Construction of cost effective homebuilt spin coater for coating amylose-amylopectin thin films

Abstract

We report the construction of a cost effective and low power consumption spin coater from a direct current (DC) brushless motor. The DC mechanical component is widdely available in the central processing unit (CPU) cooler. This set up permits simple operation where the DC voltage can be controlled manually in order to adjust the spin speed ranging from 1500 to 4500 resolution per minute (rpm). The spin speed stability can be determined by a tachometer against the spinning time. In order to evaluate the performance of the spin coater, 25% Amylose-75% Amylopectin thin films were successfully deposited on SiO₂ substrates. The thicknesses of the films were in the range of 96.1 nm to 225 nm.

Keywords: spin coating; CPU cooler; thin film depositions; homebuilt spin coater