[labnetwork] Academic fab chemical starter recs

[Russ Renzas]

Setting up the fab at University of Nevada, Reno - looking for recs on a relatively generic "starter kit" of chemicals and photoresists, etc. Also, any recommendations on US-based vendors to buy from.

I do have some older stuff that's mostly unused from an aborted attempt at getting this fab running two years ago with one part-time grad student, but a lot of it is expired. Much of it was bought in quantities that make no sense (e.g. one giant bottle of one specific type of PR and a 4x4L of KOH).

Right now we have:

  *   Acetone, IPA of course.
  *   HMDS: expired 2023. Still unused, but thinking this should be replaced.
  *   Sulfuric acid and H2O2, expired 2022. Thinking I should keep the expired sulfuric acid for "general use", get rid of the expired H2O2, and replace with Nano-Strip.
  *   Nitric acid.
  *   Aluminum etchant Type A.
  *   BOE 7:1, expired 12/22. I'd imagine this is fine?
  *   HF, no expiration
  *   KOH: expired Aug. 23, probably fine.

Photoresists & related:

  *   AZ 1505, expired 2022. Probably fine? Are there other positive resists I should be starting out with instead?
  *   AZ NLOF 2020, expired 2023. Probably fine?
  *   AZ 300 MIF Developer, expired 2023. Is it preferable to replace with a non-TMAH developer such as AZ 351B for safety?
  *   AZ KWIK Strip Remover: expired 2023. Seems fine? Is NMP just as well?
  *   SU-8 100 & developer: expired, but I think I can ignore this until somebody actually needs it.

I have a few interested users and my own research to support once we're "operational" in 3-4 months, but for the immediate right-now I'm focused on creating a handful of relatively generic SOPs that I can use to get us off the ground, qualify tools, etc. Love how many SOPs are on the academic fab websites out there! Now to go figure out how to get my maskless aligner off the pallet.

Thanks!

Russ

Russ Renzas, Ph.D.
Director, Davidson Foundation Cleanroom
College of Engineering
University of Nevada, Reno

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