Abstract: Global planarization of a non-planar substrate surface is accomplished using a sacrificial material in conjunction with an etching and chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) technique. The sacrificial material has a greater rate of removal relative to the substrate during the CMP process and at a lesser rate relative to the material during the etching process. The use of the sacrificial material enables the etching process to substantially reduce the height of topographic features that occur in the non-planar surface. The CMP process is then performed on the etched material surface to produce a planarized material surface that is substantially free of feature dependent dishing. Such a process is useful for planarizing material layers in fabricating integrated circuit devices as well as for planarizing recessed structures in such devices.