Abstract
Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) has emerged recently as a new indispensable processing technique for higher degree of planarization in submicron multilevel VLSI. The urgent demand from industry has been answered by extensive empirical approach, while analytical models for the process are hardly proportionally matched. The fundamental aspects of the material removal, kinematic manipulation and in-situ monitoring are essential for the advancement of this key technology for semiconductor material. The current paper critically reviews the existing material removal theories with the emphasis on the new bear-and-shear model. Modification of the classical Preston equation is derived. The effects of the kinematic parameters in CMP are thoroughly investigated. The analytical results well explain the industry practice of the process recipe. The in-situ monitoring is vital for volume production of high value-added semiconductor manufacturing. The summary of available technology is provided and a novel concept for endpoint detection is demonstrated.