https://nanyte.com/photoresists/az-40xt · last updated 2026-07-26
- Manufacturer
- Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
- Tone
- positive
- Chemistry
- Chemically amplified
- Thickness
- 20–60 µm
- Exposure dose
- 400 mJ/cm² at 365 nm
- Developer
- AZ 300MIF
- Applications
- Electroplating / molding · High aspect ratio · Etch mask
Human-verified — checked against the manufacturer's datasheet by a person.
- Substrate
- Resist
- Exposed
Spin coating
Data points
| Series | rpm | µm |
|---|---|---|
| AZ 40XT-11D | 1000 | 65 |
| 1500 | 46 | |
| 2000 | 35 | |
| 2500 | 29 | |
| 3000 | 25 | |
| 3500 | 21 | |
| 4000 | 18 |
Values are the manufacturer’s starting points, not a guarantee — characterize on your own tool. Series digitized from a published figure are approximate (±10 %).
read from figure, "SPIN CURVE (200mm Silicon)", p.1 of AZ 40XT-11D Photoresist technical datasheet (Rev. 7/2016) — a single curve for one product, no multi-grade ambiguity
- 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.
- Adhesion
- HMDS recommended — Oxide-forming substrates (e.g. Si) should be HMDS primed prior to coating AZ 40XT (PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS > SUBSTRATE PREPARATION, p.7).
- Rehydration
- None required — this is a key differentiator from the DNQ thick resists elsewhere in this recipe set. p.1 (APPLICATION) states 'No post bake rehydration delays required', and every reference process in this datasheet lists 'Post Bake Delay: None' (p.2, p.4, p.6).1
Soft bake
- Soft bake
- 125 °C (115–125 °C) · hotplate
- Notes
- The same bake runs in all three reference processes (40 µm on Si, 40 µm on Cu, 45 µm on Cu): a three-stage ramped/proximity bake at 125°C — 120 s at a 1.27 mm gap, 120 s at 0.63 mm, then 180 s in full contact, 420 s total.
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. 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
- 400 mJ/cm² i-line is the reference dose for a 40 µm film on silicon.
- Post-exposure bake
- 105 °C (100–110 °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…
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 (80–85 °C) · 5 min
- Stripper
- AZ 400T (solvent-based remover), recommended generically per PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS > STRIPPING (p.7).
- Storage
- Combustible liquid; store in sealed original containers in a well-ventilated, dry area away from heat, light, oxidizers, reducers, and sources of ignition.
Not published for this resist: Descum, Etch resistance — characterize on-tool.
SOURCE: 20µm Studs Post Cu Plate and Strip, p.4, and PROCESS…
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
Practical notes from the datasheet
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
- TYPICAL PROCESS, p.1, and REFERENCE PROCESS tables, p.2, p.4, p.6 of AZ 40XT-11D Photoresist technical datasheet (Rev. 7/2016)
- Muller et al.. Advanced fabrication process for particle absorbers of highly pure electroplated gold for microcalorimeter applications. Journal of Applied Physics (2024). doi:10.1063/5.0238524AZ 40XT was chosen as the upper layer of a double-resist stack for its 15-100 um thickness range, the authors noting that as a chemically amplified resist it gives steep edges at comparatively low dose and short development, and used again as a single layer for the second gold absorber half.
- Ceddia et al.. Universal mask for hard x rays. Optica (2023). doi:10.1364/OPTICA.490006AZ 40XT-11D was spin-coated and baked at 126 C for 5 min as the patterning layer for the absorber mask used in a hard x-ray ghost-projection demonstration.
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 2026-07-26.