https://nanyte.com/photoresists/az-9260 · last updated 2026-07-26
- Manufacturer
- MicroChemicals GmbH / Merck KGaA (AZ brand; originally launched by Clariant / AZ Electronic Materials)
- Tone
- positive
- Chemistry
- DNQ-novolak
- Thickness
- 7.9–11.4 µm
- Exposure dose
- 1500 mJ/cm²
- Developer
- AZ 400K Developer (buffered, KOH-based)
- Applications
- Electroplating / molding · Etch mask · Lift-off · 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 9260 Photoresist (520 cP) | 2000 | 11 |
| 2500 | 9.6 | |
| 3000 | 8.8 | |
| 3500 | 7.9 |
Values are the manufacturer’s starting points, not a guarantee — characterize on your own tool.
numeric table, 'Film Thickness' row for AZ 9260 Photoresist 520 cP, Thermal Comparison section, p.7 of AZ 9200 Photoresist -- High-Resolution Thick Resist Product Data Sheet (Clariant / AZ Electronic Materials, copyright 1997). Only 4 points are published (2000-3500 rpm); the datasheet does not plot or tabulate points below 2000 or above 3500 rpm for this grade. Cross-check: interpolating this table to 2400 rpm gives ~10.0 um, matching the same document's separately-stated 'Typical Process for 10 um Film Thickness' recipe (2400 rpm), which is a useful internal consistency check.
- Coat by dispense (static or dynamic) at 300 rpm.
- Kayaku-equivalent 'Typical Process' recipes from the same datasheet: for a single-coat ~10 um film, spin at 2400 rpm for 60 s
- for a double-coat ~24 um stack, first coat at 2400 rpm/60 s (target ~10 um) then a second coat at 2100 rpm/60 s (target 24 um total), with an intermediate softbake between coats.
- Edge-bead removal in all cases: rinse at 500 rpm for 10 s, then dry-spin at 1000 rpm for 10 s.
- Post-develop rinse/dry: 300 rpm for 20 s rinse, then 4000 rpm for 15 s dry.
- Separately, current MicroChemicals process guidance (app-note level, not the 1997 datasheet) recommends spinning highly-viscous resists such as AZ 9260 at an elevated spin speed to suppress edge-bead formation, and notes that at conventional 3000-4000 rpm speeds AZ 9260 reaches roughly 7 um in about 20 s.
- Adhesion
- HMDS not required — Not specifically addressed for AZ 9260 in the AZ 9200 datasheet (no HMDS step appears in any of its 'Typical Process' recipes).
- Rehydration
- AZ 9260 is explicitly used as the worked example in MicroChemicals' 'Rehydration of Photoresists' application note: a 22 um AZ 9260 film softbaked at 100 C for 20 minutes needed roughly 30 minutes of rehydration at 52% RH / 22 C to reach a stable, high development rate throughout the film thickness.
Soft bake
- Soft bake
- 110 °C · 2.8 min · hotplate
- Notes
- 165 s is the value for a single-coat 10 um target film (the closest standard 'Typical Process' entry to AZ 9260's nominal single-coat use).
SOURCE: 'Typical Process for 10 um Film Thickness [AZ 9260 Photoresist…
'Typical Process for 10 um Film Thickness [AZ 9260 Photoresist (520 CPS)]' table, p.6 of AZ 9200 Photoresist Product Data Sheet (Clariant / AZ Electronic Materials, 1997); softbake rule-of-thumb cross-reference from MicroChemicals 'Basics of Microstructuring' application note (undated, current)
Exposure dose
The manufacturer publishes 1500 mJ/cm². Dose scales with film thickness and depends on your optics, so treat it as a starting point and run a dose array.
- As published
- 1500 mJ/cm² broadband is the 10 µm single-coat dose and 2100 mJ/cm² the 24 µm double coat; on an i-line stepper the same 10 µm film resolved 3 µm lines between 660 and 900 mJ/cm².
Not published for this resist: Dose at 365 nm, Dose at 405 nm — characterize on-tool.
