Characterisation and modeling of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) for deep submicron integrated circuit (IC) fabrication

199 p.Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) also known as chemical mechanical polishing has emerged as the fastest growing operation in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. It is expected to show equally explosive growth in the future [1]. CMP is the only known visible technology so far that can achieve the requirements of providing the global planarized thin film surface on wafer substrate. However, the CMP process still faces challenges such as material removal rate, uniformity of post thickness, selectivity, repeatability and defect for its successful implementation in deep submicron IC fabrication. Characterization and modeling are needed to address a variety of concerns in CMP applications. This thesis identifies and directs towards alleviating some of these major issues as highlighted in the following three paragraphs that associated with application of CMP in ultra large scale integrated (ULSI) circuit manufacturing.DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (MAE