https://nanyte.com/photoresists/su-8-2100 · last updated 2026-07-26
- Manufacturer
- MicroChem
- Tone
- negative
- Chemistry
- Epoxy (SU-8 type)
- Thickness
- 103–269 µm
- Developer
- SU-8 Developer (MicroChem)
- Applications
- High aspect ratio · MEMS structural · Electroplating / molding
Cross-checked — two independent extractions agree on the spin curve and the single-value figures.
- Substrate
- Resist
- Exposed
Spin coating
Data points
| Series | rpm | µm | Published dose |
|---|---|---|---|
| SU-8 2100 | 1000 | 269 | 350–370 mJ/cm² · 230–270 µm row 370–600 mJ/cm² · 280–550 µm row within 10 % of a bracket edge |
| 2000 | 137 | 240–260 mJ/cm² · 100–150 µm row within 10 % of a bracket edge | |
| 3000 | 103 | 240–260 mJ/cm² · 100–150 µm row within 10 % of a bracket edge |
Values are the manufacturer’s starting points, not a guarantee — characterize on your own tool. Series digitized from a published figure are approximate (±10 %).
Published dose is the datasheet’s own thickness bracket, quoted as printed — the full table and its citation are in the exposure section. A thickness the table does not cover shows nothing, and a thickness within 10 % of a bracket edge shows every bracket it could fall in.
read from Figure 1 "SU-8 2000 Spin Speed versus Thickness", p.2 of MicroChem "SU-8 2000 Permanent Epoxy Negative Photoresist Processing Guidelines for SU-8 2100 and SU-8 2150" (CNR-Nano mirror). The chart plots only two curves, unambiguously distinguished by both colour and marker shape: SU-8 2150 = red triangles (top curve), SU-8 2100 = blue circles (bottom curve), matching Table 1's viscosity ordering (2100 = 45,000 cSt < 2150 = 80,000 cSt, so 2100 coats thinner at a given speed). Each curve has only 3 markers, at 1000/2000/3000 rpm — the blue trace does not extend to 3500 rpm despite the chart's wider axis range.
- Recommended program (same for both grades in this document): dispense 1 ml of resist per inch (25 mm) of substrate diameter
- spin at 500 rpm for 5-10 s at 100 rpm/s acceleration, then spin at the target speed (per Figure 1) for 30 s at 300 rpm/s acceleration.
- Edge bead removal (EBR) with MicroChem's EBR PG solvent stream at the wafer edge is recommended before soft bake, both to limit hotplate contamination and to let the photomask reach close contact with the wafer.
SOURCE: "Coat" / "Recommended Program" / "Edge Bead Removal (EBR)", p.2.
- Adhesion
- HMDS not required — "Adhesion promoters are typically not required." HMDS pretreatment (MCC Primer 80/20) is recommended only "for applications that include electroplating."1
Soft bake
- Soft bake
- Not published — characterize on-tool
- Notes
- Published only as a THICKNESS-BINNED table shared by both grades covered in this document (SU-8 2100 and 2150), not a single value per grade: 100-150 µm → 5 min @65°C then 20-30 min @95°C; 160-225 µm → 5-7 min @65°C then 30-45 min @95°C; 230-270 µm → 7 min @65°C then 45-60 min @95°C; 280-550 µm → 7-10 min @65°C then 60-120 min @95°C. SU-8 2100's own spin curve spans roughly 105-270 µm (1000-3000 rpm), i.e. mostly the 100-150 and 230-270 µm bins.
SOURCE: Table 2 "Soft Bake Times", p.2 of the MicroChem SU-8 2000 (2100-2150) Processing Guidelines
Exposure dose
SU-8 2100's dose is published against film thickness, not as a single number. Read the row for the film you coat and run a dose array around it.
- As published
- Dose tracks film thickness: SU-8 2100's 105–270 µm coats run 240–260 mJ/cm² near 100 µm, rising to 350–370 mJ/cm² by 250 µm.
| Film thickness | Dose |
|---|---|
| 100–150 µm | 240–260 mJ/cm² |
| 160–225 µm | 260–350 mJ/cm² |
| 230–270 µm | 350–370 mJ/cm² |
| 280–550 µm | 370–600 mJ/cm² |
SOURCE: SU-8 2000 (2100-2150) Processing Guidelines
Table 3 'Exposure Dose' of the MicroChem SU-8 2000 (2100-2150) Processing Guidelines — one table indexed by film thickness, shared by SU-8 2100 and 2150. Not attributed to a specific wavelength (the document recommends i-line but states conventional UV, 350-400 nm, is most common).
Development
- Developer
- SU-8 Developer (MicroChem)
- Method
- immersion
- Rinse
- IPA
- Developer family
- Solvent
Not published for this resist: Dilution, Time — characterize on-tool.
SOURCE: "Development" and "Rinse and Dry" sections plus Table 6 "Development Times for SU-8 Developer", p.3
Hard bake, etch & strip
- Hard bake
- 150–250 °C · 5–30 min
- Stripper
- MicroChem Remover PG swells and lifts only minimally cross-linked SU-8 2000.2
- Storage
- Store upright in tightly closed containers, cool and dry, away from direct sunlight, at 40-70°F (4-21°C); away from light, acids, heat, and ignition sources.3
Not published for this resist: Descum, Etch resistance — characterize on-tool.
