The microelectronics industry is focused on increasing chip complexity, improving the density of electron carriers, and decreasing the dimensions of the interconnects into the sub-0.25 mum regime while maintaining high aspect ratios. Water-based chemical mechanical planarization or polishing (CMP) faces several technical and environmental challenges. Condensed CO2 has significant potential for replacing current CMP solvents as a "dry" etching medium because of its unique properties. In working toward a condensed CO2-based CMP process, we have successfully investigated the oxidation and chelation of solid copper metal in liquid and supercritical CO2 using ethyl peroxydicarbonate and a beta-diketone chelating agent.

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