Abstract
We used a blank chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) test to examine the dependence of nanotopography impact on surfactant concentration in three ceria slurries differing in abrasive size. We found that the magnitude of film thickness variation after CMP increased with the surfactant concentration in case of the smaller abrasives but for the case of larger abrasive was almost independent of the surfactant concentration. This result was explained with a model based on the passivation layer of the surfactant adsorbed on the oxide film surfaces during polishing.