Spin Coaters and Spin Coating Equipment

A spin coater puts down a thin, even film by dispensing liquid onto a substrate and spinning it at speed. SiSTEM supplies two kinds of spin coating equipment: spin coaters from Cost Effective Equipment, benchtop or flange-mounted into a wet deck, for research labs and low-volume production, and automated coat and develop tracks from C&D Semiconductor for production fabs.

How spin coating works

The substrate is held on a spin chuck, most often by vacuum, while resist or another solution is dispensed at or near its centre. Spinning spreads the liquid outward and throws off the excess, and the film thins further as the solvent evaporates. Spin coating is the standard way to apply photoresist for lithography, and it’s also used for polymer and functional films in photovoltaics, biosensors and optical coatings. Film thickness depends mainly on spin speed and the viscosity of the solution. For most resists, thickness falls roughly with the square root of spin speed, so four times the speed gives about half the thickness. Resist suppliers publish a spin curve for each product, and it’s the usual starting point for a recipe. Acceleration matters as well, because it controls how the liquid spreads in the first moments of the spin. A spin coater that repeats both speed and acceleration exactly gives the same film from one run to the next.

Choosing a spin coater

Start with the substrate. Round wafers and square photomasks or glass plates each need the right chuck and bowl size, and heavy substrates need a motor that holds its acceleration under load. CEE’s spin chuck range covers standard vacuum chucks, porous ceramic chucks for thin or fragile wafers, recessed and captive chucks for squares, film frame chucks and custom designs. Then look at the chemistry, meaning the number of solutions you dispense and any need for edge bead removal or a backside rinse. Disposable bowl liners make changeovers between materials quicker. Decide too where the tool will sit, since a spin coater can stand on the bench or be flange-mounted into a wet deck. Finally, consider how many wafers you run. A spin coating machine with manual loading suits research and small batches, while a track loads cassettes and runs every coat and develop step without an operator in between.

Square substrates and photomasks

Squares are harder to coat evenly than round wafers, because the film tends to build up at the corners. A recessed chuck holds the part level with the chuck surface so the liquid flows off the edges more evenly, and a captive chuck locates small squares and slides. Apogee chucks come in both formats. The Apogee 200 takes squares up to 6″ x 6″. The Apogee 450 takes photomasks and glass up to 14″ x 14″, and it still accelerates at 400 rpm/s with a 14″ x 14″ photomask in a recessed chuck.

Dispense and edge bead removal

Manual dispense with a pipette or syringe is fine for research. For repeatable volumes and positions, Apogee coaters take automated dispense too, with AccuScan moving-arm, cartridge, pressure can and disposable syringe systems. Edge bead removal clears the thicker rim of resist that forms at the wafer edge, and backside rinse cleans any resist that wraps underneath. Very viscous materials, such as thick polyimides, narrow the dispense choices, so tell us the viscosity when you ask for a quote and we’ll check the right route with CEE.

Spin coaters from CEE, benchtop or flange-mounted

The Apogee 200 spin coater takes wafers up to 200 mm and squares up to 6″ x 6″ at speeds up to 12,000 rpm. The Apogee 450 spin coater handles substrates up to 450 mm and photomasks or glass up to 14″ x 14″. CEE recommend it for wafers of 6 inches and above, so the Apogee 200 is the better fit for 3″ and 4″ wafers. Both repeat spin speed to 0.2 rpm, and DataStream logs every run. An indirect belt drive keeps the motor out of the chemical path. Both come as benchtop units or for flange mounting into a wet deck, both fit CEE’s X-Pro II workstation beside a developer and bake plate, and both are CE marked. Apogee spin coaters are very popular with universities and research institutes across the UK and Europe, and with spin-out companies setting up their first lithography processes.

Coat and develop tracks from C&D Semiconductor

The C&D P9000 cluster system stacks coater, developer, vapour prime and bake modules around a central robot and processes substrates from 50 mm to 300 mm. Its coater spins at 10 to 8,000 rpm with up to five dispenses and programmable top and bottom edge bead removal, and it can run three wafer sizes without a hardware change. The C&D P8000 advanced linear track coats and develops 50 mm to 200 mm substrates, and it can also replace the control system on an existing SVG 8x track. Both carry the CE mark.

What a spin coater costs

Price depends mostly on substrate size and dispense options. A benchtop Apogee with manual dispense sits at the lower end, and a configured production track at the other. The Apogee is built for daily use and a long service life, so for occasional coating of small samples a basic entry-level spin coater may be all you need. Larger or unusual substrates are possible too. CEE’s engineers review each one from drawings and photos of the part, usually on a call with us, before quoting. Each system is quoted individually, so the quickest route to a figure is to tell us your substrates and the materials you’re coating.

Spin coater questions

Can an Apogee spin coater go in a glove box?

Yes. CEE confirm that all their tools are glove box compatible. Tell us the glove box make and model when you ask for a quote.

What facilities does it need?

A vacuum supply below 33 kPa absolute, plus drain and exhaust connections. Automated dispense also needs nitrogen or clean dry air at 70 psi (482 kPa). The Apogee 200 runs on 100-120 or 208-230 VAC, and the Apogee 450 on 208-230 VAC.

Which chemicals can it handle?

The standard spin bowl is high-density polyethylene, and disposable polyethylene liners keep one chemistry away from the next. Custom bowls, such as PTFE (Teflon), are available where the chemistry calls for them. Send us your chemical list and we’ll confirm compatibility with CEE before quoting.

Can one coater handle several substrate sizes?

Yes. CEE supply chuck sets and centering devices so each size sits true on the spindle.

Buying through SiSTEM

SiSTEM quotes and supplies CEE and C&D equipment across the UK and Europe and handles the warranty in territory. If a tool goes down, we stay on the fault with the manufacturer until you confirm it’s working properly again. Get a quote, or contact us to talk through your process. Spin developers and bake plates for the same line are on the neighbouring pages.