To provide a polishing composition capable of realizing a polished surface having smoothness and few defects. A polishing composition contains a water-soluble polymer satisfying the following two conditions (A) and (B): Condition (A): in a first standard solution which contains silica having an average primary particle size of 35 nm, the water-soluble polymer, ammonia, and water and in which the concentration of the silica is 0.48% by mass, the concentration of the water-soluble polymer is 0.0125% by mass, and the pH is 10.0, the adsorption ratio which is a ratio of the amount of the water-soluble polymer adsorbed to the silica to the total amount of the water-soluble polymer contained in the first standard solution is 10% or more; and Condition (B): in a second standard solution which contains silica having an average primary particle size of 35 nm, the water-soluble polymer, ammonia, and water and in which the concentration of the silica is 0.48% by mass, the concentration of the water-soluble polymer is 0.0125% by mass, and the pH is 10.4, the adsorption ratio which is a ratio of the amount of the water-soluble polymer adsorbed to the silica to the total amount of the water-soluble polymer contained in the second standard solution is 65% or less.

To provide a polishing composition in which abrasives are less likely to precipitate and precipitated and agglomerated abrasives easily redisperse. A polishing composition has abrasives, a liquid medium, metal oxide particles, and a water-soluble polymer. The average primary particle diameter of the metal oxide particles is 1/10 or less of the average primary particle diameter of the abrasives and the weight average molecular weight of the water-soluble polymer is 200 or more and 1000 or less.

A polishing slurry according to the present invention contains: abrasive grains made of a metal oxide; a permanganate; and an inorganic compound other than the permanganate. The inorganic compound is such that a solution that is obtained by adding the inorganic compound to a 1.0 mass % aqueous solution of the permanganate so that the inorganic compound accounts for 1.0 mass % of the resultant aqueous solution has an oxidation-reduction potential higher than that of the 1.0 mass % aqueous solution of the permanganate. It is preferable that the inorganic compound be contained in an amount of 0.7 parts by mass or more and 150 parts by mass or less relative to 100 parts by mass of the permanganate. It is also preferable that the abrasive grains made of a metal oxide be manganese oxide particles.

A method of CMP includes providing a slurry solution including ?1 per-compound oxidizer in a concentration between 0.01 M and 2 M with a pH from 2 to 5 or 8 to 11, and ?1 buffering agent which provides a buffering ratio ?1.5 that compares an amount of a strong acid needed to reduce the pH from 9.0 to 3.0 as compared to an amount of strong acid to change the pH from 9.0 to 3.0 without the buffering agent. The slurry solution is exclusive any hard slurry particles or has only soft slurry particles that have throughout a Vickers hardness <300 Kg/mm.sup.2 or Mohs Hardness <4. The slurry solution is dispensed on a hard surface having a Vickers hardness >1,000 kg/mm.sup.2 is pressed by a polishing pad with the slurry solution in between while rotating the polishing pad relative to the hard surface.

A chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) system includes a platen, a pad, a polish head, a rotating mechanism, a light source, and a detector. The pad is disposed on the platen. The polish head is configured to hold a wafer against the pad. The rotating mechanism is configured to rotate at least one of the platen and the polish head. The light source is configured to provide incident light to an end-point layer on the wafer. The detector is configured to detect absorption of the incident light by the end-point layer.

The invention provides a method for polishing or planarizing a wafer of at least one of semiconductor, optical and magnetic substrates. The method includes rotating a polishing pad, the rotating polishing pad having radial feeder grooves in the polishing layer separating the polishing layer into polishing regions. The polishing regions are circular sectors defined by two adjacent radial feeder grooves. The radial feeder grooves extend from a location adjacent the center to a location adjacent the outer edge. Each polishing region includes a series of biased grooves connecting a pair of adjacent radial feeder grooves. Pressing and rotating the wafer against the rotating polishing pad for multiple rotations of the polishing pad adjusts polishing by either increasing or decreasing residence time of the polishing fluid under the wafer.

The polishing pad is suitable for polishing or planarizing a wafer of at least one of semiconductor, optical and magnetic substrates. The polishing pad includes radial feeder grooves in a polishing layer separating the polishing layer into polishing regions. The radial feeder grooves extend at least from a location adjacent the center to a location adjacent the outer edge of the polishing pad. Each polishing region including a series of biased grooves that connects a pair of adjacent radial feeder grooves. A majority of the biased grooves having either an inward bias toward the center of the polishing pad or an outward bias for directing polishing fluid toward the outer edge of the polishing pad.

The disclosed subject matter provides a polishing pad and a monitoring system for monitoring the polishing pad. The polishing pad includes a bottom layer, a polishing layer disposed on the bottom layer, and a plurality of mark structures disposed on the bottom layer and in the polishing layer to have a top surface coplanar with the polishing layer to indicate consumption level of the polishing layer. The monitoring system includes an acquisition module, a memory module, and a determining module connected to both the acquisition module and the memory module. The determining module, the acquisition module, and the memory module are configured to monitor the consumption level of the polishing layer and to recognize that the polishing pad needs to be replaced.

Eddy current formable in a polishing target is detected as an impedance by an eddy current sensor. A resistance component and a reactance component of the impedance are associated with respective axes of a coordinate system having orthogonal axes, respectively. An angle calculator calculates the tangent of an intersection angle between a first straight line connecting a first point corresponding to an impedance for a zero film thickness, and a second point corresponding to an impedance for a non-zero film thickness, and a diameter of a circle passing through the first point. A film thickness calculator determines the film thickness from the tangent.

Eddy current formable in a polishing target is detected as an impedance by an eddy current sensor. A resistance component and a reactance component of the impedance are associated with respective axes of a coordinate system having orthogonal axes, respectively. An angle calculator calculates the tangent of an intersection angle between a first straight line connecting a first point corresponding to an impedance for a zero film thickness, and a second point corresponding to an impedance for a non-zero film thickness, and a diameter of a circle passing through the first point. A film thickness calculator determines the film thickness from the tangent.