Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Planarization Research Articles

A Physics-Based Chip-Scale Surface Profile Model for Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Planarization

In this work, a new physics-based chip-scale surface profile model is proposed to focus on investigating the influence of the design pattern effects on the tungsten surface topography in the chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process. Due to its significance of the contact pressure on CMP planarity simulation, a two-scale contact pressure computation method is constructed to obtain an accurate pressure distribution between the wafer surface and the polishing pad. First, chip-scale contact mechanics-based global pressure has been introduced to capture the long range height variation of W CMP caused by deposition and polishing processes. Then feature-scale pattern dependent effect is considered to accurately calculate the local contact pressure in constructing the final removal rate formula and achieving chip surface profile simulation. The calculated local contact pressure is further integrated with the fundamental of steady-state oxidation reaction to construct a new material removal rate model, which systematically captures the effects of mechanical abrasion and concentration of chemical reagent on the polishing rate. The model prediction results are consistent with the collected experimental data in predicting the dishing effect at different slurry conditions. The simulated surface topography and polishing removal rate characteristics post tungsten CMP indicate prominent design pattern-dependent effects. Therefore, the present W CMP model can be utilized to assist in analyzing the influence of the design pattern effects on the wafer surface topography and performing sensitivity analysis of design parameters on the surface planarity. It can also be readily incorporated into a design for manufacturability flow to form a chip-scale planarity simulator to detect the hotspots of the entire design layout.

A Material Removal Rate Model for Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Planarization

In this work, a new tungsten removal rate model is proposed in the chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process to investigate the removal mechanism with consideration of the synergistic effect of chemical reaction and mechanical abrasion. Based on the fundamentals of steady-state chemical reaction and mechanical abrasion, a chemical reaction kinetics CMP model is first built up to relate the removal rate to the chemical reagent and mechanical rate parameters. Then the Greenwood-Williamson (GW) contact theory is introduced into the chemical reaction kinetics model to construct a closed-form equation of removal rate, which captures the synergistic coupling effect of chemical and mechanical interactions. Furthermore, the present model is verified by the collected experimental data and utilized to investigate the impact of the design pattern effects on the removal rate. The consistency of the model prediction and the experimental data as well as the removal characteristics of design pattern structures indicate that the new proposed tungsten CMP model can be adopted to elucidate the synergistic effect of chemical and mechanical interactions and perform the sensitivity analysis of the design pattern dependency on removal rate of tungsten films.

Fe-substituted silica via lattice dissolution–reprecipitation replacement for tungsten chemical mechanical planarization

Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is indispensable for processing of integrated circuit semiconductor devices to attain globally planarized surfaces. One of the critical consumables in the CMP process is a slurry containing abrasives like colloidal silica (SiO2). However, there is a limit to the use of CMP slurries containing SiO2 under acidic conditions due to deterioration of colloidal stability, resulting in defects on the planarized surfaces. Herein, we developed an Fe-substituted SiO2 consisting of single-atom Fe(III), enabling improved colloidal stability over universal pH regions for low-defect tungsten CMP applications. The facile and unique single-atom modification process is proposed by controlling the lattice dissolution–reprecipitation replacement of Fe3+ and Si4+ ions. The physicochemical states of Fe atoms in the surficial lattice of Fe-substituted SiO2 were confirmed through Raman spectroscopy, electron microscopy, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. Consequently, enhanced performance in W CMP was achieved using Fe-substituted SiO2. Regarding defect performance, defects were reduced from 11 scratches to 0 and 94 other defects to only 7. Additionally, the removal rate increased from 67 to 122 Å/min, and the surface topography improved from 6.6 to 2.9 nm.

Tungsten passivation layer (WO3) formation mechanisms during chemical mechanical planarization in the presence of oxidizers

