Bridging the Gap: Understanding the Chemistry of CMP

This laboratory exercise will expose upper-level undergraduate students to the aspect of chemistry known as Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP). CMP is used for the fabrication of computer chips and memory devices. Students investigate a representative slurry that is used for copper-based advanced integrated-circuit processes. More specifically, students monitor the generation of •OH through the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a metal/amino acid complex, which is used as a catalyst. This introduces students to the fundamentals of •OH trapping and provides practice in the techniques used for kinetic rate determination. The kinetics data obtained for these systems will be correlated with the static dissolution rate of Cu metal upon exposure to various control and hydroxyl radical generating solutions.