Synthesis of CeO ₂ Composite Particles for Chemical Mechanical Polishing of Single-Crystal SiC Substrates and Their Polishing Applications: A Review

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a semiconductor with outstanding properties, widely applied in power electronics development, aerospace and defense, the semiconductor industry, energy, and other fields. Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) is commonly employed for the precision processing of SiC substrate wafers. However, the high hardness and brittleness of SiC significantly impair material removal efficiency during CMP. Consequently, numerous researchers have explored the use of composite particles with enhanced chemical reactivity and structured designs for the CMP processing of SiC substrates. This paper provides a detailed review of mechanically enhanced, chemically active, dispersion-stable, and flexible loss-reducing cerium dioxide (CeO₂) composite particle types, their preparation methods, and characterization techniques for chemical-mechanical polishing of single-crystal SiC substrates. The paper also systematically analyzes the mechanism of CeO₂ composite particles in the SiC substrate CMP.