3M is aiming to quadruple its revenue from chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) pads by 300% in three years.
Yang Yong-suk, technical supervisor of electronic material at 3M Korea, said during a local event hosted by the company said transistors in advanced nodes were going to nano-scale but results when CMP pads hit the wafer surface remain difficult to predict.
To counter this problem, 3M’s CMP pads have engineered asperities and open pores that offer a uniform contact area for the entire wafer, Yang said.
The CMP process in chip production aims to flatten the wafer surface. Between 20 to 40 steps of CMP processes are done during chip production on the wafer. CMP pads and slurry act as sort of sandpapers and abrasive during these processes.
3M is alter comer to the CMP pad market having launched its first product in 2018. Dupont is the global leader in the product and South Korean company SK Enpulse supplies theirs to SK Hynix.
3M developed its micro-replicated CMP pad, which has asperities, or bumps, and pores, just like the wafers before being polished, in an attempt to expand in the market.
The company said during the event that it is aiming to increase revenue from CMP pads by 300% in the next three years.
Yang said competitors' CMP pads need to be continuously sharpened with a diamond disc to maintain their bumps, which causes their surface to keep changing as well.
In contrast, 3M’s CMP pads continue to maintain from start to finish the same surface area, he said.
The company’s pads are likely aimed at 10-nanometer or under processes that require uniform CMP use.
The pads also have a 30% increase in polishing efficiency and last 1.5 times to 2 times longer than rivals’, 3M claimed.
