Applications Development Engineer - Surfscan

To make electronics, you need chips, wafers, transistors, reticles, and... To make these, you must see, test and manufacture them at scale—faster and better than ever before. That's where KLA comes in. Whether you're early in your career or an experienced professional, you'll solve complex challenges, work alongside brilliant minds and help shape the future of technology.

Group/Division

The Semiconductor Products and Customers (Semi PC) business unit designs, builds and sells KLA’s product portfolio to help chip manufacturers meet high-quality standards for technologies like AI, data centers, automotive and electronic devices. Our inspection, metrology, and analytics systems detect and monitor defects across logic and memory chips, specialty semiconductors, wafers, reticles, advanced packaging, process equipment and materials. We also develop technologies for specialty processes, IC substrates, and PCB manufacturing, including etch and deposition, component inspection, and imaging and analytics. The Surfscan® division develops unpatterned wafer inspection systems that detect nanoscale particles and surface defects early in semiconductor manufacturing. Its systems monitor wafer quality across a wide range of applications, enabling faster issue identification and improved process control.

What You'll Do

In this role, you will play a key part in advancing business priorities by delivering high-impact work across your area of expertise.

Responsibilities:

Following standard procedures, provide applications development support to Surfscan SPx products:
• Develop test cases; characterize customers defects, new products and/or features.
• Provide technical support in the development and implementation of customer applications dealing with SurfScan products and features.
• Provide specific product demonstrations on all aspects of highly complex products to customers and assess potential applications to meet customer needs; prepare detailed product specifications.
• The candidate will also be required to work towards characterization of the tool/algorithm performance and for providing clear feedback to the Engineering teams for product improvement, especially during Alpha/Beta tests.

Minimum Qualifications

• Candidate must have Master’s or Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Physics, Material Science, or related fields.

• ~70% international/ domestic travel may be required.
• Strong technical skills are required to understand the functionality and capabilities of these tools and for providing root cause analysis and potential solutions for customers.
• Possesses excellent oral and written communication, organizational, analytical, and interpersonal skills and the ability to work independently.
• The ideal candidate will have a working knowledge of semiconductor manufacturing.

About KLA

We provide advanced inspection tools, metrology systems, process solutions, and computational analytics that make electronics possible, tackling complex challenges. From electron and photon optics to machine learning and data analytics, we seek perfection at the most fundamental level of matter in the universe. If you want to make electronics that push industries forward and make the world a better place, join us.

Use of AI Statement 

At KLA, our interviews seek to understand your individual skills, problem-solving approach and authentic thinking. To ensure a fair and consistent evaluation, the use of AI, recording tools or other technologies to generate, suggest or provide responses during interviews—whether virtual or in person—is not permitted unless explicitly approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation or invited by the interviewer. Use of these tools may interfere with our ability to evaluate your individual qualifications and affect your candidacy. KLA is committed to advancing innovation through responsible AI, and we value candidates who share this mindset.

We offer a competitive, family friendly total rewards package. We design our programs to reflect our commitment to an inclusive environment, while ensuring we provide benefits that meet the diverse needs of our employees.

KLA is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.