Effects of single and mixed oxidants of Fe(NO3)3 and H2O2 containing acidic silica slurries were studied to investigate the mechanism of tungsten (W) chemical mechanical planarization (CMP). The W polishing rate obtained from the CMP test depicted high W polishing rate in the presence of mixed oxidants of Fe(NO3)3 and H2O2 as compared to a single oxidant of either H2O2 or Fe(NO3)3. The formation of a passive layer of tungsten oxide (WO3) and W dissolution could be the reason for these results as confirmed by XPS. Further investigation revealed that the generation of much stronger oxidants of hydroxyl radicals (OH) was solely responsible for WO3 layer formation. Quantitative evaluation of OH generation was estimated using a UV–visible spectrophotometer and confirmed that in-situ generation of hydroxyl radicals (OH) could be a main driving force for the high W polishing rate by converting a hard W film into a soft passive film of WO3. WO3 film formation was further confirmed using potentiodynamic polarization studies, which showed a smaller value of corrosion current density (Icorr) in mixed oxidants of Fe(NO3)3 and H2O2 as compared to the large values of Icorr observed for H2O2 alone. This study revealed that a single oxidizer of either Fe(NO3)3 or H2O2 was not capable of achieving a high W removal rate. Rather, only mixed oxidants of Fe(NO3)3 and H2O2 could cause a high W polishing rate due to excessive in-situ generation of OH radicals during the W CMP process.

Effect of conditioner disc wear on frictional, thermal, kinetic and pad micro-textural attributes of interlayer dielectric and tungsten chemical mechanical planarization

A brand-new conventional diamond disc was subjected to 32 h of wear during which SEM images of active diamonds were taken, and pad cut rates (PCRs) were measured. Interlayer dielectric (ILD) wafers were polished before, midway through, and after the wear test (on a brand-new pad) at several values of polishing pressure and pad-wafer sliding velocities. Tungsten wafers were also polished midway through and after the 32 h wear. Polishing was accompanied by pad surface topography analysis via confocal microscopy. The disc experienced significant diamond tip micro-wear along with dried slurry accumulation on its substrate, causing the PCR to drop by a factor of 2. Despite this drastic change, over the duration of the wear test, there were no substantial changes in pad micro-texture, nor ILD or tungsten removal rates indicating the lack of any correlation between PCR and film removal rate during the first 32 h of wear.

Correlating Coefficient of Friction and Shear Force to Platen Motor Current in Tungsten and Interlayer Dielectric Chemical Mechanical Planarization at Steady-State Conditions

Following up our earlier work that highlighted the relationship between shear force (SF) and platen motor current (PMC), in parallel with the relationship between coefficient of friction (COF) and PMC for various tungsten and interlayer dielectric (ILD) chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) cases at non-steady-state conditions, we explored whether or not PMC could be used as a reliable indicator instead of SF and COF at steady-state conditions. For the 12 cases studied, 72 distinct steps were analyzed. It was determined that PMC somewhat mirrored SF and PMC for long time (i.e. 10 s or longer) intervals after data averaging and applying a trend matching algorithm. SF and PMC trends matched only about 64% of the time (ranges between 45% to 85%) for all 72 steps, while PMC and COF trends matched 62% of the time ranging between 42% and 85%. PMC-SF and PMC-COF correlations were fairly poor at 1-sec time intervals as evidenced by much lower percent match values. Such poor correlations proved that at small time intervals, PMC was not sensitive enough to capture important information regarding myriad fluid dynamics and tribological phenomena and the instantaneous stick-slip occurrences encountered in CMP.

Effect of Abrasive Nanoparticle Concentration on the Tribological, Thermal and Kinetic Attributes of Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Planarization

The effect of slurry abrasive nanoparticle (NP) concentration on the tribological, thermal and kinetic attributes of tungsten chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) was investigated. Three tungsten slurries with different amounts of colloidal silica NPs, without any detectable changes in formulation chemistry, yielded three different polishing outcomes. As slurry nanoparticle concentration [NP] increased, the coefficient of friction (COF), temperature, tungsten removal rate (RR) and tungsten to silicon dioxide RR selectivity decreased. For tungsten, trends in COF, temperature and RR were successfully simulated using a two-step modified Langmuir-Hinshelwood model which also yielded values for the chemical and mechanical rate constants. Simulation results indicated that the process was chemically-limited for most polishing conditions, and that the process became even more chemically limited as P × v increased. Moreover, the process became more chemically-limited as [NP] increased. During the extraction of an important parameter for simulation purposes (apparent activation energy), a unique change in curvature of the Arrhenius plot was observed and attributed to the fact that chemical vapor deposited (CVD) tungsten films differ in their density, chemical composition and film morphology as a function of their thickness. The same explanation also accounted for the observed changes in instantaneous shear force vs polish time.

