Mechanical / Opto-Mechanical Engineer - System Efficiency & Resource Optimization

Job Title

Mechanical / Opto-Mechanical Engineer - System Efficiency & Resource Optimization

Role Summary

Lead initiatives to reduce energy consumption and minimize purge gas use across advanced semiconductor equipment platforms by combining physics-based modeling, opto-mechanical design, and experimental validation.

The role partners with optics, mechanical, process, and compliance teams to develop solutions that improve tool efficiency while maintaining performance, reliability, and contamination control.

Experience Level

Mid-level. Typical candidates have 5+ years of relevant experience in mechanical or opto-mechanical system design, modeling, and experimental validation.

Responsibilities

The role focuses on modeling, design optimization, testing, sustainability, and cross-functional collaboration to reduce purge gas usage and overall tool energy.

• Develop multi-physics simulations (CFD, thermal, optical interactions) to analyze gas flow, purge efficiency, heat transfer, and optical contamination sensitivity.
• Simulate purge distribution and consumption; perform trade-off analyses between purge reduction, optical performance, and reliability.
• Design and optimize opto-mechanical assemblies, enclosures, seals, and flow paths to minimize gas use and heat loads.
• Implement energy-efficient architectures and passive thermal/flow solutions.
• Plan and execute experiments to validate models; instrument systems to measure gas flow, temperature gradients, and optical performance.
• Quantify cost savings and environmental impact reductions; support sustainability and regulatory compliance goals.
• Collaborate with optical engineering, mechanical design, process engineering, and product safety/compliance on system-level architecture decisions.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience.

• 5+ years of experience in mechanical or opto-mechanical system design and development.
• Proven experience with CFD and thermal modeling tools (examples: ANSYS Fluent, COMSOL) and multi-physics simulation workflows.
• Strong mechanical design skills including CAD and tolerance analysis.
• Deep understanding of gas flow dynamics, purge systems, contamination control, and optical system environmental sensitivities (temperature, vibration, contamination).
• Experience planning and executing experimental validation and correlating results with simulation.

Nice-to-have:

• Direct experience with purge gas systems in semiconductor tools and knowledge of cleanroom/vacuum environments.
• Familiarity with sustainability and energy-efficiency metrics and methods to quantify savings.
• Background in thermal management of precision optical systems.

Education Requirements

Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field is expected. KLA's minimum qualifications map degree level to required related experience: Doctorate — 0 years; Master’s — 3 years; Bachelor’s — 5 years. Equivalent practical experience may be considered.

About the Company

Company: KLA

Headquarters: Chennai, India

KLA is a global leader in diversified electronics for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company enables the production of electronic devices by inventing systems and solutions for manufacturing integrated circuits, wafers, and displays. With over 40 years of experience, KLA invests heavily in innovation and R&D to support advanced chip design and manufacturing process optimization, collaborating with top technology providers to deliver future electronic devices.