https://nanyte.com/photoresists/az-12xt · last updated 2026-09-28
- Manufacturer
- Merck
- Tone
- positive
- Chemistry
- Chemically amplified
- Thickness
- 3–20 µm
- Developer
- AZ 300MIF
- Applications
- Etch mask · Electroplating / molding · High aspect ratio
Cross-checked — two independent extractions agree on the spin curve and the single-value figures.
- Substrate
- Resist
- Exposed
Spin coating
Data points
| Series | rpm | µm |
|---|---|---|
| AZ 12XT-20PL-15 | 1000 | 23 |
| 1500 | 18 | |
| 2000 | 15 | |
| 2500 | 13 | |
| 3000 | 12 | |
| 3500 | 11 | |
| 4000 | 10 | |
| AZ 12XT-20PL-10 | 1000 | 14 |
| 1500 | 11 | |
| 2000 | 9.5 | |
| 2500 | 8.3 | |
| 3000 | 7.5 | |
| 3500 | 7.0 | |
| 4000 | 6.7 | |
| AZ 12XT-20PL-05 | 1000 | 6.2 |
| 1500 | 4.8 | |
| 2000 | 4.2 | |
| 2500 | 3.8 | |
| 3000 | 3.5 | |
| 3500 | 3.2 | |
| 4000 | 3.0 |
Values are the manufacturer’s starting points, not a guarantee — characterize on your own tool. Series digitized from a published figure are approximate (±10 %).
AZ 12XT-20PL-15: read from figure, p.1 of AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21), 'SPIN CURVES (150MM SILICON)'. Three-grade chart; traces identified by the chart's own legend (red triangle = AZ 12XT-20PL-15, blue circle = AZ 12XT-20PL-10, green diamond = AZ 12XT-20PL-05), not by color alone.
AZ 12XT-20PL-10: read from figure, p.1 of AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21), 'SPIN CURVES (150MM SILICON)'. Three-grade chart; traces identified by the chart's own legend (red triangle = AZ 12XT-20PL-15, blue circle = AZ 12XT-20PL-10, green diamond = AZ 12XT-20PL-05), not by color alone.
AZ 12XT-20PL-05: read from figure, p.1 of AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21), 'SPIN CURVES (150MM SILICON)'. Three-grade chart; traces identified by the chart's own legend (red triangle = AZ 12XT-20PL-15, blue circle = AZ 12XT-20PL-10, green diamond = AZ 12XT-20PL-05), not by color alone.
- The chart's own y-axis is printed as 'Film Thickness (nm)' (p.1), which is almost certainly a labeling typo in the vendor's document - the plotted values (2-24) and the product's stated 3.0->20µm single-coat range (same page) only make sense as micrometres, and the grade names (-05/-10/-15) line up with the 5/10/15 µm worked-example film thicknesses used later in the same datasheet (pp.3-5).
- The values are read as µm here.
- No numeric spin-curve table is printed anywhere else in the document.
- Adhesion
- HMDS recommended — 'Oxide forming substrates (Si, etc.) should be HMDS primed prior to coating AZ 12XT.' (p.9, Substrate Preparation). Every worked process example in the document starts with an explicit 'Prime: HMDS 140°C/60s (vapor)' step (pp.3-5,8).
- Rehydration
- None - 'Rehydration Hold: None' is stated explicitly in the Typical Process summary (p.1).
Soft bake
- Soft bake
- 110 °C (95–110 °C) · 2 min · hotplate
- Notes
- Typical Process states a single value: '110ºC/120s' (p.1). Process Considerations separately gives a broader acceptable range, '95°-110°C' (p.9), with no time. Every worked example specifies 'direct contact hotplate' and scales time with thickness: 110°C/120s @5µm (p.3), 110°C/180s @10µm (pp.4,8), 110°C/240s @15µm (p.5). A footnoted caution applies to thicker coats: 'Thicker films may require a ramped soft bake process to avoid bubble formation due to rapid outgassing of solvents' (pp.4-5). A separate caution applies to thinner coats: films under 6µm may pick up airborne amine contamination if softbake-to-expose delay is excessive and should be exposed/developed within 30-45 minutes of softbake (p.3 footnote) - this is an amine-poisoning risk specific to CAR chemistry, not a rehydration/moisture issue, so it belongs here rather than in the rehydration field.
SOURCE: p.1 (Typical Process, used for temp_c/time_s above); p.9 (range); pp.3-5,8 (worked examples)
Exposure dose
Exposure is i-line only, and every published dose is tied to a film, substrate and tool: on a stepper, 100 mJ/cm² at 5 µm and 185 mJ/cm² at 15 µm on silicon and 250 mJ/cm² for 10 µm on copper; on a mask aligner, 360–480 mJ/cm² for 10 µm. Run a dose array on your own tool to land the working dose.
- Post-exposure bake
- 90 °C (90–100 °C) · 60 s
Not published for this resist: Dose at 365 nm, Dose at 405 nm — characterize on-tool.
Development
- Developer
- AZ 300MIF
- Dilution
- 0.26N (2.38%) TMAH, ready-to-use
- Method
- puddle
- Developer family
- TMAH-based
Not published for this resist: Time, Rinse — characterize on-tool.
SOURCE: p.1, p.9 (developer); pp.3-5,7,8 (worked-example times)
Hard bake, etch & strip
- Hard bake
- 100–115 °C
- Etch resistance
- Described only qualitatively: 'Excellent for Through Silicon Via (TSV), plating, and RIE etch applications' (p.1); hard bake (100-115°C) is said to improve 'pattern stability in dry etch processes' (p.9). No etch rate or selectivity number is given.
