Development and Characterization of an Integrated Thick Resist Film Processing Tool D. Goustouridis 1, I. Raptis 1, E. Valamontes 2, I. Karanikas 3, N. Tsikrikas 1, M. Chatzichrisitidi 1,4 1 Institute of Microelectronics, NCSR ‘Demokritos’, Athens, Greece 2 Department of Electronics, TEI of Athens, Aegaleo, Greece 3 Datec Electronics S.A. Dorieon 28, Athens 11852, Greece 4 Chemistry Department, University of Athens, Zografou 15771, Greece Spreader set-up Introduction Introduction: In micromachining – microsystems applications the patterning of resist films with thickness of several tens of microns is common. The processing conditions of such thick resist films are quite different from the ones used in mainstream microelectronics. For example in the case of SU-8 the Post Apply Bake (PAB) should be done in two different temperatures. In this direction several processing tools have been developed, e.g. [1]. In addition, for the preparation of thick films, more than one spin coating steps are required. In the present work a thick resist film processing tool capable to resist application, PAB and PEB is presented and applied in case of the UV-patterning of thick epoxy based resist films. Photo of the spreader set-up Computer communication port Leveling mechanism Computer software Spreader Temperature controller Experimental procedure Two epoxy based CARs capable to form high viscosity solutions were investigated. A)TADEP resist [2,3] with Propylene Glycol Methyl Ether Acetate (PGMEA) as casting solvent and B)SU with Gamma Butyrolactone (GBL). TADEP was used for 25μm thick films and SU-8 for 100 μm thick films (this SU-8 formulation is used for max. 40μm thick films with spin coating). Results Wafer Uniformity 24.3μm 24.6μm24.5μm24.9μm 24.6 μm 97.9μm 100.6μm99.3μm100.1μm μm 99.7μm 102.3μm 101.8μm 102.8μm μm Casting Solvent Evaporation Blade Wafer holder and hot plate Leveling mechanism Interferometer module TADEPSU-8 PAB60°C/30min + 100°C/60min 65°C/5min + 95°C/20min Micrometers Adjustment 100 μm200 μm Exposure (365nm)1100 mJ/cm mJ/cm 2 PEB95°C/8min65°C/2min + 95°C/10min DevelopmentTMAH/10minPGMEA/12min Final Thickness25.6 μm99.4 μm Inside the spreader Lithographic Results TADEP resist. Top-down optical micrograph. Line-width is 5 μm and the resist thickness is 25 μm. SU-8 resist. Top-down optical micrograph. 10 μm squares and circle diameter. The resist thickness is 100 μm. Wafer uniformity for a) TADEP resist b, c) SU-8 resist. The wafer uniformity maximum deviation is 1.4% and the spreader repeatability is 1.9% Conclusions : In the present work, a thick resist film processing tool capable of resist application and PAB was presented and applied in case of the UV-patterning of thick resist films. This particular tool could be equipped with UV-exposure capability in the future allowing the complete processing of the thick resist films except the development-drying steps that allowing the penetration of micromachining technology in research labs without easy access in conventional lithography equipment. References 1.G. Bleidiessel, G. Gruetzner, F. Reuther, S. Fehlberg, B. Loechel, A. Maciossek Microelectron. Eng (1998) 2. M. Chatzichristidi, I. Raptis, P. Argitis J. Everett, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 20, 2968 (2002) 3. M. Chatzichristidi, E. Valamontes, P. Argitis, I. Raptis, J.A. van Kan, F. Zhang, F. Watt Microelectron. Eng (2008) a)c)b) TADEP SU TADEP resist has PGMEA (b.p. 146°C) as casting solvent whereas SU-8 has GBL (b.p. 205°C). TADEP shows a high evaporation in the first 5min (~100nm/sec), then the evaporation rate decreases and when the temperature reaches 100°C the rate initially increases and then is very low. SU-8 has a slower evaporation rate in the beginning (~30nm/sec) at 65°C that decreases with time (~12nm/sec) and then it increases again with temperature elevation (~35nm/sec) and after 3min at 95°C it is very low. Processing Conditions Acknowledgments: This work was partially financially supported by Greek Secretariat for Research & Technology through the 05-NONEU- 467 (Greece-Singapore project).