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APOL-LO 3200 process recipe

A series of negative-tone, high-resolution lift-off photoresists (APOL-LO 3202, 3204, 3207) covering 2-10+ µm film thickness, developed in 0.26N TMAH for i-line and broadband exposure, with customizable lift-off undercut angle and photospeed.

https://nanyte.com/photoresists/apol-lo-3200 · last updated 2026-07-26

At a glance
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Manufacturer
KemLab
Grades
APOL-LO 3202 · APOL-LO 3204 · APOL-LO 32071
Tone
negative
Thickness
2–10 µm
Developer
0.26N TMAH
Applications
Lift-off · General prototyping

Human-verified — checked against the manufacturer's datasheet by a person.

The exposed resist stays after development; the unexposed film dissolves. Schematic cross-sections for APOL-LO 3200 — feature width, film aspect ratio and sidewall angle are illustrative, not to scale.
01 / Coating

Spin coating

Spin curves for APOL-LO 3200: film thickness in µm against spin speed in rpm.0246810121k2k3k4kSPIN SPEED (rpm)THICKNESS (µm)
Data points
APOL-LO 3200 — film thickness (µm) by spin speed (rpm)
Seriesrpmµm
APOL-LO 320210003.8
20002.7
30002.3
40001.9
APOL-LO 320410006.2
20004.5
30003.7
40003.2
APOL-LO 3207100010
20007.2
30005.7
40005.0

Values are the manufacturer’s starting points, not a guarantee — characterize on your own tool. Series digitized from a published figure are approximate (±10 %).

APOL-LO 3202: read from figure 'Spin Curve: APOL-LO 3200 Series', p.2 of APOL-LO 3200 TDS — identified by legend marker/color (blue diamonds = APOL-LO 3202) on the combined three-curve chart; bottom curve, consistent with the stated 2-4 µm range. The chart itself only plots 1000-4000 rpm (4 marked points per curve) — no 5000/6000 rpm points exist in the source to report.

APOL-LO 3204: read from figure 'Spin Curve: APOL-LO 3200 Series', p.2 of APOL-LO 3200 TDS — identified by legend marker/color (red squares = APOL-LO 3204) on the combined three-curve chart; middle curve, consistent with the stated 3-6 µm range. Chart plots only 1000-4000 rpm.

APOL-LO 3207: read from figure 'Spin Curve: APOL-LO 3200 Series', p.2 of APOL-LO 3200 TDS — identified by legend marker/color (purple triangles = APOL-LO 3207) on the combined three-curve chart; top curve, consistent with the stated 5-10+ µm range. Chart plots only 1000-4000 rpm.

3 series redrawn from the manufacturer's published data — hover to read between points, click to pin.
  • Coat program includes a 5-10 second spread cycle; spin time at final speed is 45 seconds.
  • Spin curves determined on 6-inch Si with static dispense of ~3 mL of photoresist (TDS p.2, Spin Coat) — note this is a smaller dispense volume than the ~4 mL used for KemLab's other series datasheets.
  • No edge-bead-removal step is published.
Adhesion
HMDS recommended — APOL-LO adheres to gold, glass, aluminum, chromium and copper without a stated primer requirement; for silicon specifically, HMDS primer 'can increase adhesion' (TDS p.2, Substrate).
02 / Bake

Soft bake

Soft bake
110 °C · 60 s · hotplate
Notes
110°C for 60 seconds is the default softbake, stated both in the narrative Soft Bake section (p.2) and in three of four columns (2, 4, 6 µm) of the Lift-Off Process Guide table (p.2). The datasheet gives an explicit, clearly labeled exception: 'For films over 7 microns: Soft-bake on hotplate: 110°C for 90 seconds' — used for the 10 µm (APOL-LO 3207) process point in the same table.

SOURCE: Lift-Off Process Guide table and Soft Bake section, p.2 of APOL-LO 3200 TDS

03 / Exposure

Exposure dose

Three grades share one set of broadband-on-silicon numbers, indexed by coat: 140 mJ/cm² at 2 µm, 145 at 4 µm, 150 at 6 µm and 200 at 10 µm. Run a dose array on your own tool to land the working dose.

Post-exposure bake
110 °C · 60 s

Not published for this resist: Dose at 365 nm, Dose at 405 nm — characterize on-tool.

04 / Development

Development

Developer
0.26N TMAH
Developer family
TMAH-based

Not published for this resist: Dilution, Time, Method, Rinse — characterize on-tool.

SOURCE: Lift-Off Process Guide table, p.2, and Develop section, p.3 of APOL-LO 3200 TDS

05 / Post-processing

Hard bake, etch & strip

Stripper
NMP, DMSO or similar solvent-based removers at 50-80°C (TDS p.3, Photoresist Removal). No two-bath-process guidance is given for this product (unlike the KL5300/KL6000/KL IR datasheets, which explicitly recommend one for thick films).
Storage
Store upright in tightly closed containers at 40-70°F (4-21°C), away from oxidizers, acids, bases and ignition sources (TDS p.3, Storage).

Not published for this resist: Hard bake, Descum, Etch resistance — characterize on-tool.

06 / Applications

Where it's used

Practical notes from the datasheet

APOL-LO 3200 is a series of three grades (APOL-LO 3202, 3204, 3207) explicitly engineered for a lift-off undercut profile, with customization offered to adjust the lift-off angle or photospeed. Unlike most conventional positive resists, PEB here is a required crosslinking step, not an optional one — the datasheet flags that PEB conditions 'can be changed to modify performance,' making it a tunable process lever rather than a fixed step. Softbake and PEB share one explicit thickness break point: films over 7 µm (i.e. the APOL-LO 3207 10 µm process point) get 90 s instead of 60 s at the same 110°C, while exposure dose and develop time scale continuously with thickness across all four demonstrated process points (2/4/6/10 µm). An n,k optical-dispersion curve (200-500 nm) is published for lithography simulation. As with any lift-off resist, the achieved undercut profile — not just critical dimension — should be verified on-tool, since it is the property this product is specifically sold on.

07 / Sources

Sources & disclaimer

  • KemLabAPOL-LO 3200 datasheet (not stated — no revision or copyright date is printed anywhere in this TDS; the only certification mark present is an ISO 9001:2015 seal on the final page.) · accessed 2026-07-10
Cited above
  1. APOL-LO 3200 TDS, per-grade 'Film Thickness Range' table (p.2): APOL-LO 3202 (2-4 µm), APOL-LO 3204 (3-6 µm), APOL-LO 3207 (5-10+ µm). 3202 and 3207 also head the resolution-demo blocks on p.1; 3204 appears only in the p.2 table.

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.

Cite this recipe

NANYTE. "APOL-LO 3200 process recipe." NANYTE Photoresist Library. https://nanyte.com/photoresists/apol-lo-3200. Accessed 2026-07-26.

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Expose it at 365 and 405 nm

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