https://nanyte.com/photoresists/az-p4210 · last updated 2026-09-28
- Manufacturer
- Merck KGaA (AZ Electronic Materials)
- Tone
- positive
- Chemistry
- DNQ-novolak
- Thickness
- 2–4 µm
- Developer
- AZ 400K at 1:4, or at 1:3 / AZ 421K (unbuffered) for films above 12 µm; AZ Developer 1:1 where aluminium must not be etched; AZ 340 is also listed
- Applications
- Electroplating / molding · Etch mask
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 | Published dose |
|---|---|---|---|
| AZ P4210 | 1000 | 4.8 | — |
| 1500 | 3.7 | — | |
| 2000 | 3.0 | — | |
| 2500 | 2.7 | — | |
| 3000 | 2.5 | — | |
| 3500 | 2.3 | — | |
| 4000 | 2.1 | — | |
| 4500 | 1.9 | — | |
| 5000 | 1.8 | — |
Values are the manufacturer’s starting points, not a guarantee — characterize on your own tool. Series digitized from a published figure are approximate (±10 %).
Published dose is the datasheet’s own thickness bracket, quoted as printed — the full table and its citation are in the exposure section. A thickness the table does not cover shows nothing, and a thickness within 10 % of a bracket edge shows every bracket it could fall in.
read from figure — the dark-blue diamond markers legended 'P4210' on the 'Typical spin curves (150mm substrate)' chart, p.2 of the AZ P4000 Series technical datasheet, Rev. (08/21). Nine plotted markers at 500 rpm steps from 1000 to 5000 rpm; no numeric table accompanies the chart. Each point is read against the chart's 1 µm gridlines; treat each value as a figure read of about ±5 %.
- The plotted markers run from 4.8 µm at 1000 rpm to 1.8 µm at 5000 rpm, a little wider than the grade's rated 2.0-4.0 µm.
- The fitted line on the chart runs slightly above the 2000 rpm marker (about 3.0 µm), so the marker values are the ones carried.
- The chart is for a 150 mm substrate.
- The sheet notes that films up to 8.0 µm, depending on wafer size, can be spun to equilibrium from these curves, and that single films above 7.0 µm are not spun to equilibrium — thicker coats come from timed spread-and-spin programs or multiple coats.
- No dispense volume or acceleration is published for spins inside this range; the only coating sequence given is for films above 20 µm.
- Adhesion
- HMDS recommended — 'Substrates must be clean, dry, and free of organic residues. Oxide forming substrates (Si, etc.) should be HMDS primed prior to coating AZ P4000' (Substrate preparation, p.6). A soft bake towards 115 °C also improves adhesion to most metals.
- Rehydration
- Required for films thicker than 4.0 µm: hold between soft bake and exposure for typically 30-60 minutes, depending on film thickness, at 40-45 % relative humidity (Film rehydration, p.6). The p.3 reference process for a 12 µm AZ P4620 film uses a 30 min hold at 42 % RH. At this grade's slowest spins the film passes 4.0 µm and the hold applies.
Soft bake
- Soft bake
- 95–115 °C
- Notes
- No time is published for this grade. The process-considerations page gives 95-115 °C and calls bake conditions application specific; the typical-process box on p.1 prints the window as 90-115 °C, so the two pages differ by 5 °C at the low end, and the narrower one is carried. Temperatures towards 115 °C improve adhesion to most metals, and thicker films may need a ramped bake to stop solvent outgassing from raising bubbles.
SOURCE: Soft bake section, p.6, and typical process box, p.1, of the AZ P4000 Series technical datasheet, Rev. (08/21)
Exposure dose
AZ P4210's dose is published against film thickness, not as a single number. Read the row for the film you coat and run a dose array around it.
- As published
- No dose is given for AZ P4210 by name. The series table gives approximate Suss MA-200 aligner doses by film thickness: 90 mJ/cm² at 1.5 µm, 135 mJ/cm² at 3.5 µm and 800 mJ/cm² at 12 µm.
| Film thickness | Dose |
|---|---|
| 1.5 µm | 90 mJ/cm² |
| 3.5 µm | 135 mJ/cm² |
| 12 µm | 800 mJ/cm² |
SOURCE: 'Approximate exposure dose requirement vs. film thickness…
'Approximate exposure dose requirement vs. film thickness (Suss MA-200)' table, p.5 of the AZ P4000 Series technical datasheet, Rev. (08/21): 1.5 µm 90 mJ/cm², 3.5 µm 135 mJ/cm², 12 µm 800 mJ/cm². The table is published for the P4000 series as a whole, indexed by film thickness rather than by grade.
Development
- Developer
- AZ 400K at 1:4, or at 1:3 / AZ 421K (unbuffered) for films above 12 µm; AZ Developer 1:1 where aluminium must not be etched; AZ 340 is also listed
- Dilution
- AZ 400K 1:4 for better selectivity on thinner films, 1:3 for films above 12 µm; AZ Developer 1:1
- Method
- spray or immersion
- Developer family
- Buffered alkaline
Not published for this resist: Time, Rinse — characterize on-tool.
SOURCE: Developing section, p.6, and companion products, p.1, of the AZ P4000 Series technical datasheet, Rev. (08/21)
Hard bake, etch & strip
- Hard bake
- 100–110 °C
- Etch resistance
- 'Excellent substrate adhesion for wet etch applications' (p.1); a 100-110 °C hard bake 'improves adhesion in wet etch or plating applications and improves pattern stability in dry etch processes' (p.6).
