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Development Comparison Table

Equipment		Manual beaker development	Developer: SU8 (Wet bench)	Developer: E-beam 02	Developer: TMAH Manual 02	Developer: TMAH UV-lithography	Developer: TMAH Stepper
Purpose		Fall-back option if you have a process, which is not compatible with the automatic, or semi-automatic, tools Requires individual risk assessment!	Development of: SU-8	Development of: ZEP 520A AR-P 6200.xx (CSAR)	Development of: AZ nLOF AZ MiR 701 AZ 5214E AZ 4562 DUV resists	Development of: AZ nLOF AZ MiR 701 AZ 5214E AZ 4562 DUV resists Post-exposure baking	Development of: DUV resists Post-exposure baking
Developer		Process dependent	mr-Dev 600 (PGMEA)	ZED N-50 AR-600-546	AZ 726 MIF (2.38% TMAH in water)	AZ 726 MIF (2.38% TMAH in water)	AZ 726 MIF (2.38% TMAH in water)
Method	Development	Submersion	Submersion	Spray/Puddle	Puddle	Puddle	Puddle
Method	Handling	Manual handling in beakers Chip bucket Single wafer carrier Carrier for up to 5 wafers	Single wafer carrier Chip bucket 100 mm carrier for up to 6 wafers	Vacuum-free edge-grip chucks for 50 mm, 100 mm & 150 mm, and 200 mm substrates Chip chuck for chips & 2" substrates	Vacuum-free edge-grip chuck for 100 mm & 150 mm substrates Chip chuck for chips & 2" substrates	Vacuum chuck	Vacuum chuck
Process parameters	Temperature	Room temperature	Room temperature	Room temperature	Room temperature	Room temperature	Room temperature
	Agitation	No agitation allowed	Magnetic stirrer	Rotation	Rotation	Rotation	Rotation
	Rinse	Process dependent	IPA	IPA	DI water	DI water	DI water
Substrates	Substrate size	Chips 50 mm wafers 100 mm wafers 150 mm wafers	Chips 50 mm wafers 100 mm wafers 150 mm wafers 200 mm wafers	Chips (5mm to 2") 50 mm wafers 100 mm wafers 150 mm wafers 200 mm wafers	Chips (5mm to 2") 100 mm wafers 150 mm wafers	100 mm wafers 150 mm wafers 200 mm wafers (may require tool change)	100 mm wafers 150 mm wafers 200 mm wafers (may require tool change)
	Allowed materials	All cleanroom approved materials	Silicon and glass substrates Film or pattern of all but Type IV	All cleanroom approved materials	All cleanroom approved materials Film or pattern of all types	Silicon and glass substrates Film or pattern of all but Type IV	Silicon, III-V, and glass substrates Film or pattern of all but Type IV
	Batch	1 - 5	1 - 6	1	1	1 - 25	1 - 25

Manual beaker development in fumehood

Beaker development, in fume hood 09: UV development or fume hood 10: e-beam development, is a fall-back option if you have a process, which is not compatible with the automatic, or semi-automatic, tools. We always recommend using, or at least trying, the automatic and semi-automatic tools, instead of using manual beaker development.

Manual beaker development is necessary for some processes, but should be avoided if possible, due to the fact that it is notoriously difficult to get a stable repeatable process - especially when multiple users are sharing the same process; everybody simply does things a bit different from each other, which leads to changes in the process outcome. Some processes have a very narrow process window, which makes them inherently sensitive to small changes in the development. The manual development also has a much greater chance of producing particles, both from the operator and the environment.

Finally the safety of the operator is at a significantly higher risk, since any manual handling of chemicals carries the risk of accidental spills with it. This is especially problematic if the developer is TMAH based, where direct skin exposure of >1% TMAH on a few percent of the body must be treated as a life-threatening event.

Special rules for manual beaker development

Automatic agitation methods are not allowed - this includes magnetic stirring or sonication
Manual agitation methods, which create large waves or turbulence in the development solution, are not allowed
Users must submit a risk assessment for any process requiring manual beaker development
Any users requiring manual beaker development of TMAH must provide valid reasons for not using the already available automatic and semi-automatic tools

Standard manual beaker development procedure

The standard procedure for manual beaker development in a fume hood is as follows:

Prepare development process
Perform development
Clean up

Prepare development process

Write the chemical label, which must always be present in your chemical setup - your write your label before pouring the chemical
Find the beakers required for your process
Find the items required for holding/submerging your substrate during the process
Find carriers or other storage units for placing your substrate after the process has finished
Find a timer - make sure it works as you expect it to, before submerging your substrate into the development solution and discovering that the timer is in fact broken
Get some cleanroom wipes and keep them nearby, for wiping any drops spilled during handling
Do not cover too many of the exhaust holes in the fume hood table, as this will reduce the efficiency of the exhaust, which reduces safety
Do not place your beakers too close to the fume hood sash, as this can make it difficult to efficiently extract the fumes escaping from the beakers, which reduces safety

