An Integrated Approach to Chemical Mechanical Planarization Technology Advances

Short Course at ECS meetings

This course covers the fundamentals of the chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process to be utilized for process design, integration methodology, yield improvement, and troubleshooting. The content is designed to make the course a complete overview of CMP technologies, starting with the history, extending into the fundamental concepts for process design and development sequence, and concluding with metrology and future trends. The course is aimed at engineers or students with introductory chemistry, physics, and mathematics backgrounds to serve as a reference and assist with troubleshooting while providing critical learning of the subjects for further self-studying.

Topics covered
  • Introduction to chemical mechanical planarization (CMP)
    • History of CMP
    • Impact on device manufacturing and yields
    • Design that would not be possible without CMP
  • Fundamental concepts for CMP design
    • Nano-scale contact mechanics
    • Colloids and surface chemistry
    • Electrochemical processes
    • Post CMP Cleaning
  • CMP development sequence
  • Metrology and future trends in data management
Guest Lecturers

Dr. Rob Rhoades, Co-Founder President and CTO, X-trinsic

Dr. Yaw Obeng, Research Chemist, Nanoscale Imaging Group, Nanoscale Device Characterization Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology

About the instructors

Dr. Bahar BasimDr. Bahar Basim is a Senior Engineer at Intel Corporation, working in the Logic Technology Development Productivity and Selection Team. She is an expert in electronic materials and CMP. Dr. Basim received her PhD from the University of Florida (UF) Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Department in 2002. Her dissertation focused on slurry design for CMP process development. After graduation, Dr. Basim worked for Intel Corporation and Texas Instruments as a member of the technical staff. Dr. Basim joined academia in 2009 as a founder faculty member at the UF MSE Department and the National Science Foundation IUCRC (Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers) Center for Particles and Surfactant Systems. She returned to Intel in 2021, working on 3D NAND development with the Non-Volatile Memory Scaling and Architecture Group.

Dr. Jason KeleherDr. Jason Keleher is currently Professor and Chair of Chemistry at Lewis University. He received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Clarkson University in 2004 under the guidance of the late Dr. Yuzhou Li, working on the “Development of Next Generation Consumable Technologies for Chemical Mechanical Planarization of Cu/Low K Devices.” After graduate school, Jason worked as a research scientist at Komag Inc. (now Western Digital) and Cabot Microelectronics (now Entegris) on the design of next-generation consumables with an emphasis on the fundamental understanding of chemical reaction mechanisms at the nanoparticle/polymer/substrate interface. Prof. Keleher has been honored with the Distinguished Lasallian Educator Award and the American Chemical Society Stanley C. Israel Award for Advancing Diversity in the Great Lakes Region.