Senior Engineer, Failure Analysis

pSemi Corporation is a Murata company driving semiconductor integration. pSemi builds on Peregrine Semiconductor’s 30-year legacy of technology advancements and strong IP portfolio but with a new mission—to enhance Murata’s world-class capabilities with high-performance semiconductors. With a strong foundation in RF integration, pSemi’s product portfolio now spans power management, connected sensors, optical transceivers, antenna tuning and RF frontends. These intelligent and efficient semiconductors enable advanced modules for smartphones, base stations, personal computers, electric vehicles, data centers, IoT devices and healthcare. From headquarters in San Diego and offices around the world, pSemi’s team explores new ways to make electronics for the connected world smaller, thinner, faster and better.

Job Summary

The Senior Engineer, Failure Analysis will be tasked with performing failure analysis on field returns, prototype builds, qualification failures, yield failures, and new product development on RF and mixed signal CMOS products. This position will support all pSemi IC products and packages.

The assigned tasks will be diverse and complex in nature which requires exceptional organization skills and high attention to detail. This position will need to exercise sound judgment in methods used to solve problems and in the evaluation of the results.

Roles & Responsibilities

This position has responsibility for:

• Perform preliminary failure analysis as needed, including external visual examination, scanning acoustic microscopy, radiographic examination, and bench testing
• Perform integrated circuit (IC) fault isolation to identify failure mechanism(s) utilizing schematics, layouts, IC design analysis, Focused Ion Beam (FIB) deposited pad microprobing, device characterization, nanoprobing, Photon Emission Microscopy (PEM), Externally Induced Voltage Alteration (XIVA) and IR Thermal Emission
• Perform electrical bench testing and interpret ATE datalogs to aid in localizing electrical failures
• Perform physical analysis, including IC deprocessing, parallel lapping, cross-sectioning and package construction analysis to aid in localizing and identifying failure mechanism
• Develop, characterize, and optimize FA techniques and tools to advance FA capabilities and efficiency
• Work with designers and engineering groups to isolate root cause of failures
• Generate detailed failure analysis reports for both internal and external customers
• Work toward becoming an expert at fault isolation techniques such as PEM, XIVA, and thermal emission
• Mentor other engineers in fault isolation and electrical techniques as needed

Competency Requirements

In order to perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:

• Critical Thinking: Skilled at finding logical flaws in arguments and plans; identifies problems and solutions that others might miss; provides detailed insight and constructive criticism into problems and complex situations
• Working with Ambiguity: Achieves forward progress in the face of poorly defined situations and/or unclear goals; able to work effectively with limited or partial information
• Prioritizing and Organizing Work: Allocates time and attention based on what is the most important to achieve key goals and objectives; approaches work in an organized and systematic manner; effectively manages tasks, information, and requests
• Displaying Technical Expertise: Keeps his/her technical skills current; effectively applies specialized knowledge and skills to perform work tasks; understands and masters the technical skills, knowledge, and tasks associated with his/her job; shares technical expertise with others
• Evaluating and implementing Ideas: Defines requirements and resources needed to implement new ideas; approaches innovation with a practical, task-oriented mindset; converts ideas from general concepts into actionable plans

Minimum Qualifications (Experience and Skills)

• Typically requires 3 to 5 years of experience in failure analysis engineering, product engineering, characterization engineering, or design experience, depending on education level
• Extreme attention to detail
• RF Experience
• Comfort and desire to be challenged
• An attitude/practice of continuous improvement

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong desire to increase one's depth and breadth in the field of fault isolation/failure analysis
• A positive mindset towards tackling tasks and challenges

Education Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering required
• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering preferred

Work Environment

This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus. This position requires the ability to occasionally lift office products and supplies, up to 20 pounds.


$111,481.87 - $144,934.46 per year

pSemi Corporation supports a diverse workforce and is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity for applicants and employees. pSemi does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion (including religious dress and grooming practices), sex/gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions or breastfeeding), gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, national origin (including language use restrictions and possession of a driver’s license issued under Vehicle Code section 12801.9), ancestry, physical or mental disability, legally-protected medical condition, military or veteran status (including “protected veterans” under applicable affirmative action laws), marital status, sexual orientation, or any other basis protected by local, state or federal laws applicable to the Company. pSemi also prohibits discrimination based on the perception that an employee or applicant has any of those characteristics, or is associated with a person who has or is perceived as having any of those characteristics.

Note: The Peregrine Semiconductor name, Peregrine Semiconductor logo and UltraCMOS are registered trademarks and the pSemi name, pSemi logo, HaRP and DuNE are trademarks of pSemi Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. pSemi products are protected under one or more of the following U.S. Patents: http://patents.psemi.com