Chemical Mechanical Polishing by Colloidal Silica Slurry

Chemical Mechanical Polishing is a unique process enabling technology that allows chip makers to readily drive lithographic patterning steps to smaller dimensions, an ages old, “retro” technology related to glass polishing and metallographic finishing, thus enabling optical lithography to work. It represents a situation that is a true paradigm shift from the typical way in which technological advancements become main stream in high-technology semiconductor manufacturing processes. Colloidal nano-abrasives with different particle sizes are required for slurries in different CMP processes. Colloidal silica is used as polishing slurry for producing reflecting surfaces for mirrors, lenses and the planarization of computer chips. Industrial use of colloidal silica’s is growing steadily in both traditional areas and ever-increasing numbers of novel areas. Colloidal silica’s are found in fields as diverse as catalysis, metallurgy, electronics, glass, ceramics, paper and pulp technology, optics, elastomers, food, health care and industrial chromatography, polishing sophisticated microcircuit parts to outer space and play vital role in the safe reentry of space vehicles and the development of Western for that matter, world civilization. The paper focuses a brief overview of chemical mechanical polishing using colloidal slurry.