Influence of adhesion of silica and ceria abrasive nanoparticles on Chemical-Mechanical Planarization of silica surfaces

► New AFM method to measure adhesion between nanoparticles and surfaces developed. ► Adhesion between abrasive nanoparticles of irregular shape and silica surface measured. ► The method is applied to the process of Chemical-Mechanical Planarization (CMP). ► Correlations between adhesion and CMP removal rate and defectivity are analyzed.