Find a photoresist recipe
Use this data
The full library is a machine-readable JSON dataset at /photoresists/recipes.json, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Cite this dataset
Replace YYYY-MM-DD with the date you retrieved the file. This dataset has no DOI or version number.
Licensed CC BY 4.0 — reuse freely with attribution to NANYTE.
Format reference
Top-level shape
- name
- Dataset title (string).
- url
- Canonical library URL (string).
- license
- Usage terms (string) — see below.
- disclaimer
- Standing safety and trademark notice (string).
- count
- Number of recipes in the published set (integer) — every recipe whose datasheet was fetched and not vetoed in review.
- recipes
- Array of recipe objects (fields below).
Key fields in each recipes[] entry
- slug
- URL identifier, e.g. "az-5214e" (string).
- name
- Manufacturer product name, verbatim (string).
- manufacturer
- Supplier name (string).
- tone
- "positive", "negative", "image-reversal", or null for a non-photoimageable underlayer.
- chemistry
- Resist family, e.g. "dnq-novolak", "epoxy", "ancillary" (string).
- thicknessRange
- Coatable film range as { min, max } in µm.
- spinCurves[].points[]
- Digitized curve points as { rpm, um }: spin speed in rpm and resulting film thickness in µm.
- exposureDose
- Dose object; doses[] array of { wavelength_nm (365/405/436, or null if published without a stated wavelength), value_mJcm2 }, per the datasheet.
- develop
- Developer, dilution, time (s) and method.
- provenance
- Source datasheet: URL, revision and accessed date.
- humanVerified
- true once a human has compared this entry against the source datasheet (boolean). false covers two different states — the two independent extractions agreeing, or disagreeing with no human review yet — so check the recipe's own page for which.
Unit conventions
- Film thickness
- µm
- Exposure dose
- mJ/cm²
- Temperature
- °C
- Time
- s
- Spin speed
- rpm
Licence & provenance
Values are transcribed from manufacturer datasheets and cross-checked by an independent extraction; each recipe carries its own verification status — human-verified, cross-check-agree, or unverified — shown on its page, and unverified spin curves are withheld until confirmed. Entries also carry a humanVerified flag so you can filter for the ones a person has checked.
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) — free to reuse, including commercially, with attribution to NANYTE. Data compiled from manufacturer datasheets; each recipe cites its source. Free to use with attribution. The numbers are facts drawn from published datasheets (facts are not copyrightable), and spin curves are redrawn from extracted data points — never traced from datasheet images. Manufacturer datasheet values are starting points; optimal parameters depend on your substrate, equipment and environment. Trademarks belong to their respective owners. NANYTE is not affiliated with the manufacturers listed.
All recipes
Every recipe in the library:
- AR-N 4340
- AR-P 3510T
- AR-P 5350
- AR-U 4030
- AZ 10XT
- AZ 125nXT
- AZ 12XT
- AZ 1505
- AZ 1512
- AZ 1518
- AZ 15nXT (450 CPS)
- AZ 40XT-11D
- AZ 4533
- AZ 4562
- AZ 5214E
- AZ 9245
- AZ 9260
- AZ ECI 3007
- AZ ECI 3012
- AZ ECI 3027
- AZ nLOF 2020
- AZ nLOF 2035
- AZ nLOF 2070
- AZ P4620
- HMDS (Hexamethyldisilazane)
- KemLab APOL-LO 3200
- KemLab HARE SQ
- KemLab KL 5300 series
- KemLab KL 6000 series
- KemLab KL IR 15
- KMPR 1050
- LOR 3A
- LOR 5A
- ma-N 1410
- ma-N 1420
- ma-P 1215
- ma-P 1275G
- Megaposit SPR 220-3.0
- Megaposit SPR 220-7.0
- Microposit S1805
- Microposit S1818
- mr-DWL 40
- NR7-1500PY
- NR71-3000P
- NR9-1500PY
- PMGI SF6
- S1813
- S1822
- SU-8 2025
- SU-8 2050
- SU-8 2100
- SU-8 3025
- SUEX
What can't be exposed at 365 / 405 nm
This library covers resists photosensitive in the near-UV — the g, h and i lines. Several widely-used resists are not, and no UV maskless tool can pattern them:
- PMMA
- e-beam / deep-UV resist — not sensitive at 365 or 405 nm
- HSQ
- e-beam negative resist (hydrogen silsesquioxane)
- ZEP 520A
- e-beam positive resist
- 248 / 193 nm DUV resists
- sensitized for excimer wavelengths, not near-UV
Common questions
Which photoresist should I use?
Start with the filters, in order. First Thickness — the film your process needs, from sub-micron to hundreds of microns. Second Application — etch mask, lift-off, electroplating, MEMS, grayscale, high aspect ratio or general prototyping. Third Tone — positive resists give the cleanest sidewalls for etch masks, negative and image-reversal resists give the undercut lift-off needs. Wavelength doesn't narrow the list: every resist here is exposable at both 365 and 405 nm.
Positive or negative photoresist — what's the difference?
In a positive resist the exposed areas become soluble in developer, so the pattern you expose is the pattern that clears. In a negative resist the exposed areas cross-link and remain, so the pattern inverts. Positive resists generally give better resolution and cleaner sidewalls for etch masks; negative resists tend to be preferred for thick films, lift-off (with an undercut profile) and structural layers.
Which photoresist should I use for lift-off?
Lift-off needs a re-entrant (undercut) sidewall so the evaporated film breaks at the resist edge. Three routes: an image-reversal resist such as AZ 5214E; a dedicated negative lift-off resist; or a bilayer of a non-photoimageable underlayer such as LOR/PMGI beneath a normal positive resist, where the underlayer dissolves laterally in developer to form the undercut.
What does HMDS do, and do I always need it?
HMDS (hexamethyldisilazane) is an adhesion promoter. It replaces surface hydroxyl groups on silicon dioxide with a hydrophobic methylated layer, so aqueous developer cannot creep under the resist and lift fine features. It is standard for DNQ-novolak resists on oxide, and usually unnecessary for epoxy resists such as SU-8, which adhere well on their own.
Why don't datasheets publish an exposure dose at 405 nm?
Most photoresists are characterized at 365 nm (i-line) or under a broadband mercury lamp, so the datasheet quotes a dose for those conditions. The 405 nm (h-line) dose cannot be derived from the 365 nm value, because the photoactive compound's absorbance differs between the two lines. Where a resist's h-line dose is unpublished, the honest procedure is a dose array on your own tool at your working wavelength.
Can I use PMMA, HSQ or ZEP with a UV maskless system?
No. Those are electron-beam resists and are not photosensitive at 365 or 405 nm. Exposing them on a UV tool does nothing. They are listed here only because they are frequently searched alongside photoresists — they need an e-beam writer.
How do I read a spin curve?
A spin curve plots the final film thickness against spin speed for a given resist formulation. Find your target thickness on the vertical axis and read across to the curve, then down to the spin speed. Thickness falls as speed rises, roughly with the inverse square root of angular velocity. Every curve assumes the manufacturer's spread and dry times, so treat the value as a starting point and measure your own film.
For how the exposure itself works — DMD projection, direct write, grayscale and resolution limits — see how maskless lithography works.
Improve this recipe
Run this resist in your lab? Send us what actually works, or flag a value that's wrong. No account, no email needed — a handle and affiliation are optional and become your credit line. Every contribution is checked against published sources before it appears.
Manufacturer datasheet values are starting points; optimal parameters depend on your substrate, equipment and environment. Product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. NANYTE is not affiliated with the manufacturers listed.