Spin Coater Research

Spin Coater Research Using Cee® Equipment

Real Research. Real Labs. Proven Performance.

Cee® spin coaters and wafer processing equipment have supported university, nanofabrication, biomedical, and advanced materials research since 1987. Originating as a division of Brewer Science, Cee® equipment was developed to meet demanding internal semiconductor process requirements where commercially available systems fell short. This reference library documents published research, university facilities, and application-specific process use involving Cee® equipment.

Today, Cee® continues this legacy, delivering repeatable, high-performance wafer processing equipment used in university nanofabs, MEMS labs, lithography workflows, and advanced materials research worldwide.

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Application

Material

Equipment Type

Equipment Model

Wafer Size

Substrate Type

Fast Switching Liquid Crystal Materials: From Design to Biomedical Application

Spin Coater
Bio
Materials: Nissan Chemicals ER-1744, Polyimide

This dissertation describes liquid crystal cell preparation for advanced optical and biomedical applications and explicitly states that Nissan Chemicals ER-1744 polyimide was spin coated onto ITO-coated soda-lime glass using an Apogee® Spin Coater. A three-step spin recipe is also provided for the polyimide coating process.

International Electric Propulsion Conference

Spin Coater
Microfabrication
Materials: SU-8

This conference paper describes fabrication of porous-glass electrospray thrusters and explicitly states that SU-8 2005 was spun using a Cee® Apogee® manual spin coater.

The Role of Time in the Structural Ordering of Poly-3-Hexylthiophene

Spin Coater
Material Science
Materials: rr-P3HT dissolved in chloroform

This paper studies annealing-time effects in P3HT thin films and explicitly states that a P3HT–chloroform solution was spin-deposited on glass substrates using an Apogee® Spin Coater.

Lithography – The Advanced Science Research Center Nanofabrication Facility

Bake Plate, Spin Coater
Lithography, Nanofabrication, Open Facitlity
Materials: E-beam, Photoresist

The CUNY ASRC Nanofabrication Facility lithography page lists multiple Cee® coating systems, including a Cee® Stand-Alone Spin Coater / hotplate for electron beam resists and two additional Cee® Spin Coaters for photoresist processing and other non-standard materials.

Tools – BioNIUM Nanofabrication Facility

Spin Coater
Lithography, Nanofabrication, Open Facitlity
Materials: Unknown

The University of Miami BioNIUM nanofabrication facility tool listing explicitly includes a Cee® 200X Precision Spin Coater as part of its lithography-related equipment set.

Direct Photopatterning of Metal Oxide Structures Using Photosensitive Metallorganics

Spin Coater
Lithography
Materials: MIBK

This Georgia Tech paper describes direct photopatterning of mixed-metal oxide films using a photosensitive metallorganic precursor. The precursor films were spin coated onto 100 mm single-side polished silicon wafers using a Cee® Model 100 CB Spin Coater and Bake Unit

Cee® Spin Coater & Baking Tools – University of Kansas Nanofabrication Facility

Bake Plate, Spin Coater
Nanofabrication, Open Facitlity
Materials: Unknown

The University of Kansas Nanofabrication Facility lists a Cee® coat and bake workflow that includes a Cee® 200CBX Programmable Spin Coater, Cee® 1300X Hot Plate, and Cee® Apogee® Hot Plate. The page also states that the 200CBX supports multiple chuck sizes for a variety of substrate sizes.

Cee® Lithography Tools – Lurie Nanofabrication Facility

Spin Coater
Lithography, Nanofabrication, Open Facitlity
Materials: AZ12XT, AZ726, KMPR, LOR10B, Photoresist, S1813, SPR220, SPR995, Unknown

The University of Michigan Lurie Nanofabrication Facility equipment directory lists multiple Cee® lithography tools, including coating, developing, and Apogee® spin coating platforms within the facility’s lithography area.

New Equipment at CNF – Cee® Model 100 Spin Coaters

Spin Coater
Open Facitlity
Materials: Unknown

This Cornell NanoScale Facility newsletter identifies two bench-top mounted Cee® Model 100 Spin Coaters used for resist coating of wafers, with support for substrates up to 200 mm round or 6-inch square.

