ABSTRACT
Polishing of materials has been known to many disciplines for many decades. For example, in astronomy, glass mirrors and lenses have been polished since at least the seventeenth century. In metallurgy, metal samples are routinely polished prior to metallographic examination. In the semiconductor field, lapping and polishing have been used for the prepara tion of single crystal substrates (wafers) during the last 40 years. The lapping process is used after sawing and prior to polishing. Lapping is performed on both sides of the wafer to insure flatness and parallelism. Polishing is used to remove surface damage and haze. All polishing processes described above refer to the surface finishing of bulk materials. During the past decade, a new application of polishing has occurred in integrated circuit manufacturing. This application involves the removal of thin metal, insulator, and semiconductor films. This new field is referred to as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).
