https://nanyte.com/photoresists/suex · last updated 2026-07-26
- Manufacturer
- DJ MicroLaminates
- Tone
- negative
- Chemistry
- Epoxy (SU-8 type)
- Thickness
- 20–1000 µm
- Developer
- PGMEA (propylene glycol methyl ether acetate), two-bath system
- Applications
- MEMS structural · Electroplating / molding
- Substrate
- Resist
- Exposed
Coating — dry-film lamination
SUEX is supplied as a pre-cut dry-film sheet and applied by hot-roll lamination — it is not spin-coated. Thickness is fixed per sheet, 20–1000 µm, selected by sheet rather than by spin speed.
- Recommended hot-roll lamination conditions, stated identically in both the Thick and Thin datasheets: roller/plate temperature 60-70°C for all rolls (Thin datasheet: 'for all rolls and plates')
- pressure 5-10 psi (30-65 kPa); speed 0.5-1.5 ft/min (0.15-0.5 m/min), with thicker films requiring slightly slower speeds.
- Source: 'LAMINATION' / 'Recommended conditions for hot roll lamination', p.1 of both the Thick SUEX Data Sheet (June 2020) and the Thin SUEX Data Sheet (Rev 6/2020).
- Pre-lamination substrate prep (both datasheets, 'SUBSTRATE PREPARATION', p.1) calls for the substrate to be free of organic contamination and metal oxides and cleaned/dried immediately before lamination, and mentions a 'dehydration bake' as sometimes needed before further cleaning/surface activation — but no dehydration-bake temperature or time is published anywhere in either datasheet, so no numeric pre-lamination substrate temperature is recorded.
- The clear PET cover sheet is removed immediately before lamination
- sheets must not touch the substrate until <1 cm before the rollers
- vacuum lamination is recommended over topography for thick films.
- Adhesion
- HMDS not required — 'Adhesion promoters are typically not useful.' Source: 'SUBSTRATE PREPARATION', p.1 of both the Thick and Thin SUEX Data Sheets.
Soft bake
- Soft bake
- 80–85 °C · 5 min · hotplate
- Notes
- This is the post-lamination bake (PLB), not a softbake in the solvent-drying sense — the laminated sheet arrives solvent-free.
SOURCE: 'BAKE', p.1 of both the Thick SUEX Data Sheet (June 2020) and the Thin SUEX Data Sheet (Rev 6/2020)
Exposure dose
SUEX's dose is published per sheet thickness, not as a single number. Read the row for the sheet you laminate and run a dose array around it.
- Dose at 405 nm
- Not published — characterize on-tool
- As published
- Dose is published per sheet thickness at 365 nm, with a separate figure for filtered and unfiltered exposure: a 100 µm sheet takes 1000 mJ/cm² through an i-line filter, 450 mJ/cm² without one.
| Sheet | Dose |
|---|---|
| 20 µm | 720 mJ/cm² |
| 25 µm | 725 mJ/cm² |
| 30 µm | 760 mJ/cm² |
| 40 µm | 790 mJ/cm² |
| 50 µm | 825 mJ/cm² |
| 75 µm | 920 mJ/cm² |
| 100 µm | 1000 mJ/cm² |
| 150 µm | 1200 mJ/cm² |
| 200 µm | 1350 mJ/cm² |
| 250 µm | 1500 mJ/cm² |
| 350 µm | 1900 mJ/cm² |
| 500 µm | 2500 mJ/cm² |
SOURCE: SUEX Data Sheet
Table 1 'Process conditions for Thick/Thin SUEX TDFS on Silicon Wafers', p.2 — the UV-filtered (i-line) exposure row, labelled 'mJ/cm2 @ 365 nm', of both the Thick SUEX Data Sheet (June 2020) and the Thin SUEX Data Sheet (Rev 6/2020). Estimated doses on silicon.
| Sheet | Dose |
|---|---|
| 20 µm | 325 mJ/cm² |
| 25 µm | 320 mJ/cm² |
| 30 µm | 335 mJ/cm² |
| 40 µm | 348 mJ/cm² |
| 50 µm | 370 mJ/cm² |
| 75 µm | 430 mJ/cm² |
| 100 µm | 450 mJ/cm² |
| 150 µm | 515 mJ/cm² |
| 200 µm | 575 mJ/cm² |
| 250 µm | 675 mJ/cm² |
| 350 µm | 900 mJ/cm² |
| 500 µm | 1150 mJ/cm² |
SOURCE: SUEX Data Sheet
Table 1 'Process conditions for Thick/Thin SUEX TDFS on Silicon Wafers', p.2 — the no-filter exposure row, labelled 'mJ/cm2 @ 365 nm', of both the Thick SUEX Data Sheet (June 2020) and the Thin SUEX Data Sheet (Rev 6/2020). Estimated doses on silicon.
Development
- Developer
- PGMEA (propylene glycol methyl ether acetate), two-bath system
- Method
- immersion
- Rinse
- IPA
- Developer family
- Solvent
Not published for this resist: Dilution, Time — characterize on-tool.
SOURCE: SUEX Data Sheet
'DEVELOPMENT' and 'RINSE/DRY', p.1; Table 1 'Devl Time Face Down', p.2 — both the Thick SUEX Data Sheet (June 2020) and the Thin SUEX Data Sheet (Rev 6/2020)
Hard bake, etch & strip
- Stripper
- SUEX is not intended to be removed once processed: 'SUEX is generally used as a permanent highly cross-linked film and is not intended to be removed.' For film that has not been hard baked, an NMP-based remover may lift it from the substrate; hard-baked film is generally removed only with CO2 laser ablation equipment.1
- Storage
- Store in the original black packaging in a standard, temperature-controlled environment between 18°C (65°F) and 25°C (77°F); shelf life is up to 2 years from date of manufacture under those conditions.2
Not published for this resist: Hard bake, Descum, Etch resistance — characterize on-tool.
