Specific Process Knowledge/Lithography/Coaters/SprayCoater

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Spray Coater

Spray Coater in Cleanroom C-1

The spray coater at DTU Nanolab is located in Cleanroom C-1. The machine is an ExactaCoat from Sono-tek which can be fitted with one of three different nozzles depending on the nature of the spray coating tasks at hand. The three different nozzles (Impact, AccuMist and Vortex) are optimized for different applications such as spray coating of large areas (e.g. entire wafers), smaller areas (e.g. wafer pieces or other small samples) or already structured samples that cannot be coated uniformly by spin coating. All nozzles use an ultrasonic tranducer for atomizing the solution to be spray coated. It is therefore a prerequisite that all components are compatible with this process. This is the case with most substances, although process parameters may need optimization to give satisfactory results.

Practically any sample that will fit inside the spray coater can be processed. Spray patterns are easily programmed either using predefined spray patterns (1D line, 2D rectangles/circles/meanders/spirals) or custom 3D spray patterns.

The spray coating process as well as major features of the three nozzles are described into more detail in the manual which can be found via the Equipment Info page in LabManager under the Documents sections. The manual can also be found by clicking this direct link.

Further information about the spray coater (manual, process log, technical information etc.) can be found in LabManger:

Spray coater in LabManager

Process development

• Spray coating using AZ4562
• Spray coating using TI Spray

Equipment performance and process related parameters

Equipment		Spray Coater
Purpose		Spraying imprint resists (primarily mr-NIL 6000E and mr-I 8000E) Spraying photoresist (primarily AZ-4562) Spraying of other solutions
Performance	Substrate handling	Can handle almost any sample size and shape (although no automatic handling)
	Permanent media	No permanent media
	Manual dispense option	Two syringe pumps
Process parameter range	Solution viscosity	Should not exceed 20 cP
	Chemical properties	Must be non-toxic Must be compatible with titanium Resistant to ultrasonic sonication
Substrates	Batch size	Any sample(s) size and number that fit inside machine
	Allowed materials	All chemicals to be spray coated must be approved specifically for spray coating Most non-toxic, non-particulate and non-crosslinking material likely to be approved Suspensions challenging due to very low diameter tubing