A recent graduate received an offer as an Equipment Engineer (EE) at a 12-inch wafer fab and wants to understand what the role mainly involves.
I’ve outlined the responsibilities of an Equipment Engineer throughout the entire process, from fab construction to mass production.
During the fab design phase, Equipment Engineers participate in equipment selection and evaluation, drafting technical specifications for procurement reviews, participating in bid evaluations, and price negotiations. However, they do not have decision-making power in equipment purchasing and mainly play a supporting role.
At the same time, they need to plan for equipment layout, such as reserving installation spaces and arranging the layout of various machines.
Once the equipment arrives, they are responsible for moving it in, secondary utilities connection, assisting with installation, and acceptance testing. After successful acceptance, the equipment is handed over for production use. In most cases, supervisors will press for quick acceptance. Of course, whoever signs off is held accountable, so if the equipment doesn’t meet standards, it’s best not to sign off regardless of pressure. Generally, machines from major foreign manufacturers don’t have issues, but the quality of some domestic equipment can be concerning.
Once in regular production, Equipment Engineers are responsible for writing maintenance documents (SOPs, safety operation procedures, etc.), checking spare parts inventory, and promptly requesting consumables. They also handle daily maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair. This is the most tedious part of the job and often requires being on call, including night shifts. Any issues with the production equipment must be resolved immediately, and machine downtime affects the engineer’s performance evaluation.
Sometimes, to cut costs, the company may also arrange the introduction of domestic components or machines, or require the design of custom fixtures, all of which need Equipment Engineer involvement.
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