- Stripper
- AZ 300T, AZ 400T or AZ Kwik Strip (companion products, p.1).
Not published for this resist: Descum, Storage — characterize on-tool.
SOURCE: Hard bake section, p.6, and dielectric insulator table, p.5, of the AZ P4000 Series technical datasheet, Rev. (08/21)
Where it's used
Practical notes from the datasheet
AZ P4210 covers 2-4 µm in the P4000 series (54 cSt at 23 °C), the plating-compatible positive resist whose photoactive compound is engineered not to poison electroplating solutions. The sheet sells the series for electroplating and for wet etching, where it cites excellent substrate adhesion. The series dose table puts a 3.5 µm film at about 135 mJ/cm² on a Suss MA-200 aligner. At the 4 µm top of its range it sits right at the sheet's rehydration threshold — films thicker than 4.0 µm need a 30-60 minute hold at 40-45 % RH before exposure — so a coat spun slower than about 1500 rpm should get that hold. Soft bake at 95-115 °C, develop in AZ 400K 1:4 by spray or immersion.
Grades in this family
Other grades in the AZ P4000 Series line differ mainly in coating thickness:
| Grade | Thickness |
|---|---|
| AZ P4110 | 1–3 µm |
| AZ P4210 (this page) | 2–4 µm |
| AZ P4330-RS | 3–5 µm |
| AZ P4400 | 4–6 µm |
| AZ P4620 | 6–20 µm |
| AZ P4903 | 10–30 µm |
Troubleshooting
Common failure modes for AZ P4210, 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.
I spun AZ P4210 at 1000 rpm for a thicker coat — do I now need a rehydration hold?
Yes, if the film really is over 4 µm. The datasheet's spin curve puts AZ P4210 at roughly 4.8 µm at 1000 rpm, above both the grade's rated 2.0–4.0 µm range and the 4.0 µm line beyond which P4000 films require a rehydration hold between soft bake and exposure. That hold is typically 30–60 min depending on thickness, at 40–45 % relative humidity. MicroChemicals notes that the water has to diffuse back through the whole film toward the substrate, and too little of it lowers the development rate. At 1500 rpm and faster the curve stays under 4 µm.
SOURCE: AZ P4000 Series Technical datasheet (Merck, Rev. 08/21) —…
AZ P4000 Series Technical datasheet (Merck, Rev. 08/21) — Typical Spin Curves (150 mm), p.2; Thickness Grades, p.1; Film Rehydration, p.6. MicroChemicals 'Photolithography Trouble Shooter' application note — Development: Insufficient Development Rate (Sufficient Rehydration?), p.6
Why does my AZ P4210 dose stop working when I change spin speed?
Dose scales with thickness, and AZ P4210's spin curve covers roughly 1.8–4.8 µm from 5000 down to 1000 rpm. The datasheet's approximate dose table for a Suss MA-200 aligner rises from 90 mJ/cm² at 1.5 µm to 135 mJ/cm² at 3.5 µm, so a dose set on a fast-spun coat under-exposes a slow-spun one. Re-run a short dose series each time the target thickness moves, and use those two table rows only as a starting bracket.
SOURCE: AZ P4000 Series Technical datasheet (Merck, Rev. 08/21) —…
AZ P4000 Series Technical datasheet (Merck, Rev. 08/21) — Approximate Exposure Dose Requirement vs Film Thickness (Suss MA-200), p.5; Typical Spin Curves, p.2
AZ P4210 sticks to the mask during contact exposure — what's causing it?
Check the solvent left in the film first. MicroChemicals ties mask sticking to a soft bake that is too cool or too short, and gives 100 °C for 1 min per µm on a hotplate as a rule of thumb; the datasheet's range for P4000 is 95–115 °C. Other causes: particles or bubbles in the film transferring to the mask (clean it), hard-contact mode where soft contact would do, and weak adhesion to the substrate letting the mask pull the film up.
SOURCE: MicroChemicals 'Photolithography Trouble Shooter' application…
MicroChemicals 'Photolithography Trouble Shooter' application note — Sticking Between Resist Film and Mask, p.6. AZ P4000 Series Technical datasheet (Merck, Rev. 08/21) — Soft Bake, p.6
AZ P4210 won't strip after a high-temperature bake — what now?
The resin has crosslinked. The datasheet keeps hard bake at 100–110 °C and notes higher temperatures cure the pattern into a permanent insulator, which is exactly what you do not want on a sacrificial mask. Its removers are AZ 300T, AZ 400T and AZ Kwik Strip. For a film that has already crosslinked, MicroChemicals recommends NMP or DMSO heated up to 80 °C, or a high-performance stripper such as TechniStrip P1316, and advises against acetone, which leaves residues.
SOURCE: AZ P4000 Series Technical datasheet (Merck, Rev. 08/21) — Hard…
AZ P4000 Series Technical datasheet (Merck, Rev. 08/21) — Hard Bake, p.6; Companion Products (Removers), p.1. MicroChemicals 'Photolithography Trouble Shooter' application note — Photoresist Removal Does Not Work (Well), p.19
Sources & disclaimer
- Merck KGaA (AZ Electronic Materials) — AZ P4210 datasheet (Rev. (08/21)) · accessed 2026-09-10
- https://www.microchemicals.com/dokumente/datenblaetter/tds/merck/en/tds_az_p4620_photoresist.pdf — AZ P4620 Photoresist Data Package, 'Thick Photoresist Product Summary' (p.3): the table lists the 'P4000 Series' row with Platform 'DNQ' — the basis for classifying AZ P4210 as dnq-novolak.
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.