Postdoctoral Appointee - Stress Diagnostics for Microelectronics Packaging, Onsite

This postdoctoral position is a temporary position for up to one year, which may be renewed at Sandia's discretion up to five additional years. The PhD must have been conferred within five years prior to employment. Individuals in postdoctoral positions may bid on regular Sandia positions as internal candidates, and in some cases may be converted to regular career positions during their term if warranted by ongoing operational needs, continuing availability of funds, and satisfactory job performance.

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This is an exciting opportunity to join a highly productive and collaborative team at Sandia National Laboratories. We are seeking a Postdoctoral Appointee to assist in the development, implementation, demonstration and validation of advanced optical probes and science-based material models for diagnosing stress within microelectronic packaging designs across a wide range of thermal, mechanical, and aging conditions.

On any given day, you may be called on to:

• Identify and map material-specific stress reporters in materials, application-relevant simplified test structures, and microelectronic device packages using custom, multimodal hyperspectral imaging techniques
• Collaborate closely with the optical design team to understand key instrumentation design principles and to aid in augmenting toolsets
• Design test structures to examine stress-reporter sensitivity limits and effective imaging length scales
• Aid constitutive modeling efforts through acquisition of relevant datasets and associated data analyses that provide required parameterization inputs to and validation of science-based model frameworks
• Present findings at team meetings and to relevant technical managers and funding agencies
• Publish research in peer-reviewed journals and present at national conferences; may include opportunities to present at international conferences

Due to the nature of the work, the selected applicant must be able to work onsite. Relocation assistance will be provided for those that qualify.

• Ph.D. in Materials Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mechanics, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related field conferred within five years prior to employment with a demonstrated record of high academic achievement
• Research experience in developing or advancing material characterization techniques
• A strong background in the foundations of polymeric materials and composites, including viscoelasticity, non-equilibrium behavior of glasses, and nonlinear material behavior
• A strong background in the foundations of solid mechanics, including strength of materials, continuum mechanics, and mechanics of materials
• A strong track record of scientific and/or technical achievements through publication, as evidenced by peer-reviewed journals and external presentations at appropriate scientific conferences
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q clearance

• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with colleagues from diverse technical backgrounds across multiple organizations or institutions
• Demonstrated ability to design and execute independent research projects and to apply creative problem solving
• Demonstrated commitment to laboratory safety
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

The Organic Materials Science Department researches and develops new and advanced materials and processing strategies to meet a wide range of specialized applications in nuclear weapons, national security, and industrial settings. Our department is dedicated to scientific discovery, creativity, innovation, and practical solutions for our diverse customers.

The department specializes in aging science and predictive performance of polymers; synthetic organic chemistry and polymer chemistry; thermal, mechanical, chemical, and physical characterization of organic materials; and advanced manufacturing of polymers. We perform reliability studies for polymers with an emphasis on understanding degradation mechanisms, structure-property relationships, and performance margins. We support characterization and structural response testing of microelectronic packaging, including epoxy-based polymer systems. These studies include a complete spectrum of chemical, structural, thermal, rheological, and mechanical characterization of polymeric materials that must perform over lifetimes on the order of 30 to 40 years.

Current R&D areas include:

• Developing novel encapsulant materials
• Developing tailored foams for impact mitigation and shock-mitigating polymer systems
• Creating new thermoset chemistries for additive manufacturing
• Developing innovative NMR techniques to understand transport phenomena in polymers
  Measuring and optimizing electrical performance of polymer dielectrics
• Elucidating the interdependency of chemical change and polymer physics over long timeframes
• Creating reversible and degradable chemistries
• Understanding polymer interfacial properties and adhesion
• Measuring and predicting radiation effects on polymers
• Monitoring reactive thermoset cure kinetics
• Quantifying permeation behavior and spatially dependent degradation processes

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of three (3) calendar days, including the 'posting date'. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.

Sandia is required by DOE to conduct a pre-employment drug test and background review that includes checks of personal references, credit, law enforcement records, and employment/education verifications. Applicants for employment need to be able to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship. If you hold more than one citizenship (i.e., of the U.S. and another country), your ability to obtain a security clearance may be impacted.

Applicants offered employment with Sandia are subject to a federal background investigation to meet the requirements for access to classified information or matter if the duties of the position require a DOE security clearance. Substance abuse or illegal drug use, falsification of information, criminal activity, serious misconduct or other indicators of untrustworthiness can cause a clearance to be denied or terminated by DOE, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status and any other protected class under state or federal law.

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