Three current technological issues with SU-8 have been addressed in this work: the need to improve adhesion to noble metal surfaces, the need for surface cleaning after SU-8 removal, and chiefly the need to remove thick SU-8 layers without damaging the fabricated devices. We achieve the later with a comparatively gentle method based on sequential exposure to dimethylamine and concentrated sulfuric acid. Drawing inspiration from the ample literature on ether cleavage for the revalorization of lignin from wood, we propose a hypothesis for the reaction mechanism and test its validity with ab initio quantum chemical calculations. Perhaps further work on this line of research can give back to the field of ether cleavage for lignin processing by providing new methods or insights. But this work will primarily be of interest to technologists developing microelectronic and microelectromechanical devices.