Perform development

Put on the appropriate personal protection gear
Pour rinsing agent into Rinse 1 and Rinse 2 beakers - typically DI water or IPA
Pour development solution into development beaker
Place exposed substrate in the appropriate carrier
Set timer
Submerge substrate into development beaker
Start timer immediately
When timer is 5 seconds from ending, prepare to lift the substrate out of the development beaker
Lift substrate out of development beaker - it can help to lift it at a slight angle, to allow liquids to drain more easily from large surfaces
Submerge it immediately into Rinse 1
Agitate up/down for at least a few seconds
Move substrate into Rinse 2*
Agitate slightly
The developed substrate can now be removed and dried

(*It is allowed to omit the Rinse 2 step)

Clean up

Pour Rinse 1 and Rinse 2 into appropriate waste: water goes into the sink, IPA goes into C-waste drain
Rinse beakers with the DI-water gun
Pour development solution into appropriate waste: solvent based developer goes into C-waste drain. NB! TMAH is an aqueous alkaline solution, which must never be mixed with solvents! TMAH waste goes into the dedicated TMAH waste container, stored in the chemical cabinet in E-4.
If your developer solution is not TMAH based:
- Rinse beaker 3 times, discard water into sink
If your developer solution is TMAH based:
- Rinse beaker once with DI-water and discard this into the TMAH waste
- Rinse beaker two more times, discarding the water into the sink
Hang all beakers to dry on the drying rack
Erase the chemical label text
Wipe any droplets on the fume hood surface
Discard any napkins/other trash in the bin inside the fume hood

Developer: SU8 (Wet Bench)

The SU8-Developer bench is a manually operated wet bench for submersion development of SU-8 photoresist in PGMEA (supplied in the cleanroom as mr-Dev 600). The development process is in two stages; one bath (FIRST) to dissolve the bulk of the resist, and a second, cleaner bath (FINAL) to finish the development. The development time is controlled manually by the user. After development, the substrates are rinsed with IPA in dedicated IPA bath and put for drying in the empty bath.

The user manual, user APV, and contact information can be found in LabManager: Developer: SU8(Wet Bench) - requires login

Process information

Several aspects of the outcome of SU-8 processing are affected by the development process. The lithographic resolution is affected by the time between PEB (post-exposure bake) and development, as the cross-linking process continues in the interface between exposed and unexposed regions even at room temperature. Cracks in the structures is affected by two things; the development time, and how much has previously been developed in the developer bath. Cracking is worse with longer development time, and worst in a new developer bath. The effect of the developer use quickly saturates (5-10 wafers). Finally, the stability of fine structures (high aspect ratio) is affected by the rinse after development, as the lower surface tension of IPA compared to PGMEA reduces pattern collapse during drying.

Development time is strongly dependent on the SU-8 thickness.

Minimum development time: 1 min per 20 µm in FIRST

Suggestions:

2-5µm: 2 min. in FIRST; 2 min. in FINAL
40µm: 5 min. in FIRST; 5 min. in FINAL (however, 3 min. in FIRST and 2 min. in FINAL is sufficient)
180-250µm: 15 min. in FIRST; 15 min. in FINAL

Equipment performance and process related parameters

Purpose		Development of: SU-8
Developer		mr-Dev 600 (PGMEA)
Method	Development	Submersion
Method	Handling	Single wafer holder
Process parameters	Temperature	Room temperature
	Agitation	Magnetic stirrer
	Rinse	IPA
Substrates	Substrate size	100 mm wafers 150 mm wafers, check the liquid level in the baths 200 mm wafer, check the liquid level in the baths
	Allowed materials	Silicon and glass substrates Film, or pattern, of all materials except Type IV
	Batch	1-6

Developer: E-beam 02

Developer: E-beam 02 is a manually operated, single substrate puddle developer. It uses the ZED-N50 or AR 600-50 developers and IPA for rinsing. The substrates are loaded manually one by one into the developer. Developer dispense, puddle time, IPA rinse, and drying is then performed automatically by the equipment.

Training video (for Developer: TMAH Manual, but it is the same model)

The user manual, user APV, and contact information can be found in LabManager - requires login

Process information

All recipes use the following structure:

Pressurize the developer canister
Dispense puddle while rotating substrate slowly
Puddle development while not rotating
Agitate substrate once per 15 seconds by rotating slowly for 1 second
Spin off developer
Clean substrate with IPA
Dry substrate and chamber with nitrogen

Multi-puddle recipes repeat steps 2-5 for the given number of puddles.