SOURCE: "Hard Bake (cure)" section, p.4
Where it's used
Practical notes from the datasheet
SU-8 2100 is the second-highest-viscosity grade in MicroChem's SU-8 2000 line (45,000 cSt) and is built for very thick, single-coat films — its own spin curve runs roughly 105-270 µm over 1000-3000 rpm. Reach for 2100 only when the device genuinely needs that film height; its long soft-bake and develop times and thick-film handling make the thinner SU-8 2025 and 2050 grades the better default whenever they can meet the thickness target. Like every SU-8 2000 grade, it cross-links in two stages — exposure generates acid, and the post-exposure bake thermally drives the epoxy cross-linking — so PEB is a required processing step, not an optional cure, and at this thickness the bake times stretch into hours (up to 60-120 minutes soft bake and 20-30 minutes PEB at 95°C for the thickest bin in this document). Soft-bake, PEB, dose and develop times are published only as thickness-binned ranges shared with SU-8 2150; treat the low end of the matching bin as a starting point and use the datasheet's cool-down/re-heat 'wrinkle' test to confirm the soft bake is complete before proceeding. Once fully cross-linked, SU-8 is notoriously hard to strip: plain solvent remover only works on minimally exposed/baked film, and a hard-baked structure needs either a sacrificial OmniCoat layer beneath it or an oxidizing strip (piranha, plasma ash, RIE, laser ablation, pyrolysis) to remove. Edge bead removal before soft bake is especially important at this film thickness to keep the photomask in close contact with the wafer.
Grades in this family
Other grades in the SU-8 2000 series line differ mainly in coating thickness:
Troubleshooting
Common failure modes for SU-8 2100, answered from the manufacturer's datasheet and application notes. These are starting points — your substrate, tooling and environment shift the specifics, so calibrate on-tool.
What soft bake does SU-8 2100 need, and why does it take so long?
Soft-bake times are thickness-binned and stretch into hours at this film thickness. SU-8 2100's ~103–269 µm coat falls mostly in the 100–150 and 230–270 µm bins: 100–150 µm → 5 min at 65°C then 20–30 min at 95°C; 230–270 µm → 7 min at 65°C then 45–60 min at 95°C, on a level hotplate. Convection ovens are not recommended — the film can skin over and trap solvent. Use the cool-down/re-heat wrinkle test to confirm the bake is complete.
SOURCE: MicroChem SU-8 2000 (2100–2150) Processing Guidelines — Table 2 Soft Bake Times, p.2
Does SU-8 2100 need a post-exposure bake?
Yes — the PEB thermally drives the epoxy cross-linking, so it is a required step, not an optional cure. Times are thickness-binned: 100–150 µm → 5 min at 65°C then 10–12 min at 95°C; 230–270 µm → 5 min at 65°C then 15–20 min at 95°C. A latent mask image should already be visible after 1 minute of PEB at 95°C; if it is not, exposure and/or heating was insufficient.
SOURCE: MicroChem SU-8 2000 (2100–2150) Processing Guidelines — Table 5 Post Exposure Bake Times, p.3
Why is my SU-8 2100 cracking, and how do I fix it?
Thick SU-8 films crack from thermal stress. A short 150°C bake for a couple of minutes anneals surface cracks seen after development, and applies to all film thicknesses. Any optional hard bake otherwise runs 150–250°C for 5–30 min, at about 10°C above the maximum expected device operating temperature. Edge-bead removal before soft bake also matters at this thickness, to keep the photomask in close contact with the wafer.
SOURCE: MicroChem SU-8 2000 (2100–2150) Processing Guidelines — Hard Bake (cure) section, p.4
How long does SU-8 2100 take to develop?
Development is immersion in SU-8 Developer, with thickness-binned times: 100–150 µm → 10–15 min; 160–225 µm → 15–17 min; 230–270 µm → 17–20 min. Rinse about 10 s with fresh developer, then about 10 s of IPA, then dry with filtered N2/air. A white film after the IPA rinse indicates underdevelopment — run another develop-and-rinse cycle rather than relying on IPA to finish.
SOURCE: MicroChem SU-8 2000 (2100–2150) Processing Guidelines — Table 6 Development Times + Rinse and Dry, p.3
What exposure dose does SU-8 2100 need?
Dose is published per thickness bin: 100–150 µm → 240–260 mJ/cm²; 160–225 µm → 260–350 mJ/cm²; 230–270 µm → 350–370 mJ/cm². i-line (365 nm) is the recommended wavelength (conventional UV 350–400 nm is also used). Multiply by ~1.5× on glass/Pyrex/ITO and 1.5–2× on most metals and silicon nitride versus silicon. A >350 nm long-pass filter for vertical sidewalls needs ~40% more exposure.
SOURCE: MicroChem SU-8 2000 (2100–2150) Processing Guidelines — Table 3 Exposure Dose + Table 4 substrate multipliers, p.3
Sources & disclaimer
- MicroChem — SU-8 2100 datasheet (No revision/date string is printed in the document body (a 5-page processing-guidelines PDF with no header/footer revision code). The mirror's filename indicates 'Ver5' (a byu.edu mirror of the apparently same document is filenamed 'Ver5-1').) · accessed 2026-07-10
- "Substrate Preparation", p.2.
- "Removal" / "Plasma Removal", p.4.
- "Storage", p.4.
- Shaw et al.. Negative photoresists for optical lithography. IBM Journal of Research and Development (1997). doi:10.1147/rd.411.0081The IBM origin paper for the EPON-based epoxy negative resist that became SU-8, describing its formulation and use as a thick optical-lithography resist.
- Lorenz et al.. SU-8: a low-cost negative resist for MEMS. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering (1997). doi:10.1088/0960-1317/7/3/010Established SU-8 as a MEMS structural resist, producing thick high-aspect-ratio structures by near-UV lithography.
- del Campo, Greiner. SU-8: a photoresist for high-aspect-ratio and 3D submicron lithography. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering (2007). doi:10.1088/0960-1317/17/6/R01Widely cited review of SU-8 processing (coat, bake, expose, develop) for high-aspect-ratio and 3D microstructures across the SU-8 family.
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.