Modeling the effects of cohesive energy for single particle on the material removal in chemical mechanical polishing at atomic scale

This paper proposes a novel mathematical model for chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) based on interface solid physical and chemical theory in addition to energy equilibrium knowledge. And the effects of oxidation concentration and particle size on the material removal in CMP are investigated. It is shown that the mechanical energy and removal cohesive energy couple with the particle size, and being a cause of the non-linear size-removal rate relation. Furthermore, it also shows a nonlinear dependence of removal rate on removal cohesive energy. The model predictions are in good qualitative agreement with the published experimental data. The current study provides an important starting point for delineating the micro-removal mechanism in the CMP process at atomic scale.