Internship, Process Engineer, Metal Deposition, Terafab (Winter/Spring 2027)

Consider before submitting an application:

This position is expected to start around January 2027 and continue through the entire Spring term (ending approximately May 2027 or later, if available). We ask for a minimum of 12 weeks, full-time (40 hours/week) and on-site, for most internships. Our internship program is for students who are actively enrolled in an academic program. Recent graduates seeking employment after graduation and not returning to school should apply for full-time positions, not internships.

International Students: If your work authorization is through CPT, please consult your school on your ability to work 40 hours per week before applying. You must be able to work 40 hours per week on-site. Many students will be limited to part-time during the academic year.

Internship Program at Tesla

The Internship Recruiting Team is driven by the passion to recognize and develop emerging talent. Our year-round program places the best students in positions where they will grow technically, professionally, and personally through their experience working closely with their Manager, Mentor, and team. We provide an experience that allows the intern to experience life at Tesla by including them in projects that are critical to their team’s success.

We are building Terafab, a vertically integrated semiconductor factory at an unprecedented scale. The facility houses logic, memory, packaging, test, and lithography mask production under one roof, optimized for rapid iteration and maximum compute density per square foot.

Process engineering is where Terafab technology gets built, atom by atom, and metal films determine device speed and reliability. You will develop and own metal deposition processes across three distinct chip families: edge-inference processors, space-hardened chips for orbital satellites, and high-bandwidth memory. You'll control resistivity, adhesion, and step coverage while managing electromigration, stress, and interface quality across diverse thermal and mechanical environments.

- Process qualification and vendor demonstrations to develop and qualify ALD, CVD, and PVD processes for metal gate, work function metals, barrier layers, seed layers, and local interconnect (Co, Ru, W, TiN, TaN) at 2nm-class nodes

- Characterize metal film properties—resistivity, conformality, step coverage, grain structure, and adhesion

- Evaluate novel metal materials including Ru and Co local interconnect and backside power delivery network (BSPDN) metallization schemes

- Qualify deposition tools from installation through production readiness, including chamber matching, target management, and process window qualification

- Analyze processes from a first-principles, physics-based approach to understand and manipulate mechanisms, not just recipes

- Root cause analysis, establish inline metrology and SPC control strategies, and drive systematic yield improvement

- Support next-generation metal materials and process development

- Currently pursuing a degree in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or related field

- Familiarity with metal films technology and metrology methods

- Strong Design of Experiments skills and statistical analysis

- Ability to work closely and proactively across lithography, etch, thin films, integration, and equipment engineering teams

Benefits

As a full-time Tesla Intern, you will be eligible for:

- Medical plans > plan options with $0 payroll deduction
- Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits
- Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans. Both have an option with a $0 payroll contribution
- Company Paid (Health Savings Account) HSA Contribution when enrolled in the High Deductible Medical Plan with HSA
- Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
- 401(k), Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and other financial benefits
- Company Paid Basic Life, AD&D, and short-term disability insurance (90 day waiting period)
- Employee Assistance Program
- Sick and Vacation time (Flex time for salary positions), and Paid Holidays
- Back-up childcare and parenting support resources
- Voluntary benefits to include: critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, theft & legal services, and pet insurance
- Commuter benefits
- Employee discounts and perks program