ABSTRACT
O v er the last few d ecad es, th e sem ico n d u c to r in d u stry has b een g ro w in g at a p h en o m en a l pace. A s new tech n o lo g ies are d isco v ered , th e p h y sica l size o f m ic ro p ro c esso rs has co n tin u a lly d ec reased . M u ltila y e r m eta l tech n o lo g y , w h ich has b een u sed in the m an u fac tu re o f p erso n a l co m p u te rs sin ce 1984, is o ne o f the m o st co m m o n ly em p lo y ed m e th o d s in size red u c tio n . T h e p ro cess , w h ich w as firs t ap p lied in the In tel 286 m ic ro p ro cesso r, is b ased on the ap p lica tio n o f lay ers o f m etal sep ara ted by layers o f in su la tio n . T h ese m e ta l lay ers have th ic k n esse s on the o rd e r o f m ic ro n s, so u ltra sm o o th to le ran ces are req u ired to p rev en t any sh o rt-c ircu itin g b e tw een su b seq u en t layers [1]. C h em ica lm ech an ica l p o lish in g (C M P ) is cu rren tly the m o st ad v an ced and w id e ly u sed p ro cess c re a tin g th ese u ltra sm o o th su rfaces.
