Compressive elastic moduli and polishing performance of non-rigid core/shell structured PS/SiO2 composite abrasives evaluated by AFM

The core/shell structured polystyrene (PS)/SiO2 composite microspheres with different silica shell morphology were synthesized by a modified Stöber method. As confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the rough discontinuous shell consisted of separate SiO2 nanoparticles for composite-A, while the smooth continuous one was composed of amorphous silica network for composite-B. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to probe the compressive Young's moduli (E) and chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) performances of the as-prepared PS/SiO2 composite microspheres. On the basis of the Hertzian contact mechanics, the calculated E values of the PS microspheres, composite-A and composite-B were 2.9 ± 0.4, 5.1 ± 1.2 and 6.0 ± 1.2 GPa, respectively. Compared to traditional abrasives, thermally grown silicon oxide wafers after polished by the core/shell PS/SiO2 composite abrasives obtained a lower root mean square roughness and a higher material removal rate value. In addition, there is an obvious effect of shell morphology of the composites on oxide CMP performance and structural stability during polishing process. This approach would provide a basis for understanding the actual role of organic/inorganic core/shell composite abrasives in the material removal process of CMP.