Polishing pad with optimized grooves and method of forming same

A method of chemical mechanical planarizing a substrate comprising the steps of:

• introducing a polishing solution to a wafer,
• rotating the wafer with respect to a polishing pad, the polishing pad having a polishing layer, and the polishing layer comprising:
• i) a radius that extends from a center of the polishing layer to an outer perimeter of the polishing layer;
• ii) one or more continuous grooves formed in the polishing layer and extending inward from the outer perimeter of the polishing layer;
• and iii) a circumference fraction grooved (CF) in an area extending from the outer perimeter of the polishing layer a majority distance to the center of the polishing layer, CF being that portion of circumference at a given radius lying across the one or more continuous grooves divided by full circumference at the given radius, and wherein CF remains within 25% of its average value as a function of the polishing layer radius in the entire area extending from the outer perimeter of the polishing layer the majority distance to the center of the polishing layer;
• and
• planarizing the wafer with the polishing pad and the polishing solution.