• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.112-117
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• 2006

In this paper we present that the effects of polymer adsorption on stabilities and CMP performance of ceria abrasive particles. Characterization of ceria abrasive particles in the presence of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) was performed by the measurements of adsorbed amounts of PVP, average sizes, and the back scattering intensities of the ceria abrasive particles as functions of PVP molecular weight and PVP concentration. The ceria abrasive particles in the presence of PVP were used to polish $SiO_2\;and\;Si_3N_4$ films deposited on Si wafers in order to understand the effect of PVP adsorption on chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) performance, together with ceria abrasive particles without PVP. Adsorption of PVP on the ceria abrasive particles enhanced the stability of ceria abrasive particles due to steric stabilization of the thick adsorbed layer of PVP. Removal rates of the deposited $SiO_2\;and\;Si_3N_4$ films by the ceria abrasive particles in the presence of PVP were much lower than those in the absence of PVP and their magnitudes were decreased with an increase in the concentration of free PVP chains in the dispersion media. This suggests that the CMP performance in the presence of PVP could be mainly controlled by the hydrodynamic interactions between the adsorbed PVP chains and the free ones. Moreover, the molecular weight dependence of PVP on the removal rates of the deposited films was hardly observed. On the other hand, high removal rate selectivity between the deposited films in the presence of PVP was not observed.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.818-823
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• 2005

Sub-micron colloidal silica particles coated with nano-sized ceria were prepared by mixing of its silica and cerium salts hydrolysis, and modified by hydrothermal reaction. By using the slurries with and without hydrothermal modification containing above particles, oxide film coated on silicon wafer was polished. The modified slurries had higher polish rate due to increase of ceria fraction to silica through hydrothermal reaction. They revealed higher stability in wide range of pH $2\~10$ than ceria coated silica slurries without its modification.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.249-252
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• 2009

Nanocrystalline ceria particles were prepared by using the ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method. The prepared ceria particles were found to be spherical and non-agglomerated by the SEM and TEM analyses. It was found that carrier gas influences the size and morphology. It was found that the air stream of carrier gas results in porous agglomerated structure of ceria abrasives, whereas solid nano-sphere can be obtained in a more oxidizing atmosphere.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.561-562
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to investigate the root cause of adhesion of silica and ceria particles during Poly-Si, TEOS, and SiN CMP process, respectively. The zeta-potentials of abrasive particles and wafers were observed negative surface charges in the alkaline solutions. SAC and STI patterned wafers have intermediate values of their composition surface's zeta potentials. The theoretical interaction force and adhesion force of silica and ceria particle were calculated in solution with acidic, neutral and alkaline pH. A stronger attractive force was calculated for silica and ceria particles on wafers in acidic solutions than in alkaline solutions. The theoretical interaction forces of the SAC and STI patterned wafers have intermediate values of their constitution wafer's values. The adhesion forces is observed lower values in alkaline solutions than in acidic solutions. And the ceria particle has lower adhesion than that of the silica particle.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.167-172
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• 2006

Submicron colloidal silica coated with ceria were prepared by mixing of silica and nano ceria particles and modified by hydrothermal reaction. The polishing efficiency of the ceria coated silica slurry was tested over oxide film on silicon wafer. By changing the polishing pressure in the range of $140{\sim}420g/cm^2$ with the ceria coated silica slurries in $100{\sim}300nm$, rates, WIWNU and friction force were measured. The removal rate was in the order of 200, 100, and 300 nm size silica coated with ceria. It was known that the smaller particle size gives the higher removal rate with higher contact area in Cu slurry. In the case of oxide film, the indentation volume as well as contact area gives effect on the removal rate depending on the size of abrasives. The indentation volume increase with the size of abrasive particles, which results to higher removal rate. The highest removal rate in 200 nm silica core coated with ceria is discussed as proper combination of indentation and contact area effect.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.173-184
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• 2019

