Spreading and fingering in spin coating

We study the spreading and fingering of drops of silicone oil on a rotating substrate for a range of rotation speeds and drop volumes. The spreading of the drop prior to the onset of fingering is found to follow the theoretically predicted time dependence, but with a large shift in time scale. For the full range of experimental parameters studied, the contact line becomes unstable and fingers develop when the radius of the drop becomes sufficiently large. We study the growth of perturbations around the perimeter of the drop and find the growth rate of the most unstable mode to agree well with the predictions of lubrication theory. The number of fingers which form around the perimeter of the drop is found to be a function of both rotation speed and drop volume, and is also in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions.