Sol-gel coating process using spin-coating
How to do a sol-gel coating using
spin coating technique?
For sol-gel coating there are basically two methods:
a spin coating methods for one-sided sol-gel coating or dip coating for double-sided coating. Both techniques are commonly used in manufacturing thin films.
Spin coating is preferred for coating flat substrates with thin layers of material. Typically you spin coat photoresist on a semiconductor wafer, but our spin coaters are also used for spin coating polymer thin films like blockcopolymers (BCP) as PDMS and PMMA, or as a low-cost sol–gel method for spin-coated ZnO films, often on a glass substrate.
More information about the opportunities of sol-gel with or spin coater? Call us +31 341 360 590
The sol-gel method by spin coating
What is the sol-gel process?
The sol-gel process is a wet-chemical method used to make solid materials from small molecules. Sol-gel coating is a way to create e.g. single- or multicomponent oxide coatings on glass or metals. Special feature of the sol-gel method is that the production or deposition of materials in each case starts from a liquid sol state, which is converted by a sol-gel transformation into a solid gel state. For sol dispersions solid particles in the size range between 1 nm to 100 nm are distributed finely (dispersed) in water or organic solvents. The transition from the liquid sol to a ceramic layer is made via a gel state. During the sol-gel transformation, there is a 3-dimensional cross-linking of nanoparticles in the solvent, whereby the gel is replaced by solid state properties. The conversion of the gel into an oxide-ceramic material is carried out by a controlled heat treatment under air.
Can you use the sol-gel process to control the thickness of a thin polymer layer?
To control the thickness of a thin polymer film, the sol-gel spin coating method can be used. The polymer isdissolved or dispersed into a solvent, and this sol is then dropped onto the surface and spun off to leave a uniform layer.
A few sol-gel drops @ 3,000 rpm for 30 sec already creates a nice thin film. Special chucks are available for various substrates, for use with or without vacuum. The SPIN150i and SPIN200i are suitable for all of these methods and we learn of new applications every day.
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FREE Spin Coater Configuration advise for your application!
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Spin coating sol-gel Steps
Did you know our spin coaters are preferred and recommended in thousands
of scientific papers?
Sol-gel methods are currently used for basic and applied research and for producing ceramic bulk materials;
ceramic nanopowders and fibers, as well as used for the deposition of homogeneous, nanocrystalline,
oxide ceramic or ceramic-organic coatings. Our POLOS and SPIN150 spin coaters have
been used in thousands of researches. Read more
Interesting links:
Example of sol-gel