Process recipes
N50 recipes have the letter "N" in them. AR-600-50 recipes have the letter "A" in them. The number is the development time in seconds:

01 Rinse
02 N 15
03 N 30
04 N 60
05 N 90
06 N 120
07 N 180
08 N 300
09 N 600
10 N 2x60
11 N 5x60
12 A 15
13 A 30
14 A 60
15 A 90
16 A 120
17 A 180
18 A 300
19 A 600
20 A 2x60
21 A 5x60

Equipment performance and process related parameters

Purpose		Development of: CSAR ZEP520A
Developer		AR 600-50 ZED N-50
Method	Development	Puddle
Method	Handling	Chip chuck for chips Non-vacuum chuck for 2" wafers Non-vacuum chuck for 100 mm and 150 mm wafers Non-vacuum chuck for 200 mm wafers
Process parameters	Temperature	Room temperature
	Agitation	1 second rotational agitation at 30 rpm every 15 seconds
	Rinse	IPA
Substrates	Substrate size	Chips 2" wafers 100 mm wafers 150 mm wafers 200 mm wafers
	Allowed materials	All cleanroom approved materials Film, or pattern, of all materials except Type IV
	Batch size	1

Developer: TMAH Manual 02

Developer: TMAH Manual 02 is a manually operated, single substrate or chip puddle developer. It uses the TMAH based AZ 726 MIF developer (2.38 % TMAH in water with a small amount of wetting agent). The substrates or chips are loaded manually one by one into the developer. Developer dispense, puddle time, water rinse, and drying is performed automatically by the equipment.

Training video

The user manual, user APV, and contact information can be found in LabManager - requires login

Process information

All recipes use the following structure:

Pressurize the TMAH canister
Dispense puddle while rotating substrate slowly
Puddle development while not rotating
Agitate substrate once per 15 seconds by rotating slowly for 1 second
Spin off developer
Clean substrate and chamber with DI water
Dry substrate and chamber with nitrogen

Multi-puddle recipes repeat steps 2-5 for the given number of puddles.

Process recipes
SP: Single-puddle
MP: Multi-puddle

01 Rinse
02 SP 15
03 SP 30
04 SP 60
05 SP 90
06 SP 120
07 SP 300
08 MP 2x60
09 MP 5x60
91 SP test
92 MP test

Equipment performance and process related parameters

Purpose		Development of UV resists: AZ nLOF AZ MiR 701 AZ 5214E AZ 4562 Development of DUV resists: KRF M230Y KRF M35G
Developer		AZ 726 MIF (2.38% TMAH in water)
Method	Development	Puddle
Method	Handling	Chip chuck for chips and 2" wafers Non-vacuum chuck for 100 mm and 150 mm wafers
Process parameters	Temperature	Room temperature
	Agitation	1 second rotational agitation at 30 rpm every 15 seconds
	Rinse	DI water
Substrates	Substrate size	Chips (6-60 mm) 100 mm wafers 150 mm wafers
	Allowed materials	All cleanroom approved materials Film, or pattern, of all materials except Type IV
	Batch size	1

Developer TMAH UV-lithography

Developer TMAH UV-lithography was released Q4 2014.

Link to information about developer chuck size and hotplate pin positions.

Training video

The user manual, user APV, and contact information can be found in LabManager - requires login

Process Information

Equipment performance and process related parameters

Purpose		Development of AZ nLOF AZ MiR 701 AZ 5214E AZ 4562 DUV resists
Developer		AZ 726 MIF (2.38% TMAH in water)
Method	Development	Puddle
Method	Handling	Vacuum chuck
Process parameters	Temperature	Room temperature
	Agitation	Rotation
	Rinse	DI water
Substrates	Substrate size	100 mm wafers 150 mm wafers
	Allowed materials	Silicon and glass substrates Film or pattern of all except Type IV
	Batch	1-25

The content on this page, including all images and pictures, was created by DTU Nanolab staff, unless otherwise stated.

Developer: TMAH UV-lithography

The Developer: TMAH Stepper is placed in F-3.

Tool description
This developer is dedicated for development of DUV resists. The developer is fully automatic and can run 1-25 substrates in a single batch. Supported substrate sizes are 100 mm, 150 mm and 200 mm (200 mm requires tool change). The machine is equipped with 1 developer line with 2,38% TMAH in water (AZ 726 MIF), 1 topside rinse line with DI water, 1 backside rinse line with DI water and 1 Nitrogen line for drying.

The developer dispense, puddle time, agitation, rinse and drying is controlled by the tool.

