Advances in Environmental Biology, 8(3) Special 2014, Pages: 729-733
AENSI Journals
Advances in Environmental Biology
ISSN-1995-0756 EISSN-1998-1066
Journal home page: http://www.aensiweb.com/aeb.html
Corresponding Author: M.M. Rashid, Dept of Mechatronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic
University of Malaysia, 53100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
E-mail: mahbub@iium.edu.my. Tel: 03-6196 4493.
Design and Fabrication of a Simple Cost Effective Spin Coater for Deposition of
Thin Film
Mohammad Meftahul Ferdaus, M.M. Rashid and Mohammad Ataur Rahman
Department of Mechatronics Engineering and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic
University of Malaysia, 53100, Kuala Lumpur
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received 14 Feb 2014
Received in revised form 24
February 2014
Accepted 29 March 2014
Available online 14 April 2014
Key words:
Spin coating, zinc oxide, thin films,
film deposition, substrate.
This paper describes the design and fabrication of an economical spin coater for
depositing thin films.Spin coater is a machine that can dispense a liquid onto a
substrate uniformly. Some desirable properties of Spin coater such as ability to make
defect free and uniform thin film, accuracy in rotation control together with a closed
optimized process chamber etc. are maintained in this prototype spin coater.The
materials used for making thin filmliquefied in a volatile solvent. Here the system is
fabricated by using a dc motor and simple electronics circuit, in which the spinning
speed can be controlled very easily. In this design the spinning speed is up to 3,000
rpm that can be controlled step by step manually. ZnO thin films are successfully
prepared through this spin coater by sol-gel process. This thin film isa mixture of Zinc
acetate dihydrate, ethanol anddi-ethanolamine. Thin filmdeposition by this cost
effective spin coater is a very simple technique and can beused widelyfor preparing
films of uniform thickness.
© 2014 AENSI Publisher All rights reserved.
To Cite This Article: Mohammad Meftahul Ferdaus, M.M. Rashid and Mohammad Ataur Rahman., Design and fabrication of a simple cost
effective spin coater for deposition of thin film. Adv. Environ. Biol., 8(3), 729-733, 2014
INTRODUCTION
Now a day’s thin film science and technology started to play an important role in the advanced
technological industries. Initiallythe only purpose of the development of thin film technology wasto satisfy the
requirement of the integrated circuit industry. But day by day the demand for high speed smaller and smaller
devices increases, so for development ofhigher speedsmaller and smaller devices especially in new generation
of integrated circuits requires advanced materials and new processing techniques appropriate for integration
technology. Thin films technology can play a vital role to achieve this goal as they are capable of satisfying
those requirements. Over the past four decades the making of thin films for device purposes has been
industrialized. In many real-world problems thin films are very important as a two dimensional system. Their
material costs are very lowwhereas the price of corresponding bulky materials are high and they perform the
same function and sometimes even betteraccording to surface processes [1]. So, information and determination
of the nature, functions and new properties of thin films can be used for the development of new technologies
that are appropriate for future applications.The layers of thin films are ranging from fractions of a nanometre to
several micrometres in thickness[2]. Thin film deposition has mainly three major technique such as solid, liquid
and gas deposition technique. Chemical Vapour Deposition and Physical Vapour Deposition are gas deposition
method. These methods are comparatively expensive. Spray pyrolysis is another popular method of depositing
thin film. But it has some limitations such as surface thickness is uncontrollable, not crack free, processing time
is high etc.In thin film deposition temperature control is very essential, but in spray Pyrolysis it is very difficult
to control temperature. Compare to others Spin coating is a fast and simple method for producing thin and
homogeneous organic films. Inproduce uniform thin is technique thin filmsare produced on a flat substrate. The
equipment for spin coating process is known as spin coater, or simply spinner. In short, more than
necessaryquantity of a solution is employed on the substrate, then it starts rotating and the rotation speed
continuously increases and finally rotated at high speedfor spreading the fluid due to centrifugal force.This
process was first explained by a number of authors [3,4] using several simplifications. Fabrication and
Manufacturing techniques of these devices are comparativelyeasybecause of the availability of the necessary
equipment.Repeatability is one of the most vital factors in spin coating. Several methods to grow inorganic