This paper summarizes the results of the process optimization for SU-8 films with thicknesses 5 μm. The influence of soft-bake conditions, exposure dose and post-exposure-bake parameters on residual film stress, structural stability and lithographic resolution was investigated. Conventionally, the SU-8 is soft-baked after spin coating to remove the solvent. After the exposure, a post-exposure bake at a high temperature T PEB 90 • C is required to cross-link the resist. However, for thin SU-8 films this often results in cracking or delamination due to residual film stress. The approach of the process optimization is to keep a considerable amount of the solvent in the SU-8 before exposure to facilitate photo-acid diffusion and to increase the mobility of the monomers. The experiments demonstrate that a replacement of the soft-bake by a short solvent evaporation time at ambient temperature allows cross-linking of the thin SU-8 films even at a low T PEB = 50 • C. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy is used to confirm the increased cross-linking density. The low thermal stress due to the reduced T PEB and the improved structural stability result in crack-free structures and solve the issue of delamination. The knowledge of the influence of different processing parameters on the responses allows the design of optimized processes for thin SU-8 films depending on the specific application.

Here, we present the activities within our research group over the last five years with cantilevers fabricated in the polymer SU-8. We believe that SU-8 is an interesting polymer for fabrication of cantilevers for bio/chemical sensing due to its simple processing and low Young's modulus. We show examples of different integrated read-out methods and their characterisation. We also show that SU-8 cantilevers have a reduced sensitivity to changes in the environmental temperature and pH of the buffer solution. Moreover, we show that the SU-8 cantilever surface can be functionalised directly with receptor molecules for analyte detection, thereby avoiding gold-thiol chemistry.

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