Product:	Süss MicroTec Gamma 2M developer
Year of purchase:	2013
Location:	Cleanroom F-3

User manual
The user manual and contact information can be found in LabManager - requires login

Tool training
Training on the tool requires users to complete the lithography TPT followed by the online tool training and a hands-on authorization training.
The tool training video is part of the online tool training, but can also be viewed here.

Equipment performance and process related parameters

Tool purpose	Development of DUV resists: KrF M230Y KrF M35G May also be used for development of: AZ nLOF 2020 AZ MIR 701 AZ 5214E AZ 4562
Developer	AZ 726 MIF (2.38% TMAH)
Development method	Puddle
Handling method	Vacuum chuck for 100 mm & 150 mm wafers Vacuum chuck for 200 mm wafers (requires tool change)
Process temperature	Room temperature
Process agitation	1 cycles per 30 seconds
Process rinse	DI water
Substrate sizes	100 mm wafers 150 mm wafers 200 mm wafers (requires tool change)
Substrate materials	Silicon, III-V or glass substrates Film, or pattern, of all materials except Type IV
Substrate batch size	1-25
Media flow rates	AZ 726 MIF (TMAH): 500 ml/min Topside rinse DI water: 350 ml/min (with BSR+CR active) Backside rinse DI water: 45 ml/min (with TSR+CR active) Process Nitrogen: 50 l/min

Process information

The SEM picture of 250 nm pillars and lines. Exposure dose is 140 J/m2.

Processing on Developer TMAH stepper consists of the following steps:

Post-exposure bake
Puddle development
Rinse

Features of Developer TMAH stepper:

Cassette-to-cassette wafer handling
In-line hotplates
In-line cool plate
Puddle developer module with rinse and dry

The development process will be performed by the customer together with the Lithography group of DTU Nanolab. In case you would like to do DUV lithography please contact Lithography team, who will consult you and run your wafers together with you.

Here you can find a chart‎ demonstrating a dependence between 250 nm line width/pillars diameter and exposure dose.

Post-exposure baking

Chemically amplified resists and cross-linking negative resists must be baked after exposure in order to finish the process initiated by the exposure light. Post-exposure bake, or PEB, is carried out on one of the two hotplates. After baking, the wafer is cooled for 20 seconds on the 20°C cool plate.

Puddle Development

Development on Developer TMAH stepper is divided into the following steps:

Pre-wet
Puddle dispense
Development
Spin-off

Pre-wet may be done using developer or DI water, or it may be skipped. It consists of a short dispense at medium spin speed (2s @ 1200 rpm).

Puddle dispense is done by dispensing developer (AZ 726 MIF) to the center of the wafer in order to build up a puddle of developer on the wafer. During the dispense, the wafer may be stopped or rotating slowly (30 rpm). The developer is dispensed at a rate of approximately 500 ml/min.

Development is carried out by leaving the developer puddle on the wafer for the duration of the development time (puddle time). The rotation is stopped during the development, but the developer may be agitated by rotating the wafer a few turns at low speed, e.g. 2s @ 30 rpm halfway through the development time, in order to facilitate good uniformity.

Spin-off is designed to stop the development by removing the developer from the wafer before the rinse. It is usually carried out as a short spin at high speed (3s @ 4000 rpm), but may be omitted.

Processes are divided into single puddle (SP), double puddle (DP), and multiple puddle (MP).

Rinse

After development, the substrate is rinsed using DI water, and dried using nitrogen.

The standard rinse and dry procedure is 30s at 4000 rpm with DIW being administered from the top at the center of the substrate, followed by a 10-15s dry at 3000 rpm using nitrogen from the top at the center of the substrate. The top side rinse is at a rate of approximately 350 ml/min. The flow rate of the nitrogen is 50 l/min, and the drying time is set according to the size of the substrate.

Standard Processes

NB: The list of standard processes is not necessarily complete, as new processes are added over time.

Development (only)

Development sequences on Developer TMAH stepper are divided into the following steps: Pre-wet, puddle dispense, development, spin-off, and finally rinse and dry.

Single puddle:

1004 DCH DEV 60s
1104 DCH 100mm SP 60s
1105 DCH 150mm SP 60s
1106 DCH 200mm SP 60s

Post-exposure baking (only)

Chemically amplified resists and cross-linking negative resists must be baked after exposure (Post-Exposure Bake, PEB) in order to finish the process initiated by the exposure light:

(1000) DCH PEB 130C 60s
(1001) DCH PEB 130C 90s

The baking is done at 130°C followed by a cooling step at 20°C for 20 seconds.

Combined PEB and development

For convenience, the PEB and development function of the machine may be combined in one sequence:

(1002) DCH PEB_60s and DEV_60s
(1003) DCH PEB_90s and DEV_60s