Insights into Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Planarization: Part II. Effect of Pad Surface Micro-Texture on Frictional, Thermal and Kinetic Aspects of the Process

The effect of different types of conditioners used during tungsten chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) on frictional, thermal, and kinetic aspects of the process was investigated. Based on previous work, regarding the effect of conditioner type and downforce on the evolution of pad surface micro-texture during break-in, two significantly different discs were employed (i.e. conventional vs. CVD-coated). First, mini-marathon style tungsten CMP runs were conducted for each disc. These were followed by tungsten polishing at various pressures and velocities. Pad samples were extracted before and after the mini-marathon polishing runs for confocal microscopy (CM) analysis of their surface micro-texture. Compared to the CVD-coated disc, the more aggressive conventional disc produced summits that were 60 percent taller and 50 percent sharper. It also caused for contact density to be more than four times higher likely due to the many more pad fragments that it generated. Consequentially, the surface micro-texture generated by the conventional disc produced a 50 percent higher directivity and a 60 percent higher removal rate. For both discs, we found that mechanical effects were rate-limiting for tungsten removal. The conventional disc resulted in a Preston's constant that was 24 percent higher than its CVD counterpart owing to its more aggressive nature and pad surface micro-texture that it generated.

Correlating Coefficient of Friction and Shear Force to Platen Motor Current in Tungsten and Interlayer Dielectric Chemical Mechanical Planarization at Highly Non-Steady-State Conditions

Correlations between shear force and platen motor current (PMC), as well as those between coefficient of friction (COF) and PMC were investigated for various tungsten and interlayer dielectric (ILD) chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) cases where the processes were highly non steady-state. We chose to initially focus on non-steady-state conditions because we believed the relationships among shear force, COF and platen motor current to be clearer as opposed to steady-state conditions. Shear force, normal force and PMC data were collected from twelve different Stribeck+ curves at an acquisition frequency of 1,000 Hz and analyzed in order to determine any emerging trends. For the 12 cases, involving 8 pre-polished blanket CVD tungsten and 4 silicon dioxide blanket wafers, it was discovered that PMC closely mirrored shear force as evidenced by a high average correlation coefficient (0.955) and coefficient of determination (0.916) obtained from all runs. For COF vs. PMC, the average correlation coefficient and coefficient of determination for all cases were 0.758 and 0.608, respectively. These average values were dragged down by 5 cases in which the dominant tribological mechanism was found to be “boundary lubrication” where COF changed minimally with pseudo-Sommerfeld number.

Insights into Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Planarization: Part I. Surface Micro-Texture Evolution during Pad Break-In

The effect of conditioner types and downforces during pad break-in on pad surface micro-texture evolution is investigated. Two substantially different discs are employed (i.e. conventional vs CVD-coated), each at two different downforces. Pad samples are extracted throughout the break-in process and their surface micro-topography and pad-wafer contact characteristics are analyzed using confocal microscopy. The two conditioning discs result in different evolution paths during break-in. In general, the conventional disc produces more pad “fragments” that get counted as taller “artificial” asperities as compared to the CVD-coated disc. In contrast, the gentle shaving action of the CVD-coated disc promotes eventual flattening of the asperity tips. Regardless of the disc type, the mean summit heights decrease and reach stable values as break-in progresses. Compared to the CVD-coated disc, the conventional disc results in higher mean summit curvature indicating sharper asperities. This work underscores the need for optimum conditioner design for attaining a steady pad surface micro-texture at a given downforce and within a reasonable break-in time.

Insights into Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Planarization: Part III. Mini-Marathons and Associated Numerical Simulations

The effects of different types of conditioners (i.e. conventional vs. CVD-coated) on the evolution of frictional, thermal, and kinetic aspects of the tungsten chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) was investigated. Two types of conditioning discs were used to conduct mini-marathons. Due to its more aggressive nature, the conventional disc was able to result in steady values of coefficient of friction (0.438) and blanket tungsten removal rate (253 nm/min) throughout the mini-marathon. In contrast, the CVD-coated disc resulted in a significant decay in coefficient of friction (from 0.440 to 0.373) as the mini-marathon progressed. At the same time, removal rates also dropped from 286 to 246 nm/min. The decays observed with CVD-coated disc were likely due to its gentle nature and thus in its inability to remove reaction by-products as they got generated during repeated polishing. This hypothesis was confirmed by performing a mini-marathon with a much less chemically active slurry which did not cause any decays in polish metrics. Since mechanical effects were previously found to be rate-limiting, Preston's equation was able to adequately simulate the removal rates and their trends for each and every wafer polished during the mini-marathons.

