Soft Chemical Mechanical Polishing Pad for Oxide CMP Applications

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is widely accepted as the best planarization technique for fabricating nanoscale devices. A soft CMP pad that can enable higher oxide removal rates (RRs) and good planarity has been proposed applications. In this study, three pads namely, Pad-1 (hard), Pad-2 (soft), a commercial (hard) were used to polish blanket oxide, STI patterned wafers. The demonstrated significantly RRs better than hard pads. Post-polish texture analysis on showed uniform surface asperity distribution. This due novel method of manufacturing, which enables precise material placement consistent pore construction.