CONTACT PAD FABRICATION PROCESS FOR A SEMICONDUCTOR PRODUCT

A method for fabricating a semiconductor product includes forming a dielectric layer over a top level metallization layer of a semiconductor process wafer. The dielectric layer is patterned using a grayscale mask process to define a contact pad opening in the dielectric layer, thereby producing a patterned dielectric layer in which the contact pad opening is aligned to a contact pad defined in the top level metallization layer. A metal layer is deposited over the patterned dielectric layer, including within the contact pad opening. A portion of the metal layer is removed by a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process, with a remaining portion of the metal layer having a sloped sidewall.