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Dynamic dispersing technique for PR coating process in planar lightwave circuit fabrication
Author(s) -
Hong Pua Chang,
Harun Sulaiman Wadi,
Yi Chong Wu,
Jayapalan Kanesh Kumar,
Ahmad Harith
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
microwave and optical technology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.304
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1098-2760
pISSN - 0895-2477
DOI - 10.1002/mop.22609
Subject(s) - wafer , coating , spin coating , photoresist , fabrication , planar , materials science , spinning , microwave , acceleration , composite material , optoelectronics , layer (electronics) , nanotechnology , computer science , physics , telecommunications , medicine , alternative medicine , computer graphics (images) , pathology , classical mechanics
A new dynamic dispersing technique (DDT) is proposed and demonstrated to improve the photoresist (PR) coating process in planar lightwave circuit (PLC) fabrication. In this technique, the PR is dispensed during the wafer's spin cycle on the spin coater instead of the conventional static dispensing before spinning. In comparison to the conventional static dispersing technique (SDT), DDT has significantly improved several properties of the PR layer including its thinning behavior, coating uniformity, and PR amount. Using DDT, the PR thickness averagely reduces by ∼0.2 μm. The radial uniformity of the PR from the centre is also improved from the average difference of 0.28 μm in SDT to 0.14 μm in DDT. Furthermore, the PR amount required for the coating process is reduced from 3.00 ml (SDT) to 0.25 ml (DDT). Two different DDTs are also compared in this paper including the application of PR during the spin coater's acceleration step (1st DDT) and the application of PR during the spin coater's constant speed (2nd DDT). © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 49: 1993–1995, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.22609