Patent ID: 6951817

Claim:
A method of forming an insulator, the method comprising: providing a workpiece; forming a plurality of features over the workpiece, the plurality of features comprising a first height and having a top surface; depositing an insulator between the plurality of features, wherein the insulator forms peaks over the top surface of the plurality of features; removing a top portion of the insulator peaks from over the top surface of the plurality of features; and planarizing the workpiece so that the features are coplanar with an insulator height of the insulator between the plurality of features, wherein the removing the top portion of the insulator peaks comprises exposing the insulator to an argon sputter process, an argon physical sputtering process induced from high density plasma and RF bias, a wet etching process, a dry etching process, a chemical etch process using SiF 4 , or a chemical etch process using SiH 4 O 2 .