Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) process development for 10nm nodes and beyond demands a systematic understanding of atomic-scale chemical and mechanical surface interactions for the control of material removal, selectivity, and defectivity. Particularly the CMP of barrier/liner films is challenging with new materials introduced to better adhere the contact metal at the interface and limit the probability of metal diffusion to the transistors. The relative selectivity of the CMP removal rates of the barrier materials against the contact metal needs to be controlled depending on the integration scheme. This paper focuses on understanding the barrier CMP process selectivity on the model W/Ti/TiN applications through electrochemical evaluations and chemically modified thin film analyses. Ex-situ electrochemical evaluations are conducted on the W/Ti/TiN system to evaluate the passivation rates in various slurry formulations as a function of the slurry chemistry and the abrasive particle solids loading. Results of the passivation rates are compared to the removal rate selectivity and the post CMP surface quality on blanked W, Ti, and TiN films. A new methodology for CMP slurry formulations through ex-situ electrochemical analyses is outlined for new and more challenging barrier films while simultaneously highlighting an approach for corrosion prevention on the metallic layers.

Magnonic crystals and gratings could enable tunable spin-wave filters, logic, and frequency multiplier devices. Using micromagnetic models, we investigate the effect of nanowire damping, excitation frequency and geometry on the spin wave modes, spatial and temporal transmission profiles for a finite patterned nanograting under external direct current (DC) and radio frequency (RF) magnetic fields. Studying the effect of Gilbert damping constant on the temporal and spectral responses shows that low-damping leads to longer mode propagation lengths due to low-loss and high-frequency excitations are also transmitted with high intensity. When the nanowire is excited with stronger external RF fields, higher frequency spin wave modes are transmitted with higher intensities. Changing the nanowire grating width, pitch and its number of periods helps shift the transmitted frequencies over super high-frequency (SHF) range, spans S, C, X, Ku, and K bands (3–30 GHz). Our design could enable spin-wave frequency multipliers, selective filtering, excitation, and suppression in magnetic nanowires.

Synthetic antiferromagnetically-coupled (SAF) multilayers provide different physics of stabilizing skyrmions while eliminating topological Hall effect (THE), enabling efficient and stable control. The effects of material parameters, external current drive, and...

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