Mechanical effect of abrasives on silicon surface in chemo-mechanical grinding

To obtain high-quality surfaces and subsurfaces of ground silicon wafers, chemo-mechanical grinding (CMG) for silicon has been developed by inducing chemical reactions into grinding. Chemical reactions between abrasives and silicon during CMG process have been proved in previous studies. The mechanical effect of abrasives in CMG process is not fully understood. To investigate abrasives’ mechanical effect on material removal and subsurface damage of silicon in CMG process, silicon nanoscratching experiments with CeO2 indenter under a progressive normal load were conducted, and microtopographies of scratch surface and subsurface were observed. For comparison, silicon nanoscratching experiments with diamond indenter were also conducted. Finite element models of silicon nanoscratching with CeO2 and diamond indenters were built to investigate the relationship between stress distribution and damage evolution of silicon. Experimental investigations and simulation results indicate that no obvious material removal of silicon or serious subsurface damage is generated by CeO2 indenter's mechanical action because the wear of CeO2 indenter leads to the release of the stress on silicon. Material removal of silicon during CMG process relies on chemical reactions between soft abrasives and silicon other than stress on silicon generated by soft abrasives.