[labnetwork] Reliable Hot Plates (for baking resist)?

[Hollingshead, Dave]

We also use a CEE hotplate connected to a spin coater and it has been excellent. Other than replacing the temperature controller it has be rock solid for years. It does take a long time to change temps so we typically keep it set at 115C for our standard bake processes.

We recently bought a Wenesco standalone unit that has performed very well: https://www.wenesco.com/wenesco-hot-plates. It has a smaller surface area (6” x 6”) than the CEE and heats and cools slightly faster. For most of our bake temps it stabilizes within ~10 minutes.

-Dave
Dave Hollingshead
Manager, Research Operations

The Ohio State University
Nanotech West Labs
Suite 100, 1381 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212
614.292.1355 Office
hollingshead.19 at osu.edu<mailto:hollingshead.19 at osu.edu> / nanotech.osu.edu<http://nanotech.osu.edu>

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From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu> On Behalf Of Owain Clark
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2023 11:26
To: Massey, Travis <massey21 at llnl.gov>; Randall Parker <rparker at americansemi.com>; Grant Shao <shaog at stanford.edu>; Labnetwork (labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu) <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] Reliable Hot Plates (for baking resist)?

CEE hotplates are good, ours have been reliable and the selection of bake lift pin options helps with double sided work etc. CEE are helpful and responsive also. The only thing I would change is that they are air cooled, if possible I’d

CEE hotplates are good, ours have been reliable and the selection of bake lift pin options helps with double sided work etc. CEE are helpful and responsive also.

The only thing I would change is that they are air cooled, if possible I’d go back in time and try to get water cooled plates when forced cooling was desired. It’s not a huge problem but e.g. if a user wants to run a negative resist post exposure bake of typically ~180C then the plates take a long time to come back down to the typical soft bake range of 90-110C for the next user. We run another Sawatec plate alongside our CEE bench to cope with this.

BR, Owain

From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu>> On Behalf Of Massey, Travis
Sent: 19 October 2023 01:42
To: Randall Parker <rparker at americansemi.com<mailto:rparker at americansemi.com>>; Grant Shao <shaog at stanford.edu<mailto:shaog at stanford.edu>>; Labnetwork (labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>) <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>>
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] Reliable Hot Plates (for baking resist)?

CAUTION: This e-mail originated outside the University of Southampton.
Hi Grant,

+1 for CEE hot plates for wafer bakes.  We’ve been running them for many years without issues.  Once the embedded computer for the attached spinner died, but CEE was responsive in getting it sorted out quickly.

Common Corning hot plates are designed for heating beakers of liquid, not wafers, so the uniformity and control/accuracy is terrible.

Best,
Travis Massey
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu>> On Behalf Of Randall Parker
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2023 3:26 PM
To: Grant Shao <shaog at stanford.edu<mailto:shaog at stanford.edu>>; Labnetwork (labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>) <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>>
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] Reliable Hot Plates (for baking resist)?

Hello Grant,
We have been using Apogee 300 bake plates from Cost Effective Equipment (CEE), which is an equipment company which spun out of Brewer Science. We have found their tooling to be very reliable and easy to use. Customer service has also been great. Our hot plates are integrated into a 4-station spin bench, but I believe the hot plate unit is the same as the standalone model. We use ours for polyimide soft bakes.
Bake Plates - Hot Plates - Bake Smarter - Cost Effective Equipment<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/urldefense.us/v3/__https:/www.costeffectiveequipment.com/products/bake-plates/__;!!G2kpM7uM-TzIFchu!3IEzui9LSx-bCXS-5GYkHlOwB1tT4nAtceifqyZ8g9yfHcQOGi-y2Oit4FkIrN5UmA2tm6zEnyZM_nzSW6SCwA$__;!!KGKeukY!3UJBvK5gY4DH02bivHAcD99kbTY6lJD-_VuM78-Z5FXN7HOaD93K6M4HmX1mV8fU2YmJiScoLdtuBn28OdOt8LqfoA$>

Hope this helps.

Randy Parker
Sr. Process Engineer
American Semiconductor, Inc.<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/urldefense.us/v3/__https:/americansemi.com__;!!G2kpM7uM-TzIFchu!3IEzui9LSx-bCXS-5GYkHlOwB1tT4nAtceifqyZ8g9yfHcQOGi-y2Oit4FkIrN5UmA2tm6zEnyZM_ny1_sdmuw$__;!!KGKeukY!3UJBvK5gY4DH02bivHAcD99kbTY6lJD-_VuM78-Z5FXN7HOaD93K6M4HmX1mV8fU2YmJiScoLdtuBn28OdPNjMw3BQ$>
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From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu>> On Behalf Of Grant Shao
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2023 1:20 PM
To: Labnetwork (labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>) <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>>
Subject: [labnetwork] Reliable Hot Plates (for baking resist)?

Hello Labnetwork,

A couple of our hot plates are failing/unreliable, and before we ordered new ones, I wanted to ask if anyone has recommendations on some reliable and stable hot plates, primarily being used for baking resist.

We have a few other Corning hot plates for heated chemical work, though those are typically in use with a thermocouple sensor plugged in.

Thanks,
Grant

--
Grant Shao
Lab Operations Engineer
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