Crystals (May 2024)

Effect of Polyoxyethylene-Based Nonionic Surfactants on Chemical–Mechanical Polishing Performance of Monocrystalline Silicon Wafers

  • Bowen Jiang,
  • Jie Guan,
  • Peng Zhao,
  • Yulin Chen,
  • Zefang Zhang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14050460
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 5
p. 460

Abstract

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The use of surfactants is crucial in the chemical–mechanical polishing fluid system for silicon wafers. This paper examines the impact of the functional group structure of polyoxyethylene-based nonionic surfactants and the variation in the polyoxyethylene (EO) addition number on the polishing performance of monocrystalline silicon wafers, to achieve the appropriate material removal rate and surface quality. The results demonstrated that the straight-chain structure of fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether (AEO-9) exhibited superior performance in wafer polishing compared to octylphenol polyoxyethylene ether (OP-9) and isoprenol polyoxyethylene ether (TPEG) and polyethylene glycol (PEG). By varying the number of EO additions of AEO-type surfactants, this study demonstrated that the polishing performance of monocrystalline silicon wafers was affected by the number of EO additions. The best polishing effect was achieved when the number of EO additions was nine. The mechanism of the role of polyoxyethylene-type nonionic surfactants in silicon wafer polishing was derived through polishing experiments, the contact angle, abrasive particle size analysis, zeta potential measurement, XPS, and other means of characterization.

Keywords