AZ 10XT process recipe

Spin coating

AZ 10XT is spin-coated to 4–20 µm. The curve below is redrawn from the manufacturer's published data — read your target thickness off the vertical axis and take the matching spin speed as a starting point.

Spin curves cover 1000-3000 rpm on 200 mm silicon for three viscosity grades (520 cP, 220 cP, 100 cP), each a single, unambiguously legended line on one chart (not a multi-SKU chart, so no grade-identification ambiguity) — values above are read from the figure, not a published numeric table, and need visual QC. Coating note (p.12): the spin-curve graphs assume coating to equilibrium; thicker coats can be produced off-curve by shortening spin time and letting the film 'self level', which this document does not quantify. No dispense volume, spin ramp, or edge-bead detail is published anywhere in this datasheet.

Soft bake

Soft bake

110 °C · 2 min · hotplate

Notes

This is the reference 6 µm-film softbake, repeated identically across all four 6 µm reference processes (dense lines and holes, on Si and on Cu; p.3, p.4, p.6, p.7). The datasheet states soft bake time is 'film thickness dependent' (p.1) and that AZ 10XT soft bake temperature should generally be in the 95-110°C range (p.12, PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS > SOFT BAKE), with ramped temperatures possibly needed for very thick films to avoid solvent-outgassing bubbles. Other documented thicknesses use different bakes: 12 µm at 110°C/180 s (p.9); a 24 µm double coat at 110°C/80 s (first layer) then 115°C/180 s (second layer) (p.10).Show more

SOURCE: Reference Process tables, p.3-4 and p.6-7 of AZ 10XT Series Technical datasheet (Rev. 03/21) (6 µm film on Si/Cu)

Exposure dose

The manufacturer publishes 380 mJ/cm² at 365 nm ("Expose: i-line @ 380mJ/cm2 nominal (0.48NA)" — verbatim, Reference Process tables, dense lines and holes in 6 µm film thickness on Si). Dose scales with film thickness and depends on your optics, so treat it as a starting point and run a dose array.

Dose at 365 nm

380 mJ/cm²

Dose at 405 nm

Not published — characterize on-tool

As published

"Expose: i-line @ 380mJ/cm2 nominal (0.48NA)" — verbatim, Reference Process tables, dense lines and holes in 6 µm film thickness on Si

SOURCE: Reference Process tables, p.3-4 of AZ 10XT Series Technical datasheet (Rev. 03/21)

Development

Developer

AZ 400K

Dilution

1:4

Time

7 min

Method

immersion

Rinse

Not published — characterize on-tool

Developer family

Buffered alkaline

SOURCE: Reference Process tables (dense lines / holes, 6 µm film, Si and Cu), p.3-4 and p.6-7 of AZ 10XT Series Technical datasheet (Rev. 03/21)

Hard bake, etch & strip

Stripper

AZ Kwik Strip, AZ 300T, or AZ 400T (solvent-based removers), per PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS > STRIPPING, p.12 of AZ 10XT Series Technical datasheet

Not published for this resist: Hard bake, Descum, Etch resistance, Storage — characterize on-tool.

SOURCE: PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS > HARD BAKE, p.12 of AZ 10XT Series Technical datasheet (Rev. 03/21)

Where it's used

AZ 10XT is a thick positive-tone plating resist pitched by the vendor as an upgrade over conventional thick DNQ resists in sidewall profile, aspect ratio and photospeed. Like other thick DNQ-class positive resists it needs a rehydration wait — 30-60 minutes between soft bake and exposure for any film over 5 µm — before it develops reliably; skipping it is a common source of process trouble on thick coats, and the wait grows to 45 minutes for the datasheet's 24 µm double-coat process. Post-expose bake is explicitly optional and every reference process in this datasheet runs with none, consistent with a non-chemically-amplified resist. It develops in either TMAH (AZ 300MIF/AZ 435MIF) or a buffered alkaline developer (AZ 400K, used in most of the reference processes here) — the datasheet does not name one as preferred. HMDS priming is called out explicitly for oxide-forming substrates such as silicon. Exposure dose and softbake time both scale sharply with target film thickness and substrate: for the 6 µm Cu reference processes, the datasheet's own process tables and chart headers even disagree with each other by a few mJ/cm² on the exact i-line dose (450 vs. 455, and 440 vs. 445 mJ/cm² across the two Cu processes) — close enough to be rounding noise, but a reason to verify the working dose on your own stepper rather than trust either printed figure blindly. A first-time user should follow the specific reference-process table for their target thickness and substrate rather than a single rule of thumb.

Sources & disclaimer

• Merck — AZ 10XT datasheet (Rev. (03/21)) · accessed 2026-07-10

1. Schermer et al.. High-resolution projection lithography for MEMS-applications using thick photoresist AZ 10XT. 2022 Smart Systems Integration (SSI) (2022). doi:10.1109/SSI56489.2022.9901437
   Thick AZ 10XT under projection (stepper) lithography for MEMS etch masks

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. Last updated 2026-07-10.

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