As the size of semiconductors becomes smaller, it is necessary to perform high precision polishing of nanoscale. Ceria, which is generally used as an abrasive, is widely used because of its uniform quality, but its stability is not high because it has a high molecular weight and causes agglomeration and rapid precipitation. Such agglomeration and precipitation causes scratches in the polishing process. Therefore, it is important to accurately analyze the size distribution of ceria particles. In this study, a study was conducted to select dispersants useful for preventing coagulation and sedimentation of ceria. First, a dispersant was synthesized and a ceria slurry was prepared. The defoamer selection experiment was performed in order to remove the air bubbles which may occur in the production of ceria slurry. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AsFlFFF) were used to determine the size distribution of ceria particles in the slurry. AsFlFFF is a technique for separating nanoparticles based on sequential elution of samples as in chromatography, and is a useful technique for determining the particle size distribution of nanoparticle samples. AsFlFFF was able to confirm the presence of a little quantities of large particles in the vicinity of 300 nm, which DLS can not detect, besides the main distribution in the range of 60-80 nm. AsFlFFF showed better accuracy and precision than DLS for particle size analysis of a little quantities of large particles such as ceria slurry treated in this study.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.53-57
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• 2007

In this study, a novel slurry containing ceria as the abrasive particles was analyzed in terms of its frictional, thermal and kinetic attributes for interlayer dielectric (ILD) CMP application. The novel slurry was used to polish 200-mm blanket ILD wafers on an $IC1000_{TM}$ K-groove pad with in-situ conditioning. Polishing pressures ranged from 1 to 5 PSI and the sliding velocity ranged from 0.5 to 1.5 m/s. Shear force and pad temperature were measured in real time during the polishing process. The frictional analysis indicated that boundary lubrication was the dominant tribological mechanism. The measured average pad leading edge temperature increased from 26.4 to $38.4\;^{\circ}C$ with the increase in polishing power. The ILD removal rate also increased with the polishing power, ranging from 400 to 4000 A/min. The ILD removal rate deviated from Prestonian behavior at the highest $p{\times}V$ polishing condition and exhibited a strong correlation with the measured average pad leading edge temperature. A modified two-step Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model was used to simulate the ILD removal rate. In this model, transient flash heating temperature is assumed to dominate the chemical reaction temperature. The model successfully captured the variable removal rate behavior at the highest $p{\times}V$ polishing condition and indicates that the polishing process was mechanical limited in the low $p{\times}V$ polishing region and became chemically and mechanically balanced with increasing polishing power.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.161-161
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• 2008

The oxide film of silicon wafer has been mainly polished by fumed silica, colloidal silica or ceria slurry. Because colloidal silica slurry is uniform and highly dispersed composed of spherical shape particles, by which the oxide film polished remains to be less scratched in finishing polishing process. Even though the uniformity and spherical shape is advantage for reducing the scratch, it may also be the factor to decrease the removal rate. We have studied the correlation of silica abrasive particles and CMP characteristics by varying pH, down force, and table rotation rate in polishing. It was found that the CMP polishing is dependent on the morphology, aggregation, and the surface property of the silica particles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.85-90
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• 2017

Mica-glass ceramics has features such as micro-sized crystals, high strength, chemical resistance, semitransparent optical properties, etc. Due to its superior material properties, mica glass ceramics have increasing applications in dental and medical components, insulation boards, chemical devices, etc. In many applications, especially for dental and medical components, ultra-precise polishing is required. However, it is known to be a very difficult-to-grind material because of its high hardness and brittle properties. Thus, in this study, a newly developed ultra-precise polishing method is applied to obtain nano-level surface roughness of the mica glass ceramics using magnetorheological (MR) fluids and nano abrasives. Nano-sized ceria particles were used for the polishing of the mica glass ceramics. A series of experiments were performed under various polishing conditions, and the results were analyzed. A very fine surface roughness of Ra=6.127 nm could be obtained.