A polishing or grinding pad with a multilayer reinforcement is provided. In one aspect, a floor polishing or grinding pad assembly employs a flexible pad, at least two reinforcement layers or rings with different characteristics, and multiple floor-contacting tools such as abrasive disks. In another aspect, a workpiece polishing or grinding pad assembly includes a flexible and rotatable pad, a polymeric reinforcement layer coupled to the pad and a metallic reinforcement layer to which are coupled abrasive tools. In yet another aspect, a floor-facing reinforcement is more flexible than a pad-facing reinforcement which is more rigid.

The present disclosure relates to a tool for sanding and buffing an irregularly shaped surface that includes a head having a rounded surface, a first abrasive material adapted for sanding or buffing, the first abrasive material attached to the rounded surface via an adhesive substance or other attaching means and at least partially covering the rounded surface, and a handle attached to the head. The tool may further include a second abrasive material attached to the rounded surface via the adhesive substance or other attaching means that at least partially covers a portion of the rounded surface not covered by the first abrasive material. If the first and second abrasive materials have varying properties such as their coarseness, the user may find each material to be especially efficient for use in separate sanding, buffing, or polishing processes.

The present disclosure relates to a tool for sanding and buffing an irregularly shaped surface that includes a head having a rounded surface, a first abrasive material adapted for sanding or buffing, the first abrasive material attached to the rounded surface via an adhesive substance or other attaching means and at least partially covering the rounded surface, and a handle attached to the head. The tool may further include a second abrasive material attached to the rounded surface via the adhesive substance or other attaching means that at least partially covers a portion of the rounded surface not covered by the first abrasive material. If the first and second abrasive materials have varying properties such as their coarseness, the user may find each material to be especially efficient for use in separate sanding, buffing, or polishing processes.

A grinding wheel for grinding a workpiece has an annular wheel base and a plurality of grinding stones arrayed in an annular pattern on a side of one surface of the wheel base. The grinding stones each have a base portion having a mounting surface where the base portion is mounted on the wheel base, and a wear-accelerated portion that has a grinding surface to be brought into contact with the workpiece and is more prone to wearing than the base portion.

A grinding wheel for grinding a workpiece has an annular wheel base and a plurality of grinding stones arrayed in an annular pattern on a side of one surface of the wheel base. The grinding stones each have a base portion having a mounting surface where the base portion is mounted on the wheel base, and a wear-accelerated portion that has a grinding surface to be brought into contact with the workpiece and is more prone to wearing than the base portion.

A method of detecting a polishing endpoint includes storing a plurality of library spectra, measuring a sequence of spectra from the substrate in-situ during polishing, and for each measured spectrum of the sequence of spectra, finding a best matching library spectrum from the plurality of library spectra to generate a sequence of best matching library spectra. Each library spectrum has a stored associated value representing a degree of progress through a polishing process, and the stored associated value for the best matching library spectrum is determined for each best matching library spectrum to generate a sequence of values representing a progression of polishing of the substrate. The sequence of values is compared to a target value, and a polishing endpoint is triggered when the sequence of values reaches the target value.

A method of detecting a polishing endpoint includes storing a plurality of library spectra, measuring a sequence of spectra from the substrate in-situ during polishing, and for each measured spectrum of the sequence of spectra, finding a best matching library spectrum from the plurality of library spectra to generate a sequence of best matching library spectra. Each library spectrum has a stored associated value representing a degree of progress through a polishing process, and the stored associated value for the best matching library spectrum is determined for each best matching library spectrum to generate a sequence of values representing a progression of polishing of the substrate. The sequence of values is compared to a target value, and a polishing endpoint is triggered when the sequence of values reaches the target value.

The present application relates to polishing pads for chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) of substrates, and methods of fabrication and use thereof. The pads described in this invention are customized to polishing specifications where specifications include (but not limited to) to the material being polished, chip design and architecture, chip density and pattern density, equipment platform and type of slurry used. These pads can be designed with a specialized polymeric nano-structure with a long or short range order which allows for molecular level tuning achieving superior thermo-mechanical characteristics. More particularly, the pads can be designed and fabricated so that there is both uniform and nonuniform spatial distribution of chemical and physical properties within the pads. In addition, these pads can be designed to tune the coefficient of friction by surface engineering, through the addition of solid lubricants, and creating low shear integral pads having multiple layers of polymeric material which form an interface parallel to the polishing surface. The pads can also have controlled porosity, embedded abrasive, novel grooves on the polishing surface, for slurry transport, which are produced in situ, and a transparent region for endpoint detection.

The present application relates to polishing pads for chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) of substrates, and methods of fabrication and use thereof. The pads described in this invention are customized to polishing specifications where specifications include (but not limited to) to the material being polished, chip design and architecture, chip density and pattern density, equipment platform and type of slurry used. These pads can be designed with a specialized polymeric nano-structure with a long or short range order which allows for molecular level tuning achieving superior thermo-mechanical characteristics. More particularly, the pads can be designed and fabricated so that there is both uniform and nonuniform spatial distribution of chemical and physical properties within the pads. In addition, these pads can be designed to tune the coefficient of friction by surface engineering, through the addition of solid lubricants, and creating low shear integral pads having multiple layers of polymeric material which form an interface parallel to the polishing surface. The pads can also have controlled porosity, embedded abrasive, novel grooves on the polishing surface, for slurry transport, which are produced in situ, and a transparent region for endpoint detection.

A depressed center grinding wheel comprises an abrasive disc. The abrasive disc comprises a working layer, an intermediate layer, a back layer, and at least two reinforcing scrims. The working layer comprises first abrasive particles retained in a first binder material. The first abrasive particles include from 40 to 100 weight percent of first shaped abrasive particles. The back layer comprises second abrasive particles retained in a second binder material. The second abrasive particles include first crushed abrasive particles and are essentially free of shaped abrasive particles. The intermediate layer is disposed between the working layer and the back layer. The intermediate layer comprises third abrasive particles retained in a third binder material. The third abrasive particles include 25 to 75 weight percent of second shaped abrasive particles.