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SU-8 2010 process recipe

SU-8 2010 coats about 9.6-20.6 µm between 4000 and 1000 rpm, the SU-8 2000 grade for permanent epoxy structures 10-20 µm tall.

https://nanyte.com/photoresists/su-8-2010 · last updated 2026-09-13

At a glance
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Manufacturer
Kayaku Advanced Materials
Tone
negative
Chemistry
Epoxy (SU-8 type)
Thickness
9.6–20.6 µm
Developer
SU-8 Developer; ethyl lactate or diacetone alcohol may also be used
Applications
MEMS structural · High aspect ratio · Electroplating / molding

Cross-checked — two independent extractions agree on the spin curve and the single-value figures.

The exposed resist stays after development; the unexposed film dissolves. Schematic cross-sections for SU-8 2010 — feature width, film aspect ratio and sidewall angle are illustrative, not to scale.
01 / Coating

Spin coating

Spin curve for SU-8 2010: film thickness in µm against spin speed in rpm.5101520251k2k3k4kSPIN SPEED (rpm)THICKNESS (µm)
Data points
SU-8 2010 — film thickness (µm) by spin speed (rpm)
SeriesrpmµmPublished dose
SU-8 2010100021
140–150 mJ/cm² · 16–25 µm row
150016
200013
110–140 mJ/cm² · 6–15 µm row
250012
110–140 mJ/cm² · 6–15 µm row
300011
110–140 mJ/cm² · 6–15 µm row
350010
110–140 mJ/cm² · 6–15 µm row
40009.6
110–140 mJ/cm² · 6–15 µm row

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 yellow diamond markers legended 'SU-8 2010' on Figure 1b 'SU-8 2000 Thickness vs. Spin Speed', p.2 of the SU-8 2000, 2000.5-2015 Technical Data Sheet, ver. 1, August 2020. Seven plotted markers at 500 rpm steps; no numeric table accompanies the chart. Marker centres located against the 5 µm axis ticks of the embedded chart image.

Redrawn from the manufacturer's published data — hover to read between points, click to pin.
  • 20.6 µm at 1000 rpm, falling to 13.2 µm at 2000 and 9.6 µm at 4000 — most of the range is below 2000 rpm, so a 10 µm coat is a fast spin and a 20 µm coat a slow one.
  • Kayaku's recommended program for the series: dispense 1 ml of resist per inch (25 mm) of substrate diameter, spread at 500 rpm for 5-10 s at 100 rpm/s, then spin at 2000 rpm for 30 s at 300 rpm/s, choosing the final speed from the spin chart.
  • Remove the edge bead with EBR PG so the mask can seat in close contact.
Adhesion
HMDS not required — 'Adhesion promoters are typically not required.' Clean and dry the substrate first — piranha (H2SO4 and H2O2) with a DI rinse, or RIE or an oxygen barrel asher. For applications that include electroplating, an HMDS pre-treatment is recommended.
02 / Bake

Soft bake

Soft bake
95 °C · hotplate
Notes
Times are set by film thickness: 6-15 µm → 2-3 min and 16-25 µm → 3-4 min at 95 °C. Use a level hotplate — convection ovens are not recommended because a skin can form and trap solvent. To check the bake, cool the wafer to room temperature and return it to the hotplate; if the film wrinkles, bake a few more minutes and repeat until it does not.

SOURCE: Table 2 'Soft Bake Times', p.3 of the SU-8 2000, 2000.5-2015 Technical Data Sheet, ver. 1, August 2020

03 / Exposure

Exposure dose

SU-8 2010'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
Dose follows the film you spin, not the grade name: 6-15 µm films take 110-140 mJ/cm² and 16-25 µm films 140-150 mJ/cm². On glass and most metals multiply by 1.5-2.
Post-exposure bake
95 °C · hotplate
SU-8 2010 — dose by film thickness
Film thicknessDose
0.5–2 µm60–180 mJ/cm²
3–5 µm90–105 mJ/cm²
6–15 µm110–140 mJ/cm²
16–25 µm140–150 mJ/cm²
26–40 µm150–160 mJ/cm²
SOURCE: SU-8 2000 2000.5-2015 Technical Data Sheet

Table 3 'Exposure Dose', p.3 of the SU-8 2000, 2000.5-2015 Technical Data Sheet, ver. 1, August 2020 — indexed by film thickness and shared by the six grades that sheet covers; no wavelength is attached to the table.

