Effects of Grain Size and Abrasive Size of Polycrystalline Nano-particle Ceria Slurry on Shallow Trench Isolation Chemical Mechanical Polishing

Abstract

In a ceria slurry with an ionic surfactant, the grain size and particle size of the poly-crystalline abrasives were controlled independently by changing the calcination temperature and the mechanical milling time, respectively, during abrasive synthesis. A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) experiment using the slurry showed that the oxide removal rate increased with both the grain size and the abrasive particle size, while the nitride removal rate was independent of both. On the other hand, examination of the nanotopography impact showed that the planarization efficiency increased with decreasing abrasive size but was independent of the grain size.