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CMP polishers are wafer planarization machines used in semiconductor manufacturing. CMP tools combine chemical action from slurry with mechanical action from a polishing interface to remove material from a wafer surface. CMP equipment is used to reduce topography and prepare surfaces for later process steps.

CMP polishers hold wafers against a moving polishing surface while slurry chemistry and mechanical contact remove material. CMP polishers generally use controlled pressure, relative motion, and process consumables to balance removal rate, uniformity, and surface condition. CMP polishers are commonly configured around carrier heads or spindles that present wafers to the polishing surface during processing.

CMP sits after film deposition and patterning steps that leave unwanted topography on the wafer. CMP prepares a flatter surface for subsequent lithography, etch, deposition, cleaning, and metrology operations. CMP is used when downstream steps benefit from improved planarity and controlled remaining film thickness.

CMP is applied to planarization of dielectric, metal, and barrier films in integrated circuit manufacturing. CMP is also used where a process requires controlled material removal with simultaneous improvement of surface flatness. CMP can support both device-layer fabrication and related wafer finishing tasks, depending on the process flow.