A Material Removal Rate Model for Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Planarization

In this work, a new material removal rate (MRR) model for tungsten chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is proposed to provide some fundamental insights of slurry components and contact behavior on the removal mechanism. The synergistic effect of mechanical abrasion and chemical reactions on MRR is systematically investigated through using concepts of the steady-state equilibrium, chemical growth kinetics and contact mechanics in W CMP process. A closed-form equation of MRR is formulated to capture the influence of the slurry chemistry and operating parameters on the surface removal mechanism. Then the tungsten CMP model is simplified and verified through comparing the simulated results of removal rates with experimental data. It is found that the MRR has complicated variation behaviors depending on the specific model parameters. The consistency of the simulation results and experiments indicates that the present model can be adopted to capture the influences of chemicals, mechanical abrasion and pad properties on the polishing rate and assist in optimizing the surface uniformity of tungsten wafers.

Fenton-Like Reaction between Copper Ions and Hydrogen Peroxide for High Removal Rate of Tungsten in Chemical Mechanical Planarization

The Fenton reaction has been used for the tungsten oxidation under acidic conditions in tungsten chemical mechanical planarization (CMP). However, the narrow working pH window required for ideal reaction limits its application. Herein, we report a simple Fenton-like system via the reaction between copper ion and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for the tungsten oxidation over a broad pH range. Copper ion was employed as a reactant with H2O2 for the Fenton-like reaction, resulting in high production rates of hydroxyl radicals in the range of acidic to neutral pH, which leads to a high rate of tungsten oxidation. As a result, the Fenton-like reaction between copper ions and H2O2 enables the high removal rates of tungsten films during CMP process in acidic to neutral pH ranges.

Real-Time Shear and Normal Force Trends in Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Planarization with Different Conditioning Discs

In-situ conditioning is known to increase material removal rate (RR) during chemical mechanical planarization (CMP), because it roughens the pad surface that is in contact with the wafer. Previous studies have shown that the conditioning disc changes the pad surface micro-texture and affects the thermal, kinetic and tribological attributes of the CMP process. This study focuses on two different diamond discs for in-situ conditioning during tungsten CMP, and shows how real-time force data improves our understanding of the effects from using one disc versus the other. Shear and normal forces were analyzed through spectral analysis, variance and force scatter plots. Frequency signatures that appear regardless of the type of disc used were likely attributed to vibrations of the polisher and the harmonics of these vibrations. A new parameter, directivity (Δ), was employed, which highlighted the significant differences in shear force variance between the two discs. Above all, this study confirmed that high Δ correlated with high RR. Compared to a related study on copper CMP with these discs, the trends between Δ and RR seemed to continue to hold.

CuO embedded silica nanoparticles for tungsten oxidation via a heterogeneous Fenton-like reaction

The Fenton reaction is used for the oxidation of tungsten via the production of hydroxyl radicals under acidic conditions. However, the narrow working pH range required for ideal reaction conditions limits the applications of these reactions. Herein, we developed a simple heterogeneous Fenton-like system for hydroxyl radical production over a broad pH range. Copper oxide nanoparticles (NPs) grown on the surface of silica NPs led to a heterogeneous Fenton-like reaction with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), resulting in a high production rate of hydroxyl radicals in the range of acidic to neutral pH. The increased hydroxyl radical production rate at these pH values led to a high oxidation rate of tungsten. Furthermore, we applied this heterogeneous Fenton-like system to tungsten chemical mechanical planarization, resulting in high performance tungsten removal in acidic to neutral pH conditions.

