TMAH Taskforce

The TMAH Taskforce’s mission is to be a collaborative network of cleanroom professionals, researchers, and EHS practitioners working to improve the safe use of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) and TMAH-containing chemicals.

Our Goal

TMAH is essential for micro- and nanofabrication, but how it is handled varies from one facility to the next. This Taskforce brings together the people who manage labs, study the science, and oversee environmental health and safety (EHS) to develop evidence-informed, collective guidance for the safe use of TMAH and TMAH-containing solutions in academic and R&D laboratories, with a focus on hazard awareness, exposure prevention, and emergency response.

Why this Initiative?

There is currently no widely adopted collective guidance for TMAH safety.
TMAH is not just corrosive; it is a rapid systemic toxin where skin contact can quickly become life-threatening.
Academic and R&D cleanrooms operate differently from massive semiconductor foundries, and we aim to provide guidance from the perspective of our members.

Zuzanna Lewicka, Ph.D.

TMAH Taskforce Chair

View Bio

Zuzanna Lewicka, Ph.D. is Associate Director of the Micro/Nanofabrication Center (MNFC) at Princeton University, where she leads laboratory onboarding and safety training for new cleanroom users, helping researchers develop the knowledge and skills needed to work safely in a shared nanofabrication environment. She also serves as the process engineer and technical lead for the center’s plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) systems and supports a broad range of nanofabrication processes and instrumentation. Dr. Lewicka earned a Master’s degree in Optoelectronics and Fiber Laser Technology from Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Poland, and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Rice University. Following her doctoral research, she worked as a semiconductor process engineer at a startup before joining Princeton University’s MNFC in 2017 as a Research Specialist. She later served as Interim Director of the MNFC before assuming her current role as Associate Director. As Chair of the OneNano TMAH Taskforce, Dr. Lewicka aims to bring together nanofabrication facility professionals, researchers, and environmental health and safety (EHS) experts to develop evidence-informed guidance for the safe use of TMAH-containing solutions in academic and research laboratories.

Join us.

If you are a cleanroom manager, lab staff member, EHS professional, or researcher working with TMAH, we need your voice. Safety is a team effort, and your day-to-day experience is invaluable.

How you can help:

Take part in our facility surveys to help us map current practices.
Share your lab’s existing safety rules and protocols.
Give feedback on our literature reviews and data findings.
Review early drafts of our upcoming safety guidelines.
Share your stories, lessons learned, and real-world operational tips.
Attend our periodic community check-ins.
No major time commitment is required.
You can contribute at the level that best fits your availability and expertise.

Every piece of input helps improve how TMAH is understood, communicated, and managed across small R&D and university labs.