The Spinner-AllPurpose recently went down due to a clogged waste line. This is a frustrating disruption to everyone’s work, and MIT.nano staff are trying to repair it as soon as possible.
The problem was caused by use of incompatible chemicals (specifically: PMGI/LOR and acetone) which generates precipitates and clog the waste lines, as seen in this photo.
For those reasons, we originally planned to separate PMGI/LOR into a different spinner. But many PMGI users voiced strong preference for spinning in the same location. Early March, we thus agreed to give it a try and allow users to spin PMGI in the Spinner-AllPurpose with special cleaning/waste capture precautions. This turned out not to be sufficiently fail-safe, and over a short period of time the spinner got clogged and backed up twice, including this week.
Therefore, MIT.nano staff have decided to reverse our decision and we no longer allow PMGI/LOR in the regular spinners. Instead, we will be setting up a PMGI-only table-top spinner (upcoming, called Spinner-PMGI) next to the Spinner-AllPurpose in the same hood in 12U. We hope to have that completed as early as next week Friday, if possible. Until then, please do not spin PMGI or LOR in any other spinner.
For users with an urgent need to spin one of three baseline resists (AZ3312, nLOF, XT10 resists; but not PMGI or other resists), you can use the Spinner-SU8 until the Spinner-AllPurpose has been repaired (hopefully within a week). Contact Kurt or Dave for quick training and help if needed. Please do NOT use acetone to clean resist in the Spinner-SU8, but use PM Acetate or EBR instead. Ask the staff if in doubt or confused, so we don’t end up clogging up the Spinner-SU8 as well.
As a quick look-ahead, a new spinner for L10 (Spinner-AllPurpose-L10) is scheduled to be installed in early June. This will increase our backup options and de-crowd the current spinner. For the Spinner-AllPurpose, after removing the clog, we will replace the factory-installed corrugated drain hose in the tool with a smooth tube (to reduce the ability of solvent residues to collect in the creases). We now need to identify the proper material and get it shipped. This will likely be the driving factor for the repair timeline (maybe about a week). If successful, we will adjust the other spinners in a similar manner.
Thanks for the patience, and hopefully we’ll be up and spinning again soon! As always, feel free to provide any suggestions or concerns to mitnano-feedback@mit.edu.