The spin coder is designed to spread the photoresist as evenly as possible across the surface of the wafer using centrifugal force. Always wear safety glasses when using the spinner. Locate the safety glasses upon entering the laboratory. Additional safety glasses are usually stored near the spinner. There is a chance the spinner may break the wafer and the broken pieces could be ejected. These are similar to shards of glass and are equally as dangerous. It is a good habit to always wear safety glasses in the microfabrication labs, only removing them to use the microscope. Safety glasses should be worn by everyone in the room when someone is doing a spin, developing or etching. The spinner is well ventilated. However, if you smell solvent in the room, discontinue work and notify the lab supervisor. The photoresist should have been pre-poured into a small beaker and allowed to reach room temperature. To turn the machine on, there are two switches, one on the wall and one on the spinner itself. Before operating the spinner, open the air and nitrogen taps. The nitrogen is only used to clean the wafer. On the touch pad, press the arrow buttons to move the cursor onto initialisation, then press Enter and wait for the machine to initialise. Using the arrows again, move the cursor to automatic, press Enter and on the next window, use the arrow button to move the cursor to the programme number and press Enter to activate the cursor. Then press the arrow buttons to change the programme to number 8, press Enter to confirm. Press the arrow button again to move the cursor to Next, then Enter to complete the process. The spin coder is now ready for use. Test the spin coder by using the dummy wafer. Make sure you check the vacuum is working by pressing Vac and looking at the pressure gauge on the right hand side of the spinner. Press Vac again to release the vacuum. Remove the dummy wafer and carefully place the silicon wafer into the spin coder using the tweezers. Ensure the wafer is within the four pins. Press Vac to hold the wafer securely in place. Check whether the vacuum has engaged by looking at the pressure gauge on the spin coder. Once secured, clean the wafer with nitrogen to remove any particles that could be trapped by the photo resist. Carefully pull the photo resist onto the wafer, trying to keep a steady hand in order to reduce the chance of bubbles. Pour enough photo resist to cover about three quarters of the wafer. To start the spin coding process, press 1 and stand clear of the closing lid. Once the spin coding process is finished, remove the wafer carefully, avoiding contact with the wet surface and place in a shallow glass dish. Place the glass dish with the wafer in a preheated oven, set a timer for 20 minutes. While the wafer is baking, the spin coder can be cleaned by pouring acetone and isopropanol over the spinning surface and running the spin cycle. Once the 20 minutes is up, allow the wafer to cool for 10 minutes and preheat the oven to 110 degrees.