Fundamentals of microfluidics fabrication process and the basic process flow of fabrication

Spin Coater
Microfluidics
Materials: Acetone, AZ4620, DI Water, IPA

This Washington University report references use of AZ4620 photoresist coated onto the wafer using a Cee® 200X Spin Coater as part of the microfluidics fabrication process.

Spin Coating – University of Kentucky CeNSE

Spin Coater
Materials: Photoresist

The University of Kentucky CeNSE spin coating page explicitly references the Cee® Model 100 and 150 and describes them as part of the facility’s spin coating capability for thin-film application.

Nanofabrication Equipment & Instrumentation – Penn Nano

Spin Coater
Open Facitlity
Materials: Unknown

The Penn Nano equipment page includes imagery of a Cee® 200X Spin Coater within its spinner and solvent processing area, indicating active use of Cee® coating equipment in the facility.

PDMS Spin Coater – University of Kansas Nanofabrication Facility

Spin Coater
Open Facitlity
Materials: PDMS

The University of Kansas Nanofabrication Facility lists a Cee® Spin Coater dedicated to PDMS coating, supporting soft lithography and polymer-based device fabrication processes.

Lithography Equipment – Washington University in St. Louis Micronanofabrication Facility

Spin Coater
Lithography, Nanofabrication, Open Facitlity
Materials: Unknown

Washington University’s Micronanofabrication Facility lists Cee® Spin Coaters as part of its lithography equipment, supporting photoresist coating and bake processes in an academic cleanroom environment.

Cee® 100 Spin Coater – Utah Nanofab Wiki

Spin Coater
Lithography, Nanofabrication, Open Facitlity
Materials: Photoresist

The University of Utah Nanofab wiki lists a Cee® 100 Spin Coater used for photoresist coating in lithography processes within a shared cleanroom environment.

Cee® Apogee® Spin Coater – Penn Nano Wiki

Spin Coater
Nanofabrication, Open Facitlity
Materials: Photoresist

The Penn Nano Wiki lists a Cee® Apogee® Spin Coater used for photoresist coating in lithography processes, supporting substrates up to 6-inch wafers within a shared nanofabrication environment.

Spin Coating – University of Houston NanoFabrication Facility

Spin Coater
Open Facitlity
Materials: Photoresist

The University of Houston NanoFabrication Facility lists a Cee® Spin Coater for thin film and photoresist coating, supporting a range of lithography and polymer deposition processes within an open-access cleanroom environment.

Cee® Spin Coater #1 and #2 – ASU NanoFab

Bake Plate, Spin Coater
Lithography, Nanofabrication, Open Facitlity
Materials: Photoresist

ASU NanoFab lists Cee® Spin Coater #1 and #2 as photoresist coating systems in its cleanroom. The page explicitly identifies Cee® Spin Coater #1 as having a programmable precision hot plate bake, Cee® Spin Coater #2 as a stand-alone Spin Coater, and names the Cee® 200CBX precision coat-bake system as the integrated platform.

Cee® Apogee® Spin Coater – LNF Wiki

Spin Coater
Nanofabrication, Open Facitlity
Materials: AZ12XT, KMPR, Photoresist, S1813, SPR220, SPR995

The University of Michigan LNF Wiki lists a Cee® Apogee® Spin Coater as a fully programmable, manual-dispense photoresist coating system that accepts pieces, 4-inch wafers, and 6-inch wafers.

Cee® 200X Photoresist Spinner 1 – LNF Wiki

Spin Coater
Nanofabrication, Open Facitlity
Materials: AZ12XT, SPR220

The University of Michigan LNF Wiki lists a Cee® 200X photoresist spinner as a fully programmable, automatic-dispense coating system with support for 4-inch and 6-inch wafers as well as pieces up to 2 inches.

