Large-Area Preparation of a Robust Superamphiphobic Coating for Chemical Mechanical Polishing Application

In the chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) process, the abrasive particles in the polishing slurry tend to agglomerate easily and crystallize on the equipment surfaces during recycling, which can lead to poor wafer processing quality and additional tedious cleaning work. To overcome this issue, a simple and cost-effective self-cleaning surface preparation method has been developed. In this study, elastic and stretchable hydroxyl polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS-OH) was selected as the functional material, it was chelated with pentaerythritol tetra(3-mercapto propionate), and then 2-(perfluorooctyl)ethyl methacrylate was further grafted in situ to the polymer chains via a photoinduced thiol-ene click reaction. Hydrophobically modified micronanoscale silica particles were used to construct robust hierarchical micronanostructures while imparting stable mechanical wear resistance to the coating. The resulting superamphiphobic film exhibits the "lotus effect" and exceptional self-cleaning ability, repelling liquids such as water, hexadecane, and polishing slurry. Furthermore, the coating demonstrated outstanding chemical resistance and antifouling ability. Thus, it provides a feasible solution for preventing abrasive crystallization at critical locations where the polishing slurry flows in the CMP equipment. This work contributes to the enhanced application of superrepellent coatings in the CMP stage of semiconductor material processing.