Workload not sustainable in dry etch groups (process engineering) - Process Engineer Lam Research Employee Review

2.0
Dec 13, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The dry etch process groups hire 95% international fresh grads, if you fall in that category, you will form a tight camaraderie with this group - bonding over the large work load and varying levels of resentment to management (depending how much work you can take). Management has PhDs - if you have the same background it's easy to intellectually connect and communicate.

Cons

Specific to the dry etch process group - high workload and low levels of appreciation for it. Everyone works hard so the practice of overworking employees are normalized. A 6 month period of 80 hour weeks ends with a 11.95USD thank you lunch, if the project did not successful. This is 80 hours where I was working on equipments availability and schedule, with food and bathroom breaks as a second thought. 80 hours in front of you desk is NOT the same as 80 hours standing in a cleanroom, emerging only for meetings. The saddest thing about all this, is that the knowledge you gain is actually not very valuable. There are 10 "knobs" you can turn in process for dry etch, the entirety of the role is to come up with combinations of the knobs that etches the substrate to your specification. You do NOT learn about how your work fits in with the entire IC design, how logic chips work etc. You can learn about it on your own time.

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5.0
Jun 11, 2026
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Pros

Lead business and overview of business

Cons

Too many travelling to international

2.0
Jun 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pay is market rate or slightly higher. Smart new fresh grads join every year. They work hard.

Cons

Avoid Dielectric Etch Org as much as you can. Both product and process engineering. Constant Pressure, extreme long work hours, You are working 7/8 AM to 9/10PM, need to work on weekends because of lack of tool times. High level management yelling, screaming in meetings for anything trivial. If CVP wakes up not happy that day, someone will get yelled at in either large or small meetings for small things. THIS IS Dielectric Etch Culture at Lam. This place is a cesspool of nepotism. Even director levels are being yelled at constantly in meetings for various reasons, if he or she is not favored by the CVP. If a mediocre engineer or director who is liked by CVP, he will have much easy time cruising through with minimal effort and knowledge. ... If you are fresh PhD from top or mid tier schools, expect 80hr work weeks, and if you are not lucky, wait for 4 years to be promoted from lvl 3 to 4 level and stuck with no options to move around because you are stuck in Semiconductor equipment industry and other orgs in Lam won't take you. There are many junior engineers with excellent work ethic stuck doing the same things for half a decade without a move in their career. But if you are good at lip service, your life will be easier. Do not trust the general statement of Lam has good culture, it is very very dependent on which Org inside Lam.

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