SOURCE: 'Typical Process for 10 um Film Thickness' table (p.6) and…
'Typical Process for 10 um Film Thickness' table (p.6) and 'Focus and Exposure Latitude [i-Line]' section (p.5), AZ 9200 Photoresist Product Data Sheet, Clariant / AZ Electronic Materials, 1997
Development
- Developer
- AZ 400K Developer (buffered, KOH-based)
- Dilution
- 1:4
- Time
- 3 min
- Method
- spray, dispense temperature 27 C (immersion is also usable per current MicroChemicals guidance)
- Rinse
- 300 rpm spin rinse for 20 s, then 4000 rpm spin-dry for 15 s (from the 10 um single-coat 'Typical Process')
- Developer family
- Buffered alkaline
SOURCE: 'Typical Process for 10 um Film Thickness [AZ 9260 Photoresist…
'Typical Process for 10 um Film Thickness [AZ 9260 Photoresist (520 CPS)]' table, p.6 of AZ 9200 Photoresist Product Data Sheet, Clariant / AZ Electronic Materials, 1997. Related published points: 120 s spray for a 4.6 um AZ 9245 film; 260 s spray for a 24 um double-coat AZ 9260 stack. Current MicroChemicals compatibility guidance (application-notes level) also lists AZ 326 MIF and AZ 726 MIF (both TMAH-based, metal-ion-free) as compatible developers for AZ 9260, and the original 1997 datasheet separately notes AZ 300 MIF (a TMAH developer) can be used for IC applications requiring metal-ion-free processing.
Hard bake, etch & strip
- Etch resistance
- The datasheet does not give wet/dry etch-rate numbers for AZ 9260 directly.
- Stripper
- Per the 1997 AZ 9200 datasheet: AZ 400T and AZ 300T strippers are recommended for AZ 9200-family resists; AZ S-46 (a non-NMP solvent stripper) is specifically suited to thin-film recording-head applications.
- Storage
- Per the 1997 datasheet: keep in the sealed original container, protected from light and heat; store between 30-70 F (-1 to 24 C); refrigeration is recommended and may extend shelf life.
Not published for this resist: Hard bake, Descum — characterize on-tool.
SOURCE: Thermal Comparison section, p.7 of AZ 9200 Photoresist Product…
Thermal Comparison section, p.7 of AZ 9200 Photoresist Product Data Sheet, Clariant / AZ Electronic Materials, 1997 (softening behavior only); general hardbake/etch-resistance guidance from MicroChemicals 'Basics of Microstructuring' application note (undated, current) -- not AZ 9260-specific
Where it's used
Practical notes from the datasheet
AZ 9260 is the 520 cP (higher-viscosity) grade of the AZ 9200 family, paired with the 220 cP AZ 9245 grade; it is one of the resists MicroChemicals specifically recommends when thick-film bubbling or cracking is a problem, because it has a lower photo-active-compound (PAC) concentration than most positive resists and therefore generates less N2 gas during exposure -- the N2 that IS generated still needs to diffuse out before it forms visible bubbles or stress-cracks, so thick coats, high exposure intensity, and inadequate softbake all raise bubbling risk; work-arounds given by the vendor include lowering exposure intensity (splitting exposure into steps with delays between them), increasing softbake time/temperature, and improving substrate adhesion. Separately, and just as important for thick coats: AZ 9260 needs real rehydration time after softbake before exposure (tens of minutes at 40-50% RH for a >20 um film per MicroChemicals' own study) or the substrate-near resist develops far too slowly and the profile suffers -- this is easy to overlook since PEB (a separate bake step) is explicitly NOT needed for this resist. Exposure dose also scales with target thickness rather than holding constant: the datasheet's own worked processes run roughly 900 mJ/cm2 (broadband) for a thin ~4.6 um coat, ~1500 mJ/cm2 for the 10 um single-coat target, and ~2100 mJ/cm2 for the 24 um double-coat stack, so a dose calibrated for one thickness should be re-benchmarked before reuse at another. Handling note from MicroChemicals' general troubleshooting guide: N2 can also form inside an unopened resist bottle over time from slow PAC decomposition, so a bottle that has been closed for a while (or recently shaken/moved) should be left to stand for 1-2 hours (longer for very viscous resists) before dispensing, to let bubbles rise out.
Grades in this family
Other grades in the AZ 9200 series line differ mainly in coating thickness:
| Grade | Thickness | Exposure dose |
|---|---|---|
| AZ 9245 | 4.6–6.6 µm | 900 mJ/cm² |
| AZ 9260 (this page) | 7.9–11.4 µm | 1500 mJ/cm² |
Troubleshooting
Common failure modes for AZ 9260, 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.
Why does AZ 9260 need a rehydration wait before exposure?
After softbake the resist is water-depleted, and water must diffuse back in to complete the photoreaction. In MicroChemicals' worked study a 22 µm AZ 9260 film softbaked at 100°C for 20 min needed about 30 min of rehydration at 52% RH / 22°C; with only 5 min the substrate-near resist developed far slower and gave a worse profile. Required time rises from ~1 min at 1 µm to several hours beyond 30 µm, and needs 45–50% RH — dry air cannot be offset by waiting longer.
