Semiconductor Resources – NexION 2000
Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is a process for polishing wafer surfaces used in semiconductor manufacturing. It uses a slurry containing both nanoparticles and functional chemicals. Cerium dioxide (CeO2) particles are commonly used in CMP slurries, and the sizes of the particles in the slurry are extremely important.
During the production of semiconductor devices, a series of acids are commonly used for a variety of processes. One of the more important chemicals is hydrochloric acid (HCl), whose primary use is to clean the surface of silicon wafers as part of a mixture with hydrogen peroxide and water.
With the increased use of nanoparticles (NPs) in various products and processes, the need to characterize them has also increased. Single Particle ICP-MS (SP-ICP-MS) was developed for rapid analysis of nanoparticles, measuring thousands of particles in less than a minute, while providing individual particle information on particle size, particle size distribution, particle concentration, dissolved concentration of the element, and agglomeration.