Introduction
In semiconductor device fabrication, in an effort to reduce the size of electronic devices and improve the yield of the manufacturing process, chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries consisting of nanoparticles are now in use. CMP is a process of smoothing surfaces with the combination of chemical and mechanical forces in preparation for photolithography. The process uses various element oxide slurries and pressure to chemically and mechanically polish the silicon wafers during the manufacturing of semiconductor devices. This study outlines the quantitation and characterization of element oxide nanoparticles (Al2O3, and CeO2) commonly used in nanoelectronics and semiconductor fabrication for the chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) of semiconductor surfaces, leveraging the NexION® SP-ICP-MS.