Mechano-Oxidation and Material Removal Mechanisms in Tantalum Electrochemical Mechanical Polishing (ECMP)

摘要

In manufacturing integrated circuits (ICs), electrochemical mechanical planarization/polishing (ECMP) has been considered to replace the conventional chemical mechanical planarization/polishing (CMP) for metal polishing. The advantages of ECMP over CMP are lower down pressure, better surface finish and higher controllability. It has been accepted that the mechanism of CMP is to form a soft oxide and its subsequent mechanical removal accomplished the material removal. However, the material removal mechanism of ECMP has not been reported, in particular the removal process has not been observed in situ.