The ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology is publishing a focus issue in connection with the 245th ECS Meeting Chemical Mechanical Polishing 17 symposium honoring Professor S .V. Babu, who celebrates his 80th birthday in 2024. This issue presents state of the art and reviews of approaches that will reduce the gap between our understanding of fundamentals and practice of CMP and should help accelerate beneficial changes in related hardware and consumables.
Prof. Babu has played an important role in advancing these domains through extensive research publications and patents, mentorship of 50 PhD students, and collaboration with the industry. He has contributed to various improvements in CMP processes, materials, and equipment for the last three decades. Prof. Babu edited the first focus issue on CMP in 2015 and the first (2016) and second editions (2022) of the book Advances in Chemical Mechanical Planarization. He received lifetime achievement awards from ICPT (International Conference on Planarization/CMP Technology) in Leuven, Belgium, and from Clarkson University, U.S., both in 2018, as well as several awards from IBM and Intel. Prof. Babu was the lead organizer of the International CMP conferences held in Lake Placid, U.S., for 22 years. (more…)
