Evaluation of the chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) performance of silicon nitride and silicon carbide as hard mask materials for Cu-based interconnect technology

Hydrogenated silicon nitride, hydrogenated silicon carbide, and their intermediates were chemo-mechanically polished. Results showed that, within the material set examined, harder materials also have higher CMP removal rates. In addition, CMP rates for multilayer stacks did not follow those for single layers. Polish mechanisms were proposed to explain these phenomena. © 2002 Materials Research Society.