Design of microscale devices for the detection of melanocytic growths in the skin

Spin Coater
Bio Sensing Devices
Materials: OmniCoat, SU-8

This thesis covers microscale device development for detection of melanocytic growths in the skin. In the accessible snippet from the thesis PDF, a silicon wafer is coated with OmniCoat and SU-8 3025 photoresist, and the process explicitly references use of a CEE spin coater.

Optical Sensors for High Sensitivity Motion Detection

Spin Coater
Sensor
Materials: Photoresist

This thesis presents fabrication of an optical MOEMS seismic sensor using double-sided DRIE on an SOI wafer. The process explicitly uses AZ 9260 positive photoresist on a CEE Spin Coater, along with HMDS priming and hot plate bake steps, tying Cee® coating equipment directly to university device fabrication.

A dielectrophoretic chip packaged at wafer level

Spin Coater
Advanced Packaging
Materials: SU-8

This publication describes a wafer-level bonding process for a dielectrophoretic microfluidic chip. The exposed source text explicitly states that SU8-5 photoresist was spun on a dummy silicon wafer using a CEE spin coater in a two-step recipe, followed by detachment on a vacuum hot plate at 150°C before alignment and bonding.

DNA origami directed nanometer-scale integration of colloidal quantum emitters with silicon photonics

Spin Coater
Photonics
Materials: nLOF 2020, PMMA

This preprint presents a method for integrating colloidal quantum emitters with silicon photonic structures using lithographically defined resist cavities. The accessible full-text snippets explicitly identify AZ-nLOF 2020 coated on a Cee® Apogee Spin Coater at 2000 rpm for 60 s, with PMMA also referenced in the process flow.

What This Page Represents

This page documents real-world use of Cee® equipment in research and development environments.

Each reference below represents:

Published research
University lab installations
Documented wafer processing applications

These are verifiable use cases, not marketing claims.

*Where process details are not specified in the original source, entries are labeled accordingly to maintain accuracy.

Cee® Equipment in University and R&D Applications

Cee® systems support a wide range of research fields:

Semiconductor fabrication – lithography and photoresist coating
MEMS development – micro-scale device fabrication
Microfluidics – channel formation and polymer structuring
Advanced materials – thin films and specialty coatings

These applications demand consistent, repeatable processing performance,a core strength of Cee® equipment.

This foundation continues to influence modern Cee® system design, ensuring performance aligned with real-world wafer processing challenges.

Proven in Research Environments

Cee® equipment is actively used across academic and industrial research settings:

Referenced in peer-reviewed publications and university research
Deployed in nanofabrication facilities and cleanrooms worldwide
Supporting spin coating, baking, developing, and wafer-level processing
Used for photoresists, polymers, and advanced coating materials
Lineage of systems dating back to 1987

Processes Using Cee® Equipment

Cee® spin coaters and bake systems are used for:

Spin coating of photoresists (e.g., AZ series, SU-8)
Thick film and multi-layer coating processes
Edge bead removal (EBR)
Soft bake and hard bake processing
Thin film and polymer coating applications

These processes require uniformity, repeatability, and precise process control.

Built for Repeatability. Proven Through Use.

Cee® equipment is designed to deliver:

Uniform coating performance across substrates
Controlled thermal processing for solvent evaporation and curing
Repeatable recipes and process parameters
Long term reliability operation in both research and production environments

The references above represent a subset of documented applications, demonstrating how Cee® equipment supports real-world wafer processing challenges.

Engineered for Real Process Demands

Unlike general purpose systems lacking process specific control, Cee® equipment was originally engineered to meet internal semiconductor processing requirements where precision, repeatability, and material compatibility were critical.

Cost Effective Equipment® originated in 1987 as a division of Brewer Science, where vigorous internal process requirements demanded higher performance and reliability than available on the commodity market. To meet these demands, spin coating and bake equipment were developed specifically to support advanced materials processing. These internally developed systems were later adopted by research labs and universities worldwide, forming the foundation of what is now Cee® Apogee™ wafer processing equipment.

In 2017, Cee® became an independent company, continuing to build on this foundation with a focused commitment to reliable, high-performance wafer processing equipment.