Chemical Mechanical Material Removal of Silicon Dioxide by a Single Pad Asperity

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) of SiO
₂
is a key issue in IC and optical components manufacturing. Therefore, the mechanism of material removal during CMP has attracted substantial interests. To study the effects of mechanical and chemical actions on material removal process, a polyoxymethylene (Pom) ball was used to mimic a single pad asperity and polish a SiO
₂
film surface, fused silica surface and BK7 surface. The material removal results show differences for composition and structure of materials. The material removal depth (MRD) per cycle reaches its limit with load increasing, indicating the chemical control of removal for different physicochemical properties at different surface layer depths. Moreover, with load increasing, the bottom morphology of trench deteriorates. Chemical mechanical synergy (CMS) is the basis for MRR prediction, and the CMS mechanism can provide a basis for removal stability analysis and control.