- Stripper
- AZ Kwik Strip, AZ 300T, or AZ 400T (solvent-based removers, all three explicitly recommended, p.9)
Not published for this resist: Descum, Storage — characterize on-tool.
SOURCE: p.9 (Hard Bake)
Where it's used
Practical notes from the datasheet
AZ 12XT is a chemically amplified positive-tone counterpart to the vendor's negative nXT line, aimed at the same TSV/RDL plating-mask and RIE etch-mask space but developing and exposing faster for higher tool throughput. Unlike the thick DNQ resists it competes with, no rehydration hold is needed - but the tradeoff is a PEB that is explicitly required (not optional) for the latent image to develop at all, and a real amine-sensitivity window: coats thinner than 6 µm must be exposed and developed within 30-45 minutes of softbake or airborne base contamination can degrade the pattern, a classic chemically-amplified-resist failure mode distinct from DNQ rehydration. Exposure dose and develop time both scale strongly with film thickness across the worked examples (100-250 mJ/cm2; 2x30s to 2x60s puddles), so there is no single number to quote - the full tables are printed with the exposure and development steps. HMDS priming is required on Si. Hard bake is optional and helps adhesion/etch stability rather than being required for imaging.
Troubleshooting
Common failure modes for AZ 12XT, answered from the manufacturer's datasheet and application notes. These are starting points — your substrate, tooling and environment shift the specifics, so calibrate on-tool.
My thin AZ 12XT coats degrade if they sit after soft bake — is that airborne amine contamination?
It can be. The datasheet warns that thinner AZ 12XT films may be affected by airborne amines when the delay between soft bake and exposure is excessive, and says coats thinner than 6 µm should be exposed and developed within 30–45 minutes of soft bake. The general rule in Process Considerations is the same: keep the soft-bake-to-expose delay short. Schedule thin wafers so they go straight from the hotplate to exposure, PEB and develop rather than queueing.
SOURCE: AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21) —…
AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21) — Example Process (5 µm film on Si), footnote, p.3; Process Considerations: Soft Bake, p.9
AZ 12XT exposed but barely develops — did I skip something?
Check the PEB first. The datasheet says a post-exposure bake is required for proper imaging of AZ 12XT, on the first page and again in Process Considerations. Its general range is 90–100 °C, and every worked example uses 90 °C for 60 s on a direct-contact hotplate. Also confirm the exposure is at 365 nm, since the datasheet says the resist requires i-line energy. No rehydration hold is needed between soft bake and exposure.
SOURCE: AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21) —…
AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21) — Typical Process and footnote, p.1; Process Considerations: Exposure, Post Expose Bake, p.9
I get bubbles in 10–15 µm AZ 12XT films after soft bake — how do I stop them?
Solvent is outgassing too fast. For the 10 µm and 15 µm examples the datasheet notes that thicker films may need a ramped soft bake to avoid bubbles from rapid solvent outgassing, and it points you to your AZ representative for ultra-thick coat and bake guidance. Its flat bakes for reference are 110 °C for 180 s at 10 µm and 240 s at 15 µm, direct contact. Ramp up to that temperature instead of dropping the wafer straight onto the hotplate.
SOURCE: AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21) —…
AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21) — Example Process (10 µm film on Si), p.4; Example Process (15 µm film on Si), p.5, footnotes
The 110 mJ/cm² example underexposes 10 µm AZ 12XT on my mask aligner — what dose should I start from?
The 110 mJ/cm² figures come from a 0.48 NA stepper. On the MA-200 aligner page, the process table repeats that 110 mJ/cm² (0.48 NA) line, but the SEM series for 10 µm lines and holes on the same page runs 360–480 mJ/cm², with resolution down to 5 µm lines shown at 440 mJ/cm². Start a dose matrix around that range on an aligner. Substrate also shifts dose: 10 µm films were exposed at 250 mJ/cm² on Cu and 200 mJ/cm² on Au with the stepper.
SOURCE: AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21) —…
AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21) — Example Process for SUSS MicroTec MA-200 Mask Aligner, p.8; Example Process (10 µm on Si), p.4; Pattern Profiles on Various Substrates, p.7
My AZ 12XT lines lift during plating or wet etch — should I hard bake, and how hot?
Yes. The datasheet says a post-develop hard bake improves adhesion in wet etch and plating and pattern stability in dry etch. Keep it at 100–115 °C, which the datasheet sets to keep thermal distortion of the pattern minimal; its SEM comparison of 10 µm lines in 6.5 µm film covers no bake, 105, 110 and 115 °C. Prime oxide-forming substrates with HMDS before coating (the examples use vapour HMDS at 140 °C for 60 s). Strip afterwards in AZ Kwik Strip, AZ 300T or AZ 400T.
SOURCE: AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21) —…
AZ 12XT-20PL Series Technical Datasheet (Merck, Rev. 03/21) — Process Considerations: Substrate Preparation, Hard Bake, Hard Bake Stability figure, Stripping, p.9; Example Processes, pp.3–5
Sources & disclaimer
- Merck — AZ 12XT datasheet (Rev. (03/21)) · accessed 2026-07-10
- Bernardin et al.. Demonstration of a Robust All-Silicon-Carbide Intracortical Neural Interface. Micromachines (2018). doi:10.3390/mi9080412AZ-12XT-20PL was coated at 15-18 um over HMDS as the deep-RIE mask used to etch through a 3 um n+ epilayer, and AZ-12XT was used again to open windows in the amorphous-SiC film for contact pads and recording sites of an intracortical neural probe.
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 2026-09-28.