Chemical-Mechanical Planarization or Polishing (CMP) is a critical step in semiconductor fabrication in the microelectronics industry. This step involves planning and smoothing the wafer surface by chemical and mechanical forces and utilizes a lot of water. One problem in the CMP process is that the effluents are a complex mixture of components including copper ions and Si or/and Al nanoparticles. The objectives of this research are to study the properties of the CMP wastewater, the interactions between the nanoparticles and the copper, and the removal of particles and copper from effluents. Polishing slurries consist of 5 to 10 percent of very fine particles; surfactants are added to slurries to maintain good stability of the suspended solids in the slurry. The slurries are characterized according to: pH, turbidity (indicative of particle content), particle size distribution, metal ion content, suspended solids, dissolved solids, and chemical oxygen demand. The effluent without copper and particles can be reused in slurry dilutions. Also, the treated CMP effluent can be use in the further treatment to remove organics particles from water. Filtration techniques were used to remove the particles of the effluent and a significant reduction of copper and turbidity was observed.

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