The effects of the addition of resin particles to ceria-based slurry on pre-metal dielectric ͑PMD͒ planarization were investigated using the chemical mechanical polishing ͑CM⌹͒ method. In the next generation complementary metal oxide semiconductor ͑CMOS͒ image sensor devices, the PMD film was resized because of the scaling down of device dimensions, and a large convex area is formed. The global planarity after PMD CM⌹ becomes poor as the size of the convex area expands because of an effect of deformation of the polishing pad. To improve the global planarity for the large convex area, the addition of the resin particles to the ceria-based slurry was investigated. The addition of the resin particles having the cationic surface functional group was effective to improve global planarity. Based on the analysis of interaction between the resin particles and a SiO 2 film, a new polishing model is proposed. The resin particles absorbed to the SiO 2 surface electrostatically and moved to a concave area by sheer stress during CM⌹. In the concave area, the embedded resin particles protect the SiO 2 film from the abrasion of ceria abrasive and enhance the selectivity of the removal rate between the concave and convex areas, and, as a result, the global planarity is improved.The planarization technology of a SiO 2 film by chemical mechanical polishing ͑CM⌹͒ has been widely used for shallow trench isolation ͑STI͒ formation and pre-metal dielectric ͑PMD͒ planarization. In connection with the scaling down of device dimensions, the demands on device topography become more sever from the viewpoint of focus error reduction in the lithography process. In addition to the requirement of device topography, especially in next generation complementary metal oxide semiconductor ͑CMOS͒ image sensor devices, the planarization of the PMD film by CM⌹ technology becomes more difficult because of the resize of the PMD film and an expansion of the image sensor area. For higher device performance, the design layout of the image sensor area scales down compared with that of the peripheral circuit. In the image sensor area, the PMD film such as conformal chemical vapor deposition ͑CVD͒ oxide resizes after deposition, and effective pattern densities of the PMD film increase compared with that of the design layout. 1 Furthermore, the size of the image sensor area expands to several millimeters of one side, and, as a result, a large convex area is formed after the deposition of the PMD film, as shown in Fig. 1. In the low pattern density region of the peripheral circuit, the oxide planarization is performed faster. However, in the large and high pattern density region of the image sensor, it is not promoted because of the effect of elastic deformation of the polishing pad. The planarization length, which is defined as the width of the transition ramp between the two regions, 2-4 increases with the expansion of the image sensor area, and the global planarity becomes poor. The poor planarity causes yield reduction because of the focus error in the litho...