Pad asperities in chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) provide necessary forces for mechanical abrasion. This article investigates the abrasive behaviour of polishing pads at the asperity contact scale. A contact mechanics model predicts that compliant and soft asperities or rigid and hard asperities may solely achieve either large contact area or high indentation depth respectively, whereas bi-layered asperities can enable both the enlarged contact and deep abrasion. Hemispherical pad micro-asperities with precise dimensions, including the new bi-layered design, were fabricated using thermal reflow and micro-replica molding techniques and their polishing behaviours were experimentally compared using a pin-on-disk polishing setup.
Sukkyung Kang
My research focuses on the phenomena arising from the physical contact between two engineered surfaces. The goal is to develop processing technologies that can create high-value, innovative products by precisely manipulating phenomena such as friction, wear, polishing, diffusion, adhesion, and deformation.