Skip to content

SU-8 2015 process recipe

SU-8 2015 is the thickest grade on Kayaku's SU-8 2000.5-2015 sheet, coating about 13-38 µm between 4000 and 1000 rpm for permanent epoxy structures in the tens of microns.

https://nanyte.com/photoresists/su-8-2015 · last updated 2026-09-13

At a glance
Download PDF
Manufacturer
Kayaku Advanced Materials
Tone
negative
Chemistry
Epoxy (SU-8 type)
Thickness
13.2–38.5 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 2015 — feature width, film aspect ratio and sidewall angle are illustrative, not to scale.
01 / Coating

Spin coating

Spin curve for SU-8 2015: film thickness in µm against spin speed in rpm.10203040501k2k3k4kSPIN SPEED (rpm)THICKNESS (µm)
Data points
SU-8 2015 — film thickness (µm) by spin speed (rpm)
SeriesrpmµmPublished dose
SU-8 2015100039
150–160 mJ/cm² · 26–40 µm row
within 10 % of a bracket edge
150027
140–150 mJ/cm² · 16–25 µm row
150–160 mJ/cm² · 26–40 µm row
within 10 % of a bracket edge
200021
140–150 mJ/cm² · 16–25 µm row
250018
140–150 mJ/cm² · 16–25 µm row
300016
110–140 mJ/cm² · 6–15 µm row
140–150 mJ/cm² · 16–25 µm row
within 10 % of a bracket edge
350014
110–140 mJ/cm² · 6–15 µm row
within 10 % of a bracket edge
400013
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 blue square markers legended 'SU-8 2015' 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.
  • The steepest curve on the chart: 38.5 µm at 1000 rpm, 26.7 µm at 1500 and 21.2 µm at 2000, then flattening to 13.2 µm at 4000.
  • Below 2000 rpm small speed errors move the thickness a lot.
  • 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: 16-25 µm → 3-4 min and 26-40 µm → 4-5 min at 95 °C (6-15 µm → 2-3 min for the fastest spins). 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 2015'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: 16-25 µm films take 140-150 mJ/cm² and 26-40 µm films 150-160 mJ/cm² (110-140 mJ/cm² at 6-15 µm). On glass and most metals multiply by 1.5-2.
Post-exposure bake
95 °C · hotplate
SU-8 2015 — 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 2015 bridges the thin SU-8 2000 grades and SU-8 2025, reaching almost 40 µm at 1000 rpm from a 1250 cSt resin. Most coats fall in the 16-25 or 26-40 µm rows of the process tables: bake 3-5 minutes at 95 °C, expose 140-160 mJ/cm² on silicon, post-bake 4-6 minutes and develop 3-5 minutes in SU-8 Developer with strong agitation for tall or narrow features. At the slow end of the curve the thickness is sensitive to spin speed, so check the first wafer. The cured epoxy stays on the device; use OmniCoat underneath if it has to be released.

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 20109.6–20.6 µm
SU-8 2015 (this page)13.2–38.5 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 2015 process recipe." NANYTE Photoresist Library. https://nanyte.com/photoresists/su-8-2015. Accessed 2026-09-13.

Ready to run this process on your own tool?Talk to an engineer →

Expose it at 365 and 405 nm

NANYTE BEAM is a desktop maskless lithography system with software-selectable dual-wavelength exposure and 16-bit grayscale — no photomask, no mask cost, same-day iteration.

What is NANYTE BEAM?

Improve this recipe

Run this resist in your lab? Send us what actually works, or flag a value that's wrong. No account, no email needed — a handle and affiliation are optional and become your credit line. Every contribution is checked against published sources before it appears.