An Embedded System Approach to Design and Development of an Automatic Spin Coating Machine for Thin Film Applications

Abstract:

A typical spin coating technique entails three steps: dispense, in which the resin fluid is applied to the substrate surface; high-speed spin, in which the fluid is thinned; and drying, in which extra solvents are removed from the resultant film. For the growth of thin films, an embedded system-based spin coating machine has been developed. The PIC microcontroller (PIC16f877A), which might be powered by a driver circuit to drive a spinning motor, controls the spin coating machine effectively. The temperature sensor is used to determine the temperature, while the proximity sensor is used to determine the motor's speed. Using a temperature sensor, the temperature has been kept between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius. The developed system will coat thin films in a micro level thickness by adjusting the spinning speed and controlling the system using PIC microcontroller. To test the reliability and repeatability of the machine, Zinc oxide (ZnO) was prepared with the sol-gel technique and deposited on the glass substrate using embedded system based spin coating machine. ZnO thin films were prepared at different pH and exhibited the fundamental reflections of (100), (002), (101), and (102) with the hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure. The structural studies of ZnO thin films using XRD analysis confirm the presence of ZnO particles in the prepared films. Also, it ensures the prepared ZnO thin film is pure and that no other impurities have been observed in the XRD pattern.

• Periodical: Solid State Phenomena (Volume 350)
• Pages: 101-107
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-Q4OPam
• Online since: October 2023
• Authors: J. Charles Babu*, V. Jagadeesan, G. Selvakumar, J. Nirmal Jothi
• Keywords: Embedded Systems, Sensor, Spin Coating, Thin Film, Zinc Oxide

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