SOURCE: 'HARD BAKE (Optional)', p.1 of both the Thick SUEX Data Sheet (June 2020) and the Thin SUEX Data Sheet (Rev 6/2020)
Where it's used
Practical notes from the datasheet
SUEX is DJ MicroLaminates' cationically-cured epoxy dry-film photoresist, supplied as thin (20-75 µm) and thick (100 µm-1 mm) laminate sheets rather than spin-coated, making it a common choice for high-aspect-ratio MEMS structures, wafer-level-packaging molds, and electroplating templates where single-pass spin-coat thickness limits become impractical. Because it laminates onto the substrate via a heated roller rather than a spindle, its process is defined by roller temperature, speed and pressure instead of a spin curve, and its exposure dose, post-exposure bake and develop time are all published as thickness-binned tables rather than single values — treat the row matching the target sheet thickness as the starting point. The datasheet explicitly identifies the cured film as a permanent, highly cross-linked structural layer 'not intended to be removed', strippable only with an NMP-based remover before hard bake or by CO2 laser ablation after, so it is suited to permanent-structure and plating-mold applications rather than a sacrificial lift-off role.
Troubleshooting
Common failure modes for SUEX, 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.
How do I laminate SUEX without trapping bubbles or wrinkles?
SUEX is applied with a heated roll laminator, not spin-coated: rollers at 60–70°C, 5–10 psi (30–65 kPa) and 0.5–1.5 ft/min (0.15–0.5 m/min), with thicker films run slightly slower. Peel the clear PET cover off immediately before lamination and keep the sheet from touching the substrate until under 1 cm from the rollers. Over topography, or for thick films, use vacuum lamination.
SOURCE: SUEX Data Sheets (Thick June 2020 / Thin Rev 6/2020) — LAMINATION, p.1
Why is my SUEX cracking after post-exposure bake?
Cool slowly — the datasheet says to ramp down over 3–5 hours after PEB for minimum cracks and best adhesion. PEB itself is thickness-binned: thick SUEX bakes at 85°C for 30–45 min, thin SUEX for 5 min at 85–95°C; a lower-stress option is an 85°C oven for 30–60 min. Remove the PET coversheet before PEB.
SOURCE: SUEX Data Sheets (Thick June 2020 / Thin Rev 6/2020) — POST EXPOSURE BAKE (PEB), Table 1, p.1–2
Does SUEX need a bake after lamination, and how do I improve adhesion?
A post-lamination bake is normally not needed or recommended, but for improved adhesion and surface quality you may bake the laminated article on a hotplate at 80–85°C for 5 min. Adhesion promoters are typically not useful; instead ensure the substrate is free of organic contamination and metal oxides and is cleaned and dried immediately before lamination.
SOURCE: SUEX Data Sheets (Thick June 2020 / Thin Rev 6/2020) — BAKE and SUBSTRATE PREPARATION, p.1
How is SUEX developed?
Develop at room temperature in a two-bath PGMEA system, face down with mild agitation; develop time is thickness-binned (Table 1) rather than a single value — for example 35 min for a 100 µm thick sheet up to 140 min at 500 µm. Rinse by washing in isopropyl alcohol, then immerse in clean IPA for 1–5 minutes.
SOURCE: SUEX Data Sheets (Thick June 2020 / Thin Rev 6/2020) — DEVELOPMENT and RINSE/DRY, Table 1, p.1–2
Sources & disclaimer
- DJ MicroLaminates — SUEX datasheet (June 2020 (Thick SUEX Data Sheet, Rev June 2020; sibling Thin SUEX Data Sheet, Rev 6/2020)) · accessed 2026-07-11
- https://djmicrolaminates.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Thin-SUEX-Data-Sheet-June-2020.pdf — Thin SUEX (20-75 µm) Data Sheet, Rev 6/2020 — the source of the thin-film Table 1 process conditions and the 20-75 µm stated thickness range; read jointly with the Thick datasheet since 'SUEX' is one product family spanning both sheets.
- 'REMOVAL', p.1 of both the Thick SUEX Data Sheet (June 2020) and the Thin SUEX Data Sheet (Rev 6/2020).
- 'STORAGE', p.1 of both the Thick SUEX Data Sheet (June 2020) and the Thin SUEX Data Sheet (Rev 6/2020).
- Johnson et al.. SUEX process optimization for ultra-thick high-aspect ratio LIGA imaging. Proc. SPIE 7972, Advances in Resist Materials and Processing Technology XXVIII (2011). doi:10.1117/12.882872Optimizes the processing of SUEX thick dry film sheets for ultra-thick, high-aspect-ratio X-ray LIGA imaging. Names this exact product in its title and is the closest thing in the literature to a process-development paper on the material itself.
- Farjana et al.. Dry Film Photoresist-Based Microfabrication: A New Method to Fabricate Millimeter-Wave Waveguide Components. Micromachines (2021). doi:10.3390/mi12030260Laminated SUEX dry film sheets to build a ridge gap waveguide resonator operating above 200 GHz, using a 40 um base layer and 200, 50 and 20 um sheets for the structure layers. A worked example of stacking several sheet thicknesses to reach a target structure height.
- Cao et al.. Dry Film Resist Laminated Microfluidic System for Electrical Impedance Measurements. Micromachines (2021). doi:10.3390/mi12060632A three-level lamination process for a microfluidic chip with embedded, vertically arranged microelectrodes, used for electrical impedance spectroscopy of trapped micro-objects. Demonstrates repeated lamination steps building a multi-level structure without spin coating.
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.