Lubricated mechanical polishing
AssigneeIowa State University Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsLudovico Cademartiri, Briane Caroline Montoya
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A lubricated mechanical polishing (LMP) process is provided that uses hard nanoparticles of less than 5 nm diameter dispersed in a fluid lubricant as a polishing slurry to produce an ultra-smooth surface on a hard metallic or non-metallic substrate with a sub-nanometer surface roughness substantially less than that produced by silica chemical mechanical polishing.
Claims13
A method of producing an ultra-smooth surface on a substrate, comprising dispersing hard nanoparticles having a hardness greater than 7 Mohs and a diameter dimension less than 5 nm in a hydrophobic organic fluid lubricant to form a polishing slurry and mechanically polishing the substrate using the slurry without chemical etching of the substrate to obtain an RMS surface roughness of about 3 A to about 5 A.
A method of producing an ultra-smooth surface on a substrate, comprising dispersing hard colloidal zirconium oxide nanoparticles having a diameter less than 5 nm in a motor oil to form a polishing slurry and mechanically polishing the substrate using the slurry without chemical etching of the substrate to achieve a sub-nanometer RMS surface roughness of about 3 A to about 5 A on the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.