AZ 40XT-11D process recipe

Spin coating

AZ 40XT-11D is spin-coated to 20–60 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.

Chart conditions (p.1, in-figure annotation): coat by hand dispense at 30 rpm, spin 1000-3000 rpm for 20 seconds, then bake 125°C/7 min. As an 'ultra-high viscosity' material (p.7, PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS > COATING), careful control of nozzle height, dispense rate, dispense volume, and spin parameters is needed to avoid bubbles/voids; hand-coating should use a beaker with an integrated pour spout (a pipette or dropper is explicitly NOT recommended), pouring close to the wafer surface after letting any bubbles dissipate. The datasheet itself notes final film thickness depends on the combination of spin speed AND spin time, not spin speed alone, so the plotted curve (spun to equilibrium) is only one data point in that space.

Soft bake

Soft bake

125 °C · hotplate

Notes

Consistently identical across all three reference processes (40 µm on Si, p.2; 40 µm on Cu, p.4; 45 µm on Cu, p.6): a 3-stage ramped/proximity bake at 125°C — 120 s at 1.27 mm gap, then 120 s at 0.63 mm gap, then 180 s in full contact (420 s total). time_s is left null because this is a multi-stage ramped-proximity sequence, not a single flat-contact soak; collapsing it to one number would misrepresent the process. PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS (p.7) states soft bake temperature for AZ 40XT should generally be in the 115-125°C range, and that ramped temperature or plate proximity is required specifically to prevent film bubbling from rapid solvent evaporation in this very thick coat.Show more

SOURCE: Reference Process tables, p.2, p.4, p.6 of AZ 40XT-11D Photoresist technical datasheet (Rev. 7/2016)

Exposure dose

The manufacturer publishes 400 mJ/cm² at 365 nm ("Expose: 365nm sensitive" (p.1 TYPICAL PROCESS) and "AZ 40XT requires exposure energy at the 365nm wavelength" (p.7, PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS > EXPOSURE) — explicitly i-line, verbatim.). 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

400 mJ/cm²

Dose at 405 nm

Not published — characterize on-tool

As published

"Expose: 365nm sensitive" (p.1 TYPICAL PROCESS) and "AZ 40XT requires exposure energy at the 365nm wavelength" (p.7, PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS > EXPOSURE) — explicitly i-line, verbatim.Show more

Post-exposure bake

105 °C

SOURCE: REFERENCE PROCESS (40µm Film Thickness on 200mm Si), p.2-3 of AZ 40XT-11D Photoresist technical datasheet (Rev. 7/2016)

Development

Developer

AZ 300MIF

Dilution

undiluted (ready-to-use 0.26N / 2.38% TMAH developer; no dilution ratio stated)

Time

4 min

Method

puddle

Rinse

Not published — characterize on-tool

Developer family

TMAH-based

SOURCE: REFERENCE PROCESS (40µm Film Thickness on 200mm Si), p.2 of AZ 40XT-11D Photoresist technical datasheet (Rev. 7/2016): '4 x 60 second puddles', matching the p.1 front-page demo caption 'AZ 300 MIF Develop (240s)'

Hard bake, etch & strip

Hard bake

80 °C · 5 min

Stripper

AZ 400T (solvent-based remover), recommended generically per PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS > STRIPPING (p.7). Demo strip conditions vary between reference processes: AZ 400T @ 55°C/10 minutes (p.4, 40 µm Cu-plating process) vs. AZ 400T @ 70°C/5 minutes (p.6, 45 µm high-speed Cu-plating process).Show more

Storage

Combustible liquid; store in sealed original containers in a well-ventilated, dry area away from heat, light, oxidizers, reducers, and sources of ignition. Recommended storage temperature 30-55°F (as printed, p.8, STORAGE).Show more

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

SOURCE: 20µm Studs Post Cu Plate and Strip, p.4, and PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS > HARD BAKE, p.7, of AZ 40XT-11D Photoresist technical datasheet (Rev. 7/2016)

Where it's used

AZ 40XT-11D is a chemically amplified thick positive resist, the odd one out among AZ's thick-film positive resists in this recipe set: unlike the DNQ resists (P4620, 10XT), it requires NO post-softbake rehydration wait (every reference process here lists 'Post Bake Delay: None') but DOES require a post-exposure bake, and skipping that PEB is the classic failure mode for this material — without it the pattern will not image properly. Both softbake and PEB are run as ramped/proximity bakes (three discrete stages at decreasing hotplate proximity) rather than a single flat contact bake, specifically to avoid solvent-outgassing bubbles in these very thick (20 to over 60 µm) single coats. It develops in AZ 300MIF, a 0.26N (2.38%) TMAH developer, applied as puddle cycles rather than a single immersion step. Exposure dose scales sharply with substrate: roughly 400 mJ/cm² at 365 nm for a 40 µm coat on silicon versus 900-1000 mJ/cm² for a comparable coat on copper. Hard bake is generally unnecessary for plating use and, when applied, should stay in the 80-85°C range to avoid thermally distorting the pattern.

Sources & disclaimer

• Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany — AZ 40XT-11D datasheet (Rev. 7/2016) · accessed 2026-07-10

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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