SOURCE: MicroChemicals 'Rehydration of Photoresists' application note…
MicroChemicals 'Rehydration of Photoresists' application note (2007), the AZ 9260 worked example; AZ 9200 Photoresist Product Data Sheet (Clariant / AZ Electronic Materials, 1997)
Does AZ 9260 need a post-exposure bake?
No. Post-exposure bake is listed as 'not recommended in most applications' in every one of the datasheet's Typical Process tables (the 4.6 µm, 10 µm and 24 µm double-coat processes). That is consistent with AZ 9260 being a standard DNQ-novolak positive resist rather than a chemically amplified one — it does not need a PEB the way SU-8 or AZ 40XT do.
SOURCE: AZ 9200 Photoresist Product Data Sheet (Clariant / AZ Electronic Materials, 1997) — Typical Process tables, p.6
Does the exposure dose for AZ 9260 change with film thickness?
Yes — dose scales with target thickness rather than holding constant. The datasheet's worked processes run about 900 mJ/cm² (broadband) for a ~4.6 µm coat, ~1500 mJ/cm² for the 10 µm single-coat target, and ~2100 mJ/cm² for the 24 µm double-coat stack, so a dose calibrated at one thickness should be re-benchmarked at another. An i-line stepper is more efficient — 660–900 mJ/cm² resolved 3 µm lines/spaces in a 10 µm film.
SOURCE: AZ 9200 Photoresist Product Data Sheet (Clariant / AZ…
AZ 9200 Photoresist Product Data Sheet (Clariant / AZ Electronic Materials, 1997) — Typical Process tables + Focus and Exposure Latitude [i-Line], p.5–6
How do I avoid bubbling or cracking in thick AZ 9260 coats?
AZ 9260 has a lower photoactive-compound concentration than most positive resists, so it generates less N2 during exposure — but that N2 still must diffuse out before it forms bubbles or stress cracks, and thick coats, high exposure intensity and weak softbake all raise the risk. Mitigate by lowering exposure intensity (split exposure into timed steps), increasing softbake time/temperature, and improving adhesion. Let a closed or recently shaken bottle stand 1–2 h before dispensing so bubbles rise out.
SOURCE: MicroChemicals lithography troubleshooting / 'Basics of…
MicroChemicals lithography troubleshooting / 'Basics of Microstructuring' application note (current); AZ 9200 Photoresist Product Data Sheet (Clariant / AZ Electronic Materials, 1997)
Sources & disclaimer
- MicroChemicals GmbH / Merck KGaA (AZ brand; originally launched by Clariant / AZ Electronic Materials) — AZ 9260 datasheet (AZ 9200 Photoresist -- High-Resolution Thick Resist, Product Data Sheet, Clariant AG / AZ Electronic Materials, copyright July 1997 (accessed via a University of Utah Nanofab-hosted mirror of the original vendor PDF; the current commercial custodian of the AZ brand, MicroChemicals GmbH / Merck KGaA, does not appear to host this specific legacy datasheet on microchemicals.com, which returned a 404 for the AZ 9260/9200 filename pattern used by its other current photoresist TDS files during this session)) · accessed 2026-07-10
- https://www.microchemicals.com/dokumente/application_notes/lithography_trouble_shooting.pdf — MicroChemicals GmbH 'Basics of Microstructuring' / lithography troubleshooting application note (current, undated) -- manufacturer-authored, not university content, but used here only for general (non-AZ-9260-specific) guidance: N2-bubble/cracking mechanism and mitigations for thick DNQ resists, generic softbake rule-of-thumb, generic hardbake/etch-resistance guidance, developer compatibility table listing AZ 9260's compatible developers, and lift-off suitability of positive resists including AZ 9260.
- https://research.engineering.ucdavis.edu/cnm2/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2014/07/photoresist_rehydration.pdf — MicroChemicals GmbH 'Rehydration of Photoresists' application note (2007-02-26, authored by Dr. Christian Koch of MicroChemicals), mirrored by UC Davis' cleanroom facility -- manufacturer-authored, not university-derived content, and used as the primary source for the AZ-9260-specific 22 um rehydration study numbers quoted in the rehydration field above.
- Conédéra et al.. Potentialities of a new positive photoresist for the realization of thick moulds. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering (1999). doi:10.1088/0960-1317/9/2/317The founding AZ 9260 mold paper: aspect ratio 15-20 at 100 µm on a standard aligner
- O'Donnell et al.. Thin film micro-transformers for future power conversion. Nineteenth Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, 2004. APEC '04. (2004). doi:10.1109/APEC.2004.129593581 µm molds used for on-chip power micro-transformers, Q ~23 at 0.4 GHz
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.