Sintered polishing pad with regions of contrasting density
AssigneeCabot Microelectronics Corporation
InventorsSteven K. Grumbine, Eric H. Klingenberg
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Abstract
The invention provides a polishing pad comprising sintered particles of a thermoplastic resin, wherein a surface of the polishing pad intended to contact a substrate to be polished comprises (a) a non-patterned portion with a substantially uniform density and (b) a patterned portion with one or more densities that differ from the density of the non-patterned portion. The invention also provides a method for producing the polishing pad, a chemical-mechanical polishing apparatus comprising the polishing pad, and a method of polishing comprising contacting a substrate with the polishing pad.
Claims27
A polishing pad comprising sintered particles of a thermoplastic resin, wherein a surface of the polishing pad intended to contact a substrate to be polished comprises a non-patterned portion with a substantially uniform density and a patterned portion with one or more densities that differ from the density of the non-patterned portion.
A method for producing a polishing pad comprising:
- (a) providing a polishing pad with a first density comprising particles of a thermoplastic resin,
- (b) heating a portion of the polishing pad to cause the thermoplastic resin particles to flow, and
- (c) cooling the polishing pad, thereby causing the flowed thermoplastic resin particles to solidify with a second density that is higher than the first density and forming a polishing pad having a non-patterned portion with the first density and a patterned portion with one or more densities that differ from the density of the non-patterned portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.