Chemical Mechanical Planarization Technology Enabling for Astrophysics Missions

Detector technology for NASA applications is progressing to more complex multilayer circuits to gain advances in array size or detector performance. Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) is a technique that maintains high fabrication yield and increases feature density in multilayer structures. While outside foundries offer CMP for a limited set of materials, we propose to leverage in-house and federal government facilities to develop custom CMP techniques for the specific materials we need, thereby enabling breakthrough enhancements in detectors, multiplexers, and microwave devices for astrophysics missions.