinct chip families: edge-inference processors, space-hardened chips for orbital satellites, and high-bandwidth memory. You'll control selectivity, uniformity, and defectivity across diverse material stacks—from silicon and dielectrics to metals and photoresist.

You should have deep expertise in wet processing but be ready to work across core process domains such as dry etch, metrology, and film deposition as integration evolves. This is a highly hands-on role at one of the most ambitious fab programs in the world.

What You’ll Do

• Develop and qualify wet etch and wet clean processes for critical applications including oxide, nitride, silicon, and metal layer removal

• Own bath chemistry formulation, concentration control, temperature management, and process window optimization for both isotropic and selective wet etch steps

• Develop and qualify post-etch and post-CMP wet clean processes including single-wafer spin clean, megasonic, and dilute chemical clean steps

• Qualify wet process tools from installation through production readiness, including bench qualification, process chamber seasoning, and particle/defect control

• Analyze processes from a first-principles, physics-based approach to understand and manipulate mechanisms, not just recipes

• Lead root cause analysis, establish inline metrology and control strategies, and drive systematic yield improvement

• Support 24/7 manufacturing operations through rotations, on-call availability, and rapid response to critical production issues

• Drive next-generation wet chemistry formulations and process development

What You’ll Bring

• Degree in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or related technical field, or equivalent experience

• 5+ years of hands-on wet etch process engineering experience in a semiconductor fab, especially advanced logic, memory, or foundry environment

• Deep experience with wet bench qualification, wet clean process development, and process of record (POR) establishment at advanced nodes

• Proficiency with wet process metrology tools: particle counters, defect inspection, film thickness measurement, and surface analysis techniques

• Strong Design of Experiments skills and statistical analysis capability

• Ability to work closely and proactively across lithography, etch, thin films, integration, and equipment engineering teams

• Tesla is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any factor, including veteran status and disability status, protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

• Tesla is also committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. Please let your recruiter know if you need an accommodation at any point during the interview process.

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