Polishing performance and mechanism of a novel Fe-based slurry for chemical mechanical polishing

The planarization of silicon carbide (SiC) achieved through chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) poses a significant challenge. In this work, the CMP performance of a novel slurry containing Fe, Al2O3, and graphene oxide (GO) on SiC substrate was systematically investigated. Morphological characterization revealed a significant enhancement in the dispersion of Fe due to the presence of GO. Furthermore, CMP results demonstrated that the material removal rate (MMR) using the novel slurry could reach 700 nm/h, resulting in an average surface roughness (Sa) reduction to 0.6175 nm. Through the measurement of hydroxyl radical (·OH) concentration, the novel slurry was found to generate sufficient ·OH for the oxidation of SiC surface. This study proposes a viable processing method for CMP of hard materials.