Method and system for slurry usage reduction in chemical mechanical polishing

Abstract

A method and system is disclosed for reducing slurry usage in a chemical mechanical polishing operation utilizing at least one polishing pad thereof. Slurry can be intermittently supplied to a chemical mechanical polishing device. The slurry is generally flushed so that a portion of said slurry is trapped in a plurality of pores of at least one polishing pad associated with said chemical mechanical polishing device, wherein only a minimum amount of said slurry necessary is utilized to perform said chemical mechanical polishing operation, thereby reducing slurry usage and maintaining a consistent level of slurry removal rate performance and a decrease in particle defects thereof. The present invention thus discloses a method and system for intermittently delivering slurry to a chemical mechanical polishing device in a manner that significantly conserves slurry usage.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.