04 / Development

Development

Developer
SU-8 Developer; ethyl lactate or diacetone alcohol may also be used
Method
immersion, spray or spray-puddle
Rinse
Spray and wash the developed image with fresh SU-8 developer for about 10 s, then air-dry with filtered pressurised air or nitrogen.
Developer family
Solvent

Not published for this resist: Dilution, Time — characterize on-tool.

SOURCE: SU-8 2000 2000.5-2015 Technical Data Sheet

Development section and Table 6 'Development Times for SU-8 Developer', p.4 of the SU-8 2000, 2000.5-2015 Technical Data Sheet, ver. 1, August 2020

05 / Post-processing

Hard bake, etch & strip

Hard bake
150–250 °C · 5–30 min
Descum
Not published — characterize on-tool
Etch resistance
Not characterised as an etch mask. Once cross-linked the film is described as chemically and thermally stable — 315 °C at 5 % weight loss, a glass transition of 210 °C — and extremely difficult to remove with solvent strippers.
Stripper
Minimally cross-linked SU-8 2000 swells and lifts off in Remover PG at 50-80 °C for 30-90 min; with a 30-100 nm OmniCoat underlayer the lift-off is clean. Fully cured or hard-baked SU-8 2000 cannot be removed without OmniCoat. To rework fully cross-linked films: piranha, plasma ash, RIE (200 W, 80 sccm O2, 8 sccm CF4, 100 mTorr, 10 °C), laser ablation or pyrolysis.
Storage
Store upright in tightly closed containers in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight, light, acids, heat and ignition sources, at 4-21 °C (40-70 °F). Shelf life is thirteen months from date of manufacture.

SOURCE: Hard bake (cure) section, p.5 of the SU-8 2000, 2000.5-2015 Technical Data Sheet, ver. 1, August 2020

06 / Applications

Where it's used

Practical notes from the datasheet

SU-8 2010 is the 10-20 µm grade of the SU-8 2000 line, at 58 % solids and 380 cSt. Pick the process row by the film you actually spin: around 10 µm, bake 2-3 minutes at 95 °C, expose 110-140 mJ/cm², post-bake 3-4 minutes and develop 2-3 minutes; around 20 µm, add roughly a minute to each bake, expose 140-150 mJ/cm² and develop 3-4 minutes. On glass or metal substrates the dose rises 1.5-2 times. The sheet's own sanity check applies at every thickness — a mask image should appear within a minute of the 95 °C post-exposure bake. Plan OmniCoat underneath if the structure ever has to come off.

07 / Family

Grades in this family

Other grades in the SU-8 2000 series line differ mainly in coating thickness:

SU-8 2000 series — grade comparison
GradeThickness
SU-8 2000.50.5–0.8 µm
SU-8 20022.0–2.9 µm
SU-8 20054.6–7.8 µm
SU-8 20076.7–12.4 µm
SU-8 2010 (this page)9.6–20.6 µm
SU-8 201513.2–38.5 µm
SU-8 202521.7–79.2 µm
SU-8 203533–119 µm
SU-8 205040.1–171 µm
SU-8 207559–239 µm
SU-8 2100103–269 µm
08 / Sources

Sources & disclaimer

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 2026-09-13.

Cite this recipe

NANYTE. "SU-8 2010 process recipe." NANYTE Photoresist Library. https://nanyte.com/photoresists/su-8-2010. Accessed 2026-09-13.

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