Post Cleaning for FEOL CMP with Silica and Ceria Slurries

For the manufacturing of Si-based semiconductors, CMP is utilized extensively to enable FEOL process integration such as STI, deep-trench, ILD, and poly-open. Silica slurries are usually adopted for bulk oxide polish while ceria slurries are more suited for the final “buff” polish where high selectivity to nitride is required. The ever stringent requirement for scratch reduction leads to the trend of using nano-sized abrasive particles in all types of CMP slurries. However, the stronger adhesion force between these nanoparticles and wafer surface necessitates the re-design and optimization of post-CMP processes to meet the low PR/FM defect requirement. The selection of proper chemicals is often the first step towards post-CMP cleaning. However, design of cleaning sequence, exploitation of the tool hardware, and optimization of operating parameters are equally critical to achieve maximum cleaning efficiency. As shown in Fig. 1, for an oxide or poly-Si CMP process with an acidic silica-based slurry, a preferred post cleaning process should operate in alkaline environment (e.g., pH 8~10) in order to build in repulsive zeta potential for easy of particle removal from wafer surface. In this case, the use of an acidic pCMP chemical would be unfavorable from zeta-potential point of view. Replacement of acidic chemical with just DIW (pH ~ 7) leads to significant reduction in PR/FM. In addition, optimization of the directionality, spin rpm, arm oscillation speed…etc, helps eliminate the wafer center-heavy signature and reduces the defect count further down. For FEOL CMP with ceria-based slurry running on a 3-platen polisher with serial meg tank/brush cleaning module, one can design the pCMP process based on the unique “reactive” nature of ceria abrasives, and also fully exploit the available hardwares and their process parameters. In this example, the POR process adopts only DIW in the meg tank. The go-to process, however, replaces DIW with a diluted acidic oxidizer so as to neutralize the reactive ceria abrasives, making it much easier to dislodge the particles from oxide wafer surface. The significant FM NADD reduction with the go-to pCMP process illustrates the efficiency of adding the meg clean step with diluted oxidizer. Further PR/FM reduction can be realized by optimizing the hardware and machine parameters such as those listed in Fig. 2, from on-platen buff clean all the way to the terminal step of Maragoni drying. Furthermore, for a new pCMP process to be considered production-ready, run order effects, repeatability, and CoO reduction need to be taken into account as well. In addition, post-clean surface analyses are carried out to ensure no potential reliability concern. Reference: W.-T. Tseng, J. Hagan, K. Mohan, R. Hull, J. MacDougall, R. Murphy, L. Tai, S. Molis, “Post Cleaning and Defect Reduction for Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Planarization” ICPT, 2015. Figure 1

Improvements in Stribeck Curves for Copper and Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Planarization on Soft Pads

Understanding the tribology of polishing processes using an improved Stribeck curve (i.e. referred as Stribeck+ curve) elucidates the essential factors governing the mechanical aspects of chemical mechanical planarization. This study investigated tribological and thermal aspects of copper and tungsten blanket wafer polishing on the Politex soft pad with a multitude of gradual yet continuous changes in polishing pressure and sliding velocity. This work also attempted to understand the frictional and thermal transients associated with such dynamic processes. Results showed that polishing with the Politex pad produced stable COF values that indicated a “boundary lubrication” regime throughout. In contrast, copper polishing on hard pads produced tremendous spread of data clusters having a trend in COF that started with “boundary lubrication” and then transitioned to the “mixed lubrication” mode. Regarding temperature effects, the plots between average pad surface temperature and the product of COF, velocity and downward pressure showed a linear relationship between the two parameters for all copper and tungsten polishing used in conjunction with Politex and hard pads.

Highly Dispersed Fe3+-Substituted Colloidal Silica Nanoparticles for Defect-Free Tungsten Chemical Mechanical Planarization

Silica nanoparticles (NPs) are used as abrasives for tungsten chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) at acidic pH. However, the use of silica NPs at pH near their isoelectric point remains a problem because agglomeration due to low surface charge leads to defects on the tungsten surface during CMP. Herein, we report a simple strategy to increase the surface charge of silica NPs at acidic pH for defect-free tungsten CMP. The isomorphic substitution of Si4+ by Fe3+ ions on the surface of silica NPs by hydrothermal reaction led to a pH-independent permanent negative surface charge, which increased as the concentration of substituted Fe3+ ions increased. At acidic pH, the increased negative surface charge of Fe3+-substituted silica (Fe-silica) NPs resulted in a reduction in the number of agglomerated large particles relative to that of pure silica NPs. As a result, highly negatively-charged Fe-silica NPs showed high performance in the reduction of defect count on the tungsten surface after CMP.

