Cerium oxide powder for abrasive and cmp slurry comprising the same

Abstract

Disclosed are cerium oxide powder for an abrasive; CMP slurry including the same; and a shallow trench isolation (STI) process using the CMP slurry. At least two kinds of cerium oxides prepared by using cerium carbonates having different crystal structures are mixed in an appropriate ratio and used as an abrasive for CMP slurry, thereby adjusting required polishing properties of the CMP slurry. Also, in a disclosed method of preparing a cerium carbonate, the crystal structure of the cerium carbonate can be easily controlled. Based on the finding that in a cerium oxide for an abrasive, the kind of improved polishing property depends on the crystal structure of a cerium carbonate, at least one from among polishing properties, such as the polishing rate of a silicon oxide layer, the polishing rate of a silicon nitride layer, the polishing selectivity between the silicon oxide layer and the silicon nitride layer, and WIWNU, can be adjusted by using at least two kinds of cerium oxides selected from the group including (i) a cerium oxide prepared by using a lanthanite-(Ce) crystal structured cerium carbonate, (ii) a cerium oxide prepared by using an orthorhombic crystal structured cerium carbonate, and (iii) a cerium oxide prepared by using a hexagonal crystal structured cerium carbonate, as an abrasive for CMP slurry, and adjusting the mixing ratio of the cerium oxides.