Overview

Non-contact exposure, outstanding ease of use, and high speed make the Maskless Aligner MLA150 the ideal tool in rapid prototyping environments, for low- to mid-volume production, and in Research & Development. Heidelberg's once revolutionary, now state-of-the-art maskless technology has become firmly established since their Maskless Aligner series was first introduced in 2015. The MLA150 now presents the modern-day alternative to the traditional Mask Aligner.

Maskless photolithography eliminates the need for a photomask: the system exposes the pattern directly onto the resist-covered surface. Should design modifications be required, these can be quickly implemented by changing the CAD layout, resulting in much-reduced cycle times. You will also benefit from a fast, automated front- and backside alignment procedure as well as the outstanding patterning speed: exposing an area of 100 × 100 mm² can take less than 10 minutes (resist and minimum feature size dependent). The application areas of the MLA150 include life sciences, MEMS, micro-optics, semiconductors, sensors, actuators, MOEMS, material research, nano-tubes, and 2D materials (e.g. graphene and h-BN).

System Features

Substrates
  • Minimum size:  5 mm × 5 mm
  • Maximum size:  150 mm × 150 mm
  • Maximum thickness:  10 mm
  • Minimum thickness: 0.1 mm
405 nm diode laser
  • Standard laser for g-line/h-line/broadband photoresists
  • 8 W maximum power
  • Maximum write speed of 1100 mm2/min
375 nm diode laser
  • Capable of exposing i-line photoresists (e.g., SU-8)
  • 2.8 W maximum power
  • Maximum write speed of 500 mm2/min
Resolution
  • Down to 1 µm (resist dependent)
Autofocus
  • Pneumatic:  Standard technique, substrate material independent; substrates must be larger than 10 mm × 10 mm
  • Optical:  Enables exposure of small specimens (< 10 mm × 10 mm); uses 670 nm laser; not suitable for thick, transparent resists
  • Autofocus compensation range: 180 μm
Layer-to-layer alignment precision
  • Topside alignment:  < ±0.5 µm
  • Backside alignment:  < ±1.0 µm
Greyscale exposure
  • Basic greyscale exposure mode (128 grey levels)
High aspect ratio mode
  • Capable of obtaining vertical sidewalls in thick resists (e.g. 40:1 aspect ratio in SU-8)
  • Lower resolution, longer exposure time than standard exposure mode
Draw mode
  • Allows for custom patterning without the use of a CAD layout

Documents

Operating Procedure
Hazard AssessmentHeidelberg MLA150 HA