ABSTRACT
In the microelectronics community, the acronym CMP has been interpreted as either chemical-mechanical polishing or chemical-mechanical planarization. Polishing means the removal of materials, whereas planarization means flattening. It is the authors’ preference to interpret CMP as chemical-mechanical planarization. Because technology and integrated circuit (IC) shrinking advance rapidly, planarization has come to be at the heart of the CMP function.
