Senior Thin Film Scientist – Eindhoven

Role description

You will own the product-market fit strategy for a deep-tech startup building a next-generation deposition platform for semiconductor thin films. You will work on connecting thin-film deposition technology to existing and future semiconductor industry use cases.

You will be responsible for defining which materials, films, and applications to focus on for pilot applications of the deposition platform. You will build the materials characterization pipeline needed to support pilot and fab qualification of the deposited thin films. You will also work closely with the CTO, mechanical engineers, and plasma process engineers to drive full-system architecture decisions by using your materials science knowledge to correlate deposited film properties back to plasma and process conditions.

This position is in an early-stage startup environment. You should be ready for ambiguity, tight schedules, shifting priorities, rapid iteration, working directly alongside the CTO, and assuming wider responsibility for decisions that shape the final product-market fit.

Visa: Visa sponsorship is available

Equity: ESOP available, will be discussed individually

Work arrangement: 4 days on-site, 1 day hybrid

Work location: Eindhoven (High Tech Campus)

Responsibilities

• Connect the core thin film deposition technology to semiconductor use cases.
• Own the thin-film development roadmap across existing advanced semiconductor applications.
• Identify the main semiconductor industry bottlenecks and required future materials innovations for the next 5 to 7 years.
• Define and drive the material KPIs that matter for each film: composition, density, stress, uniformity, defects, electrical, thermal, etc.
• Own the full thin-film characterisation pipeline: select correct metrology, design characterization experiments, interpret results, and feed them back into process decisions.
• Manage external metrology partnerships and build internal metrology capability over time (ellipsometry, AFM, XPS, XRR, XRD, SEM, TEM, TOF-SIMS, electrical test, thermal test)
• Partner closely with the Plasma Process Engineers and CTO to map plasma conditions to resulting thin film properties.
• Contribute to the overall IP strategy around materials and deposition processes.

Main requirements

• 2+ years of semiconductor industry experience working on thin films, materials, or processes for real chip manufacturing (not academic research)
• Knowledge of existing semiconductor industry materials stacks and trends.
• Knowledge of where the semiconductor industry is going in the next 5 to 7 years from materials innovation perspective.
• Deep understanding of thin-film physics: nucleation and growth, microstructure, stress, defects, stoichiometry, and how these parameters are impacted by the deposition process.
• Proven track record of developing new materials or optimising existing ones for semiconductor devices.
• High agency and self-starting capabilities – you must be a senior professional who already knows what to do without being steered.
• Fluent English

Other requirements

• Good grasp of PVD, CVD, ALD, PLD, or ion-beam deposition hardware and techniques.
• Hands-on experience with thin-film characterization metrology: ellipsometry, AFM, XPS, XRR, XRD, SEM, TEM, TOF-SIMS, electrical test, thermal test.
• Experience running multivariable DOE and statistical analysis on process data.

Nice to have, but not mandatory

• PhD in materials science, applied physics, chemistry, or a related field.
• Experience with low-k dielectrics or advanced metals for next-generation interconnects.
• Experience with telecommunication materials.
• Experience with heat spreader and heat sink materials.

Benefits

• Support with relocation to Eindhoven (within reason)