Patent ID: 6936541

Claim:
A method for planarizing metal interconnects of a semiconductor wafer comprising the steps of: a) polishing the semiconductor wafer with a polishing solution and a polishing pad to planarize the metal interconnects, the metal interconnects being a nonferrous metal selected from the group consisting of copper, copper-base alloys, silver and silver-base alloys and the polishing solution having by weight percent, 0.15 to 5 benzotriazole, 0 to 1 abrasive, 0 to 10 polymeric particles, 0 to 5 polymer-coated particles and balance water at a pH of less than 5 and a removal rate-pressure sensitivity d r /d p of at least 750 Å/min/psi; b) accelerating removal of projecting metal from the metal interconnects with the polishing pad providing a first pressure that increases removal rate of the projecting metal; and c) inhibiting removal of recessed metal from the metal interconnects with the polishing pad providing a second pressure that decreases removal of the recessed metal and wherein the accelerating and inhibiting steps occur in a simultaneous manner.