Multi-objective optimization of tungsten CMP slurry for advanced semiconductor manufacturing using a response surface methodology

In this study, a response surface methodology (RSM) coupled with a face center cube design (FCD) was used to optimize the three principal components (i.e., Fe(NO3)3, H2O2, and SiO2 abrasives) in polishing slurries for a W barrier chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process. The experimental ranges of the three components were 10–50ppm of Fe(NO3)3, 0.3–0.9wt% of H2O2, and 1–5wt% of SiO2 abrasives. Based on the experimental data from the FCD, the second-order models for the material removal rate (MRR) of the W and Oxide films were fitted; these were determined to be statistically valid and reliable. We have achieved the optimal conditions for the three components where the MRR is maximized and the selectivity between the W and Oxide MRRs is ~1. The predicted MRR and selectivity at the optimal conditions were well correlated with the results of a confirmation run, which was conducted by using the W barrier CMP process with W-patterned wafers. In addition, we employed a particular RSM called dual-response optimization in order to investigate the tradeoff between the MRR and selectivity. Based on the tradeoff information, process engineers can conduct the optimization of the three components more flexibly.

CMP Development for New Generation Materials through Metal Oxide Thin Film Characterization

Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) process is currently facing the challenge to planarize larger scale wafers at an atomic scale precision. While the horizontal dimension (x-axis and y-axis as the wafer diameter) in the process can extend up to 300, 450 mm, the z-axis is limited to a margin of a couple hundred nanometers. This requirement highlights the need for fundamental understanding on the surface chemistry of the layers being exposed to the planarization process in terms of their interactions with the CMP slurry chemistry. Once the behavior of the wafer surface is understood at an atomic level, the process control metrics can be tuned accordingly. In our earlier work, we studied the growth of nano-scale protective oxide thin films for metal CMP on tungsten as a model [1]. Tungsten is a well-studied metallic layer in microelectronics and it is used as a gate dielectric for the novel T-gate transistors currently. Thin film analyses were conducted through advanced characterization techniques and also compared to the theoretical calculations for the modeling simulations. Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) was used to measure the surface roughness of the samples conditioned in the oxidizer environment before and after the CMP was conducted. The affect of surface roughness on wettability of the surfaces studied through contact angle measurements on the treated tungsten films. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy with Attenuated Total Reflectance FTIR/ATR technique in combination with the X-Ray Reflectivity (XRR) was utilized to determine the thicknesses of the oxidized nano films on the tungsten wafers. The results were evaluated through the comparison of the Pilling-Bedworth ratios of the oxidized nano films to determine the ability of the created oxide films as a self-protective oxide. Furthermore, a new modeling approach was introduced to CMP process optimization by means of topographic evaluation of the metal oxide thin films. Cahn Hilliard Equation (CHE) was utilized as an alternative to classical nucleation theory in terms of analyzing the topographic nature of the protective metal oxide nano films and modeling their growth, which was observed to affect the CMP performance [2]. It was concluded that the material removal rate mechanisms and the consequent planarization performance depend on the nature of nucleation of the metal oxide films, which is tailored by the oxidizer concentration. The basic knowledge defined on the chemically modified thin films has also been extended to the germanium CMP applications. Particularly, formation and selective removal of chemically modified germanium/silica thin films in the presence of cationic and anionic surfactants were evaluated through AFM wear tests as well as CMP and surface wettability responses. It was determined that while the self-assembled surfactant structures help improve slurry stability, they may retard the material removal rates by inhibiting the particle surface interactions [3]. The results of this study have shown that in the presence of hydrogen peroxide in the slurry, removal rates were mainly affected by the oxidizers surface activity resulting in the formation of germanium oxide film. However, surface quality and the selectivity of the Ge/SiO2 systems were tuned through adjusting the concentration of the oxidizer and surfactant type/chain length in the system to optimize the planarization performance [3]. This paper reviews the affects of chemically modified thin films on the CMP performance at an atomic level for tungsten, silica and germanium CMP applications as metal, dielectric and semiconductor materials utilized in the microelectronics industry. References A. Karagoz, V. Craciun, G.B. Basim, ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, 4(2), 1 (2015). A. Karagoz, Y. Sengul, G.B. Basim, ECS Transactions, 61(17), 15 (2014).A. Karagoz, G.B. Basim, ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, CMP Special Issue, 4(11), 5097 (2015).